Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, ok?
A/N: I know! Long wait in between chapters. I really don't have a decent excuse for you; I'm just lazy ok. Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll try to get the next one out sooner than this ok. And big thanks to xXEvilOneXx for helping me with that HTML thingo, you're a legend!
-Deadly Beauty
Mind Games
Chapter Nine
"There you go firefly," Krillen whispered as he lowered Marron into her crib, she was so tried though, she didn't even stir. "Sleep tight"
Stretching his arms high above his head, a deep yawn escaped Krillens lips. Looking at his watch, he grimaced; it was almost two in the morning. 18 would be mad at him. Well, madder than she already was. After his little emotional outburst at Yumchas' place, Krillen felt incredibly guilty. Why, he wasn't entirely sure, but he did. Maybe it was because right in the very back of his mind, some thing was telling his that Yumcha was right. 17 was the only other being in the entire galaxy that knew what she had been through, they did share a bond that probably meant more to either of them that Krillen would ever be able to comprehend.
Pushing open the door to the bedroom, Krillen noticed straight away that the bed was empty.
"18?" he called in a loud whisper as he pushed the door open all the way. "18"
Stepping into the room, Krillen felt relief flow through his veins. Light was shining out from the bathroom door. "18, what are you doing in the bathroom a- oh my god!" Krillen screamed as he walked into the bathroom only to find 18 collapsed on the ground.
"18 are you ok?" Krillen dropped to his knees and rolled 18 into his lap. Tears dropped from his face and splashed onto hers.
Quickly enough, she came around, groaning in Krillens lap she opened her eyes "18!" Krillen sounded alarmed "18 baby, what happened to you?"
"I'm fine," she mumbled, though inside, her head was throbbing like she had never felt before.
"No you are not fine. 17 did this to you didn't he?"
"No!" she quickly replied, "well yeah, we were sparring. Really, it's nothing" she tried to push herself up, but Krillen pushed her straight back down again. He stared deeply into her eyes, silently pleading with her to tell him the truth.
"18" he begged as he brushed her corn silk blonde hair out of her beautiful eyes.
"What?" she asked him. She wanted to tell him what had happened, oh God how she wanted to tell him. But she couldn't, no, instead she was being forced to put up the cold emotional wall she had thought had been torn down the day she said, "I do"
"What happened?" Krillen asked. Taking his wife's hands and threading his fingers with her, he gently squeezed.
"Nothing" she sighed, "I'm fine ok. I just came in here after we sparred, and I guess I just fell asleep"
Shaking his head, Krillen sighed. "Ok then. If that's what you say happened. I believe you" he practically had to force the words out of his mouth.
"That's what happened Krillen. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep"
"18" he muttered as he watched his wife stand up and walk out the room. "You gotta snap out of this mind set soon baby, because I refuse to lose you"
---------------
The warm morning sun was just beginning to rise, spreading its golden glow all over the world. It really was beautiful to someone who was willing to give it a chance. But to 18, the entire world was devoid of beauty today. She was miserable and in trouble and she didn't know what to do. Nothing was beautiful anymore. How was she supposed to enjoy the simple things in life, when the big things were causing her so much pain?
Sighing deeply, she looked up at the sky, starts still hung all the way up there, even though the day was about to begin. It really was an amazing thing – to be caught right in between the transition of night and day, especially when out here on the island, the sky was so free of pollution that the stars shone 10 times brighter and the days were far more sunnier. It was a tropical paradise.
Letting her head drop forward again, 18 pulled her knees up to her chest and gently hugged her legs. Here, atop the Kame House, the only thing in front of her, an endless mass of sea, she felt like she was the only being in the entire world.
Maybe that would end her problems, if she were the only person in the entire world. Or maybe, maybe she could just run away to a place where no one else would ever possibly want to go. 'No' she quickly came to her conclusion. Her family was here, Krillen was here, everything that meant anything to her was here. She looked down at her wedding ring and ran her finger over the smooth, cool gold. She was here for better or worse, through the good times and the bad. She loved Krillen more than she had ever thought it possible to love anyone, and she wasn't about to give him up just because 17 was having a mental breakdown.
