Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyasaga ❯ Growing Closer ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The Great Super Saiyan 5: Another disclaimer? Well, if you insist...

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. 'Cept for Kaerlos. I earn nothin' from this.

Kaerlos: Is this another transitional chapter?

TGSS5: Yup. Here I'll sorta state the pairings for those of you who haven't figured it out yet.

Kaerlos: Me, for example.

TGSS5: You're clueless. I'm gonna try to make this a romance chapter, too, though I'm only putting one couple together right now- the other couple is too shy to admit it. I'll admit that I'm being a bit too fast in putting them together, but this is my fic, I'll write it how I want! Let's go!

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Last chapter ended with:
Kaerlos, panting, said, "I need a rest after we clear the ship out." He powered down to normal.

"What was that form you were just in?" Shion asked.

Kaerlos sighed. "Super Saiyan 3."

It didn't take long to clear out the ship after the enemy mothership had been destroyed. After clearing the ship, everyone who had fought went to take a well-deserved rest.

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"__ _": Normal speech
'___': Signs and other writing
*___*: Thoughts
*"___"*: Telepathy
"/___/": Saiyago (Saiyan language, for those that haven't guessed)
*"/___/"*: Telepathic Saiyago
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*: POV change
*~~~~~~___~~~~~~*: Multi-POV, ___ is names of POV, ie Shion and KOS-MOS
italics : Flashback (1st person during flashback)
(STILL copy-pasting)

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Chapter 5
Growing Closer

One week after the attack on the Elsa...

I was fighting my brother. Since when was he able to go Super Saiyan 4? Ah, well, I'd just show off and beat him in normal form. We exchanged punches and kicks for what seemed like hours before it became obvious that he was getting the upper hand. I was too stubborn to go Super Saiyan. Chalk it up to genetics. Anyway, we eventually got to the point where he was getting two or more hits in for every one I got, and it quickly became obvious that I could no longer win. Just when I was considering throwing pride to the winds and running, he laughed insanely and blasted me with everything he had. I screamed as his ki blast hit me. Searing pain, untold agony poured through me. If I hadn't already been insane, it would probably have driven me mad. Eventually, as my vision faded, the pain receded in proportion.

White... grey... grey... grey... grey... grey... grey...

Black.

"GAAAAAAAAH!" Kaerlos shouted, sitting bolt upright. That nightmare again... When would it end? He'd been having flashbacks in his dreams ever since it happened. As he sat there, panting in terror, he looked around the room to assure himself that it wasn't real. There was KOS-MOS' maintenance bed over there, open, there was KOS-MOS sitting in it, staring at him in shock... Wait a minute, had he been projecting in his sleep? If so, how far did his nightmare go? Ah, well, he'd find out at breakfast. Right now, though, he should find out if he'd been projecting. It had been a surprise when he found that KOS-MOS could transmit and receive telepathic messages, but he could use that fact to help himself. "D-did you see my dream?" he asked unsteadily.

KOS-MOS nodded before saying, "Shion told me that, according to Vegeta, you died but got revived. Was that how you died?" She'd been making progress in speaking like a human, but she wasn't there yet.

Kaerlos nodded. "Yeah, that's how I died. I've been having flashbacks ever since. Stupid Bebi..."

KOS-MOS blinked. "Who is Bebi?"

Kaerlos sighed. "Bebi was a monster created by the Tuffles to kill the Saiyans. He had the ability to possess people through their wounds. He's the reason Vegeta killed me." He was still shaking with fear.

KOS-MOS climbed out of the bed and walked over to him. Then she surprised him by kneeling down and taking his head in her arms in a comforting manner. "I wish you told someone sooner."

Kaerlos wanted to look to see what her expression was, but he also wanted to stay where he was because it was very comfortable. At least that's what he told himself. Eventually, though, his curiosity got the better of him, and he pushed back a little to look at her face.

KOS-MOS looked like she would have cried if she could. That made Kaerlos feel bad. Sad eyes met sad eyes, and, on an impulse, in an attempt to cheer both of them up, he leaned in and kissed her. Her eyes widened before she closed them and returned the kiss. It lasted quite a while, and Kaerlos only broke it because he needed to breathe. After the kiss, KOS-MOS said, "I... I love you."

"I love you, too," Kaerlos replied, smiling happily. After their mutual declaration, they resumed kissing, though much more passionately. Eventually his stomach growled, reminding him that he needed to eat. The two reluctantly stopped kissing so they could go to breakfast.

*~~~~~~Bardock and Shion~~~~~~*

Bardock woke up as he dreamed of Kaerlos's death. AGAIN. *Damned somnoprojector...* he thought, mentally berating the cause of his dream. *That's the 873rd time Kaerlos dreamed of his death in 880 days, and the nights he missed it were the ones after we got involved in this mess. When's he gonna get over it?* He looked up just as Shion entered the room.

After seeing that Bardock was the only one awake, Shion said, "Excuse me, Bardock. I just had a really strange dream..."

"Oh, it hit you, too, huh?" Bardock asked. "Kaerlos has it every night at about this time. Kakarot, Vegeta, and I are so used to it we can usually sleep through it. I must've had something on my mind." He found that for some reason, his gaze kept drifting lower than her face. It couldn't be that he was interested in her... could it?

Shion could see that Bardock's gaze kept slipping downward, and she found herself staring longingly at him. *Why would Kaerlos's dream... oh yeah, he's a telepath. Why's Bardock looking at me like that, anyway? And why am I staring at HIM? Do I love him...? I kinda hope so... He's a nice guy, despite being a rough trainer. Though I gotta admit, the training is effective.* Before thinking about it, she said, "Thanks for training me."

