Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Kaioshin Saga: Story 1: Silver Wishes ❯ Chapter 4: The First Night ( Chapter 4 )

Silver Wishes

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the original characters (if any), and the fic all of this is in. That is all.

Chapter Four: The First Night

"Who was that? I asked as soon as the East Kaioshin and I were back in the air, flying towards his own palace wherever that was. This time, however, I was on his back, my hands locked in place on his shoulders, and my head straight forwards. I didn't want to look down despite the fact that I wasn't scared of heights nor was I afraid that the stranger was going to let me go. It also wasn't that I was going to fall off from such a height by myself; it wasn't like that at all. Well, maybe it was in some sense, but I didn't want to fall off in a strange place in some place in the universe that I hadn't seen before. I had started to become a little bit more curious as to what these Kaioshin were, and why I had never heard of them before or seen one. Death was beginning to sound a little bit more drastic at that moment, but it wasn't ruled out completely. Maybe after I had settled into whatever planet they were going to send me to in a couple of days, yes, but I wanted to know more.

"That, young one, was the Dai Kaioshin," He responded in a heated manner. He had seemingly become more irritable since we had left the palace, barely even saying anything to me when we had left. "I told you that we were going to be in his presence, didn't I?"

"Yes, but I thou...."

"Don't be surprised at first glances, boy. Everything isn't what it seems, remember?"

"Yes, I know," I mumbled, looking up towards the sky. I noticed that the sun was beginning to slowly move towards the Western horizon as we started to slowly move even farther into the East, my eyes starting to become heavy with sleep. "How far is it to your palace?"

"Another hour or so, Kibito. Try and relax a little bit, okay? Dinner should be ready when we get there."

The sound of food made my stomach grumble since I hadn't had anything to eat since the day before, and I was starving. Of course, I didn't ask what kind of dinner that would be waiting for us since I figured he had already made plans for himself and possibly someone else other then me. It wasn't my place to ask for any kind of food since I had been exposed to only a little bit of food so far in my life. Even when there was more food then what my family and I had then any other time, it wasn't right to eat more then what we were used to. My mother had always said that we should conserve as much food as we possibly could for the rest of the week or for however long the food would last for five people.

I tried not to think about the past or food at the moment, attempting to put my thoughts on something else. But what else was there to think of? Perhaps wondering what the Kaioshins were, or why I had never heard of them before. But those thoughts were becoming less and far apart as my mind converted back to what had happened just a little while ago. I didn't know how much time had passed since I had seen my mother killed right in front of my eyes, and it had seemed like only five minutes had passed since then. She was taken away from my life like the rest of my family had been, her promise to always be there for me broken like so many other promises I had been told. I didn't think she would even dare to keep a promise where so many others had failed. It was impossible now to trust anyone because of what lies my own family had told me in the past. How could I even trust the East Kaioshin, whom had taken me away from the one planet that I had never even been off of for my life so far? How could he?

I shook my head, trying to get any thoughts about what had happened in the last couple of days out of my mind. It was hard to do so since that was all I could think about at the moment. If I could only focus on things that were happening around me now, then maybe I could take some of the strain off of my mind. That way, I could see what the future would hold for me, but the future might be even harsher then what the past had given me.

"You have become quiet again, young Kibito," The Kaioshin said, breaking my thoughts, and putting my focus back onto the current moment. "What are you thinking about?"

"You should know by now," I replied curtly, not really trying to sound mean, but I was becoming less happy about my situation if I was even happy about it at all.

"Even though I can read people's minds, I don't do it for my own curiosity unless it is necessary to go into one's thoughts for things that I need to know. And, yes, I probably do know what you are thinking, but I know you don't think the same thoughts every second of every day."

"Well, keep your curiosity to yourself. I don't want to talk about it."

"Why are you so bitter?" He asked, his tone seemingly softening for my needs. "You are just a child."

