Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball/Z/GT, so please don't sue, I don't have a lot you would want anyway.
A/N: Well here is chapter four of Mind Games. I'm sorry that it took me a little while to get it posted, but I've been busy with school and all. Anyways, this chapter mainly deals with everyone's feeling and emotions the morning after they discover 17 – so I hope you all enjoy and I'll try to update again soon.
-D.B
"Krillen, thank you" 18 said, her voice full of gratitude.
"Yeah, don't mention it" he replied, though his tone of voice stated otherwise. It was more than obvious that he was unimpressed by the fact that 17 was in their home. Conscious or not, he didn't like it.
"Krillen, I know you hate it. But it's my fault that 17 is sick, and my job to make sure he gets better"
"Wha?! Yo…your fault? How the hell did you come to that conclusion?"
"This," 18 reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out the letter. She watched as Krillen read over it, and then tossed it to the ground in disgust.
"18," he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, "Don't believe that. 17 is psychotic, he doesn't know what he's on about. This isn't your fault, or my fault or anyone else but 17's fault. Do you understand?"
"Yeah"
"18 look at me" Krillen told her, she did as he instructed, staring deeply into his dark eyes. "Promise me, that you believe me. This has nothing to do with you ok baby. Promise me you know that" he pleaded with her, fighting back tears of stress and concern.
She shook her head and turned her gaze to the floor, "I promise" she replied, her voice barely even a whisper.
Krillen smiled and kissed her. "I love you 18, so much" he said as he held her close again.
The sun was beginning to rise over the Kame House, though this morning there was a very odd mood inside the little house. Master Roshi and Oolong were due home tomorrow, how would Krillen explain this situation to them?
"Do you want coffee?" Krillen asked. They were standing in the small kitchen, 17 was sleeping on the couch in the next room. 18 had given him a senzu bean, it had done little good though. Did senzu beans even work on androids, Krillen wondered?
"I think I'm just going to take a shower and lie down for a while. Look, I'm still all covered in blood" 18 held up her hands and sure enough, the blood had dried up and stained her skin a dark crimson colour. "Care to join me?" she asked.
Normally, Krillen took every opportunity he could get to shower with his unbelievably attractive wife, this morning though, things we're different. "I don't think so sweetheart. Someone needs to watch your brother"
"Why?" 18 asked, "Because he might wake up? Or because of what he might do when he wakes up?"
"I don't think that needs to be answered" was the only response Krillen gave, he didn't want to upset his wife, but someone was going to get hurt by the time this whole ordeal was over, he just knew it.
"Fine, I'll be upstairs" with that, 18 left the kitchen.
Sighing to himself, Krillen made a coffee and walked out into the living room. He sat down in the chair directly opposite the couch and started intently at the unconscious figure lying there. A million different thoughts ran through Krillens head as he sipped his coffee. The main one being why had he let himself get talked into this?
Placing his mug on the ground beside the chair, Krillen got up and took the few steps across the room. He stood above 17 and glared daggers down at him. There were very few people Krillen disliked – it just wasn't who he was, just wasn't in his bones to be cruel. But Krillen hated 17, hated him for everything he had put his family though. Hated him because he was the reason he could of lost his little princess, hated him for what he put his wife though.
"17, I swear that if you do anything, anything at all to harm my family. I'll make you wish you were never born" he promised himself. He knew that he was nothing in strength compared to 17, but that wasn't going to stop Krillen, he would fight to the death if it meant his family would be safe.
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18 stood in front of the window, as she often did and looked out over the cloudy grey sky. She was the only one home, well she and 17. Chi-chi had called, she was sorry, but something had come up and she wasn't able to sit for Marron anymore. Krillen had no choice but to go and collect her, and that was almost 4 hours ago. She knew that Krillen was just stalling, doing anything possible to avoid brining Marron to a place where he considered a madman to be.
18 turned and massaged her temples. Could she really blame him? Did 18 really want her baby, her only child around 17? The answer came to her quickly. Of course she didn't, she didn't want Marron anywhere near 17 – she didn't trust him, how could she trust him. Last year he had been sain an almost let her die, now, he was clearly far from mentally stable and he harboured a passionate hatred for not only 18, but her husband and daughter as well.
Still though, she felt it her duty to help him. She was his sister, and she had turned him away, driven him to this state of insanity. This was her fault and she would right her wrong. After all, how hard could it be to get 17 to forgive her? Spend some time with him, cook him dinner. That always worked when Krillen was mad at her, she just fed him a good meal and everything was all better again. Yes, 18 convinced herself, this would be easy. Heck, it probably wouldn't even take a week, then 17 would go home and leave her and her family in peace for another year.
