A/N: It only gets worse from here on in people. Ehehehehehehehehe..
Maybe I'd be nicer if somebody would review me
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Sacrifice-pain and decisions.
Miko sighed as she shouldered her bag, it was stuffed to bursting with approximately half her possessions. She was leaving most of her outfits at Bulma's as she would be there a lot anyway. She sighed again as Sheme entered, dragging his teddy bear behind him. She had stopped at their hole of a house and picked up his stuff for him, his toys and such. She smiled sadly as he jumped on her unmade bed and snuggled under the covers
"Do you really have to go?" he asked dolefully. Miko grinned and slipped in beside him
"You'll see me every day, you just won't be able to beat me up with a pillow" he grinned at this but his expression shifted back to his glum face
"Can I come with you?" she smiled sadly and shook her head. How she loved the red haired boy and his innocent affection. He had no idea what she was really like. She tenderly ruffled his hair
"I need somebody to keep Vegeta in line for me, you up for it?" she knew Vegeta would not hurt Sheme, and the kid was fast, especially when exiting the scene of a crime.
Sheme sniffed, he did not want his big sister to go, she was so much fun and they had their own world, she was not like a mother, but he listened to her, she understood him better than anyone else, aunty Bulma was nice but Miko was better
"And who will beat up Trunks if I'm not there?" His face brightened
"Ok, but you have to promise to come here every day" he told her sternly. She grinned and nodded, giving him a quick hug before jumping up again and whacking him with a pillow
*
Tien grinned at Miko as she came out to him. She did not look in any state to fly. He found her flying abilities fluctuated so much it was dangerous for her to fly. She did anyway though, he had not mentioned it again but decided it would be better if she stopped hurting herself all the time. She waved to Sheme who stood in the door
"Ready?" she sighed sadly and nodded. By mutual agreement he lifted her off the ground by the back of her knees and the middle of her back as she placed her arms around his neck. He shot away. Leaving Sheme to wave them good-bye
Miko fought tears. She cursed herself; she did not know why she was so sad. She leaned into Tien's bulk and found it surprisingly comforting, his arms tightened around her to become more like an embrace than a simple hold. She said nothing, breathing into his collarbone
Tien blinked as she leaned against him, he could feel her ki going lower. She was sad, and he knew it was genuine. He tightened his hold on her slightly as the island came into view. She shifted slightly and he rearranged his grip to what it was earlier.
Miko smiled a little at Yamcha, he had forgiven her it seemed. Her plan had not been going so well. But at this point she was not sure if she wanted it anymore. At this point all she could think about was the peace she was leaving behind. She was still on painkillers for her ribs and she had another week before returning to work.
She headed upstairs to her room without a word and dumped her bag. She collapsed on the familiar bed and felt tears well up inside her. She shoved them down. More and more often she wanted to cry. She lay there for maybe three hours before unpacking her things then going straight to bed, even though it would be hours until dark.
Tien stuck his head around the door to see Miko fast asleep, her eyes were puffy he was certain she had been crying. He smiled a little; she was slowly opening up.
Life returned to normal after that. Though Miko went to see various people more often, training with Goku and Gohan every once in a while and Tien and Yamcha the rest of the time. Her power was growing, albeit slowly. This did not bother her, she knew she would never catch up to the others, they were so beyond her, but she had her wits and cunning, and they had never let her down in the past. She sighed and closed her eyes. She was lying on the sand underneath the full moon in little more than a sarong. It was getting to summer so the nights were hot. She sighed and wondered about who she was. She heard footsteps and saw Tien standing above her. She blushed and pulled the sarong over her bra, she noticed it shone silver in the moonlight. He just grinned and sat down next to her
"Thinking?" he asked as if he had not just seen her state of undress
"Something like that" she murmured. Tien grinned again, every time he saw her the more he was convinced of how gorgeous she was. She sat up suddenly, the thin piece of cloth falling away
"Tien, why does nobody trust me?" there was such hurt in her eyes he could not tell her the truth, instead he pulled her against him in a gentle hug, she did not resist, her skin warm against his bare chest.
"They do, Miko, it's just, you act a little strange sometimes" she tensed and tried to pull away, he suddenly realised how tightly he had been holding her and opened his arms. She stared at him through a hurt expression. Neither said a word
Miko knew he was trying to soften the truth. She had already known the answer, she had convinced herself it was just another game but the hurt was too real, she told herself it was part of her plan
"Screw the plan! If you like him don't screw with his head! You'll lose him!"
"Shut up! Where did that voice come from?"
"Admit it, you like him! You like him! You like him!" she silenced the war inside her by standing up and walking inside.
Tien sighed and sank into thought. He wondered whether anything she did was real. The only things he could be sure of about her was that he was falling head over heels for her and that Sheme was the only one she loved. Suddenly he felt a presence and looked behind him to see Miko standing there. She was in a thick white jersey that appeared to glow silver as her bra had in the moonlight and a pair of track pants and a baseball cap. Her face was, tense? Afraid? Nervous seemed to be the word
Miko took a deep breath
"You wanna go get something to eat?" she asked as casually as she could, Tien seemed to start, he swallowed then smiled, almost in relief
"Yeah, why not" Miko blushed, noticing him do the same, he rose into the air, supporting her by her forearm, she smiled, holding onto the hard muscles of his lower arm, noticing just how much wider the girth of his muscle was next to her own. This made her slightly uneasy. She pulled the baseball cap off her head and plonked it on his, he grinned; it covered his third eye exactly
"Perfect" she called over the wind force, Satan city came into view. Tien brought her down to land in the outer extremities of the city, she linked her arm in his, containing a laugh and they marched down the street, both biting their tongues to hold back hysteria that had welled up out of nowhere
Miko bit into her hamburger
"It's been a while since I had one'a these" she said through an extremely tasty mouthful, Tien was looking uncertainly at his
"How do you get it in your mouth?" he asked, Miko smiled
"You open it, and shove as much as you can in then bite, then you chew and then you swallow then you bite some more because it's really tasty" she mumbled the last word as she pushed more of the tower of bread, meat, relish, and lettuce between her small jaws, somehow fitting a remarkably large amount in. Tien shrugged and copied her action; it wasn't half bad. He grinned, trying to chew with his mouth so full he could barely keep it closed. Miko collapsed laughing, setting what was left of her's in its box on the park bench
"Here" she took a napkin and wiped his chin where mayonnaise had run down in a warm line, she smiled as her touch sent a jolt through him
"All betta'" she said lightly
"Not bad" he said approvingly, swallowing the last of his mouthful
"Robert keeps telling me to "watch my figure now" but since I'm training I have to eat heaps. Last night all I dreamed about was huge piles of junk food, mountains of fries and towers of burgers" she pretended to drool, swallowing the last piece of burger, she patted her stomach
"Straight to the hips" she said, satisfied. Tien shrugged as finished his burger
"Just how much do you guys eat? I mean I hardly eat with you so I wouldn't know" Tien grinned widely
"A lot, when we were on King Kai's planet-"
"Huh?"
"Well we got to go there when we died-"
"You died" she raised an eyebrow
"We got wished back, but because we spent our lives defending earth we got to train"
"How'd you get wished back?"
"With the dragonballs"
"Oh yeah, Bulma gave me this huge database to read, I'm halfway through it"
"Then you'll know quite a bit already"
"Yeah now continue"
"Yeah well Goku is famous for eating enough to make the average elephant explode in five minutes, and anyway me Yamcha Chou zu and Piccolo were up there training, and King Kai would make us some killer food, but we trained so hard that we had to eat almost as much as Goku would here on earth, and that's a lot of food, King Kai would get so angry at us when we left none for him, man, I've never would have thought a blue guy could turn dark purple, I swear he nearly killed us, of course Piccolo doesn't eat, but between us we ate in a day what would have filed the average saijin for a week, and that is a lot of food"
"Wow, How much food are we talking?" Tien thought for a second
"Well, can you imagine a really, really large." they sat there for two hours, swapping stories
Miko smiled tiredly, as she slipped through the door, she heard a yawn behind her and turned to face Tien
"Goodnight" she whispered, he nodded, on impulse she kissed full on the lips before disappearing upstairs, leaving him frozen in place
Tien heard a chuckle
"Was that Miko I just heard?" Yamcha's voice whispered, Tien blushed furiously and lay down on his sleeping mat, regulating his breathing so as to appear to be asleep, he heard Yamcha chuckle again and then there was silence except for the occasional tiny thud from upstairs where he assumed Miko was busy stretching as she did every night, she said it got her nicely tired
Miko was in fact climbing onto the roof; she loved to watch the moon from up there. She sat cross-legged for a while before slipping back inside, taking off her dressing gown and falling asleep underneath the covers of her bed
*
Tien woke at dawn as usual, he got up and went for a shower; they were much better for waking up than a swim in an icy lake. When he left the bathroom he found Yamcha grinning at him
"You dog" Tien blushed and scowled, sidestepping Yamcha and heading outside. What he saw made him want to face Yamcha instead
Miko was busy training, she had a shoot tomorrow and she wanted some stress relief, she saw Tien and froze, aware of how little she was wearing. Her top half was covered by a jogging top and she was wearing mid thigh length lycra shorts that sat about her hips. She blushed furiously then went back to punching a pretend person. Moving as fast as she could
Tien gulped and stepped onto the sand, she would be training all day by the looks of it, he became aware of why she was wearing such little clothing, it was sweltering outside. He rose into the air
"Feel like a training match?" he asked casually, she looked up as if just seeing him
"Morning" she said brightly
"Sure, just don't break me in half, I can't have to many bruises, Robert said he'd come down and shoot you all if I came in with any more "ugly marks" make up can only do so much" Tien blushed a little then grinned. He took a fighting stance, digging his feet into the sand, she steadied herself and charged, flipping right over his head before driving both fists into the base of his neck, he sank downwards to minimise the impact, she smirked as she landed nearby, Tien grinned, she had a vast array of imaginative move combinations nobody else would ever have thought of, he made a note to steal a few.
Yamcha smirked as they went at it for the ninth time, he supposed she was just relieving the tension and he was just keeping the hell out of her way. Poor guy, Yamcha thought; his heart went out to Tien, he had found himself a real firecracker of a girl to fall for, though he had a feeling neither was going to admit it for some time
Authors note: Umm, really at this point even I have no idea what Miko's plan is
Chou!
The (weak stomached) storyteller of ages
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Affairs of the heart-my love calls me, and I push him away
Miko sat with her chin on her hands. She was passing the time during her lunch break, she had an hour. Suddenly she decided to take Sheme out of school for a while and give him a treat. She saw him every afternoon and on the weekends but it still felt like she was only visiting instead of taking care of him. She popped the capsule for her custom made Samurai bad girl motor cycle, it was sleek and a dark shade of green, almost black. She loved it. It was not the average air bike, it ran off a pollution free engine that still made the noise, but not too much, it was on wheels simply because Miko wanted it that way, but it could be run above ground as well but it did not seem worth it. Bulma had given it to her so she could get around the city, it was not for off road travelling so she could not use it anywhere else, but it was still fun. She threw her leather-covered leg over the perfectly fitted seat and half draped her body over the front, it was designed so the rider leant forward over a rest. The reason being this was a speed bike, the speed bike. She pressed her thumb to the start button and grinned as the engine roared into life. With her now shoulder length hair whipping everywhere she laughed and joined the traffic.
Sheme sighed and glared at his book, lunchtime would be coming up in real soon, he was a little sad because he could not see his sister all the time and the fact that he did not like maths all that much added to his boredom. He jumped as the bell clanged loudly. The class emptied at the speed of light, literally.
Miko spun the bike in a 90-degree skid and smirked, it had taken her a day to gain complete control over her toy. She sat up straighter and placed the helmet over her head; she could not set a bad example for Sheme, the bell rang and kids began to pour out of the building. She brought one knee to rest in front of her and scouted about for Sheme's distinctive head. She suddenly saw a spec of red and grinned
Sheme saw the kids around him gasp and whistle in awe. The reason was waiting at the gates of the playground, he laughed out loud when he saw Miko's bike, she loved it, as soon as she figured out how to use it hey had gone on a joyride round the city. She was clad in all leather and her hair hung loose and wild on her shoulders. She waved and he ran up to her. She pulled the helmet from her had and grinned at his flushed face
"How does the greasiest American fast food joint sound kid?" she asked. He laughed
"Yeah!" she grinned and tossed him the second helmet hidden in a side compartment
"I'll just go let your teachers know"
Principal Kiwai looked up and jumped, standing before him was the most attractive woman he had seen in his whole life, clad in leather with a bike helmet under her arm and her wild green hair all around her face she looked like a character out of a movie, one he would very much like to see
"May I help you?" he asked mildly, averting his eyes from her body and back up to her face
"I'm taking Sheme Faski out for an hour, sorry if he's late back" she did not ask just stated
"Miko Faski?" he asked disbelievingly. She shrugged and nodded
"My, I must introduce myself, your scores on the home schooled exit tests were records, no one has beaten them since" she shrugged
"I never knew that, see ya" and then she was gone. He blinked, wondering if that had actually happened. He opened his copy of Vogue to see none other than a green haired goddess on a two-page spread wearing a long flowing toga with flowers through her hair and a golden bow and arrow.
