Dragonball Super Z http://hometown.aol.com/juuhachigouda/dbszfic.html By: Juuhachi-gou Dragonball Z Interlude Two: It's Alright, It's OK - a broken doll baby and she says her life's a waste it doesn't have to be that way dad threw away her mom her mom gave up his name crucified by their words nailed by shame she stares into the sun self-inflicted pain she sees that they're blind why does she take all the blame? ~*~ Goten's skill with the guitar was evident--he wasn't much of a fighter, but he could certainly play music, even at his tender age. He held the guitar balanced on his knee, his foot propped up on the portable amplifier. Trunks (who was about as musically adept as a dugong) sat on an empty packing case, tapping his heel more or less in time. When Vegeta wasn't abusing his body in the name of surpassing Gokou in the Gravity Room, the boys often commandeered it as a kind of clubhouse, hideout, and gathering place. Naturally they didn't use the gravity enhancers; they weren't necessary for recreational purposes, and besides, Trunks' father would have beaten them bloody for fiddling with the presets. On this particular sunny afternoon, the boys had company. Another lavender-haired youth, this one easily ten years the first's senior, leaned against a wall, hands in his pants pockets, smiling at the blonde who stood near Goten, singing in a flawless, crystal-pure voice. Trunks--that is to say, the younger one--kept stealing glances at his older, alternate future self. He wondered if he would look like that when he grew up--tall, strong, confident. Probably even handsome. He wondered where Mirai Trunks got his sword, and where he could get one just like it. Maybe he could ask...but not right now. The other Trunks was too distracted. Chibi Trunks (though, on the brink of adolescence, he was hardly a "chibi" anymore) looked over at Mirai Juuhachi-gou. If Mirai Trunks made him uneasy, his girlfriend (imagine that!) made him feel even more unsettled. Goten had often told Trunks in private that he thought Kuririn's wife was "a hot number" (laughing at his own pun). Trunks always told him to shut up, you shouldn't talk that way about a grown woman, a married grown woman at that. But privately, he had to agree that Juuhachi-gou was really (really really really) pretty. And that was "their" Juuhachi-gou, the one who was Marron's mom, the one who never looked at anybody with anything less than mild disdain, even her own husband. But this Juuhachi-gou...the one from the future...she was different. Very different. Trunks studied her more closely, watching the way she moved, listening to the rise and fall of her voice as she sang, trying to see in her the vicious killer he'd always heard she was. He couldn't see it. She looked like an ordinary, extremely pretty girl of about--well, of eighteen, he would guess. She wore a skinny black sweater, black tights, and a denim vest and miniskirt. Her hair was longer than her counterpart's, falling almost to the small of her back, and her face was much more expressive. She didn't scowl at all, she smiled almost all the time...but her eyes, her eyes were so sad. Trunks wasn't nearly as girl-crazy as Goten was getting to be, but even so he found himself wondering if Marron would be that pretty when she grew up. It would probably help, he thought, if Marron had a nose. ~*~ the rhyme has changed compulsion rules mary's little lambs are now raised by wolves a voyeur with wings flashes a cure she knows forbidden things they have a lovely lure ~*~ She stepped out of the car as soon as it stopped, and the first thing she heard was the voice. That voice. It scraped on her already- jangled nerves, making her want to blow something up just on general principles. The destruction wouldn't make the voice go away, but it was almost the only form of expression she could use. It wasn't like she could cry. "Aa, that sounds nice!" Kuririn lifted Marron out of the back seat and swung her nimbly to the ground. "I bet you could sound like that if you tried, Juuhachi--uhh..." He trailed off, blinking, as she turned a frosty glare on him. "Um, actually, I guess it doesn't really sound all that good, uhm, heheheh..." She spun on her heel and stomped away from him without a word. "Ohhhh, boy." Kuririn put an arm around his daughter's thin shoulders. "Looks like I made your kaa-san mad again." Solemnly, Marron nodded. ~*~ persecuted she's not normal i envy her strange ways seven deadly sins seize the hour seize the day ~*~ Juuhachi-gou pondered just taking off and flying away, but she couldn't abandon her daughter like that. She had formed a deep bond with Marron from the moment of the girl's birth, amazed at the miraculous reproductive capabilities