Your friendly neighborhood author says…: I am on such a role and I love it! Seriously I like rushed out of class to go to the computer lab so I could finish up what I had started last night XD Chapter 4 is done, but not edited and I'm starting 5 tonight. At this point, you can probably expect an update Wednesday or Thursday night. That's enough from me…go read.

Chapter 3: Admit and Regret

I met Toshi in the teacher's lounge like we agreed upon and he had been waiting there for me with a large smile on his face. I gathered up what I needed and we headed out, each taking our own separate cars so we didn't have to drive back here later on. The place we made as our destination was this quaint little coffee shop in the center of town that was relatively cheap and rather good.

Toshi and I sat in the corner at my preference so no one could overhear the conversation I knew would come up. I could feel my stomach turning into several severely tight knots as I wondered how he'd handle anything about Cell I told him. It wasn't bad stuff, but I didn't want him to think me weird or think that I was crazy. Yet I knew, from past experience, if someone really was your friend and cared about you they'd understand and listen to you completely.

"So, what's been on your mind?" He asked right after the waitress brought over our order.

My finger nervously circled the rim of the mug and I stared at the black liquid inside it. Was I really ready for this? I took a deep breath and glanced across the room to check on where other people sat. When I was confident I was safe, I looked back at my mug. "Where were you eight years ago?"

"Eight years ago?" Toshi repeated and sat back for a moment to think about it. "Let's see…probably struggling to get on my feet after college. Why?"

"Well, the thing that's been bothering me happened back then."

"You mean how you were kidnapped and held for ransom at the Cell Games?" I stared at him with one eyebrow raised. He chuckled and bit off a piece from his pastry. "I had heard that you had been there and what had happened."

"Oh really?" I said a bit amused. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you think you know."

Toshi regarded me curiously, but shrugged. "Well, you were a reporter and during your interview Cell had captured you and held you for ransom, but basically you were his slave until the games. Then Hercule set things straight and brought you home to your freedom."

I laughed audibly that resulted in turning several heads to our direction. When I calmed myself down I thought about it for a moment. "No, it was nothing like that. I mean, the beginning was true to a point, but he didn't hold me for ransom and Hercule had nothing to do with it."

"What do you mean?"

"Cell had killed the other two men with me, but he kept me alive…I wasn't held for ransom; it was more like a bet between him and another guy that showed up. It was agreed that I remained there unharmed until the games and then my fate would be decided on whoever won the match.

"But…well, its hard for me to say this since I've never told anyone—not even my parents, but Cell wasn't the maniac everyone put him out to be."

"You're kidding," Toshi laughed. "Layrial, what did he do to you out there? I mean, he kept saying he wanted to destroy the world—how is that not insanity right there?"

"Because it was his mission. Cell was a so-called android, created by a mad scientist in ways of combining cells from different warriors together, and his sole purpose was to destroy the world that rejected that scientist. Honestly, the longer I spent time out there the more I came to realize that he wasn't crazy, it was just how he was…brought up I guess you could say. He was just hostile and destructive."

"Didn't he threaten your life even once?" Toshi asked.

I nodded. "Several times, actually, but I could tell that he couldn't bring himself to do it. It's hard to explain…but I think by the end we had gained a certain trust and respect for each other. I mean, I knew that he wouldn't let any harm come to me, regardless of what he said.

"But…ever since then somehow I've been reminded of what happened out there. And one thing that I want to make sure you understand is that Hercule didn't save me—he didn't save anyone but himself. This kid had done it—"

"You know, I remember something about a kid fighting Cell," Toshi said.

I nodded again. "He's the one that did it. Toshi, there's a power that some people have out there that I can't really put into words. It's like they can gather some sort of internal energy and form it into little balls of light in their hands. That's how Cell destroyed the royal military and did all of those things in front of the camera—he had no weapons. Sure Hercule is good with martial arts, but he doesn't have that power. Cell could've easily blown him to bits if it weren't for the fact he had no use for him.

"I don't even remember the name of the guy that brought me home. Yamcha or something I think, but I know I had died. I know that somehow I had been brought back to life and this guy came back to the desert to bring me home. Hercule and everyone else had been long gone."