"I told you before. I've been through hell," I growled irritably, desperately wanting to just drop the subject altogether. I figured he'd want to go on about this anyways, and for that reason I'd end it now before any other questions would be asked. "Look, can we not talk about this anymore? It's getting annoying."

"Talking about it will ease the pain of what happened to you?"

"What if I don't want to ease the pain?"

"Why are you being stubborn about this?"

"Why don't you just drop it and leave it alone?" I hissed, taking my hands off of his shoulders, and placing my arms across my chest. We both remained quiet for the moment, our anger seething in our hearts. I had enough pain for the rest of my life, and talking about it wouldn't help me to the least. Maybe if he would stay quiet long enough I would be able to concentrate on other things if that was possible.

"Do you know how to fly?" The East Kaioshin asked suddenly, the silence between us cut short. I didn't answer him, instead choosing to remain silent in spite of the fact that the answer to this was already clear. I didn't know how to fly otherwise I'd be doing that right next to him so he didn't even need to ask me a stupid question.

The next thing I knew, the Kaioshin had disappeared from underneath me, leaving nothing but air to hold me up. I seemingly floated there for a moment before gravity set in, and my body started to fall towards the awaiting ground below. I let out a scream, my arms quickly becoming uncrossed, and flapping like a bird to keep myself up. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it soon became apparent that it wasn't working like I hoped it would.

The approaching ground wasn't helping either as my eyes fell upon it. I knew it would be only a matter of seconds before I would hit the soil below, and die a quick and easy death. Maybe this is my wish after all. Maybe he was sent to me for my death after all, I thought as I squeezed my eyes shut to block out any and everything, awaiting the impact that I so longed for. But nothing happened. I felt no pain, no rocks going up against my soft skin, no nothing. At first I thought this was the way that it was supposed to feel like; nothing. Then, as I slowly opened my eyes, I realized that I wasn't even touching the ground. In fact, I was a few feet away from the soil, and, as my eyes wandered up, I noticed that I was in the arms of the East Kaioshin, who had a pissed off look on his face.

"I'm going to take that as either you know how to fly, and didn't bother to stop yourself, or you don't know how to fly at all," He said bluntly, placing me upon the ground, and removing his arms from around me. I sat there, my eyes glaring at him as he kneeled beside me. "Of course, I wouldn't know because you didn't answer my question. Don't expect me to save you again if you don't answer one of my questions. Now, do you know how to fly?"

"No, I don't know how to fly," I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him. He raised a single finger at me, my eyes moving to it as a small ball of light appeared at the tip of his purple skin. It grew to the size of a small egg, and stayed there as my eyes went wide with interest.

"This is the energy that all beings, plants, and whatnot thrive on. Once this fades from a person, or any other form of life no matter how small it is, he, she or it will die no matter what. There is no turning out of it." The ball faded as quickly as it had become, the Kaioshin quickly lowering his arm, and sat Indian Style in front of me. He then placed both of his hands at the center of his chest, far enough apart from his body that left a small space in-between. His palms faced each other, also a small part away from each other, as a ball of light came in the center of both of his hands. "This energy also allows you to fly, make certain attacks with it, and become stronger. The stronger your life energy is, the less likely you will be killed, and the better chance you have at winning a fight over weaker beings that don't have enough power.

"In order to fly, you need to center your energy into the pit of your stomach, and then push it down to your feet. This will allow you to raise yourself from the ground, and thus becoming one of the few that can actually fly. But first you have to harness the actual energy that is in you." The energy ball faded, and the stranger placed his hands upon his legs, his gaze coming upon me. "Try it. Make a energy ball in the middle of your hands."

I nodded, pulling my body into the same position he was in, uncrossing my arms as I put my hands into the same stance that the Kaioshin had his own. I attempted to push the energy that was in me into the palm of my hands, beads of sweat beginning to form at the top of my forehead. What little light there was left shone upon us as the moments moved passed, and still there was no sign of any life energy at my fingertips. I focused my attention on my hands, hoping to see something there. When nothing appeared in my hands, I looked longingly up at him, worry and wonder on my face.

