Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Thicker Than Blood ❯ Jalamira ( Chapter 3 )

Mira rolled over and opened one eye. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and read the glowing red numbers in the dimness of the room. It was a little after three in the afternoon. Mira felt as if she'd been asleep for hours. She wiped the sleepy-dust from her eyes and pulled her reddish-white hair back from her face into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

I still don't understand how I arrived here. She thought, as she padded, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, to the open closet door and peered inside, looking for something to wear; My mind has holes in it, like swiss cheese, some things I can recall easily, such as the ability to fly being all but lost to my people and only a few of us retaining that skill…but, I cannot remember exactly where my people come from only the name of the planet.

"Jalamir." She whispered, looking upwards, "I know because I was named after it…I also know that this is NOT Jalamir…I have seen no Jalamirians, only humans and that odd green person who was so nice to me to warm me up like that and that girl with the tail…SHE cannot be human!"

Mira found a red pleated skirt and an odd-looking matching red and white top with a huge bow in front just over the collar and pulled them on. She also found some white knee socks and black and white saddle shoes. They fit her okay and she assumed that they must have belonged to the girl; Neko, at one point. She probably outgrew them, Mira thought, as she faced her reflection in the mirror overlooking the vanity table in the corner of the room.

"Hmmm." She said, looking at herself, "It's not really my style, but it will have to do, I soppose."

"Oh! Your awake!" Mira turned suddenly, the skirt flying out in a circle as she did so, to see Neko standing in the doorway, her little tail flapping behind her excitedly, "How are you feeling, Mira?"

"Neko!" Mira smiled, "I want to thank you for saving me out there! I would have surely frozen to death if it hadn't been for you and your kind family."

"It was nothing, Mira." Neko said, flushing slightly, "We'd do the same for anyone who looked in trouble."

Mira smiled and said; "I'm hungry, Neko. Can we go find something to eat?"

Neko grinned hugely and grabbed the smaller girl's hand in her own, she pulled her out the door, "Come with me! Mom baked cookies the other day! They are sooooo good with milk and you can have all you want! Afterwards, we can go exploring, okay?"

Mira laughed and allowed herself to be carried along by the child's happy excitement, she wondered if the girl ever really had a friend she could play with and highly doubted it. She would oblige the child for as long as she was here, after all, she did owe it to her. Besides, it might be fun until all of her memory holes filled in.

Alaura was at the counter washing some dishes when the girls bounced into the room. She heard Neko's giggle and said, without looking, "Neko, honey, there's cookies and milk on the table for you and your little friend."

"Thank you, Miss. Flaxen, Ma'am." Mira said, politely, standing with her hands clasped together in front of her, waiting for Alaura to turn around and aknowlege her, "I am very happy to be here with all of you, Ma'am."

Alaura turned around and smiled at the girl, she took in her dress and said; "Your welcome, dear. What a lovely outfit you've got on."

"Thank you, Ma'am." She smiled, "I found it in the closet, I hope it's all right…"

"Oh, perfectly, dear." Alaura said, "Only, please, call me Alaura, I'm still too young to be called `Ma'am' all the time."

"Mira!" Neko called, her mouth full of cookies, "C'mere `an et!"

"Neko!" Alaura glared, appalled at her daughter's behaviour, "That's disgusting! Don't talk with your mouth full!"

"S-sworry…" Neko swallowed and went on; "I mean, sorry, Mom. I forgot."

Mira sat down and folded a napkin in her lap. She took one of the cookies that hadn't already been gobbled up by Neko and nibbled a little of it. She became aware of eyes watching her and flushed red as she put the cookie down on the plate and dabbed at her lips with the napkin.

"My! What a polite little thing you are, Mira." Alaura said, beaming at her, to her daughter she said; "See, Neko? You would do well to emulate Mira here in regards to table manners."

After Alaura turned away, Neko stuck her tongue out at Mira, showing her a mouthful of half-chewed cookie, and Mira giggled into her napkin. Alaura pretended not to hear, smiling softly to herself that her little girl had a playmate around her own age at last. But, she thought, Neko's table manners DID leave much to be desired. They would really have to work on them.

Suddenly, Neko jumped up and ran out of the kitchen. Mira turned questionally to Alaura. "M-Alaura?"

"He's home." Alaura smiled to herself and wiping her hands on a towel, she spun graceful around and Mira admired her pretty golden hair as it fell in waves down her back and the way her blue eyes seemed to light up from within. She left the room and Mira wondered who she was going to meet next.

Piccolo met Neko at the door, who launched herself at him in her usual greeting. He easily caught her in midair and brought her to his face as she kiss him on the cheek and wrapped her little arms tightly about his head. He had just come in from training with Gohan and the dirt and sweat of a full day still clung to him. But he knew his little girl did not care, she would greet him this way if he were covered in dung, she loved him that much.

