Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ House of Ashes ❯ Mountain of Fire ( Chapter 2 )

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House of Ashes

Chapter 2: Mountain of Fire

Kakarotto blinked as his eyes adjusted to the weak daylight that had the same effect as a brilliant floodlight after the darkness of the barracks. Temporary blindness. Once the spots behind his eyes had faded away and he could focus them again, his newest assignment could be seen standing on the curb, arms crossed, foot tapping mildly in annoyance.

The long-lost Princess of Fire Mountain, his newest assignment.

Part of him seethed at Toma for saddling him with the girl away from the Saiyans that he could train with, but the practical part of his brain insisted that keeping a close eye on the girl who would no doubt be contacted by the underground Rebellion in a very short time was vital. If he could keep such a massive figurehead from falling into the Rebels' hands, he would be keeping the Saiyan Refuge safe.

And then again, in the farthest recesses of his mind, the little boy who had once been Goku kept frolicking in excitement about getting a chance to explore again.

He squashed that line of thought ruthlessly. Innocence and joy did nothing against Frieza.

Examining the Princess revealed nothing that said she was extraordinary, at least not when compared to any other human. Small in stature, raven-black hair was piled on top of her head and held in place with a chopstick, wisps of it coming free to frame a face whose features were set emotionlessly, enormous eyes gazing back at him with barely repressed curiosity.

He grinned, which made him look more like a wild man, and introduced himself. "I am Kakarotto, son of Bardock." He shifted the small duffel containing all of his possessions against his spandex-covered back. "Fire Mountain is to the north, isn't it?" Tempted to hover to demonstrate his desire to get out of the city, he settled for letting his tail whip around behind him.

"It is," she replied, ignoring the tail, "but we need to go the market first. I only have enough food for myself and I've seen the way Saiyans eat."

He couldn't find any reason to protest that.

Taking his silence as approval, his ward marched walked down the street to where an elderly man was sitting in front of a second warehouse, painstakingly mending the holes in an old net by hand, as he'd done every day in the three weeks Kakarot had been back on Earth. Chi leaned down to talk to him, the motion sending the ring that cemented her claim to Fire Mountain (the Saiyan had always found the name Frypan crude) dangling beneath her neck. "Excuse me sir," her voice was far more pleasant than it had been when talking to him, "can you tell me where the nearest market is? My companion and I are in need of supplies."

The old sailor, bare arms covered in a network tattoos, a blue dragon dominating the arm that Kakarot could see, fixed bleary eyes upon the girl in front of him, which widened. He bobbed his bald head politely and nodded off towards the east. "A few blocks that way and you should find anything you'd want m'lady."

Narrowing dark eyes in suspicion at the old man, the gears in the Saiyan's head began to turn. M'lady was a title, not merely a show of respect. Either the man knew her, or was being uncommonly polite. The Saiyan frowned. A teenage human younger than himself and an old sailor weren't much of a threat, but he would have to take pains to insure things remained that way.

He turned and followed said teenage girl away, and thus didn't see when the man abandoned his work to hobble off in a different direction at a sprightly pace that belied his appearance.

The Princess sailed into the marketplace a few minutes later at a brisk pace, apparently ignoring the Saiyan she was towing. This was either intentional, or due to the fact that her assigned companion trailed her by at least ten meters, but either way, Kakarot was being ignored. At least by the Princess. Those inhabiting the marketplace were another matter. Curious gazes were always quickly adverted, and the bustling crowd found in the rows melded away from him. Not bothered in the least, the heavily-muscled man followed the tiny teenager around, and was infinitely startled when she turned to him. "What do you like to eat?"

"Anything, as long as it isn't poisoned or doesn't eat me first."

"So the puffer fish over there are out of the question then?" She pointed to a small tank containing the tiny exotic fish, still swimming serenely.

Kakarot shrugged. "Human toxins are not necessarily harmful to Saiyans."

The Princess rolled her eyes, turned to the vendor and began to place her order, which promptly sent the man into action. She paid for everything she bought in gold and silver coins as welcome to those in the market as the paper notes that were usually exchanged, if not more so. Money-the thing that made the Earth spin on its axis. Kakarot, like most Saiyans, had no need for it. He was given everything he needed. In a remarkably short time his companion had spread her business among several vendors and bought enough food to last for at least a week, piling it onto the tarps that would fold up into capsules at the touch of a button.