of her own augmented body, quietly delighted at the miracle child she'd never imagined possible. She couldn't express much affection towards Kuririn--not that he seemed to mind that much, so long as she put up with him--but to Marron, she could be nurturing, tender, protective in a way she'd never been before. Not that she could remember, anyway. She stood at the edge of Bulma's property, her back to the Gravity Room, but she could still hear her the music, her counterpart's voice, cutting into her. Yes, she could sing like that, if she wanted to. She could reproduce every note, every inflection, flawlessly. But she wouldn't be able to feel the music, the emotions the song invoked, not the way her double obviously did. And she hated that other Juuhachi-gou for it. She had grilled Kuririn mercilessly in the past several days, wringing from his memory every detail of Mirai Trunks' first visit to their timeline. She had heard from her husband's lips how she--how her counterpart and her twin had ravaged the world, killing and destroying without mercy or discretion. She could only wonder how things had gotten to that point for them; when she had awakened, she'd been arrogant, she'd hated Gero, but she hadn't felt like murdering the entire human race? Why did Mirai Juuhachi-gou feel compelled to do so? And how did she come to regret her actions, to become Mirai Trunks' ally, his lover? These were questions for which Kuririn had no answers. How dare she sit in there, letting everyone hear her soul bleed? How dare she be so openly affectionate with Mirai Trunks? How dare she laugh and smile so often, and so often look to be on the verge of tears? How dare she be so much more...human? "...uhm..." Juuhachi-gou turned her head and glared out of the corner of one tip-tilted eye. Kuririn stood behind her, looking shamefaced. Marron clung to her father's side--she was almost as tall as he was, already--peering silently up at her mother. The child's eyes asked a question she was too shy to voice: Kaa-san, daijoubu? Mommy, are you okay? Juuhachi-gou's icy scowl defrosted a little. She crouched on her heels and reached out to tousle Marron's red-ribboned pigtails. The girl giggled, and the tension finally broke. "'M sorry, Juuhachi-gou," Kuririn said quietly. "I didn't mean--I know it's not comfortable for you. I wish there were something I could do to help." She didn't look up at him. "There isn't." "I know. Look...Bulma's car's not here, so I guess we can leave. Okay?" "I wanna see Trunks!" Marron sniffled. "Na, na, Marron-chan," Kuririn beamed down at her, "we can come back later, or maybe tomorrow. We'll call first, okay?" "Now!" The little girl stamped her foot. Juuhachi-gou stood, and her daughter turned pleading eyes on her. "Pleeeeeease, kaa-san? Can't we stay just for a few minutes?" "Marron-chan, don't be disobedient." Kuririn was looking up at his wife. "We really should leave and come back later. Ne, Juuhachi- gou?" She knew what he was doing. Or trying to do. He wanted to spare her any further discomfort. He was trying to protect her the only way he knew how, the only way he really could. It was what he always did, smoothing the way for her, covering her social gaffes, making life for her as normal as it could possibly be. It was a constant act of love that she never took for granted, and she wished now, as always, that she knew how to thank him for it. She managed to grace him with a small, secret smile. "Saa, Marron-chan," she said, "as long as we're here we could at least stop to stay hello." "Yaaaaay!!" Marron broke away from her father and ran towards the gleaming dome. "We can wait for her," Kuririn suggested carefully. "Wait in the car, I mean. You don't have to--" "Baaaaaka," she snarled, pushing past him. She went about five steps, then stopped, looked back at him. Kuririn, who had begun to follow her, paused. "Juuhachi-gou...?" "I can't avoid her forever," she confessed, softly. "I can't run away from myself. If...if I spend time with her, maybe I can learn to understand myself better. Maybe I can learn to be more like her." Kuririn reached out and caught her hand in his. "I prefer you just the way you are," he said, firmly. "I loved you the first moment I saw you, and that's never changed. And it won't. Not ever." She looked at him, knowing her expression was completely blank, devoid of feeling. She could sense her own reaction welling just under the surface, but she couldn't find a way to let it out so he could see. She never could. Finally she gave up, turned and headed for the Gravity Room, and Kuririn followed. ~*~ her ideas need expression her wounds never bleed her beauty lives in my eyes too bad she can't see ~*~ "I don't dance," Chibi