Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Crossroads ❯ Waiting ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: See last chapter.

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"Spaghetti pesto... toasted bread with fresh garlic…" Svenja sighed and stared miserably at the colourless lump in her hand. Zura's rations might be nourishing in the basic sense, but they had an indescribable taste that was faintly unpleasant and a texture reminding her of stale cookies.

"You're too fixated on food," Zura commented from his position to her left.

"Shut up…" she muttered and threw the wrapping at him, watching the foil being easily deflected by a casual flick of his hand to bounce off the wall close to her head. She opted to ignore his provoking grin.

His recovery had been simply amazing. It had been two days since Zura had set up the transmitter, and even though his initial recuperation by the Healing Enhancer had been a miracle in itself, she wouldn't have thought his improvement in health during the following days would be that speedy. His movements had lost their slowness and turned to lithe agility, almost gracefulness. Even his tail had healed almost completely as far as she could guess. He was still careful with it, but when he was occupied with other things she had seen it swish from side to side, apparently having a life of its own. Frankly, it freaked her out a bit.

Her own experiment with the Healing Enhancer hadn't worked, which left her with more itching and aching parts off her body than she cared to count. When she had woken up with her back aching like hell, irrationally disappointed to see her wounds hadn't mended literally over night, she'd tended her wounds as best as she could with the supplies Zura provided. Or rather, he had attended her wounds after that embarrassing incident with what she later learned hadn't been an antiseptic cream but something to drastically enhance circulation. He was obviously used to patching up people, working swiftly and efficiently he bandaged her up in no time. If she herself had done it, she'd probably look like some weird mummy.

"Are you going to eat that? 'Cause if not…" Zura trailed off and glanced at her share of food.
"You wish…" she snorted and shoved the lump in her mouth, chewing with a vengeance. They had to limit their daily rations since they didn't know when rescue would come, and she'd be damned if she'd miss her 'dinner'.

She liked eating, taking pleasure in tasting different flavours, and now having no other choice but to eat only two disgustingly tasteless masses of something twice a day had been quite the change. The first days had been hell, but as time had passed her stomach had shrunken and the hunger pangs decreased.

"I'm going to check the transmitter," he announced and stood up.

"Wait, I'm coming along," she said and got to her feet. Walking the distance to where the transmitter stood her mind wandered back to the last days.

Nothing really exciting had happened, but at the same time some things had changed. After Zura had set up the transmitter the next day there was nothing to do but wait and hope. And think.

The full impact of everything that had happened and the possible consequences had finally sunken in completely. There had been no denying or prettifying the facts, she owed herself that much honesty, however brutal.
The tears had come again, something that seemed to start being a habit of hers lately, but it hadn't been as bad as before. Getting rid of the tension and her confusion that way - or rather lessen them to a great extent - had been relieving, she had concluded when it was over. She was a far cry from being content and happy, true, but at least she had some kind of emotional equilibrium back and her thoughts were clear again. She'd even had to laugh a bit when Zura came back from setting up the transmitter and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing her red and tear-streaked face. It had taken her a moment to explain to him that this wasn't another breakdown and that she wasn't in pain or something like that, that if she had internal bleeding she'd have noticed it way earlier. He probably just didn't want to have a nervous wreck or someone dying around, she had concluded. Who ever would? Still, his concern had touched her.

After that they started to talk. She didn't know who had initiated it, but after it had begun it didn't stop. Some comment here, a casual question there, interrupted by periods of silence that didn't feel uncomfortable.

They talked about general things, and the inhibitions of talking to a complete stranger had vanished during the first day. There was no one else there and nothing else to do after all, and she found she rather enjoyed it. He didn't seem to be someone who usually talked a lot; she'd caught him more than once looking slightly perplexed as if he was asking himself what the hell he was doing.
They topics of them being here and the reasons or her breakdown had been carefully avoided until now for some reason. She had no idea what caused him not to raise the subject, but her motive had been mainly cowardice, she had to admit ruefully. Slipping back to the concept of 'What I ignore isn't there' was always a powerful one, but it didn't solve anything, only postponed the inevitable.
She intended to end the silence, her initial relief of not having to deal with it more than she already did being increasingly overpowered by her desire to talk about it, to bind her thoughts in words and expressing them loudly to make them more real, more tangible and thus better to work with.

They had reached the place where the transmitter stood, about a kilometre away from the ruins where a collapsed structure provided a little shelter from the wind that had steadily increased the last days. When she had asked why he hadn't placed it near the ruins he had told her something about possible distortions too close to his ship.

Sitting down against a convenient piece of rubble she watched him check the device and wondered how to broach the topic. Turning around after a satisfied nod he walked over to her, narrowing his eyes. "What?" he asked.

Svenja blinked. Was she that easy to read? 'Yes, you are,' a small voice in her mind answered truthfully. She had never been able to control her facial expression and keep her feelings hidden. She mentally slapped the voice down.

Taking a deep breath she decided to just say what came to her mind. "I… need to talk. It's going to take a bit, so sit down. I don't like getting a stiff neck looking up at you the whole time." She waited until he had settled himself next to her, to her astonishment without any remark or question. That guy was more perceptive than he let on.

"Okay. First of all I want to thank you. For what you did when I had… when I… lost it." Speaking about her breakdown felt strange, as if it had happened to someone else. "Thanks." She lowered her head, feeling suddenly ashamed for not saying something earlier. "I know it's a bit late and I should have said something earlier. But that doesn't mean I'm not serious about it."

"It's okay. No need to thank me," he answered, and she looked at him, wondering about his uneasy expression.

"No need?" her voice rose. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who have problems with gratitude. I meant what I said. Without you I'd… I'd… argh, I don't know! You helped me, you comforted me. Gods, do you know how weird it is telling you that? I have no idea why I broke down like that. No, scratch that, of course I know. But I never had something like that before, and I didn't see it coming and I'm afraid it can happen again any time! I'm scared shitless when I simply think about that! I don't want it to happen again, I was so… so… lost! Any maybe I'd still be if it wasn't for you." Embarrassment at baring her soul like this and the nagging feeling she was being ridiculous battled inside her, but she needed to get it out, even if that meant he'd roll around howling with laughter at her ramblings. "So please do me a favour and just accept my thanks and don't belittle it, okay?"

Breathing heavily as if she'd been running she braced herself for the worst. Only it didn't come.

Zura started at her, confusion, understanding and other things flickering over his face. He blinked twice and then inclined his head. "I accept your gratitude. I apologize for giving the impression of demeaning your sincerity." He said in an oddly formal voice that made her feel as if some kind of ritual or ceremony was being performed.

"Er..." she stuttered, clearly unprepared for that response. "Okay then," she finished lamely and resisted the sudden urge to kick herself. Not that she'd have managed anyway.
His face changed from solemnity back to the expression she'd grown used to. "Feeling better now?"
"Yes," she muttered, suddenly feeling silly for making such a fuss.

"Need a shoulder?" Her head shot up, and she saw him flashing her a teasing grin.

"Yeah, right, make jokes about it!" She snorted and threw a handy piece of rubble at him that he dodged easily. She stuck her tongue out and got to her feet, unable to be really angry. In fact she felt relieved and strangely satisfied to have that issue out of the way.

They made their way back to the ruins in companionable silence.

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A/N: So, what did you think of it? I know, there wasn't a lot of action, but it'll come soon. I want to thank all of you who have reviewed, I appreciate it a lot. You're the ones who keep me going :-)
If anyone would like to be informed about the next update, just tell me.