AN: My feelings are that I'm a rather terrible person to Yamcha. But it'll work out to his benefit in the long run having to climb it with extra baggage. Also, if he didn't have bad luck, what would Yamcha have? Really.

Now, if you aren't aware of Akira's motivations and intentions behind power levels, there are all sorts of interviews on the internet to look up for them. As for the reason why I portray Sakura exactly as she is in canon - I like how she is in canon, and so I will continue to do so.

(The reason Bulma didn't use the watch is because she forgot she had it. She tends to, because it's new. This will probably come up in the fic itself, but it may not be immediate.)

Incidentally, did you know in canon Goku fell off the tower and had to fall asleep on it? He's did slightly better this time!

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Forty-four

The night passed without incident. A few moments, the wood of the strange structure creaked when wind would gust through the open 'windows', but she sensed no other movement, and whoever belonged to the home didn't appear to return. Unsurprisingly, Goku slept through the night without stirring even a little, and then slept well into the day.

From the inside, she could see the strange shapes she observed on the underside of the tower were some sort of portholes that had been closed. If they'd been open, the last leg of the tower climb would have been easier than they were. If he weren't asleep, she would have gone to examine the clay pots on the far side of the room, or searched behind the screen that seemed to be for a working bathtub on the other end. Instead, she could only observe them and wonder exactly who lived up here and why. And where they were.

He mumbled in irritation when he finally began to stir, and reached up to rub at his eyes.

"Mmmh...it's morning?" He sounded slightly disappointed.

It was much later than morning.

"Are you ready to explore this place?"

He glanced up at her, gaze somewhat sleepy, and blinked a few times. "What did you make...?"

"...What?" She frowned. 'Make'? Was he still not completely awake yet? Lingering in a dream somewhat, because he'd been so exhausted when he went to sleep the night before?

He pushed himself up to his feet, and started heading away from her. "I can smell breakfast..."

Breakfast?

Could he?

She stood a moment later, and moved after him. On the air, faintly...she thought she could smell some sort of food. But then, she hadn't eaten in more than two days, and she'd had no sleep in that same amount of time. She hadn't had such little sleep since fighting in the war. In this world, there'd been almost no need to stay awake through any night.

If there were food, was it natural, or could it be the person who lived in this place was here? And if they were...did that person know they were present yet?

She followed after Goku as he walked guided by his nose. Without saying anything else coherent, he wandered back outside to the staircase they'd ultimately hoisted themselves up on the day before, and then up the stairs that wound around the strangely shaped structure.

The wind which howled across the open stairway wasn't something she found particularly pleasant, but the path seemed to be carved wide enough not to pose much of a danger in climbing it. Even though she was a little concerned over the manner Goku seemed to be blindly stumbling up the steps. If anything gave out...

None of it did, however, and the staircase didn't prove to be all that long. (Then again, nothing would have felt very long directly after the climb she'd just experienced.)

The topmost level of the tree house was entirely open air, closed off only by a roof and several decorative pillars. In the middle of the room stood some sort of decorative fountain with an even more elaborate vase atop that, and on the far side of the structure...stood a large cat on its hind legs, one hand holding a staff taller than itself, the other holding out an small metal can of something, lid torn open.

"I wondered just how much I would have to do to get the two of you to finally come up." The cat's voice sounded somewhat like a wisened old man's.

Talking cats, at least, were a thing she had some small amount of experience with. Even if the last time she'd dealt with any, she'd needed a special tool to understand them with.

"Ah!" Goku gasped, and sprinted toward the cat. "It's food!"

"...Ah?" The cat glanced down at its own hand, and then gave a little shrug, before handing it over to the eager child. "It was the only thing I had."

"The only thing?!" Goku sounded scandalized. And already had finished the small amount of food offered him. "But I'm starving!"

"Well, that isn't my problem! I didn't invite you up to my house, you came on your own."

"But you have to have food!" Goku insisted, voice raising an octave and hands gripping into fists at his side. "Everyone has food at their own house!"

"Well I don't! I wasn't expecting company!" His fur ruffled and stood on edge as he stared...up at the boy.

Perhaps it would be good for her to say something before their strange host took any further exception to their presence.

"You said you wanted us to come up here?" She walked up to where the two stood, watching the cat for any sign of hostility or aggression. Just because he'd offered food to Goku didn't mean he wouldn't suddenly become hostile. He was, after all, a cat.

"...Ah. Well." The cat gave a small nod, and turned away from them, walking toward the edge of the tower. "If you were down there any longer looking for my sacred water, you'd start throwing my things out of the tower, I assume."

"Sacred water?" She glanced down at Goku.

Goku frowned up at her, as if he'd expected her to know what it was and explain it to him. When it was his world, not hers.

The cat turned back toward them, fluffy brows knit together. "...That is what you made this journey for, is it not? To partake of my ultra super holy water?"

Ultra...super...holy water.

"What's that?" Goku tilted his head slightly. "How's it different from normal water?"

"Well it-" The cat stuttered for a moment, and then paused. "...You don't know what it is?"

Well. They probably would have known both what the water was and what the monument tree's purpose was without ever needing to climb it if a rampaging army hadn't slaughtered the only people in the world who seemed aware of it at all. But then, a (not-ninja) cat in a treehouse miles away from that village wouldn't have known the state of the people below.

