Disclaimer; Don't own it
A/N; Do you believe it? Had you given up faith in me? If you had, don't worry, I had to for a while. Life kind of took over for a bit, but I've always had this sitting on my desktop waiting for the next chapter, and so here it is!
Oh yeah, you may or may not know this, but I am having a baby is just over 7 weeks time! A little girl, to be named Stella! Wish me luck everyone as I take on the challenge of motherhood! I'll let you all know how to goes!
Deadly Beauty
Serendipity
Chapter Seven
For the second morning in a row, 18 woke up to the sound of waves gently breaking against the shore. She sat up in her bed and stretched her arms up towards the high ceiling. It had been so long since she had slept in a real, honest to god bed, and she had forgotten how good it felt, her muscles felt relaxed and she was calmer than she had felt in a long time.
Slowly she took in her surroundings, something she had not had the chance to do yesterday, since she was in such a flurry to leave. The room was only small, but it was cute. It definitely had the feel of the ocean to it. The walls were painted a very pale yellow, and the furniture was all white. She could tell it had all been pre-loved. Much of the furniture was chipped and dented, but it really felt like a home. The window was open and a pale blue curtain gently blew back and forth in the breeze. Slowly, she climbed out the bed and walked toward the window. The view before her was breath taking. As far as she could see was a never ending ocean, and far away, out at the horizon, was the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen. The sky was exploding with vibrant yellows, oranges and pinks.
Someone began to knock on the door. "Come in" she called, thinking it would only be Krillen. She was right.
"Ah, I see you've found the view. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Stunning," she replied as she turned away from the window.
Krillen placed a try down on 18's bed; it was filed with all kinds of delicious looking breakfast foods. "I didn't know what you would like" he grinned sheepishly
"You shouldn't have" she replied, her mouth watering at the mere sight of the foods
"I wanted to" he smiled brightly as he looked at her, "Well; you just eat what you want. Afterwards, if you want to shower, you can use my bathroom."
"You sure?" she asked
"Trust me. I would never make anyone even witness the horror of Roshi's bathroom, let alone a lady" 18 had to laugh at his comment.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you to it" he said and he turned to leave
"Wait!" 18 called after him.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I think you cooked too much. Wanna join me?"
Krillen's eyes lit up, "Yeah" he smiled, then picked up the tray, "Follow me"
A few minutes later they we're sitting out on the beach, "So, you think you could get used to living out here?"
18 sighed, "Krillen, you know I can't stay here"
"Why not?"
"You know why not"
"No I don't. 18, if you're worrying about Dai, then don't, he's out of your life forever. I'll never let him hurt you again."
"Dai couldn't hurt me Krillen, you know that"
"I didn't mean physically"
18 didn't respond, she knew what Krillen meant and a long sigh escaped her lips at the thought. "You don't understand" she said quietly after a long pause
"I've got all the time in the world for you to explain it to me"
"You don't really want to listen to me"
"18, I want to do anything I can to help you feel better"
She looked up at him; she didn't understand why he was so nice to her, he was the exact opposite of Dai. Humans confused her so much, particularly this human. Krillen was such a puzzle to her, she didn't pretend to understand even for one second why he was so nice to her. No one had ever been this nice to her, not even 17, own flesh and blood
She looked down at her bandaged feet and smiled. She knew that Krillen, being the gentleman that he was, would have helped anyone who needed it, but something about him, he way he had to lovingly tended to her the night before, the way he had insisted she come back with him, the four words he had spoken with nothing but sincerity in his eyes, "I'll look after you". She wasn't sure what it was, but something about him made her heart flutter and she was truly sure she had found a man that was one in a million.
"Thank you" she looked across at him and smiled
"For what?" Krillen asked, "Breakfast?"
18 shook her head and laughed, Krillen loved it when she laughed, it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, it made his whole day worth wild if he could hear her laugh just once.
"For being you. Nobody else could make me feel the way you do, Krillen" she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looked out towards the sparkling ocean
"And how exactly, do I make you feel?"
