Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Daily Grind ❯ The Daily Grind ( Prologue )

The day began as any other had. The sun rose in the east, as usual, and this morning the sunrise was particularly colorful. I was not much for admiring scenery, but this particular morning I could not help but cast it an admiring glance. The rays of the sun cast over this utterly foreign land, and little by little it awoke around me as I, myself, awoke as well. Slowly I lowered myself to the ground, cracking my neck a bit as I reached around and took my flask from my sash, taking a large swallow and slaking my thirst for the time being.

Next to me, my seito stirred beneath the black cloak that covered her, a few needles from the trees resting on the cloth. Needles crunched under her weight as she lay next to a dead fire, a single lock of gold hair the only sign that something human, or humanoid, rather, resided under that dark cloak of hers.

I swear, when she is tired or sick, she can snore like nothing I have ever heard...

And was she ever tired. I had worked Ryven to her limits the day before, and on top of that, her nightmares had kept her up for a fair portion of the night. Inwardly, I felt pity for her. Slight pity, but enough to keep me from snapping at her when her waking screams tore me from my own resting meditations, and to urge her to push herself farther each day, so that her nightmares could cease.

I caught myself thinking fondly of her and pushed the thought aside. Now was not the time for frivolous thoughts such as these. Now was the time to prepare before anything else could happen, before my world collapsed upon itself and before the scum-lord Al'Thor killed my only hope. With that thought set in my mind, I poked her firmly in the ribs, or what I thought was her ribs through her cloak, and stood up.

"D'ow!" she cried out. She sat up, and as her cloak fell around her I saw that I had in fact poked her in the nose. I smirked a bit at the humor of the situation, but then turned.

"Pigcolosan! Thad was mby node!" she griped at me, her hand cupped over her face in a way that was almost kawaii. Once again I caught myself thinking fondly of her and scowled at myself inwardly.

"Gomen. You will cope. Now get up so we can get started. Meet me in the usual place, ne?" I told her, smirking still. Ryven nodded irritably and stood up awkwardly, her hand leaving her nose, exposing it to be bright red. I chuckled a bit, unable to help myself, and then flew off to leave her to her usual morning regimen.

Ryven showed up a good half-hour later, a little later than usual. But remembering the circumstances from the night before, I let it slide. She was there before me in the huge grass field, she was not whining and she was ready, and that is all that mattered at the time.

You are getting soft, Piccolo. You would have never let Gohan get away with being late.

The thought of Gohan stung deep inside. It never failed, anytime I thought about him, it was a slap in the face. Because now, all I had left of him was memories, and that was my fault. I should have helped him fight, he was only a boy. But I was foolish enough to think that he could handle that bastard, just like his fool father. But I would not let that happen with this student.

"Piccolosan?" her voice cut through my thoughts clean enough, jerking me back to the here and now. I cast a look down at her.

"Nani?"

"Are you alright? You looked a bit absent-minded." Ryven said, folding her cloak carefully and setting her sword on top of it. I let out a choked laugh.

"I am fine, worry about yourself. Are you ready?" I asked, brushing her question aside and any chance for her to ask what was wrong, though her concern was slightly touching.

"Aye sensei, ready." she confirmed, her look changing from concerned to rock hard in that instant. That is what I liked to see. Instant concentration.

"Ii desu. Because today will be just as trying." I informed her mere moments before I laid into her. She was ready for me, however, anticipating my attack while I spoke. This pleased me as well, and the morning was off to a good start.

I began with a few warm up exercises, a few ki blasts just singing the hem of her tunic to get her awake and aware, then I flew at her and engaged in hand to hand combat. She blocked them all deftly enough, but she failed to take the offensive. This was something I saw that I would have to work on. I made a mental note as I backed her against the edge of the forest, barely giving her any room to move or any time to think.

She leapt up at the last minute, and I anticipated that she would land behind me. Of course I was right, but I was not going to let her get off that easily. Before she could land I phased out and back in behind her just as she touched ground. She started a bit and whirled around, only to catch my fist connecting to her jaw. She cried out and went flying back toward the forest, a large tree stopping her from going any further. She stood up, not bothering to favor her jaw, and flew toward me. I smirked.

There you go...