"Beautiful" he murmured
Sheme was busy warding off the kids, they were not meant to leave the gates but the site of the magnificent cycle was too much for most of them
"Is it your Sheme?" he grinned
"My sister's"
"You mean the girl who just walked into the school?" it was an older boy who asked, the school catered for ages six to fourteen. He nodded
"She's hot!"
Miko smirked and shook her head. She pushed through the crowd gathering around her bike and swung her leg over, she offered Sheme a gloved hand and helped him up onto the high semi passenger seat.
"Got your helmet on?"
"Yes!" he half yelled. She revved the engine and few times as he placed his arms around her waist. She smirked to herself. The tyres squealed and they disappeared in a cloud of dust.
As promised the greasiest of food was on the menu. Sheme thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled, Miko did not spend huge amounts of money on him. He had never thought of her as a caregiver, and therefore did not expect lots of free stuff, rather more as a special friend, a protector maybe. He grinned as he chomped his way through his second burger
Tien came around that day. Miko found herself tense and edgy around him. She was unsure why but she was not comfortable sitting next to him as she had once been. She scolded herself for her weakness, she should not care. Not one bit. If she started to care then putting her plan into it's final stages would be too hard, then she would go mad, well the madness would get her. She moved an inch away from Tien, he frowned but said nothing. She could tell he was confused though
Authors note: seeing a pattern to Miko's behaviour forming? Well you won't find out for ages and ages and ages
Chou!
The (weak stomached) storyteller of ages.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Fun, freedom and lust-in which order
Tien's eyes widened as she pressed her mouth against his, his whole body tensed. Suddenly she melted away in a flash and a whirl of green hair, leaving him alone with her taste still on his lips. He awoke in a cold sweat
Miko jumped, she had heard footsteps. She heard a knock and murmured a "what?" Tien stuck his head around the door; she was never asleep at this time so he never had to worry about disturbing her.
Tien smiled to see her sitting half under the covers with a book in her hands, she was reading by moonlight.
"Can I come in?" he whispered, she nodded and moved over to give him somewhere to sit, but she went a step further and pulled the covers back, nothing on her face was seductive, it was perfectly innocent, he mentally shrugged and covered himself from the bite the air had, this was unusual considering it was almost summer, but it had been raining most of the day and had generally been a dreary sort of afternoon as well. She shuffled next to him
"Can't sleep?" she said, leaning on him suddenly, he tensed but relaxed as she put her book down
"Neither, but you already knew that" Miko whispered
"Hey Miko?" she smiled
"Hn?"
"About the other day" she tensed, suddenly remembering the way they had both avoided the subject of how she had kissed him.
"What about it?" she said shakily
"Umm, was that a date?" she suddenly grinned and kissed her agonizingly slow way from his chest up to his lips, a few seconds later she pulled away
"I'd say it was," she said smugly, leaning on him again
Tien couldn't breath; she had stolen away every once of sensible thought in him. He wrapped his arms around her
"How about another date then?" he heard her sigh and shift slightly
"Yeah sure, but perhaps we should make it a little less impromptu, if you know what I mean" he grinned and kissed her.
Miko felt her own eyes widen as his lips stole her breath, no one had ever done that to her, taken her power from her. But oddly it did not bother her. After another fiery kiss he left her alone. She sighed and turned over, not realising just how much time had passed as they sat in silence.
*
Miko awoke to find a pile of roses on her bed. Her eyes widened; he was quite the romantic. She allowed herself a moment of indulgence in this new gesture before she pulled herself up for her actions, she could not let him take control, it had to be her in charge. She could not fall for him; it would be too hard when she had to end it. She told herself sternly. But still, it was sweet.
Tien grinned as she came outside with a single rose in her hand, holding it so it rested against her cheek, she was in the white jersey but wearing loose cargo pants this time. He blinked as she came to a halt in front of him
"How does dinner tomorrow night sound?" He smiled
"Great, as long as you aren't cooking" this earned him a clouting with the flower and then a kiss on the cheek, no one else was around so they had the place to themselves. Master Roshi had gone for some kind of meeting, he did not know, and Chou zu and Yamcha to get supplies. He grinned as she turned away.
Miko grabbed her bag and stepped outside, she would be late for work if she did not hurry. Tien was waiting
"Ready to go?" she grinned
"Hurry" *
Bulma frowned at Miko; there was something different about her, a slight bounce in her step and a glow to her kin that she had only seen when she was around Sheme
"You've got a man!" she gasped. Miko stopped short from where she had been tinkering with the laptop Bulma had given her, she was trying to install a new operating system but it was not responding. He green haired girl shrugged
"Yeah, so" Bulma squealed
"Come on, who is he?" she interrogated Miko for the next hour but could get nothing out of her
Miko ignored Bulma's probing questions as the computer finally starting being nice. She left it to load and went to pick Sheme up from school
Sheme grinned as Miko turn 90-degree skid as she came to a stop. None of the kids were allowed out of the gates without a parent and if they walked home alone they left through a different exit. People were always admiring the bike when Miko decided to pick him up, at other times he went home with Trunks, but it was always fun zipping along on the back of Miko's bike. It was a few shades darker than her hair and suited her green clothing perfectly, even her helmet was green.
Miko waved as Sheme came rushing towards her. He grabbed the helmet and jumped on, he was getting pretty good at balancing, he hardly ever held onto her now, preferring to use the grips on the back of the seat she had put in place for him. He grinned as they shot away
Trunks saw Sheme shoot away on a really cool bike. He wondered who the driver was and if Sheme was allowed, he slipped round the side of the school and took off.
Miko felt Trunks coming up behind them. She grinned to herself as she flicked the switch, Sheme grabbed her waist and clung to her as a pair of booster engines used for leaving the atmosphere charged up
"Hold on" she called into the intercom in both helmets, in response Sheme's hands tightened around her waist. With a burst of speed along the now open road they shot away, blurred to the naked eye
Trunks blinked; this bike was fast. He increased his speed to catch up. He drew level with the bike and the smaller rider who he knew was Sheme turned his helmeted head. He blinked; Sheme did not wave. As they rounded a corner he realised he was hanging on for dear life, and his saijin ears were picking up laughter. He wondered why the driver had not noticed him yet. Suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed his collar, he yelped as they skidded to a halt.
Miko pulled her helmet off and released a squirming Trunks
"Long time no see" she said nonchalantly
"Hi" He said nervously
"You want a ride?" she could see his fingers itching to try the magnificent bike
"Ok" he jumped on
*
Bulma heard the roaring engine of Miko's bike and grinned. She came to a halt in the courtyard without her usual stunts, she was pretty good at it really. She grinned as a flushed Trunks jumped off and headed to some unknown place in the house with Sheme, Miko took her time, checking for scratches and such. She encapsulised the beauty and strode over to her
"Hey"
"So you gonna tell me who the mystery man is?" Miko sighed
"You sure you wanna know?" Bulma nodded
"Come on then" she led Bulma inside and told her.
"Oh my God! I always knew he liked you, so what's happening?" Miko shrugged
"Well, we're together I guess, second date tonight" she said through her almost disgusted expression, almost. Bulma was very feminine and girly as Miko would put it, so Miko found it easier to play to her persona, not too much, but enough to get on Bulma's good side, she would never get on well with Vegeta anyway.
"Oh my god! We have so little time! We have to go shopping! And then we'll have to find." Miko sighed; it was gonna be a long after noon
*
Tien landed outside Capsule Corp, he had agreed to meet Miko there, for some reason he was nervous, it was quite strange really, because he knew her pretty well anyway. He shrugged to himself and stuck his hands in his pockets. She always seemed to know when he was around, even though her sense her not that great.
Miko took a deep breath, the outfit was making her nervous. Not even for her job had this much fuss been made over her appearance. Bulma was as gifted with make up as Sally and as creative with hair as Rona, though maybe not with their varied qualifications. She stepped in front of the mirror and gaped. She looked.different. Her upper half was clad in a fitting shoestring top of bright red with a sort of shawl thing around her. She had a tight denim skirt with dolphin designed stitching around the lower hem and one up her left thigh, it had splits that went up to mid thigh. On her throat, wrists and ears were sparkling jewellery. She blinked at her face, artfully done her lips her a golden pink and her eyes were made up with soft light greens. She smiled then pouted. Her hair was in lots of little spirals giving a glossy light refracting bouncy effect, it sat just above her shoulders and looked perfect. She smiled and gave Bulma a quick hug before stepping into her low-heeled shoes and heading outside, grabbing her dark green leather jacket.
Tien's jaw dropped; Miko was standing in the doorway, as usual she looked stunning, but even more so now. She stepped up to him and grinned. His eyes travelled up and down her form more than once. She only grinned and took his arm. As they flew to the city limits his eyes never left her once.
Miko found herself enjoying the way he kept staring at her; it was not often she enjoyed being attractive. She blinked as the wind whipped her hair back. They landed on a building right out of the eyes of people and jumped down. She was glad her skirt had splits in it as she landed like a cat.
"Where to?" Tien asked, still unable to stop staring at her. He himself was dressed in a white shirt and casual loose pants with a cap on to cover his third eye, people tended to get nervous at the sight of it in the city. She smirked and took a capsule from a decorative pocket and threw it on the ground, in a puff of smoke a dark green motorcycle appeared. He grinned; it screamed Miko's name with the sleek style and colour. She threw a leg over and patted the seat behind her. He grinned and seated himself on the comfortable leather
"Hold on" Miko told him, he placed his arms around her waist and sat close to her. She pressed her thumb to the start button and revved the engine. The bike shot forwards.
Tien grinned as the wind rushed by. The bike suited Miko perfectly. He felt her lean forward, to remain holding on, he had never ridden a bike before, he had to lean with her, she did not seem to mind. He realised the bike was travelling faster than any vehicle he had ever head of. The streets blurred by, he did not even feel the turns and twisted as they snaked their way into nightlife side of town.
Miko pulled up outside a restaurant Sally had taken her to once. The food was good and it wasn't too upmarket, so she could avoid the press that followed famous people around, for if she ended up in the same restaurant as some one like Hercule she would never get left alone, especially after the way she had defeated him. Tien jumped off and offered his hand. She noticed how he acted like such a gentleman. She found it rather nice, though she knew she could no take too much of it.
Tien followed her into the building, it seemed like a nice place. They stopped in the foyer while she checked the reservation. He couldn't take his eyes off her. It was hard to believe that this was the same icy teenage girl who got drunk the day they met. Yet it became a lot easier when she snapped at the man at the desk for staring at her. He felt a flash of jealousy and slipped his arm around her waist. She flinched but relaxed. Moving a little closer to him
The man behind the desk quickly averted his eyes, the girl was a babe, and intimidating enough on her own, but the guy was worse, he could see the muscles beneath the white shirt and the powerful build, the expression was unmistakable as well. From his lower point he saw he arm slip around her waist and saw the possessive vibes. He cleared his throat nervously and began to tap away at the computer
"Y-your table is ready" he said, cringing as they both gave him a glare. But when he saw her golden eyes he knew she was by far the more frightening of the pair. He suddenly realised who she was, Nokia, the smoking hot super model, the one who beat Hercule in the second round of the world martial arts tournament. He gulped; she was definitely the scarier of the two.
Miko smiled warmly at Tien as they followed the waiter to a table in a corner, the restaurant was full of plants and such, a peaceful setting. She noticed he had not removed his arm from around her waist. The waiter stopped at a table and left two menus on it. She smiled and went to seat herself.
Tien grinned, he had meant to be the gentleman as Yamcha had instructed him (though he never did find out how Yamcha had known that a-he was going on a date, and b-just who with, he had also told Chou zu, who had been rather worried) but she had beaten him to it, he decided to go easy on the formal stuff for a bit
"How'd you find this place" Tien asked, looking around, his eyes coming back to rest on her. Miko smiled
"Sally took me here one day" he grinned, his eyes following her as she picked up the menu
"Get whatever, it's my date, so it's my way" she told him from behind the tasselled menu.
Tien shrugged; he was not going to turn down a free meal and Miko didn't sound as if she planned on letting him be the gentleman so far as to pay for the meal, after all, he had seen one of her pay checks, it was more than he believed it was possible to make in a year, let alone a month, and all for doing what she never seemed to be able to stop doing, being absolutely gorgeous.
The waiter who came to serve the pair had heard of who the girl was, though he did not know about the man, he noted with distaste that he had not removed his hat, but said nothing about it. After all, he did not really want to annoy some one with a body like that, and he had been there when Nokia had defeated the world champion. She had come off badly but she had still won. He did not feel like getting beaten up today. He could not help but stare at her though as he approached the table, she was even more attractive in person.
Miko looked up and grinned at the waiter, he immediately smiled back, she could see his eyes moving down from her face.
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. He swallowed. The entire staff was abuzz with excitement that such an elusive star was actually at their restaurant. He had been the lucky one to catch a glimpse of her. Nobody who had seen her was lying; she was mind numbingly stunning. He cleared his throat.
