Chapter 37
Coming of Age
213th day in the ROSAT
"Why you Perverts!" Ichigo yelled at Roshi and his father before she turned around to fly back towards the house she shared with Slip.
Roshi glanced at his father's confused face and then turned to follow her. "Ichigo if you would just let me explain!"
"What's there to explain?!" Ichigo yelled as Roshi's watch suddenly started beeping like it was about to explode.
Ichigo turned around and glared at Roshi, "does everything about you have to be obnoxious and annoying? What is that stupid beeping for?"
Roshi quickly shut the alarm off and looked around rather sheepishly. "Well um, It's ah, my birthday, I'm eighteen now."
Goshu cocked an eyebrow. "We've been training that long already?"
"Yep by my count it will be exactly 7 months tomorrow." Roshi replied.
"Well congratulations birthday boy, I guess we will just have to beat the snot out of you since none of us have real gifts." Boxers replied from were he was floating.
"I can't believe it!" Slip suddenly spat. "Roshi you've had that watch the entire time and you didn't tell me we missed MY birthday? You selfish little turd!"
"Hey not my fault I'm the only one that can tell time." Roshi replied smugly before turning back to look at Ichigo.
Ichigo for her part had her face scrunched up with a good portion of her bottom lip sucked into her mouth as she seemed to be doing rapid math in the air as she counted things off with her fingers.
"Ichigo..." Roshi said with a hint of worry as she suddenly scratched at her collar like she was choking and darted towards the archway door to the ROSAT.
"I have to go. I have to leave. I can't stay here any longer." She said to herself as she left.
Roshi looked back at his father and the rest of them. "What did I do now?"
Slip shook her head. "Don't look at me. You're the one who is, how did she put it?" Slip cocked her head to the side just a bit and ran a finger along her cheek to her chin, "oh yeah! Obnoxious and annoying!"
Roshi shot Slip a look. "Fine make fun of things, I'm going to go figure out what miss irrationality is doing, and why she ran off this time."
* * *
Ichigo was a flurry of nerves as she jetted across the polished floor of the Sanctuary. 'Seventeen. I've been seventeen for months without even thinking about it! I've spent months in there with them training and what do I have to show for it? Barely anything! I found out a good way to kill myself! I could have just gone straight to the Changelings if I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory as the Jerk so aptly put it.'
Ichigo felt Roshi exit the ROSAT and start to follow her. "How did I know he would be following me?" She said aloud to herself as she rolled her eyes and sped up.
'I don't have time for his platitudes. He doesn't understand anything and neither does his father or any of the rest of them. They aren't training nearly hard enough. They aren't taking this seriously.' Ichigo thought as she landed amid the strewn wreckage of her destroyed ship.
Ichigo quickly began to sort through the debris looking for her mother's pendant. 'I can't believe I forgot about it' she mentally scolded herself as Roshi landed.
"Ichigo, what are you doing?" Roshi asked as he gingerly picked his way through the rubble to where she had just pried a section of her ship's hull out of the ground and tossed it aside.
"None of you business. I didn't ask for you to follow me. I don't want you here. Go away." She said tersely without even looking up at Roshi.
"No," Roshi said quickly as he walked around to look her in the face. "You are not the most rational person I have ever met, but for you to flee from training like this means that something is either bothering you greatly or incredibly important. I'm not leaving until I find out what it is."
Ichigo kicked a broken segment of bulkhead and glared up at Roshi. "You call that mockery training? That wasn't training! That was... was... a joke! Slip was more worried about sounding good on that stupid what did you call it? Karaoke machine then actually training. Sure your father and Boxers, and even the idiot Tee learned fusion, but what about me? I've spent the past what was it seven of your months in that stupid white room and what have I got to show for it? Nothing! I've learned how to do one stupid power-up, but that won't mean anything when the Changelings get here!"
"Ichigo..."
"No!" Ichigo yelled as she chucked a tattered piece of foam insulation at him. "I don't want any platitudes or excuses or stupid drivel! You may not think I will matter much in the coming fight since I obviously can't become a Super Saiyan but I'm not going to just sit around being useless!" She continued muttering to herself for several moments as she threw more wreckage around as she searched. 'I'm sick of being useless. No one ever expects me to do anything and I'm tired of it.' She thought to herself before she finally kicked a large mangled block of metal and sat down were it had been to hold her head and mumble to herself.
