(Author's Thanks: Lime, Coolbou, and DarkSerapha for reviewing.
If there is a signal that says, oh, let's say:
)) GOKU ((
that means that it has changed to Goku's POV. Understood?
Okie dokie. Any confusion over that, just tell me in your review and I'll try to explain it. Thanks.
Good bye, and please enjoy. Thank you. ~Cinaed)
Chapter Six: Landslide
)) JUUNANA ((
I listen until Trunks' breathing evens out, signaling that He is asleep.. A smile of satisfaction is probably on my face, but at the moment I don't care. He's asleep and getting better, and that's all that matters at the moment.
I close my sightless eyes as I hear Bulma murmur something to Vegeta before her light footsteps indicate her exit of the room. I relax against my pillow, waiting for His father to leave after his wife. Instead, Vegeta speaks, his voice carrying the shocking words to my incredulous ears.
"You're not a very good actor, Juunana, even if you are good at hiding."
I am mute, unable to believe that Vegeta's figured it out. I hear the shifting of the curtains as he steps through into my side of the room. I make no movement to hide my visage from him, instead raising it towards the Saiya-jinn.
"How did you know it was me?"
I know he's smirking in that arrogant way of his as he speaks. "Well, you're obviously not dead and yet I could sense no ki from you. Not to mention Trunks called you Jay."
"All right, I'm damn awful at being put on the spot. Trunks asked my name.. All I could come up with was Jay."
Vegeta snorts. "Have Kakarrot's and Shortie's brats seen you yet?"
It's my turn to snort. "Hell no. I plan on keeping it that way, thank you very much. And I'm gone as soon as I can get out of here. Though these damn doctors are such idiots that I have a feeling I'm going to stuck here for a while."
)) VEGETA ((
My arms are folded against my chest as I raise an eyebrow. I know he's truly blind, for his eyes have been gazing over my shoulder this entire time.
"So you don't want to meet your sister's brat?"
A look of almost pain crosses the android's face before he shakes his head in a quick, certain movement. "No. I don't want to see Juhachi, Marron, or Krillin.." His voice lowers at the final name and an almost hateful sneer crosses his visage.
I cannot help but agree with him on that sentiment. Krillin, that doddering, meddlesome, loyal former monk who has always been so damn pleasant.. It has been sickening in the past, and it still is.
"Very well then," I respond, noting the look of relief on his face, "I will not tell them you're here."
"Thanks, Vegeta. I owe you." His blank eyes are still gazing past my shoulder, an unsettling sensation when one thinks about the power and cocky gleam that had once lit his sapphire gaze.
"As long as you make sure my brat doesn't hurt himself anymore than he already has. How the hell a Saiya-jinn managed to get a concussion from falling down I'll never know.." Even as my irritated grumble trails off, a smirk flits across his lips.
)) JUUNANA ((
I cannot help but be amused by Vegeta's complaint. "I promise to watch out for him," I find myself promising, although I know that vow was already made when I first laid eyes upon the sparkling brightness that was Trunks Briefs nearly ten years ago.
// I shifted restlessly on the porch after my fist had made a rather conspicuous dent in the white door of my sister's house. A frown toyed with my lips as I mentally went over what I would say.
'Juhachi, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. I'm obviously not needed, and with Juroku off at a monastery, I have no reason to hang around. I wish you, your husband, and your daughter all the luck in the world. Don't worry about me; I'm just off to have fun.'
Those very words were penned on a crumpled note I clenched in my other hand just in case I lost my nerve. My attention focused on the door as I heard bright laughter of a child and the pounding of hasty feet upon the wooden floor. The door was thrown open, and I found myself gazing down into a pair of intelligent blue eyes.
The young boy looked quizzical as he tilted his head and declared in a tone of disappointment, "You're not Goten." A stray lock of lavender fell in front of his eyes, but the nine-year-old ignored it as he demanded an answer from me.
I blinked, caught off guard by the innocence in that gaze. This child needed to be protected, adored.. He needed to be happy. "Um, I'm Juhachi's brother. Is she home?"
