Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Pure Providence ❯ Giri is an obligation. ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two: Giri is an obligation

"Approaching destination, time to arrival is thirty seconds," the computer voiced. Ree's eyes sluggishly and sleepily opened to a view she would not soon forget. The planet below her, growing rapidly closer and more visible, was a lacework of dazzling green and sparkling blue. The tinted window of her pod soon showed nothing but serene ocean. The pod was off course, but even as Ree began to panic, grabbing all her possessions, she couldn't ignore the Earth's splendor. Her spaceship broke the surface of the crystal water; Ree threw open the hatch and began to swim toward the surface, where she took her first breath of fresh air. In her past, Ree always lived on the polluted and over-industrialized planets of Freiza's empire, so Earth was a virtual fairyland in comparison.

"I guess there are worse places to land," Ree said as she hovered inches above the water, wringing out her hair and adjusting her scouter, "now, to find Raditz." Her scouter began beeping and flickering, and she was off towards the powers, towards Raditz.

* * *

Raditz was lying on the ground, dying and listening to Piccolo talk about dragonballs.

"You fool, don't you know this scouter is transmitter! Two other warriors, twice as strong as I, now know about these dragonballs. They'll be here in a year, then I'll be back and you'll be sorry. Who has the last laugh now?" Raditz began cackling insanely, and, in doing so, caused his own fall.

"Arigatou (1)," came a voice from behind Bulma, Krillin, and Master Roshi.

They all tuned to see a girl with sodden, mahogany hair and a enchantingly fiendish visage. Piccolo, sensing her substantial ki, put his guard up again, as did Krillin.

"I said arigatou," Ree began walking towards the Earthlings, causing Bulma to jump behind Krillin. "I don't want to hurt you."

"What do you want?" Piccolo growled.

"Well, I wanted to kill that man over there," Ree frowned, upset with there uncalled-for anxiety, and gestured towards Raditz's corpse, "but when I got here, you and that other fellow seemed to have it under control. So I let you two handle it."

"You could have beaten that man, youjo (2)?" asked Master Roshi.

Ree stuck up her nose; she did not enjoy being called a child by a feeble rouou (3), "I could have beaten him with my hands tied."

"Then why didn't you," Bulma's eyes began to tear as she clutched little Gohan tight to her chest, "Goku would still be with us, and Gohan would still have a father."

"There's nothing I can do about that now," Ree turned and began to walk away.

"Wait," Krillin called excitedly, "you can do something. These other saiyans that he spoke of, you can help us fight them." With these words, Ree froze and gasped, unable to budge because she knew who those "other saiyans" were.

"I... I can't fight those two."

"Why not? Are they that powerful?" Krillin questioned desperately.

Ree looked at the people around her. The surly, green man they had been calling Piccolo was fierce, and Ree couldn't help thinking, "Too bad he already hates me, he'd make a good partner." Bulma reminded Ree of a mother cat protecting kittens, a little wicked but loving none the less. The woman had a real concern for the child and his father. As for the bald midget and the old master, they seemed nice enough. But what struck Ree as peculiar was, regardless of their differences, they treasured Earth; Ree did not have the heart to disappoint them all. Plus, Bulma was right; if Ree had fought Raditz, Goku would still be alive.

"Okay," Ree's shoulders slumped, "I'll help, but I won't fight them. As soon as they land, I'm leaving."

Just then, a revolting sound reached Ree's and everyone's ears. It sounded like a ooze coated slug being squeezed through a hole in some saran-wrap. As she turned, Piccolo grimaced as his new arm appeared.

"Before you leave, I have request I'd like to make," Piccolo grumbled, "This may seem strange, but try to put your emotions aside. I want Goku's son to come with me for special training." The three humans around the child tensed.

"Ha! Training my ass! You just want to eat him!" Krillin screamed his accusations at Piccolo.

"Are you insane?" exclaimed Piccolo. He knew the earthlings though he was a monster, but did they really think he was so bad as to eat Goku's son?

"But why take a boy?" Bulma moaned.

"Earlier today this boy showed signs that he might be the most powerful person on this planet. I think I can teach him to control his power so we can use it to help us defend the Earth when the other saiyans arrive. It's a long shot though, he might just be too young; we'll see," Piccolo replied.

"Yeah, he's probably too young," Krillin waved his hands around, hoping Piccolo would change his mind about Gohan. Goku was, after all, his best friend.

"I wouldn't chance it if I were you," said Bulma, following Krillin's suit.

"That's something you'll have to ask the boy's mother," said Master Roshi, not wanting to play along with Krillin's game. He wasn't trying to convince Piccolo of anything, just giving hard facts.

"I'm not asking, I'm telling!" screamed Piccolo, grabbing Gohan, "Look, nothing else matters now except beating the other saiyans in one year. The boy's in good hands." Ree had remained quiet during the earthlings' discussion, but she could not stay quiet any longer. From what she heard so far, Piccolo was untrustworthy and trying to take a tiny boy away from people who love him, all so the young one could fight. Ree herself was taken from her home at a young age and forced to fight in Freiza's army. So when Piccolo tried to leave, Ree stopped him.

"Don't harm the boy," Ree said.

"Now you're a Samaritan, eh? What makes him your concern anyway? You should just go back to where you came from," Piccolo snarled.

"Weren't you just listening? I promised to stay until the saiyans arrived. Now are you going to protect the boy," Ree crouched into an attacking stance, "or do I have to take him from you?"

Piccolo smirked, "I won't hurt him, trust me."

"I was taught never to trust anyone except myself," with that Ree moved to the side, letting Piccolo fly off, and turned her attention to the others, "how can I help?" Bulma looked at Krillin, and Krillin looked at Master Roshi; all three were baffled.

"Perhaps we're not the right ones to ask," said Master Roshi.

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) "Arigatou" is Japanese for thank you.

(2) "Youjo" is Japanese for little girl.

(3) "Rouou" is Japanese for old man.

Author's notes:

Okay, now I'm into Dragonball Z's saiyan saga, and I'll be taking dialogue here and there to make it more authentic. Unfortunately, I don't have the Japanese version of the saiyan saga, so the Funimation version dialogue will have to do. I have tried my best to de-Funimationize the text, but once they get their edit-crazy paws on anime, it can never be that same.