"What happened? Why isn't any energy coming?" I pondered, the beads of sweat trickling down my temples, and onto my cheeks. He laughed lightly, tilting his head just a bit as a bit of joy came upon his face.

"It will take some time to learn how to do that. Not everyone who has learned how to fly has learned how to do it in their first attempt."

"How long will it take for me?"

"It depends on how dedicated you are to this, and the amount of time you train. I don't know how much time you will really have on this planet." The joy faded slightly, a bit of longing replacing it. I put my hands down onto the grass under me, my eyes moving towards the sky. At the moment, I didn't know what to feel. Half of me was wanting to die because I had nothing left while the other half was willing to give life another chance because I could work for something. How I was going to solve this, I didn't know. Maybe, just maybe, I could give it just a little bit more time.

"Okay, that is enough for today," The East Kaioshin said after a few moments more of silence as he pushed himself off of the ground, and stood up. I looked up at him as he scooped me up into his arms, my hands moving around his neck as he lifted up off of the ground, and raised his body into the air. I felt the wind begin to move my hair back behind my head, my gaze turning forwards once the stranger had started to fly once again.

Whatever the next couple of days would hold was uncertain. Perhaps something good would come out of it eventually.

****

By the time we had arrived at the East Kaioshin's palace, night had already fallen, and I was even more tired and hungry then I was hours before. The excitement of the day had worn me down to the point that I just didn't want to even walk inside, but he wouldn't allow me to be carried inside, and I was dropped onto the ground when he let me go for the second time that day. Once he had stepped around me, and beckoned towards me to follow, I knew that it was going to be one of those times where I probably wouldn't get much sleep.

I sighed as I pushed myself off of the ground, and followed him into the palace. It looked like the one that we had just come from, but it seemed smaller in a way. Like it didn't have a lot of space in it like it should have. That didn't matter to me as I trudged along with my shoulders slumped, and my feet dragging. The Kaioshin was a few paces in front of me, looking back every so often to see if I was still there as we went through the entrance of the palace, and entered the main entrance room of it. I really didn't pay much attention to any of the details of the room since it was mostly dark with only a couple of torches lit here and there. From what I could see, the floor consisted of many marble tiles, all perfect in every way, and that the walls were made of pure stone with little designs on them. Besides that, I also was pretty tired, and really didn't care what looked like what, or where we were going. I just wanted to fall asleep wherever I could.

Then, as we walked down what seemed like a hallway of some sort, the aroma of food flooded my nose, causing my shoulders to go up straight, and my eyes go wide. Whatever it was, it smelled good, and made my stomach growl and my mouth begin to water. I had to muster all the strength I could to make myself not say anything or ask about any kind of food as the East Kaioshin stopped walking at a open doorway, turning around to face me as he left enough room for me to peer around the corner. I walked up to the edge of the doorway, the smell of food becoming even stronger then before.

"Go ahead, Kibito," The Kaioshin said, pointing into the room. I looked up at him, but didn't understand what he meant by those words. He sighed when he saw the confusion on my face, then gently took one of my hands, and led me into the room. My eyes went wide as saucers as soon as we both entered, the lights around the room brightened everything in the room, which was a big dining hall of some sorts, as we stopped short of the entrance. Not only were torches lit, but also bright lights overhead on the high rise ceiling also bared down, allowing more light to filter in. The room itself was large enough to fit my whole village in it, if there was any left of it that is.

My attention then moved onto the long table that sat in the middle of the room, perfectly polished as it reflected off of the lights around it. Two chairs sat at either end of the table while a bunch more were empty, and awaiting for someone or something to sit down on them. But that was not what got my full attention. On the end of the table that was closet to the two of us sat at least five plates of food, each piled high enough with different kinds of meats and whatnot to probably feed an army. Pure crystal glasses sat at two of the facing chairs on either side, a silver pitcher of some sort sitting in the middle of them. Two plates sat on the tabletop in front of the two chairs, each with different silverware on top of them, and several napkins as well.