Ichigo felt Roshi lay his hand on her shoulder and she shuddered. "Don't touch me. I told you to go away."
Roshi removed his hand. "There's more to this then just what Slip said about the Super Saiyans. What's bothering you?"
'He'd never understand. Life is just fun and games to him, he's never seen real pain. He doesn't know. He doesn't understand.' Ichigo told herself as she shook her head. "No! You wouldn't understand. Go away."
"No. This isn't Saiya and you can't order me around. I'm tired of you always claiming I wouldn't understand or saying I don't know when you refuse to tell me anything. First, what are you looking for? Second, why is it bothering you so much? And lastly what do you mean that training was a joke? You are a lot stronger and faster then you were before. Isn't that the point of training?"
'A lot faster and stronger? The point of training?' Ichigo shook her head. "You are so clueless! The point incase you forgot was to get strong enough to beat the Changelings! We should have been training non stop. We should have been pushing ourselves to our limits. Not stopping to relax and to play those stupid games or sing with that stupid machine!"
Roshi laughed and Ichigo turned on him. "What's so funny? How can you laugh?"
Roshi held up his hands. "Nothing, I just seem to recall how you never even attempted to sing or play any of our games. The only reason you relaxed on the days my dad said we were relaxing on was because King Kai made you do all kinds of meditations and stuff."
"And I shouldn't have even done that! Most of them were pointless!" Ichigo spat.
"No wonder it took you so long to learn the Kaioken." Roshi surmised.
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?!?"
"Just that you missed a very large part of our training. What's the point of pushing your body to the breaking point if your mind isn't prepared? Didn't you learn anything from almost killing yourself? Ki is created by mind, body, and soul. Purely physical training only trains one part of that trio."
Ichigo shot Roshi a look of contempt. "Oh and I suppose you are going to tell me that the stupid singing and the game somehow trained your souls, cause they obviously didn't train your mind any."
Ichigo glanced around looking for something to kill. Unfortunately the only thing close at hand was Roshi. Killing him might relieve a lot of stress and solve some of her problems, but it would probably be counterproductive in the end.
Roshi just shook his head. "In a way yes, they were training for both our minds and our souls. Poetry, music, things like that are not tenants of the mind. They are created by the soul."
Ichigo almost gagged. "Please don't go turning into a philosopher on me I don't think I could handle it."
Roshi laughed with one hand on the back of his head with that stupid dopey grin and Ichigo felt some of the strain just leach out of her. "Ok, ok, I promise to try not to turn into some prophesizing old codger while you are around." He said with a smile.
Ichigo glared at him. 'I hate him! I hate him! I hate how he can turn anything into a joke! I hate how I can't stay mad at him! I hate how he never seems to worry about anything! I hate him!' She thought before sucker punching him in the gut. "I don't find anything about this funny!"
Roshi staggered back a bit and tripped over a broken conduit, but had not been caught totally unaware so was not winded. "Girl, you have really got to calm down. You get riled up about things you really can't control." Roshi said as he got back up and dusted himself off.
"Oh, so I shouldn't get worked up over the fact that my father sent me away to protect me? Over the fact that he expected me to fail? Over the fact that while my people have been being killed by the Changelings I have been spending months learning practically nothing? Over the fact that even if I did find a way to make it back home and save my people that I still won't be accepted because you or your father or one of the fusions or someone else will be the ones doing the saving because I WON'T BE A SUPER SAIYAN! Or how about the fact that you disgraced me forever by getting me to drop my guard long enough for you to RIP OFF MY TAIL?!?! For your sake I hope you shut up because you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about and I am really getting sick of you sugar coating everything. Wake up Roshi, this isn't some fantasy world. People are dieing! MY people are dieing. Not everything has a happy ending! You can't change that. Not with your days relaxing, not with your stupid music, not with your pointless games, not with the fusion dance and definitely not with the Kaioken because as you yourself stated before IT CAN'T BEAT A CHANGELING!!"
Out of breath and ashamed at what she had admitted to Roshi Ichigo sulked away towards another large pile of debris and started rummaging through it.
For a long while Roshi didn't move, then he slowly walked over to where she was working. "I'm sorry. When you want to talk I'll be over there." He said before walking away again.