But where, where could she possibly go to get help for her brother? What could she do? Nothing, that was what she could do. Because the second she went anywhere, 17 would be on to her, and God only knew what would happen then.
Thinking back to the night before, a cold shiver ran up 18's spine. She had never felt as horrible as she has last night. As if lying to Krillen wasn't bad enough, she had to tell him the worst lie she possible could of. It not only made her story unbelievable, but even worse, made Krillen seem like some kind of idiot for being forced into believing her. She had seen the fear in his eyes. He loved her, worshiped her, and when he had seen her like that his heart had almost stopped beating. 18 knew for a fact that Krillen would die for either her, or their daughter without so much as even a second thought, and she had gone and blatantly lied to him. Could she be any worse of a person if she tried?
She was distracted from her thoughts by the sound of the screen door opening and banging shut again. She sharply inhaled, shocked by the sudden disturbance. She watched on in silence as 17 walked out onto the beach and began to do a few simple warm up exercises.
'Perhaps he hasn't seen me yet?' 18 thought to herself as she sat rigid on the roof. She was scared of 17, and she felt her fear was very much justified.
Suddenly, 17 snapped his head around and his icy blue eyes pierced 18 right through to her soul, sending a shiver down her spine.
"Leave me alone 17" she muttered to herself as she raked her hands back though her hair and clamped her eyes shut tight.
"18" 18 gasped and jumped at the sound of the voice so close to her. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice muffled by her hands.
"Look at me" he demanded, leaving no room for argument.
Slowly, 18 pulled her hands away, to reveal tear streaked cheeks. This earned her a good hard smack across the face from her brother. "Crying is not acceptable" he hissed. "If I were you, I would watch yourself, because if you tell anyone, you're going to pay"
18 sniffed back tears, "leave me alone 17. Please. Just leave me family alone"
17 only laughed, "18," he smiled at her sadistically, "I'm having far to much fun to just 'leave you alone'"
"17, please. I'm begging you" 18 was at the end of her rope and didn't know what to do
"Ha! You've been reduced to begging. That's laughable" he watched 18's desperate facial expressions for a minute or two until he grew bored, "Eh, whatever, I'm going to train, I'll be back this afternoon. And remember, unless you want to harm you family, keep your mouth shut"
18 watched as 17 blasted off the island, leaving a trail of artificial energy behind him. Her hands shook as she sat in the early morning sun. She felt pathetic, what she had been reduced to was pathetic. A crying, messy heap. She was stronger than this. She was in control of her emotions. She had been sure that Krillen was the only one who was able to make her feel weak, and he did it in a good way. But here, 17 was able to bring her down with only a few words and minimal force.
This never would have happened if she hadn't of broken her initial promise to Krillen. She had promised him that 17 would only stay with them until he woke up. Promised. Krillen hadn't even wanted him here in the first place. Why had she been so stubborn? Why? She chastised herself for her stupidity.
Although, 17 was gone for the day, he went off to train at least twice a week, 18 could wake Krillen, tell him the whole story and they could run away. Start a new life somewhere else.
"No" 18 thought aloud. That wouldn't work. Krillen's power level was far too massive for 17 not to be able sense, and there was no way Krillen would be able to suppress his Ki forever. That was a stupid idea. Gee, she was just on a role as of late.
---------------
Krillen rolled over onto his stomach, reaching out he felt the cool patch of bed beside him. Usually he found his wife lying beside him. But this morning, she was not there. Cracking his eyes open, he sleepily rubbed them and sat up.
"Babe?" he quietly muttered through a yawn, "where are you?" it was clear she wasn't in the room though.
He was about to climb out of bed to go in search of his wife, he felt terrible about the night before – he was sick of fighting and wanted to make up with her once and for all. Just as he was about to throw off the covers though, he heard the tell tale creak of the staircase, and he decided to wait to see if 18 was coming back.
As it was, he got lucky, for only seconds later, the door opened and 18 walked in. She promptly stopped when she found Krillen was awake – she looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, she had nowhere to run. She was expecting Krillen to yell at her, to scream and plead like he had the night before, but the reaction she got was 10 times worsen than anything she could have expected.
