by Amazon and Masquerade
Masquerade's Note: Based on a few reviews, I want everyone one to know that I DID NOT WRITE THIS ALONE! CREDIT MUST ALSO GO TO AMAZON, WHO HELPED IN WRITING THIS! In fact, the fic was her idea too. We both wrote this together, and we both deserve equal credit. Thank you, and enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter 7
The next morning found the pair still in the cozy bed. The two other occupants of the house had already awoken and Aria was on her way to wake up her best friend. Aria decided to open the door without knocking.
"Hey, sleepyhead! We're going out training today, remembe....." Seeing her best friend and the infamous android in the same bed made her pause a minute with bug eyes. "Uh......" Stay cool, stay cool, stay cool, stay cool, stay, cool, I can't! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Tansei immediately awoke to her friend's screaming and was startled herself so she too began to scream. Cell bolted upright at the screaming.
"What in....." He noticed
Aria by the door. ".........."
"Tansei, what in the world
is he doing in your bed?!" Aria screamed.
Tansei gasped for breath.
"What are you doing screaming
like that?!" she yelled back, clutching her chest, "I almost had a heart
attack!"
"You're the one who almost
gave me a heart attack!" She started to calm slightly, but her voice had
a whiny tone to it. "I just....you see....it's that........why are you
two in the same bed?"
Tansei blushed at the implication.
"I...uh...aheh...," she tried.
Cell started blushing too.
"I came to talk with her. She invited me to stay the night, and I did."
Tansei let out a breath and nodded in affirmation.
"Right."
Aria made a worried face.
"The entire night?"
When Cell nodded, Aria sighed.
"Look, buddy, Tansei and I need to train for the tournament, so you better leave."
Tansei smoothed down her mussed hair and slid out of the bed.
"I'm going to change.
Aria why don't you make sure my mom didn't have a heart attack of her own
with all our screaming?"
"Oh, that's right." she
nodded. "I'll just tell her we saw a spider." She smirked at Cell. "It's
close enough."
Cell got up from the bed.
"I should be going now. I need to train myself."
Tansei nodded.
"I'll see you in 7 days, then, Cell."
He nodded back, and made his exit out the sliding glass doors. Tansei sighed and turned to Aria.
"Nice wake up call, by the way," she smirked.
Aria started laughing.
"Sorry. I tried not to panic, but.....well, it's not everyday I see a giant bug man sleeping in your bed.... What was I supposed to do?"
Tansei smiled and shook her head. She sighed deeply.
"Aria...I don't know what to do. He asked me not to participate in the tournament last night. He doesn't want to hurt me. And...I don't want to hurt him either," Tansei confessed, "What should I do? My feelings for him are obvious now."
Aria bit her lip.
"Yikes....sounds serious...
Well, if he doesn't want to hurt you.....don't fight!" She shrugged. "You
know, be there but don't fight?"
"But I already said I would
be fighting. I told him not to hold back...I know I won't.
I have to make a choice here. If I don't fight, the chances of the
planet being saved become much slimmer. If I do fight, the chances
improve and I know for sure that my mother and you will be safe.
I...I suppose I can wait to go last so that I'll know for sure if I need
to fight or not...," she continued, "Or I could go first and knock him
out of the ring to end it quickly."
"Yeah, our plan, remember?"
"Right," she sighed deeply,
"Well, come on. I think we should pay the other fighters a visit
to assess our true chances."
"Huh?" she blinked. "Go
back to the Tenkai?"
"Yeah. See all those
'hotties'," Tansei winked.
Aria smiled.
"All right, then. Let's get
dressed and get going!"
"All right. I'll meet
you downstairs," she replied with a smile.
Aria nodded, and left the room.
"Mrs. Kageyama, it's okay.....we saw this really big spider...."
Tansei found herself laying back on her still warm bed and crawling over to where Cell had slept. The sheets and pillow held his surprisingly masculine scent and she inhaled it, almost giggling like a silly schoolgirl. She sighed dramatically.
"I've got it bad..."
She quickly pulled off her nightgown and slipped into a pair of black
spandex shorts and a red tank top. She pulled on a pair of sneakers
and put 100 lb. weights on her wrists. She tied her hair back into
a neat bun with a few wisps of hair here and there and headed down the
stairs.
Aria was down in the kitchen, combing her hair at
the table. She was dressed in a sleeveless white shirt and wore khaki shorts
with tan sneakers. She had a scrunchie in one hand, meaning she was going
to tie back her hair in a high ponytail.
"Hi, mom!" Tansei said, kissing
Ikuko on the cheek, "What's for breakfast?"
"Good morning, dear." Ikuko
chirped. "I thought you girls would like pancakes."
"Ahh...mom, you know I hate
pancakes. How about I help out and make some french toast?"
"Well, that sounds like
a good idea." Ikuko nodded. "All right, let's make some french toast."