The cat coughed slightly, and stroked at its own chin-fur. "Well...well. Why then did you come to visit me, if not for my ultra divine water?"

...She wondered if the people in the village might even know about this water at all. If he were still testing out names for it, as he appeared to be, there might not be any legends about it at all.

"I wanted to know what was up top!" Goku nodded. "Sakura, too."

"We were curious what this was here for." It sounded a little less impulsive that way. "Finding anyone living up here was a surprise."

"But...there's nothing exciting here. It's disappointing."

"Excuse you. This is my home."

She frowned slightly, considering the cat. Could he...be some form of cat sage, perhaps? There was no telling what this world had, but if it were her own world, the situation would have led her to believe this cat was something like that.

"Who are you?"

The cat looked between them both for a few moments. "The two of you are the most foolhardy people I've ever met. I am Korin. A hermit. Or a cat god. I have been considered both."

"If you're a cat god, can't you make more food?"

"No."

A deity like being would explain why the people had created such an ornate place for him to live. It didn't explain how they'd done it, yet. Unless the cat could control wood. But...he'd seemed convinced they were there to receive some sort of water from him, not something wood related.

"What does that have to do with your water?"

The cat looked up at her, quiet for several moments. "Then...you didn't hear that my sacred water will increase your strength many times by drinking it."

Goku immediately brightened. "Really?!"

"Really."

"I wanna drink it right now!"

She doubted it would be so easy.

Despite her doubt, the cat immediately pointed to the ornate vase in the middle of the room. "It's right there."

Goku, despite his enthusiasm, hesitated, and squinted between the vase and the cat. "...So...I can really have it? You don't mind if I drink it at all?"

"Not at all. Drink as much as you want of it."

She touched Goku's shoulder just as he went for it. "Why?"

Korin looked up at her and clasped his hands behind himself. "You've impressed me. I haven't ever met anyone as stupid as the both of you."

"Hey-" Goku snapped, but the cat simply spoke as if he hadn't interjected at all.

"As a reward, you can drink the water."

Goku fell silent for a few moments, frowned up at the vase, and then her. "...Okay?"

She lifted her hand, and crossed her arms, taking a step back.

"Don't you also want the water?"

She shook her head slightly, watching the cat rather than Goku. "I don't need it."

"What an arrogant person." The cat's attention turned from her to Goku as the boy climbed up the tall fountain to where the vase stood. Just as Goku reached out to touch the vase, the stick the cat held lashed out and smacked him off of the fountain entirely.

She had already taken two steps toward the cat by the time he returned to his previous passive stance. Staring right up at her, not Goku.

"Ow!" Goku yelped from behind her. "What was that for? You said I could have it!"

"You can have it." The cat nodded. Watching her. "Hurry up and take it."

Goku harrumphed, and sprinted up toward the water again. Halfway up the fountain, the cat threw a pebble, and knocked him back down again when it smacked into the back of his hand. "Ah! What d'you think you're doing?!"

"What are you doing?" Korin glanced over at the young boy with an expression that might have been exasperation, if he had more human features to his face. "I told you to drink it."

"I'm trying to, but you keep stopping me from doing it!" Goku's shout had an indignant tone she almost never heard out of him.

The cat nodded, wandering closer to the fountain. "Am I? If you can't get it from me, then you won't be able to drink it after all."

Ah...

So it was that sort of test. Which was rather unfortunate, as Goku hadn't yet managed to get the bell from her in their own practice.

"Goku."

He looked up at her, face screwed up in something like an expectant pout. It looked a little bit odd on his face. Clearly, he hadn't quite puzzled out what the cat meant for him to do. But the cat was being a bit...unclear. Considering their bickering so far, it was probably on purpose.

She dug around in her pockets for a moment, before she found what she was looking for. She lifted the small bell she'd found in Bulma's house, and shook it slightly. The high jingle echoed off of the wooden columns around them, making the sound linger much longer than usual. His face brightened suddenly in recognition, and then he gave a sharp nod.

"Oh! Okay! If that's the case, then I'm gonna get that water from you!"

He leaped into the air, faster than she'd ever seen him go for the bell in their practice sessions.

Korin kicked him out of it before he made it halfway to the fountain.

He bounced off of one of the nearby wooden columns with a pained yelp.

Quite likely, she could have gotten the vase herself, if she wanted to. From the speed that the cat moved and the strength he'd so far displayed...overpowering or out maneuvering him wouldn't be too difficult. The moment that she thought that, however, the cat's intense gaze turned toward her again.

It seemed like he was a very good read of the atmosphere of people.

It also seemed, as Goku shook himself off and frowned across the room in irritation, that he made no more effort to hurt Goku than she did under similar training situations. She didn't know the cat well enough to know whether his training would be any better for Goku than herself...but it was certainly training of some sort. Or a test of Goku's skills that he required Goku to pass for some reason.

She crossed her arms.

"Tell me why I shouldn't simply give him the water myself."

"That's simple." The cat batted Goku to the ground while speaking to her. "The water will only have effect for the person who has earned it. If you are the one that takes it from me and you give it to him, the water will do nothing to him at all. It is, after all, magical."

AN: Korin might be enjoying the opportunity to smack Goku around. Slightly.