Ichigo glared at his back as he walked away. 'What makes you think I'll ever be ready to talk?'
* * *
Roshi had a lot to think about as he walked away from Ichigo. 'She thinks her father expected her to fail? No wonder she has this stigma about her any time it looks like she failed at something.'
As Roshi pondered her words, he recalled how Slip had mentioned her nightmares. 'Well Roshi, you walked into it, you might as well weather the storm and get to the bottom of what's bothering her.' He thought as he poked about the wreckage. Looking at the destroyed ship made him think of the legend of the Titanic, 'I just wonder how big the iceberg really is, and if I really have seen the tip, or just a shadow of it.'
* * *
Several hours later Roshi winced as Ichigo swore and threw what looked like had been part of the reactor subassembly several kilometers.
'I think I've waited long enough, if I wait long enough she might start ki blasting things.' Roshi decided as he got up from the captain's chair he had found and walked over to where Ichigo was kicking debris around.
"What are you looking for? I might be able to help you find it."
Ichigo turned to glare at him. "I thought you were going to wait for me to be ready to talk." She said accusingly.
Roshi shrugged, 'I don't have forever,' he thought before looking around. "It is almost noon. We have been here almost six hours. Don't you think it is time you tell me what you are looking for so we can get back to the ROSAT?"
Ichigo glared at him. "I've wasted enough of my life in that white void, I'm not going in there again. I realize we were in there less then a day, but it was months of time my people didn't have. I won't save them by going into a place where it is so easy to forget oneself."
"Ichigo I think you are being overly harsh on yourself." Roshi said softly.
"I think you're an idiot. If you are trying to cheer me up it isn't working. Go away."
"No, I'm not going to let you mope in your own self pity, now tell me what you are looking for.
"I am not moping in self pity. If you want to know I am looking for my mother's pendant. It is very important that I find it."
'All this over a simple piece of jewelry? Women are all the same.' Roshi thought, then shrugged. "What's it look like, I'll help you find it."
Ichigo took a quick gasp of air and turned to look at Roshi. "No, you mustn't touch it! Only the Queen, or a member of the Royal house can touch it."
"Oh please, we aren't on Saiya, just tell me what it looks like and if I happen to see it I'll point at it or something!"
Ichigo clenched her fists and looked like she was going to say something but instead just kicked a pipe. "I know this isn't Saiya but if you don't think my traditions matter then you are an even worse bigot then most Changelings! It is an oval about this big," she said holding up her hands in the shape of the pendant, "it is made of gold and platinum and has a large sapphire and small emerald set to look like a planet and it's moon over three crescent rubies and a helix of silver. I need it and I swear if you do touch it I will kill you."
"Don't bite off more then you can chew. Why is the stupid thing so valuable to you anyway? Just cause it was your mother's or is there more to it then that?"
Don't call it stupid, and it's the Queen's Pendant, it's been in the family forever. I shouldn't even have it I'm not... I wasn't old enough to even have it in my possession when I left, but my father gave it to me right as I left. He trusted me with it. If I don't return with it..." her words trailed off as she once again started looking amid the debris.
'She's looking for a Mark of Royalty... There is something going on here that she hasn't told me. It's like she thinks her own people won't follow her if she shows up without her tail and a stupid piece of jewelry.' Roshi decided that more then looking for the pendant, he was going to look for anything that might be of a personal nature to Ichigo. No one he knew ever left home for an extended period of time without taking along something of value. If her father had given her that pendent just as she left it wasn't something she would bring herself. 'Hmmm, I wonder why she thinks her father trusted her with a pendant, but didn't expect her to save their people? Her whole thought process is contradictory.'
Roshi set about looking for anything that might look like clothing, or other personal effects. He reasoned that anything of value would probably have ended up in her personal cabin.
After about another hour of searching, he found what looked like a tattered piece of one of Ichigo's bodysuits sticking out of a partially open closet door.
Roshi very carefully stood the section of the ship the bulkhead was attached to back upright and then pried the door the rest of the way open. The shelves and racks had collapsed leaving the continence of what had been a walk in closet strewn about on the floor. Spandex like body suits, sweatshirts, shorts, panties, a few bras, and small packages that at closer examination proved to be feminine hygiene products were quickly chucked away and out the door as though some of the objects had teeth and were highly dangerous.
