Chapter 13

East Kaioshin lay under the many rocks that had fallen onto him when he had been attacked by Majin Buu. He could feel that one of his arms were broken from the impact with the rock he now leaned against. Blood dripped down his chin and landed on his clothes; his legs had absolutely no feeling in them.

A moan emerged from his throat as he finally found enough strength to push the rocks off his legs and yank him free from the rubble. At first, when he stood up, he had to brace himself to stop his body from falling down again. He knew that once he fell back down, he would never get back up.

"Sabrina…" he muttered to himself as he hobbled towards the smoke about two miles from where he was. "I'll find you…"

Kaioshin of the East walked a zigzagged path towards the mansion. His arm hung limply at his side, his opposite hand holding the broken appendage as he limped further down the path. It felt like a million years had passed by the time he reached the lake, and once he did, he wished he hadn't made it so quickly; he hadn't prepared himself to see the sight that lay ahead.

The entire second floor of the mansion had been blown off, and smoke rose from all corners and the center. It smelt like burning flesh and ash as he approached it slowly. His knees threatened several times to buckle with every step he took. His back felt like there was something stuck in it, and his head was cold with the blood that ran down into his ears.

"Sabrina!" He called as loud as his lungs would let him. "Sabrina, I'm coming!" He had thought there was still a chance. He knew the other gods were dead because he had witnessed the entire scene, but maybe…just maybe Sabrina had made it.

He was lucky he didn't have to open the doors, for if he had he probably would've used the last of his strength doing so. When he stepped onto the destroyed tiled floor of the entryway, he looked around and begged the heavens to help him locate her. He called her name several more times, but there was no answer.

The entire western portion of the house was destroyed and if Sabrina was there, Kaioshin wasn't sure if he wanted to find her. Number one, he didn't have the strength to move away so much debris, and number two he didn't want to see her mangled body.

Then, a miracle hit his ears. He turned quickly, cursing himself in the process when his left knee finally gave way. "Sabrina!" He called as he pushed himself with both hands—broken or not, to his feet again.

"Kaioshin…" he heard very distantly.

Kaioshin tumbled over debris, including doors, ceiling pieces, what used to be part of the banister of the staircase, and the chandelier, and finally he found her. She was pressed up against a fallen piece of the wall in the parlor.

"Sabrina," he choked as he finally let his knees have their way and break down under him. He crawled over to her, his eyes flooding with tears as he watched a trickle of blood run down her cheek from a massive cut under her eye.

"You look terrible," she tried to joke, but she couldn't even form a smile.

Kaioshin tried to lift her onto his lap with his good arm, but he found that he was hurting her more than comforting her. "I'm here, Sabrina. It's going to be alright."

"Everyone's gone, aren't they?" She asked, tears colliding with bloody drips.

"Yes, everyone's gone," he told her honestly.

"Did you kill Buu?"

Kaioshin swallowed hard. "No, he got away. I don't know why he didn't kill me too."

"I'm glad he didn't….People will still need you."

Kaioshin kissed her head gently and held her as tightly as his body would allow, pain or no pain. "Right now I'm here for you," he told her softly. "I'm not leaving you."

"Kaioshin…promise me you won't die here. Don't give up because I won't be there with you. I know you can put an end to Buu once and for all..."

Kaioshin shook his head. "Don't talk like that. You'll be by my side for eternity…you mustn't leave me."

Sabrina smiled. "Kaioshin…just one last kiss…please?" For a moment he heard West Kaioshin's own words ringing in his ears—the same words she had said to him after they decided they were better off as friends than lovers.

Although he wanted to argue with her to tell her to stop talking like she was, he couldn't help but comply with her wish. With the kiss, Kaioshin finally had to understand that Sabrina was going do die. The kiss was barely alive, her mouth just something pressed up against his.

"I love you…thank you so much for everything…" she said. "I'll miss you, my Kaioshin."

"I love you more than anything…and I'll never ever let you slip from my mind even for a moment, dearest Sabrina," he said watching as a tear fell from his eye and hit her cheek.

She had just started to raise her hand to touch his face when her head fell heavy onto his lap and her eyes glazed over. Sabrina had left that world and now Kaioshin was left to live eternity by himself.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took Kaioshin a very long time to find enough willpower to put Sabrina back on the ground. It took even more to make his body get up again so he could get out of the house. What he would do once he was back outside, he didn't know. He just knew he couldn't stay in his ruined home any longer.

Every living fiber in his body screamed at him to stop moving, to just give up and die, but he forced himself to continue. He couldn't feel his body at all now, even the arm that seemed to have suffered the least amount of damage compared to the rest of him. Tears had blinded his eyes; blood was the only thing his nose could smell.

"I won't let you down, Sabrina," he said as he finally made it to the burnt grass outside. "I'll avenge all of them….I'll make up for my weakness and find a way to destroy Buu!"

And then everything turned to darkness. He felt his face smack against the crisp grass, but he didn't know what had happened to the rest of his body. For all he knew, it could've fallen apart around him—either way he no longer felt anything; he no longer cared.

In the distance, Kaioshin thought he heard someone calling his name. He thought he heard footsteps. He could have sworn he heard someone tell him to hold on, that he would feel better in a moment.

I'll never feel better. I've lost everything: my friends, my love, my home, my honor…everything. Please just let me die.