Tien looked up and grinned at Miko, she smiled back and turned her head to the waiter. He had no idea what she ordered but it had a complicated name. He got the house steak and Miko ordered a foreign sounding wine. He raised an eyebrow as the waiter disappeared
"What?" Miko frowned
"You're seventeen" he hissed at her, she shrugged, she had not thought about her age in a long while, it occurred to her for the first time that Tien must be at least five years older than her, most likely more. She shrugged
"So?"
Tien suddenly realised the age gap, she was underage, but then again that was only what she had told them
"You're underage, I could get arrested for letting you drink" he hissed, she started to shake. He realised she was trying not to laugh
"You mean to say," she choked
"That you," she covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently
"Think that you count as responsible for me" she choked the words out before collapsing onto the table in a fit of giggles, Tien frowned
"Well, I didn't think about it before but yes, Miko you are underage, and legally I can't even really date you let alone let you drink" She raised her head, her eyes flashing
"I have been an adult for three years. I have been thought of as one for even longer, this is no time for you to start thinking of me as a kid, I am an adult, whether you like it or not" she said all this in an angry hiss
Miko was now annoyed, he thought of her as a kid, not a woman. She was making over a million a year at the current estimates, how dare he. She could see him shifting uncomfortably
"Yeah I know but-"
"Ok stop" she raised a hand
"If you're going to think of me in terms that you are responsible for me then it ends here" her voice was not loud but it was definite and angry. He stared at her. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.
Tien blinked as she stood up and stalked out. He got up to follow her.
Miko stalked outside and took out her bike capsule, suddenly a hand grabbed her arm she jumped a foot in the air and swung around, her fists ready.
Tien jumped back as she swung around. She exhaled angrily when her eyes fell on him. Neither moved
"Miko I'm sorry," he said quickly
"It's just, can we go somewhere else and talk?" she scowled, but after a second or two she nodded
"You can fly" she told him icily. She decapsulised her bike and swung her leg over. He checked to see if anyone was watching and lifted into the air as she shot down a side street
Miko set the bike on silent and glided through the streets, she could sense Tien behind her. She was not really prepared to speak to him but she had a feeling now that he thought of her as a kid he would not leave her alone. She pulled up by a small parks, every time they went out they seemed to end up at a park.
Tien landed as she swung her leg off the bike and half sat half leaned on the seat. She was glaring daggers at him. He had to hold back yelps as they pierced his thought out speech he had planned on the trip to her chosen place
"Start talking," she said icily. He took a deep breath
"I'm sorry Miko, it's just when I remembered your age, well, I just panicked, you never come across as a teenager at all, but it's like a reality check" she raised an eyebrow, seeing no violent reaction coming he continued
"I feel protective of you, that's all, and I guess that under law I can't let you drink or anything like that, because I am an adult, and however you act, you are not" he had been planning to tell her this seriously but he was crumbling under her glare. Sounding rather pathetic. She was silent for a second, composing her thoughts he supposed, when she did speak it was matter of fact pronouncing her words slowly and with a bite that made him regret his words
"I work. I have. A life. I am. Not. A kid. If I was. I would not be dating some one. Your age." the remark made him realise how much older than her he was
"I am not a kid. I am a woman. I work. Live. And am responsible for a child without a chaperone. Why would I need one now?" He frowned
"Listen I'm sorry" he could think of nothing else
Miko felt her heart soften, no not her heart, her heart did not exist. But something softened. She suddenly felt different being around Tien, as if she were just a kid, She suddenly did not want to touch him, seduce him, excite him as she was so good at. She took a deep breath.
She felt very, not in control.
"Age was never a factor, just treat me the way I expect alright? I have to be independent; I don't want you to think of me that way. If you do you stop treating me the way you did before, and then it stops working"
Tien took a deep breath, she was standing well back, not coming close as he knew she normally would have, she communicated her emotions and thoughts through touch more than words. He sighed; it hurt to know she did not want to be near him, had she not relied on contact in the past it would be different.
Miko watched as he searched for words, she knew him well, well enough to know what he was thinking. She heard him exhale slowly as he looked at his shoes. She shivered, feeling a slight bite to the summer air.
Tien raised his head
"I never thought of you as a kid before, you never seemed like one"
"And now?" He sighed again, shuffling his feet
"I dunno, I guess I panicked. Can we not fight about it? I care about you too much, it's too trivial" She stared at him
"You suddenly start thinking about it now, you make me feel like I can't be the same around you if you're thinking about my age. It's been three years since I had to rely on anyone for anything, and fifteen since I wanted to. I couldn't handle you treating me as if you had to watch out for me. Or look after me, If you feel like you have to look after me then I don't feel the same about you, I can't feel the same about you" He noticed her eyes were suspiciously bright.
Miko found herself fighting tears she had meat only as a show, she did not know why she wanted to cry, she was angry, wasn't she? Or was she hurt?
But nothing hurt; you had to care for something for it to hurt.
Did she care about him?
She had convinced herself it was all part of the game.
But,
Then why did it hurt?
Tien saw her face move through various stages of confusion. She was staring at him on the outside but obviously trying to make sense of her own feelings on the inside. He blinked; he knew her better than he had originally thought. He took a tentative step closer to her, she did not move.
Miko was wondering just what she was feeling, hurt? Need maybe, a need to hold him, to be held, she pushed the thought away disgustedly. Perhaps a need to stop being angry, a need to let someone, someone in. She suddenly realised how close he was. It was oddly calming. She shivered again, more from emotion than cold
Unable to stop himself Tien swept her into a hug, noticing how cold she felt. She did not resist, leaning against him. He kissed the top of her head and tilted her chin to see her face
"I don't think of you as a kid" she tried but failed to scowl
"Then why are you speaking to me as you would a kid, I've had more life experience than you could imagine" He could not argue with that. He leant down to kiss her. She returned it with the fiery surge she seemed to generate, leaving him breathless and grinning stupidly. She smirked and pulled the brim of his cap down so it covered all his eyes. He felt her hands snaking their way around him where they pulled him closer, he felt her body heat increase his own.
He took a breath of air and stared at her from under the cap, he had a tiny line of vision as he worked his eyebrows to move it out of the way. Her face was back to that mischievous smirk that brought tremors of, he was not sure what it was, a mixture of nerves, desire and more than a little physical attraction. He knew that she did it on purpose rather than instinct, but if her intention was to excite him then she had certainly achieved it. He smiled tenderly and touched her cheek. She leaned her head into the contact and her hands tightened around him.
Miko could not understand how she could forgive him so easily. She closed her eyes for a second and ran her hand up to his shoulder blades. Her head found the perfect spot on his shoulder and stayed there. So content in this simply embrace was she, that she did not even remember to be disgusted with herself for it.
Tien sighed. Everything was patched up. It was obvious Miko did not like to be thought of as anything less than completely in control. Yet he could not help but feel protective of her, not because of her age, when he thought about it, she was not a teenager in any sense of the word but more because of what he had felt every time some one had stared at her, every time anyone had felt anything for her. Every time she felt something for some one else. He blinked as she pulled away and threw her leg over the bike
"Coming?" he shrugged, he would have been happy to stay the way they were all night. But he followed her willingly
Miko started the bike on silent mode and headed back the way they came. She chose a low-key club this time, quiet music, and simple food.
"I'm hungry, and I'm not going to waste a night out when I have this much money on me" she grinned at Tien and grabbed his hand
Tien thoroughly enjoyed a relaxed meal with Miko, there were few people there so it was quieter, and seemed to be what they both needed, after another story swapping session (though Miko never seemed to impart much of her history) they headed back to Kame house, it was past mid night when Tien landed and placed Miko on the sand.
Miko reached up and kissed him again before gliding silently upstairs. Angry with herself for forgetting her mission, angry at herself for not stopping herself, angry for not hurting him. Angry at herself for being hurt. Angry with herself for being happy everything had worked out. She shed her clothes and went straight to bed, not bothering to put a pair of pyjamas over her undergarments. Her dreams were an angry swirl of confusion, mixed with anger and helplessness and rage, and bitter sweet.
Love?
~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: All uphill from here-what have I done?
Miko awoke to find breakfast on a tray sitting on her bedside table. She scowled; he was so sweet,
Too sweet,
He was making her happy
"I'm happy?"
"Yeah you are"
"But I'm never happy, that means I care"
".So?"
"If I care then that means it'll be impossible to pull off my plan!"
"Screw the plan! Where will it get you?"
"Revenge, that's where!"
"Is that a good thing?"
"It's better than pain, if you let some one past your defences there is nothing to stop them coming too close, what if you went a step further?"
"If you sleep with him that's your problem, just go with it, it's never stopped you in the past, if you don't want to turn up the heat then what purpose does he have?"
"None"
"Except,"
"He makes me happy"
The battle inside her head raged on as she ate half of what was there, it was still hot, she smiled; Tien wasn't a half bad cook. Coming to no decision she sighed and got up. She pulled a dressing gown over herself and headed for the bathroom for a hot shower and some comfortable clothes.
Tien was busy training as Miko stepped outside, her face was a mixture of happiness and confusion, as though she was not used to such attention. He grinned to himself, he found it highly enjoyable to make her smile, really smile,
She did it more often these days.
*
A few weeks later everyone got together again to catch up, it had become a sort of tradition to do this every once in a while. It became obvious to everyone pretty quickly whom Miko was with. Tien got a lot about it but he could not care less; Miko was more than worth it.
Miko smiled into her drink, it was orange juice with a twist of vodka, Tien had not bugged her once about her drinking and it seemed to have become a non issue, which was good, she had been drinking since age ten and had no intention of giving it up now. She smiled to herself as she thought of the coming week. As usual her work fluctuated a lot and she had nothing on all week, she decided to take Sheme on a trip for a few days. He wouldn't mind missing school for that long. She was also smiling for another reason that no one except herself and Sheme knew about.
Sheme grinned at Tien, he liked Tien, he was glad Tien was Miko's boyfriend. He waved as the triclops came up to him
"Hey Sheme?"
"Yeah?" he dropped the toy car in his hand (he had been busy doctoring the minuscule engine)
"I have a question"
"What is it?"
"When is Miko's birthday?"
"You mean you don't know?" he shook his head. Sheme giggled
"She'd get mad if I told you"
"Then you can tell her it's all my fault and I threatened to tickle you if you didn't tell me, she can't be mad for that" Sheme could think of a few reasons she could find. Miko did not get mad often, but strange things annoyed her
This seemed to satisfy the kid in the end
"It's in two days" Tien gulped, that wasn't much time. He shrugged it off and ruffled Sheme's hair
"Thanks Sheme. Listen I need your help with something."
They plotted dastardly schemes for a while before parting to their various tasks, one, dissecting an engine, another, dissecting the mind of a certain super model.
*
Miko felt some one gently shake her awake. She opened her eyes to Tien and then Sheme. She sat bolt upright, her breathing coming in hard ragged gasps as she got over the shock. She turned to Sheme
"What are you doing here?" she narrowed her eyes at Tien
"Happy Birthday!" he cried, throwing something soft and white over her head, She yelped as it blocked her sight. She heard Sheme's giggles and a deep chuckle she assumed was Tien's.
Tien laughed as she finally found her way out from underneath the fur. Her hair was in a tangled mess that was rather comical against her scowl
"Well?" she frowned
"Well what?"
"Do you like it?" She pulled the rest of herself out from under what was revealed to be an elaborate fur quilt, double sided, snow white, and very warm
Miko stared at it. It was amazing, perfect
"I love it" she breathed, her eyes wide and a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She smothered them both and began to examine it more closely, asking questions nineteen to the dozen, pausing only to hug them. She found elaborate and beautiful stitching in red and blue just visible under the thick white fur, it was soft enough to use without a sheet and incredibly warm. Summer was in full swing at this point and it had been four moths and two days since the hulking tri clops had swept her of her feet.
Tien grinned stupidly as she kissed him then hugged Sheme
"So you like it then?" she grinned and place one arm around his neck, and the other around Sheme's shoulders
"I love it," she said simply.
~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: My heart tears, two sides pulling-nothing in between
Miko sat on her bed thinking. There was a knock and Tien entered. She looked up and smiled, standing up to kiss him. He smiled into her lips as her hands made their way to their customary place around him.