"You are getting better, for a girl! Keep it up and you will not have to rely on that sword of yours!" I shouted as she flew toward me. She narrowed her eyes a bit and sped up at the last minute, disappearing before me. To my sweet surprise, she had nailed me in the back with a roundhouse before I had the chance to turn around. I stumbled forward, outwardly scowling but inwardly pleased.

"Don't patronize me!" she shouted angrily. I knew she hated it, and that is why I did it. I could have a little fun with her this way, at least. Besides, it got her motivated enough to attack, so it worked nicely for me both ways.

I spun around before she had time to gloat over her well pulled-together attack and pummeled her with a combination of kicks and punches, resisting the urge to look bored as we went through the warm-up routine. She clenched her jaw and went through the motions with me, breaking a slight sweat as we went along, the sun barely over the horizon.

Soon the warm up was over, and the real training began. That day I focused on getting her to attack more, rather than fighting an all-defensive battle. It was hard for me to get her to attack, but eventually and reluctantly she broke and gave in. I guessed that since she had lived her life defensively, that is how she had learned to fight. But she did not have to anymore, so I would not let her.

I also focused on getting her to let herself go somewhat during a battle. True, there should be a measure of control during combat, but not so much that you hinder yourself. I knew she was holding back, she was capable of so much more, but merely afraid to let it out.

Around noon the sun was higher in the sky, warming the land around us up considerably. Ryven had stripped down to her leggings and her over-tunic, leaving it unlaced, as she was too modest to go fighting about in her bra or whatever she called it. As for me, I had tossed my cape and turban somewhere, freeing my movements with the lifted burden of my weighted training clothing. My own training would come later on that night.

Through the grunts and the cries of our sparring and training session, I picked up a sound with my sensitive ears. At first, I thought it was an animal, or perhaps Ryven's own blasted familiar. But upon closer inspection I found it was merely the rumbling of my seito's hungry stomach. I sighed inwardly and finished the round of battle with a good solid punch to that interrupting need of hers, forcing her back, but not hurting her at all. She looked at me oddly for a split second, then with understanding, then with gratitude and slight shame as she rouged.

"I'm sorry, Sensei." she ventured, her hands drifting over her stomach self-consciously. I waved it off.

"Iie, I understand full well the need for earthlings to eat. I am just thankful that you are not a Saiya-jin, who are prone to gorging themselves," I replied, dropping my stance and standing up straight, straightening a crick in my neck. "Go and eat, and be back within reasonable time. And reasonable means an hour or less, unlike last time when you fell asleep."

She blushed once again as I eyed her keenly, but nodded and bowed in respect. I acknowledged it and excused her, needing some water myself. I gracefully floated to the ground and drank my water as she flew from sight toward the river nearby, emptying the flask. I grumbled to myself and cursed my own increased need for it, then gathered my clothing and went for the river to refill it.

I sensed Ryven's power-level before I got to the river, and noticed the other voices a few seconds later. I landed in the brush and the trees behind, watching Ryven before I went for my water. As I suspected, she was conversing with someone, but to my surprise, it was a younger girl and boy. She was knelt near the water with them, filling her own water skin and chewing on some of her dried meat, smiling kindly at them as they looked at her familiar in wide eyed wonder. I could not help but smile a little at the scene as I dared to walk a few paces more, but not enough to disturb them.

The younger children were elvin, their ears barely pointed with their age, their dark hair silken and smooth, their eyes glittering blue; pure-bloods, but oblivious to Ryven's heritage. They giggled softly as the reached out and stroked Snowblind's muzzle, and giggled even more when he licked their hands in a friendly gesture. Ryven smiled at them, her hands moving about as if she was explaining something to them. They seemed to understand and nod as she spoke. I listened closer as I knelt to the ground.

"Did it hurt?" the girl asked. Ryven smiled at her.

"Only for a second, no worse than when you poke yourself on the needles of, say, this pine," she said, patting the trunk of the young pine tree next to her. "And then he made the potion, and put it here, here, and here." She motioned to her forehead and her wrists. "And then he did a whole lot of chanting, and then it was done."

"And then you could talk to him?" the boy asked, motioning toward the wolf. Ryven nodded.

