Cherry: There. Longer chapter, finally getting to the point...... And I do not own DBZ or any of the characters. Except Cherry, since she is me; but we've been through this already so you should know by now.

****

Sun streamed through the windows and danced off Yamcha's face. He sat up and yawned. His groin was still a bit sore, but other than that, he felt fine. He looked at the clock on top of the TV and gasped. It was 10:00am! He was supposed to wake up around dawn! He got up and rushed into his room to get dressed. No one was in there, so he got dressed quickly. He ran into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Cherry was sitting across from him, and she had a small smile on her face.

"G'morning Sensei!" she called.

"Oh Kami...I'm so sorry I'm up so late..." he apologized.

"Oh, its okay. I got up at dawn and did some controlled meditation and warm-ups." she reassured.

"Y-you were up at dawn??? Why didn't you wake me?" he asked curiously.

"You looked so peaceful sleeping there, so innocent, just like a child...I just couldn't bare to disturb you and wreck the tranquillity." she smiled.

He smiled and said nothing, but drank the coffee Pu'ar had set before him. "Good. We can head over to the park green then. You've had breakfast, correct?"

"Yes, but...you haven't."

"Its okay. A hungry tiger's a quick tiger." he gleamed.

She smiled back and stood up. Now she was clad in a pair of faded jean shorts with a bright red T-shirt. Her pink hair was pulled back away from her face in a ponytail. She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, are we going to train, or are you going to stare at me all day?"

Yamcha snapped back suddenly and smiled. "As tempting as the latter sounds, I must decline. We have work to do."

Cherry laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder. She headed out the door, Yamcha following close behind. They reached the park and started to train, starting with the basic topic of manipulating energy.

"You can manipulate chi, can't you?" he asked.

"Chi?" she said quizzically, cocking her head to one side.

"Energy." he explained.

"Uh...like this?" she asked.

She closed her eyes and her face dropped into a solemn visage. Then, a tiny aura began to surround her body, thrumming lightly. It wavered and fluctuated a bit as two small balls of energy began to form in her paws. She suddenly let out a huge sigh and the energy vanished.

She looked up at him and yawned. "Yeah, a little. But it makes me tired at times. Sorry; I probably don't even know the basics...."

"No, no. That was good. Hmmm...I suppose we can move on to raising your energy level then."

She grinned and cheered. "Woo-hoo!!!!" she yelled happily.

Unintentionally, a sudden wave of energy gusted forth from Cherry, encompassing the area.

Yamcha was nearly knocked over by the power. After the windstorm subsided, he dusted himself off and looked at his pupil, beginning to second-guess his qualifications as her teacher. This kid has amazing power! She just can't control it quite yet. I hope I can handle her... he thought to himself. He shook his head and smiled wanly at her.

"Um...good. But next time try it a bit slower, 'kay?"

"Okey-dokey." she smiled, bobbling her head.

The second time, it started off slow enough. The aura thrummed up around her body and little by little began to glow brighter. But as soon as Yamcha told her to leap it up some more, she lost it. It blasted all willy-nilly and caught Yamcha off guard. He went flying once again back and hit a tree. An apple fell form the branches above and hit his head. He rubbed it sorely and winced, looking at the blushing student.

"Much, much, more controlled next time. Please." he squeaked.

He glanced around at all the stares he was getting from innocent bystanders, most of which were whispering among themselves, and then glanced back around at Cherry.

"Let's go somewhere more...secluded." Pu'ar commented as she drifted by Yamcha's ear.

"Good idea." muttered Yamcha. he turned to his student, who was also looking nervously at all the bystanders. "Hey, cherry!" he called. She turned around.

"Hai, Sensei?"

"I was thinking...this place is too crowded to train. there are too many people that may draw away your focus. We shall go somewhere else for today's lessons." he announced.

Cherry nodded. "Lead the way, Sensei!"

The trio walked together to the very to the outskirts of the city, away from the flow of people. Yamcha scanned the area, making sure no one was watching and when he was sure the coast was clear, turned back to cherry. She too was scanning the area, but with more confusion. She turned questioningly to Yamcha, cocking her head cutely.

