Greetings, all!
Yes, I finally updated. I can't believe it either. Just to get my excuses out of the way, the first two weeks, I was helping my sister out, and aside from that, I've been extremely busy...I've had to make a lot of important decisions in a very limited and short time period.
Now that things have been taken care of, and my inspiration returned, thanks to PQ Angels and Steve Burton, more and more updates will be coming.
Just a note:
I decided to finally get my mailing lists in order. I went through all the reviews, and got the addresses available. If you want to receive the SI update info, leave your address in a review, or email me, and I'll be happy to add you.
My FF.net email has changed. It is now GuardianLethe@aol.com. (Except for my lists.)
That's all from me, guys! Enjoy! It's a long one!
Chapter XXVII - Granted
Marron knocked softly on the large door.
"Who is it?" a tired voice asked from the other side.
"It...it's me, Trunks. It's Marron. May I co—?"
Before she could finish, the door was swung open, to reveal the lavender-haired adonis, clad only in a pair of unbuttoned blue jeans. (and boxers, people)
She cleared the lump, which had suddenly formed in her throat. "Umm...may I..." She swallowed again, and closed her eyes to clear up the fuzziness in her head. "I-is...would it be alright if I came in?" she managed to blurt out.
He touched her cheek gently, and the lids flew open again. "How did you know I was here?"
Marron backed away slightly, attempting to fascinate herself by looking around at the small porch. Bura had told her that he had been staying in the cabin every night since he had returned from Iceland. "Your sister," she nearly whispered.
He gave a small nod, and motioned for her to come inside, closing the door after she had entered.
"This is nice," she commented politely, observing the quaint furniture.
"Marron..."
Even with her back to him, she knew he was right behind her. A few breaths away.
"What are you here for?"
"I..." she swung around to face him, "I've been thinking, Trunks."
"And...?" he prompted.
"And, and..." And what? She missed him? Needed him? Wanted him? Loved him?
Did it matter?
Before she knew it was happening, the tears began to well up.
"What is it, Marron? Did something happen?"
She nodded dolefully. "Trunks...do you still...care about me?"
"Do you want me to?"
She looked down at her feet. "For a long time...I thought that was all I wanted. I thought..." She laughed at herself, as she continued to examine the carpet threads. "Two years ago, I would have given almost anything to be here like this; here with you. But I guess none of that matters now." She paused. "And...I know I've put you through a lot of unnecessary pain, but I just..."
"Marron?"
Her head popped up. "Hmm?" she asked anxiously.
"Are you finished rambling yet?"
Her brow furrowed. "I suppose I am."
He pulled her against him. "Good."
She buried her head in his chest.
"I love you," he whispered softly.
"I..."
"Marron-chan?"
"Marron-chan?" Goten repeated. "Wakey wakey." He turned to his wife. "Bura, she's well off in her dream world. Let's just leave her here for the night."
"No. I keep telling you to get rid of that couch. It's crummy, and the last thing Marron needs is a bad back. She has enough problems."
"You've got that right," he agreed.
Marron yawned and sat up slowly, rubbing her back. "Gee, are my ears burning."
Bura smirked. "Pleasant dreams?"
Marron shrugged, as she stood.
"How was he?" Goten asked, as he retrieved the sleeping Vegeta from his bassinet.
"Angelic as usual."
"Please, don't describe him like that around my father."
Marron giggled and yawned again, while stretching.
Bura watched her husband, and he took their child upstairs. "Why don't you stay here tonight? The guest room's all ready."
"Thanks," she hesitated, "but I'd rather just go home."
The blue-haired demi-saiyan eyed her. "Are you sure?"
Marron shook her head, knowing her friend was asking more than that simple question. "I'm fine, Bura. Really."
"Don't play with my emotions here, Rei. Do they seriously want me?" Marron interrogated her cell phone, as she checked the label of a can of black olives before tossing them into her cart. (No, I'm not really sure what would be interesting about a can of black olives. I had a craving for them at the time.)
