Disclaimer; I don't own anything you read here.
A/N; Finally, a new chapter. I'm sorry this took so long, but I'm really happy with the way this one came out. A little bit of a warning though, there is a fair amount of swearing in this one, so if you get offended easily, don't say I didn't warn you. Also, I want to say a huge massive thank-you to all my wonderful reviewers. You always give me such wonderful and positive feed back, I love you all, thanks for sticking with me through my painfully slow updates.
-D.B
Serendipity
Chapter Six
Slowly, 18's eyes fluttered open; the very first thing she noticed was how comfortable she felt. She then realised that she never felt comfortable when she woke up. Suddenly, she sat bolt upright and swore. This was not her house, this was not her bed. This was Krillen's house.
Quickly, her eyes darted around the room. It was small and filled with early morning light. Outside, she could hear the waves gently breaking against the sand. Throwing the covers off of her, she jumped up out the bed and began to pace the room.i
"Shit" she mumbled to herself, she had quite a predicament on her hands. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Yesterday, while she had been with Krillen, she had not been able to stop smiling; she hadn't smiled in moths before that. He made her feel like she was actually worth something. She wasn't exactly sure how she had gotten here though; she must have fallen asleep after they sparred. She remember sitting on the couch with Krillen, but then nothing. He must have brought her up here. It was sweet.
But it didn't solve her problem. She would have loved to stay here, but she couldn't. Glancing around the room again, 18 decided what she had to do. She looked across at the clock; it was only 6.30 in the morning. Out in the hall it didn't sound like anyone was up, she couldn't head anything from her room. So as quietly as she could she headed out the room and down the stairs into the kitchen, where she quickly scribbled down a short note
Krillen,
Thank you for everything you have done for me, I'm literally alive today because of you. But I can't do this; I just want to be normal. I'm sorry if you don't understand. I hope you find your happiness Krillen, you deserve it.
#18
And then she was gone. She hated herself for what she had just done. But she wanted to be normal just like everyone else, and as far as she knew, normal people did not get close to one person while they were involved with someone else. As she rocketed across the ocean, she felt more and more despair. Her life was such a mess. She knew that if she had 17 with her, she wouldn't have gotten herself into this. He was her sense of reason. He always gave her his honest opinion, and even if sometimes he was an immature brat, and she missed him. He was the only person on the entire planet who was like her, the only one who could truly understand her and what she had been though. She had given up looking for him though, she had scoured every corner of the globe in her search, and he wasn't anymore. She had lost hope of ever finding him, she knew when to face up to reality and accept it, and she had. It still hurt though. It was a pain she doubted would ever go away.
She wasn't sure how long she flew for, but it felt good, she had been restricted to the ground for so long, and when she flew, for some reason she felt better, her mind felt clearer. She couldn't explain it. Soon – for 18, it was too soon, the empty land began to give way to suburbia. At first she flew over farms and dirt roads, and underneath her, she watched them transform into the hustle and bustle of everyday living. She flew in for a graceful landing in a park that was a few block from her house, it was always empty, well expect for on Saturday night, when all the drug deals went down. She walked down the street, very slowly, she had no desire to hurry home, she knew full well what would be waiting for her there, and she was not looking forward to it. Maybe though, she thought – maybe Dai had been so drunk when he got home that he hadn't noticed she was gone. She quickly disregarded that idea though, of course he would have noticed. He was like a hawk when it came to her behaviour and actions. As she rounded the final corners into her street and up her driveway, a cold shiver ran down her spine. She was not looking forward to this. She felt her muscles tighten and she clenched her fists. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling, but she knew she didn't like it. Perhaps it was apprehension. After the wonderful day she had had with Krillen yesterday, she should have been feeling refreshed, but instead she was feeling sick. She didn't want to have to deal with Dai, she wanted him out of her life once and for all. She knew what she wanted, deep down, she wanted to be with Krillen, he was her happily ever after, she knew it.
As soon as 18 set one foot into the house she knew something was wrong. Quickly, she threw herself to the right, and watched as a glass bowl connected with the door.