The boy immediately grinned and bobbed his head up and down. "Marron's mom is busy cooking. Wanna come in?"
"Um, no thank you," I murmured absently, wondering why I wanted so badly to keep that bright smile on his inquisitive face. "Could you give her this note?"
His curious gaze fell upon the crumpled note that I offered to him, and he looked proud that I had appointed him such an important task. "Okay! Are you sure you don't wanna come in? We've having cake for Marron's eighth birthday!"
"It's her birthday?" The surprised question escaped my lips unchecked, and the young boy looked bewildered.
"You're Marron's uncle and you dunno it's her birthday?" His nose wrinkled in a childish fashion as he declared, "You're not a good uncle, are you?"
"No," I admitted, smirking a little. "I'm rather hopeless at it. How old are you?"
"I'm almost ten!" he informed me, pride obvious as he stuck out his chest and beamed. "My name's Trunks."
"You're Bulma and Vegeta's son?"
"Yeah!" was exclaimed enthusiastically when a voice called out from within the house.
"Trunks, who are you talking to?"
Those innocent blue eyes rolled at the protective tone Bulma used before he grinned impishly at me and turned to holler into the house, "Marron's uncle, Mom!"
By the time he turned back, I was gone, soaring into the clear blue skies and wondering why my heart had lurched so at the sight of the half Saiya- jinn. //
"Your sister worries about you constantly." Vegeta informs me quietly of the fact though I note he doesn't sound too upset about my sister's worrying. Not that I mind.
"I told her I'd be fine, didn't I?" I declare, a note of irritation slipping into my voice.
"Yes, and now you're sitting in a hospital bed, completely blind."
)) VEGETA ((
At Juunana's wince, I know I've scored a point. I smirk, knowing he can't see it. After a moment, however, he looks almost wistful. "I might get my sight back. After all, it wasn't a mental condition. I just, well, nearly crushed my own skull." The look on his face made me bite back the question of how that had almost happened.
"Where have you been for the last seven years?" I question at last, watching his face closely for any sign of lying.
A wan smirk flickers across his pallid face before he replies, his tone slightly sardonic. "Would you believe me if I said I've been in Satan City this entire time?"
)) JUUNANA ((
Vegeta is silent for a long moment, before he laughs suddenly. "Somehow, I think you're enough of an asshole to do that, Juunana, having your sister worry over you traveling the world when you're in the same city you've always been."
Another smirk forms on my lips. "Exactly." I pause, and inquire carefully, "Trunks gave Juhachi my note, right?"
"Yes, and he pouted all day about the 'man with cool eyes' who had left without saying good-bye to him."
I blinked, knowing my expression was one of surprise. "He-he liked my eyes?" In my years of wandering, no one had ever liked my eyes. They had said the azure orbs were filled with too much death, too much arrogance, too much emptiness. But He had liked my eyes?
"That's what I just said, isn't it?"
"He liked my eyes.."
)) VEGETA ((
My eyes narrow at the wondering, dreamy tone Juunana is using and at the brilliant smile that lights his exhausted visage and makes him seem his old self again. Something Krillin rambled to me a long time ago tugs at my memory banks, making me scowl. There is something not quite right here, but I cannot quite figure out what.
"Yes, he said they were cool and filled with mysterious things, whatever the hell that means."
His blind eyes fill with emotion at my words, and he grins instead of smirks. "Trunks is one in a million," he murmurs, more to himself than to me.
As I continue to frown as unease fills my senses, the idiotic monk's words finally come back to me.
// "Vegeta." I turned to scowl at the blundering shrimp, and he blanched a little but continued on. "Juhachi was wondering if you could help everyone look for Juunana. He's been missing for a few weeks now, and she's terribly worried."
I snorted, folding my arms against my chest. "No."
"What?" The monk looked thunderstruck that I had refused to help him.
"I don't care about your wife's brother, and besides, if he doesn't want to be found, he's not going to be found. He's an android, remember?"