"No problem. I've been enjoying it," Bardock answered honestly. *She's made radical progress... She has to be a natural. There's no other way for her to get stronger that fast. She's already as strong as Nappa was when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, and Nappa trained for 60 years by then. She's only been training for a week, without increased gravity! That reminds me...* he thought before continuing. "By the way, after breakfast we'll resume training, but this time we'll use more extreme conditions. Okay?"

Shion tilted her head to the side. "What kind of conditions?"

Bardock nodded, saying, "Good... Never trust a proposal at first glance. Anyway, the conditions will be increased gravity while wearing weighted clothes. That acceptable?"

Shion considered before asking, "How much weight and gravity?"

Bardock nodded again. "Right... Ask for more information when they seem to be leaving something out. The clothes will weigh 80 pounds in normal gravity, and we'll be training in about five times gravity. That enough info?"

Shion nodded. "Sounds good. It's obvious that your style of training is to weigh yourself down as much as possible without collapsing."

Bardock grinned. "First we have to get some breakfast. Then we'll train." An errant thought: *God, I want her as a mate...* His reaction: *WHAT THE HELL?!* Guess he was interested.

*~~~~~~Kaerlos and KOS-MOS~~~~~~*

Kaerlos hurried to breakfast after he got to the top floor because he smelled food- curry again; didn't Shion know how to cook anything else? At least it was good, unlike the cooking of several other people on the ship. KOS-MOS followed at a slightly more leisurely pace, despite not wanting to lose her new boyfriend.

When Kaerlos entered the room and rushed to a seat, no one raised an eyebrow, or even looked twice. When KOS-MOS entered and sat next to him, everyone stared for several seconds, all other things forgotten. Then Shion remembered that Kaerlos was probably hungry and went to get some curry for him.

When she came back with two trays filled almost to overflowing- a typical meal for a Saiyan on a starvation diet- she saw that KOS-MOS had started leaning on Kaerlos. She almost froze up again, but she remembered that Kaerlos would want food soon at the last second. She placed both trays down in front of them, then went to get two more, and repeat until he was full.

When she returned the second time, she saw that not only was KOS-MOS still leaning on Kaerlos, she had put her arm around him, too. Kaerlos was eating at about his usual rate, though- both of the first trays were empty. Shion exchanged her current load of trays with the empty ones and went back to the kitchen for more.

This time when she came back, KOS-MOS was sitting in Kaerlos's lap. Now Shion froze up, staring uncomprehendingly at the position of apparent intimacy. KOS-MOS, seeing Shion's predicament, got up, took the trays from her, brought these trays to the table, and switched them with the empty ones again. These she placed in Shion's hands. Then she whistled sharply to try to wake Shion up.

Shion started and glared at KOS-MOS for a second. Then she realized the reason for the whistle. She nodded her thanks and went for another round. When she got back KOS-MOS was back to leaning on Kaerlos with her arm around him. Shion switched trays one last time and carried the empty ones to the kitchen one last time.

This time when she came back, Shion asked, "That enough?" He had just eaten his usual amount, but it didn't hurt to be sure.

"Yeah, for now," Kaerlos answered, as usual. His follow-up thought was very unusual, though: *Though I'll never get enough of KOS-MOS...*

KOS-MOS was staring at Kaerlos contendedly and thinking, *I will always be content as long as I am with you... I have never been satisfied until now.* She smiled, which shocked everyone but Kaerlos. They had never seen her smile, after all.

"W-we're gonna go train now," Bardock said, grabbing a still-staring Shion and pulling her off towards the elevator.

*~~~~~~Bardock and Shion~~~~~~*

While they trained, Bardock and Shion both thought about their feelings for each other, along with the morning's incident from, surprisingly, KOS-MOS. Neither was aware of it, but their thoughts were running along similar paths.

As Shion punched and kicked as fast as she could, she thought, *Wonder what that was about. KOS-MOS never showed emotion before, so why would she start now? I guess I'll just have to ask her.* Then her thoughts changed course abruptly: *How do I feel about Bardock? Hmmm... I feel highly attracted to him. The attraction isn't just physical- I like his personality, too. I've never been so confused about my emotions... Is this love? Please, God, let this be love... I want to love someone and Bardock's a good person to love.*

At the same time, Bardock was thinking while he blocked. *Why was KOS-MOS acting that way at breakfast? And what was she doing at breakfast in the first place? Guess I'll have to find out.* That settled to his temporary satisfaction, his thoughts moved on: *My feelings for Shion... I've only gotten this close with one other woman, and that was my mate. Am I falling in love again? Hope so- it might get my mind off of her, and it might help me get to sleep at night. Shion seems to be a good choice.*

Neither could quite work up the courage to tell the other of their growing feelings for each other. Their training session continued for an hour before Bardock called for a break. Shion gratefully sank down onto her knees, panting and sweating. After the attack she had given up on her decorative glasses, so she didn't have to worry about them falling off.

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TGSS 5: Okay, I can't think of anything else for this chapter so I'm gonna end it here. I know KOS-MOS is WAY out of character, but I warned you that I'd make her act more human.

Kaerlos: You paired me with an ANDROID?!

KOS-MOS: I do not see a problem.

Kaerlos: Ah, what the hell. *kisses KOS-MOS*

Bardock: So you like me, too, Shion?

Shion: *blushing* Um... yeah.

Bardock: Good. *kisses Shion*

TGSS5: What the hell are those two girls doing here, anyway? Ah, well, who cares as long as they keep those two distracted.

Vegeta: What about us?

Goku: Yeah, what about us?

TGSS5: *snaps fingers and Bulma, Chi-chi, Gohan, Videl, Trunks, Pan, Goten, and Bra appear* There. Consider yourselves distracted.

Goku, Vegeta, Bardock, etc.: *are distracted*

TGSS5: Let's just hope they don't get de-distracted. See ya next chapter, whatever the hell it's called.