So They Say; Dirait-on

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the original characters (if any) and the fic all of this is in. That is all.

Chapter One

The sun bore down upon his back from it's fiery position in the sky as Tien flew quickly towards the small island that held Roshi's home, the woman still unconscious in his arms. He held her close to him, along with the Dragon Ball that still moved on her stomach, making sure that neither would fall into the salty water below. There was no denying that she had been there for quite some time by the looks of the bruises and cuts on her arms and face; how she managed to get into the position that she was in and survive it was a mystery to him, yet it was one that he would have to wonder about later. Right now, all that mattered was to find someone, anyone, to help him in this situation even if that person was one of the most perverted people on the planet.

He had circled the huge island at least a dozen times, looking for something that was even remotely closer then Roshi's small island. He hadn't found anything around it, giving up his search only after about a half hour into it. Even then he knew that there was something there that he overlooked, but there wasn't any time to really do a good search of the island or the beach. Granted that this place was probably about a hundred or so miles away from where he had originally began as he could easily flew to it if he went fast enough, it was still too far away to go. However, Roshi's was the only place he could go that was closer then anything else.

Tien glanced down at the Dragon Ball that was moving ever so slightly on the woman's stomach, his reflection looking right back at him. He wondered why a person would want to go after such things if they did not know that they existed in the first place, yet that was an assumption that he didn't want to put on her just yet. There were people on Earth, inside the small group that Tien had gotten to know, that knew of the Dragon Ball's existence and many other things that common people would not know of. Then again, these people were not the typical beings that one saw walking down the street nor were they ones that could be fooled easily with mere tricks. No, they were probably the strongest beings on the planet and perhaps in the universe, but that was an even bigger assumption then before. There would always be that one creature that would come onto Earth to test their abilities only to be defeated in the end.

"Uhhh," The woman moaned in her slumber, her head moving slightly as Tien looked back down at her with wide eyes. He slowed down at a speed that made the Dragon Ball roll forwards, dropping off of the woman's stomach and down into the water below. If this had been any other time when these Balls were needed, he would have gladly gone after it without much thought to anyone else or anything. But this wasn't that time and there was no real reason as to why he needed the Dragon Ball in the first place. If and when the orb was needed in the future, Bulma Brief's Dragon Radar would easily pick it up when the time came up. As for now, there was no concern over it.

"Are you okay?" He asked, raising the woman's head up so that he could get a better look at her face as he now hovered in mid-air. She did not open her eyes nor did she seem to be moving her head again or any other part of her body as she laid calmly in his arms once again. Tien narrowed two of his eyes, not understanding anything about this woman nor the circumstances in which she had gotten into this condition. "Miss? Can you speak again?"

As those words rolled off of his tongue, the woman did not answer as a soft gurgle came from deep within her throat. Her lips moved silently along to the wind, seemingly moving in the same pattern over and over again until her mouth closed once again and fell back into whatever hell she might be in at the moment. Tien shook his head at this, realizing that this might be more serious then he originally thought as he started to fly once again, this time faster then before. He had to get some help and fast before anything else happened to her.

****

Future

With everything that has happened in the past and those things that will happen in the future, there are always consequences to every thing that goes on in the universe, even down to the smallest change. Changing Time itself is especially dangerous for the chaos that might ensue if one were to change history even the slightest bit. Everything happens for a reason that can not be undone even if one wanted to change the past for it to change the future for good or evil. Despite the person's desire to change things, the most dire of situations that might arise in the future's own future as there is no need to go change what has already happened in that past.

There would always be alternate timelines happening at once, shifting through time and space without once crossing over each other. However, there is always something that will go wrong during this as paths will cross with each other at some point in the space of traveling. While it may not be seen in a many visions, there will always be those strays that can pick up what is supposed to be wrong and hopefully change it before anything will become worse.

He knew this and many other things as he stared at the night sky, his purple hair swaying in the light breeze. He stood in the center of the site where Capsule Corps used to stand, yet even that was being rebuilt as the days and years went by. Everything seemed to be getting back into order since the Androids attack several years ago, eventually becoming what it once was. Even then, when he had gone back to change what had already happened in the past, he knew that something was going to come out of it, good and bad. The good that came out of it was that he became strong enough to destroy the Androids in his own time and stopped it from happening in another time. The bad that followed was that things didn't go as planned as he thought was going to go.