He soon found a very fancy wooden box partially buried in the clothing and other effects. Seeing that it had fallen from one of the shelves but not broken open or spilled its continence, Roshi grabbed it and thumbed the latches open. Inside he found a bundle of neatly folded white leather and a smaller box which was covered in the darkest navy blue velvet and silk Roshi had ever seen. He opened that box and found a small picture of a woman that looked startlingly like Ichigo in a heavy platinum frame. 'Hmm, this must be her mother. She will want this back.'
"What are you looking at?" Ichigo's voice suddenly and quite accusingly asked.
Roshi almost dropped the box as he jumped at the sound of her voice. "Not your pendent, but I did find these. He said as he held up the bundle of leather and the silk picture box. As he did so the leather unfolded and a piece of it fell away with a loud clunk."
'Oops...' Roshi thought as Ichigo's eyes became saucers and her mouth fell open as she stared at the dropping piece of leather.
Roshi quickly bent to pick up the piece of leather and the Pendant Ichigo had been looking for fell out and landed half way between him and Ichigo. "Oh, ah, I guess I found your Pendant too."
Ichigo quickly scooped up the Pendant on it's gold chain and reached for her wooden box. "Give me that you nitwit."
"Hey, don't call me a nit... is this a loincloth?" Roshi asked as he looked at the now unfolded piece of leather in his hands.
"It is my Choloe now give it back now!" Ichigo said as she reached across for it.
Roshi jumped back and held it out looking at the leather thong that held the two longer pieces of white leather together at the tops. "It IS a loincloth!" He said in surprise as he held it up.
Ichigo rolled her eyes and reached to snatch it back from him. "Yes I know it's a loincloth now give it back!"
Roshi blocked her grab and looked at the other piece of leather, which seemed to be a triangular piece of leather with two leather cords coming off of two of the points. "Then what's this?" he said as he held it up.
Ichigo snatched it from him and quickly refolded it smoothing out some of the creases. "It's... the language doesn't translate. It's my modesty top for lack of a better word."
Roshi held the loincloth up, "and it goes with this loi... Eah there's blood on the inside of this!" He said as he suddenly threw the loincloth at her.
Ichigo deftly caught it and looked at him like he was nuts. "Rather squeamish at the sight of blood for someone who's killed people."
"I've never kill..." Roshi started to say in his defense before he realized that yes, he had killed several of Banana's men. "But still it's blood on the inside of a loincloth!"
"So?" Ichigo asked completely clueless as to where he was going with it.
Roshi started frantically motioning in the air with his hands. "It's blood on the inside of a Loincloth. Your... well ah blood on the inside of your loincloth and that's just gross!"
"You didn't seem so squeamish when you were covered in my blood after almost killing me if my memory is correct what's your problem now?"
"But, but, but, it wasn't THAT blood!" Roshi said as he pointed to the loincloth.
A spark of understanding suddenly found it's way to Ichigo's brain and her eyes lit up. She started laughing almost uncontrollably.
"WHAT THE HECK IS SO FUNNY?" Roshi asked embarrassed and rather uncomfortable with the whole situation.
Ichigo pulled herself together and stopped laughing. "You are such an idiot! That's what's funny!"
"I am not an Idiot!"
"Well then you're just stupid then. Did you sleep though all your biology lessons or something?" Ichigo said with a snicker.
"What you mean it isn't? Well you know..." Roshi said blushing like a cherry.
"No! I didn't have my..." Ichigo's jaw clicked shut and she in turn blushed. "I can't believe I just about said what I just about said!" She blurted.
Roshi took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his nerves. "Look, I may have jumped to some wrong conclusions. What did you call those? And why are they so important to you?"
"They are my Choloe. I... Ok, you remember that night when I told you about my Trial of Passage? When would be warriors leave for their Trial, the Choloe is the only garment the can take with them. Males get only a loin cloth, females also get the... modesty top," Ichigo said searching for words to explain.
"Ok, and how old were you when you had to go on this Trial, you never did say." Roshi asked still looking at her like the whole idea of a Trial of Passage was barbaric.
Ichigo was about to say something when her stomach rumbled, letting its dissatisfaction at the lack of food be known. Ichigo glanced down for a moment and then looked up at Roshi. "I don't know about you, but I'm famished. Can we have this conversation someplace else, after eating? Or better yet just not have this conversation at all?"