A surge of desire ran through Tien as her hands pulled him closer, he could never get used to the way she acted when they were alone, suddenly she pulled away to look at him, her hand taking the front of his shirt and pulled him with her as she lay back down. Suddenly he was afraid, he removed his weight from above her and swallowed
Miko frowned
"What?" he blushed, looking rather afraid
"I've..never." his voice tailed away. She inhaled
"Oh" she smirked seductively
"We can fix that" her hand reached out to pull him closer again. He did not move
"I don't know Miko" he stammered. She suddenly felt hurt but shrugged it off. She had never met a man who had turned her down before, and she was not inexperienced in this area. She smiled; it was actually quite refreshing
"Ok" she nodded
Tien sighed; she still scared him with her forwardness at times. He felt sure she was no virgin, the way she seduced him was far too skilful. But he was glad she did not press it any further, he wanted her, how he wanted her, but he was also afraid, though of what he had had no idea
Miko smiled and settled for kissing him instead
*
Miko felt herself growing more and more attached to Tien. When she went to work her thoughts drifted to his touch and once, just once, she had been accused of day dreaming, ("about who we must wonder" Sally had said) She found herself wishing he was beside her at odd hours of the day. At this point she was busy chomping through a sandwich in a small café on her lunch break. People stared at her from time to time but it did not get to her the way it used to. She was mulling over what to do, however much she found herself craving Tien's kiss, Tien's touch, his sweet natured gestures, the consequences were always nagging at the back of her mind, souring anything they might have truly shared. She often wondered if he had somehow sensed this, maybe this was what made him afraid to take it a step further. She sighed and found no decision come to her mind. Instead she sank back into her hard shell and stopped feeling. But as soon as she saw him her resolve melted like ice over a lit match.
She decided she would just have to extinguish that match then.
*
Tien frowned, looking at Miko carefully, over the past month she had slowly drawn away from him, her manner had become more reserved and much quieter and almost cold to him. He tilted her chin to stare at her expressionless face.
"What's wrong?" He kept his tone gentle, though underneath he was angry, frustrated, and for some reason fighting the urge to hit her. He did not know why though, but something in the way she was acting went deeper than the skin. He knew she was well able to defend herself but if caught off guard by one with possibly twice her strength she would not take a hit to the face and get back up. He blinked as she suddenly pulled away
"Nothing" Miko said quickly, looking anywhere but his face. She was regretting her choice to get involved with Tien, everything was crumbling, he got sweeter every day, forever trying to please her, he never put any pressure on her for anything and worshipped her as if she were the sun and the moon. Her head was at war and her heart was non-existent. She backed away, closing her eyes. This course of action caused her to trip on a table and smack her head on the way down, it did not hurt too much but immediately Tien was beside her, lifting her up and laying her down on the couch, checking for a wound, making sure she was ok. She suddenly felt the urge to slap him, hurt him, anything to make him stop being so sweet
"Stop it!" Tien blinked
"What do you mean?" she sat up, despite his attempts to stop her
"Being so dam sweet! Being so."
"What?" he gently pushed her back down. Placing a cushion under her head
"Stop making me love you!" she yelled the words in his face
As soon as the words left her mouth Miko regretted them, she covered her mouth, he was staring at her, his face a mixture of elation and dejection. Here was nothing she could say to amend what she had done. It was bad in more than one way. She stood up and ran.
Tien shot after her, catching her arm, she was almost jerked off her feet, he helped her back up. She shoved him away. He frowned as she stood at a distance
"What did I do?" He asked. He had no idea how to take her words. She raised her hands, searching for words, and then dropped them in defeat
"I-I, I don't know" she disappeared
Miko flew as far and as fast as she could. What was going on in her head? She landed on her customary spot on a cliff overlooking the sea, near her hometown. She sighed as the sea breeze caressed her face.
Tien rested his head in his hands. He was unsure as to what to do. She didn't want him to be "sweet" as she put it, which he assumed was trying to please her, but she had also said she loved him, in different words though. He stood up and lifted into the air, praying that training would take his mind off her, though it never had in the past. He noticed also that every once in a while Chou zu and Yamcha disappeared. He knew well enough what they thought about his relationship with Miko; that it was, more than it was. But he did not really care. He was certain he loved her; there was no other explanation for the way he felt around her.
Miko sat with her chin resting on her hands, she was thinking in a downward spiral of black confusion. She had no idea what she was feeling or how she was feeling it. But in any case she could not ignore the fact that she had said something she had trained herself to never feel, never think about, never speak of, and never acknowledge; Love. And she had no idea what to do.
Tien spent several hours training, it was nearing night by the time he stopped and went to look for Miko, there was no particular reason apart from the fact he wanted to see her, it was not as if much could happen to her that she couldn't deal with. Her ki was still far too elusive to pinpoint, as elusive as her, it added to her mystic, the same mystic she used to draw him in. He grinned stupidly into the wind as it rushed by.
Miko was currently on her way to Satan city, she felt like a night out, she lived the high life in her other life, she went to cafes, drank the finest of wines, strolled the most expensive of shops, consulted her agent almost every day for what was booked and so on. She suddenly felt Tien's ki and scowled; he was annoyingly possessive about her at odd times, making it known through body language she was spoken for, this annoyed her a little; if she wanted attention she would get it, it wasn't as if he could stop her. She pulled of her coat, it was a thick knee-length black one, the thick material was annoying to fly in. Underneath she wore a very low cut red strapless top. She smirked; she would get noticed in this.
Tien sighed and turned around, she certainly did not want to be found. He shrugged to himself and decided to speak to her as soon as she came back, she always did.
*
Miko grinned as a guy looked her up and down, she caught his chin in her hand and pulled him closer, he swallowed
"You should know," she whispered huskily
"That I" she ran a finger down the centre of his chest
"Am more than you could handle" she pushed him lightly; of course the force threw him off his feet. She stepped over the gaping man and left the nightclub. She had wanted some stress relief and dancing in strobe lighting and a large crowd seemed to have worked; she was not so tense and pleasantly tired, dancing, whomever you were and however much ki you had seemed to tire everyone. She stepped into an alleyway and looked carefully about herself
"Hey sweetie" some one grabbed her from behind. Without a second thought she flipped her would be attacker and swung him into a wall. In the process however part of her top had been ripped, it still covered her but only just, she swore and kicked the man in the ribs, hard
Tien felt Miko's ki surge for a second; he now knew where she was. It fell back to normal immediately and he felt it approach. She was obviously upset about something or she would not be going so accurately or so fast. He seated himself on the couch to wait. Yamcha and Chou zu were long since asleep. They never asked questions about him and Miko unless they were trying to rile her up, they never succeeded. He stood up as she entered, her shirt was ripped almost to the point of indecency and her hair was ruffled out of the newest style, thanks to the speed with which her hair grew it had a new cut every few weeks. He strode over to her, stepping over the sleeping forms of Chou zu and Yamcha. She glanced at him and headed straight for the stairs
Miko scowled as Tien caught her arm
"Can we talk?" he hardly ever told her what to do anymore, but his grip and his face told her this was not a request
"Later, I'm tired" his grip tightened
"No, now" she narrowed her eyes
"You don't want to annoy me right now" she said, allowing the lethal edge beneath her skin to come through
Tien swallowed but held his ground; her tone was quiet, and terrifying
"Now" he repeated. Her eyes narrowed to slits, the golden pupils seeming almost to glow in the moonlight coming from the windows. He sighed and let go
"This isn't over Miko," he told her
Miko closed her door and collapsed onto the bed. She had no idea what she was meant to do now. She suddenly smirked, her darker thoughts filling her mind.
*
"Kill, kill, taste the blood, it's sweet flavour, kill, kill, kill, hurt, pain, kill, kill, kill" Tien looked about him, a voice he knew terrifyingly well was hissing in his ear
"Let me rip, let me tear, taste the flesh, feel the death, inflict pain, feed off the suffering"
Suddenly Miko was beside him, he turned to her. Her eyes were narrowed to slits and her mouth was curled into, not any smile he had ever seen, he suddenly saw a streak of crimson on her lips, it slowly ran down past her chin and landed with a small splat on the black ground beneath them. He blinked, suddenly noticing sharpened teeth showing over her lower lip. She licked her upper lip. He backed away, suddenly he impacted something else, he swung around to see another Miko, her face was tired and her eyes sad. He blinked, looking closely at her. She was bone thin, all her ribs showing, and her face taut and pinched. He could see nothing but sadness in her face. He was suddenly afraid. He swung around to find himself confronted by another, the Miko he knew, her face was content and relaxed, her smile as sparkling as it always was. He was suddenly aware of more than one presence. He slowly turned around to find a countless Mikos surrounding him. The ones he had already seen and two others were most definable. One was filthy, her long hair matted, Her face was confused and angry, she was holding her head. And the other, the other. He could not breath. He took a stumbling step back as she advanced. Her eyes were steely, more terrifying than he had ever seen. Cold and hard, she had a dagger in one hand and a blood red rose in the other; suddenly both of these began to bleed. The circle around him dissolved into a swirling crimson and blue ocean. He saw a flash of green hair and swam after it. He trailed the green spec for what felt like an eternity, suddenly he was sucked underneath the surface. He flailed and struggled. He saw the bottom and gaped; Miko was lying there, he eyes open and staring, her face pulled into a silent scream. He swam down, trying to reach her. She looked at him for a second then smiled weakly, suddenly dark tendrils he could not sense encircled his arms, pulling him away, she began to rise to the surface, passing him, he reached for her outstretched fingers, missing by a inch before the world went black as the dark arms covered him and melted into a world of inky blackness. He heard a single, high-pitched, and horribly mirthless laugh and suddenly realised he could not breath. There was a flash of green across his vision. He blinked and a pair of hands pierced his chest. He would have screamed had he been able to. Fatal pain ripped through him and he saw his own heart beating in a pair of hands surrounded by swirling green hair, he could not see her face but knew it was Miko, she drew a dagger out of nowhere and drove it through is still beating heart. Everything dissolved with the sound of his silent agonized scream
Tien awoke in a cold sweat, his breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. He suddenly realised arms were around him. He blinked a few times and saw Yamcha sitting on his knees next to him and Chou zu beside him. He realised the arms could only belong to one person. There was a warm sensation on his shoulder and he gradually became aware of the sound of sobbing
"Thank god" a voice whispered. He turned his head to feel silky hair. He raised a hand to his head and realised he was trembling all over. He turned to tilt Miko's head so as to see her face. Petrified of what he might see. He did not remember the dream, except that it had been about her, and that now he was almost too scared to look at her
Miko sniffed a little as he lifted her chin. He was staring at her as if she were the devil himself. She blinked as he let out a breath
"What happened?" he sounded disoriented and strained. Yamcha answered for her, she could barely breathe let alone speak
"You were.asleep..you were screaming and thrashing around, we couldn't wake you, you were yelling about demons and devils and dark magic and evil and blood and pain and fear, and." his voice tailed away
"Miko" Chou zu finished. Miko did not look into his eyes. She had heard the sound of yelling and had come running downstairs to find Yamcha trying to restrain Tien as he thrashed around hard enough to injure himself, it had taken all her strength just to hold onto him, she ended up singing in the end, a lullaby she used to hear as a child, the only thing that would truly calm her raging spirit before Sheme. Surprisingly it had calmed him for a second or two, then he had awoken. She realised Yamcha was looking at her
"I never knew you could sing" she frowned
"I didn't either" She turned back to resting her head on Tien's shoulder, he was drenched in sweat and shaking all over. Not to mention the fact he felt like ice
Tien shook his head dazedly
"Maybe you should sleep in my bed tonight, I'll take the couch" Miko told him, it was not a suggestion, more a sugar coated order
"Fine, just, just let me, change, I'm soaking" he shivered, feeling like a small child. Miko had to help him get dressed in the end, this did not faze her at all surprisingly. She led him up to her room and put him to bed as if he were a small child. He felt weak and afraid. But her scent filled the room so strongly it acted almost as a tranquilliser. He fell asleep to a soft kiss on his forehead.
Miko stepped downstairs and collapsed on the couch
"Gods, what was wrong with him?" she wondered aloud. Master Roshi was standing in the doorway to his own room, where he had been standing ever since she first came downstairs
"I think we'd all like to know Miko" his quiet voice was accusing. No more was said. She took her coat and tried to sleep under that. Carefully monitoring Tien's ki for any more unusual fluctuations.
*
Tien awoke feeling strange. His muscles would not respond and he found all he wanted to do was sleep, yet he could not keep his eyes shut. The door opened and Miko stepped in. She was carrying a tray and it smelt good
"Morning" she looked as if she hadn't slept for days
"What happened last night?" he was asking honestly for it was a dazed blur
Miko did not know how to answer that. She settled for kissing him on the forehead and setting the tray on the bedside table, she had called in sick for work, she had no idea what was wrong with Tien,
But she had a feeling it had something to do with her
"Miko?" she looked up and smiled
"Yes" she had picked up the cup of steaming coffee she had made for herself, and was holding it in front of her face, blowing the steam away
"What's this?"
Silence.
*
He held up a small book bound in the exact colour of her hair. Her eyes widened and she stood up, dropping the cup, black liquid spilling over the carpet
"No" she whispered. His eyes narrowed and he forced his limbs to obey as he sat up
"How could you?" he slowly got up, advancing on her, an angry gleam in his eyes. She covered her mouth to calm her ragged breathing. He stepped close enough to touch her and stopped
"How could you?" he hissed again. She shook her head, sinking to her knees, quivering
"YOU BITCH!" he screamed, suddenly kicking her in the ribs, she flew into a wall, gasped in pain and slid down to the floor.
~~~~~~~~
"You rip my heart to pieces And kiss the pain away
You sneak up on me
Stealing my soul
Ensnaring my senses Making me crazy I want you For my own For all time
You make my life a churning ocean You steal away my reason I don't want to feel this way But without you Without you I would fade away Promise me
You won't fade away"
~~~~~~~~
Maybe I'd be nicer if somebody would review me
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Sacrifice-pain and decisions.