Now, he knew as he continued to stare up at the starless sky, there was something inside of him that was tingling. It started at the base of his spine, working its way up slowly to the middle of his back before shooting up into his brain. There was something wrong somewhere that he didn't understand nor did he know where it was coming from. A strange power had emerged from in the distance and, no matter how far he went, there was no sign of anything that was going on. Nothing but the remains of what had happened in the past along with the things that were old memories.

When he told his mother about the strange feeling, she told him to brush it off since there was no longer any threats to worry about other then to rebuild what they had lost. Her words of how he was still to paranoid over what had happened swirled in his mind as he shook his head, attempting to get those same exact thoughts out of his head. He didn't want to think of the possibilities of having something else out there that would disrupt his life once again.

"You are still thinking about what happened, aren't you child?" Said an old voice from behind him. The boy turned around swiftly, the unfamiliar tone of the voice ringing in his voice as his eyes came upon a woman that he had never seen before. There stood an old lady that he did not recognize as she stood several feet away from him, her hands at her sides. Her short red hair moved slightly in the wind, her green eyes watching him closely then he had ever see anyone look at him. Despite her age, she looked like someone who had aged far more then the normal human would have aged. Even so, he did not trust her like he did not trust the many other strangers that he came across nowadays.

"Uh, yes...." He told her, unsure as to why someone like her was standing there, watching him. He had never seen her before and he was sure as anything that she had never seen him before either.

"I am not here to harm you, child. I probably would have in the past, but that was a long time ago. Times change and so do people, like yourself for instance."

"Who....who are you?" He stammered out, taking a step back from her. This wasn't looking too good and he didn't trust some old lady's word even though she did not look like she was going to do anything to him. Still, he had to take in account of what had happened in the past, which scared him more then it did to comfort him.

Instead of answering his question, the woman laughed like a hyena, turning around quickly. With her back to him, she walked away into the darkness of the night without another word being thought or said with the wind howling along with the laughter.

****

"Who is she?" Oolong asked as he hovered over the woman's face, peering down at her closed eyes as she laid on the couch that Mast Roshi had pushed to the side for some unknown reason. The pig was leaning on the arm that the woman's head was upon, unable to really focus on her face but rather on the other parts of her upper body. Roshi himself was leaning on the top of the couch, his hands being swatted away every few seconds from her by Tien, who looked pissed that he was even trying to attempt such a thing on a woman that he didn't even know although that was a common thing for him. Chaotzu was standing not too far from where Tien was standing, looking confused at this whole matter just like the other three were.

Tien hadn't been back at Roshi's island for more then fifteen minutes and already he had to ward off the two perverts off of the one that he had seemingly "rescued" her from her rocky grave. Chaotzu had given him a weird look as soon as his friend had come inside the house with the stranger in his arms, yet Tien ignored it when he had set the woman down upon the couch gently. Oolong and Roshi had at once rushed over to the one that their friend had brought in, eager to see what they could get their hands onto. It didn't matter at first who this person was or why she was even there, instead going for the parts that they knew they shouldn't touch.

"I don't know," Tien said, shrugging lightly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I found her laying under a pile of rocks along a beach."

"What were you doing there?" Roshi asked, eyeing Tien but all the while moving a hand down towards the woman's chest. Tien gave him a stern look about this action, which Roshi heeded only after he had roughly touched the woman's chest with the tip of his hand. He then withdraw his arm back to the top of the couch, a look of mock hurt appearing on his face along with a sly smile.

"I thought I saw a Dragon Ball down there, but I was mistaken," He half lied, knowing full well that he had found a Dragon Ball under the rocks but it had been dropped into the water instead of him not really finding anything. But what harm could it possibly do to give a little lie? It wasn't like the Dragon Ball hadn't been placed back where it was supposed to be and there was no real reason why they needed them anyways. Besides, they could find it another day if and when they needed it. "So, I went down there to check to see if there was. No Dragon Ball, but I did find her instead. I don't know what she was doing there in the first place, but I couldn't leave her there even if she was there for a while."

"Is she alive?" Chaotzu asked in a small voice, tip toeing next to Tien as he looked over the other arm of the couch to take a glimpse of her.

