"So, any plans for the holidays, Lavender?" Sandra asked as she and Lavender walked down the corridor.
"... No... I guess not..." Lavender replied. "I was gonna go to that place with mom...."
"Well, my family and I are going to Egypt for two weeks. I might be able to talk my dad into letting you come?" Sandra offered.
"No, that's okay... thanks, Sandy, but I'd rather just stay here and sort things out..." Lavender said.
"Sure. Hey... are you going back home?"
"I have to. There's nowhere else for me to stay. It's not like I have any grandparents or aunts to go to." Lavender mumbled.
"Wanna stay at my place while we're away?"
"Nah. I'll be alright. But thanks."
~~~
Lavender stared up at the house. It was so strange. She knew it would be exactly the same inside, but it felt different. It was like it wasn't her home anymore. It was just a building. A building she'd never seen or been inside in her entire life.
"No..." Lavender shook her head. "That's stupid." she approached the door, and took out her house key. "It's just a house." Lavender went inside. She looked around. Everything was just the way it had been. She walked into the kitchen. The sink was empty, and the dishes had ben put away. Mom always did get the housework done first. She could have more free time that way. Lavender walked over to the fridge, and opened it.
"Ew!" she was greeted by a horrible smell. Holding her nose, she crouched down and looked inside. There was something resting on a plate covered by tin foil. Whatever it was, it stank! Lavender held her breath as she used both of her hands to take it out of the fridge. She placed it on the surface of one of the units, and removed the tin foil.
"Oh, gross!" she exclaimed when she was greeted by the sight of mouldy pizza. "Yuck!" she held the plate away from herself as she went outside into the garden through a second kitchen door and dumped the pizza in the wheelie bin. She went back inside, and put the plate in the fridge.
"That must've been there a week!" she said. Lavender washed her hands, still disgusted by the sight of the pizza.
For a second, she'd forgotten all the bad stuff that had happened. It had been just like being at home. She started to feel a little more relaxed in the house.
Lavender smiled. At least she could come back here.
"Hey, why don't you get changed?"
Lavender had been wearing the same school uniform for days now. Of course, she'd washed her clothes every day. But it'd be nice to wear something else. She left the kitchen, and went upstairs.
Her room was just the same. Her walls were a nice lilac colour, and her carpet was navy blue. The units were a sandy colour, and her quilt was also lilac. She opened her wardrobe and took out a pale yellow crop top and a short denim skirt. Then she opened her draw where she kept her "delicates", and started to get changed.
~~~
Lavender sat in front of her dresser, looking at the mirror. She finished brushing her hair. She felt so calm now. This was what she did every morning. Get washed and dressed and then brush her hair. Doing normal, everyday things was so comforting for her. She'd had a wash, as well. She'd already had one, of course, but it felt better doing it at home.
"I can live with this, right?" she tried to boost her own confidence. It worked a little. "I can cope. I'm doing fine already." Lavender smiled, and stood up. Well... better see just how well she could cope. She knew she'd have to go into the living room sooner or later.
Lavender rummaged through her backpack, and pulled the photo Mokoto had given back to her. Might as well put this back where it had been. She left the room, and went downstairs.
Lavender approached the living room. The door was open. She gulped. "Come on... just go in... it won't hurt you..."
"...." Lavender clutched her necklace. She was still wearing it. She didn't know why. After everything that had happened, she now had near to no faith at all. But she always clutched the necklace when she was afraid. Out of habit, really.
"Mother..." she whispered. Lavender took a small step into the room. She looked around. This room was so different. Unlike the other rooms, it had been disturbed. The picture was gone, but that was obvious. The TV... it was smashed. Mom had put up a struggle...
The mirror was a little cracked, but too high up to take any real damage. The cushions on the sofa and the armchair were on the floor. One was burned. Mizu had obviously used her fire magic. The armchair had been knocked out of place a little, too. Lavender couldn't see anything past the sofa. She took a step towards it, afraid of what she'd find on the other side.
"That's stupid. There won't be anything..." she mumbled. The... body.... had been taken away. Lavender had seen it leave. What was there to be afraid of?
She slowly walked past the couch, and looked at the floor. Lavender gasped, and her eyes went wide with horror.
Blood. There was a large pool of dried up blood on the carpet. She screamed, and stepped backwards frantically, touching the armchair. She clasped her hands over her mouth in horror. Tears escaped her eyes.
"God... no..." she ran out of the room; out of the house; and down the path. She didn't stop at the gate, she frantically opened it and ran through, gasping in terror as she ran in any direction.
She finally came to her senses and stopped outside a nearby house. She crouched down, out of breath, and breathing heavily.
"Oh God..." she closed her eyes. It was stupid to react like this over blood, but it brought back the memory of finding Mizu...
She gave herself a moment, and then stood up. Where was she? She looked up at the building. Was this a house? Yeah... but a big one! She'd seen this place before. It was near where she lived. Her mother knew the people that lived here, but they rarely spoke. They'd just introduced themselves when Mizu first moved here. That was all. Who were these people? Lavender realized she didn't know who lived here. Mizu was still pregnant when she came here.
The door opened. Lavender jumped a little, still shaken by the sight of the blood. She squinted to see who'd opened the door. She gasped.
"Trunks?!" she exclaimed. "YOU live here?!"