Roshi scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Yes, we can go eat. No, you are not getting out of telling me more about yourself. You've read through all those diaries and journals and know just about everything you have bothered to ask about my family or I. I think It's about time you opened up and shared something about yourself."
Ichigo slowly shook her head. "Why do you care?"
"Because I want to."
"Because you want to? Do you always get everything you want?" Ichigo said scoldingly. "I'm not used to answering to anyone but my father or Momo, don't expect me to just tell you my deep dark secrets like all those stupid girls in those stupid movies Slip likes to watch so much."
"Ohh, deep dark secrets. This could get interesting." Roshi smirked.
"It was an expression from one of those stupid movies! I'm not telling you anything! You don't need to know and I don't need to tell you."
Roshi shook his head, "see, now you might be right about what you need to do, but you are forgetting about doing things that are just proper."
"Oh, so now you are going to presume to lecture me on the right thing to do?" Ichigo spat.
"Someone needs to." Roshi said as he ducked out the door and away from Ichigo who grabbed a chunk of bulkhead and chucked it at him.
"You INGRATE!!!!!" Ichigo yelled after scooping up her box and several items of the clothing Roshi has carelessly tossed about before taking to the air after him.
Roshi lead her back to the Capsule Corp where they landed on a balcony on the largest dome.
"What are we doing here?" Ichigo asked as soon as she landed.
"Borrowing money from Slip. I left my wallet at home and I'm starving, it's faster and easier to just get some from Slip's stash and hit a buffet her in town."
"Oh,"
Roshi punched in the code to open the door and they walked into Slip's bedroom. Posters of various bands, pictures of people, and various inventions lay strung all over the room.
"Slip needs a maid" Ichigo commented as she wrinkled her nose at the mess.
"I don't think that would help much, Slip would just work harder at making a mess then." Roshi commented with a laugh.
Roshi carefully walked around the room avoiding touching anything that was giving off any signs of being active or dangerous. He had once been hit by a phased time wave from one of Slip's gizmo's and been frozen in time for four hours. To him it was only a moment and he didn't really notice the lapse in time. It was, however, hard to not notice the makeup and other things Slip had put on him while he had been frozen there.
Once he got to her desk he grabbed several large bills and a pen and wrote Slip a note as to where her money stash had gone off to. Then turning around he noticed Ichigo was holding quite a bundle in her arms. "Hmm, um here," he said grabbing an empty capsule, "put your stuff in this, that way you don't need to walk around with your clothes and stuff flapping about like some vagrant or something."
Ichigo glared at him but happily put her stuff in the capsule and closed it up. "Great, now can we please go eat something or do I have to starve to death?"
* * *
Ichigo saw Roshi's eyes light as some new sinister plan no doubt formed in his mind. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest as his eyes made a sudden play down her body. 'Pervert had better not be...'
"I think I have an idea. Rather then letting you starve I think I'm going to see if I can't make you fat. We're going to a buffet I know and I bet you can't eat more then I can."
'Make me fat? I could eat twenty times my own mass and not gain a gram' Ichigo smirked to herself. "A bet? Well since you have absolutely no chance at winning you had better tell me what I get when I win." She said with a devilish glint in her eyes.
Roshi gave her his goofy grin, "I think we should tell a story. The winner gets to ask a question and the looser has to be honest and tell the whole story."
Ichigo narrowed her eyes and pretended to be thinking for a moment. "No, I don't want to hear you tell a story, it would probably bore me to death."
"Bore you to death? I hardly think I'm that dull!"
"If I win you will spar with me and you won't hold back. I want to see what your real ability is now since you so carefully hid it while in the ROSAT."
Roshi looked at her once again as though sizing her up. "Deal. If I win, you get a story, if you win you get a fight."
"Deal" Ichigo said as the two of them shook hands and left Slip's messy bedroom.
Ichigo followed Roshi to Charlie's, which for all purposes looked like a run down shack on the edge of town. "You sure have an interesting choice of eating establishments. I wouldn't think someone of your standing would be caught dead in a dump like this."
Roshi just looked at her and smiled. "All is not what it seems to be." He said as he lead her through the door and inside to where a greeter who was dressed as a Cowboy complete with spurs waited by a grand staircase that lead down into the ground.