Krillen's eyes widened as he took in her appearance. She had a nasty swollen black eye, scratches all over her arms and probably her legs, and a fading red slap mark on her face. Everything he had been so intent on doing before, apologising and making up, was forgotten, and instead he felt like he was going to be sick.
Blinking slowly, he took a second glace. Could this really be happening? Shaking his head, he threw off the bed covers, stood up, put on his robe and walked right past 18 without so much as a second glance.
Spinning around on her heel, 18 stood and watched Krillen walk down the hall and down the stairs. Inside she felt her heart breaking.
"Krillen!" She ran to the banister and stared down at him on the floor below.
"What?" he asked back up to her, only meeting her eyes for a brief second, "What do you want?"
"I want this to be over" her voice broke as she spoke and tears misted up in her eyes.
"How can it be 18?" Krillen shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "How can it be, when you refuse to tell me what's really going on"
"I am telling you the truth!" she yelled back down to him, her frustration and grief consuming her.
"Quiet down. You'll wake Marron"
"I'm telling you the truth," she repeated. Inside, her mind was screaming at her, there was no way she was going to be able to keep up with this forever. No way. She could see, just by taking one glance into Krillens big black eyes that she was causing him grief, and there was nothing in the world she hated more. But the way she saw it, she had no choice.
"No your not" Krillens voice was unusually loving, given the current situation. "You're not telling me the truth, and I'm not going to push you. If you want to lie to me, fine – see if I care. I've lived without you before, and if you want to go right back to where we were all those years ago, with no trust, no respect, no nothing, then fine go ahead, I can live without you again," that was a lie, there was no way Krillen would be able to live a day without her, he just didn't know what else to say, "But if you think for a second, that I'm going to stand around and watch you act like this, then you are severely mistaken. I'm going to take Marron, and I'm going to go. So you have to make a choice, give up everything you have here, or tell me what's really going on" he spoke quietly and calmly, though inside he felt about ready to die, he couldn't believe what he had just said. He waited a second for 18 to reply, but when she said nothing, he turned and walked into the kitchen.
Back upstairs a loud sob escaped 18's throat as she took several steps backwards, bumped into the wall, slid down to the ground and cried. She felt like her heart was being torn in two. Quickly though, she composed herself, carefully wiping away the tears, as not to further injure her black eye, 18 stood up on shaky legs.
Her whole world was crumbling around her and she was powerless to stop it
---
Krillen stood at the kitchen bench, crying so hard that his shoulders shuddered with every breath he took. He couldn't work out for the life of him what he had done to be put through this much pain. He was a good guy, he taught his daughter how to respect things and tried his best to protect millions of people who didn't even know his name. So why, why did God have to pick him, out of all the mass murderers, rapists and terrorist in the world, to pick on. Why, what had Krillen done that was so terribly wrong that he deserved to have the only woman who truly meant something to him taken away?
As he continued to cry, loud, heart-wrenching sobs that resounded right from his very soul, he became angry. Angry with 18 for lying to him, angry with 17 for being alive, angry with God for thinking it was funny, angry at anyone and anything who dared cross him.
Suddenly, in his rage, he swirled around, picked up one of the kitchen chairs and hurled it through the window, glass went flying in all directions and Krillen fell to his knees. He was exhausted, scared, hurt and the tears continued to flow. Blood oozed from his knees where he had fallen on shards of glass. He didn't notice it though; blood was the last thing on his mind right now, all he could think about was the fact that his family, his precious family who meant more than him to anything, was falling apart.
"Krillen!" 18 burst into the kitchen, stopping dead in her track when she laid eyes on the man in the middle of the room. He was a sorry sight to behold. "Krillen, are you alright? What happened?"
Krillen didn't reply for several minutes, simply because he couldn't find his voice among the tears. "Do I look alright?" he finally spoke.
"Krillen," 18 took a few cautious steps into the room, careful to watch for the broken glass, "Krillen, you're bleeding" 18 placed a hand on Krillens shoulder, but he just shrugged it off, "Don't touch me" he mumbled
"Krillen I-" 18 trailed off, hurt by the harsh tone in his words
"I said, don't touch me"
18 shook her head, her sorrow starting to be replaced by frustration, "What happened in here?" her voice was low, with a hint of danger to it.