"What the hell was that for?" she yelled off into the dark hallway, where she knew Dai was standing, just out of her view. When she got no reply, she stormed down the hall in search of him. He was waiting in their bedroom.
"Go and pick that up!" 18 ordered him "You're acting like a child!" she was irate now. She could feel her body shaking with rage.
"Don't you fucking tell me what to do!" Dai snapped back, spitting everywhere in the process, "I'm the man around here and I make the rules!"
18 stood for a minute, stunned into silence by Dai's comment, when she spoke again, her voice was quite, but it shook with rage "How dare you, I've had enough of this," right now, she wished she had stayed at Krillen's so much that it hurt, "I've had enough, so I'm giving you an ultimatum"
"A what? Don't use you fucking smart arse language around me!"
"A choice Dai!" she shouted, "I'm giving you a fucking choice! Either you cut this shit out and show me some respect, or I walk. It's as simple as that"
"You're telling me what to do?" Dai's mouth hung open in shock; no one had ever taken control over him before.
"You're damn right I am. And if yo-"
"No" Dai interrupted her, "I'm not going to put up with this shit from you. You're only a woman, you're weak, and no woman tells me what to do!"
"Weak?" 18 gritted her teeth. If only he knew how deadly she could be.
Dai was going to open his mouth, he had more to say, but suddenly, something dawned on him and he became even more infuriated with 18. "You're been with the runt, haven't you?" he bellowed, his face was going red now, and a vein was protruding from his temple. "HAVEN'T YOU!"
When 18 didn't reply, she merely scowled at him in the manner she had become such an expert at; he took it as a yes. "I'll kill him," he muttered to himself, "I'll kill him!"
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She was right, he didn't understand. Krillen sat down on the couch and read over the letter for the ten thousandth time that day. He didn't understand it at all. He had thought they had had fun yesterday, he had at least. Krillen hadn't remembered ever smiling that much since before Cell. He had felt so at peace yesterday. Even though 18 gave him a good butt whipping when they sparred, he was manly enough to brush it off, at least until he was in a room by himself. But now she was gone.
He ran his hands through his hair and let out a long deep sigh. Had he ruined his chances with two beautiful women in one day? He hoped to god that he hadn't. He knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was in love with 18, and that he was lying to himself if he tried to deny it. There was no point in denying it when it was painfully obvious. He realised that now. All along he had known that 18 was the one for him, he'd just been trying to fool himself, but after yesterday, it was like his eyes had been opened and now he knew that he wouldn't be able to spend his life with anyone unless it was her.
Krillen didn't fully understand why he was so attracted to 18. Sure, she was stunningly beautiful, but it was more than that, everything she did, he found fascinating. They way she walked and talked and moved and how she always careful thought about what she said before she said it, a gift Krillen had not been blessed with.
He also admired her bravery. She had been through so much, the full extent of which, Krillen had no idea, yet she carried on, coping the best she could. Krillen wanted to help her. He wanted to show her that despite her experiences, the human race wasn't all that bad. He wanted to show her that people could be tender too.
All his friends thought of her as nothing but a cold hearted monster, an ice queen, but he knew her better than that. He knew she was scared, terrified even, of opening herself up to others because of what they might do to her. She may have been strong physically, but emotionally, she was a cripple, and Krillen wanted nothing more than to help her to become strong once more.
He didn't care if it took 10 million lifetimes, he would do it. But now, he was facing a problem. Finding her. 18 had no Ki, hence making her impossible to track. But he knew it wouldn't be that long until their paths crossed once again, in fact, he had a feeling that their next meeting was less than 12 hours away. He was taking his karate class tonight, and he knew Dai would be there and he knew he would be furious. His first instinct was to hide and avoid the class, but then he realises that it might be his only chance to find 18. And besides, Dai was no match for him, even Hercule was stronger than he was, and that was saying something.
Krillen's train of thought was interrupted then as Master Roshi walked into the living room.
"What's on your mind boy?" he asked
"Nothing, master" Krillen sighed
"Nothing my left foot," Roshi scoffed, "You've been sitting there for hours. What'd she do to you boy?"