"You know, the food isn't going to eat itself," The East Kaioshin laughed lightly, letting go of my hand as he walked to one of the chairs, and pulled it out. I stayed where I was, keeping my hands at my side as he turned his head towards me, his hands on the chair top. "Well? Are you going to sit down or not?"

"Um...." I muttered, taking one step back. I knew he wanted me to at least eat something, but I was cautious about that. I remembered the times when my family and I had a little bit more to eat then we should, and one of my younger siblings would reach for a extra piece, but would be slapped because of it. It wasn't right to just jump into a pile of food before anyone that was older then me.

"Kibito," The stranger said in a warning tone, which I took as that I should get over to him before something bad happened to me. I rushed over to him, standing on the other side of the chair that he had pulled out as he pointed down to it. I stood there for a moment before realizing that he wanted me to sit down. I complied, and sat facing the other side of the table. Not moving as the chair slid back forwards just a bit, I watched as the East Kaioshin move from behind me, and slowly moved around the table to the other side. I kept my gaze upon him as he pulled the chair out, sitting down himself upon it, and looked at me with a half smile. "You do not have to wait for me to start eating. Only when it is formal do you have to wait."

"Are you sure?" I asked in a small voice, my eyes moving to the food. I wasn't accustomed to taking what I wanted after years of being told that I couldn't do what every child should be doing.

"Yes. Go ahead. You need to eat. There is nothing that is holding you back now."

I reluctantly reached out towards the food, my hand shaking as I touched a piece of fruit that sat in front of me. I wrapped my hand around it, my eyes upon the stranger as I pulled my arm back towards me, and placed my other hand around it as well. It probably would seem to an unassuming person that I was holding onto this fruit like I had never had a piece before in my life, and they were half right. I don't think I had anything that didn't look like it was more then a week old or pretty close to rotting or just something no one else would want to eat. I had been sick several times because of bad food, and that was probably one of the few times that anyone really paid more attention to me then any other normal day.

Taking a small bite out of the fruit, I watched the Kaioshin start to take his own food onto his plate. He didn't seem to notice that I was barely eating the food that I had taken, his eyes roaming over the food that was there. My stomach began to rumble a bit more as I took a bigger bite of food, unable to hold back my hunger like I had done so many times before. It was hard to do since there was a mountain of food in front of me, and for the first time in my life I was told that I could eat more then what was necessary. After all, I had been on a planet for eight years of my life that had barely any food left to feed the remaining population of the planet.

After I had eaten the piece of fruit, I sat there for a moment, watching the other eat slowly, but not as slowly as I had. He didn't seem like he had noticed that I was watching him as he looked like he was deep in thought, his head bowed down towards the table top. After every few bites of food, the East Kaioshin bit down on his fork like he was trying to figure out to eat next, but the way that his eyes looked didn't seem like he was thinking about that. Instead he looked more worried about something else then what he wanted to eat next. I quickly grabbed another piece of fruit before he came out of his daydream to notice that I had taken another piece, bringing to my lips just like I had done the other piece.

I continued to watch him for another ten minutes, taking pieces of fruit, bread, and a few other things that were on the table. By then, the Kaioshin had finished his own plate, and was looking more lost then I had when I had first came here only a few hours ago. At least it seemed like a few hours. I couldn't tell, and I didn't care. Time meant nothing to me at all. At the moment I was steadily watching him move his lips in words that he muttered to himself, and the expressions that he had on his face that changed with the movement of his lips. It was funny how much he wanted to talk earlier, and now he was quiet as ever. Maybe he was just like this during the meals, and so talkative during the rest of the day.

"Kibito," The Kaioshin said, making me jump almost to the point where the chair that I sat in tipped over. I was so intently watching him and listening to his soft mutters that I didn't expect him to say something in a louder tone. He looked up at me, his face looking forlorn about something.