"Why would I lie about this, Marron?" Rei was Marron's recently acquired partner.
Marron thought about it, while grabbing a box of rice. "Pomegranates!"
"What?"
"I forgot pomegranates," she clarified.
"Aren't those pink things that you can only eat the seeds out of?"
"Yeah."
"Oh good. Grab me a couple."
"So...this is for real, then?"
"Yes, I already said that."
"And it's legit?"
"Uhh huh," she confirmed.
"So what do we do now?"
"We create a routine for one of the songs, and they'll come view it in two weeks."
"TWO WEEKS!!??" She looked around and smiled apologetically at all the shoppers surrounding her. "Just two weeks?" she asked, in a much quieter voice.
"That's plenty of time, Mar-chan. All we have to do is put the advanced class on it, make it one of their routines, and we have a free dance crew. Besides, you know they'd love to be able to put something like this in their portfolios."
"Well, at least I won't have to pay them."
"So we're going to do it, then? Great!"
"Yeah. Now, get in touch with Makoto. See if she has time to take care of the costume measurement. I assume they'll be sending them to us."
"Of course. Mako-chan. Got it. Anything else?"
"I'll get back to you on it. When is the tape coming in?"
"It's already here."
"Good." She turned a corned, and *WHAM!* her cart made contact with another one. She sighed. "We'll have to pick this up later, Rei." She clicked the phone off, and threw it into her purse. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"I have to eat too."
"Unfortunately."
"Suddenly you can't stand to be around me?"
She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Trunks. I was just...you startled me."
"Oh."
"Look, I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I have a lot of work to get done. I don't have time for this," she said, moving past him.
"Okay."
Epica growled and glared daggers down at Trunks. "Isn't he ever going to move in??!"
"Don't rush them," her sister scolded from the next aisle over.
"I'm tired of waiting on them, Elese. He's got one more chance, and then we're taking matters into our own hands."
Marron stretched, taking a bite of her sandwich, as Rei struggled to move the small, vinyl dolls.
Rei sighed deeply.
"No luck?"
"None, whatsoever."
Marron reached forward, and pressed a button on the stereo system, bringing the music to an abrupt stop. She checked her watch. "It's already 8:30, Rei. Go home. We have another day or two before we need to start teaching them the new routine."
Rei dropped the dolls onto the table. "You're sure?"
"Absolutely. I'm sure it'll pop into our heads once we stop working so hard for it."
"If you say so." She grabbed her jacket. "I think I'll go home and watch those old videos I have of the show. They might give me a bit of inspiration."
"Well good luck. I'll see you in the morning."
"Bright and early," Rei promised, before unlocking the front door and heading away from the studio.
Trunks grabbed the door just before it closed. "Evening, Marron."
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Why do you insist upon bothering me?"
"I'm not always trying to bother you, you know."
"Oh really? Then why is it that you show up, no matter where I may be, unannounced, and unwanted?"
He put a hand over his chest. "You sure are keen on those poison arrows, huh, Marron?"
"Trunks, won't you please just leave me alone?"
"Why do you refuse to let me get close to you? At one time, Marron, you were the first person who I'd go to, when there was a problem, after Goten, that is. Why can't we be close like that anymore? What changed?"
"That was years ago, Trunks. I changed. We changed. How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"Can't we just start over? We could be friends, Marron. I don't want you out of my life."
"Tell me that you would leave it at that, Trunks. Tell me that things wouldn't go any farther."
"I can't predict the future, Marron."
"I thought as much."
He moved closer, leaning forward on the table. "What are you so afraid of?"
Her eyes went to the floor.
"That you'll lose control? That you'll realize that you still have feelings for me?"
"Of course not." 'Did he just say...?' She blinked. "S-still?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Marron—"
"You-you..." She looked up at him. "How?"
"It doesn't matter, Marron. They...your feelings, they didn't just go away. That's not how it—"
"Who?"
