Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Majin Leeli's Story ❯ Telling the Truth, and other bad ideas ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 4 part a

Telling the Truth

Goten stumbled out the backdoor and sat down on the porch step. He felt numb, so numb he wasn't even sure he could feel being numb. He knew the night air was cold and that it ruffled his long hair. He knew the crickets were chirping. He knew the ground was firm beneath him. But, somehow, it all felt so far away.

The women and their leader, Koshi, had told the truth. Leeli had killed people in the other dimension. Destroyed towns, villages, homes, families, mothers, fathers, children. She had destroyed all those things. And she wasn't sorry. She'd enjoyed it. Laughed even.

Goten stared blankly at the flowers bobbing in the wind. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. But Leeli had told him. She said she didn't want to lie anymore. But the fact she had been lying wasn't what hurt.

"Why didn't you trust us… me…" he asked the night air.

---

"I can't believe he clipped me," Mameko growled as her thumb brushed over the bruise forming on her cheek. "At least he started showing some backbone though. I'd hate to think he had no saiya-jin in him."

Koshi said nothing, though her mood upon coming to this dimension had lightened immensely. Once again she had the upper hand. Though the flare of power Goten had shown when he lunged at Mameko was curious. She wondered exactly how much power he was hiding behind that wimpy exterior. No matter, she decided, they could deal with whatever level he was at.

"Koshi-sama," Tsuko's voice rang out as she and Ka set down. Tsuko flipped her legs out of Ka's arms and walked over toward Koshi as the android flipped her hair behind her ear.

"Looks like you couldn't convince Leeli to come back," Muzai said in a sing-song voice, implying she thought they were in big trouble.

"Yeah, but she's wavering," Ka said, glaring at Muzai who simply rolled her eyes.

"That's beside the point," Tsuko said with a wave and Koshi raised an eyebrow.

"And what," Koshi said languidly, reminding everyone that she would decided what the point was, "is the point?"

"Leeli has a little girl," Tsuko grinned as if it were the secret of the universe.

"What!?" half the majins yelled in shock. Mameko nearly fell back on Kristel as Muzai's jaw nearly hit the ground.

"How old is she?" Koshi said, shocked but easily covering it as the rest of the majins shook the surprise away.

Tsuko looked over her shoulder at Ka who just shrugged in responce. Turning back to Koshi she scrunched her nose in thought. "I'd say she had to be about three or so. She was walking and talking and all that anyway," she finally decided. "Her name's Kim."

"Not a terribly saiya-jin name," Mameko frowned in slight disapproval.

Kristel shrugged from where she was leaning behind Mameko. "At least it's not a namekian name. Her name could have been Clarinet."

"Three years old," Mameko pondered as if she'd not heard Kristel. "She would have had to have gotten pregnant right when she returned to this dimension." She raised an eyebrow and looked at Koshi.

"Hmmm," Koshi murmured as she smiled. This was good information to have. Leeli had never liked the idea of being a, how had she put it, a baby machine. Koshi couldn't help but wonder how she would respond to the accusation she had become one. "The girl should grow to be quite powerful," she said aloud and Mameko nodded. "She would be an asset to the majin nation."

"She is half saiya-jin," Kristel mused, "and a quarter namekian. Not to mention she comes from good breeding lines."

Muzai and Tsuko nodded in agreement.

"Ka," Koshi said and Ka snapped to attention. "I want you to go and keep watch over Leeli's home. If anything of interest should occur report back at once."

"Yes, Koshi-sama," Ka said with a bow and leaped into the air, quickly disappearing from sight.

"What are the rest of us going to do?" Tsuko asked, cocking her head to the side.

Koshi smiled. "Prepare for a little game of psychological warfare."

---

Ka set down next to the fence of Leeli's house. There was still a ding in the paint from where Mameko had kicked it. The lights were out in the house but Ka could see a female figure pacing around in the living room.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Ka grumbled as she jumped over the fence. No one seemed to be taking notice of her and it hardly seemed worth the effort of sneaking round. "Bah, I think there were some chairs around back," she mumbled to herself, rounding the house. "Shit!" she cursed as she caught sight of Goten. Koshi was going to have her ass for not being more careful during surveillance. But Goten didn't seem to notice. He just continued staring off into nowhere.

Ka raised an eyebrow. Poor guy. He looked like a kicked puppy. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened. Unlike Mameko and Koshi she felt a little sorry for the guy. Leeli did belong with the majin nation, but still.

"Why didn't you trust us… me…"

Ka jumped as Goten spoke, but relaxed when he didn't seem to be talking to her. Ah, she realized, Leeli must have told him about us. No wonder he looks so bad. Against her better judgment Ka stepped forward and decided to try something she had no practice in. Comforting.

"Hey, don't take it so hard," she said, standing next to Goten. He still didn't acknowledge her presence. "I mean you got a lot going for you here. Nice house, cheesy, but nice. Lots of kids, if you like that kind of thing. Trunks isn't an ass like he is in our dimensions and there's no Lotanks, you really can't beat that." Goten still made no indication he even knew she was there. "And, I mean, you're almost as cute as the Goten in our dimension."

Slowly Goten turned and looked at her, his eyes blank.

Ka coughed, not exactly sure what to say. "Really, just ask Leeli about him versus you," she said, trying to fake a smile. Goten said nothing and simply looked away. Ka wasn't even sure he had seen her. "Bah, never mind. I'm no good at this."

---

"… you're almost as cute as the Goten in our dimension. Really, just ask Leeli about him versus you."

