Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Lost Love ❯ Preparation ( Chapter 3 )

A Lost Love

By Karete-chan

Chapter 3:

After school I made my way through downtown West City towards Frame's house. You would think having the power to fly would make riding a bike boring. I actually find it quite peaceful. In the air there is hardly anything to avoid, apart from a stray bird or two. Riding a bike requires concentration. It is pleasant not to have to think about school or the fact that you don't belong anywhere in the world you call home. Downtown West City has many obstacles that it is necessary to avoid. Such as the old man that runs the fruit stall on the corner of Main and Satan. I think perhaps bikes were invented after his time, whereas his fruits probably came before him.

Frame is a weird girl, even by my standards. Though you wouldn't know it if you saw her house or family. They are as typical a Chikyuu-jin family you find anywhere. Mother, Father, annoying little brother, house with four bedrooms and a nicely manicured lawn; PTA and school events organizers. Then there is Frame. Hair worn in tinted blue and black spikes with a taste in clothing that tended to frown upon fashion, of any kind. I don't remember how exactly that we became friends; maybe it was because she looked stranger than I felt.

I walked into the house and the television was blaring. I made the logical conclusion and walked through the kitchen where I received a beaming smile from Frame's mother. For some strange reason that I can't fathom both her parents seem to think that I am a good influence on their daughter. I think because Frame hasn't become `worse' since I came along. Returning her mother's gesture I escaped before she could offer me milk and cookies. I had outgrown that before I'd even known what they were.

Frame was lounging on the couch when I entered. She didn't bother acknowledging that I was there; her attention was riveted to the television screen where two of what some people refer to as `actors' were feigning shock at some other actor's I-was-dead-but-now-I'm-alive appearance. I tossed our latest assignment at her head.

"Thanks," she said absently without taking her eyes from the screen.

I rolled my eyes. "People asked where you were today."

"Really?" Her head whipped around, her large green eyes wide in surprise.

I smirked. That had got her attention. "No," I said dropping down on the couch next to her, "but I was given this." She took the blue piece of paper and scanned it quickly. "Well?"

"Nice joke, Zen. You didn't get up early enough though."

"No joke. Guy named Goten gave it to me. Then I got an honest to goodness threat on my life from the queen of the pompom people."

Frame raised an eyebrow. "You're serious? Us; at this party?"

I shrugged. She was going to protest and I knew it. It hardly mattered though. A day or two of carefully placed hints would have her change her mind. I just wished I could do the same with that hat of hers.

My kassan was over the moon when I showed her the invite. So happy in fact that she began to plan what I was going to wear for me. Have I mentioned before how nice my kassan is? Well she's also one of those people who can be too nice. Have you ever met anyone like that? If you have then you know exactly how annoying they can be because all they really do is get in your way. Then there's the incessant urge to scream at them but you can't because deep down you know that they're only trying to help. That was what was happening as I watched my kassan rummage around in my wardrobe.

Now, if I were a normal teenager I would be somewhat apprehensive of my kassan going through my wardrobe and coming across all the things I'd hidden in there so that she wouldn't find them. I wasn't though. Mainly because all the things I didn't want her to find where behind the loose panel in the wall. Such as the one and only photo of me in my true form.

"Kassan," I said exasperatedly but it was really more like whining. "You really don't need to help me. I'm perfectly capable of choosing my own clothes."

She sat back on her heels and sighed. "I know, it's just that I miss the time when you used to ask me to do things for you."

I smirked. "Such a time never existed."

"It did," she said softly as she left the room. "It just didn't last very long."

I fumed as she disappeared from my sight. I hated when she did that. I always, always felt guilty that I couldn't have been a normal child for her. Or, at least what she would consider `normal'. Of course, I'm not saying that I was a terrible child; I just never really needed a kassan the way she wanted to be one.

I desperately wanted to punch something so I left the house and ventured out into the forest behind the house. Well, I call it a forest but it's more like an oversized grove of trees. There's a small fist sized depression in the ground of the clearing that strangely enough keeps getting bigger every time I visit. It was another two inches deeper by the time I left.