"I'll clean it up" Krillen quietly replied, he wasn't able to bring himself to look at 18, he loved her to much, and looking at her would only bring on even more tears.
"That's not important Krillen. What's important is that you tell me what happened here?"
"You have no idea" Krillen muttered, his voice husky from the tears
"No idea? No idea about what?" 18 asked her beginning to show signs of her agitation.
Standing up, Krillen looked her in the eyes for the first time, and still even though one was swollen, and she was mad, he still saw the beauty there, he still saw the woman he had fallen so deeply in love with, hiding behind all the pain and turmoil.
Plunging his hands into the pockets of his robe, he spoke, "you have no idea what today is, do you?"
"What?" 18 raised an eyebrow. "What the hell has that got to do with anything? Krillen, you still haven't answered my question. What happened in here?!" she demanded, yelling out of sheer frustration now.
"It's our wedding anniversary 18!" Krillen yelled, tears streaking his cheeks, he could never remember crying like this. "Today is our anniversary and you don't even care! And you wonder why I'm so upset and throwing chairs through windows? You don't even care 18," his voice broke and was replaced by long sobs, "You don't even care"
18 didn't say anything. She brought her hand to her mouth to cover her shock. "Oh my god" she muttered to herself. There was no excuse for this. She had forgotten their first wedding anniversary.
"Here," Krillen wiped his face with the back of his hand and produced a small box wrapped in silver paper from the pocket of his robe. "Happy anniversary" he shoved the box into her hands as he walked past her and out of the kitchen, leaving her to quietly sob all by herself.
---------------
A/N: Well there you go. Poor Krillen, he finally cracked, and poor 18, she's in a horrible situation. What's going to happen next? Aren't you just dying to know? We'll you'll find out in the next chapter of Mind Games!
P.S. It's my 17th birthday in 3 more days. Yay me
-Deadly Beauty
A/N: I know! Long wait in between chapters. I really don't have a decent excuse for you; I'm just lazy ok. Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll try to get the next one out sooner than this ok. And big thanks to xXEvilOneXx for helping me with that HTML thingo, you're a legend!
-Deadly Beauty
Chapter Nine
"There you go firefly," Krillen whispered as he lowered Marron into her crib, she was so tried though, she didn't even stir. "Sleep tight"
Stretching his arms high above his head, a deep yawn escaped Krillens lips. Looking at his watch, he grimaced; it was almost two in the morning. 18 would be mad at him. Well, madder than she already was. After his little emotional outburst at Yumchas' place, Krillen felt incredibly guilty. Why, he wasn't entirely sure, but he did. Maybe it was because right in the very back of his mind, some thing was telling his that Yumcha was right. 17 was the only other being in the entire galaxy that knew what she had been through, they did share a bond that probably meant more to either of them that Krillen would ever be able to comprehend.
Pushing open the door to the bedroom, Krillen noticed straight away that the bed was empty.
"18?" he called in a loud whisper as he pushed the door open all the way. "18"
Stepping into the room, Krillen felt relief flow through his veins. Light was shining out from the bathroom door. "18, what are you doing in the bathroom a- oh my god!" Krillen screamed as he walked into the bathroom only to find 18 collapsed on the ground.
"18 are you ok?" Krillen dropped to his knees and rolled 18 into his lap. Tears dropped from his face and splashed onto hers.
Quickly enough, she came around, groaning in Krillens lap she opened her eyes "18!" Krillen sounded alarmed "18 baby, what happened to you?"
"I'm fine," she mumbled, though inside, her head was throbbing like she had never felt before.
"No you are not fine. 17 did this to you didn't he?"
"No!" she quickly replied, "well yeah, we were sparring. Really, it's nothing" she tried to push herself up, but Krillen pushed her straight back down again. He stared deeply into her eyes, silently pleading with her to tell him the truth.
"18" he begged as he brushed her corn silk blonde hair out of her beautiful eyes.