"Good" 18 replied, "You make me feel happy. I can't remember ever being happy before this"
"Well," Krillen smiled, "I'm just happy to help"
18 sighed softly, if only Krillen really knew just how much he had helped
The sand beside her shifted as Krillen stood up, she looked up at him.
"You coming inside?" he asked
"Ok" 18 replied. She smiled as Krillen held out his hand, which she accepted and he helped pull her up. His hand was softer than she had expected it to be, it was warm, and felt nice against her own. She was reluctant to let go, it felt nice, to have him so close to her.
Krillen smiled brightly at 18 as he let go of his grip on her hand, he was well aware of that fact that she had held onto his hand much longer than she had needed to, and now he and to go and hide before she saw how bright red he had gone. Quickly he turned and hurried up the beach, he had almost made it into the safety of the house, when he was stopped
"Krillen!" 18 called after him, "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Uh….nowhere" he called back, without turning around and then hurried into the house. Shaking her head, 18 laughed and followed him up the sand and into the house.
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It was until three days later that Krillen noticed something, and he was quite shocked that he hadn't register in his brain sooner. He spent so much time looking at 18 after all, it surprised him to realise he hadn't picked this up.
"18?" he called her name from across the living room, where she was sitting watching the TV, "is that the only change of clothes you have?"
She craned her neck around and looked over to him, "yeah, why?" she asked
Krillen blinked and went to sit beside her on the couch, "Well, that can't be very pleasant"
18 shrugged, "Eh, I think I can handle dirty clothes, this is a lot more pleasant than what I was doing before, that's for sure" she smiled at him, a real genuine smile
"Well," Krillen stopped and paused to look at her, day after day, without fail, she took his breath away. "First thing in the morning we're going shopping. You're living on a tropical island now, you can't be walking around like it's the middle of winter, you'll melt"
"Melt?" she looked at him with a raised eyebrow
"Yep" he nodded matter of factly, "melt"
"Well that's just too bad. I'll just have to melt. Did you forget that I have no money?"
Krillen put on expression of shock horror, "I'm insulted 18." She looked confused "I can't believe that you would think for one second that I would offer to take you shopping and then expect you to pay. I'm a gentleman you know"
18 shook her head, he was such an idiot. He was just a fun type of person to be around. The exact opposite of Dai. She wondered what he was doing right now. She wondered if she was doing the right thing, just leaving him like that. She knew she had to go back sometime, all of her stuff was there, like Krillen had pointed out, the only things she had with her were the clothes on her back.
"Krillen" her tone quickly become more sombre "I have to go back to Dai's house"
Krillen's face paled, he thought 18 was happy on the island. "W-why?" he stuttered, this had really shocked him.
"My things are there, I'd like to bring them here. That is, if you don't mind me staying here for a while"
"18!" a smile 10 times brighter than ever before appeared on his face and he had to resist the urge to hug her "Of course you can stay here. I'd love for you to move in with us! You'll love it here!"
"I'm sure I will" she replied, quite overwhelmed by how enthusiastic Krillen was.
"This calls for a celebration!" Krillen jumped up off the couch, "I'm going to cook us something special for dinner"
"Really?" 18 looked at him "can you cook?" she continued
"Well," Krillen rubbed the back of his head and blushed a rather bright shade of red, "I can try"
"I'm sure it will be delicious"
"When do you want to go and get your things?" Krillen asked after several minutes of silence.
"Oh," 18 looked across at him "I don't know"
"Well, why not now. We have nothing better to do" Krillen shrugged his shoulders. He was eager for 18 to make her move to the Island a permanent one.
"We?" 18 asked
"Of course. I'm not letting you go over there by yourself"
18 had to smile at Krillen's big heart "I'm a big girl you know, I can take care of myself"
"I know, but I'd like to feel at least a little bit useful!" Krillen cried and 18 laughed.