"Y..Yes?" I stammered out, my eyes going wide for a moment as I dropped what was left of the bread that I was eating, allowing it to hit my lap, and bounce off onto the floor. I didn't bother picking it up as I was frozen in place from fear.

"I don't like the idea of sending you off to some foreign planet to live for the rest of your life. At least, not now. There is something about you that just doesn't seem like you should be left alone." He leaned forwards, his eyes looking glazed over from something. I sat there, still frozen in my place, watching his ever changing face. "You don't seem capable of fending for yourself in a wilderness."

"Meaning?" I asked, unsure as to what he meant by that.

"Meaning I don't like that 'I just want to die' attitude that you have shown me already. I know that you have been through hell in the last few years, but that doesn't mean anything. You need to overcome this grief soon as possible. It is not right for a child of your age to think of death so soon."

"My fearful, frozen state melted away, and anger set into my body. I gave the stranger a glare, my face scrunching up in a fit that I knew that he could see. I slipped out of the chair, careful not to step on the piece of bread that had fallen out of my hands only a few moments before, and pushed it backwards so that I could have enough room to stand.

"You do not know what I have been through. You weren't there when my brothers and sister were blown up, and burned in a house that they had lived in for what little life they had in it. You didn't do a thing when that guy killed my mother!" I shouted, my lower lip beginning to tremble. "You just stood there, and watched him do it. No! And instead of leaving me there to die, you took me away from the one place that I had known for my whole life."

"I saved your life, Kibito." The Kaioshin stood up, and placed both of his hands upon the tabletop as he leaned further forwards. "I saved it because I didn't want to see another child die because of a stupid war that should have ended centuries ago."

"Well, it didn't. And many more will die when we are sitting here, eating." At this point, hot tears started to sting my eyes, and begin to roll down my cheeks. "Why can't you go and save them like you did the others?"

"Because I can't. I want to help the whole planet realize what a stupid mistake they are doing, but that is near impossible to do, even for a Kaioshin."

"Why can't you?"

"Because the Dai Kaioshin won't let me!" He spat out, turning his head away in anger. "Kaioshin aren't supposed to interfere with life in the Lower Realm, and I am interfering with such." He balled on of his hands, and slammed it into the table. I jumped back as he did that, the things on the table moving slightly due to the shake that the impact created. "It is not fair that innocent lives have to be destroyed when I know that I can do something."

"Then explain it to him that you have to do something," I opted.

"Kibito, I want to help, but you are the last person I could have saved," He said more calmly, but when he turned his gaze back upon me, I could see that traces of anger and helplessness in his ebony eyes. "And I can't explain it to him. I have already tried that countless times. I defied the Dai once, and I can't do it again."

"Then I will do something about it. I will help."

"You can't. You are too young and too weak to do anything about it." The East Kaioshin sighed as he sat back down, defeat now setting in. I wiped away the tears that had appeared before, sniffing just a bit. He continued to look at me, his head tilting to the side. "You could eventually become strong enough to stop the wars with enough training, but I can't give you my full attention nor do you have the time to train under me. The Dai only gave you a couple of days to stay on this planet before you are brought to another place, and it will probably take you several days just to get used to this planet, and let everything settle in.

"And you can't ask if I can stay here for a little bit longer?" I asked softly, looking down at the table. Suddenly my appetite had faded away, and a sick feeling came over me.

"No. When he tells you something , he means it." He sighed again at this. "I guess being...."

His voice trailed off before he could finish what he was going to say almost like he caught himself say something before he said it. I looked back at him, and he had a worried look on his face as if he had hoped that I didn't hear the last few words that he had spoken.

"I guess you still can't say more then what you can, huh?"

"I suppose you'll have to learn to live with that for the next couple of days since you'll be staying here." The Kaioshin looked along the food that hadn't been eaten yet, a small smile coming to his lips. "Are you still hungry?"