"Now what, Sensei?" asked Cherry.

"Now we fly."

"Fly? How?" Cherry inquired.

Yamcha snapped his fingers. "That's right! You probably don't know how to fly yet, do you?"

"Nuh-uh." she said. "I didn't think people could fly..."

"Oh, yeah. They can, trust me. But, for the sake of keeping things simple, I'll just have you hang on to me for now. Just make sure you hang on tight." he told her.

Cherry latched on to Yamcha's side and snuggled down. "Okay, I'm ready." she said. Pu'ar hung on to Yamcha's shoulder.

"Why are you hanging to me? You can fly." he asked of the shapeshifter.

"Tee-hee. I want a ride too." she smiled.

"Oh, fine. Here we go!" he said as he took off to the skies.

"Oh, wow!" Cherry exclaimed, clinging tightly to Yamcha. "This is soooo cool!" she squealed.

"Isn't it?" Yamcha laughed.

After a bit of flying, they landed softly at a hidden place where Yamcha often used to do his training. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. He turned to Cherry and smiled.

"Well, let's get started." he smirked.

"Yay!" she cheered, a smile across her face.

Yamcha sighed in relief that Cherry didn't pull another one of her 'happy power-ups'. She was strong, and seemed to have an amazing power level. Yamcha knew she had more potential lying locked away, but he almost didn't want to unlock it. Cherry was cute, quirky and fun to be with. training her gave him something to occupy his time with and if she became to powerful, she would leave. Yamcha didn't rightly know what he would do when and if she left...

"So then...where to start?" Cherry blinked.

Her voice brought Yamcha from his trance and he shook his head, trying not to think about it. Right now, he should focus on some basic training maneuvers.

"Hmmmm....." he mumbled, racking his brain for ideas. He didn't want to give her something to simple, but he couldn't give her something to far out of her grasp yet either. Then a smile spread over his scarred face. "How about we work on flying? It'll come in handy."

"Yeah, that sounds cool!" she said enthusiastically. Then she paused. "But...how?"

Yamcha paused. He never really tried to unravel the mechanics behind flying. he searched his mind for an explanation and then the best way to phrase it. "Um, I guess the only way to put is slightly raise your Chi and focus on flying."

"Chi? Oh you mean that energy stuff, right? Okay....I'll try. Oh! What about thinking happy thoughts?" she asked hopefully.

Looks like someone's watched Peter Pan one to many times...Yamcha thought. He smiled broadly; she had a cute imagination. He naiveté was very endearing. He laughed and put a hand behind his head. "Sure. If it helps..." he chuckled.

"Okay!" Cherry said. She focused all her energy and thought the happiest thoughts she could. She opened her eyes and blinked. Nothing. "It's not working!" she pouted.

"Umm...try again!" Yamcha suggested.

She nodded and tried again. It worked...slightly. She hovered a few inches off the ground, and then dropped back down. She looked hopefully at Yamcha for some sort of a response.

"Hey! Almost. Try again, but this time, use a little more energy; you know, focus just a little more. Picture all the energy in your body making sort of a cloud for you to float on." he instructed, trying not to come off utterly stupid. Too late. as if *that* didn't sound dumb. Face it, you are so utterly bad at teaching, it isn't funny.

"All right..." Cherry said, giving him a sharp salute.

They worked and worked for two hours until Cherry semi-mastered being able to fly. By the end, she was at least able to hover pretty high up, but she couldn't do much moving and as she tried to even edge in any direction, her concentration faltered and she fell back down. Yamcha had to scramble to catch her quite a few times, but fortunately never once dropped the girl. Once they had finished the thirtieth round of trying, Yamcha figured that would be enough flying for one day.

"You'll just have to work on it more." he smiled.

Afterwards they broke for lunch, chatting to each other over a light meal of riceballs and tea

"So...exactly how old are you?" Yamcha asked, nibbling on a rice ball. "Um...if ya don't mind."