For a long moment we sat in silence and I wondered when Toshi would get up and leave because he found me to be a liar. When he leaned over and put his hand on mine, I realized that he was my friend. "I believe you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said. "It makes sense. I mean, Hercule had fallen out of the ring on live TV hadn't he? And we never did see how it all ended—the camera went out, I think they said. I also know that the people that had been reported dead by the hands of Cell had suddenly reappeared—that town and the military."

"Toshi, you have no idea what it means to me to know that you're accepting this," I told him.

He smiled at me and leaned back in his chair to continue with his pastry. "So you had died….What was it like?"

I shrugged my shoulders and sipped my coffee. "I don't really remember." I laughed to myself and looked away again. "Its strange, but when I woke up it felt like it had been a dream and I had slept through the end of the tournament."

"Well what happened in that dream?"

I halted my mouth before I let the words spill out. Then I reminded myself that I could trust Toshi—I had been able to since we first met. "I saw Cell. He was being taken away to some place and I was being sent back to life. I knew he had died before anyone told me. I…" I stopped before I could say that at that point I had told Cell that I loved him. Instantly I had a sudden flashback…

As I moved past the crowd I saw him. Standing a little bit further up the street was Cell, bound in chains that glowed a bright green. Two of the same strange looking men, one red, one blue, stood on either side of him. I saw his repugnance shift slightly into a small smile when his eyes had set on me.

We were only a few feet apart when he stopped walking, the two strange men stopping and snarling at him. He ignored them.

"Well Layrial, it seems that things have taken a complete turn around, much to my dismay," he said in that elegant voice. "But one question still remains on my mind. Did you love me in life?"

"Yes."

He smiled at me, but his escorts pushed him to move along. My attendant had started walking again, but I remained in place for one more second to watch Cell. "Cell!" I called out. I just had to know; after all I thought I had the right. "Did you love me?"

He glanced over his shoulder, and gave me a cheeky smirk. "If that's what you want to call it," he replied. Then he was gone.

"Layrial?"

I looked over to Toshi and apologized for my spacing out. "Toshi, don't think any different of me, but there was a time where I knew I had fallen for him…and I've been running from that truth and what happened during that week since it all came to a sudden halt."

Toshi listened to me intently and I felt that I was boring him with my sob story. But he waited until I was done before he said anything. "I can understand that," he replied. "If he's as you said he was—the way he caught you with his words, voice and mannerism and such—then I could see how you could've been taken by him. After all, that's what a woman truly wants, right? He was playing the gentleman role that you probably always dreamed of and you were able to see past his true self."

Toshi's way of putting all of that hit me oddly. I wasn't quite sure if I agreed or disagreed with what he said. In a way it was true, but in a way it sounded as if he missed the point of what I was telling him. I let it go, however, because I didn't want this to turn into a heated discussion on how Cell had affected me. It wasn't worth the effort at this point.

"Can I ask you something?"

I wasn't expecting anything, but I agreed.

"If Cell hadn't died…say, if he came back and you ran into him, would you still say you liked him?"

I had never thought about that. Once I learned Cell was gone for good I never considered any other possibility that I'd see him—at least in the world of the living. I stared at Toshi as if he had suddenly turned into a giant marshmallow. "No…no, I don't think so. I know that there was nothing there except a fool's crush, if even that."

"Good," he replied. He smiled. "I don't like competition—especially with people that aren't around."

At that point I wondered if I had made the right choice in telling Toshi. I knew that he meant well and was trying to cheer me up with his last statement, but it wasn't the time to be throwing jokes at me. I had just let him in on my biggest secret, and he was trying to get me to go out with him. Is that what he thought this whole thing was? A date? Oh no, buddy, not at all…

"Well, I have to go," I said and picked up my purse.

"Was it something I said?" Toshi asked. He stood up as I did and looked heavily concerned. "I didn't mean anything by it, Layrial—"

"I know," I replied quickly. "I have a lot of work to do. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Toshi followed me outside to my car and put his hands in his pockets as I unlocked the driver's side door. "Look, I know that you're kinda upset about that Cell character…I was just trying to make light of the situation."

"I know," I told him again. "I'll see you tomorrow." And at that point I was closing my car door and putting the vehicle in reverse.