Hey everyone! I'm back again! Thanks so much for the reviews and keep 'em coming. I don't own DBZ!
Last time...
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Lime asked for the tenth time. Her brow was creased with worry as the first drops of rain escaped the heavy dark clouds above. Something in the pit of her stomach told her he had no idea where he was going, yet she was terrified and still desperate to know the answer for sure.
Mirai could keep up the façade no longer. He shook his head silently, feeling awful as his love sagged her shoulders in disappointment. As the rain began to pelt down harder on them, Mirai decided to dwell on her expression no longer. They needed to find shelter, any shelter, and judging from how the wind was picking up, they needed to find it fast.
The Brunt of the Storm Part 1
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Lime screamed as a bright flash of lightning briefly blinded her, closely followed by a deafening roll of thunder. Feeling her boyfriend tighten his grip on her hand, she tried to calm down. The auburn-haired girl had been terrified of storms ever since she was a little girl. Up until her thirteenth birthday she had crawled into bed with her parents whenever there was a storm. As she got older, her parents had decided she was too old for that so she would make some excuse to stay at the Son household whenever there was a storm forecasted. There, she would cuddle up with Goten and Gohan as the younger Son child shared her phobia. She didn't really want the Briefs boys to know about her fear so whenever Mirai and Trunks were over, they would have a party of sorts to distract her from what was going on outside. Their attempts weren't always successful and soon the entire group knew of her qualm with Mother Nature. Now she was lost in the middle of nowhere, with her boyfriend who had absolutely no sense of direction, in the middle of one of the worst storms of the year. All she wanted was to curl up under her blankets with said boyfriend and try to go to sleep.
Instead, the two were running through the forest in search of shelter. It had been an hour since the rain had begun falling and by now they had been so thoroughly drenched by the heavy rain that their clothes stuck to them like a second skin, the extra weight slowing them down slightly. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped significantly. If they didn't find a place to dry off quickly, they would soon have to deal with hypothermia.
Mirai squinted into the distance. Even with his advanced Saiyan eyesight, he couldn't see further than six feet ahead due to the almost opaque flow of water streaming from the sky. Although it couldn't be later than four in the afternoon, the darkened skies made the damp forest seem like it was way after nightfall. He looked over at Lime, ignoring the water that stung his eyes. She was trembling both from fear and the cold. Stopping, he knelt before her. "Hop on," he said, urging her to get on his back. He was faster and by holding on to him, she would be able to absorb what little of his body heat remained.
Lime did not hesitate. As soon as she was secure, Mirai took off at a faster speed heading in no particular direction. Feeling Lime's breathing even out on his back, he realized she was falling asleep. Knowing it wasn't good for a hypothermic person to fall asleep he shook her awake.
"Come on sweetie, you have to stay up," he said. "Can you do that for me?"
He felt her nod hesitantly in response, still shaking like a leaf on his back. Two minutes later however, he realized she had begun to drift off once again. "I'm really sorry for getting us into this mess, Lime," he said, trying to engage her in conversation. "I really shouldn't have let you come."
He felt her chest move sharply behind him. "L-like y-you would have been able t-to s-s-stop m-me," she responded weakly.
Chuckling pathetically he answered, "I guess I wouldn't have huh?"
"R-remember when w-we emailed that n-nude picture of G-g-gohan to that p-princess?" he felt more than heard her say. Her arms had by now tightened around him as she tried to absorb every bit of warmth his body could provide.
A grim look crossed his face as Mirai's blood ran cold. She was talking like someone on their death bed and it scared him to death. He had finally gained the courage to admit his feelings for her after three long years of pining after her. It would be just plain cruel for her to be taken away from him already. He had no idea what he would do without her. She was just too damn important to him. For a moment he considered pressing the panic button and admitting defeat, however his Saiyan pride and the beating she was sure to give him when they got out of this mess convinced him otherwise. Instead he decided to wait ten more minutes. If by then they found nowhere to dry off, he would give up. He'd rather take a blow to his pride than have his heart cut out from being the cause of her death. Picking up speed, he prayed he would find something soon. However, to keep her talking he responded with a fake laugh, "Yeah! That freaky chick from the Fox Kingdom? Princess Kioko if I remember correctly."
"Y-yeah! T-t-that was her n-n-n-name," Lime answered with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "R-remember the l-l-look on his-s face when his g-grandpa s-said s-she was coming to visit?"
Mirai actually gave a real smile at the memory. It was the first prank he and Lime had ever pulled on Gohan.
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It was just two weeks after Mirai had returned from the future. He was rather quiet as he still grieved for his dead mother. He was terribly shy around the auburn-haired girl but she refused to let him mope in peace. Gohan had recently lost a bet to the redhead and as a result was to be the victim of a major prank without consequence that could take place at any time within the next year. Lime had been plotting for months but had no idea what to do.
Seeing Mirai yet again sitting in a corner by himself staring out of the window, the auburn-haired girl approached him.
"Hi, Mirai," she said, giving him a huge smile that brought a blush to his cheeks.
"Hey," he replied quietly, still facing the window in an attempt to hide his red cheeks. He internally berated himself at his weakness. After all, what would Vegeta think of him? The short man surprisingly had instantly warmed up to him, treating him no differently than he did the Trunks of the present time. He spent time with him after their daily training sessions talking about his life on Planet Vegeta, the memories he and 'Kakarott' had shared on Frieza's spaceship and even began teaching him the language of his people. He was by no means oversentimental in his stories but yet he told them, encouraging Mirai to tell him about the hell of his own timeline. He was the only one who knew the entire truth of what had happened in the future. The father he had missed out on all of his life was finally within reach and he was determined to stay in his good graces. He was not perfect, but then again, who really was?
