Her Return

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Areiko's darker half looked at her lighter self, smirking evilly. She wanted to see what Areiko was remembering. She reached out placing her hand onto Areiko's temple, and dug her middle and pointer finger claws within her skin...

xxx

Areiko was seated on a kitchen chair with a star drawn in a sharpie at the corner of her right eye. She waited patiently as a girl, which she knew as Trigger stepped into the room with tattooing supplies.

"Are you sure you want it right there Lekira?" Trigger asked pulling a chair towards her. "It's going to hurt."

"Trust me Trigger," Areiko started looking at her, "I'll be able to handle it."

Trigger shrugged her shoulders sitting herself down in the chair putting the tattooing supplies down on the table next to her. "What color do you want?"

"Um…" Areiko leaned forward looking through the colors that Trigger had. "Black."

Trigger nodded and picked up the needle and the black ink. She stood back up and grabbed herself a paper-towel setting it onto the table next to her. She sat back down on the chair and started her work. Areiko only winced once, nearly messing Trigger up on the small tattoo of the star.

"So, why do you want it here?" Trigger asked as she wiped some extra ink off of Areiko's skin.

"Meh, I'm not really sure, I guess you can say that I just want it to be in a different place." Areiko answered her sitting still. This was nothing compared to other things that she has felt. The needle almost tickled her a little bit.

"So…" Trigger broke the silence among them. "I know I told you that I don't like to ask questions but… what was up with yesterday?"

"What do you mean?" Areiko asked.

"Well, with those thugs." Trigger answered, "that's the first time I've ever seen someone fight like that."

Areiko was silent for a moment, "just… old habits."

Trigger glanced at Areiko seeing that she was looking at the floor. She looked away from her wiping the extra ink off again. "Something's bothering you Lekira."

"How do you know?" Areiko asked.

"My own little secret." Trigger said teasingly placing a smile on her face. "I'm empathic," Trigger started, "remember what I told you?"

"About you and Pyro and how you guys got into that car accident?"

Trigger nodded, "yeah," she then wiped Areiko's tattoo again. "When we got into that car accident, I had this mark on my hip and I placed a tattoo on it and the next thing I knew, I could tell when people are feeling upset."

"Well…" Areiko started, "if I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"I rather just wait," Areiko started folding her hands onto her lap. "Till Pyro comes home so that I can tell you both. And then you can decide whether you wanna keep me here with you guys."

xxx

"Sister Lekira!"

Areiko growled, she took her claws out of her skin on her temple and looked up. Flying towards her with a deer flung over her shoulder was Kira, and she didn't look too happy. Areiko looked at her claws and licked her blood off of them. She stood up and wiped herself off from the dirt that stuck to the back of her pants.

Kira levitated to the ground dropping the deer onto the ground as dust flung up into the air a bit. Areiko waved her hand, keeping the dust from getting in her face. She looked at the angry Kira crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why the fuck do I have to feed them?" Kira growled pointing to Chichi, Bulma, and Videl on the mountain wall. "We're villains, we DON'T feed our hostages."

Areiko just glared at Kira. She walked passed her and towards the deer. She began to tear the thing into pieces. She then blasted each one with a small ki beam, cooking them quickly. She picked up the pieces of meat and hovered up towards Chichi.

Chichi stared at Areiko in the face as she picked up two of three pieces of deer. She stared at her for a moment, and then opened her mouth allowing Areiko to slip the pieces of meat to her. Kira growled and folded her arms in disgust.

"Even when she's like this she has a soft spot for those wenches."

Suddenly, pain shot through Kira's head as she collapsed to the ground. She moaned and rubbed her head. She turned around to see Areiko standing there with her fists tightly clenched. Kira looked up into her face as she spoke.

"Mror, if ka dessyre da kepe ka lia."

(Silence, if you want to keep your life.)

Kira growled at Areiko, she couldn't wait till the day that she could kill her once and for all.

xxx

Vegeta clenched his eyes tightly as he got out of bed. He placed his right hand onto his stomach and took a hold of the white blankets with his left. He pulled them off of the mattress and stuffed then underneath the bed. When he stood upright, he happened to glance at the pillow that he was leaning against. It was covered in blood.

"Damnmit."