"She? What makes you think I'm having lady troubles?"
Roshi looked over his glasses with a raised eye brow,"Krillen, I'm three times your age, give me some credit would you"
Krillen snorted and looked up at his master, a funny lopsided grin on his face "You know me too well Master"
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"Dai!" 18 shouted, chasing him out the front of the house. Her voice was hoarse and sore from all the hours she had been yelling, this situation had really gotten out of control and there was nothing she could do about it. She refused to run, she couldn't lash out and he denied her the right to be silent. "Dai, get back here!" she followed him down the front steps.
Dai stopped and turned around, snarling at her, his yellowed teeth stood out against his reddened face and 18 stopped dead in her tracks, narrowing her eyes dangerously at him.
"If you don't shut up I'm going to shut you up" he snarled
18 knew where he was going, and she knew she had to stop him. Krillen didn't need this. She had to try a different tactic "Dai," she softened her voice considerably, much to her disgust "Please, I'm sorry. I never should have disregarded your wishes" she could feel her stomach churning
"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses. Now if you don't mind, I have to go and pound someone's head in"
18 didn't respond, she was worn out. She felt like all she could do was stand there and watch as Dai got in the car and sped off down the street, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him. She stood there, on the brown lawn until she could no longer hear the low rumble of the car.
She had failed. She hadn't been able to stop Dai from getting to Krillen. Not that he would be able to hurt him. At least not physically. But the things he might say, she didn't even want to begin to comprehend them. She knew he was evil, and he was also mad. Lord only knew what might spew from his mouth.
Suddenly, 18 bolted into action. She wouldn't let Krillen get hurt. She ran down the driveway and out into the street. Her bare feet pounded against the hard road, she could feel the soles of her feet getting ripped open from standing on broken glass and rocks. But she kept on running, she could feel people staring at her, but she didn't stop. She had to get to the community hall. She had to stop Dai. She didn't know why Krillen meant so much to her, but he did. He meant everything to her. He made her feel human.
---------------
Krillen stood with his back to the class, watching them all in the reflection of the mirrored wall. He shouted commands as he took them through a rather complex foot movement. He wasn't expecting many of the men to actually be able to pull it off, and sometimes he had to fight the urge to chuckle and he watched the men stumble and trip in the mirror.
His mind however, wasn't entirely on the job, luckily, martial arts were second nature to him and he didn't need his full brain capacity to teach it. Dai wasn't in the class. He couldn't hide his disappointment and worry. What if he had done something to 18, he knew it was a silly thought, she was literally a superhuman and he doubted someone as dim-witted as Dai would be able to harm her, but then again, he was, by nature a very violent man, and even 18 wasn't bullet proof.
He also knew that Dai was his only remaining link to 18. If he couldn't find him, he wouldn't find 18, and right now finding 18 meant everything to him. He knew now, more than ever how in love with her he was, it was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was a feeling more powerful than he had ever know possible. It made him smile.
"Sensei" he heard someone call him and turned around to face the class. "Yeah?" he asked
"You stopped talking" the man replied.
Krillen felt his face go red, "Oh" he laughed, "I guess I drifted off. Sorry everyone. Now where we're we?" he turned around and began talking again, feeling like a complete and utter dick head.
He wasn't sure how much longer passed, but it wouldn't have been any more than 10 minutes, until the class encountered its second problem for the night. This one however, wasn't as easily solved as a simple apology.
Out of no where, the door to the room slammed open and in stormed a very irate man. Krillen instantly ordered everyone to the far side of the room and tensed himself up. He had never ever seen anyone look as mad as Dai did right now – not even Vegeta, and that guy had some serious anger issues.
"You!" he snarled, as he stampeded toward Krillen, who instinctively moved away, and unfortunately, backed himself right into a corner. Not the most dignified look for someone who was supposed to be a practised martial artist
"Dai," Krillen tried to work his way out of the corner by taking slow small steps, "calm down"
"Calm down!" he boomed, his call echoing through out the room "You've been messing with my woman! I'm going to kill you, you fucking little runt!"