"Not really," I replied before yawning.

"Then I suppose you'll need some rest then," He said, laughing lightly. In a few moments time, the sound of soft footsteps came from the same corridor that we had been in, and not a second later did a figure come at the entrance of the room. I turned around to see who it was, possibly it might be another Kaioshin, but then my hopes dropped when I saw him. He stood there, his back straight, hands at his side, wearing something similar to what the Kaioshin was wearing, but slightly altered. He looked almost exactly as the same species as I was, but his skin color was a lighter shade of pink, and he didn't have the nearly silver-ish hair color. This stranger looked about seven or eight years older then I was, but probably was older then that. I stared at him for a moment as he bowed down towards the stranger, his eyes moving towards me as he straightened his back.

"Yes East Kaioshin-sama?" He asked in a plain tone, his eyes never leaving me. He reminds me of someone that I knew on the planet, I thought to myself as I shook that single thought away. But, then again, almost all adult males look the same at some point.

"Can you take this young boy to a room, please? Make sure that he has a bath, and other things that he might need for tonight and the morning?" The Kaioshin asked in a hopeful tone. The other scowled towards me as he turned around, and walked quickly out of the room without much word.

I watched him go, quickly glancing over towards the East Kaioshin to see what I should do. He nodded to me as if he wanted me to go with the other instead of just standing there with him. I stood there for a moment, pondering this, then slowly I moved to catch up with the other, unknowing as to what would happen.

****

It took me several moments to catch up with the new stranger who didn't even look at me as soon as I managed to at least walk behind him a couple of steps. He didn't even seem to notice when I tried to keep up with him by attempting to walk by his side even though he was walking much faster then I was. I glanced up at him, staring at his emotionless face, and wondered who he was. It seemed odd that I would find someone of my species here even though I knew the Kaioshin had saved many from my planet. Maybe, I thought to myself, the Dai Kaioshin allowed him to stay here instead of sending him off to some forsaken planet. Maybe....

"Will you stop staring at me, kid?" He snapped, moving his eyes towards me. I winced at the icy glared he gave me, shrinking back just a bit.

"Sorry," I muttered, moving my gaze away from him, and turned my attention forwards. I noticed we were going down the same path that I had taken a little while earlier, but this time I was moving much faster then before. It had taken us just a few minutes to get back to the main entrance room of the palace whereas it had taken a lot more time when I had been with the other stranger when I had followed him to the dining room.

Instead of going onto the other side of the room, the new stranger turned suddenly, and began to ascend the stairs that was in the back of the entrance way. I had to stop suddenly, and run to catch up with him, my short legs barely able to keep up with him. I didn't bother saying anything as I used up the stairs, my gaze looking down at the beautiful marble designs that every tile made. I was purely entertained by just watching the patterns zig zag across the stairs that I didn't notice the other was standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for me. Bumping into him, I let out a little gasp, and nearly fell down the steps when I backed up.

"You need to watch where you are going next time," He said curtly, glaring down at me as I looked back at him. "I am not like Kaioshin-sama. I wouldn't catch you if you fell."

"Why do I feel relieved about that?" I grumbled sarcastically, watching him turn around quickly, and begin to walk down the left corridor. I rolled my eyes at him, rushing once again to catch up with him.

"Why did he rescue you anyways?" The stranger demanded once I had caught up with him.

"Don't know." I shrugged at the question, my chest moving up and down at a fast rate. After all, I had to keep up with him, and it took all of my breath to do so. "Who said he rescued me? I'll be leaving this planet in a couple of days to find another hell that doesn't accept me or even cares that I am alive."

"Ah, yes. Already you are beginning to doubt yourself," He said, looking down at me as he slowed down a bit. At least to a point where I didn't have to jog to keep up with him or where I was more out of breath then before. "You are only a child, and...."