Trunks scowled, resisting half-heartedly. "Don't ask me." "Ne, come on, Trunks-kun!" Marron urged him onto his feet, his hands in hers. "It's fun, you'll see!" Mirai Trunks smiled as Marron spun his younger counterpart giddily around the chamber. The younger Trunks wasn't nearly as reluctant as he was pretending to be; he was blushing faintly, but the ghost of a smile was tugging at the corners of his small mouth. Marron's bright laughter, sounding so much like Juu-chan's, echoed off the gleaming walls. She was too caught up to notice the discarded weight bar on the floor. Trunks saw it, too late. "Marron-chan, look out--!" She stepped on the bar, it rolled aside, and her foot shot sideways. She fell hard to the floor with her other leg doubled up under her, and she cried out with sudden pain. "Marron-chan!" Chibi Trunks and Goten chorused. Marron tried to get up, failed, and burst into tears. "Marron!" Juuhachi-gou took one leap from the doorway and landed beside her daughter. Her future counterpart reached Marron's side at the same instant. "Kaa-saaaan!" Marron wailed, throwing her arms around the latter's neck. Her pain and embarrassment made her oblivious to the dire mistake she'd made. Mirai Juuhachi-gou looked from the girl who sobbed in her arms to her double, wide-eyed. She opened her mouth, apology already forming. "I--" Juuhachi-gou snarled and slapped her double viciously in the face, knocking her away. She gathered her daughter in her arms and flew out the door; Kuririn barely managed to duck in time to avoid being struck down himself. "Juu-chan!!" Mirai Trunks was at his lover's side at once, helping her sit up. "Juu-chan, are you all right?" She was holding the side of her face, and she wouldn't raise her eyes to meet his. "I think I'd better stay out of her way till the time machines are ready to take us home," she said dully. "I never meant..." "It wasn't your fault," he assured her, gathering her into his arms. "Come on, you two," Kuririn said to the watching wide-eyed boys, "let's get you into the house, and then I've got to leave." He ushered Trunks and Goten out, leaving Mirai Trunks and Mirai Juuhachi-gou alone in the now-silent Gravity Room. ~*~ she doesn't try I watch her spirits die but giving up the ghost can feel so good a voyeur with wings flashes a cure she knows forbidden things they have a lovely lure ~*~ "Please don't be mad at me, kaa-san...I didn't mean to, it just hurt so bad, and I couldn't think, and Trunks was there, and I was so--" "Hush now." Juuhachi-gou checked the bandage around Marron's ankle. "Don't try to walk on that again today." She looked up, managed a gentle smile for her daughter and patted her knee. "Get some rest, and you should be better by tomorrow." Marron eyed her mother suspiciously. "You're not mad?" "I'm not mad at you. Don't worry, everything's okay." "Where's Papa?" "He'll be home soon. Lie down and rest. I'll be back to check on you in a little while." She closed Marron's door and walked down the hall to the room she shared with her husband. Kamesennin and the talking pig-thing were nowhere to be found--no doubt they'd taken one look at her face when she'd arrived and made themselves scarce. That suited her just fine. It was best for them as well--the mood she was in wasn't conducive to the continued well-being of anyone who got in her way. She paused in front of the wall-mounted mirror, studying her reflection. It was no wonder that Marron got them confused; the other's hair was longer, and she wore different clothes, but at first glance there was no real way to tell them apart. The same almond-shaped eyes, pale blue in color; the same flawlessly perfect features; the same clear, fair skin; the same long, straight, silken blonde hair that framed the delicately angled face-- Her lovely face twisted into a savage snarl as she snatched up the straight razor from the bureau--the razor that Kuririn never used to shave his head anymore--and began slashing away at herself. ~*~ expected to fly but she's just standing still every time she gets enough she just can't close the deal so she gives herself another way out walk around for the fiftieth time she files ner nails till they bleed and she cries now she doesn't have to try ~*~ "Juuhachi-gou!" Kuririn jumped from the aircar before it had even touched down on the sandy ground. He flew through the doorway, landed and ran headlong down the hallway. He saw his wife's slim outline in their bedroom, saw the glint of metal off the edge of the razor in her hand She was cutting-- "What are you doing?!" he demanded. Long, silken white-gold strands littered the floor around her feet. Juuhachi-gou had cut her hair off above her ears; the ends were jagged and