Food capsules deposited in a small purse, they wandered the marketplace while the girl bought a few more things. Sturdy leather gloves, thick woolen socks and various other necessities were added to the load; a large gardening tome with a smaller farmer's almanac were the last things she added to the last pile of objects to be encapsulated. The Saiyan considered capsules to be damn useful devices, especially after he'd seen the way Frieza's people handled mass quantities of food and supplies. The Princess, her name was supposed to be Chichi, had a flat wallet full of them, although he had no idea of how many of those were empty. Quite a few, judging from the ones she'd filled.

Tapping the button on the tarp they'd just piled everything onto spurred the capsule into activating with a poof of displaced air, and the Princess tucked the last of her purchases into the wallet and turned to him, acknowledging his presence for the first time in at least an hour. "That's enough for now. I should have enough to keep you from getting hungry, at least."

"Good," Kakarot replied equably, watching as a woman herded her children away from him. "That way I won't have eat you." Saiyans did no such thing-there were limits to their psyche, but it was worth it to watch the wide-eyed stare of the children. He'd been around his brother and Prince Vegeta for too long.

The person he was really trying to intimidate, however, simply shook her head and tossed a random barb at him. "I was brought to believe that Saiyans preferred the blood of Amazons to normal humans."

Kakarotto snarled deep in his throat, a primal reaction to the race of warriors that had killed a handful of his people when he was a child. It still hurt to remember, despite the fact that his brother and Toma had slaughtered them like cattle. They hadn't actually eaten them-there were some limits to the Saiyan psyche and actually eating enemies was beyond that, but the death of that particular army had been more gruesome than most.

The Princess raised an eyebrow at him questionably.

He managed a rather cruel smile back. "That doesn't count you out, does it Princess? You've got Amazon Blood."

Something bright sparked in her eyes and her features began to twist into something else, but the reaction was ruthlessly suppressed. The Saiyan smirked. He'd won that one.

"I might have," she returned cautiously, guard up at full. "I don't remember my parents. I wouldn't know if they were Amazon or not." She scowled at him.

He pasted a pleasant smile on his face to infuriate her, but she didn't respond, merely glanced upwards to peer at the sun. "If we leave now, we should get to Frypan just in time to put the fires out."

Kakarot blinked. The fires of Fire Mountain were supposed to be magical-not even water could extinguish a flame taken from the mountain, putting them out would be nigh impossible. And Fire Mountain was hours away by car. Even the Turtle Hermit didn't know how to fly-unless this girl knew something he didn't, they wouldn't get there that evening. "We're not going by car." His voice was flat.

"Good observation," she murmured in reply, already winding her way out of the marketplace. "You can fly, can't you?"

"I can," he returned flippantly, scowling at an absent-minded man with a wheelbarrow who'd come to close, "but as far as I can tell, you don't have any wings."

She mock-bowed to him. "You don't have to have wings to fly, Kakarotto. I'll keep up."

The Saiyan resisted the urge to clench his jaw. Impudent girl.

They were almost out of the market compound when accosted by a woman who wore at least half a dozen skirts of varying lengths, and the arms that extended from the billowing shirt were stacked in bracelets. Surprisingly pale hair was tucked beneath a dark scarf dotted in crescent moons, and gray-blue eyes twinkled at them. She held out her wares-a handful of various scarves, and smiled at them. "Would you like to buy a scarf?"

Kakarrot scowled at her, but the woman merely cocked her head, smile getting even larger. "I have just the thing for you," she murmured, flourishing the scarves. Before he could react-because humans just didn't come that close to him willingly, she'd produced a blood-red scarf and tied it around his head like a headband.

He growled and reached to pull it off, only too aware of who he must look like, but her knowing smile stopped him. "The past never leaves," she commented wryly. "No matter how much we want it to."

And then she had turned back to the Princess, ignoring him as if he'd never existed. She held out an oversized scarf of blue silk, the outline of a dragon twisting across it in golden stitches.

The Princess eyed it for a moment, longing clashing with the practicality she'd shown all day long. "It's beautiful." Letting it slide through her fingertips, she glanced up at the woman. "How much?"

In a smooth move similar to the one that had caught the Saiyan unawares, the woman had wrapped the scarf around her shoulders like a shawl, the dragon displayed across her back. "It belonged to someone I knew a long time ago," she explained sagely. "You're a lot like her-she would have wanted you to have it."