"Aye," she replied. "He wishes to tell you that he likes his belly scratched."

The children giggled. "Really?"

"Really." Ryven confirmed, and as she did, her wolf laid on the ground and rolled onto his back, his legs in the air as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Ryven settled on the ground next to her familiar as the children knelt next to the wolf, cooing over him and running their hands over Snowblind's underside. The little boy looked up from the wolf, then something caught his eye.

"Is that your sword?" he asked. Ryven nodded and jiggled it in her sheathe a bit, as she took it wherever she went. The little boy frowned.

"I thought girls were supposed to sew?" he asked doubtfully. The little girl looked up and nodded as Snowblind rolled back onto his belly and rested his head between his off-white paws.

"I do, I mend my own clothing," she said kindly. "Just because I have a sword doesn't mean I can't sew."

"Momma says that it'ain't proper for girls to handle swords and axes an' stuff," the little girl informed Ryven in a matter-of-fact way. Ryven chuckled. I sighed a little bit. This seemed to be an issue here in her world, one that, at least in my eyes, I found petty in nature.

"Well, she's welcome to have that opinion if she feels she needs to," was my seito's reply. "All's I'm saying is-" The boy ruffled a bit, puffing out his chest, and interrupted Ryven.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a strong warr'er, and I'll have a pretty wife, an' I won't let her touch my sword or an'thing! Just like m'papa!" he said proudly, his smile charming. I winced a bit. People like that were the reason why it was petty.

"Just make sure not to repress her too much," Ryven said uneasily. I could sense that the children's talk was giving her an idea about how their parents would be.

"{Lenore! Nyo'Dhan! Great Gods, I've been looking everywhere for you two! }" a breathless female voice shouted in Elvin from downstream. Both of the children's heads snapped around and smiled. I turned my head as well to see a large boned, dark haired elvin woman come running as fast as she could down the embankment. As she reached Ryven another elf came from the brush not too far from where I was, a taller, well built man. Both of them converged upon their children, and both of them frowned deeply at my student.

"{Come children, come home now,}" the man ordered them, ushering them away from Ryven and her wolf. The elvin woman gave Snowblind a fearful look, then she cast a glance at Ryven and turned her nose up, and followed her husband, taking great care to stay behind him. As they left, I caught the elvin words for "half-breed" and "filth" more than once. Ryven merely sighed and turned back to the river, and the sending I caught between her and her wolf told me that she was cursing their parents sullenly. Then, without another word, she began to fill her skin and eat more of her dried meat.

I groaned inwardly. I knew this was going to be another day or night of trying to explain the ignorance of other people to her. But something inside me caught myself, told me to cope with it, not to squander this time as I did with Gohan. So I steeled myself and stood up, then walked from the brush and to the river, kneeling not too far from where she was sitting to fill the flask.

"I knew you were there, Piccolosan. I sensed your energy." Ryven said without looking up. I nodded, not looking up as well, and stoppered my flask.

"Ii desu, then you are getting better. Pretty soon you will be able to sense where I am on the dot." I replied. She nodded, but to my surprise, she did not mention anything about the scene. I stood up and stretched a little bit, then turned my back and began to walk from the riverbank.

"Do not be too long." I said.

"Aye, sensei." Ryven replied simply. With that, I left and waited for her in the field.

Somehow, she returned in an hour on the dot, and then her training resumed. And though her stomach was filled, there was an air of missed concentration about her, and I knew she was going over the river scene in her head. So I pushed her further, making her concentrate harder to focus at her task at hand. She finally seemed to push the extra thoughts from her head as her fervor increased toward the end of the day, taking the blows as I dealt them and returning them with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm that, to my surprise, lasted well past sunset, until her attacks and her defenses visibly began to deteriorate. Finally, an hour or so after the sun had sank below the horizon, I blocked her last blow and disengaged from the fight.

"Well done. I think that is enough for today, boku no seito." I said, nodding a bit. She, in turn, dropped her stance and nodded as well, lingering for a moment before floating down somewhat awkwardly toward her cloak and sword, then to the place we had camped out at. She still had not quite mastered the technique of bakujutsu, but that was something we could work on another day.