uneven. As he watched in horror, she seized another fistful of hair and sliced it off, letting it drop. He ran to her and took the razor out of her hand. "Juuhachi-gou, why? Look at you!" "Yes!" she hissed at him. "Look at me. I don't want to look like her. I don't want our daughter not knowing who her mother is. I don't want to be interchangeable for another model. I want to be..." Her chest hitched. "I want to be human!" Her eyes burned, and she blinked, hard. Kuririn's face went slack with amazement, and he reached up to touch her face. She couldn't bring herself to move back or slap his hand away. "Juuhachi-gou," he whispered, almost reverently. His fingers came away damp. Stunned, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a jagged mess, sticking haphazardly off her scalp, her eyes were glistening wet...and her cheeks were streaming tears. It seemed impossible, but she couldn't deny the evidence of her eyes. For the first time in her curtailed memory, she was crying. "Kuririn..." she whispered, with the voice of a lost child. "It's all right, Juuhachi-gou." He pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed, and took her in his arms. She didn't even try to resist. "It's okay." ~*~ it's all right, it's okay welcome to this life killing time just watching the grass grow it's alright, it's okay, welcome to this life don't worry, sweet baby 'cause it's over before you know... Leah Andreone, "It's Alright, It's OK" ~*~ Ten days had passed. During that time, Mirai Juuhachi-gou had stayed within the walls of Capsule Corporation, doing her best to be invisible and unnoticeable. Trunks and Goten talked, of course, and everyone knew what had happened, but no one was fool enough to speak of it out loud. Now the time machines were fully charged and ready to go. Bulma and this world's Gohan were making the final adjustments and calculations, and everything was checking out normal. Mirai Vegeta was already inside one of the capsules, impatient to be off; Mirai Gokou was carrying on an animated conversation with his other self, and Mirai Piccolo and Mirai Gohan were talking quietly a short distance away from everyone else. "Come on, Juu-chan," Mirai Trunks said, taking her hand. "You're riding in the first capsule with me and Gohan-san." "That means Gokou gets to ride home with Piccolo and Vegeta? Lovely," she smiled. "Maybe he can keep them from killing each other." She followed him across the field to where the two time machines stood ready to transport them back to their own timeline. "Chotto," a voice said from behind them. Wait a minute. Both looked back. "Juu--Juuhachi-gou-san!" Trunks said. "We're leaving now." "I know. I want to talk to you," she said, looking directly at Mirai Juuhachi-gou. Trunks hesitated. "But--" "It's all right," Mirai Juuhachi-gou assured him. "Go on; I'll be right there." Trunks looked doubtful, but he nodded once and continued towards the waiting time machines. Mirai Juuhachi-gou faced her other self. "You cut your hair," she said. "I chopped it off," Juuhachi-gou corrected, ruffling her new short bangs. "Kuririn evened it up for me." "It looks...nice." "Skip the small talk. I have something to say to you and I'd rather get it over with, since it's not likely we'll ever see each other again." Inwardly Mirai Juuhachi-gou braced herself. "All right." There was a pause. Then Juuhachi-gou said: "Thank you." The other woman blinked. "For...what?" "I don't think I can explain, and you wouldn't understand." Juuhachi-gou's eyes narrowed. "It's a good thing you're going--I think I could develop a real hatred for you if you were to stay much longer. You show too much of yourself, and that means you show too much of me-- more than I could ever manage to, even if I wanted. But in spite of that, I owe you a debt of gratitude that I could never repay. Which is all the more reason for you to get out of my sight." She smirked. "Now go. Your lover and his friends are waiting for you." Mirai Juuhachi-gou hesitated, then dismissed the idea of questioning her alter self. "Sayonara, Juuhachi-gou. Have a good life." "Saraba," Juuhachi-gou responded, with a note of finality. "And the same to you." The long-haired woman flashed a beautiful, bright smile and ran off to join Mirai Trunks. Juuhachi-gou stood where she was, watching without visible response, as the time machines rose into the air and vanished. Then she walked over to her husband and daughter, who'd given Trunks a more personal farewell, and let Kuririn put an arm around her waist. And the stares of the others who didn't understand the change in her. The man she loved understood her, and she was at last beginning to understand herself, and that was enough. End Interlude Two