AN: Holiday season is just super busy. I haven't had time to write anything.

How about that Yamcha manga, though? I'd like to think that someone totally read this and was like "Let's make Yamcha cooler! Yeah!"

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Eighty-two

Unsatisfied felt like much too mild a word.

Yamcha gave a sigh of frustration.

He didn't even get a chance to take a swing at the guy who tried to kill Krillin, let alone kill him, and to make it worse, Tien was almost unhurt. It was practically like that fight was all staged just to personally insult him.

That...would certainly add a strange dimension to Ino's mysterious background but...it probably wasn't true. She didn't seem malicious to him, no matter how frustrating she might have been.

...Damn it, maybe he shouldn't have waited after all. It wasn't like Tien surviving to his round was unlikely to begin with, but he should have considered the possibility that the man wouldn't. And he probably shouldn't have been rooting for Ino at that one point in the battle. (Still, even if he wanted to exact revenge for Krillin, it wasn't like he wanted this woman maimed.)

All the regret didn't matter now, though. The perpetrator just flew away, and even squinting at the sky he couldn't spot the guy up there at all to see what direction he went. Maybe he knew better than to stay within reach.

The idea made him feel a little bit better, at least.

There wasn't much time to think about it any longer, though. As much as he was disappointed and frustrated and...utterly unsatisfied by the fact that Tien had slipped through his fingers so easily, now that battle was done. And he needed to face Goku next.

Maybe it wasn't a matter of life or death anymore, but he still had a fair amount of pride, and he wasn't about to easily let his old friend pass him by. He did have a few new tricks up his sleeve this time, even if he had to show off some of them already.

"Hey, Goku..."

The kid glanced up at him, finally taking his gaze off of the spot where Tien had vanished into the sky.

"You ready to lose?"

The consternation that had been on the boy's face faded into excitement then. Whatever similar regret and frustration he must have felt over the lost opportunity, it still took a backseat to the thrill of the fight. Well...he hoped maybe it had something to do with the opponent, too.

If it didn't, he'd make sure to correct that mistake.

After a moment, he realized that Ino still hadn't left the stage. Though the announcer had rattled off quite a bit of commentary already, she'd simply stood in place staring after the man. Her face was mostly obscured, so even when he noticed it, he couldn't quite make out her expression.

The announcer gave a leading cough, and the woman finally gave a small jolt and turned to walk back to the observation area.

For not having a personal horse in the race, she looked pretty frustrated herself. Well, whatever the reason she was so disappointed with a victorious outcome, at least it seemed as if the actual method of victory hadn't been planned after all.

(*)

She shouldn't really be so angry, should she?

Revenge never got anyone anywhere or anything but suffering and destruction. The important part was that she'd protected two of her friends. Neither one of them were at any immediate threat right now, not from Tien or from their own rash actions. She'd even managed to keep her disguise doing it.

Damn it.

She was still so pissed off!

However it was that Naruto managed to forgive people who did so much worse to him...she really didn't know. It was another way he was better than her after all. Even with all the pain that Sasuke brought to himself and everyone else in pursuing revenge, it seemed like she was still inclined to behave like him instead of like Naruto.

Maybe that was another reason she kept failing to protect her friends when it mattered most.

She shook her head.

Krillin...was fine. Her shadow clone would have already healed him by now. Until she merged with it again she wouldn't know the exact details, but she knew the injuries she'd witnessed while he was still present were well within her ability to heal.

Both Yamcha and Goku looked about as frustrated as she felt, but...well. It was for their own good. Now they could focus on fighting each other with all of their abilities, instead of thinking about who would fight Tien afterward.

Maybe it was for her own good too that he escaped.

Yeah...

She doubted it.

As the announcer shouted for the battle to begin, a jolt of chakra shot through her.

It wasn't a common feeling, and it took a moment for her to realize just what it was.

Memories and images flashed through her mind as the chakra merged back with her consciousness.

Yamcha took a step forward as the semifinal began, Goku crouched slightly, preparing to leap forward.

She ran the other way.

Krillin!

(*)

He stared up at her. No matter how hard he did it, though, she didn't actually say anything.

The medics had kicked them out once he showed himself to be perfectly well after all, but he had a feeling it was less about him, and more about how terrifying his benefactor was. Well, she wasn't doing anything particularly frightening right now, and she had just healed him...but he'd had time to get used to her. Those poor medics had no idea the kind of monster they'd allowed into the ambulance.

Aw, come on, was she really not going to say anything?

"Okay. But seriously." He crossed his arms and frowned up at her. If she had to make him talk, he was going to do it in an annoyed kind of way. Nonverbal communication should have been perfectly viable as well as verbal! "Ki isn't supposed to work like that. I mean...maybe it could be used to restart a heart or something, but..."

"I've told you before, it's something that's more complex than ki."

What kind of a cop out was that?

When they got back to the tournament, he'd just ask Goku about it. Goku might not have been the best kind of teacher (his lessons usually seemed to be a little too hands-on to actually pick up if one were a normal person) but at least he had the experience to give some kind of an answer. One that was better than a stupidly vague comment like 'more complex', anyway.

He stopped in place.

Wait a minute.