Before either of them could say anything more, the woman had slipped away into the crowd, leaving them alone together with their newest ornaments. Kakarot removed his, tucking it between his chest and breastplate. Of all the things he had experience in his life, that was just… "Odd."

"Mmmm," the Princess agreed calmly, then shook her head hard, "Weird. She was…familiar. I know I've met her before, somehow." Shaking it off, she sighed. "Shall we go?"

"Lead the way."

* * * * * * * *

They arrived at Fire Mountain just as the sun set, the massive blazes that had given the mountain its name visible from miles away, a beacon in the darkening skies. Kakarotto dropped out of the skies and took in his surroundings as the Princess climbed off the fluffy yellow cloud that had carried her. She sent it back to the heavens with a pat of thanks before joining him in looking up at the mountain before them, face pale with an emotion he couldn't identify.

"It really hasn't changed."

"I thought you didn't remember your parents," he commented, trying to catch a glimpse of the castle he knew was hidden there within the flames.

"I don't," she replied vaguely. "Not really. I was three when my parents died. But I lived here for almost three more years before Master Roshi came."

Kakarot glanced at her. A human that young couldn't possibly have survived.

"I didn't say I lived alone," she replied to the unspoken question. "Some of the staff stayed on until the fires were set, and they helped take care of me."

The Princess stared at the mountain for a long moment, its fires reflecting in the depths of her eyes. For a moment, she was unguarded. Awe, fascination, longing, and no little fear flashed across her pensive face before she lifted her guard again, still gazing at the mountain. "As wonderful as the fires are," her voice was soft as a pale hand drifted to brush her heart, "I refuse to spend the rest of my life down here in a little hut when there's a perfectly good castle up there."

"It's time to put the fires out."

Kakarot looked up at her. "That's impossible. They tried for years-energy blasts, dumping entire lakes on it, and the fire just won't die out. And the castle's probably gone."

She continued to gaze at the mountain which had burned so long there was surely nothing left to burn. "No, it's still there. The fire was magically set, and you can't use normal means to cancel out magic. Only magic can put it out." Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a capsule and tossed it to the ground. It contained a large fan-the red and gold material it was made of gleamed in the fire's light.

An utterly normal fan-of the kind used to shade royalty and other such deserving individuals in hot and sunny environments.

He scowled down at it.

She picked it up, balancing it easily as if it were a staff. "This belongs to one of my Master's friends. She promised it would work."

Kakarot eyed it in disbelief. "It's a fan."

"Would you like to do the honors, then? To see if it really works?"

Snatching the fan out of her hand, he pointed it towards the mountain and gave it an experimental wave. Only expecting to create a weak breeze, he was startled at the tug of the fan in his hands as it tried to float along with the small gust that had sprung from its head. The small blaze only a few meters away died down immediately.

He waved it again, harder this time, with the strength that only a Saiyan could muster.

The wooden pole in his hands quivered as if it were a living thing, sending a gale rushing towards the mountain with all the strength of a typhoon behind. Chi, standing next to him, was unable to keep her hair contained, and it streamed out in front of her like a banner, white shirt snapping furiously as she watched with baited breath. Unburnt trees on the surrounding mountains swayed and roared and cracked in the wind that encompassed everything, the sound so great that the villagers down the valley peeked out their window to see what was going on.

They were just in time to see the magical wind, created by a magical fan wielded by a man with almost magical strength, beat against the fires of the mountain that was both salvation and a curse. While they all watched, the roar faded into silence, and in the unnatural stillness the mountain seemed to shrug, and gave in.

It started first at the feet of the Saiyan and the Princess-the yellow flames smothered from too much oxygen and died out. The phenomena spread up the mountain, spiraling around it as it rose, the great fires that had burned for so long ceasing to exist. Forever.

With one last quiet sigh, the last flame, burning a brilliant gold in the night sky, was snuffed out, sending their world fully into night for the first time twelve years.

And so it was-the fires had been overcome, and the magical mountain once known as Mt. Frypan stood tall in the darkness, smoke rising off of it in billowing plumes.

Kakarot stared down at the fan which was lying inert in his hands, and then at the Princess, who was staring up at the mountain, eyes as wild as the hair that formed a halo around her head. Sensing his gaze, she turned and gave him a brilliant smile that the mystical mountain held nothing on, and he felt the corners of his own mouth twitch upwards against his bidding.

He nodded at her, and then towards the mountain. "Welcome home, Princess."

TBC…..