Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ When Dreams are Reality ❯ Suspicions, and flat tires. The flame is ignited. ( Chapter 3 )

A\N: In case you were wondering, Illana and her father believe they don't have a choice as far as the arranged marriage, but Tadashi does. Hm, why is that you say? Nope, not telling! Read along and find out! Onto chapter 3!

Chapter 3

Suspicions, and flat tires. The flame is ignited.

"You look a little anxious to see my choice now." My father could read me like a book. I didn't respond. After I saw her looking through the doorway, I wanted to meet her immediately. If he hadn't told me it was time I would have had to break down and ask him myself, although my pride would have held me back. We stopped in front of the door. "What are you waiting for?" Trying to quell my anticipation, I hesitate and slowly open the door, my father walked in behind me. There were two women in the study, one facing me and the other had her back turned. The woman facing me I did not recognize. She wore a long gown, silver colored, and a gold band around her left arm that showed that she was a permanent caregiver or servant. She was young enough to be a princess, but I knew it wasn't her. The other was dressed in a white gown adorned with small diamonds that showed her back. Something a Saiyan woman would never show for survival purposes. She had very long hair, to about the middle of her back, a small crown adorning her head clearly showing that she was royalty. She turned slowly to face me; the same azure eyes that I had seen from across the room were looking back at mine. "Tadashi, this is heir of the planet Tristan, princess Illana. Illana, this is Tadashi, prince of Vegetasei."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you princess. I've heard much about you." I took her hand and leaned to plant a soft kiss on it as I had been told to do. For the first time I found it a pleasure to kiss someone's hand. It smelled faintly of vanilla. Somehow I knew I was going to like her. I think my father knew that too, which explains the big event.

"I think it best to leave them to talk." He didn't ask, it was an order. The other woman looked hesitant to leave Illana's side.

"It's okay." With that the other woman and my father left the room, closing the door behind them. I turned back to my father's latest selection for my bride. I had to admit that she was a rarity. "Please excuse my nurse. She had orders from my father to stay with me." She said.

"I understand. But I'm the least of your worries."

"What other worries should I know about?"

"None as long as I'm alive." I finally got a smile out of her. A slight shimmer caught my eye. It was her necklace. It looked like a royal blue precious stone encased in a thin spiral of gold. "May I ask about your necklace?" I was genuinely interested. Nothing like that could be found on Vegetasei.

"My necklace?" She placed a well manicured hand on the jewel. "This is a rare stone from the blue mountains of my kingdom. It's said that only those with pure hearts can find it or even wear it without it turning black and crumbling. It was found by my mother. A gift to me before she died."

"I'm sorry about your mother. It must be very important to you."

"Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago." She said, a sad smile crossing her lips. I took another look at it and saw how it seemed to glow, as if a small fire were burning inside it. And it being against her caramel skin made it glow even more. "It is a rare beauty. And so is its owner." She smiled again.

"You certainly have a way with words." She said. After a minute, her smile faded.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I must be honest with you, Tadashi. I don't want to get married this way. I begged my father to let me choose my husband, and yet, here I am." She walked over to the chair and sat down. It would be a lot easier if we knew each other first."

"I agree with you. But our marriage will benefit both of our planets. Yet I still think that everyone should be able to choose their mate." I said.

"I'm glad you understand me."

"I have an idea. Let's agree that we will try our best to make this work. We will get to know each other before we are married." I didn't like the idea of keeping someone who didn't want to be kept. If after a while she still wasn't happy, I would let her go.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I would like that very much!" I went to the door and told the guard to give my father the news.

After Illana and I were announced as being engaged, we went to the dance floor to begin our courtship period. We talked as we made circles on the floor. I learned a lot about her. Like how she was trained to use long and short swords, and how she practiced Tai Chi every morning to center herself. I was surprised to see that so many Saiyans welcomed the fact that I would be marrying outside of our race. Especially since the people of Tristan were not nearly as strong as us. They did have very advanced technology. That probably attracted my father to combine kingdoms. But as I looked into her eyes as we danced, I felt deep down that something wasn't right. My father, a man who could order an entire planet to be destroyed with the wave of his hand, and with that same gesture wipe the planet out himself, was being too nice. There was something about the way he was acting that didn't sit right with me. From the way he talked, the way he looked at me, and never in my life have I ever heard him use the word `diplomatic'. I didn't think it was part of his vocabulary. Whatever his motive, I would have to act normally until I found out the truth.