"Alright then, you can come"
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"This is where you've been living!" Krillen exclaimed as he gazed up at the house, if you could even call it that. It looked like it was going to cave in on its self any minute.
"Yes," 18 replied curtly "and keep it down, Dai might be in there".
The pair made their way up the short driveway and up onto the front steps of the house. 18 produced a key from her pocket and quietly unlocked the door and they stepped inside.
As soon as they entered, they could head a loud snoring. Looking across into the darkened lounge room, Krillen could just make out a figure, which he assumed was Dai, sleeping on the couch
"Follow me" 18 whispered and crept up the hallway, making sure to avoid the sections of floorboards that she knew would creak. Krillen followed close behind her, taking everything in. All the windows where closed and the house was dark, despite it being the middle of the afternoon. Where the sun did happen to trickle in, he could see millions of tiny dust particles floating in the air.
He wanted to reach out and take 18's hand, to let her know that she wasn't alone in all of this, but he knew that that would be the wrong thing to do.
The reached the end of the hall and stepped into the bedroom. Krillen's eyes widened in shock as he took in the room. "18" he muttered, but he didn't know what else to say. It broke his heart to think of her, his perfect angel, living like this.
"Quickly, we have to get out of here before Dai wakes up" 18 spoke as she started to shove her belongings into a bag
"What, before he wakes up and beats us up?" Krillen asked sarcastically.
18's eyes lit up and she laughed out loud, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands and glared at Krillen, who only smirked back at her.
They were quickly become one and others best friends. 18 could never remember feeling more comfortable around anyone, and she knew now that she had made the right decision. This is what she had been longing for, this was the kind of companionship that she saw between people on the streets of Nikki Town, and that she longed to experience herself.
So preoccupied were Krillen and 18 in their doings that they didn't noticed the familiar groan of the couch as a weight shifted off it, nor did the hear the hall squeak as an old floor board was trodden on. In fact, they did not notice Dai's presence in the room until he very forcefully slammed the door.
18 jumped in fright and whirled around to face Dai. This was not part of the plan.
Krillen looked across at 18, his heart felt like it was beating up in this throat. He wasn't scared for his safety, or 18's for the matter, Dai was no match for them. He was worried that 18 would get scared and end up staying here, just to keep that pathetic excuse of a man happy.
"Dai, listen to me" 18 piped up, trying to clam him down before he had a chance to speak, he however, would have none of it
"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" he bellowed, his face was bright red, and that unsightly vein was popping out, "How dare you disrespect me like this, you're a hussy you hear me! A tramp!"
"Hey!" Krillen interrupted, Dai snapped his head to look at the shorter man, he had failed to noticed Krillen up until now, and he was livid, how dare this man come into his home "What the fuck are you doing here?" he hissed, then lunged at Krillen, who took a step backwards and then watched as Dai stumbled and fell over.
"18 quick grab you things and let's get out of here. You don't need to be around these kinds of people"
"Krillen, I-" she trailed off, looking Krillen in the eyes, he knew what was coming next
"No 18, don't, don't stay here"
"I have to, Krillen"
"No," Krillen could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, Dai was getting up again, he had to convince18 to come with him, and he had to do it quickly "You can't stay here 18. I need you"
18 looked at Krillen and blinked "You what?"
"I need you 18, and I think that you need me too"
Dai finally managed to find his feet and he took a few clumsy steps forward, it was clear to everyone that he was drunk, which to 18, was nothing new. She couldn't ever remember seeing him sober, not once. Her gaze moved from Dai, to Krillen and back to Dai again and she knew what decision she had to make.
She turned to look at Krillen, knowing that if she didn't go with him now, it would eat away at her for the rest of her life. "Alright," she smiled softly at him, "Lets go"
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A/N; So there you finally have it! Hope you enjoyed it, and don't worry, this WILL be completed! I actually have two other one shotters in the works as well at the moment, so keep you eyes peeled for that, because DB is finally back in business!
D.B