"Howdy Mr. Son, bit early for the evenin meal." The greeter drawled before turning and bowing to Ichigo while placing his hat over is heart "Welcome ta Charlie's miss"
Ichigo had the sinking suspicion that had she not been there with Roshi she would have had to fight to get further then the doors considering how the man's lip seemed to curl at the sight of the gis she and Roshi were wearing.
"Ah, Chuck, you busy tonight? I plan on eating my fill, and she can just about match me." Roshi said to the man as a large black limousine landed on the camouflaged hover pad outside.
"Kid, I've always liked you, but yer pullin my leg I jist know it! No way this purty lil thing can eat as much as you!" Chuck scoffed as the elderly couple the limo had disgorged entered. The old woman took one glance at Roshi and Ichigo and sneered. Ichigo distinctly heard her ask her husband what the world was coming to when youth didn't know how to dress properly anymore.
Roshi obviously heard her as well because he produced his large stack of bills he borrowed from Slip and waved it in front of Chuck. "Can we just get one of the rooms in the back? Or should I take my hunger elsewhere?"
"Rit this wah" Chuck quickly said as he pocketed the cash and lead them down into the restaurant itself.
The inside of Charlie's kept the rustic theme, but it was extravagant a the same time. 'Once again Roshi has managed to point out that I am overly presumptuous. I wonder if he is doing it on purpose of if this world has so many things that are not what they seem that it just happens without his forethought?'
They were lead a private booth in the back of the place which could be closed off from the rest for the restaurant with large sliding gold plate-glass doors. Roshi ordered something and then slid the door closed and sat down across from her.
"So, it will be a little while before our food arrives, care to finish our earlier conversation?"
"Which earlier conversation?"
"The one about your um... well your loincloth and triangle thing." Roshi said after searching for the right words and failing.
"What and give you a story for free? No way, you are going to have to earn it!" Ichigo shot back feeling superior for not falling for his game.
"Well then what should we talk about then?" Roshi asked.
"I don't know do we even need to talk? I really don't like idle conversation."
"Ok, then lets talk about that Pendant and why it was so important to you. You said once that your mother died when you were younger. When did she die?"
Ichigo felt anger starting to bubble up in her, "I don't want to talk about myself or my mother."
"Ok then, how about your father? Tell me about him."
"Roshi! I swear you are impossible! If you were any more impossible you would have never been birthed, you would have gotten stuck in the womb and died there!"
"So what that means with the exception of the died there part you did get stuck in the womb?" Roshi shot back.
Ichigo felt her jaw drop. "How dare you!"
The arrival of a platter of ribs, chicken, chili, seasoned potatoes, several steaks and various other southwestern foods stopped Ichigo's tirade.
"Well you can dig in, you might as well start talking cause there's no way you can out eat me!" Roshi replied as a second patter arrived for him.
The two of them ate in silence for a long while before Ichigo finally gave in and broke the silence. "Do you think your family will go to Saiya if we beat the Changeling that is coming here?"
Roshi looked up at her like he was trying to make sure she had asked what he thought she had asked.
"As of right now that is the plan. When, not if we beat the Changeling that is coming here we will go kick the rest of them off Saiya and we can all return to our normal lives."
'And we can all return to our normal lives? Was that anger in his voice? Hmmmm.' Ichigo pondered to herself as she ate silently for a while.
"Ok, I'll tell you about the Pendant since you probably will need to know this anyway. I am now seventeen. My birthday is on the tenth day of the sixth month."
Roshi gave her a quizzical look. "But that was even before you landed hear on Earth!"
"No it wasn't. In Earthen months I think it would be in about your eight month sometime. Saiya has thirty-six hour days. Our year is roughly the same length as your year is. We have eight months in a year and 243 days in a year."
"Ok, that's interesting. So what's the big deal with the seventeenth birthday then?"
Ichigo felt the blood drain from her face. 'he really doesn't know anything!' She realized. "I can't believe how little you know about Saiyan customs and well our people in general. How can you call yourself a Saiyan?"
