Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ do ut des ❯ mute discover ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Is there some secret rule for time? Today I've been doing what I always did - the chores, washing, guarding the fire - and yet my shadow seemed to grow fasten than ever.

With incredible speed until it could grow no more; until it was surrounded by the darkness itself. Which was my sign to leave.

It was around Chi's duty when I arrived at Gabrielle's cottage. The forest was misty, and though late night walks usually made me calm, I felt very uncomfortable. I was glad when I reached her house, stars could already be seen, and the darkness of the woods somehow managed to scare me. It made me wonder who could be lurking in the shadows.

"Come in, child." she said with her trusting eyes. And at that moment I did feel like a child, brought in safety. I nodded and she leaded me to the living room, though you can't really call it a 'room'; there were no walls, only one big room parts seperated by dark coloured tapestry. "How is Albruna doing?"

Albruna, fragile little thing. Waiting to be shattered.

The herbs made her recover faster, but she wasn't on full strength just yet. And without her baby, Justin as she called him, I wonder if she ever will.

"She'll survive." I smiled up at her. "And how is the baby?"

She returned my gesture with a smile of her own. "Goku seems to handle the baby just fine, care to have a look?"

I nodded and she leaded me to the room I became so familiar with these last days. There was this lamp hanging above the table, making the dark room look comfortable, even cozy. I settled down on the couch and waited for the wich to do her magic.

The whole air in the room changed, and the flame in the lamp slightly twinkled. For some reason I was holding my breath as I examined the magic bowl closely.

First there were voices, then the vision came.

Goku was in his tent, the baby on his bed. Justin was crying desperately for attention, but Goku's attention went to the bottle of milk he was trying to heat up.

"Hush, kiddo, your milk is almost warm enough." he smiled down on the baby, who started giggling.

He took the small creature in his lap, and hummed a tone as he fed him.

It looked so perfect and happy that I couldn't help but smile.

I'd be nice to have a family of my own. To hold a child in my arms and to proudly say it is mine.

It kind of shocked me that I actually thought that. I was almost eighteen now and I would probably settle down after I turned 40 and I lost my beauty. Who would want me then? I probably can't get any children at that age.

In all those years I never spended much time thinking of those things I couldn't have, children, a husband.. a family, I accepted it. It has no reason to complain without hope. And hope is what I've lost.

"Your time will come." Gabrielle smiled down on me, in a way that made me feel visible, as if she could see right through me and know all my secrets. I wanted to respond and stubbornly ask what she was talking about, but my attention returned to the bowl when another voice came in the play.



"Kakarot?"

Goku's eyes grew big and he carefully placed the child under his bed, his blanket streched out to hide him.

"Yes, I'll be there in a minute." But when Goku turned around he saw that prince Vegeta had already came in.

The prince looked at the soldier in front of him, then his gaze leaded to the bed where the baby, who was making several cute baby sounds at the moment, was placed underneath. His facial expression changed from indifference to surprise and back again.

Goku uneasily tried to cover the giggling up by coughing. I could feel the tension.. even though I was just watching the situation.

A few seconds past before Vegeta spoke again."Got a cold?" Vegeta asked looking at the younger soldier in front of him. He wasn't waiting for an answer, not that Goku seemed in state of answering. "Sparring in 3 minutes." was all he said. He turned around and walked away, his armor rattling as he did so.

The baby didn't wait for the rattling to fade away, but giggled instead.

"Close one, kiddo!" The saiyan soldier took the baby in his lap and sat on his bed. He made a cot by wrapping the blankets together, and carefully placed the young boy in there. "Now be a nice boy and have a little sleep."

Justin giggled again, and looked at him with hopefull eyes, probably waiting to be teased.

Goku looked at the child and smiled before leaving the tent himself, trusting the baby to fall asleep at his own.

Gabrielle stopped her magic, and the scene in the room changed again, less light because the bowl of glass was now blank again.

"He saw it." I said, and he did. I saw at the look of Vegeta's face that he did notice the child. "So why hasn't he said anything?" I turned to Gabrielle and waited for an answer.

"That's something that even he doesn't know." she looked at me with a little smile on her face. "Next Friday you are coming along with Bulma and Chi Chi to meet the prince and the soldier."

"But why?" I asked confused.. what did I had to do with it?

Her smile grew, "Because I said so."

She confuses me, is what I figured out on my way back to the altar. Gabrielle is just something I don't understand. She was having an extraordinairy good mood today, as if she knew everything was going to turn out just fine.. but then again maybe she did know.

Then you have Vegeta, he saw the baby and ignored it... just ignored it. He could have killed it! And Goku and Bulma and Chi Chi all together! But he didn't.. he did just nothing..

Maybe he's not so bad as he appears to be.. maybe Bulma's plan will even work.

Maybe things will be turned back to normal again.

I stopped walking immediately when I heard something rustle in the bushes.

I hold my breath as I prepared in fighting stance. Waiting for a move from whatever was in there..

It was dead silent, and I wondered if I could defend myself.. if necessary..

I learned the basic from the basic from Chi Chi.. which means I couldn't even kick without losing my balance. I just hoped the bushes didn't know that.

It's just a bird..

More rustling.

So it's a just a very big bird..

Why didn't I want to sneeze?

A crack of a branch. And suddenly, voices. I wasn't sure what they were saying.. but one thing I did know birds don't talk.

"Just look at her..-"

"hold still, Tien."

It was said in whispering. And it was the only things they said.. and now it was so silent again that it was frustrating.

My senses were messed up and I was getting a headache from the beating of my heart, which seems to be louder than ever.

.

Over and over again echoing through my mind.

.

It was making me crazy.

"Who is there?" I suddenly blurted out, this silence had to stop.

But the silence was what they responded with.

"I-I am a Vestal Virgin.." I managed to say with only a few cracks in my voice. ".. you wouldn't want to mess with me.."

Something in the back of my mind told me they wouldn't care.

What if Philippus had enough of Albruna and was now getting out for me?

My eyes were alert and not moving away from where I thought my target was.. I stepped a few steps back.. and waited for an answer.

I was scared, why couldn't I sneeze?

Suddenly there was something moving in the bushes behind me, and when I turned around, the rustling in the other bushes of where I thought my 'target' was became louder than ever and eventually faded away in the distance.

I was alone again, and the silence had returned, this time not loaded, and thus more comfortable.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head as I continued my way back home. My pace twice as fast, but still not running, like my target did a few minutes ago.

I was asking myself the same questions over and over again.

Why didn't I sneeze.

It always seemed my escape when I was scared, and I sure as hell was scared back there. But I had no physical urge to, which I mostly did when I felt threathened.

And who was that?

Were that?

I could still hear that whispering in my head, and the few words I could pick up from their conversation.

"Just look at her.." on of them whispered. "Hold still, tien.." the other one responded.

"Tien." I uttered. That was the name of the one of the first to speak. What were they doing out this late? Would they sneak around and wait for a picked out victum to come by.. and rape them?

Maybe it was right for me to say that I was a vestal virgin, maybe that's what scared them away.

I started to feel miserable and alone.

Soon I found myself crying the way back home, without a real reason.