Vegeta grabbed the pillow and shook it till it fell out of the case. He then tossed that underneath the bed as well. He quickly put a new case on the pillow and flipped it so that Aya wouldn't see any trace of blood that was sweeping through the new pillowcase. He walked over to the closet door opening it and grabbing two more blankets. He dropped them onto the floor in pain as he stood there gripping his stomach wound.

He pulled his hand away looking at the blood that dripped off of his hand. There was no way that he was going to be able to hide this from Aya, but he had to try. He had to make her believe that he had taken that dime sized senzu bean. Vegeta took in a shaky breath as he continued to clean up the mess that he was making.

He wrapped up his own wound with some towels, but he made it look as if they were bandages. He then ripped the bedspread right off of the bed to get rid of it. Like he did with all the other sheets, he stuffed it underneath the bed and got a new one. Before he got himself settled into the bed again, he had to get an extra blanket because he was bleeding so badly that it was already staining the first blanket. Just before he got back into the bed, he stuffed his hand right in between the mattresses to make sure that the senzu bean was still in its right place.

Vegeta then heard voices out in the hallway.

"Is he okay to jump on Aya-chan?"

"No, Bulla. You'll hurt him. He's still badly hurt from the battle."

Without thinking, he hopped right into bed causing pain to shoot everywhere throughout his body. He held in his scream as Aya opened the door.

Vegeta turned his head towards the door to see Bulla and Pan standing on either side of Aya. A huge grin appeared on her face. She ran to his best side.

"Daddy!"

Vegeta placed a small smile onto his face. He reached down and picked up Bulla carefully and set her on the bed. Bulla continued to grin as she threw her arms around her father's neck. Vegeta winced a bit but hugged his daughter back.

"How awe you feeling daddy?" Bulla asked looking into Vegeta's pale face.

"Fine." He answered looking at Pan who was standing at Goku's bed side. He then watched as Aya walked over to Pan and picked her up setting her on the bed.

"You look tiwed." Bulla said looking into Vegeta's face, getting her father's attention. "Are you tiwed?" she asked.

Vegeta looked at her, and nodded, "yes, a little. But I'm fine."

Bulla looked at Vegeta for a moment. She then turned her head looking at Pan and her grandfather. Pan was just looking at Goku, hoping that he would get up as she was at his side. Bulla then turned and looked back at her father.

"Is Pan-chan's Gwandpa going to be okay?" she asked.

Vegeta looked at her and then at Goku. He sighed, he couldn't really answer that question since he didn't really know what happened Goku at all. Aya turned her head looking at Vegeta and Bulla as she stood behind Pan.

"I don't know Bulla," Vegeta told her, fighting back a yawn.

Bulla looked down, "is… mommy going to be okay?" she then asked. Vegeta looked at her. He sighed slightly placing his hand onto her head.

"Your mother's going to be just fine," Vegeta answered.

Aya could tell that Vegeta was trying his hardest to stay awake. She figured that 1/3 of a senzu bean wasn't enough to heal him, but at least he was sitting upright. Aya decided that it was time for the girls to leave so that the older saiyans could rest, even though Goku hasn't woken up yet.

"Okay girls," Aya started picking Pan up then placing her onto the floor. "We should let them get their rest. They're going to need it."

Bulla turned her head looking at Aya. She nodded understanding that her father was still hurt and that he needed his rest to get better. It was kind of like being sick to her at least.

"Okieday." Bulla gave her father one last hug before she slid off the side the bed. Vegeta held onto her arm since the bed was kind of high up for a girl her age. He watched as she walked towards Aya and took her hand. Aya glanced back at Vegeta's bed, spotting that the bed sheets got really messed up from Bulla sliding off of them. It was like someone had quickly replaced them before they entered the room.

Aya decided to let it go. She turned around and walked out of the room with the two little girls. She shut the door quietly and knelt down in front of Pan and Bulla. "Okay, now you girls go play with Yajirobe."

Bulla and Pan nodded placing a cute smile onto their faces, "M'kay." The girls ran off, running by Mr. Popo who pulled himself to the wall to allow the girls to pass. Aya watched them smiling, she then realized that she was stuck because of her back. Mr. Popo noticed this and he helped her up. Aya grinned a bit looking down at the blank genie. The only person that she's actually taller then.

"Thanks Mr. Popo," Aya said to him. "I'm going to go do my training… so… can you do me favor?"

Mr. Popo nodded, "anything Ms. Aya."