"Have you been a good girl, today, Neko?" He asked her, as he let her go so she could float near his head.

"Da! Guess what? Guess what?" She asked, hopping in mid-air, Piccolo shook his head, not even going to venture a guess. With his daughter, it could be anything from Tae teaching her how to control her ki better to finding a family of ants behind the house. "I found a girl in the forest today!"

"What?" He was taken aback, he wasn't expecting this! "What girl? In the forest? How did she get there?"

"We don't know, Da!" Neko said, lowering herself to the floor as she saw Alaura approaching from the hall, "But she's in our kitchen eating cookies right now! Her name is Jalamira, but she says we can just call her Mira and she had weird hair and her ears look like yours, Da!"

"Slow down, Neko!" Alaura said, ruffling her daughter's hair, "Don't forget, you still to breath!"

She moved past the little girl and wrapped her arms around Piccolo's waist, bringing her head upwards to meet his own as he kissed her soundly in greeting. Piccolo also knew that THIS little girl of his would always greet him this way, regardless of how he looked or smelled when he came home. On that he knew he could rely. But, he was also curious about this girl Neko mentioned.

"Hey, you two!" Alaura opened her eyes and saw Gohan standing in the doorway, looking just as battered as Piccolo, grinning as if he'd just come back from the carnival, "Get a room!"

Neko giggled and Alaura and Piccolo withdrew from each other, but only bodily, their souls were forever connected and they shared a look between each other than only those deeply in love could understand. Neko grabbed Piccolo's hand and started to lead him into the kitchen, "Come on, Da! I want you to meet Mira!"

"Who's Mira?" Gohan asked, looking from face to face, "What did I miss, here?"

"A girl I found in the forest, Uncle Gohan!" Neko said, looking over her shoulder at him, "No one knows how she got there!"

They entered the kitchen and saw Mira standing next to the table, waiting. Her eyes nearly bulged from their sockets when she saw how large Piccolo was and Neko said; "Mira, this is my father, Piccolo and my Uncle Gohan."

"Nice to meet you both." Mira said, shyly, she ducked her eyes and looked back at Neko; "You have such a…large family, Neko."

"Yes, I know!" Neko beamed proudly, "I am gonna be big and strong like Da too, when I grow up!"

"Oh, you are, are you?" Alaura asked.

"Sure, Mom!" Neko said, "And I'm going to fight too, Da said he would start training me soon!"

"Oh, really?" Alaura glared at Piccolo, recalling a certain conversation they had not too long ago, "And what about school?"

"Now you sound like MY Mom!" Gohan said and laughed at Alaura's bewhildered expression.

"Well, school IS important." She said, in defense of herself.

Mira waited paitently while the family chatted back and forth and found herself missing something, something which could only be found through friends and family. She knew she needed to remember how to get back to Jalamir so she could be with the family she just knew where there, waiting and missing her.

"I don't know exactly how I got here." Mira began later, after introductions and greetings had passed, "But I do know that I come from a world called Jalamir. I was named after it. I aslo know that I am someone special there, or at least, that is the feeling I have, I cannot be sure, however, until all memories are complete. I don't remember exactly how far from this world Jalamir is, if I ever knew to begin with."

"Strange." Gohan said, "You look a few years younger than Neko here, yet you talk years older. Do you remember your age, at all, Mira?"

Mira thought for a moment and said; "I was born at least two hundred turns ago. I mean, the way the seasons turn. Do the seasons turn here as well?"

"Two hundred…you can't be two hundred years old!" Alaura cried, her hand to her heart as her blue eyes widened.

"Why not, My love?" Piccolo said, "She is an alien and her race may just be long-lived, such as mine are."

Mira nodded, and Neko looked sad for a moment. Mira knew the little girl was upset because she thought she'd found a friend near her own age to play with, not another grown up who wouldn't understand her. She smiled at Neko and tried to reach the girl telepathically; She sent in a mindtouch only the other girl could hear; ** Don't worry, Neko. We can still be friends. There is much that I don't know that you can still teach me. **

Neko brightened and she knew the message had been received easily.

"Well, with the way you carry yourself, Mira," Gohan said, cocking his head to the side to study her, "I woudn't be surprised if you were their Princess or something."

"Nothing so grand, Gohan." Mira said, giggling, "Though, it would be nice, I think…No, I think I'm probably just from a well-to-do family or something…"

"Hmm." Gohan said, "I wonder, though."

"Well, dear, at any rate," Alaura said, as she sat on Piccolo's lap with his arms around her as he floated above the floor the kitchen, "You are welcome to stay here with us as long as you want."