"All right, ladies.
It's time for you both to taste my famous french toast! Just sit
back, relax, and prepare for full stomachs!" Tansei declared as she began
the process of making the delicious french toast.
Aria started tying her hair off.
"All right! Tansei's french toast! Yummers!"
After a few minutes of cooking, Tansei set down three plates of the french toast. The toast was arranged like a hand of cards and decorated with sliced strawberries and bananas in a delicate maple syrup with sweet butter and whipped cream. She topped it all off with chopped nuts and tall glasses of orange juice. Already, Tansei felt her mouth watering.
"Wow." Aria marveled. "I almost don't want to eat it. That looks great, Tansei."
Tansei beamed.
"Thanks, Aria. Well, dig in! You too, mom!"
Tansei picked up her fork and carefully cut into her culinary masterpiece.
"Absolutely." Ikuko nodded. "I'm so very hungry..." She and Aria started eating Tansei's fine cooking.
Tansei sat back after finishing her french toast, completely stuffed and satisfied. She licked her lips clean of the remaining traces of syrup and whipped cream.
"I'm almost too full to train...," she laughed.
Aria softly burped behind one hand.
" 'Scuse me. Yeah, me too. But we have to. We've only got seven days left."
Tansei nodded and got up, rubbing her stomach softly.
"We'll be back by evening,
okay mom?"
"That's fine, dear. Remember
not to stay out too late, all right?"
"Sure," Tansei replied,
waving as she almost literally dragged Aria out the door with her.
"Full..." Aria moaned. "Well,
bye Mrs. Kageyama! See ya later!"
"Bye!" Ikuko waved the two
girls off.
Tansei breathed in the crisp morning air and floated off the ground, giggling a bit. Aria hovered up until she was at her friend's eye level.
"What's got you all giggly
this morning? The fact you slept next to Cell?"
"No! It's just a beautiful
day, Aria! So perfect a day for a carnival or picnic. We should
take a day to just enjoy the earth. If we're going to protect it,
we should remember what we're protecting," she said seriously, "And, yes,
that was the best sleep I've ever had."
She grinned before flying off, knowing Aria would catch up. Aria smacked her forehead as Tansei took off.
"That girl can be so embarrassing!" Then she took off after her.
Tansei soon reached the Tenkai and landed softly on the tiled floors. She was immediately noticed by Vegeta who frowned in her direction.
"What are you doing here,
girl?"
"Miss Tansei! So good
to see you, again!" Mr. Popo hastened to greet her.
"Hi!" Krillin waved. "Welcome
back!"
"Hello, everyone.
We're just here to see how your training is going. I've had another
chance to test Cell's ability and I know the more power we have on our
side the better our chances are."
Aria landed right behind Tansei.
"Hi, everyone! We're here!" She looked around, seeing that no one acknowledged her. "Hey, don't everyone greet me all at once....."
Trunks smiled in her direction, trying to be nice.
"Hello...Aria right?"
Vegeta cast his future son a look. Aria looked over at him and nodded.
"Yep, that's me." She flipped
through her cute boy phone book. "You're....Trunks, right?"
"Okay, Aria. Stop
macking on poor Trunks already," Tansei teased.
Trunks sweat dropped. Piccolo approached Tansei.
"How much training have you
both accomplished?"
"Well, after our initial
time in the chamber we've been working on more mental preparations while
still keeping up our physical stamina and strength. I believe I'm
close, if not equal to, Cell's power. Aria is about equal to...the
vertically challenged one." Tansei pointed toward Krillin, not knowing
his name.
Vegeta smirked.
" 'The vertically challenged one'? What is this? Politically correct day?"
Tansei shot Vegeta an annoyed look.
"Oh, the onna gave me the glare of death. I'd better watch my back," he continued sarcastically before walking off.
Aria clipped Tansei in the back of the head.
"Hey, I'm not that weak. I could beat up....um....." She randomly pointed at someone. ".....that guy!"
That guy happened to be Vegeta. Tansei raised a brow.
"I don't think so...try sparring
with uh..what's his name?" she asked Piccolo.
"Who, Krillin?" he asked.
"He would make a good sparing partner."
"All right. Aria,
ask Krillin to spar with you. Let's test how far you've come," Tansei
suggested.
Trunks smiled in encouragement toward Aria.
"Yeah. Let's see what you've got," he said.
Aria looked at Trunks, and blushed with a smile.
"All right," she walked towards Krillin, rotating one arm. "Let's go, Mr. Krillin. I'll show everyone what I'm made of!"
Krillin laughed lightly.
"Okay. If you think you can handle it."
Vegeta humphed.
"This should be entertaining."
"Father, please," Trunks
interjected.