"Can you… change Vegeta's bandages? He won't let me do it." Aya stated. Mr. Popo looked at Aya oddly already figuring out that something was wrong since Vegeta wouldn't let her change his bandages.

"Sure thing Ms. Aya." Mr. Popo headed towards the door.

"I'm going to be in Pendulum Room if you need anything." Aya said heading down the hallway.

Mr. Popo nodded and entered the room. Vegeta was sitting upright in the bed still, clenching his stomach in pain. He turned looking at Mr. Popo. The black genie stood there for a moment. He looked back out into the hallway to see that Aya was gone, and then he shut the door.

"I'm here to change your bandages." Mr. Popo said approaching Vegeta.

"They…" Vegeta winced, "don't need to be changed."

"Yes they do." Mr. Popo started. "It'll get infected."

Vegeta figured that he would rather have Mr. Popo know that he didn't take the senzu bean then Aya. Aya would just freak out on him and force it down his throat, and since Vegeta doesn't have the strength to fight back, he'll end up taking the senzu bean.

When Mr. Popo removed the blankets from Vegeta, he instantly saw the blood that was already staining the bed sheets. Mr. Popo gasped as he looked up at the saiyan prince who was looking at his wound. Vegeta then turned his eyes on Mr. Popo, and for the first time the black genie witnessed something that will probably never be witnessed again, he had this look of sorrow, grief, and a look of sorry in his eyes.

"Please…" Vegeta started, pressing his hand against his stomach to stop the bleeding, "don't tell Aya."

xxx

Aya entered the Pendulum Room. Again she was going to enter that illusion. She hated doing this, because she figured that this wouldn't teach her anything or help her power level. But this is all that she could do without opening her wounds back up.

The short eighteen year old stepped onto the platform and seated herself down instantly after that. She got even more lazier and laid down on her stomach resting her cheek on her folded arms.

"Here we go…" Aya mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes once more.

xxx

Aya opened her eyes again. This time, she knew that she was on earth. But there was something wrong. This wasn't West City. Aya looked down at the pavement that she was standing on. It was covered in soot, kind of weird to her. She bent down wiping it off seeing black tar instead of old looking pavement like what West City has. This really was not Japan her home.

Aya looked up. Every building was rubble and on fire. Sparks flew into the air as the wind blew, feeding the embers on the building more oxygen. Aya had to cover the right side of her face as a flame suddenly bursted out of a building window.

There was something laying everywhere on the ground that Aya didn't notice till she started walking. There were bodies everywhere, and the scent of blood heavily filled the air. Aya stopped suddenly looking before her, squinting her eyes from the embers around her.

xxx

Kira paced back and forth keeping her eyes locked on her sister. Areiko was leaning against the mountain wall, her claws dug deep within the skin on her right temple. Kira has never seen this before, and she wanted to know what she was doing.

Areiko's sister stopped and turned her head looking over her shoulder. There she looked upon the three woman chained against the mountain. Kira also didn't understand why the evil half of her sister was feeding the women. They were hostages, they could also be meals. Kira was getting hungry herself. But she knew better then to touch those women. All she had to do was wait one more day and she can see her sister in action.

Kira was getting sick and tired of pacing and watching Areiko, so she decided to do something about it. "Hey you."

Areiko growled as she opened her eyes and took her claws out of her temple again. She folded her arms after licking the blood off of her claws.

"Why aren't you preparing yourself?" Kira asked placing her hands onto her hips. "You know that they'll be training hard."

Areiko rolled her eyes. She stood up and turned, then started walking. Kira growled. "Where are you going?!"

Areiko turned her head looking over her shoulder. "Coralon'cher." (Hunting). She answered teleporting off.

Kira growled. She turned and looked up at Chichi, Bulma, and Videl. "The only reason why you're alive is to draw in Aya and the others."

Chichi glared. "I don't think that's it." She said. "You're afraid that Areiko will ki—"

Kira suddenly appeared in front of Chichi. She slammed her hands on both sides of Chichi's head leaving her hand prints on the mountain wall. She leaned forward and growled angrily. Chichi was suddenly filled with fear.

"Don't you ever say that I'm afraid of her." Kira whispered softly, looking at Chichi right in the eyes. "Your dear Areiko is still a fly compared to me. You'll see what I do as everything…"

Chichi turned her head away from Kira. Kira leaned towards Chichi's ear. "Unfolds…"