Walking over to the couch, where 17 lay, 18 sat down on the ground in front of him and gently pushed his hair back out of his face. "I'm sorry it had to come to this 17"
He didn't respond to her words. Didn't speak, didn't move, his chest just continued to steadily move up and down, up and down. How knew how long he would be out for, hours, days, weeks? And 18 feared that the longer 17 was here, weather he was conscious or not, Krillen was going to get more and more upset with her, and that was not what she wanted, not at all.
Krillen and Marron her whole entire world, they were the reason she woke up every morning with a smile on her face. Ever since Marron had been born, 18 couldn't stop smiling – didn't want to stop smiling. She remembered her daughter's first words, first steps, her first birthday and wondered how she had ever lived without the little miracle in her life. She knew that she would never be able to live without her baby again. She had taken a shine to motherhood, didn't mind the dirty diapers and mess that meal times brought. She had fallen into the role of mother and wife – a role that some time ago she would have laughed at. But now, the fact of the matter was, she enjoyed tending to Marrons needs, enjoyed taking her to the mainland and showing her off, enjoyed being a mother. And of course, she enjoyed being a wife as well, especially the wife of Krillen, who was so totally in love with 18 that he was blind to anything else in the world. How could she not be happy with her life – it was practically perfect.
Looking back across at 17, 18 stood up, she could sense Krillens Ki rapidly approaching the island, "17," she spoke, the seriousness in her tone surprising her "if you do anything to harm my family, I'll kill you. I forgiven you for what you did once, but I won't forgive you again". With that she walked out onto the beach to wait for Krillen.
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"Hey babe" Krillen greeted as he touched down on the soft sand, placing Marron down, she complained, she wanted her mother to hold her. 18 gladly obliged.
"Welcome back" 18 greeted her husband.
Krillen didn't say anything; he just wrapped both 18 and Marron in a hug and kissed his wife. "I missed you" he said as he pulled away
"I missed you to"
"How's your brother?" Krillen asked. He had had a good think about the situation while he was out, and he came to the realisation that he needed to be a lot more understanding of his wife's needs. 17 was the only family – besides himself and Marron, that 18 had left. She must have gotten one hell of a scare last night when she had seen him practically dead, and it must have brought back some pretty horrible memories of her past as well, he needed to help 18 through this. Stand by her side as her husband and make sure she was going to be ok. After all, that was his job as a husband, and he loved 18 far too much to ever let anything happen to her. Yes, regardless of his feelings towards 17, he was going to be more supportive for the sake of 18.
As long as no harm came to a single hair on Marrons head, things would be fine.
"He's still sleeping" 18 replied as she adjusted Marron on her hip and turned around, heading for the house. Krillen promptly followed behind.
"Who dat?" Marron asked, pointing with a chubby hand to the man sleeping on the couch.
"That's uncle 17" 18 replied as she kept walking straight into the kitchen.
'Uncle 17' Krillen thought as himself and shuddered and followed 18. He considered that man no relation to Marron. Yumcha was more of an uncle to Marron then 17 would ever be.
Placing Marron in her high chair, 18 handed her daughter a cup that was filled with juice and had a lid that was impossible to get off, and a biscuit. Then, resting back against the counter, she looked at Krillen with a look that just screamed 'I need a hug'. Krillen was more then happy to oblige. Resting her head on Krillens shoulder 18 wrapped her arms around him. This had been a stressful 24 hours, and somehow 18 couldn't see it slowing down anytime soon. The news still had to be broken to Roshi – he was an understanding man, after all he had taken 18 into his house when she was confused, cynical and pregnant, hopefully he would extend the same kind of welcome to 17. He may have been an old pervert, but 18 saw that behind that was really a caring man.
"I should start dinner" 18 buried her head in Krillens neck and yawned
"I'm not hungry"
"Chi-chi fed you, didn't she?" 18 asked, knowing that her friend just couldn't resist giving people food.
"Um" Krillen paused and looked up at the roof, "Maybe"
18 rolled her eyes and kissed Krillen again "So you're not hungry?" she asked
"I'm not going to be hungry for like, a week babe. But if you're hungry-"
"No," 18 cut him off, "I'm not really in the mood to eat. I'll just heat something up for Marron later"
"You're really worried about him?" Krillen asked rasing an eybrow.
"Of course I am!" 18 snapped, pulling out of Krillens grip and glaring at him
Krillen winced, "No sweetheart, I didn't mean it like that. It came out all wrong"
"Oh yeah? How did you mean it then"
"I just meant…" Krillen trailed off. What did he mean? "I mean, it's good that your concerned, and I love you for it" that wasn't what he meant at all, and usually 18 was able to see straight though him when he was lying, but she wasn't really herself right now, and she either let it slip, or just didn't pick it up.