"Lavender?" Trunks stepped out of the house and started walking towards her. "What are you doing here?"
"..... It's so stupid..." Lavender said, turning away. "I went back to my house... I just saw the blood... and ran. I didn't even know where I was going."
"Oh..." Trunks mumbled.
"Trunks?" a woman's voice called. "Who is it?"
Lavender turned around to see a blue - haired woman come to the door.
"Huh?" the woman, Bulma, looked at her. "A girl?"
"Sorry." Lavender reddened. "I just came here. I got a shock, that's all. I'll be on my way now ^_^"
"A shock?" Bulma stepped outside and approached the two of them. "What do you mean?"
"... My name is Lavender Kinoba. I've just been back home." Lavender figured she'd have heard of her. Bulma clearly did.
"You're that girl, right? Mizu's daughter?"
"Yeah." Lavender nodded.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your mother..." Bulma said sympathetically.
"... Thanks." Lavender said.
"Have you just gone home now?"
"Yeah... but... there was still some blood left...." Lavender looked at the ground.
"That must be horrible!" Bulma exclaimed. "You can stay with us for now if you want?"
"Wha?!" Trunks looked at her. Bulma glared back, and smiled at Lavender.
"For as long as you like."
"Mom!! No - ow!" Trunks gritted his teeth as Bulma stood on his foot.
"Lavender, you're welcome to stay if you're not read to go home, right Trunks?" Bulma gave Trunks another glare.
"Y - Yeah. Sure." Trunks didn't seem too enthusiastic. Lavender knew he didn't want her there.
"No, I'll be alright." she assured Bulma.
"You don't seem alright. I knew Mizu, she was a friend of mine."
"Huh?" Trunks looked at her. "But you never spoke to her."
"Well when she left we went our own separate ways." Bulma replied. "But we were friends before she left to live with Lavender's father." she looked at Lavender. "Although I never met him and she never told me who that was. Who was he?"
"Well, I never met him. But his name was -"
"Woman!" Vegeta's voice came from inside the house. They all turned their heads to look at the doorway. Vegeta appeared. He looked at them all.
"What are you all doing out here?" he asked, a little surprised.
"Lavender is staying with us." Bulma told him stubbornly."
"But I -"
"Wha?!" Vegeta jumped back. "Lavender? Who's that?!"
"Lavender Kinoba. Mizu's daughter." Bulma told him. She put her hand on Lavender's shoulder, indicating her.
"She is staying with us for as long as she wants."
"Are you insane?!" Vegeta protested. "You can't just invite people into our house!! What if I don't want some kid staying here?!"
"YOU have no say in it!" Bulma smirked. "This was my house way before you came along and if I want to invite her I will."
"But Mom -"
"I don't want to hear it, Trunks!" Bulma silenced him.
She smiled sweetly at Lavender.
"Is there anything you need from your house?" she asked.
"Really, I can go back there." Lavender insisted.
"Leave it a couple of days, okay? You seemed pretty nervy before. I don't want to see that happen to my godchild."
"Godchild?!?!" Trunks and Vegeta stared at her.
"Mizu once told me that if she ever had a child, I'd be its godmother." Bulma boasted.
"But that was years ago, right? You never even knew Lavender!" Trunks said.
"So what?" Bulma answered back. "Now Trunks, I want you to go to Lavender's house and bring some clothes for her."
"What?! You want me to go to some girl's house, root through her drawers and bring her some clothes?!"
"Good point..." Bulma mumbled. "Okay, I'll go later." she looked at Lavender." Anything else you want? Oh, and you'll need your backpack, won't you? Is that all?"
"Uh... yeah. That's fine..." Lavender still couldn't believe this was happening.
"Good." Bulma looked back at Trunks. "Show Lavender where the spare room is."
"Mom -"
"Now!!"
"..." Trunks sighed, and motioned towards the door. "This way..." he mumbled, and headed towards the house. Lavender followed.
"I can't believe you're doing this!!" Vegeta exclaimed.
"Oh, quit your complaining. Why should it bother you anyway? You're always in that gravity room with Trunks. The two of you will hardly see Lavender."
"That's not the point!!"
"Ah, shaddap."
~~~
Tamzin looked down at Bulma and Vegeta. It had been hard following Lavender without being spotted, but Tamzin was an expert at making herself go unnoticed. She watched Bulma and Vegeta from the roof of Capsule Corps like a cat. Her eyes didn't once get off her prey; her arms were folded in front of her as she lay on her stomach, and her tail wagged slowly, and occasionally jerked to the side.
"Lavender..." she mumbled. Lavender was a little more guarded than she would like, but these two seemed like pretty easy targets. Tamzin planned her next move as she watched the couple. If she could kill at least two of Lavender's guards, getting to Lavender would be easy. Hmm.... but that boy... maybe it would be less time consuming and much more fun if she used him as bait. But how to get him on his own...?
"I'm going to Goten's." Trunks came out of the house.
"You're leaving Lavender on her own?!" Bulma seemed unimpressed.
"Well maybe she wants to be left on her own after everything that's happened?" Trunks tried to excuse himself.
"Hmm... I guess..." Bulma mumbled.
"Anyway, see ya. I'll be back in a few hours." Trunks jogged away. Tamzin watched him leave - on his own. She smiled evilly.
"Perfect." she purred. She stood up elegantly, and moved so fast she seemed to just vanish.