"What?" she asked him. She wanted to tell him what had happened, oh God how she wanted to tell him. But she couldn't, no, instead she was being forced to put up the cold emotional wall she had thought had been torn down the day she said, "I do"
"What happened?" Krillen asked. Taking his wife's hands and threading his fingers with her, he gently squeezed.
"Nothing" she sighed, "I'm fine ok. I just came in here after we sparred, and I guess I just fell asleep"
Shaking his head, Krillen sighed. "Ok then. If that's what you say happened. I believe you" he practically had to force the words out of his mouth.
"That's what happened Krillen. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep"
"18" he muttered as he watched his wife stand up and walk out the room. "You gotta snap out of this mind set soon baby, because I refuse to lose you"
---------------
The warm morning sun was just beginning to rise, spreading its golden glow all over the world. It really was beautiful to someone who was willing to give it a chance. But to 18, the entire world was devoid of beauty today. She was miserable and in trouble and she didn't know what to do. Nothing was beautiful anymore. How was she supposed to enjoy the simple things in life, when the big things were causing her so much pain?
Sighing deeply, she looked up at the sky, starts still hung all the way up there, even though the day was about to begin. It really was an amazing thing – to be caught right in between the transition of night and day, especially when out here on the island, the sky was so free of pollution that the stars shone 10 times brighter and the days were far more sunnier. It was a tropical paradise.
Letting her head drop forward again, 18 pulled her knees up to her chest and gently hugged her legs. Here, atop the Kame House, the only thing in front of her, an endless mass of sea, she felt like she was the only being in the entire world.
Maybe that would end her problems, if she were the only person in the entire world. Or maybe, maybe she could just run away to a place where no one else would ever possibly want to go. 'No' she quickly came to her conclusion. Her family was here, Krillen was here, everything that meant anything to her was here. She looked down at her wedding ring and ran her finger over the smooth, cool gold. She was here for better or worse, through the good times and the bad. She loved Krillen more than she had ever thought it possible to love anyone, and she wasn't about to give him up just because 17 was having a mental breakdown.
But where, where could she possibly go to get help for her brother? What could she do? Nothing, that was what she could do. Because the second she went anywhere, 17 would be on to her, and God only knew what would happen then.
Thinking back to the night before, a cold shiver ran up 18's spine. She had never felt as horrible as she has last night. As if lying to Krillen wasn't bad enough, she had to tell him the worst lie she possible could of. It not only made her story unbelievable, but even worse, made Krillen seem like some kind of idiot for being forced into believing her. She had seen the fear in his eyes. He loved her, worshiped her, and when he had seen her like that his heart had almost stopped beating. 18 knew for a fact that Krillen would die for either her, or their daughter without so much as even a second thought, and she had gone and blatantly lied to him. Could she be any worse of a person if she tried?
She was distracted from her thoughts by the sound of the screen door opening and banging shut again. She sharply inhaled, shocked by the sudden disturbance. She watched on in silence as 17 walked out onto the beach and began to do a few simple warm up exercises.
'Perhaps he hasn't seen me yet?' 18 thought to herself as she sat rigid on the roof. She was scared of 17, and she felt her fear was very much justified.
Suddenly, 17 snapped his head around and his icy blue eyes pierced 18 right through to her soul, sending a shiver down her spine.
"Leave me alone 17" she muttered to herself as she raked her hands back though her hair and clamped her eyes shut tight.
"18" 18 gasped and jumped at the sound of the voice so close to her. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice muffled by her hands.
"Look at me" he demanded, leaving no room for argument.
