Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball, Dragonball Z, or Dragonball GT. Those and the characters were created by Akira Toriyama, so please do not sue.


Chapter 11 - Two Sides, One Body



The first man reached her, grabbing her left arm in a wild, yet firm grip. Another brusquely landed a hand onto her bare shoulder, which she twisted out of harm's way. Reaching over her shoulder at the hand on her left arm, she jerked free and swung her left leg upwards, connecting with the man's red face. Still more of them came, Sashima, mad punches swinging themselves her way, either ducked or countered with an attack of her own.

She was trapped. Despite her efforts, only about half of the twenty men were down and rolling about in pain, and being surrounded by the remaining eleven or so gave her a treacherous feeling. It reminded her of a gazelle she had once seen, trapped and cornered by a pride of blood-hungry lions, backing slowly against a desolate wall of stone.

"You've had enough yet?" Golden Ear advanced to the front of the pack, ignoring the groans of his fallen men, scattered every which way through the warehouse floor. "Or do you want to die and get it over with?"

"Oh really?" Sashima sneered, crossing her arms against her chest and leaning casually against the wooden crates. "How many of your men are still here Golden Ear?" She mocked a cough, imitating something in need of air.

"Thirteen, including me," he responded, a slight shadow crossing his features. "We are still too much of a match for you." Limping forward, he took three more paces. "What do you say to a quick death?"

"Hmph," she smirked, noting the fact that Golden Ear had looked a bit frightened when he had counted the number of his men that remained. "I think not!"

Quick as lightning and to the shock of the gang members, she disappeared, leaving nothingness to where she had once stood.

"Did…did you just see that?"

"Where did she go…?"

"…How…how…did she do that?"

"Boss, what do we do now?"

"Shut up Nathan!" Golden Ear wheeled on his men, staring them squaring and sizing them up. "Don't just stand there! Find her!" Shouting, he waved his arms about maniacally.

Nathan, Golden Ear's second-hand man, was the first to respond. As he made his way quickly towards the back of the crates, a blur of aqua streaked by him, swinging forth and connecting roughly with his stomach, then another kick to the face, sending him almost off his feet. Sashima came into view once more, Nathan having both the wind and senses knocked out of him so quickly. Before he could regain his mind, the red-haired woman had locked onto his shoulders and flipped herself backwards in a wide arc, taking him along with her. He landed painfully onto his spine, twitching slightly, cries of agony escaping from his open mouth.

"Who's next?" The sneer forming once more on her face, she levitated herself to sit atop the wooden crates. Looking down on the terrified faces far below her, a laugh escaped from somewhere within her. "Hahahahahaha! Just look at your faces now! You scared or something?" Her mocking tone of voice was definitely laced thick with her usual sarcasm.

"I think not," Golden Ear redrew the pistol from his dirtied pants and pulled the trigger at Sashima.

BAM!

The crack of the gunshot ran through the room, the echo reverberating off the walls and piercing the stillness that came before it. He looked atop the crates, expecting for the bloodied and dead body of the woman, yet his wavering smile at once froze into a look of utter terror.

"You done with your games yet?"

The sheet of metal hovered several inches from the tip of her nose, dangling as if from a string in midair. Rotating slowly, it drifted slowly, higher and higher above their heads, finally bursting through the rotten roof, the hole revealing the pleasant summer skies.

"Quick, everyone! Get out your guns and kill her!"

The mad scramble and rummaging for the weapons only cracked the sneer on Sashima's face even wider. 'They will never learn, will they? Such fools…'

As rounds and rounds of shots were fired simultaneously towards her still figure, she noticed that they seemed to be backing away, farther and farther away from her. Their hands shook with the forces of their guns, sweat pouring from their drenched faces, eyes expanding till the cornea were entirely visible.

When the last bullet had been fired senseless, the woman stood, unharmed, and stared coolly down at the men, who cowered in fear. From her feet lay the pile of smoldering bullets, and gingerly she picked up a few, letting them run through her bare hands. In the distance, the sounds of police sirens were present. She had to get out of there before the police came.

