Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Thicker Than Blood ❯ A Vow of Vengence ( Chapter 11 )

Neko awoke early, she could tell by the sun which hadn't shown it's face all the way in the sky outside her window yet. Her stomach growled and she realized she hadn't eaten in hours. She sat up and rubbed at her eyes, feeling as if she had awoken from some horrible dream and yet not able to remember it now that she was awake. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, thinking. Her mother had put her in the pink frilly Hello Kitty © nightshirt she wore and she remembered her father and Mother tucking her into bed and kissing her goodnight, but everything after that was a blur.

No matter. She thought, swinging her legs over the side and hoping onto the cool hardwood floor of her bedroom, Mira and I…She stopped suddenly as a hard lump forced it's way into her stomach. Mira. She thought, forcing herself to stay calm, Something has happened to Mira. She closed her eyes and her stomach lurched at the images within. That silvery-blonde haired woman with ears like Mira's and the ice-hard stare, Mira fighting her and losing…and…her head…all bloody…

Neko sat down hard on the floor, ignoring the sharp pain up her right butt cheek as she did so and ground her fists into her tightly closed eyes. The horror of the forgotten nightmare came back tenfold, only, now she realized, it was no mere nightmare. Everything had been real. As real as the blood she saw dripping from Larajin's blade down in the arena the night before.

I could have stopped her! Neko thought, frantic, angry, If only I have tried harder to keep her from going! She would be alive today. If only! It's my fault…it must be. She opened her eyes and blinked several times to stop the tears that threatened to come, like water over a poorly built dam. But she would not allow them. No, I refuse to weep any more! I was weak and now my best friend is dead. She gritted her teeth and walked to her closet to find something to wear for the day. She choice the bright orange gi she always trained in, her Mother had it cleaned recently, she was thoughtful like that.

"I must be strong." She said to herself as she made her way outside, her dark eyes blazing with a fire much too old for her tender years, "If I were strong when Mira fought her sister I could have helped and perhaps saved her." She went to find her father, more determinded that ever to not only keep up her training but to gain perfection, or at least as near to as she, a little girl, could get. Never again. She thought, her chin jutting out at an angle Alaura would have called her `stubborn chin', I will never be weak again.

"Someday, Larajin." Neko said, softly, "I will repay you for killing my best friend!"