Slowly, 18 pulled her hands away, to reveal tear streaked cheeks. This earned her a good hard smack across the face from her brother. "Crying is not acceptable" he hissed. "If I were you, I would watch yourself, because if you tell anyone, you're going to pay"
18 sniffed back tears, "leave me alone 17. Please. Just leave me family alone"
17 only laughed, "18," he smiled at her sadistically, "I'm having far to much fun to just 'leave you alone'"
"17, please. I'm begging you" 18 was at the end of her rope and didn't know what to do
"Ha! You've been reduced to begging. That's laughable" he watched 18's desperate facial expressions for a minute or two until he grew bored, "Eh, whatever, I'm going to train, I'll be back this afternoon. And remember, unless you want to harm you family, keep your mouth shut"
18 watched as 17 blasted off the island, leaving a trail of artificial energy behind him. Her hands shook as she sat in the early morning sun. She felt pathetic, what she had been reduced to was pathetic. A crying, messy heap. She was stronger than this. She was in control of her emotions. She had been sure that Krillen was the only one who was able to make her feel weak, and he did it in a good way. But here, 17 was able to bring her down with only a few words and minimal force.
This never would have happened if she hadn't of broken her initial promise to Krillen. She had promised him that 17 would only stay with them until he woke up. Promised. Krillen hadn't even wanted him here in the first place. Why had she been so stubborn? Why? She chastised herself for her stupidity.
Although, 17 was gone for the day, he went off to train at least twice a week, 18 could wake Krillen, tell him the whole story and they could run away. Start a new life somewhere else.
"No" 18 thought aloud. That wouldn't work. Krillen's power level was far too massive for 17 not to be able sense, and there was no way Krillen would be able to suppress his Ki forever. That was a stupid idea. Gee, she was just on a role as of late.
---------------
Krillen rolled over onto his stomach, reaching out he felt the cool patch of bed beside him. Usually he found his wife lying beside him. But this morning, she was not there. Cracking his eyes open, he sleepily rubbed them and sat up.
"Babe?" he quietly muttered through a yawn, "where are you?" it was clear she wasn't in the room though.
He was about to climb out of bed to go in search of his wife, he felt terrible about the night before – he was sick of fighting and wanted to make up with her once and for all. Just as he was about to throw off the covers though, he heard the tell tale creak of the staircase, and he decided to wait to see if 18 was coming back.
As it was, he got lucky, for only seconds later, the door opened and 18 walked in. She promptly stopped when she found Krillen was awake – she looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, she had nowhere to run. She was expecting Krillen to yell at her, to scream and plead like he had the night before, but the reaction she got was 10 times worsen than anything she could have expected.
Krillen's eyes widened as he took in her appearance. She had a nasty swollen black eye, scratches all over her arms and probably her legs, and a fading red slap mark on her face. Everything he had been so intent on doing before, apologising and making up, was forgotten, and instead he felt like he was going to be sick.
Blinking slowly, he took a second glace. Could this really be happening? Shaking his head, he threw off the bed covers, stood up, put on his robe and walked right past 18 without so much as a second glance.
Spinning around on her heel, 18 stood and watched Krillen walk down the hall and down the stairs. Inside she felt her heart breaking.
"Krillen!" She ran to the banister and stared down at him on the floor below.
"What?" he asked back up to her, only meeting her eyes for a brief second, "What do you want?"
"I want this to be over" her voice broke as she spoke and tears misted up in her eyes.
"How can it be 18?" Krillen shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "How can it be, when you refuse to tell me what's really going on"
"I am telling you the truth!" she yelled back down to him, her frustration and grief consuming her.
"Quiet down. You'll wake Marron"
"I'm telling you the truth," she repeated. Inside, her mind was screaming at her, there was no way she was going to be able to keep up with this forever. No way. She could see, just by taking one glance into Krillens big black eyes that she was causing him grief, and there was nothing in the world she hated more. But the way she saw it, she had no choice.
"No your not" Krillens voice was unusually loving, given the current situation. "You're not telling me the truth, and I'm not going to push you. If you want to lie to me, fine – see if I care. I've lived without you before, and if you want to go right back to where we were all those years ago, with no trust, no respect, no nothing, then fine go ahead, I can live without you again," that was a lie, there was no way Krillen would be able to live a day without her, he just didn't know what else to say, "But if you think for a second, that I'm going to stand around and watch you act like this, then you are severely mistaken. I'm going to take Marron, and I'm going to go. So you have to make a choice, give up everything you have here, or tell me what's really going on" he spoke quietly and calmly, though inside he felt about ready to die, he couldn't believe what he had just said. He waited a second for 18 to reply, but when she said nothing, he turned and walked into the kitchen.