Miko sighed as she shouldered her bag, it was stuffed to bursting with approximately half her possessions. She was leaving most of her outfits at Bulma's as she would be there a lot anyway. She sighed again as Sheme entered, dragging his teddy bear behind him. She had stopped at their hole of a house and picked up his stuff for him, his toys and such. She smiled sadly as he jumped on her unmade bed and snuggled under the covers
"Do you really have to go?" he asked dolefully. Miko grinned and slipped in beside him
"You'll see me every day, you just won't be able to beat me up with a pillow" he grinned at this but his expression shifted back to his glum face
"Can I come with you?" she smiled sadly and shook her head. How she loved the red haired boy and his innocent affection. He had no idea what she was really like. She tenderly ruffled his hair
"I need somebody to keep Vegeta in line for me, you up for it?" she knew Vegeta would not hurt Sheme, and the kid was fast, especially when exiting the scene of a crime.
Sheme sniffed, he did not want his big sister to go, she was so much fun and they had their own world, she was not like a mother, but he listened to her, she understood him better than anyone else, aunty Bulma was nice but Miko was better
"And who will beat up Trunks if I'm not there?" His face brightened
"Ok, but you have to promise to come here every day" he told her sternly. She grinned and nodded, giving him a quick hug before jumping up again and whacking him with a pillow
*
Tien grinned at Miko as she came out to him. She did not look in any state to fly. He found her flying abilities fluctuated so much it was dangerous for her to fly. She did anyway though, he had not mentioned it again but decided it would be better if she stopped hurting herself all the time. She waved to Sheme who stood in the door
"Ready?" she sighed sadly and nodded. By mutual agreement he lifted her off the ground by the back of her knees and the middle of her back as she placed her arms around his neck. He shot away. Leaving Sheme to wave them good-bye
Miko fought tears. She cursed herself; she did not know why she was so sad. She leaned into Tien's bulk and found it surprisingly comforting, his arms tightened around her to become more like an embrace than a simple hold. She said nothing, breathing into his collarbone
Tien blinked as she leaned against him, he could feel her ki going lower. She was sad, and he knew it was genuine. He tightened his hold on her slightly as the island came into view. She shifted slightly and he rearranged his grip to what it was earlier.
Miko smiled a little at Yamcha, he had forgiven her it seemed. Her plan had not been going so well. But at this point she was not sure if she wanted it anymore. At this point all she could think about was the peace she was leaving behind. She was still on painkillers for her ribs and she had another week before returning to work.
She headed upstairs to her room without a word and dumped her bag. She collapsed on the familiar bed and felt tears well up inside her. She shoved them down. More and more often she wanted to cry. She lay there for maybe three hours before unpacking her things then going straight to bed, even though it would be hours until dark.
Tien stuck his head around the door to see Miko fast asleep, her eyes were puffy he was certain she had been crying. He smiled a little; she was slowly opening up.
Life returned to normal after that. Though Miko went to see various people more often, training with Goku and Gohan every once in a while and Tien and Yamcha the rest of the time. Her power was growing, albeit slowly. This did not bother her, she knew she would never catch up to the others, they were so beyond her, but she had her wits and cunning, and they had never let her down in the past. She sighed and closed her eyes. She was lying on the sand underneath the full moon in little more than a sarong. It was getting to summer so the nights were hot. She sighed and wondered about who she was. She heard footsteps and saw Tien standing above her. She blushed and pulled the sarong over her bra, she noticed it shone silver in the moonlight. He just grinned and sat down next to her
"Thinking?" he asked as if he had not just seen her state of undress
"Something like that" she murmured. Tien grinned again, every time he saw her the more he was convinced of how gorgeous she was. She sat up suddenly, the thin piece of cloth falling away
"Tien, why does nobody trust me?" there was such hurt in her eyes he could not tell her the truth, instead he pulled her against him in a gentle hug, she did not resist, her skin warm against his bare chest.
"They do, Miko, it's just, you act a little strange sometimes" she tensed and tried to pull away, he suddenly realised how tightly he had been holding her and opened his arms. She stared at him through a hurt expression. Neither said a word
Miko knew he was trying to soften the truth. She had already known the answer, she had convinced herself it was just another game but the hurt was too real, she told herself it was part of her plan
"Screw the plan! If you like him don't screw with his head! You'll lose him!"
"Shut up! Where did that voice come from?"
"Admit it, you like him! You like him! You like him!" she silenced the war inside her by standing up and walking inside.
Tien sighed and sank into thought. He wondered whether anything she did was real. The only things he could be sure of about her was that he was falling head over heels for her and that Sheme was the only one she loved. Suddenly he felt a presence and looked behind him to see Miko standing there. She was in a thick white jersey that appeared to glow silver as her bra had in the moonlight and a pair of track pants and a baseball cap. Her face was, tense? Afraid? Nervous seemed to be the word
Miko took a deep breath
"You wanna go get something to eat?" she asked as casually as she could, Tien seemed to start, he swallowed then smiled, almost in relief
"Yeah, why not" Miko blushed, noticing him do the same, he rose into the air, supporting her by her forearm, she smiled, holding onto the hard muscles of his lower arm, noticing just how much wider the girth of his muscle was next to her own. This made her slightly uneasy. She pulled the baseball cap off her head and plonked it on his, he grinned; it covered his third eye exactly
"Perfect" she called over the wind force, Satan city came into view. Tien brought her down to land in the outer extremities of the city, she linked her arm in his, containing a laugh and they marched down the street, both biting their tongues to hold back hysteria that had welled up out of nowhere
Miko bit into her hamburger
"It's been a while since I had one'a these" she said through an extremely tasty mouthful, Tien was looking uncertainly at his
"How do you get it in your mouth?" he asked, Miko smiled
"You open it, and shove as much as you can in then bite, then you chew and then you swallow then you bite some more because it's really tasty" she mumbled the last word as she pushed more of the tower of bread, meat, relish, and lettuce between her small jaws, somehow fitting a remarkably large amount in. Tien shrugged and copied her action; it wasn't half bad. He grinned, trying to chew with his mouth so full he could barely keep it closed. Miko collapsed laughing, setting what was left of her's in its box on the park bench
"Here" she took a napkin and wiped his chin where mayonnaise had run down in a warm line, she smiled as her touch sent a jolt through him
"All betta'" she said lightly
"Not bad" he said approvingly, swallowing the last of his mouthful
"Robert keeps telling me to "watch my figure now" but since I'm training I have to eat heaps. Last night all I dreamed about was huge piles of junk food, mountains of fries and towers of burgers" she pretended to drool, swallowing the last piece of burger, she patted her stomach
"Straight to the hips" she said, satisfied. Tien shrugged as finished his burger
"Just how much do you guys eat? I mean I hardly eat with you so I wouldn't know" Tien grinned widely
"A lot, when we were on King Kai's planet-"
"Huh?"
"Well we got to go there when we died-"
"You died" she raised an eyebrow
"We got wished back, but because we spent our lives defending earth we got to train"
"How'd you get wished back?"
"With the dragonballs"
"Oh yeah, Bulma gave me this huge database to read, I'm halfway through it"
"Then you'll know quite a bit already"
"Yeah now continue"
"Yeah well Goku is famous for eating enough to make the average elephant explode in five minutes, and anyway me Yamcha Chou zu and Piccolo were up there training, and King Kai would make us some killer food, but we trained so hard that we had to eat almost as much as Goku would here on earth, and that's a lot of food, King Kai would get so angry at us when we left none for him, man, I've never would have thought a blue guy could turn dark purple, I swear he nearly killed us, of course Piccolo doesn't eat, but between us we ate in a day what would have filed the average saijin for a week, and that is a lot of food"
"Wow, How much food are we talking?" Tien thought for a second
"Well, can you imagine a really, really large." they sat there for two hours, swapping stories
Miko smiled tiredly, as she slipped through the door, she heard a yawn behind her and turned to face Tien
"Goodnight" she whispered, he nodded, on impulse she kissed full on the lips before disappearing upstairs, leaving him frozen in place
Tien heard a chuckle
"Was that Miko I just heard?" Yamcha's voice whispered, Tien blushed furiously and lay down on his sleeping mat, regulating his breathing so as to appear to be asleep, he heard Yamcha chuckle again and then there was silence except for the occasional tiny thud from upstairs where he assumed Miko was busy stretching as she did every night, she said it got her nicely tired
Miko was in fact climbing onto the roof; she loved to watch the moon from up there. She sat cross-legged for a while before slipping back inside, taking off her dressing gown and falling asleep underneath the covers of her bed
*
Tien woke at dawn as usual, he got up and went for a shower; they were much better for waking up than a swim in an icy lake. When he left the bathroom he found Yamcha grinning at him
"You dog" Tien blushed and scowled, sidestepping Yamcha and heading outside. What he saw made him want to face Yamcha instead
Miko was busy training, she had a shoot tomorrow and she wanted some stress relief, she saw Tien and froze, aware of how little she was wearing. Her top half was covered by a jogging top and she was wearing mid thigh length lycra shorts that sat about her hips. She blushed furiously then went back to punching a pretend person. Moving as fast as she could
Tien gulped and stepped onto the sand, she would be training all day by the looks of it, he became aware of why she was wearing such little clothing, it was sweltering outside. He rose into the air
"Feel like a training match?" he asked casually, she looked up as if just seeing him
"Morning" she said brightly
"Sure, just don't break me in half, I can't have to many bruises, Robert said he'd come down and shoot you all if I came in with any more "ugly marks" make up can only do so much" Tien blushed a little then grinned. He took a fighting stance, digging his feet into the sand, she steadied herself and charged, flipping right over his head before driving both fists into the base of his neck, he sank downwards to minimise the impact, she smirked as she landed nearby, Tien grinned, she had a vast array of imaginative move combinations nobody else would ever have thought of, he made a note to steal a few.
Yamcha smirked as they went at it for the ninth time, he supposed she was just relieving the tension and he was just keeping the hell out of her way. Poor guy, Yamcha thought; his heart went out to Tien, he had found himself a real firecracker of a girl to fall for, though he had a feeling neither was going to admit it for some time
Authors note: Umm, really at this point even I have no idea what Miko's plan is
Chou!
The (weak stomached) storyteller of ages
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Affairs of the heart-my love calls me, and I push him away
Miko sat with her chin on her hands. She was passing the time during her lunch break, she had an hour. Suddenly she decided to take Sheme out of school for a while and give him a treat. She saw him every afternoon and on the weekends but it still felt like she was only visiting instead of taking care of him. She popped the capsule for her custom made Samurai bad girl motor cycle, it was sleek and a dark shade of green, almost black. She loved it. It was not the average air bike, it ran off a pollution free engine that still made the noise, but not too much, it was on wheels simply because Miko wanted it that way, but it could be run above ground as well but it did not seem worth it. Bulma had given it to her so she could get around the city, it was not for off road travelling so she could not use it anywhere else, but it was still fun. She threw her leather-covered leg over the perfectly fitted seat and half draped her body over the front, it was designed so the rider leant forward over a rest. The reason being this was a speed bike, the speed bike. She pressed her thumb to the start button and grinned as the engine roared into life. With her now shoulder length hair whipping everywhere she laughed and joined the traffic.
Sheme sighed and glared at his book, lunchtime would be coming up in real soon, he was a little sad because he could not see his sister all the time and the fact that he did not like maths all that much added to his boredom. He jumped as the bell clanged loudly. The class emptied at the speed of light, literally.
Miko spun the bike in a 90-degree skid and smirked, it had taken her a day to gain complete control over her toy. She sat up straighter and placed the helmet over her head; she could not set a bad example for Sheme, the bell rang and kids began to pour out of the building. She brought one knee to rest in front of her and scouted about for Sheme's distinctive head. She suddenly saw a spec of red and grinned
Sheme saw the kids around him gasp and whistle in awe. The reason was waiting at the gates of the playground, he laughed out loud when he saw Miko's bike, she loved it, as soon as she figured out how to use it hey had gone on a joyride round the city. She was clad in all leather and her hair hung loose and wild on her shoulders. She waved and he ran up to her. She pulled the helmet from her had and grinned at his flushed face
"How does the greasiest American fast food joint sound kid?" she asked. He laughed
"Yeah!" she grinned and tossed him the second helmet hidden in a side compartment
"I'll just go let your teachers know"
Principal Kiwai looked up and jumped, standing before him was the most attractive woman he had seen in his whole life, clad in leather with a bike helmet under her arm and her wild green hair all around her face she looked like a character out of a movie, one he would very much like to see
"May I help you?" he asked mildly, averting his eyes from her body and back up to her face
"I'm taking Sheme Faski out for an hour, sorry if he's late back" she did not ask just stated
"Miko Faski?" he asked disbelievingly. She shrugged and nodded
"My, I must introduce myself, your scores on the home schooled exit tests were records, no one has beaten them since" she shrugged
"I never knew that, see ya" and then she was gone. He blinked, wondering if that had actually happened. He opened his copy of Vogue to see none other than a green haired goddess on a two-page spread wearing a long flowing toga with flowers through her hair and a golden bow and arrow.