Krillen quickly ducked behind Dai and grabbed his wrist, locking it behind his back. He could put the taller man through all kinds of torture from this position. "I said, calm down. You are in a room full of people"
Dai squirmed and Krillen pulled. Dai screamed and fell to his knees, satisfied, Krillen let go, he would be fine in a few minutes.
Krillen looked across at the rest of his class, "Under the circumstances, I think it's best we call it a night, huh? I'll see you all next week". By the time Dai was able to bring himself to his feet, the class was long gone.
"Didn't want them to see you get your ass kicked huh? That's understandable I guess"
"Hardly," Krillen scoffed, "I just wanted to save you from humiliating yourself with all these false accusations"
Dai's temper flared again, and Krillen took a step back, towards the centre of the room. "False? Don't you false me buddy! How bloody stupid do you think I am?"
"Listen," Krillen sighed, he wasn't scared of Dai, he was a moron, "why don't you do everyone a favour and just leave"
"Not unless I'm taking a piece of you with me." With that, Dai swung his huge fist at Krillen's head, he dodged it with very little effort, but he couldn't help feeling bad, this was not what he had ever wanted to happen. It continued on for several more minutes, until another person entered the room
"Dai! Cut this shit out right now!" 18 was at the end of her rope with him, she wasn't going to take it anymore. Dai stopped everything and turned to look at 18. "What the hell are you doing here!" he demanded.
"Hey!" Krillen yelled, "Don't you speak to her like that!"
"You butt out of it!"
"Dai, get out of here now!" 18 screamed as the absolute top of voice. For once, it appeared that he actually listened, he honestly saw how mad she was, and he didn't look too impressed. Walking over to her, he shoved her shoulder rather forcefully, and she stumbled backward a few steps. Then, muttering a few very choice words to himself, he left the building and went who knows where.
That left two rather confused people standing in the big empty room. They we're quiet for a few minutes while they both mulled over what had just happened.
Krillen looked across at 18. Her feet were bleeding, he noticed. "Oh" he said quietly, "You must be in pain, please, come and sit down" he lead her to the row of chairs against the back wall, and then he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a first aid kit.
"Krillen, I'm fine, you really don't have to do that" 18 protested as Krillen sat down on the floor in front of her and lifted up her leg
"You'll be thanking me when you're feet don't get infected and swollen. This might sting a little," Krillen warned as he dabbed some antiseptic onto a cotton ball, "let me know if I'm hurting you"
18 smiled, no one had ever been this nice to her before. "How did this happen?" Krillen asked as he dabbed at the welts on her feet.
"I ran all the way here, just now"
Krillen looked up at her and smiled, "Why?" he asked
"Because I didn't want Dai to say anything that might upset you"
Krillen blushed and looked away, "Wow" he looked back at her, "Thank you"
They were quite again until Krillen finished tending to 18's feet. "You can't go back there" he finally said to her
"I don't think I have much of a choice" she scoffed.
Krillen smirked and twisted her words, "No you don't, I'm not giving you any other options but to come back to the island with me"
18 opened her mouth to say something, but then Krillen's words registered in her head. "What?"
"18, clearly you are not being treated the way you deserve to be treated with Dai. I'm not just going to sit around and let that happen to someone I care about." He didn't know if he should have said that or not, but it was done now. He packed up his first aid kit and sat on the chair beside her.
18 gazed straight ahead into the big mirror at the other end of the room. She took in her reflection and couldn't stop the long shuddering sigh that escaped her lips. She was pale and thin from not eating enough of the right kinds of food. She was dressed in clothes that she had found at yard sales. She wasn't happy. And here was a man offering her the chance to have what she had always desired. Happiness. Slowly turning her head, her eyes met his and she smiled at him. A warm and genuine smile.
Killen felt his heart soar as he smiled back, "You don't have to worry anymore. I'll look after you"
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A/N; Was it ok? I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter, I can guarantee will be nice and sappy. Hopefully it won't be as far away as this one was. Well, thanks for reading, please review and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
-D.B