Back upstairs a loud sob escaped 18's throat as she took several steps backwards, bumped into the wall, slid down to the ground and cried. She felt like her heart was being torn in two. Quickly though, she composed herself, carefully wiping away the tears, as not to further injure her black eye, 18 stood up on shaky legs.
Her whole world was crumbling around her and she was powerless to stop it
---
Krillen stood at the kitchen bench, crying so hard that his shoulders shuddered with every breath he took. He couldn't work out for the life of him what he had done to be put through this much pain. He was a good guy, he taught his daughter how to respect things and tried his best to protect millions of people who didn't even know his name. So why, why did God have to pick him, out of all the mass murderers, rapists and terrorist in the world, to pick on. Why, what had Krillen done that was so terribly wrong that he deserved to have the only woman who truly meant something to him taken away?
As he continued to cry, loud, heart-wrenching sobs that resounded right from his very soul, he became angry. Angry with 18 for lying to him, angry with 17 for being alive, angry with God for thinking it was funny, angry at anyone and anything who dared cross him.
Suddenly, in his rage, he swirled around, picked up one of the kitchen chairs and hurled it through the window, glass went flying in all directions and Krillen fell to his knees. He was exhausted, scared, hurt and the tears continued to flow. Blood oozed from his knees where he had fallen on shards of glass. He didn't notice it though; blood was the last thing on his mind right now, all he could think about was the fact that his family, his precious family who meant more than him to anything, was falling apart.
"Krillen!" 18 burst into the kitchen, stopping dead in her track when she laid eyes on the man in the middle of the room. He was a sorry sight to behold. "Krillen, are you alright? What happened?"
Krillen didn't reply for several minutes, simply because he couldn't find his voice among the tears. "Do I look alright?" he finally spoke.
"Krillen," 18 took a few cautious steps into the room, careful to watch for the broken glass, "Krillen, you're bleeding" 18 placed a hand on Krillens shoulder, but he just shrugged it off, "Don't touch me" he mumbled
"Krillen I-" 18 trailed off, hurt by the harsh tone in his words
"I said, don't touch me"
18 shook her head, her sorrow starting to be replaced by frustration, "What happened in here?" her voice was low, with a hint of danger to it.
"I'll clean it up" Krillen quietly replied, he wasn't able to bring himself to look at 18, he loved her to much, and looking at her would only bring on even more tears.
"That's not important Krillen. What's important is that you tell me what happened here?"
"You have no idea" Krillen muttered, his voice husky from the tears
"No idea? No idea about what?" 18 asked her beginning to show signs of her agitation.
Standing up, Krillen looked her in the eyes for the first time, and still even though one was swollen, and she was mad, he still saw the beauty there, he still saw the woman he had fallen so deeply in love with, hiding behind all the pain and turmoil.
Plunging his hands into the pockets of his robe, he spoke, "you have no idea what today is, do you?"
"What?" 18 raised an eyebrow. "What the hell has that got to do with anything? Krillen, you still haven't answered my question. What happened in here?!" she demanded, yelling out of sheer frustration now.
"It's our wedding anniversary 18!" Krillen yelled, tears streaking his cheeks, he could never remember crying like this. "Today is our anniversary and you don't even care! And you wonder why I'm so upset and throwing chairs through windows? You don't even care 18," his voice broke and was replaced by long sobs, "You don't even care"
18 didn't say anything. She brought her hand to her mouth to cover her shock. "Oh my god" she muttered to herself. There was no excuse for this. She had forgotten their first wedding anniversary.
"Here," Krillen wiped his face with the back of his hand and produced a small box wrapped in silver paper from the pocket of his robe. "Happy anniversary" he shoved the box into her hands as he walked past her and out of the kitchen, leaving her to quietly sob all by herself.
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A/N: Well there you go. Poor Krillen, he finally cracked, and poor 18, she's in a horrible situation. What's going to happen next? Aren't you just dying to know? We'll you'll find out in the next chapter of Mind Games!
P.S. It's my 17th birthday in 3 more days. Yay me
-Deadly Beauty