Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Thicker Than Blood ❯ Neko ( Prologue )

Alaura Flaxen was rich. Not money-rich, though, being a `trust-baby' she did have enough to keep herself and her family comfortable long after she passed away, but she was rich in ways that really mattered more than money. She had love and she had a family.

Her love, her one and only, was by her side and would remain to be so for as long as she needed him. Which would be until the day she passed from this earth, Alaura knew in her heart of hearts that she would never stop needing Piccolo. Nor he her. She also adored Tae, the little namekian who had first come to her as a potential student in her dance class.

He had surpassed that potential and more, she was so proud to see his graceful fluidity of motion on stage as he wow-ed the audience and always gave one hundred and ten percent to every effort. Tae was also not so little anymore, Alaura smiled to think that now she had to stand on her tip toes just to kiss him on the cheek anymore. Has it been so long ago when she was able to pick him up and cuddle him to her breast? When he allowed her to do so, Tae, like most nameks, had always been the mature one. Still, he called her `Mom' and `Mother' because he seemed to sense how much it meant to her and because he loved and respected her so.

Alaura lived still in the forest, yet in another house. After the events of early May, four years past, she could not stand to be in that house at all, even had the damage to the floors and roof been fixable. She had wanted to start fresh, away from the pain and shadows of the past. She had believed that love and happiness were just around the corner, in her lover's arms and in Tae's sweet smile.

It was after Tae had started growing apart from her, focusing more and more on his dancing and his ever-striving goal of being perfect and Piccolo left her more and more to consentrate on his own training and dealing with people and events from that part of himself, that other life he rarely brought home to her, that Alaura began feeling the first pangs of longing. She had never felt the need to have something for her own, something that no one could take from her and that she could love unconditionally. She had never realized what it felt to be a mother. She assumed that mothering Tae in her own way had awakened the dormant feelings beneath her breast and they grew until she could deny them no longer.

After much thought and agonizing self-anylisis, Alaura spoke with Piccolo and Tae about her feelings. She knew that Piccolo could not give her the child she so desperately wanted and did not wish to hurt him with her yearnings. She struggled for a way to broach the subject for several months, starting and stopping in conversations with him until Piccolo was nearly at his wit's end. He could sense that something wasn't right with her, but he had no idea what it might be.

He wasn't really as surprised, as she had thought he might have been, to find out the truth once she got down to actually telling him what she felt. He knew it was a natural thing for one to want to pro-create and nodded sagely, all species had the urge, regardless who what they were. It was his suggestion to her that surprised. Her. Not him. She almost had the feeling that he had already put a lot of thought into this, should the occasion come about, as it had. Four years ealier, she had the following converstation:

"Are you serious, Piccolo?" She asked, sitting on the bed she shared with him when he was home to hold her as she slept. Her wavy blonde hair was tied back away from her delicate heart-shaped face with a big red bow that made her look both vulerable and childlike and which matched the flowing red dress she wore with barefeet. She always seemed for comfortable around the house in flowing outfits and bare feet. She hardly ever wore makeup, for which Piccolo was grateful, he enjoyed her natural beauty and believed that any face paint would just take away from the effect, "Is that really what you want to do?"

He sat in the chair opposite the bed, drawfing it with his massive size, his white cloak drapped and falling about his shoulders in dramatic waves. His eyes regarded her with a mixture of solemnity and desire, it was a combination of expressions she was well-versed in when he looked at her. He nodded his head and said; "There is no one I would rather have do the job, Alaura."

She just stared at him. He seemed to know how much having a child of her own body meant to her and she loved him even more for his understanding, even if the child would have no blood of his own. "But, will he agree to it?"

"He will." He said, certain, Alaura smiled for when Piccolo was certain about things he was most often correct; "If I ask him. As a favor to me."

She had a daughter now, age four a half years old. Neko was rambuncious and hyper and the spitting image of her father, her biological father, though she adored the one she called `Da' her little mouth unable, yet to pronouce `Father' or `Daddy' so she had shortened the words into one that was simplier for her.

Alaura loved her little girl and most of her days, now, were spent in chasing her from room to room, trying to keep up with her and keep her out of trouble. She was tireless and extremely strong and agile. Also, her non-stop curiousity about all things were almost enough to drive them all nuts! Tae hardly had time to visit with Alaura and Piccolo when he came home on weekends and holidays as he was busy trying to get his little sister to stop bouncing off the walls! And to say she had an apitite was an understatement! Alaura was just glad she'd had to foresight to hire someone to go shopping for her once a week and stock up.

"It's her father and grandfather's blood," Piccolo had explained to her one night after a gruelling day of chasing her around and feeding her. Alaura held the sleepy little girl in the crock of her arm, the child's furry brown tail waving slightly as she dozed. Alaura stroked the little one's dark curls and kissed her brow; "She's perfectly normal."

"Oh, thank god for that!" She asked, smiling as she carried their little girl to her bed and tucked her in; "I was beginning to think we needed to look into ritalin."

"No need." He smiled at her, coming to wrap his arms around her waist from behind and kissing behind her earlob. He whispered; "As soon as Neko is old enough, I'll help her focus all that energy."

She turned around and said; "For now, though, Let her be a kid." She kissed him, "She has her whole life ahead of her. She's only a baby for so long."