"You fools have no sense besides trying to use your guns on me, don't you?" she began, wrinkling her nose in utter disgust. "No bullet can harm me when I'm in this condition, and all you've done is waste a bunch of ammunition. Tsk tsk. Such fools indeed…"

Golden Ear managed to clear his throat, and hesitantly he spoke. "Just…just WHAT are you?"

"What I am is none of your concern. For what your previous members had done to my sister, I should just kill all you right now!"

"No! Please! Please spare our lives!" Unexpectedly he broke down onto his knees and pleaded with her. "Please! I don't want to die right now! I didn't do anything--"

"A load of crap," Sashima spat out hotly, "you had your men attack me and tried to kill me! I have spent years trying to find out what had ever happened to my sister--to find out her gristly death! When she tried to protect me those two hundred years ago, she sacrificed her own will for mine. You and your people raped her, using her only for your own pleasures, but in the end she sought revenge. Revenge came with a price--she herself was killed by your ancestor! For those sins and the deaths for hundreds of innocent lives, I will make sure that you will never escape unpunished!"

The sounds of sirens were near now. Presently the screech of brakes were heard, the slamming of the car doors. A pounding on the dense warehouse door made the remaining men jump.

"Police! Open up!" A voice shouted from the outside. "Come out slowly with your hands up!"

"Guess I'll leave the police to deal with you, Golden Ear," said Sashima, surveying the area. More than half the men had been injured, lolling on the ground, slowly recovering from their injuries. The rest were standing, though frightened, yet unarmed. "I'll just make it easy for the police then."

She extended a finger out from her body, the energy radiating from her center point. Concentrating, the remaining men hovered slowly from the ground, their feet pawing desperately to remain on solid ground. With a wave of her hand, she brought them down into a heap on the floor, one on top of each other. Pushing the remainder of the men onto the pile as well, she looked around for anything suitable with which to contain them. Finally spotting the nets suspended from the roof beams, she disentangled them from their hangings and secured them over the men, who by now were shaking terribly.

"Consider yourselves lucky that I will not kill you yet. I'll leave it up to the jury, and if they don't find you guilty, then I will personally see to it that they will!"

With that, she disappeared from the warehouse. The front door collapsed with the impact of the police officers, and they streamed in, guns drawn and ready. Puzzled as they were, the roundup of the gang branch took up several squad cars, and until the last car was out of sight, the area marked as a crime scene, did the figure fly off from her hidden perch among the tall pine trees.

* * * * *

The glimmer of the summer's afternoon sun reflected itself across the vast ocean as she flew on, farther and farther away from the glare of the city she had departed from. The rays of the sun reflected themselves over and over among the water's smooth, cerulean depths, dancing merrily as if humans were waltzing on a ballroom floor, the time of their lives at hand. Scattered with an array of boats and oceangoing vessels, no one seemed to notice the figure that flew silently below the clouds, among the cawing of the seagulls to one another. The ocean spray smelled strongly of the seaweed and salt that it undoubtedly contained, their scent wafting up from the depths. Shadows of the creatures that lurked beneath this calm surface were, in no doubt, hidden, waiting for the precise moments to reveal themselves.

Various islands blurred by as she flew faster and faster, increasing her speed with every passing minute. She just had to get away, away from what had happened, what she had finally found out, about what had happened ten years before. The thought of such brutality…of such evilness…she was not able to take anymore of it. Ever since she had been orphaned, her sister was the one who had cared for her, who had comforted her, who had been there for her. When she was gone, the orphanage was her new home, and no longer were the streets of Harakatsuma where she roamed. She was shunned, ignored, and teased because of her quiet matters, seemingly withdrawn from everyone else.

She had already started high school when she was fifteen, and still she lacked the friends and people whom she desperately needed. Saddened, a look of depression among her face, there was not a single person who would come near her, and by no means was she a terrible student, she felt no desire to pursue education.

The memories flooded back to her as she remembered her sophomore year, when she had turned sixteen. That year, she had found out exactly who she was--and her path in that life. Then, all around her, a new light seemed to have shone, illuminated the bright spots in her shrouded darkness. Realizing how she had wasted her last four years of life, she had vowed to change her ways. Besides the power within her that she had been given, she quickly mastered the martial arts, making her steps all the more lethal.