"Beautiful" he murmured
Sheme was busy warding off the kids, they were not meant to leave the gates but the site of the magnificent cycle was too much for most of them
"Is it your Sheme?" he grinned
"My sister's"
"You mean the girl who just walked into the school?" it was an older boy who asked, the school catered for ages six to fourteen. He nodded
"She's hot!"
Miko smirked and shook her head. She pushed through the crowd gathering around her bike and swung her leg over, she offered Sheme a gloved hand and helped him up onto the high semi passenger seat.
"Got your helmet on?"
"Yes!" he half yelled. She revved the engine and few times as he placed his arms around her waist. She smirked to herself. The tyres squealed and they disappeared in a cloud of dust.
As promised the greasiest of food was on the menu. Sheme thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled, Miko did not spend huge amounts of money on him. He had never thought of her as a caregiver, and therefore did not expect lots of free stuff, rather more as a special friend, a protector maybe. He grinned as he chomped his way through his second burger
Tien came around that day. Miko found herself tense and edgy around him. She was unsure why but she was not comfortable sitting next to him as she had once been. She scolded herself for her weakness, she should not care. Not one bit. If she started to care then putting her plan into it's final stages would be too hard, then she would go mad, well the madness would get her. She moved an inch away from Tien, he frowned but said nothing. She could tell he was confused though
Authors note: seeing a pattern to Miko's behaviour forming? Well you won't find out for ages and ages and ages
Chou!
The (weak stomached) storyteller of ages.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Fun, freedom and lust-in which order
Tien's eyes widened as she pressed her mouth against his, his whole body tensed. Suddenly she melted away in a flash and a whirl of green hair, leaving him alone with her taste still on his lips. He awoke in a cold sweat
Miko jumped, she had heard footsteps. She heard a knock and murmured a "what?" Tien stuck his head around the door; she was never asleep at this time so he never had to worry about disturbing her.
Tien smiled to see her sitting half under the covers with a book in her hands, she was reading by moonlight.
"Can I come in?" he whispered, she nodded and moved over to give him somewhere to sit, but she went a step further and pulled the covers back, nothing on her face was seductive, it was perfectly innocent, he mentally shrugged and covered himself from the bite the air had, this was unusual considering it was almost summer, but it had been raining most of the day and had generally been a dreary sort of afternoon as well. She shuffled next to him
"Can't sleep?" she said, leaning on him suddenly, he tensed but relaxed as she put her book down
"Neither, but you already knew that" Miko whispered
"Hey Miko?" she smiled
"Hn?"
"About the other day" she tensed, suddenly remembering the way they had both avoided the subject of how she had kissed him.
"What about it?" she said shakily
"Umm, was that a date?" she suddenly grinned and kissed her agonizingly slow way from his chest up to his lips, a few seconds later she pulled away
"I'd say it was," she said smugly, leaning on him again
Tien couldn't breath; she had stolen away every once of sensible thought in him. He wrapped his arms around her
"How about another date then?" he heard her sigh and shift slightly
"Yeah sure, but perhaps we should make it a little less impromptu, if you know what I mean" he grinned and kissed her.
Miko felt her own eyes widen as his lips stole her breath, no one had ever done that to her, taken her power from her. But oddly it did not bother her. After another fiery kiss he left her alone. She sighed and turned over, not realising just how much time had passed as they sat in silence.
*
Miko awoke to find a pile of roses on her bed. Her eyes widened; he was quite the romantic. She allowed herself a moment of indulgence in this new gesture before she pulled herself up for her actions, she could not let him take control, it had to be her in charge. She could not fall for him; it would be too hard when she had to end it. She told herself sternly. But still, it was sweet.
Tien grinned as she came outside with a single rose in her hand, holding it so it rested against her cheek, she was in the white jersey but wearing loose cargo pants this time. He blinked as she came to a halt in front of him
"How does dinner tomorrow night sound?" He smiled
"Great, as long as you aren't cooking" this earned him a clouting with the flower and then a kiss on the cheek, no one else was around so they had the place to themselves. Master Roshi had gone for some kind of meeting, he did not know, and Chou zu and Yamcha to get supplies. He grinned as she turned away.
Miko grabbed her bag and stepped outside, she would be late for work if she did not hurry. Tien was waiting
"Ready to go?" she grinned
"Hurry" *
Bulma frowned at Miko; there was something different about her, a slight bounce in her step and a glow to her kin that she had only seen when she was around Sheme
"You've got a man!" she gasped. Miko stopped short from where she had been tinkering with the laptop Bulma had given her, she was trying to install a new operating system but it was not responding. He green haired girl shrugged
"Yeah, so" Bulma squealed
"Come on, who is he?" she interrogated Miko for the next hour but could get nothing out of her
Miko ignored Bulma's probing questions as the computer finally starting being nice. She left it to load and went to pick Sheme up from school
Sheme grinned as Miko turn 90-degree skid as she came to a stop. None of the kids were allowed out of the gates without a parent and if they walked home alone they left through a different exit. People were always admiring the bike when Miko decided to pick him up, at other times he went home with Trunks, but it was always fun zipping along on the back of Miko's bike. It was a few shades darker than her hair and suited her green clothing perfectly, even her helmet was green.
Miko waved as Sheme came rushing towards her. He grabbed the helmet and jumped on, he was getting pretty good at balancing, he hardly ever held onto her now, preferring to use the grips on the back of the seat she had put in place for him. He grinned as they shot away
Trunks saw Sheme shoot away on a really cool bike. He wondered who the driver was and if Sheme was allowed, he slipped round the side of the school and took off.
Miko felt Trunks coming up behind them. She grinned to herself as she flicked the switch, Sheme grabbed her waist and clung to her as a pair of booster engines used for leaving the atmosphere charged up
"Hold on" she called into the intercom in both helmets, in response Sheme's hands tightened around her waist. With a burst of speed along the now open road they shot away, blurred to the naked eye
Trunks blinked; this bike was fast. He increased his speed to catch up. He drew level with the bike and the smaller rider who he knew was Sheme turned his helmeted head. He blinked; Sheme did not wave. As they rounded a corner he realised he was hanging on for dear life, and his saijin ears were picking up laughter. He wondered why the driver had not noticed him yet. Suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed his collar, he yelped as they skidded to a halt.
Miko pulled her helmet off and released a squirming Trunks
"Long time no see" she said nonchalantly
"Hi" He said nervously
"You want a ride?" she could see his fingers itching to try the magnificent bike
"Ok" he jumped on
*
Bulma heard the roaring engine of Miko's bike and grinned. She came to a halt in the courtyard without her usual stunts, she was pretty good at it really. She grinned as a flushed Trunks jumped off and headed to some unknown place in the house with Sheme, Miko took her time, checking for scratches and such. She encapsulised the beauty and strode over to her
"Hey"
"So you gonna tell me who the mystery man is?" Miko sighed
"You sure you wanna know?" Bulma nodded
"Come on then" she led Bulma inside and told her.
"Oh my God! I always knew he liked you, so what's happening?" Miko shrugged
"Well, we're together I guess, second date tonight" she said through her almost disgusted expression, almost. Bulma was very feminine and girly as Miko would put it, so Miko found it easier to play to her persona, not too much, but enough to get on Bulma's good side, she would never get on well with Vegeta anyway.
"Oh my god! We have so little time! We have to go shopping! And then we'll have to find." Miko sighed; it was gonna be a long after noon
*
Tien landed outside Capsule Corp, he had agreed to meet Miko there, for some reason he was nervous, it was quite strange really, because he knew her pretty well anyway. He shrugged to himself and stuck his hands in his pockets. She always seemed to know when he was around, even though her sense her not that great.
Miko took a deep breath, the outfit was making her nervous. Not even for her job had this much fuss been made over her appearance. Bulma was as gifted with make up as Sally and as creative with hair as Rona, though maybe not with their varied qualifications. She stepped in front of the mirror and gaped. She looked.different. Her upper half was clad in a fitting shoestring top of bright red with a sort of shawl thing around her. She had a tight denim skirt with dolphin designed stitching around the lower hem and one up her left thigh, it had splits that went up to mid thigh. On her throat, wrists and ears were sparkling jewellery. She blinked at her face, artfully done her lips her a golden pink and her eyes were made up with soft light greens. She smiled then pouted. Her hair was in lots of little spirals giving a glossy light refracting bouncy effect, it sat just above her shoulders and looked perfect. She smiled and gave Bulma a quick hug before stepping into her low-heeled shoes and heading outside, grabbing her dark green leather jacket.
Tien's jaw dropped; Miko was standing in the doorway, as usual she looked stunning, but even more so now. She stepped up to him and grinned. His eyes travelled up and down her form more than once. She only grinned and took his arm. As they flew to the city limits his eyes never left her once.
Miko found herself enjoying the way he kept staring at her; it was not often she enjoyed being attractive. She blinked as the wind whipped her hair back. They landed on a building right out of the eyes of people and jumped down. She was glad her skirt had splits in it as she landed like a cat.
"Where to?" Tien asked, still unable to stop staring at her. He himself was dressed in a white shirt and casual loose pants with a cap on to cover his third eye, people tended to get nervous at the sight of it in the city. She smirked and took a capsule from a decorative pocket and threw it on the ground, in a puff of smoke a dark green motorcycle appeared. He grinned; it screamed Miko's name with the sleek style and colour. She threw a leg over and patted the seat behind her. He grinned and seated himself on the comfortable leather
"Hold on" Miko told him, he placed his arms around her waist and sat close to her. She pressed her thumb to the start button and revved the engine. The bike shot forwards.
Tien grinned as the wind rushed by. The bike suited Miko perfectly. He felt her lean forward, to remain holding on, he had never ridden a bike before, he had to lean with her, she did not seem to mind. He realised the bike was travelling faster than any vehicle he had ever head of. The streets blurred by, he did not even feel the turns and twisted as they snaked their way into nightlife side of town.
Miko pulled up outside a restaurant Sally had taken her to once. The food was good and it wasn't too upmarket, so she could avoid the press that followed famous people around, for if she ended up in the same restaurant as some one like Hercule she would never get left alone, especially after the way she had defeated him. Tien jumped off and offered his hand. She noticed how he acted like such a gentleman. She found it rather nice, though she knew she could no take too much of it.
Tien followed her into the building, it seemed like a nice place. They stopped in the foyer while she checked the reservation. He couldn't take his eyes off her. It was hard to believe that this was the same icy teenage girl who got drunk the day they met. Yet it became a lot easier when she snapped at the man at the desk for staring at her. He felt a flash of jealousy and slipped his arm around her waist. She flinched but relaxed. Moving a little closer to him
The man behind the desk quickly averted his eyes, the girl was a babe, and intimidating enough on her own, but the guy was worse, he could see the muscles beneath the white shirt and the powerful build, the expression was unmistakable as well. From his lower point he saw he arm slip around her waist and saw the possessive vibes. He cleared his throat nervously and began to tap away at the computer
"Y-your table is ready" he said, cringing as they both gave him a glare. But when he saw her golden eyes he knew she was by far the more frightening of the pair. He suddenly realised who she was, Nokia, the smoking hot super model, the one who beat Hercule in the second round of the world martial arts tournament. He gulped; she was definitely the scarier of the two.
Miko smiled warmly at Tien as they followed the waiter to a table in a corner, the restaurant was full of plants and such, a peaceful setting. She noticed he had not removed his arm from around her waist. The waiter stopped at a table and left two menus on it. She smiled and went to seat herself.
Tien grinned, he had meant to be the gentleman as Yamcha had instructed him (though he never did find out how Yamcha had known that a-he was going on a date, and b-just who with, he had also told Chou zu, who had been rather worried) but she had beaten him to it, he decided to go easy on the formal stuff for a bit
"How'd you find this place" Tien asked, looking around, his eyes coming back to rest on her. Miko smiled
"Sally took me here one day" he grinned, his eyes following her as she picked up the menu
"Get whatever, it's my date, so it's my way" she told him from behind the tasselled menu.
Tien shrugged; he was not going to turn down a free meal and Miko didn't sound as if she planned on letting him be the gentleman so far as to pay for the meal, after all, he had seen one of her pay checks, it was more than he believed it was possible to make in a year, let alone a month, and all for doing what she never seemed to be able to stop doing, being absolutely gorgeous.
The waiter who came to serve the pair had heard of who the girl was, though he did not know about the man, he noted with distaste that he had not removed his hat, but said nothing about it. After all, he did not really want to annoy some one with a body like that, and he had been there when Nokia had defeated the world champion. She had come off badly but she had still won. He did not feel like getting beaten up today. He could not help but stare at her though as he approached the table, she was even more attractive in person.
Miko looked up and grinned at the waiter, he immediately smiled back, she could see his eyes moving down from her face.
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. He swallowed. The entire staff was abuzz with excitement that such an elusive star was actually at their restaurant. He had been the lucky one to catch a glimpse of her. Nobody who had seen her was lying; she was mind numbingly stunning. He cleared his throat.