Trunks blinked a moment. He'd only been looking to see if Goten was back from training when he'd come upon Goten looking like he had been kicked in the proverbial balls and Leeli's friend Ka trying to comfort him. At least it had seemed like she was trying to comfort him, that last comment seemed more like a jab.

Trunks stepped back behind the house before the woman could see him. He felt his body slump against the building as the words sank in. "Goten in the other dimension," he mumbled, feeling his anger rise. Goten has waited ten years for Leeli to come back. Ten years faithfully saying she would be back any day. Ten years without a companion. A baser part of Trunks said, ten years without getting laid once.

Walking back in the house Trunks resisted the urge to slam the door. It had taken him an hour to get the kids to go to sleep. He wasn't about to ruin his own work just because he was upset. He didn't even know if the woman had been telling the truth after all.

"Leeli?" he called out, flipping on the light as he walked into the living room.

"I'm not in the mood to talk right now, Trunks," Leeli snapped, glaring at him and pointedly looking at the light switch before she continued to pace.

"Well, neither am I," Trunks said, moving to get in her way. "But I have to ask you a question."

"Fine," she growled, resisting the urge to shove Trunks out of her way. "What?"

"I was wondering about the Goten in the other dimension," Trunks said, amazing himself by keeping his tone low and conversational. The ability not to raise ones voice was not something that ran in his family.

Leeli went pale and she averted her eyes. "What Goten?" she finally said.

"Oh, you know, the one that, I'm sure, looks just like the Goten in this dimension. You know, the Goten that waited for you for ten fucking years," Trunks yelled, cursing himself for not holding his temper.

Leeli was quiet as he glared at her. "I didn't do anything," she finally said her voice rising, "and I don't really need you accusing me of things I didn't do right now."

"Then why the fuck is Goten out there looking like the world just came crashing down around him?" Trunks said, trying desperately not to yell. He wasn't succeeding.

"Because I told him the truth," Leeli said through clenched teeth, looking up at Trunks. "Now, move."

"And what is the truth?" Trunks said in an almost mocking tone as he moved to keep her from getting past him. "That you were sleeping with some guy in another dimension, but don't worry, it's not technically cheating."

"Fuck you, Trunks," Leeli screeched, shoving him into the wall hard enough to leave a dent. "I said I don't need you accusing me of things I didn't do," she yelled, picking up a lamp and throwing it as hard as she could at Trunks' head. "I would never do that to Goten!"

Trunks barely managed raise his arms to block the lamp. It shattered against his forearms, leaving deep scratches as a chunk managed to cut his cheek. This was not going well, not that he had expected it to, but this was way more anger than he deserved to have directed at him. "Dammit it, Leeli, chill out!" he yelling, shaking his arms to get out any of the broken ceramic or glass.

"No, you chill out," Leeli ranted, lunging forward and grabbing Trunks by the front of his shirt and hauling him to his feet. "You can't come in here and accuse me of things I didn't do. Of all the things you could accuse me of you would have to pick the one untrue thing," she screeched, using his shirt as leverage and tossing him into the bookcase on the far side of the room. There was an audible crack as he hit and the books came tumbling down.

"Fuck," Trunks cursed, shielding his head and deciding Leeli had lost her mind. "I just asked what the truth was."

"The truth?!" Leeli said, her voice on the verge of hysterics. "I'd say you can't handle the truth, but you know what, maybe you can. So I'll tell you. My life appears to be fucked up anyway," she screamed. "I was a fucking murderer in the other dimension. This M," she yelled, pulling down the bandana so he could see before letting it fall back into place, "means majin. Majin! I killed people and I thought it was fun. I killed them with my friends because I thought 'what the hell, I can never go home again' and I enjoyed it."

Trunks felt himself pale. He hadn't expected that. In some ways he thought he would have preferred to hear that she'd cheated on Goten. Though at least Goten's bummedness made sense now.

"Leeli…" Trunks said, not sure what he could say.

"Fuck off Trunks," Leeli cut him off as she grabbed the matching lamp to the one she'd thrown earlier and tossed it at him too quickly for Trunks to block. It shattered on the side of his face.

Leeli grabbed hold of the coffee table, raising it above her head, and preparing to smash it over Trunks' dazed form. She felt herself powering up…

"Mama," a scared voice said from the doorway and Leeli turned, all her anger fading.

"Mom, even deadbeat Dad doesn't deserve that," Elijah said weakly from where he was clutching a terrified looking Kim.

Leeli felt the table slip from her hands and crash onto the floor as the power she'd been gathering disbursed. Her own daughter was looking at her with wide, frightened, tearful eyes and Elijah was looking just as scared. She turned and saw Trunks crumpled in the pile of books, his eyes looking at her curiously, waiting for her next attack. She felt her mouth move. She wanted to apologize. She'd lost her temper. She hadn't meant to do any of this. She never would attack any of them in her right mind. Suddenly she was acutely aware of the M on her forehead. Her mark. Her brand. Her own personal sign of Cain.

"… sorry…" she finally managed to get out as she backed away from Kim, who was now crying, and the shaking Elijah.

"Leeli?"

Turning away from the destruction she had caused Leeli locked eyes with the last person she wanted to see at that moment. Goten.

He looked around the room in horror, taking in the broken lamps, bookshelf, turned over table, Trunks bleeding and slowly trying to rise, and finally Kim and Elijah looking on in terror. To scared to even move. "Leeli?" he said again, his eyes wide and searching for an answer.

Leeli shook her head. She couldn't take this. She didn't know what to do. "I'm sorry," she said again as she turned and did the only thing a cornered animal knew to do.

She ran.

[Questions in the Night]