"But-but you have to help us!"
I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Give me one reason why."
"Because if you don't and he dies before we hide him, he'll go to Hell and it'll be your fault for not helping us." His desperate claim caught me off guard, and I blinked before scowling once more.
"Why the hell would he go to Hell? The only person he actually killed was Gero, and we all applauded him. Besides, I was allowed to go to Heaven, and look at /my/ past.."
"You don't understand. When Gero made Juhachi, Juroku, and Juunana into androids, he unknowingly destroyed their souls. The only way for them to regain their souls and gain admittance into Heaven is to fall in love and be loved in return. Juhachi fell in love with me and I returned that love so she recovered her soul. Juroku fell in love with nature and nature loved him back so he salvaged his soul. Juunana doesn't have anyone to love!"
"Maybe he'll find someone to love when he's out wandering the world," I snapped, startled at the intensity of Krillin's words. Why did he want to help Juunana out so badly? It wasn't like the android liked the monk-in fact, Juunana had hated Krillin from the moment they had met.
"Maybe," stated the black-haired man, but there was a doubtful tone in his voice. "But the thing is, Juunana doesn't know how to regain his soul. He probably thinks he's damned forever. /That's/ why he disappeared."
"Can't he find just anyone to love him?" Despite myself, I found myself slightly interested in the android's plight.
"No. It hasn't to be a certain someone. There has to be this spark, this affinity. When I first laid eyes upon Juhachi, I couldn't keep from staring into her beautiful blue eyes. There was something in her cold gaze that hinted at a tender heart within, something that if I tried hard enough I could get to.." The monk's words had trailed off, and I snorted at the dreamy look on his face. //
With a start, I realize that the dreamy look on Krillin's face was identical to the one on Juunana's visage. All color drains from my face at the implications.
No..
My son cannot be the one that Juunana has to love in order to recapture his soul. My son is a half Saiya-jinn, one of the last of his race. He can't, won't love an android.
Not if I have anything to say about it, that is.
- TBC -
If there is a signal that says, oh, let's say:
)) GOKU ((
that means that it has changed to Goku's POV. Understood?
Okie dokie. Any confusion over that, just tell me in your review and I'll try to explain it. Thanks.
Good bye, and please enjoy. Thank you. ~Cinaed)
Chapter Six: Landslide
)) JUUNANA ((
I listen until Trunks' breathing evens out, signaling that He is asleep.. A smile of satisfaction is probably on my face, but at the moment I don't care. He's asleep and getting better, and that's all that matters at the moment.
I close my sightless eyes as I hear Bulma murmur something to Vegeta before her light footsteps indicate her exit of the room. I relax against my pillow, waiting for His father to leave after his wife. Instead, Vegeta speaks, his voice carrying the shocking words to my incredulous ears.
"You're not a very good actor, Juunana, even if you are good at hiding."
I am mute, unable to believe that Vegeta's figured it out. I hear the shifting of the curtains as he steps through into my side of the room. I make no movement to hide my visage from him, instead raising it towards the Saiya-jinn.
"How did you know it was me?"
I know he's smirking in that arrogant way of his as he speaks. "Well, you're obviously not dead and yet I could sense no ki from you. Not to mention Trunks called you Jay."
"All right, I'm damn awful at being put on the spot. Trunks asked my name.. All I could come up with was Jay."
Vegeta snorts. "Have Kakarrot's and Shortie's brats seen you yet?"
It's my turn to snort. "Hell no. I plan on keeping it that way, thank you very much. And I'm gone as soon as I can get out of here. Though these damn doctors are such idiots that I have a feeling I'm going to stuck here for a while."
)) VEGETA ((
My arms are folded against my chest as I raise an eyebrow. I know he's truly blind, for his eyes have been gazing over my shoulder this entire time.
"So you don't want to meet your sister's brat?"