"...Goku can't go and do that now, can he?" Because healing was way more of a monk thing, first off, and Goku was already so durable that being able to heal himself in the middle of a battle would just make him outright unstoppable. And unfair.

She laughed.

Not a small chuckle. Full on. Laughter.

He liked to think his irritated glare was the primary reason that she regained her composure, and not that it bounced off of her just about as uselessly as he worried one of his punches might (or might as well, if she just went and healed whatever damage he did to her).

"No. No, he can't." She wiped at the corner of her eye with one finger and shook her head. "With his lack of control, if he tried to heal you right now he'd just make you explode."

"E...explode?" That really wasn't as funny an image as she seemed to think it was!

She waved off his statement (as if it wasn't an incredibly concerning prospect!) and shook her head. "Healing jutsu requires extreme concentration. Even though I've taught Goku a little about how to handle chakra, he's nowhere near the level where he can do that."

Hadn't they been training on their own for three years? Had she been intentionally keeping it away from Goku? Frankly, as monstrous as her abilities could be, he was much more inclined to believe that she was intentionally stunting Goku's growth and learning than that she could have something that advanced.

After all, another world or not, she was only about Yamcha's age, wasn't she? That didn't give her that much of a head start, considering how quickly students of the Turtle Hermit learned things.

"Yeah? If it's so complicated, how do you manage it?"

Her smile vanished into a small frown, and her gaze turned to something he couldn't see. It was...a little more sad than unnerving, but maybe it was just her tone of voice that made him feel that way. "That's because I was taught by the best healer to ever live."

He pursed his lips thoughtfully.

Maybe it would be a little off color to make a jab about her luck with teachers. Even though it was hard to believe or accept even now that she actually came from an entirely different world, there was no way she would have been able to fake the reaction she'd given when the Dragon refused to restore them from...whatever happened to them.

"Hey, so...what are the bets looking like for the tournament winner?"

She blinked down at him, thoughts obviously having wandered off. "Er...well...I wasn't really listening to the hermit, but he mentioned something about them. You can just ask him when you get back."

He laced his fingers behind his head. "Hmph. If you don't even know, having you out in the crowd was just useless."

"It's a good thing I wasn't watching to support you, then."

Ugh-

Damn it, even if she helped him out with that weird healing ability, it didn't make her any less unbearable. How had Goku put up with her for three years, anyway?

"Hey. Can you hurry up already? I want to actually make it there in time to see Goku beat that Ino for me."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I hope you aren't hurrying too quickly." That definitely wasn't Sakura's voice.

He frowned and turned to look over his shoulder. "Look...I've had a tough day-" His words trailed off when his gaze fell on the source of the raspy voice.

"Wh...wha...?" What was it? He'd seen dino-men before, though they were pretty rare these days, but...this guy...his reptilian appearance edged over into something demonic. Cruel looking spikes dotted the top of his head, poking out through thick scales, unnatural golden eyes gleamed down at him, and surprisingly large wings stretched out behind an uncomfortably muscular torso and arms.

Long lips twisted into an insincere smirk. "It's just...I thought I heard you talking about a tournament. You wouldn't happen to have been talking about the martial arts one, would you?"

...Well if he was some kind of fighting enthusiast, why was he all the way out here instead of at the tournament? And why did he insist on being creepy about it? "...Yeah? And what if I was?"

Its chuckle sounded uncomfortably like dangerous rattling instead.

"If you know...perhaps you can point me the way? I seem to have lost my directions."

Yeah...this guy had to be making all of his statements creepy on purpose. He didn't like it at all.

"Look...I can tell you where it is, but if you wanted to participate, you're too late. We're already at the quarter-finals. Might even be semi-finals now."

"We?" The man took a step forward. "Could it be...I'm in the presence of participants?"

Before he could say anything, Sakura took a step between them. "This conversation is finished. We have places to be."

"Oh, but I disagree." The man gave another rattling chuckle.

The sound no sooner started, than his image blurred. Krillin just barely tracked the movement from where he stood, green demonic creature launching forward, flapping its wings once for greater speed, hand lifted up to brandish its claws.

One of Sakura's arms came up to block his wrist with hers, and the pair skidded an ominous step.

"If this conversation is over...so are you."

One of Sakura's fists lanced out and collided with a scaled stomach. The creature flew at an even greater speed than before, slamming hard through a tree behind it and into a wall even further beyond that.

"Geez, I know he was violent, but you can't just kill a dude like that!"

She gripped her fists at her side. "I didn't."

What-with an impact like that? Well, maybe Goku could handle that, but some random mugger on the street? Even if he was super freaky looking and some kind of dino-reptilian guy?

Just as she predicted, though, he climbed out of the rubble of the wall just as the dust began to clear. And he didn't look particularly disturbed.

She grit her teeth, settling a step back, next to him. "...This isn't good."

"On the contrary." The reptile grinned, greenish-yellow blood running through his teeth as the only sign he'd actually suffered any impact from her attack. "This'll be plenty fun."

Well...

He absolutely wasn't going to stand by and be rescued by her a second time today. He'd never live that down. He flexed his arms once each, just to make absolutely sure he really was healed, and then settled into a combat stance next to her.

Really, he'd seen her fight before, and he was one of the martial arts tournament finalists. With both of them teaming up to take one cocky guy down, the fight was over long before it even started.