"Why?" she asked
"Why what?" Krillen replied as he opened his arms again, motioning for 18 to return to them, which she did.
"Why is it good?" she asked
"Well, it's good because you care. It's the right way for you to be feeling right now. He's your brother, you have every right to be concerned"
"Thank you" 18 said as she yawned again. It had been a long day and she was exhausted.
Sighing, Krillen scooped 18 up into his arms, with no effort at all.
"What are you doing?" 18 asked, though she made no effort to get Krillen to put her down.
"I'm taking you to bed before you fall asleep in the kitchen"
"No, Krillen, I have to much to do. Marron needs a bath"
"What?" Krillen asked as he walked though the lounge and up the stairs, "You think I can't bathe my own child?"
"No, I don't think that"
"Then stop arguing." Krillen opened the door to their bedroom and gently placed 18 on the soft bed. "Now, I want you to shut your eyes, and go to sleep, ok" he said as he gently brushed 18's hair back off her face and gazed down at her lovingly, already her eyes were growing heavy. Getting up to leave 18 to rest, she reached up and pulled him back down
"Don't I get a kiss good night?" 18 asked
"Of course. What was I thinking?" Krillen asked as he leaned down and kissed 18 softly on the lips, wondering to himself how on Earth he had forgotten to kiss 18, he never forgot that ever.
"That's better" 18 spoke sleepily as Krillen pulled away from her and she rolled onto her side
"Good night sweetheart" he looked down lovingly at his amazingly beautiful wife and smiled, then left the room, shutting the door gently behind him.
Krillen quietly descended the stairs, making sure he didn't step on the one that creaked and walked back into the lounge room. It was there that he came to a dead halt. Something wasn't right. 17 hadn't moved, he was still lying on the couch. It was the front door, it had been shut when Krillen left, now it was wide open and letting in the cold night air.
Instantly, fear griped Krillens body. Marron. He had left Marron in the kitchen. What if she had somehow wriggled out of her high chair and crawled outside, onto the beach and in the dark! Turning on his heels, Krillen ran for the kitchen as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Marron!" he cried as he burst into the room. Though his worried were unjustified, Marron was fine. As Krillens breath returned to normal, he noticed that something else wasn't right. Master Roshi was sitting in the kitchen
"What the matter with you boy?" he asked, "You're white as a ghost"
"It doesn't matter" replied Krillen, "What are you doing back master? You're not due back until tomorrow"
"So a mans not allowed in his own home now?" Roshi replied.
"You know that's not what I meant master" Krillen replied as he lifted Marron out of her seat and proceeded to wipe all the mushy biscuit remains off of her pretty little face.
"Give me cuddles?" Krillen asked the small girl, as he readjusted her in his arms. Sure enough Marron threw her little arms around Krillens neck as best she could in a cuddle. "Good girl" Krillen praised her as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and sat down at the table with Roshi.
"Listen, Master. I'm sure you noticed 17 on the couch and-"
"And nothing boy," Roshi cut him off, "I'm sure that whatever happened to result in an unconscious android laying on my couch is perfectly excusable. You're old enough and wise enough to make your own decisions Krillen, and I know this is one you wouldn't have made unless you had no other options"
"But Master, this is your house, I feel I owe you an explanation"
"Krillen my boy, the day you got yourself a family this became your home, which I merely live in. I don't want or need you to explain you actions to me"
"Thank you, master" Krillen said graciously. He didn't want to explain what had gone on, and Roshi had seen that
"And please, enough with this master junk, I haven't been you master for years"
"No master, I learn something from you everyday, and until the day arrives where you don't teach me something, you shall continue to be my master."
"Well thank you boy".
Master Roshi and Krillen had a kind of unwritten law between them. It was true that Krillen hadn't learnt any Martial Arts from his old teacher for years and years, but Krillen knew that it made Roshi feel like he was important and needed when he called him Master, and after so many years of having to call him by that name it seemed kind of pointless to change his ways. And Roshi, he had taken care of Krillen for practically his whole life, since he came to the island as a mere child. He was the closest thing to a father Krillen had ever had, and Master Roshi would have been proud to have a son like Krillen. The most charming, polite, caring man Roshi had ever known. There relationship was special to both of them, though they never really admitted it, it was there, and they were both extremely thankful for it
"So, where's that lovely lady of yours?" Roshi asked.
"Upstairs sleeping, she's had a tough day"
Looking at Krillen oddly, Roshi smiled from behind his glasses, causing Marron to burst into a fit of giggles "I don't want to know about it"
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A/N: Well, what did you all think? Good, bad or otherwise I'd love to know what you thought. I'll try to get another chapter posted next week or the week after ok! Depends on school and what not. :)
-Deadly Beauty