Despite this fact, his body refused to comply with his mind's requests. The goddess before him had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen both inside and out. His thoughts were cut short as the girl spoke again, unconsciously tucking a strand of long auburn hair behind her ear. "Could you do me a favor?" she asked, a bit apprehensively.
Mirai actually turned to look at her. What could she possibly want from him? "Sure," he answered.
Sitting next to him, Lime related her story, bringing a smile for the first time in a while to Mirai's face. Looking over at him, she smiled back. "You have a very nice smile, Mirai," she said softly. "You should do it more often."
Her comment only made his cheeks flare all the more. Clearing his throat he returned to the task at hand. "So you want to pull the mother of all pranks on Gohan?" he asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.
Lime giggled and nodded. "Well you're the son of Bulma and Vegeta and the older version of Trunks so I figured you'd be able to think of something." It was true. Bulma's smarts and Vegeta's cunning had come together to create a pranking machine in the form of the then, five-year-old Trunks. Along with four-year-old Goten, he was always getting into trouble with the adults around him.
Mirai smiled again. "I think I can," he answered simply.
Let's just say a week later when Gohan's grandfather announced the deranged princess was coming to visit for an entire month, Gohan had near shit himself. Apparently, waking up two days after the email was sent, tied up naked to a four poster bed while she and her friends tried to 'experiment' with him was too much for the poor boy to handle.
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As his flashback ended, like a godsend, Mirai noticed a rocky crag protruding upwards from the mountain they were currently on. It faced away from the direction of the wind so even if there was no cave inside of it, they could shelter on the other side. On his last leg, the demi-Saiyan ran full-speed to the crag. As he drew nearer, he noticed there was a five foot wide stretch of rock that would lead them to the dry side of the rock. On the other side of the stretch was the sudden drop indicating the edge of a cliff. He assumed the view would have been magnificent on a sunny day. However, he was too busy concentrating on not slipping on the wet rocks; if he did it would be over for them both.
As he predicted, there was no cave, but the crag provided an eight foot by ten foot overhang to shelter them from the storm.
"We're going to have to get you out of these clothes, Lime," he said.
Lime blushed and nodded, barely keeping her eyes open. She tried lifting her shirt over her head but her muscles were too stiff from the cold to accomplish that task.
Seeing her struggling, Mirai, who had by now stripped bare, turned to help her. He was no Son so he did feel a bit uncomfortable standing nude in front of her but his had to be done. He quickly disposed of her clothing, after which he laid her down on a large, smooth, dry rock. He was way too worried to even register what he was looking at anyway. Ignoring the chill he got from the cool night air on his damp, bare skin, He looked around for any dead leaves and sticks that had escaped the sopping weather outside. To his luck he managed to find just enough to start a small fire. Gathering the two piles of clothing he laid each item flat on the ground in hopes that they would be dry by morning. Taking the trembling girl into his arms, he walked near enough to the fire and lay down, spooning her against his body. Finally, out of sheer exhaustion, he joined her in slumber.
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An hour earlier…
Gohan smiled as he looked over at Videl as she sat on the ground trying to catch her breath. The girl had managed to float about 10 feet in the air before her energy reserves had finally ran out. Looking at her, he saw how proud she was of herself. Seeing the huge smile on her face as she seemed to stare into space, Gohan grinned deviously to himself, picked her up bridal style, and before she could realize what was happening, dumped her into the lake.
Videl sputtered and rose to the surface. Her black T-shirt was plastered to her skin, her hair was a wet mop and water cascaded down her face in a ridiculous fashion. Gohan laughed loudly at the sight.
Seeing the fun, Icarus came up to them and nudged Gohan in the butt, sending him face-first into the lake. It was Videl's turn to laugh as her friend emerged as soaking wet as she was. Gohan splashed some water in her face trying to get her to stop only for her to return the favor. Soon they ended up in a water fight which eventually escalated into a tickle fight as they came out of the water and chased each other around the meadow. Gohan eventually caught Videl, tackling her to the ground and tickling her mercilessly. A slight clap of thunder resounded through the forest as raindrops began escaping from the clouds above. The soaked teens, however, were too wrapped up in their little war to care.
"Do you give up?" he asked.
"Never!" Videl retorted between giggles.
Gohan didn't let up one bit and soon Videl cried out for mercy. Right then she rolled them over and returned the favor. As Gohan squirmed in laughter they ended up rolling down a small hill with Videl landing on top of Gohan, their faces inches apart.
"Looks like I win," Videl said, calming down her laughter.
Gohan reached up and tucked a wet bang behind Videl's ear and with that action, time seemed to freeze for them both. Gohan stared into her cerulean eyes, taking in her gorgeous face. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. He found himself wondering what it would be like to kiss her.
Internally, he shook his head. Why would a girl like her want a guy like him? He was Son Gohan, the literal freak of nature. He was a hybrid. He neither belonged in the Saiyan world nor the human world. What would she say if she found out what he really was? What would she think if she realized her father was not the one to beat Cell, but it was him instead? He saw the admiration she held for her father. Who was he to take that away from her? Yet she knew he was the Gold Fighter and accepted him for who he was although she didn't know the entire truth. So did that mean there was a chance for them?
Nevertheless, still cupping her cheek, he found himself slowly raising his head at the same time she lowered hers to his face, both their eyes slipping shut. Just as their lips were about to touch, they heard an ear splitting scream resounding through the forest, immediately breaking their trance. Videl quickly rolled off him while Gohan grabbed his sword, called Icarus over and the three of them flew over to the source of the screams.
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