"Hmmm....not really. Me? I'm about 25. But you have to take into account that demons tend to age a bit slower than humans do." She froze and clamped her hand over her mouth as realized that she had openly blabbed the fact she was a demon. It was a fact most people frowned upon, and wasn't a notable thing that she was proud of. She looked slowly up at Yamcha and Pu'ar and realized they both looked stunned. She felt her heart speed up as she began to panic.

Yamcha practically choked to death on a rice ball. "Twenty-five? Really?"

Cherry sighed in relief that he didn't care about, or didn't hear, her comment about being a demon and was more interested in her age.

"Yup. Believe it." she smiled, finishing her food. She leapt up and clapped her hands. "Well, I'm done. Let's go!" she sang, pumping her hands.

Yamcha blinked, finishing his riceball and standing up. It didn't even seem possible for her to be so grown- up. She only looked about 18, and acted even younger.... He shrugged, shaking his head as he laughed and chased after her.

"Easy there! Now..." he started, once he had her attention, "The next thing we move onto is using your energy as an offensive tool."

"Yaaay! Offense!" she cheered, her power level shooting up again.

"Aaaah! Clam down and listen." he said, leaping back as he remembered her last 'happy power-up.'

She blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Sensei." she smirked.

He waved his hand and laughed. "No biggie." he said. "Now, I've seen you form energy balls, so just do what you did then."

"Huh?" she blinked. "Oh, that. Truth be told, it just happens! I have no clue how to actually do it..." she explained, rubbing the back of her head.

Yamcha sweat-dropped as he looked at her. "What do you mean...?" he uttered.

He sighed and tried to think up a way to explain. everything was so easy to perform once you knew what you were doing, but once you had to explain it, that's when it got tricky. Explaining this was like trying to explain the flying, only maybe a bit easier.

"Okay, focus your energy. Get your power up to a considerable level and then channel it into your right palm." he instructed. He only hoped his directions weren't too vague.

She looked a bit perplexed. "Huh? How will I know I have enough power? And How do you channel your energy?" she asked naively.

Yamcha sighed. I thought so. Let's see... "You'll know when you have enough cuz you'll be glowing like a big, bright glowing...thing..." he trailed off miserably. Again, he was starting to be to vague. "Anyway, to channel it, just picture all your energy moving to your hand. Pull it there mentally. You know, try and control it."

"I guess I can do that..." she smirked.

They worked on energy attacks for a while, took another quick break and continued on. They worked until dusk and by the end of the day, Yamcha was exhausted. He hadn't had a workout like that in ages. He laughed, wiping sweat off his forehead. Cherry was playing around with Pu'ar and they were both giggling madly. He stood up and smirked at the frolicsome pair and cleared his throat. They both looked up at him.

"Let's get going. It's nearly dark out." he said.

"Okay!" Pu'ar said, floating over.

"All right..." Cherry said, striding over. She clung to Yamcha's side and he looked down at her.

"Still wanna ride?"

"Yeah, seeing as the most I can do is float."

Pu'ar giggled and clung to Yamcha's other shoulder.

"Moocher..." he grumbled playfully.

He shot off, heading back to the city. He felt Cherry nestle her head against his chest and snuggle down. He looked down at his student and discovered she had fallen asleep. He figured he wouldn't wake her up, as her training had been tough. He smiled happily, as he headed for the city. He landed on the roof of his house and then leapt to the ground. He pushed open the door and set Cherry on the couch. He went up to his room to get on his pajamas. He pulled them on, feeling like he just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. But something kept him from doing so. Some...feeling. He shrugged it off and went back downstairs; crouching by the couch where Cherry lay. He had to admit, she was beautiful.

"Hey, wake up. We're home." he said softly, shaking his new student lightly.

Cherry blinked her eyes and smiled lightly as she awoke. "Cor, that was good nap. I still feel tired though..." she smiled sleepily.

"Well then, you're in luck. It's just about bed time..." he smirked.

She yawned again and headed upstairs to where her duffel bag was located. "I guess I'll get dressed up in my PJ's then. I'll be back in a jiff." she smiled, bounding up the stairs. Yamcha leaned back in his favorite easy chair and stroked Pu'ar. The floating cat smiled up at him.