***

I don't know why I woke up before my alarm clock. I rolled over to find out that it was 6:16 a.m. I didn't have to be at work until 9:00. I turned around and sat up as if that could help me understand the dream I just had. Everynight was like seeing a movie unfold and I couldn't change or stop it. It wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't have so many questions. My biggest ones being why I was having them so often now, why did Illana look so familiar, and why did it feel like I was seeing actual history and not just some sort of movie? I lied back down and tried to sleep again. The harder I tried to sleep, the more my mind raced. I got out of bed. Going back to sleep would be impossible. After I took a shower and dressed, I headed for the kitchen. Tousan was sitting at the table which was covered with leftovers from last night. Usually there wasn't anything left from dinner, but I haven't been eating well lately.

"Morning." I said. He just grunted.

"You want some?" He pointed to the food.

"I'm not hungry." I said.

"Fine." With that, he started eating noisily. I just got a juice can from the fridge. I knew interrupting my father's eating was a risk, but I had a question. Maybe he could help.

"Tousan?" He looked up, still eating. "Has a Saiyan prince ever married outside his race?"

He paused from eating to answer. "All the time, but they didn't have children with them. They were only concubines anyway."

"What if the woman was his first wife and they had a child?" I asked.

"The woman would become queen, but the child wouldn't be an heir. The king would breed with a Saiyan woman to produce an heir. Are you finished?" He started eating again. I went back to my room.

I checked the clock again and it read 7:30. I turned it off and headed for the door. I guess I would take a walk to clear my head.

I flew around aimlessly only to land when I got a few stares from passerby's. After walking a few more blocks, I had figured some things out about this dream world. If it was real, it had to have taken place on Vegetasei long before it was destroyed. Maybe even before Frieza found out about it. King Vegeta was definitely hiding something from everyone, and that could mean trouble for Illana and Tadashi. What would happen to them if something did go wrong? I felt a semi-familiar energy not too far from me, someone I may have seen before. I was turning the corner when the taillights of a parked car made me look in that direction. A shapely woman was standing with one hand on her hip looking exasperated at one of her back tires. An axel was sitting almost in the middle of the street and car jack held the weight of the car about a foot off the ground. Clear signs that she had completed a failed attempt to change a flat tire. A few more steps and he realize the woman was Tristan. Her long, softly curled hair was falling into her face and made a trail down her back. She wore white shirt that seemed to be wrapped around her body and tied at her left hip. While she had chosen to wear a pair of black slacks yesterday, today she wore a khaki skirt that came just above her knees. Her stiletto heels accentuated her never-ending legs. The ever-present lab coat that was required of all lab personnel was draped over the hood of her silver Acura RL. He couldn't help but notice how good she looked even though her face said she was ready to smash the axel through the windshield.

"Need some help?" I think I startled her. She smiled when she saw it was me.

"My guardian angel." The only other person that looked that happy to see me was my mom. "I really need your help, again." By this time I was starting to laugh at how cute she looked.

"Hey! Are you laughing at me?" She said smiling, her other hand positioning on her other hip.

"Of course not!" She stepped aside as I picked up where she left off. She managed to remove two of the bolts from the wheel but the other two were the root of the problem. After a few minutes the spare was on and the flat was put in the trunk.

"Thank you for helping me with that tire. I would have been late again. Would you like a ride back?" She asked.

I looked at my watch. It was already 8:30. I only had a half an hour left. "No th… Yeah." I was about to say no but I wanted to stay with her a little longer before work. 50 Cent's voice threatening to kill everybody from the CD player filled the silence between us. She waited until we were on the main road before she spoke.

"So how is running Capsule Corp. going?"

"Fine I guess."

"You guess?" Her prompting look made me continue.

"Well, I like working there, but I don't think I'm ready to completely run it."

"Is Mrs. Briefs pressing you about taking over the company?" Her eyes went from mine and back to the road.

"Not really, but I know she will soon. I want to run the company, but I feel that I have more to do before I take it over."

She stopped at a stoplight and looked at me. "What do you think you're missing?"

"Sometimes I don't know."

"Maybe it's not a something you're looking for, maybe it's a someone." Even though her comment sounded like she was talking about herself, I knew she wasn't. She was just giving me something to think about. "Well, we're here." I was so into spilling my guts to Tristan that I hadn't even noticed.

"Hopefully I'll see you later." I said.

"Yeah, me too." She smiled and walked to the lab entrance. I headed to the main entrance. I said good morning to the receptionist, pretending that I didn't see the flirty look she gave me. Maybe it was just me, but I wondered about her. I once caught her looking at one of our female workers with that same lusty look. I shrugged at her indifference of gender appreciation and made a bee-line to my office. I needed an outside opinion of my situation, and Goten was perfect.