"'Who?' Who what?"
"Who told you, Trunks? Someone doesn't just go from being completely oblivious to the past to being an all out expert on the subject." She stood, slamming a small fist into the table. "I want to know who told you!"
"It doesn't matter, Marron. Just—"
"It does matter! It matters to me! That was my business. Past business. There was no reason for you to know!"
"So you weren't going to tell me...ever?" he asked slowly, quietly.
"Like I said, there was no reason for you to know...no reason for me to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Why bother? I knew you had no feelings for me. Why should I have put myself through such torture? Why should I have only made myself an inconvenience?"
"But...you didn't even ask. You never dropped a hint."
"It doesn't matter now! I do not love you! Trunks, I never did," she stated quietly. "It was just some silly crush. I built you up so far in my mind, Trunks. I thought you were what I wanted."
"And now I'm not," he realized softly.
"I'm sorry, Trunks. I never meant for this to happen. I was supposed to be the only one who got hurt."
He smiled at her grimly. "I guess it couldn't be helped. I guess you win."
She shook her head, a few tears falling free. "This isn't a game, Trunks. It's not about who wins or loses,"
"It's how you play the game?" he quirked.
Her sorrowful eyes met his slowly. "It's about things being over. I'm not what you really want either, Trunks. Maybe...at sometime, it would have been possible...but now..." She cleared her throat. "Now you can get over me...her. Now things can be right." She took a deep breath. "Good luck, Trunks."
He acknowledged her dismissal with a nod. "Good-bye, Marron."
"NOTHING!" Epica erupted, grabbing a nearby vase, and thrusting it at the head of the retreating Saiyan.
Elese strained to catch it, and return it to its rightful place on the shelf, succeeding only mere seconds before Marron whipped around, eyeing the room curiously. "That was great, Epica. Make her paranoid. If Marron goes insane, she's no good to us."
"And she's no good to us like this either. At the rate they're going, it could be another five years! They've had their chances. Now it's time for us to step up to the plate!"
"I don't know, Epica. We could end up making things even worse."
"Trust me, Elese, there's no way we'll fail this time," she stated definitively, watching Marron as she exited the dance studio.
Trunks lifted the ornate wine glass to his lips and drank heartily. After the ordeal with Marron, he had started walking home, attempting to relieve some of his stress. This, was how he ended up in the quaint Italian restaurant a few minutes later, due to a sudden autumn storm.
He returned the glass to its place on the table, and proceeded to twist some of the oiled pasta around a fork, trying to savor what he could of a perfectly delicious meal.
He looked around at the thinning dinner crowd before finally sinking back into his thoughts.
What was he to do about Marron? He had been demanding, which had only ended up hurting her. He had tried being sensitive, and that seemed to have hurt her worse. How was he supposed to win her over if all he could do was cause her pain?
And then, there were those spirits...always mucking things up for him somehow. He was sure that if he had done things the way he had wanted to in the first place, Marron would already be with him, and he would be rid of his Heavenly destroyers.
"Don't you have an English menu?" the woman at the table in front of him asked loudly.
"Signora, if you would just tell me what it is that you are wan—"
"I've played that game before. I tell you what I want, and you charge me for the highest priced item on the menu. I don't appreciate being taken advantage of, Signore," she mocked.
Trunks chuckled lightly, and stood, making his way to the next table. "Excuse me. I couldn't help over-hearing your dilemma. Could I be of any service to you?"
"I'm not sure. Do you work here?" she questioned.
He laughed at the idea. "No, I'm afraid not."
"Then yes, you may help."
He took the menu. "What was it you were wanting?"
"Egg plant parmesan." (Ick. I hate that stuff.)
"Oh is that all?" He turned to the waiter. "La signora mangerà la melanzana parmesan." (No, I'm not an Italian major. I speak very little of it. If it's wrong, it's close enough.)
"How much?"
