"Hey, did she really ask you out?" Goten asked.
"Huh?" Trunks looked at him. "Yeah. But who told you that?"
"Sandra told me you dumped her, so she asked me if I could talk you into asking her out."
"Don't bother." Trunks said. "I'm just not interested in her, okay?"
"I know." Goten replied. "But a lot of crazy stuff's been happening. Isn't it weird that all these murders have been people she knows?"
"Yeah..." Trunks mumbled. "First her mother and then her best friend... whoever it is committing these murders must know her." he shook his head. "But when I fought that guy a few days ago, she said she didn't know him. And he's the prime suspect."
"Maybe she's lying?"
"She obviously is." Trunks watched Lavender. "But she's always seemed like a normal human. I wonder what's up with her...?"
"I thought you said she wasn't a normal human, though?" Goten looked at him.
"Oh yeah, she's a black mage." Trunks nodded. "Hmm... maybe that's something to do with it. Black mages have a lot of enemies, right?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
~
"Come on, Lavender... None of this is your fault." Sandra put her hand on Lavender's shoulder.
"Come on, Sandra. You know as well as I do that Mia would still be alive if it wasn't for me." Lavender replied. She leant forward, and ran her hands through her hair. "Mokoto knew Mia was my friend so he killed her to get at me."
"Who is he, anyway?" Sandra asked. Lavender shook her head regretfully.
"I don't know... he knew my parents. That's all he'll tell me." a tear escaped her eye. "I just wish I knew what had gone on before I was born. If I knew that... maybe I could put an end to all this."
"He's really not said anything?"
"..." Lavender frowned when she remembered that Mokoto had said something else.
"He's got it into his head that I want to kill him."
"Why would you want to kill someone you've never even met?" Sandra questioned.
"I don't know. I don't want to kill him. But he won't believe me. He said he couldn't take the risk... like I'm a threat to him or something."
"Threat?" Sandra repeated.
"He knows something." Lavender told her. "He knows that something happened when I was born, I can tell. There's something about me... something he's afraid of... and for the life of me I can't figure out what it is."
"Maybe it's because you're a black mage? Maybe he can't hurt them?" Sandra suggested. Lavender shook his head.
"It can't be. My mother was a black mage - a stronger one than myself - and he killed her easily."
"... Then I don't know..."
"He's the only one that does." Lavender said. "I just wish he'd tell me..."
~~~
Mokoto took a sip of his tea, and leant back in his chair.
"Don't make yourself too comfortable." a (sexy) woman's voice said.
"Don't worry, Tamzin. I'll just lay low here for a little while." Mokoto promised. "That girl... I've killed her mother and her friend and she still hasn't come to search for me."
"She sounds harmless to me, why do you bother?" Tamzin asked. Tamzin was a strange - looking creature. She looked remotely like a human. Well, a cross between a human and a leopard. She had a long, furry leopard tail. However, the features on her face seemed quite normal. She had a human nose and eyes, except her eyes were red. Her long, loose hair was a beautiful "autumn" colour. She had two marks, one under each eye. They were light brown and shaped like long petals, giving a sort of "whisker" effect. She had normal, human skin, but it was colored strange. It was very pale yellow - brown, like a leopard, and had faint black spots on it. She wore black leather boots, black fishnet tights, and a black leather coat. Mokoto got the impression that under the coat there was just a bra and a pair of knickers.
He, on the other hand, was much more covered up. He looked just like a human. He wore grey trousers, black shoes, and a plain white shirt under his brown reindeer fur coat. His hair was dark grey and he had emerald green eyes. He was much older than Tamzin. While she was only about twenty, he was clearly in his early fifties.
Mokoto shook his head.
"Mizu had clearly tried hard to keep her from transforming, but she is naturally strong enough to do it anyway."
"But if she's as weak as you say she is, she's no threat to you." Tamzin shrugged.
"She may be weak now, but if she reaches her second form her power will increase dramatically. She'll become The Black Hope."
Tamzin laughed. Mokoto looked at her, and frowned.
"What's so funny?!" he demanded.
"I don't believe it, you actually believe in that thing?" Tamzin replied, smirking.
"It's true!" Mokoto protested.
"It's a legend. Something made up by some crazy priest to scare people. What kind of a name is "The Black Hope" anyway?" Tamzin said.
"Its name doesn't matter." Mokoto growled. "I'll admit, I don't truly believe in it myself, but I believe it could be true. And if it is, you and I are both screwed. We have to kill her before she transforms or they'll be no stopping it."
"How do you know it's her anyway?" Tamzin asked. "I don't know much about the legend."
Mokoto closed his eyes, trying to remember how it had been told.
"... When good bears evil a child, never the other way around.... The Black Hope shall be born." he recited.
Tamzin burst out laughing.
"Will you stop that?!" Mokoto snapped. Tamzin shook her head, and broke down into soft chuckles.
"B - Baka!" she laughed. "When good bears a child to evil? That is so stupid!"
"Well you'd better hope it's stupid, because there's no couple more good and evil than Mizu and Frieza! And if the legend is true their child will definitely be the one that'll kill both of us!"
"Go home, it's just a legend." Tamzin said, still smirking a little.
"Well, if you don't believe in the legend, why are you even here? You came to kill Lavender, didn't you?"
"Yes. But not because of some myth." Tamzin replied. "I came for a much more realistic reason."
"What reason?"
"Revenge, of course. Because Frieza killed my family." Tamzin looked at Mokoto. "And was that not your original reason?"
"Yes. Fifteen years ago I vowed to avenge my family...." Mokoto sighed. "But I wasn't the one that killed Frieza. I've missed my chance," he shook his head. "But now there is a much more serious matter I must attend to."
"You mean... you'd rather save your own skin from a legend that avenge your family?" Tamzin folded her arms. "Have you no loyalty?"
"Listen, I'm doing the best I can! I killed Mizu to avenge them!" Mokoto argued.
"No, you killed Mizu because she was in the way." Tamzin corrected him. "You're scum."
"..... Are you gonna help me kill Lavender or not?"
"Yes." Tamzin nodded. "Only I won't screw up."