I followed her down as she gathered enough wood for a fire, lighting it with a small ki blast. She still looked thoughtful, somewhat troubled. But as long as she did not say anything, I was not going to pry. I merely settled on the other side of the fire, folding my arms and resting my chin on my chest as I floated several inches off the ground, preparing for my nightly meditations. Nights usually went like this, with barely a word spoken, and it did not bother either of us.

Except for this night, of course.

Just as I was about to slip into my meditative state, just as I was closing my eyes I caught her mouth moving as if she were going to speak to me. Her eyes caught mine for a moment, then dropped them soon after, her mouth closing quickly as she focused on something else. I sighed.

If she does not want to say it, then let her be silent. I want to meditate. I thought, closing my eyes again.

**Nephew, you know she wants to.**

I sighed. What a nuisance that old man was.

**Kami,I am not going to pry until she brings it up, end of discussion.> I stated firmly.

Kami smiled within me and sighed. **How many things did you and Gohan not talk about?**

I clenched my teeth. **That is enough, old man.**

But those words alone were enough to jar me loose from the stony grip that selfishness had on me. I sighed outwardly and opened my eyes, lowering myself to the ground silently. Ryven had engaged herself in cleaning the dirt from her sword, but tonight there was a methodical-ness about her that belied the fact that she was troubled.

~What was it you wanted to say, Ryven?~ I sent to her mentally. Ryven jerked her head up and looked me in the eye, but then broke the contact and shook her head.

~Nothing, never mind.~ she replied.

~Nonsense.~

~You'd only think it silly of me. Nevermind.~

~How do you know that, Young One? Have you asked it yet?~ I snapped. I hated it when she presumed such things. She sighed, defeated, and looked up at me again.

~...do you think that I'm strange?~ she ventured. I raised an eyebrow, but then she just shook her head again. ~See? It's just silly, nevermind.~

~Why would I think you are strange?~ I asked in reply.

~Because ... well... because I'm a ... and I...~ she stuttered, motioning to herself, then to her sword. I merely shook my head.

~Because you are what?~

~Because I'm a girl, an' I fight?~ she finally spat out, biting her lower lip with her nervousness. I could tell, however, that she was genuinely surprised that I had not picked up on it before. ~Because I'm supposed to give life, and not take it away?~

I scoffed outwardly. ~Feh, you are not giving into those stereotypes, are you?~

Ryven frowned. ~...What are stai-reo-types?~

~Generalizations, presumptions made by other people about how others should act or be.~ I explained patiently. Ryven's eyes lit up a bit in understanding.

~Oh, I know what you mean ... well ... in some ways, it's not a st...sterotype. Women are supposed to be the life givers. Not the life takers. When I'm done training, I'll be taking lives, not giving them.~

I began to see where this was going. ~Ryven, you must do what you think you must. I know you. Deep down, you know you must fight. You know that you must give life by protecting the life that already is. That is what a fighter must realize about his or herself.~

Ryven sighed and looked down a little. ~I understand that, I guess.~

~Are you having doubts about the training, Young One?~ I asked after a few moments of silence. I inwardly hoped she did not and that this was just a passing phase, I could not afford to lose her, and deep down, I did not want to, either.

~No, no, not even close, sensei.~ she replied, assuring me fervidly. ~More like I'm having doubts about myself ... but they're things I have to sort out for myself.~ She smiled weakly, but gratefully up at me. ~But thank you for caring.~

I nodded a bit. ~Doitashimashite, Young One.~ Inwardly I was proud to hear her say that, and I knew at that point that she was maturing before my eyes. And though I was eager to see her grow on her own, a part of me could not help but add, ~... but if you do need help, Ryven, I am here.~

She smiled. ~Of course, Sensei, you've always been there for me.~ And with that, she went back to cleaning her sword.

I cursed inwardly. Why was I making myself her crutch? Was I making myself her crutch? Or was I just ...caring?

I floated back up into the air with those thoughts reverberating in my head, my head slowly touching my chest as I began to slip into meditations. The sound of Ryven sliding her cloth over her blade was rhythmic enough, and I slowed my breathing in time with it as my consciousness slipped away. And as I did I pondered my own thoughts, and came up with a conclusion.

It seems I, too, have much to sort out for myself.