"How about I go make some milky pops?" she asked.

"That sounds good." he murmured.

Pu'ar smiled and drifted into the kitchen and began to heat up the stove. Yamcha closed his eyes and half dozed off. About three minutes later, Cherry came trampling down the stairs. Yamcha opened his eyes and got quite a shock. Cherry was wearing a pair of baggy pajama shorts and a skin-tight halter-top that left no curve unshown. He gaped, suddenly feeling he had less room in his pants than he did a few moments ago. He slammed his mouth shut as Cherry sat down, laughing slightly.

"What's up, Sensei?" she smirked teasingly.

Yamcha knew just what she meant. His face went crimson as he looked away. "Err...well, Pu'ar will be in soon with some milky pops..." he said, changing the subject.

"That was very disrespectful on my part. Sorry Sensei." she said, lowering her ears. "If I went too far..."

"No...it's fine..." he smiled. At least she has a sense of humor...

Pu'ar drifted in, carrying the twin glasses of milky pops. She handed one to Cherry and another to Yamcha. The furry shapeshifter smirked and drifted off towards the stairs.

"I'm going to hit the sack. You two may be night owls, but not me. Goodnight!" she said.

She cast a glance at Yamcha and winked at him. He gave her a death glare as she floated up the stairs. he turned back to Cherry and smiled at her.

"I've decided." he declared.

"What?" she asked.

"Tomorrow, I gonna take you over to Capsule Corp and let you meet the whole group. The timing is perfect as well." he smiled.

"Oh?" she blinked.

"Yep. Bulma's havin' a big get-together. She called me the a few days ago, and I just remembered it now. She said everyone's gonna be there. I think this'll give you a good opportunity to socialize and meet the rest of the gang." he grinned.

"You mean it? I can come? Cool!" she cheered.

He smiled and took another sip of his drink, feeling the warm goodness fill the pit of his stomach. He sighed, feeling tired. Cherry yawned and lay across the couch.

"You go sleep up in your room, Sensei." she offered.

"No, no, no...you go sleep up there. I like my couch." he told her.

Cherry got up and stretched up tall, making it apparent she wasn't wearing a bra. Of course not, baka. she's in her pajamas, Yamcha's mind chided. He felt another surging throb and crossed his legs. Cherry smiled at Yamcha and started for the stairs.

"You...sure you want the couch?"

"Yeah. I'm all good."

She sighed and went up the stairs, curling up in the big bed she had slept in the night before. She fell asleep almost instantly, but the same could not be said for Yamcha. He tossed and turned on the couch, unable to rest. The soft, warm throbbing in his pants was keeping him up. He groaned and rolled over off the couch, finding himself going up the stairs. It was like his body was moving on its own accord without his brain's consent. He pushed open the door to his room and entered. Cherry was lying there, sleeping silently and innocently as a child. Twenty-five...it doesn't seem possible. She seems so...young and carefree, he thought. The throbbing and tingling he experienced picked up, burning like a small fire. But it was not at all unpleasant...he liked it. It was nice and quaint. He sat on the edge of the bed and played with Cherry's blush-rose hair. He lay down, curled next to Cherry. Pu'ar was sleeping at the foot of the bed, and Yamcha took the cue to drift off and join the bandwagon, his arm draped around his new student.

****

Cherry: Gah, sorry for the lack of detail and the skipping around in this chapter. I may come back to it and fill it out and re-upload it at a later date, but for now, I must work on uploads for other stories. Someone once asked me why so many of my fics center around Yamcha. Easy. Back when I first used to write fanfictions, I primarily wrote about Goku and the other saiyajins and more or less ignored the other characters. Or at least Yamcha. But then my friend, who is an avid Yamcha freak, told me to write more fics about him and who was I to argue? it was a good writing exercise. Then I got hooked. Due to his personality and past, it's amazingly easy to write humor and angst about him (my two favorite genres). So there you have it. I promise I'll update this soon, along with my other fics. See ya all soon! And remember, reviews make the fic go 'round!