Tien looked up and grinned at Miko, she smiled back and turned her head to the waiter. He had no idea what she ordered but it had a complicated name. He got the house steak and Miko ordered a foreign sounding wine. He raised an eyebrow as the waiter disappeared
"What?" Miko frowned
"You're seventeen" he hissed at her, she shrugged, she had not thought about her age in a long while, it occurred to her for the first time that Tien must be at least five years older than her, most likely more. She shrugged
"So?"
Tien suddenly realised the age gap, she was underage, but then again that was only what she had told them
"You're underage, I could get arrested for letting you drink" he hissed, she started to shake. He realised she was trying not to laugh
"You mean to say," she choked
"That you," she covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently
"Think that you count as responsible for me" she choked the words out before collapsing onto the table in a fit of giggles, Tien frowned
"Well, I didn't think about it before but yes, Miko you are underage, and legally I can't even really date you let alone let you drink" She raised her head, her eyes flashing
"I have been an adult for three years. I have been thought of as one for even longer, this is no time for you to start thinking of me as a kid, I am an adult, whether you like it or not" she said all this in an angry hiss
Miko was now annoyed, he thought of her as a kid, not a woman. She was making over a million a year at the current estimates, how dare he. She could see him shifting uncomfortably
"Yeah I know but-"
"Ok stop" she raised a hand
"If you're going to think of me in terms that you are responsible for me then it ends here" her voice was not loud but it was definite and angry. He stared at her. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.
Tien blinked as she stood up and stalked out. He got up to follow her.
Miko stalked outside and took out her bike capsule, suddenly a hand grabbed her arm she jumped a foot in the air and swung around, her fists ready.
Tien jumped back as she swung around. She exhaled angrily when her eyes fell on him. Neither moved
"Miko I'm sorry," he said quickly
"It's just, can we go somewhere else and talk?" she scowled, but after a second or two she nodded
"You can fly" she told him icily. She decapsulised her bike and swung her leg over. He checked to see if anyone was watching and lifted into the air as she shot down a side street
Miko set the bike on silent and glided through the streets, she could sense Tien behind her. She was not really prepared to speak to him but she had a feeling now that he thought of her as a kid he would not leave her alone. She pulled up by a small parks, every time they went out they seemed to end up at a park.
Tien landed as she swung her leg off the bike and half sat half leaned on the seat. She was glaring daggers at him. He had to hold back yelps as they pierced his thought out speech he had planned on the trip to her chosen place
"Start talking," she said icily. He took a deep breath
"I'm sorry Miko, it's just when I remembered your age, well, I just panicked, you never come across as a teenager at all, but it's like a reality check" she raised an eyebrow, seeing no violent reaction coming he continued
"I feel protective of you, that's all, and I guess that under law I can't let you drink or anything like that, because I am an adult, and however you act, you are not" he had been planning to tell her this seriously but he was crumbling under her glare. Sounding rather pathetic. She was silent for a second, composing her thoughts he supposed, when she did speak it was matter of fact pronouncing her words slowly and with a bite that made him regret his words
"I work. I have. A life. I am. Not. A kid. If I was. I would not be dating some one. Your age." the remark made him realise how much older than her he was
"I am not a kid. I am a woman. I work. Live. And am responsible for a child without a chaperone. Why would I need one now?" He frowned
"Listen I'm sorry" he could think of nothing else
Miko felt her heart soften, no not her heart, her heart did not exist. But something softened. She suddenly felt different being around Tien, as if she were just a kid, She suddenly did not want to touch him, seduce him, excite him as she was so good at. She took a deep breath.
She felt very, not in control.
"Age was never a factor, just treat me the way I expect alright? I have to be independent; I don't want you to think of me that way. If you do you stop treating me the way you did before, and then it stops working"
Tien took a deep breath, she was standing well back, not coming close as he knew she normally would have, she communicated her emotions and thoughts through touch more than words. He sighed; it hurt to know she did not want to be near him, had she not relied on contact in the past it would be different.
Miko watched as he searched for words, she knew him well, well enough to know what he was thinking. She heard him exhale slowly as he looked at his shoes. She shivered, feeling a slight bite to the summer air.
Tien raised his head
"I never thought of you as a kid before, you never seemed like one"
"And now?" He sighed again, shuffling his feet
"I dunno, I guess I panicked. Can we not fight about it? I care about you too much, it's too trivial" She stared at him
"You suddenly start thinking about it now, you make me feel like I can't be the same around you if you're thinking about my age. It's been three years since I had to rely on anyone for anything, and fifteen since I wanted to. I couldn't handle you treating me as if you had to watch out for me. Or look after me, If you feel like you have to look after me then I don't feel the same about you, I can't feel the same about you" He noticed her eyes were suspiciously bright.
Miko found herself fighting tears she had meat only as a show, she did not know why she wanted to cry, she was angry, wasn't she? Or was she hurt?
But nothing hurt; you had to care for something for it to hurt.
Did she care about him?
She had convinced herself it was all part of the game.
But,
Then why did it hurt?
Tien saw her face move through various stages of confusion. She was staring at him on the outside but obviously trying to make sense of her own feelings on the inside. He blinked; he knew her better than he had originally thought. He took a tentative step closer to her, she did not move.
Miko was wondering just what she was feeling, hurt? Need maybe, a need to hold him, to be held, she pushed the thought away disgustedly. Perhaps a need to stop being angry, a need to let someone, someone in. She suddenly realised how close he was. It was oddly calming. She shivered again, more from emotion than cold
Unable to stop himself Tien swept her into a hug, noticing how cold she felt. She did not resist, leaning against him. He kissed the top of her head and tilted her chin to see her face
"I don't think of you as a kid" she tried but failed to scowl
"Then why are you speaking to me as you would a kid, I've had more life experience than you could imagine" He could not argue with that. He leant down to kiss her. She returned it with the fiery surge she seemed to generate, leaving him breathless and grinning stupidly. She smirked and pulled the brim of his cap down so it covered all his eyes. He felt her hands snaking their way around him where they pulled him closer, he felt her body heat increase his own.
He took a breath of air and stared at her from under the cap, he had a tiny line of vision as he worked his eyebrows to move it out of the way. Her face was back to that mischievous smirk that brought tremors of, he was not sure what it was, a mixture of nerves, desire and more than a little physical attraction. He knew that she did it on purpose rather than instinct, but if her intention was to excite him then she had certainly achieved it. He smiled tenderly and touched her cheek. She leaned her head into the contact and her hands tightened around him.
Miko could not understand how she could forgive him so easily. She closed her eyes for a second and ran her hand up to his shoulder blades. Her head found the perfect spot on his shoulder and stayed there. So content in this simply embrace was she, that she did not even remember to be disgusted with herself for it.
Tien sighed. Everything was patched up. It was obvious Miko did not like to be thought of as anything less than completely in control. Yet he could not help but feel protective of her, not because of her age, when he thought about it, she was not a teenager in any sense of the word but more because of what he had felt every time some one had stared at her, every time anyone had felt anything for her. Every time she felt something for some one else. He blinked as she pulled away and threw her leg over the bike
"Coming?" he shrugged, he would have been happy to stay the way they were all night. But he followed her willingly
Miko started the bike on silent mode and headed back the way they came. She chose a low-key club this time, quiet music, and simple food.
"I'm hungry, and I'm not going to waste a night out when I have this much money on me" she grinned at Tien and grabbed his hand
Tien thoroughly enjoyed a relaxed meal with Miko, there were few people there so it was quieter, and seemed to be what they both needed, after another story swapping session (though Miko never seemed to impart much of her history) they headed back to Kame house, it was past mid night when Tien landed and placed Miko on the sand.
Miko reached up and kissed him again before gliding silently upstairs. Angry with herself for forgetting her mission, angry at herself for not stopping herself, angry for not hurting him. Angry at herself for being hurt. Angry with herself for being happy everything had worked out. She shed her clothes and went straight to bed, not bothering to put a pair of pyjamas over her undergarments. Her dreams were an angry swirl of confusion, mixed with anger and helplessness and rage, and bitter sweet.
Love?
~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: All uphill from here-what have I done?
Miko awoke to find breakfast on a tray sitting on her bedside table. She scowled; he was so sweet,
Too sweet,
He was making her happy
"I'm happy?"
"Yeah you are"
"But I'm never happy, that means I care"
".So?"
"If I care then that means it'll be impossible to pull off my plan!"
"Screw the plan! Where will it get you?"
"Revenge, that's where!"
"Is that a good thing?"
"It's better than pain, if you let some one past your defences there is nothing to stop them coming too close, what if you went a step further?"
"If you sleep with him that's your problem, just go with it, it's never stopped you in the past, if you don't want to turn up the heat then what purpose does he have?"
"None"
"Except,"
"He makes me happy"
The battle inside her head raged on as she ate half of what was there, it was still hot, she smiled; Tien wasn't a half bad cook. Coming to no decision she sighed and got up. She pulled a dressing gown over herself and headed for the bathroom for a hot shower and some comfortable clothes.
Tien was busy training as Miko stepped outside, her face was a mixture of happiness and confusion, as though she was not used to such attention. He grinned to himself, he found it highly enjoyable to make her smile, really smile,
She did it more often these days.
*
A few weeks later everyone got together again to catch up, it had become a sort of tradition to do this every once in a while. It became obvious to everyone pretty quickly whom Miko was with. Tien got a lot about it but he could not care less; Miko was more than worth it.
Miko smiled into her drink, it was orange juice with a twist of vodka, Tien had not bugged her once about her drinking and it seemed to have become a non issue, which was good, she had been drinking since age ten and had no intention of giving it up now. She smiled to herself as she thought of the coming week. As usual her work fluctuated a lot and she had nothing on all week, she decided to take Sheme on a trip for a few days. He wouldn't mind missing school for that long. She was also smiling for another reason that no one except herself and Sheme knew about.
Sheme grinned at Tien, he liked Tien, he was glad Tien was Miko's boyfriend. He waved as the triclops came up to him
"Hey Sheme?"
"Yeah?" he dropped the toy car in his hand (he had been busy doctoring the minuscule engine)
"I have a question"
"What is it?"
"When is Miko's birthday?"
"You mean you don't know?" he shook his head. Sheme giggled
"She'd get mad if I told you"
"Then you can tell her it's all my fault and I threatened to tickle you if you didn't tell me, she can't be mad for that" Sheme could think of a few reasons she could find. Miko did not get mad often, but strange things annoyed her
This seemed to satisfy the kid in the end
"It's in two days" Tien gulped, that wasn't much time. He shrugged it off and ruffled Sheme's hair
"Thanks Sheme. Listen I need your help with something."
They plotted dastardly schemes for a while before parting to their various tasks, one, dissecting an engine, another, dissecting the mind of a certain super model.
*
Miko felt some one gently shake her awake. She opened her eyes to Tien and then Sheme. She sat bolt upright, her breathing coming in hard ragged gasps as she got over the shock. She turned to Sheme
"What are you doing here?" she narrowed her eyes at Tien
"Happy Birthday!" he cried, throwing something soft and white over her head, She yelped as it blocked her sight. She heard Sheme's giggles and a deep chuckle she assumed was Tien's.
Tien laughed as she finally found her way out from underneath the fur. Her hair was in a tangled mess that was rather comical against her scowl
"Well?" she frowned
"Well what?"
"Do you like it?" She pulled the rest of herself out from under what was revealed to be an elaborate fur quilt, double sided, snow white, and very warm
Miko stared at it. It was amazing, perfect
"I love it" she breathed, her eyes wide and a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She smothered them both and began to examine it more closely, asking questions nineteen to the dozen, pausing only to hug them. She found elaborate and beautiful stitching in red and blue just visible under the thick white fur, it was soft enough to use without a sheet and incredibly warm. Summer was in full swing at this point and it had been four moths and two days since the hulking tri clops had swept her of her feet.
Tien grinned stupidly as she kissed him then hugged Sheme
"So you like it then?" she grinned and place one arm around his neck, and the other around Sheme's shoulders
"I love it," she said simply.
~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: My heart tears, two sides pulling-nothing in between
Miko sat on her bed thinking. There was a knock and Tien entered. She looked up and smiled, standing up to kiss him. He smiled into her lips as her hands made their way to their customary place around him.
A surge of desire ran through Tien as her hands pulled him closer, he could never get used to the way she acted when they were alone, suddenly she pulled away to look at him, her hand taking the front of his shirt and pulled him with her as she lay back down. Suddenly he was afraid, he removed his weight from above her and swallowed
Miko frowned
"What?" he blushed, looking rather afraid
"I've..never." his voice tailed away. She inhaled
"Oh" she smirked seductively
"We can fix that" her hand reached out to pull him closer again. He did not move
"I don't know Miko" he stammered. She suddenly felt hurt but shrugged it off. She had never met a man who had turned her down before, and she was not inexperienced in this area. She smiled; it was actually quite refreshing
"Ok" she nodded
Tien sighed; she still scared him with her forwardness at times. He felt sure she was no virgin, the way she seduced him was far too skilful. But he was glad she did not press it any further, he wanted her, how he wanted her, but he was also afraid, though of what he had had no idea
Miko smiled and settled for kissing him instead
*
Miko felt herself growing more and more attached to Tien. When she went to work her thoughts drifted to his touch and once, just once, she had been accused of day dreaming, ("about who we must wonder" Sally had said) She found herself wishing he was beside her at odd hours of the day. At this point she was busy chomping through a sandwich in a small café on her lunch break. People stared at her from time to time but it did not get to her the way it used to. She was mulling over what to do, however much she found herself craving Tien's kiss, Tien's touch, his sweet natured gestures, the consequences were always nagging at the back of her mind, souring anything they might have truly shared. She often wondered if he had somehow sensed this, maybe this was what made him afraid to take it a step further. She sighed and found no decision come to her mind. Instead she sank back into her hard shell and stopped feeling. But as soon as she saw him her resolve melted like ice over a lit match.