The phone was ringing when I got back inside. Tousan entered the hall from his study and picked it up. He flashed me a smile as he did so and disappeared back into the gloom. He works as a lawyer in one of the big firms in the city and hopes to make partner sometime soon. I wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge for a snack. The call had probably been about the big case he was working on; otherwise he would have just stayed in the hall. I asked him about it once but he simply smiled and ruffled my hair (another pet hate of mine) and told me that when it was over he'd buy me a pony. I couldn't help but smile at that; he'd been offering me a pony since they adopted me and I'd flatly declined every time.

Pulling half the contents from the refrigerator (it's wonderful to be able to eat like a pig and not gain any weight) and headed back to my room. I flipped on the television and listened to the afternoon news.

It was, as always, tedious and boring. A plane crashed, a bank was robbed and a kitten rescued from a tree by firemen with nothing better to do. I couldn't believe how behind the Chikyuu-jin were sometimes. Out there in space whole galaxies fought and died and ships travelled at hyper light speeds from planet to planet. Sometimes it was so peaceful here that it was annoying. No one had ever heard of Frieza or even travelled in space! The closest thing they had was Capsule Corp.'s new sports flyer. Chikyuu-jin were so…sheltered. The same question I had been asking myself for years flitted briefly through my mind again as I sat down at my desk to begin my homework.

Why, with all this planet's untapped resources hadn't Frieza sent a team to purge it yet?

The rest of the week drifted by as mundanely as usual. As far as I could tell the whole school had been awash with rumour about the party by the Friday afternoon classes. Apparently Trunks had hired four of the most popular bands around, one for each section of the Capsule Corp. complex. Of course the fact that the invitation had clearly said D.J mattered very little to anyone who was willing to listen.

I was, despite myself actually looking forward to attending. Part of that was that if there were going to be Orange Star high schoolers there then none of them would know me and that was a very pleasing thought. The other part was just wanting to see the look of fury on Floss's face as I walked through the door and if I could get her to see me talking with Goten it would be even better. It's petty I know, but you take the chances life gives you.

The one regret I had was when I walked past a group of giggling imbeciles on my way home that afternoon. They had been discussing with great enthusiasm and extreme loudness, what they were going to wear, supposedly so that they didn't clash. Talk of halter neck tops, bare midriffs and hipster jeans floated over to me. I sighed as I walked down the front steps, I would dearly love to be able to wear those kind of things but my tail make it impossible for me. I didn't want to be more of a freak than I already was. The only skin I would be showing the next night would be my arms and ankles but perhaps I could do something with my hair.

Frame arrived at my house early the next day. So early in fact that it wasn't even twilight yet. Her excuse was that she had to leave the house before her parents came home so that they wouldn't be able to yell at her for what she was wearing. Silently I agreed with her parents but I could see that the girl had actually tried to look slightly `normal'.

She had obviously spent a great deal of time on her hair as every blue tinted spike was perfectly even, her shirt did not have some vulgar or environmentally significant message printed on it and I was pleasantly surprised to see that she owned something that had glitter on it. The overly large and ripped army cargoes topped with her massive black hiking boots was where her taste faltered. I sighed when I spotted her hat in her hand.

Leaving her in the lounge to watch the early evening soaps I headed upstairs to prepare myself. The skirt was made of that light denim but had an embroidered dragon down one side. It was long enough so that I didn't have to keep my tail around my leg if I was careful. Then I rummaged through my wardrobe for a top. I pulled several out before deciding. It was perfect, I grinned to myself, a singlet top of plain white with one word written across the front, Sayian. When I had bought it I asked the man in the shop what the word meant, to see if he knew anything. He had laughed and said something about it being one of those newfangled made up things that people seemed to like. I slipped it on and then undid the bun I kept my hair in.

It was long now, past my shoulder blades. A mental picture of my tousan, my real tousan, flickered in my mind and I smiled to myself again as I began to braid it. My eyes travelled to the secret panel in the wall and I debated for a moment wether I should wear the earrings I hadn't worn since I came to this planet.

I went downstairs earring less and Frame I stepped out the door and into the freshness of the twilight. The invitation lay tucked safely in a corner of my shoulder bag.