"Master East Kaioshin, you're healed. You'll be alright," said a familiar voice. "What?" Kaioshin felt his body again. His hands easily grabbed the grass beneath him and his legs started to push him to sit up. His head tossed to the side and he gasped at who he saw.

"Kibito? What are you doing here?"

Kibito, the very one who had fought Kaioshin when he was becoming a god back in the day, was kneeling next to him, a serious expression, yet a small smile of relief on his face. "Thank goodness I found you," he said. "I do not sense the life force of any of the other Kaioshins around here."

Kaioshin thought for a moment, hoping that perhaps he had just been out of it so much he hadn't realized they were still alive. But alas, the truth was still told. "They're dead. All of them. Buu destroyed everyone!" he said getting to his feet and looking at the smoldering building behind him.

Kaioshin waited no time to use his power, summoning the house to return to its original state, but by doing so all the dead bodies would disappear and he'd never see Sabrina's beauty again.

"I am here for you, Master East," he replied with a bow.

"No," Kaioshin replied before thinking anything over. He could sense the life force of five servants that survived the attack. It wouldn't be right to keep them there. He would let them return to the Kai planet where they could live peacefully. Doing such a thing, however, would leave him alone on Kaioshin-kai.

"Perhaps I could use the company," Kaioshin said finally. "If the Grand Kai would spare you, that is."

"The Grand Kai has sent me here," he said. "I'm at your services, Master East Kaioshin."

"If so, then we well set two rules," Kaioshin said promptly. "First, you are not to act like a servant around me. You're older than I am and I've known you far too long time to have you serve me like a slave. Second," he started, but paused as he thought it over in his head.

"Yes?" Kibito asked, wondering what the second rule would be.

"There is no point of calling me East Kaioshin any further. I'm the only Kaioshin left in the universe, and I'd rather not be reminded of my past position that I held with my dearest friends."

"Then what shall you be called, sir?" Kibito asked. "There has always been some sort of Kaioshin. Perhaps you will take the name of Dai Kaioshin?"

"Never," Kaioshin replied gently. "Dai Kaioshin was a respectable man, unlike me who merely watched my friends being slaughtered. No…We have the four Kais that watch over the universe and the Grand Kai that oversees their actions. I shall take the name of the Supreme Kai."

"The Supreme Kai?" Kibito repeated to see how that sounded to his own ears. "Yes, that will suit you, Master."

"Very well," Kaioshin said starting for the house, but he reminded himself to be careful and avoid the parlor as he entered the newly rebuilt mansion. "The first task I'm appointing myself is finding Bibidi. When I find him, I will destroy him before he has a chance to realize who I am."

"And I will be there with you, Master," Kibito added firmly.

Kaioshin turned around and smiled up to his now only friend in the universe. "Thank you Kibito. If it wasn't for you, I'd be nothing more than a memory."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As night approached, Kaioshin felt like he wouldn't live long enough to find Bibidi. The loneliness alone was enough to drive him crazy or to the brink of death. It was torturous. Everywhere he turned he was reminded of somebody he had known that had died there that day. The dining room was where they all ate together, the kitchen was where the loyal servants worked non-stop, the parlor was where he let Sabrina die in his arms, and the whole house was where he grew up with laughter, joy, and peace.

Now it was different. The only person he had to talk to was Kibito, and it didn't seem all that easy to talk to the tall, honorable man. Although he had lived long because he had faithfully stood by the Grand Kai's side, he didn't understand what life was really like. Kibito seemed to have a set thought on how things should be on Kaioshin-kai, and he didn't have to demonstrate for Kaioshin to realize this.

Dinner had been most unwelcoming, but he had to eat. Kibito ate with him, of course, but there wasn't the laughter during conversations he had had with the others. West Kaioshin wasn't there to make a joke, North's serious comments were missing, and South wasn't present to criticize.

Everything would be unusual now, and he didn't know how long it would take to get used to. He still had eternity to live, as long as his next encounter with Bibidi and Buu didn't kill him.

Kibito had taken the liberty of cleaning up the dishes and the mess in the kitchen, telling his master that he had been through enough that day and the sight of an untidy kitchen wasn't in the book of remedies.

Kaioshin soon found himself upstairs, and for some odd reason in front of West Kaioshin's room. He had only been in there once in his life, but he wanted to see it again—his mind telling him that maybe she was in there and hiding, making this one big joke.

When he opened the door, he mentally lectured himself for getting his hopes up that she might have been in there sitting on her bed, wearing that white nightgown he had once seen her in.

The room was in perfect order. Nothing was out of place on the dresser, the mirror was tilted to fit her height, and the bed hadn't a wrinkle on it. It was perfect, except it was missing its owner. Kaioshin let out a heavy sigh and returned the door to his closed state, and he vowed to keep it that way forever.

Returning to his own room should've been of some comfort to him; that is, if he hadn't remembered that Sabrina had spent so many nights there with him. It would never be the same. He knew that at least for a while, every time he rolled over in the middle of the night he would expect to have someone to hold onto and he'd find emptiness.

After sitting on his bed for the longest time, thinking about everything he had done in his life, to staring blankly at the floor, Kaioshin, the Supreme Kai, moved to stand outside on the balcony of his bedroom.

The air was sweet and it no longer smelt of smoke. The sky was clear, and every moon and star shone brightly over him, as if it were his friends smiling for him.

"I'll avenge your deaths," he told the sky. "If it's the last thing I do…"