Krillin took a stance across from Aria and smiled warmly. "Okay, show me what you got!" he said, allowing her the first move. Aria shook her wrists a moment, and got into a fight position with her hands flexed. She looked Krillin up and down a moment before standing out of her position.
"Before we begin....." she quickly whipped out her notebook, "....can I have your number?"
Krillin sweat dropped.
"Uh...heh heh...I think I'm too old for you," he said, scratching the back of his head with a slight blush and a grin on his face.
Aria's face fell flat.
"Oh, all right then." She put the notebook away and quickly lunged foreword for Krillin. "Think fast!"
Krillin yelped and quickly blocked her attack. Aria started punching at him as quickly as she could. Krillin blocked the punches with relative ease. He hit her stomach with a flat palm, pushing her back a bit.
"Hey!" Aria yelped.
She quickly recovered, and brought her foot up to kick him with his heel. The minute he blocked her, she bent foreword slightly and cupped her hands.
"Surprise, surprise!" she called, firing a point blank ki wave at him.
Krillin yelped as the unexpected attack connected with his face and sent him flying, landing on his back. He sat up and rubbed his butt.
"Wow, you sure pack a punch!"
Trunks clapped a little bit at her effort. Tansei joined in.
"Pathetic...," Vegeta sneered before disappearing somewhere to train himself.
Aria clapped her hands together to clean them, then gave everyone a thumbs up.
"Always got a surprise, don't
I, Tan-chan?"
"That you do, Ari-chan,"
she replied.
Krillin clapped Aria's back and smiled.
"You're pretty strong. If you keep up your training you'll be one of the strongest humans on earth," he complimented.
Aria grinned as she headed back to Tansei's side. She whispered into her best friend's ear.
"I bet I really can beat
that bush headed jerk......what's his name?"
"Vegena? Vegetable?
Something like that...," Tansei said, trying to remember.
"Vegeta! You imbecile!
My name is Prince Vegeta!" came the roar from the other side of the Tenkai.
Trunks sweat dropped as did everyone else.
"Whatever." Aria said out
loud, shrugging. "I ain't getting his number..."
"Wow! That's a first!"
Tansei laughed.
Aria grinned at her friend.
"I've got my own tastes."
"This I know," she replied.
~*/|\*~
Cell stood in the center of his arena, arms crossed, perfectly still......same old, same old.
"This is boring. Why did I say ten days?"
He looked around, trying to think. He found that hard to do lately. A hot gust of wind, kicked dirt up onto the arena.
Now that I have this "love" for Tansei, I have no idea what to do anymore. I don't want to hurt her...I don't want to kill her..... If I win, I have to keep the Earth in tact....What do I do?
He looked up into the sky, watching the clouds pass by.
"We may have to meet again, Tansei. I......I need your help...."
~*/|\*~
Up at the Tenkai, Tansei had just finished showing Piccolo what she was made of. The two warriors were pretty beat, but Tansei was definitely the better off of the two. She wiped her brow and smiled at Piccolo.
"So what do you think of
my abilities now?"
"Not bad." he congratulated.
"You could certainly keep Cell busy."
Tansei smirked.
"I have the best chance here,
Piccolo. Admit it."
"I can't say for certain."
the Namek warrior shook his head. "A lot of us are training hard, and we
are mostly looking to Goku to be our best chance."
"Well, we'll know for certain
at the tournament," Tansei allowed, "Is there a chance that I can get into
the chamber once more?"
"Yes." Piccolo nodded. "But
that's all you get. You can't stay for more than two days in the chamber."
"I know," she replied, "My
father told me all about it's limitations."
"So, what's the limitations?"
Aria asked. "Why two days?"
"Because if we stay for
more than two days total, we'll be sucked into oblivion," Tansei replied
matter of factly.
"Oooooh." Aria nodded. "Oh
well, who'd want to spend more than two days in that place, anyway?"
Tansei laughed.
"Well, it's getting late,
Aria," Tansei said, observing the setting sun.
"Yeah." she agreed. "Are
we leaving?"
"I think that's a good idea.
We'll be back a couple of days before the tournament to train for
another day though. Say good bye to your little boyfriend and let's
go," Tansei teased, winking at Trunks who blushed lightly.
Aria waved at Trunks with a grin.
"Bye, Trunksie-poo! I'll be back for you!" She blew him a kiss, then turned to Tansei. "Okay, let's go."
Trunks' blush turned cherry red.
"Right. Good evening
all!" Tansei waved as she flew off.
"Bye, guys!" Aria waved
before following. "Hey, Tansei, wait up!"
Disclaimer: We don't own DBZ or any related characters or entities. DBZ is © Akira Toriyama. The characters of Tansei Kibito, Ikuko, Aria, and Masaru are however our intellectual property and we reserve the exclusive right to use said characters.
Tansei Kibito, Ikuko, Aria, Masaru © Amazon and Masquerade, 2003.