She decided she would just have to extinguish that match then.
*
Tien frowned, looking at Miko carefully, over the past month she had slowly drawn away from him, her manner had become more reserved and much quieter and almost cold to him. He tilted her chin to stare at her expressionless face.
"What's wrong?" He kept his tone gentle, though underneath he was angry, frustrated, and for some reason fighting the urge to hit her. He did not know why though, but something in the way she was acting went deeper than the skin. He knew she was well able to defend herself but if caught off guard by one with possibly twice her strength she would not take a hit to the face and get back up. He blinked as she suddenly pulled away
"Nothing" Miko said quickly, looking anywhere but his face. She was regretting her choice to get involved with Tien, everything was crumbling, he got sweeter every day, forever trying to please her, he never put any pressure on her for anything and worshipped her as if she were the sun and the moon. Her head was at war and her heart was non-existent. She backed away, closing her eyes. This course of action caused her to trip on a table and smack her head on the way down, it did not hurt too much but immediately Tien was beside her, lifting her up and laying her down on the couch, checking for a wound, making sure she was ok. She suddenly felt the urge to slap him, hurt him, anything to make him stop being so sweet
"Stop it!" Tien blinked
"What do you mean?" she sat up, despite his attempts to stop her
"Being so dam sweet! Being so."
"What?" he gently pushed her back down. Placing a cushion under her head
"Stop making me love you!" she yelled the words in his face
As soon as the words left her mouth Miko regretted them, she covered her mouth, he was staring at her, his face a mixture of elation and dejection. Here was nothing she could say to amend what she had done. It was bad in more than one way. She stood up and ran.
Tien shot after her, catching her arm, she was almost jerked off her feet, he helped her back up. She shoved him away. He frowned as she stood at a distance
"What did I do?" He asked. He had no idea how to take her words. She raised her hands, searching for words, and then dropped them in defeat
"I-I, I don't know" she disappeared
Miko flew as far and as fast as she could. What was going on in her head? She landed on her customary spot on a cliff overlooking the sea, near her hometown. She sighed as the sea breeze caressed her face.
Tien rested his head in his hands. He was unsure as to what to do. She didn't want him to be "sweet" as she put it, which he assumed was trying to please her, but she had also said she loved him, in different words though. He stood up and lifted into the air, praying that training would take his mind off her, though it never had in the past. He noticed also that every once in a while Chou zu and Yamcha disappeared. He knew well enough what they thought about his relationship with Miko; that it was, more than it was. But he did not really care. He was certain he loved her; there was no other explanation for the way he felt around her.
Miko sat with her chin resting on her hands, she was thinking in a downward spiral of black confusion. She had no idea what she was feeling or how she was feeling it. But in any case she could not ignore the fact that she had said something she had trained herself to never feel, never think about, never speak of, and never acknowledge; Love. And she had no idea what to do.
Tien spent several hours training, it was nearing night by the time he stopped and went to look for Miko, there was no particular reason apart from the fact he wanted to see her, it was not as if much could happen to her that she couldn't deal with. Her ki was still far too elusive to pinpoint, as elusive as her, it added to her mystic, the same mystic she used to draw him in. He grinned stupidly into the wind as it rushed by.
Miko was currently on her way to Satan city, she felt like a night out, she lived the high life in her other life, she went to cafes, drank the finest of wines, strolled the most expensive of shops, consulted her agent almost every day for what was booked and so on. She suddenly felt Tien's ki and scowled; he was annoyingly possessive about her at odd times, making it known through body language she was spoken for, this annoyed her a little; if she wanted attention she would get it, it wasn't as if he could stop her. She pulled of her coat, it was a thick knee-length black one, the thick material was annoying to fly in. Underneath she wore a very low cut red strapless top. She smirked; she would get noticed in this.
Tien sighed and turned around, she certainly did not want to be found. He shrugged to himself and decided to speak to her as soon as she came back, she always did.
*
Miko grinned as a guy looked her up and down, she caught his chin in her hand and pulled him closer, he swallowed
"You should know," she whispered huskily
"That I" she ran a finger down the centre of his chest
"Am more than you could handle" she pushed him lightly; of course the force threw him off his feet. She stepped over the gaping man and left the nightclub. She had wanted some stress relief and dancing in strobe lighting and a large crowd seemed to have worked; she was not so tense and pleasantly tired, dancing, whomever you were and however much ki you had seemed to tire everyone. She stepped into an alleyway and looked carefully about herself
"Hey sweetie" some one grabbed her from behind. Without a second thought she flipped her would be attacker and swung him into a wall. In the process however part of her top had been ripped, it still covered her but only just, she swore and kicked the man in the ribs, hard
Tien felt Miko's ki surge for a second; he now knew where she was. It fell back to normal immediately and he felt it approach. She was obviously upset about something or she would not be going so accurately or so fast. He seated himself on the couch to wait. Yamcha and Chou zu were long since asleep. They never asked questions about him and Miko unless they were trying to rile her up, they never succeeded. He stood up as she entered, her shirt was ripped almost to the point of indecency and her hair was ruffled out of the newest style, thanks to the speed with which her hair grew it had a new cut every few weeks. He strode over to her, stepping over the sleeping forms of Chou zu and Yamcha. She glanced at him and headed straight for the stairs
Miko scowled as Tien caught her arm
"Can we talk?" he hardly ever told her what to do anymore, but his grip and his face told her this was not a request
"Later, I'm tired" his grip tightened
"No, now" she narrowed her eyes
"You don't want to annoy me right now" she said, allowing the lethal edge beneath her skin to come through
Tien swallowed but held his ground; her tone was quiet, and terrifying
"Now" he repeated. Her eyes narrowed to slits, the golden pupils seeming almost to glow in the moonlight coming from the windows. He sighed and let go
"This isn't over Miko," he told her
Miko closed her door and collapsed onto the bed. She had no idea what she was meant to do now. She suddenly smirked, her darker thoughts filling her mind.
*
"Kill, kill, taste the blood, it's sweet flavour, kill, kill, kill, hurt, pain, kill, kill, kill" Tien looked about him, a voice he knew terrifyingly well was hissing in his ear
"Let me rip, let me tear, taste the flesh, feel the death, inflict pain, feed off the suffering"
Suddenly Miko was beside him, he turned to her. Her eyes were narrowed to slits and her mouth was curled into, not any smile he had ever seen, he suddenly saw a streak of crimson on her lips, it slowly ran down past her chin and landed with a small splat on the black ground beneath them. He blinked, suddenly noticing sharpened teeth showing over her lower lip. She licked her upper lip. He backed away, suddenly he impacted something else, he swung around to see another Miko, her face was tired and her eyes sad. He blinked, looking closely at her. She was bone thin, all her ribs showing, and her face taut and pinched. He could see nothing but sadness in her face. He was suddenly afraid. He swung around to find himself confronted by another, the Miko he knew, her face was content and relaxed, her smile as sparkling as it always was. He was suddenly aware of more than one presence. He slowly turned around to find a countless Mikos surrounding him. The ones he had already seen and two others were most definable. One was filthy, her long hair matted, Her face was confused and angry, she was holding her head. And the other, the other. He could not breath. He took a stumbling step back as she advanced. Her eyes were steely, more terrifying than he had ever seen. Cold and hard, she had a dagger in one hand and a blood red rose in the other; suddenly both of these began to bleed. The circle around him dissolved into a swirling crimson and blue ocean. He saw a flash of green hair and swam after it. He trailed the green spec for what felt like an eternity, suddenly he was sucked underneath the surface. He flailed and struggled. He saw the bottom and gaped; Miko was lying there, he eyes open and staring, her face pulled into a silent scream. He swam down, trying to reach her. She looked at him for a second then smiled weakly, suddenly dark tendrils he could not sense encircled his arms, pulling him away, she began to rise to the surface, passing him, he reached for her outstretched fingers, missing by a inch before the world went black as the dark arms covered him and melted into a world of inky blackness. He heard a single, high-pitched, and horribly mirthless laugh and suddenly realised he could not breath. There was a flash of green across his vision. He blinked and a pair of hands pierced his chest. He would have screamed had he been able to. Fatal pain ripped through him and he saw his own heart beating in a pair of hands surrounded by swirling green hair, he could not see her face but knew it was Miko, she drew a dagger out of nowhere and drove it through is still beating heart. Everything dissolved with the sound of his silent agonized scream
Tien awoke in a cold sweat, his breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. He suddenly realised arms were around him. He blinked a few times and saw Yamcha sitting on his knees next to him and Chou zu beside him. He realised the arms could only belong to one person. There was a warm sensation on his shoulder and he gradually became aware of the sound of sobbing
"Thank god" a voice whispered. He turned his head to feel silky hair. He raised a hand to his head and realised he was trembling all over. He turned to tilt Miko's head so as to see her face. Petrified of what he might see. He did not remember the dream, except that it had been about her, and that now he was almost too scared to look at her
Miko sniffed a little as he lifted her chin. He was staring at her as if she were the devil himself. She blinked as he let out a breath
"What happened?" he sounded disoriented and strained. Yamcha answered for her, she could barely breathe let alone speak
"You were.asleep..you were screaming and thrashing around, we couldn't wake you, you were yelling about demons and devils and dark magic and evil and blood and pain and fear, and." his voice tailed away
"Miko" Chou zu finished. Miko did not look into his eyes. She had heard the sound of yelling and had come running downstairs to find Yamcha trying to restrain Tien as he thrashed around hard enough to injure himself, it had taken all her strength just to hold onto him, she ended up singing in the end, a lullaby she used to hear as a child, the only thing that would truly calm her raging spirit before Sheme. Surprisingly it had calmed him for a second or two, then he had awoken. She realised Yamcha was looking at her
"I never knew you could sing" she frowned
"I didn't either" She turned back to resting her head on Tien's shoulder, he was drenched in sweat and shaking all over. Not to mention the fact he felt like ice
Tien shook his head dazedly
"Maybe you should sleep in my bed tonight, I'll take the couch" Miko told him, it was not a suggestion, more a sugar coated order
"Fine, just, just let me, change, I'm soaking" he shivered, feeling like a small child. Miko had to help him get dressed in the end, this did not faze her at all surprisingly. She led him up to her room and put him to bed as if he were a small child. He felt weak and afraid. But her scent filled the room so strongly it acted almost as a tranquilliser. He fell asleep to a soft kiss on his forehead.
Miko stepped downstairs and collapsed on the couch
"Gods, what was wrong with him?" she wondered aloud. Master Roshi was standing in the doorway to his own room, where he had been standing ever since she first came downstairs
"I think we'd all like to know Miko" his quiet voice was accusing. No more was said. She took her coat and tried to sleep under that. Carefully monitoring Tien's ki for any more unusual fluctuations.
*
Tien awoke feeling strange. His muscles would not respond and he found all he wanted to do was sleep, yet he could not keep his eyes shut. The door opened and Miko stepped in. She was carrying a tray and it smelt good
"Morning" she looked as if she hadn't slept for days
"What happened last night?" he was asking honestly for it was a dazed blur
Miko did not know how to answer that. She settled for kissing him on the forehead and setting the tray on the bedside table, she had called in sick for work, she had no idea what was wrong with Tien,
But she had a feeling it had something to do with her
"Miko?" she looked up and smiled
"Yes" she had picked up the cup of steaming coffee she had made for herself, and was holding it in front of her face, blowing the steam away
"What's this?"
Silence.
*
He held up a small book bound in the exact colour of her hair. Her eyes widened and she stood up, dropping the cup, black liquid spilling over the carpet
"No" she whispered. His eyes narrowed and he forced his limbs to obey as he sat up
"How could you?" he slowly got up, advancing on her, an angry gleam in his eyes. She covered her mouth to calm her ragged breathing. He stepped close enough to touch her and stopped
"How could you?" he hissed again. She shook her head, sinking to her knees, quivering
"YOU BITCH!" he screamed, suddenly kicking her in the ribs, she flew into a wall, gasped in pain and slid down to the floor.
~~~~~~~~
"You rip my heart to pieces And kiss the pain away
You sneak up on me
Stealing my soul
Ensnaring my senses Making me crazy I want you For my own For all time
You make my life a churning ocean You steal away my reason I don't want to feel this way But without you Without you I would fade away Promise me
You won't fade away"
~~~~~~~~