*cough* *cough*

Something was wrong, she could just sense it. It was in the way which her coughs racked her body.

"Damn dimension, damn side-effects…" she cursed angrily. She would have to land and take a quick rest before continuing on. Spotting a minute island down below her, she halted in flight and slowly hovered down to it. It was nothing more than a jutting cliff, amid a few palm trees and pure white sand. Besides the seagulls and cormorants on the beach, the island seemed deserted.

The cliff top was barren when she arrived from the slight climb. Lying down on her back, she stared up at the white clouds that dotted the blue of the sky. She dared not look too closely to the sun, though. The redness of her eyes were not suited for even slight harshness with the rays.

'You know, Sashima…' a voice in her head began, calling out to her.

"Yes?" she spoke aloud, scowling.

'You shouldn't feel so bad about your sister…'

"And why not? She was the only person who cared for me about Mom and Dad died, so why not?"

'She's not even your own sister you know--'

"Shut up, you! She is my biological sister, we were both born from Mother--"

'Mother? Is she even your real mother? Sashima, get a grip on yourself! If you consider her your mother, then would she not be about the 16th one?!'

"I don't care what you say! She was my mother and my sister was my sister, that's all that matters!"

'I say you are going crazy Sashima. You don't even know who you are.'

"The hell I know who I am and what I am!"

'Okay…then what are you?'

"I…I…"

'See.'

At this she broke down into tears, the sobs echoing across the sea. Even the seagulls and the cormorants seemed to feel sorry for her.

* * * * *

By the time she at last opened her wearied eyes, the sun was at the horizon. Waves of orange and red amongst the blue mirrored themselves on the water, and by this time, the birds had gone from the island. Shadows lurked from behind the shapes and masses, a slight breeze bringing a chill to her bones, though the dusk was plenty warm.

"I must've fell asleep," she grumbled as she got up, brushing the dirt from her sweats. She glanced to the west, where she was sure Satan City was. "I better be getting back--Bulma is going to wonder where I am."

Her course to the west, the setting sun in her way. She scowled, reaching into her pocket for the sunglasses she had stashed earlier. 'Boy I can't wait for the sun to go down…'

Taking flight once more, she slipped the darkened glasses over her eyes and set off. The wind whipped her hair out from behind her, flapping in the breeze like blood-dyed waves. Slowly, her mind came upon the events of the day once more.

'You finally awake?'

"Yes, what do you want?"

'Nothing, just wanted to see how you're coping.'

"I'm doing fine, thank you very much."

'So…you still feeling sad about your sister?'

"How can I not?! Just quit mentioning it! I just want to forget about it…"

'Fine sure whatever you say, but…'

"Besides, I got my revenge, they are going to get punished, my sister is already dead, everyone in my family is dead, so what does it matter?"

'Temporary family you have to live with for this life anyways.'

"I don't want to think about it."

'Oh yes you do…'

"SHUT UP!"

'NO!'

"YES!"

'NO!'

"YES!!!"

Tears glistened in her eyes, falling slowly once again. Reaching a hand up to wipe them clean, the glasses were knocked from her face, falling…falling…falling…straight into the ocean with a quiet splash, sinking beneath the waves.

"Damnit…now I'll have to use up more of my energy to form a sun barrier…never mind, I'll just teleport back to Capsule Corp." Sashima winced--it would take a lot of energy considering the distance she needed to travel. "Um…where…which way is west again?"

Suddenly, her eyes met with the setting sun, directly to the west. The enormous ball of red had submerged halfway below the darkening horizon, yet a searing pain still shot through her over-sensitive eyes as she locked them with the sun. Her brain was obviously getting fried, though her eyes would not take themselves away from the spectacle. Something in her snapped, and the next thing she knew, she was plunging as her sunglasses had--toward the waters of the dark blue ocean and what lay beneath them…



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AN: Guh I'm tired outta my wits, and now I get to start on homework! Yay. Not. Semester is coming up and I have got to clinch that 4.0 grade. Yeah I know this chapter was confusing with the thoughts and all. Whatever, need to do a bioethics project. Wish me luck. ^^