"Don't worry about it. Everything she has is on me."
The waiter winked at Trunks and headed for the kitchen.
"Oh no! Wait!"
"Too late," he taunted. "Enjoy your meal."
She watched as he turned away. "Umm, wait. If you're going to be paying for my dinner, shouldn't I at least know your name?"
"Briefs. Trunks Briefs." He offered his hand.
The orange-haired woman squeezed the hand firmly. "Lena Peer. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Marron looked angrily up at the sky as it opened up, sending its torrents to the Earth. "Thanks a lot, Dende!" she yelled, tears running down her cheeks.
"No problem!" Dende shouted back, though it was lost somewhere in the stratosphere.
Marron tried to hunker down into her sweater, as she ran towards her small apartment.
Things just weren't making sense at all. As much as she wanted to believe Trunks, she just knew, deep down inside, that he couldn't really love her.
Things just weren't that easy...were they?
She ran faster, nearly tripping several times, when finally, her heel caught in one of the cracks on the sidewalk, sending her forward. She desperately tried to brace herself, knowing how painful a soggy fall could be, and sucked in a ragged breath, before two arms came into her vision line, and managed to save her from a rather nasty bump.
She breathed in a sigh of relief, and took note, that the rain was no longer pelting her, but a navy umbrella. She stood slowly, with the help of her savior, and looked up.
"Uubu?"
He grinned slowly.
"You're back!"
He opened his arms, and she rushed into them, fresh tears flooding her eyes.
TO THE REVIEWERS:
Bucky - All I have to say is that it was TOTALLY sooner than a week. *grins*
Burned Vamp - Dende: *files a claw, then speads fingers, blowing the dust away* One question...are things till coming together?
Marron04 - Thanks!
leelee - Dude...I've gotta get caught up on your fic...I've gotta get caught up on a lot of fics. Including my own. Blow your Cloney a kiss for me!
trunksgrl06 - New outfit?? Okay. *pulls out a yellow, thong bikini and tosses it over* Enjoy!
Reviewer 100 - Yeah...I still haven't heard anything sparkling OR witty... *grins*
alannapurple - Want me to have someone serinane you?? *turns on a nearby stereo* SING PUPPET!
Majin Vegeta: *blinks*
Shadow: I said SING!
*crickets chirp*
Phenix: FINE! Don't sing!
Majin Vegeta: Little by little I'm falling for you
Shadow: O.O O.......kaaaaaayyyyy....
Cim: Nice to see ya Cim. Hope ya liked the chapter! Thanks!
Heather - Actually...I think Trunks's behind vibrating the piano stool would have been more disturbing for the children. *grins* Why didn't I think of it earlier??
Star-Gazer - Thanks! Glad you liked!
leona - Hey, no prob. I'll get to the end...one day...
Moon Dawntreader - Oh...I know about silly things getting in your way...I've got a lot of reading to catch up on, but I'll get there...
SSJ Tokya - Thanks Tok. I love it when my head swells... Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter. *grins* I know I did.
Lily - Hmm...I think Krillen probably took longer to admit his feelings. As I recall, Juu was the aggressor. And don't worry! I have plenty of suspense up my sleeve!
Pink Rabbit - 672, ehh?? Well, I had a little talk with Helios...seems he thinks you should reconsider. I recall something about Sephiroth and eternal nightmares...
Legolas Luver - I mentioned you to Helios too. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to bribe an Elysion priest. Huge oreo fetish. Anyway, he's promised to make my life easier. Do you know what would make my life easier??
AGalaxiaGoddess - Well, I have a list now...and you're on it, so problem solved. Thanks!
vanillamichi - Thank you! Thank you! Glad you like. Hope you've returned for more!
Mirai Marron - Thanks so much! Nice to know that people are still finding this original. Hope you enjoyed!
Thanks again to everyone!!!!
*Cracks knuckles and laughs evilly* And what do you get this time?? NOTHING!