A look of almost pain crosses the android's face before he shakes his head in a quick, certain movement. "No. I don't want to see Juhachi, Marron, or Krillin.." His voice lowers at the final name and an almost hateful sneer crosses his visage.
I cannot help but agree with him on that sentiment. Krillin, that doddering, meddlesome, loyal former monk who has always been so damn pleasant.. It has been sickening in the past, and it still is.
"Very well then," I respond, noting the look of relief on his face, "I will not tell them you're here."
"Thanks, Vegeta. I owe you." His blank eyes are still gazing past my shoulder, an unsettling sensation when one thinks about the power and cocky gleam that had once lit his sapphire gaze.
"As long as you make sure my brat doesn't hurt himself anymore than he already has. How the hell a Saiya-jinn managed to get a concussion from falling down I'll never know.." Even as my irritated grumble trails off, a smirk flits across his lips.
)) JUUNANA ((
I cannot help but be amused by Vegeta's complaint. "I promise to watch out for him," I find myself promising, although I know that vow was already made when I first laid eyes upon the sparkling brightness that was Trunks Briefs nearly ten years ago.
// I shifted restlessly on the porch after my fist had made a rather conspicuous dent in the white door of my sister's house. A frown toyed with my lips as I mentally went over what I would say.
'Juhachi, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. I'm obviously not needed, and with Juroku off at a monastery, I have no reason to hang around. I wish you, your husband, and your daughter all the luck in the world. Don't worry about me; I'm just off to have fun.'
Those very words were penned on a crumpled note I clenched in my other hand just in case I lost my nerve. My attention focused on the door as I heard bright laughter of a child and the pounding of hasty feet upon the wooden floor. The door was thrown open, and I found myself gazing down into a pair of intelligent blue eyes.
The young boy looked quizzical as he tilted his head and declared in a tone of disappointment, "You're not Goten." A stray lock of lavender fell in front of his eyes, but the nine-year-old ignored it as he demanded an answer from me.
I blinked, caught off guard by the innocence in that gaze. This child needed to be protected, adored.. He needed to be happy. "Um, I'm Juhachi's brother. Is she home?"
The boy immediately grinned and bobbed his head up and down. "Marron's mom is busy cooking. Wanna come in?"
"Um, no thank you," I murmured absently, wondering why I wanted so badly to keep that bright smile on his inquisitive face. "Could you give her this note?"
His curious gaze fell upon the crumpled note that I offered to him, and he looked proud that I had appointed him such an important task. "Okay! Are you sure you don't wanna come in? We've having cake for Marron's eighth birthday!"
"It's her birthday?" The surprised question escaped my lips unchecked, and the young boy looked bewildered.
"You're Marron's uncle and you dunno it's her birthday?" His nose wrinkled in a childish fashion as he declared, "You're not a good uncle, are you?"
"No," I admitted, smirking a little. "I'm rather hopeless at it. How old are you?"
"I'm almost ten!" he informed me, pride obvious as he stuck out his chest and beamed. "My name's Trunks."
"You're Bulma and Vegeta's son?"
"Yeah!" was exclaimed enthusiastically when a voice called out from within the house.
"Trunks, who are you talking to?"
Those innocent blue eyes rolled at the protective tone Bulma used before he grinned impishly at me and turned to holler into the house, "Marron's uncle, Mom!"
By the time he turned back, I was gone, soaring into the clear blue skies and wondering why my heart had lurched so at the sight of the half Saiya- jinn. //
"Your sister worries about you constantly." Vegeta informs me quietly of the fact though I note he doesn't sound too upset about my sister's worrying. Not that I mind.
"I told her I'd be fine, didn't I?" I declare, a note of irritation slipping into my voice.
"Yes, and now you're sitting in a hospital bed, completely blind."
)) VEGETA ((
At Juunana's wince, I know I've scored a point. I smirk, knowing he can't see it. After a moment, however, he looks almost wistful. "I might get my sight back. After all, it wasn't a mental condition. I just, well, nearly crushed my own skull." The look on his face made me bite back the question of how that had almost happened.