"Of course she is alive. Felt a heartbeat when I touched her chest," Roshi said, getting excited at the mere thought of that action. Tien did all he could to stop himself from rolling his eyes, shaking his head instead as he took in a deep breath to keep himself calm. He was already becoming irritated with the few questions that they had already asked, although he usually was pretty calm about certain things.

"When I got her out from under the rocks, she opened her eyes and said something to me. I don't know what it meant nor can I remember exactly what it was, but it wasn't something I have heard before.," Tien added on, taking in another deep breath as he watched the woman closely. He still thought she reminded him of someone, but he couldn't be sure of that at the moment.

Suddenly, the woman sat up quickly, her eyes snapping open just as fast as she had sat up. This caused Oolong to fall off the arm rest he had been on, landing on his behind with a thud. Roshi jumped back from the couch, his sunglasses nearly falling off of his nose as a look of surprise came onto his face. Both Tien and Chaotzu got into a defensive stance in the same place as they were standing in, ready for anything that the stranger might attempt to do. Instead of getting up, the woman blinked her eyes, turning her head from left to right several times before her emerald eyes fell onto Tien himself.

"....w....w....w...." She stumbled, her voice cackling with the same letter. Tien lowered his defense some, unsure as to what she was trying to say or do to them. With everything that had happened in the last few years, it wasn't uncommon for something to be the exact opposite of what it was.

"Uh," Oolong whispered, getting up and propped his elbows onto the same arm rest that he had fallen from. He didn't get much closer to her then this, afraid that she might turn around and do something to him or to anyone else in the room.

"....w....w....w...." The woman attempted to say again, her eyes narrowing as her face got dark and clouded with anger. She looked like she was about to cry, yet no tears came from the base of her eyes. Then the anger faded as fear set in, her knees going up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees. No one moved after this, all too confused as to what was going to really say or do anything as they stared at each other, the seconds ticking by.

It was Chaotzu who had the most courage to lower his defense all the way, moving in closer towards her then the others would to have liked to. He kept his hands in front of him, going around the edge of the couch as he stopped at the end of it without going much further then that. The woman still had her eyes upon Tien, seemingly ignoring that the other was standing closer to her then anyone else in the room. Chaotzu blinked his eyes, his head tilting to the side as he looked the woman over several times without saying a word to her at first. After a few moments, he began to speak.

"Do you know who you are?" Chaotzu said slowly, hoping that she would at least understand that question to a point to tell them who she was. The woman moved her gaze from Tien to the small clown-like being, causing him to jump and take a step backwards. She then tilted her head to the side, a small smile appearing then disappearing on her lips.

"R...R...R..." She sputtered, still unable to speak more then a single word at a time. At this point, Tien was getting angrier by the second at this as he placed his hands at his side and walked smoothly to the end of the couch. Once he did, the woman moved her eyes back over towards him, looking surprised that he had come closer then he had been before.

"Look, I know you can speak more then one word. I heard you speak before. Unless something happened to you to make you not know how to speak, you had better speak now!" Tien growled, crossing his arms over his chest. Chaotzu looked up at his friend in surprise as did Oolong and Roshi, their mouths dropping open.

"Tien, I don't think that is the right way to talk to a lady. You to need to talk smooth to her to get some things later," Roshi told him wisely, giving him a wink and a nod. Tien ignored him, his three eyes staring intently at the one that he had taken off of the rocks.

"Rose," The woman muttered, her eyes moving down towards the couch so that she would not have to look at anyone. Tien sighed, dropping his arms to his side as he backed away from the couch.

"That's better then what you were trying to say. Now, perhaps you can tell us where you came from," He demanded just as angrily has he had done so before. The woman remained quiet, her lips moving to unheard words like she was trying to think of something to say other then the truth with her eyes still lowered. They waited for her to say something, the tension in the room growing to a height that made everyone become more uneasy as the moments dragged on.

"I....I.....don't remember," She said, moving her gaze up to him with sorrowful eyes. Tien leaned towards her, clicking his tongue on the top of his mouth as he did.

"The word that you said before. What was it?" He asked. The woman did not reply to him, her lips moving into a thin line as the stared at each other intently. "I promise that this will be my last question if you say something."

"Honest?"

"Honest, I suppose."

"Dirait-on."

"Dirait-on? What does that mean?" Oolong asked no one in particular as Tien straightened his back up. No one answered the question as silence settled back in, only time able to answer the question.

To Be Continued