Roshi gnawed the meat off of a rib and then shook the rib at her. "Ichigo we've been through this already. Goku forgot everything he ever knew and he was sent here as a baby anyway, and Vegeta never really said much of anything. We call ourselves Saiyans because physically and biologically we are more Saiyan than..." Roshi stopped dead as a new platter of food was brought in. "than we are human. Why do you think I'm asking all these questions? Sure I want to know more about you and you sure seem to be trying real hard to hide things, but at the same time I want to learn about my own culture. It would be knowledge that my family has never had."
Ichigo had to give him that. 'I maybe have been holding back more then I aught to have. Guess it can't hurt to talk.' She decided.
"Seventeen in the age of majority. I am an adult now. I am now old enough to be queen." She hesitated and hugged herself. "In fact, since I don't expect my father to still be alive when I get back to Saiya, I probably am Queen in everything but coronation."
"And you needed the Pendant for the Coronation?" Roshi asked deep in thought.
"Well no, not technically, but with people like Banana making up the majority of the military it wouldn't surprise me if they would pull something like that." Ichigo said while feeling the bile bubble up her throat.
Roshi looked up suddenly. "Jerks like that make up the majority of your warriors?"
Ichigo realized she had said too much, "No, I mean, well not in the way you are thinking. You see, I am the first ah Crown Princess in over well um 1,241 years. There are a lot of warriors that don't think I'm capable of leading as well as my father." Ichigo said to her lap. She wasn't even conscious of it, but the fact was she was ashamed at how poorly she had conveyed herself the past few months. Her own self doubt was her largest anchor.
"Stupid. Banana was a traitor and an idiot. I am sure that when the time comes you will make an excellent leader." Roshi said with just a bit too much force to be accepted as being honest.
"Don't lie. I have a lot to learn. You for one have shown me just how presumptuous I am over and over again, but I never learn.
Roshi grinned and shook his head. "At least you admit that. Besides, this isn't Saiya, you're out of your element. I am sure you wouldn't be so distraught on Saiya."
Ichigo felt herself smile a bit and she looked up at Roshi. "I guess."
Well as long as we are talking, care to tell me more about Your Trial of Passage?"
Ichigo grimaced inwardly, "Oh, I guess. I don't like talking about it really. It wasn't a very good time in my life."
"Why not?"
Ichigo closed her eyes and thought. "Because, because it's when... when Banana tried to kill me the first time!" She said suddenly while looking at Roshi in shock. "It, oh, I... OH!"
Roshi was looking concerned. "Ichigo what's wrong? What are you trying to say?"
"It's just that... I just realized something and it makes a lot of things more clear now. I think I understand something that has dogged me for a long time."
"Well, do you care to share? I'd love to hear what you have to say."
"I... I guess. Well, the whole story starts with Banana I guess, or maybe with my mother. Anyway, I am an only child. My father is very devoted to the memory of my mother and has always refused to remarry. See, if he had a male offspring I wouldn't be in a position to become Queen, and bigots like Banana wouldn't have a reason to hate me so much. Well, there are two Trials of Passage each year. Once a child has reached the age of twelve, they must take the next available trial, or they can never become part of the military." Ichigo looked up and took a drink before continueing.
"When it became time for me to take my trial, I was assigned a region, we all are. I remember Banana giving me my region and mocking me for having such an easy trial because were my region was there is a tropical savanna with abundant food and plenty of shelter. I have always hated it when people think I got off easy because of my status or because of my gender so I f..found S.Suikan and traded regions with him. He had gotten a region far to the north with huge glaciers and mountains and very little food. I almost froze and before I found a way to make myself decent clothing. Anyway, trading regions isn't normally done, but it isn't forbidden either." Ichigo continued while a few tears welled in her eyes.
"During the trial, we are expected to find several objects that had been placed in the region and live there for the next six months of our lives before returning home. There are many that have spent years looking for their objects before being welcomed home. To survive and to succeed are the goals. Those that do are seen as being intuitive and intelligent, and strong enough to join the Warriors."
"When I got back home, I remember everyone being in shock at seeing me. They all thought I was dead. Someone had hidden a bomb of some sort in on of the objects I was supposed to have retrieved. When Suikan found it... it blew up and some people that lived not far from there saw the explosion and alerted the Guards. No one knew I had traded. They were all sure I was was... dead."
"So what happened?" Roshi asked trying to keep her talking.