"Where have you been for the last seven years?" I question at last, watching his face closely for any sign of lying.
A wan smirk flickers across his pallid face before he replies, his tone slightly sardonic. "Would you believe me if I said I've been in Satan City this entire time?"
)) JUUNANA ((
Vegeta is silent for a long moment, before he laughs suddenly. "Somehow, I think you're enough of an asshole to do that, Juunana, having your sister worry over you traveling the world when you're in the same city you've always been."
Another smirk forms on my lips. "Exactly." I pause, and inquire carefully, "Trunks gave Juhachi my note, right?"
"Yes, and he pouted all day about the 'man with cool eyes' who had left without saying good-bye to him."
I blinked, knowing my expression was one of surprise. "He-he liked my eyes?" In my years of wandering, no one had ever liked my eyes. They had said the azure orbs were filled with too much death, too much arrogance, too much emptiness. But He had liked my eyes?
"That's what I just said, isn't it?"
"He liked my eyes.."
)) VEGETA ((
My eyes narrow at the wondering, dreamy tone Juunana is using and at the brilliant smile that lights his exhausted visage and makes him seem his old self again. Something Krillin rambled to me a long time ago tugs at my memory banks, making me scowl. There is something not quite right here, but I cannot quite figure out what.
"Yes, he said they were cool and filled with mysterious things, whatever the hell that means."
His blind eyes fill with emotion at my words, and he grins instead of smirks. "Trunks is one in a million," he murmurs, more to himself than to me.
As I continue to frown as unease fills my senses, the idiotic monk's words finally come back to me.
// "Vegeta." I turned to scowl at the blundering shrimp, and he blanched a little but continued on. "Juhachi was wondering if you could help everyone look for Juunana. He's been missing for a few weeks now, and she's terribly worried."
I snorted, folding my arms against my chest. "No."
"What?" The monk looked thunderstruck that I had refused to help him.
"I don't care about your wife's brother, and besides, if he doesn't want to be found, he's not going to be found. He's an android, remember?"
"But-but you have to help us!"
I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Give me one reason why."
"Because if you don't and he dies before we hide him, he'll go to Hell and it'll be your fault for not helping us." His desperate claim caught me off guard, and I blinked before scowling once more.
"Why the hell would he go to Hell? The only person he actually killed was Gero, and we all applauded him. Besides, I was allowed to go to Heaven, and look at /my/ past.."
"You don't understand. When Gero made Juhachi, Juroku, and Juunana into androids, he unknowingly destroyed their souls. The only way for them to regain their souls and gain admittance into Heaven is to fall in love and be loved in return. Juhachi fell in love with me and I returned that love so she recovered her soul. Juroku fell in love with nature and nature loved him back so he salvaged his soul. Juunana doesn't have anyone to love!"
"Maybe he'll find someone to love when he's out wandering the world," I snapped, startled at the intensity of Krillin's words. Why did he want to help Juunana out so badly? It wasn't like the android liked the monk-in fact, Juunana had hated Krillin from the moment they had met.
"Maybe," stated the black-haired man, but there was a doubtful tone in his voice. "But the thing is, Juunana doesn't know how to regain his soul. He probably thinks he's damned forever. /That's/ why he disappeared."
"Can't he find just anyone to love him?" Despite myself, I found myself slightly interested in the android's plight.
"No. It hasn't to be a certain someone. There has to be this spark, this affinity. When I first laid eyes upon Juhachi, I couldn't keep from staring into her beautiful blue eyes. There was something in her cold gaze that hinted at a tender heart within, something that if I tried hard enough I could get to.." The monk's words had trailed off, and I snorted at the dreamy look on his face. //
With a start, I realize that the dreamy look on Krillin's face was identical to the one on Juunana's visage. All color drains from my face at the implications.
No..
My son cannot be the one that Juunana has to love in order to recapture his soul. My son is a half Saiya-jinn, one of the last of his race. He can't, won't love an android.
Not if I have anything to say about it, that is.
- TBC -