"Spare me the emotions lecture." I raised a hand to stop him from talking. "I've already heard it, and I don't want to listen to it again. I know I am not the best person with emotions, but you have to realize that the wars....."

"Yes, I know all about them," He said, a sigh escaping his lips. "I'm sure that they are horrible, but I only know what I have heard from the ones that came here before you."

"You mean you have never had to live on the planet?" I asked, surprised.

"I was one of the fortunate that was sent off of the planet years ago because my parents knew what was going on." He returned his gaze forwards as he went on. "I had lived there when I was a baby, but I was so young that I don't remember anything about it. I don't even remember what had happened to me after I had been sent from the planet. All I was told later in life was that the sip I was in must have suffered a malfunction or some other force knocked it off course, and sent me here instead of some other hell as you like to refer the rest of universe as."

"At least you didn't have to worry about being killed every moment of your life. At least you didn't see your family killed. At least you didn't over hear your father saying that you were an accident, and that you were worthless."

"At least you had a family. I had nothing."

"You had the Kaioshins, and the thought of being taken care of, and didn't have to worry about where you next meal came from." I looked away from him, my face scrunching up in again. "I had to worry about everything then, and still think about my own survival. But now I wouldn't mind dying right about now."

"Here is your room," The stranger said suddenly, stopping at a doorway to his right. I walked a couple of paces, then turned around to see what room I was going to have. Placed a hand upon the golden doorknob, he pushed the door open without much hassle, and walked into complete darkness. I didn't follow him in until he turned on the light to illuminate the room. When he did, I moved slowly into the doorway, and peered in. My eyes early popped out of my head when I was the room itself. It was probably bigger then the living room of the house I had lived in before, with white plush carpet along the floor, and light blue walls. Several lights were placed randomly on the ceiling with lamps in a few corners, the light from these lamps glistening upon a small round table and chair in the center of the room. The bed was in the far corner of the room with crimson red sheets, and fluffed pillows of the same color at the top of the bed.

On the other side of the room there was a half opened door that I assumed lead into a bathroom, but I didn't care about that. I stood at the doorway, my mouth gaping open at the sheer surprise of how elegant the room was. It was hard to believe such splendor existed in the universe as I had a set thought that the rest of the planets were mostly like the planet I had lived on with the exception of the wars. How wrong I was once I came upon this planet.

"I am guessing that you like this room," He wondered out loud as he stood near the bed, a half smile on his lips. "I would have been just as surprised as you were if I had never seen something like this before in my life, but I've been here my whole life so nothing about this planet surprises me anymore."

"A...are you sure th....this is my room?" I stammered out, taking two short steps into the room, my eyes wide.

"I'm sure it is at least by what the East Kaioshin-sama told me. It's not one of the bigger rooms, but it will have to do."

"There's even bigger rooms in this palace?"

"Yes." He then shook his head to end this conversation. "Before you go to bed, you need to take a bath. You are just a little bit...dirty."

"Bath?" I inquired, coming over my surprise, and looking towards the half opened doorway on the other side of the room."

"You do know what a bath is, don't you?"

"Yes, but I...." I didn't want to say the words, but I knew they had to come out sooner or later. "....baths were always a, um, luxury to my family. Water was scarce, so taking one was a big deal."

"Um, Okay." The stranger looked a bit uncomfortable about this situation, and I saw it in his eyes. I wanted to laugh at him, but I knew how it felt to be uncomfortable about something like this. "Um....I guess I could show you how to take one."

"No need. I know how to take one. I just need to, um, figure out how to work the, ah...." My voice trailed off as I tried to find the word that I was searching for. I knew what it was, but I just couldn't say it.

"Bathtub?"

"Yea, that's the word."

"Follow me then. I suppose I could teach you," He said in a low voice, beckoning me to follow him as he walked towards the half opened door. I compiled, a light smile coming upon my lips, and my eyes sparkling just a bit. I knew this was going to be a interesting experience indeed.

To Be Continued....