"I found Banana first when I got back home. I remember he seemed almost angry that I was there. I never put it together, but he was the one who gave me the region, so he would have known were I was supposed to be. Since he never had any respect for me and in many cases openly questioned my right and ability to take the throne I should have known. I should have known. I swore I would avenge Suikan, and now, I have. I did without even knowing I was..."
Ichigo looked up and was surprised to see such a genuine look of compassion on Roshi's face. "Suikan was very important to you wasn't he?"
Ichigo nodded yes. "He, he was my friend, really, my only good friend for a long time. He was Meron's son. Meron is my father's personal guard and he is also more or less the General of the armies. He and my father were friends from their youth and it seemed destined that we would carry on in our father's footsteps. We were children and we didn't know what it meant really, but we agreed to be arranged to marry once we were of the age." So really, had things gone as planned I would have been wed on my birthday and... and Suikan would have eventually been... King."
"Meron was there when I was escorted to my father. My father had been grieving and had not been seeing people and he yelled at Banana for disturbing him. And... and then he saw me... and I didn't understand what was going on at the time, no one would tell me, and he was overjoyed. And then I told them I had traded regions with Suikan because I didn't want anyone to think I had gotten off easy, and I wanted to know if he was back yet cause he owed me." Ichigo looked down. "I'll never forget the look on Meron's face. Never, as long as I live."
"My father took me and let me select the Sartan, and I cooked it, but it was a really hollow celebration. I always thought Banana hated me because I lived and Suikan had died, but now... remembering what was said and how he acted. He had already tried to kill me to ensure I wouldn't ever take the throne. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. Banana as was his place within the guards lead the investigation into the murder. No wonder they never found anything!" Ichigo pounded her fist into the table and Roshi flinched as the table cracked under the strain, but didn't collapse.
"I'm sorry."
Ichigo looked up. "It isn't your fault. You didn't do anything but ask a question and I think it's good that I have figured out what I have."
"Ok, well, I just have one question, if you were twelve then technically it could have been what I thought it was on your... thing..."
Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. "You just won't let that drop will you. Roshi, you know next to nothing about Saiyans. The average Saiyan doesn't hit puberty until they are fourteen. It most assuredly wasn't what you seem to be so squeamish about, but I am NOT going to talk about that anymore so don't ask. Go bug Slip about biology since she seems to know everything."
"Ok, just one more question, where did the blood come from then?" Roshi asked still curious.
Ichigo shook her head, "one night while I slept, I was attacked by a kakian ice beast. It is a big clawed feathery lizard thing that lives up there." Ichigo felt herself flush and glared at Roshi. Since you never forget a thing, you no doubt remember the scar I have below my left breast?" She said while absentmindedly rubbing her side were she indicated.
"It caught me in the side and got it's claw caught on one of my ribs. Had it been a bit lower or at a slightly different angle it would have gutted me or punctured my lungs. I'm lucky to be alive. I used my Choloe to stanch the blood flow until I found a way to sew myself back together."
Roshi looked at her incredulously. "You gave yourself stitches?"
"Well it was either that or get gangrene or something!"
Roshi shuddered. "No, you don't understand. I would never have been able to do that. I can't stand needles or things like that. I probably would have just bled to death."
Ichigo smirked. "I always said you were a pansy."
"Oh well, this pansy is having a fairly good day. Not only did I get my free story, but you ate more then me, so I get to beat you up for it too." He said as he winked at her.
Ichigo's mouth fell open as she looked at her empty platters and then at Roshi's not quite so numerous empty platters. "Why you jerk!"
* * * ** * * * ** * ** ** * * *
End of this chapter…
Sorry that this chapter was almost no action and pure gab... I needed to fill in some more of Ichigo's
history and now is a lot better time then later ;)
Sorry this took so long to get out.
Special thanks to everyone for reading, Please Post a review, your comments are very valuable to me.
This chapter is dedicated to Kitsune Maxwell, I know you are having a hard time Kitsune... Just remember that everyone goes though tough times. Your friends will always be there for you. :)
Oh, To Squatmonkey... your eating comments were well taken and may or may not be right, I am going to assume all Saiyans can eat like bottomless pits, Goku just is a bottomless pit. Anyway the eating contest was long ago planned out so.. yeah...
Once again thanks all
(I promise to get the next chapter up before Christmas!)
