Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Kaioshin Saga: Story 1: Silver Wishes ❯ Chapter 10 : And Everything After ( Chapter 10 )

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 Ten: And Everything After

It had only taken me about ten or so minutes to get myself dressed before I had rushed out of the room and dashed down the stairs to the lower level of the palace. I was both happy that I had new home to be at and I was scared about was yet to come in the future. Was everything going to be a repeat of my home? Would I be taken care of even though I really didn't need anyone or anything to take care of me? I didn't know what was going to happen until it actually happened and hopefully things would change for the better. I really wanted a new life even if the old one left me cold and bitter if that.

Once I had bounded down the stairs in my new clothes, I found the East Kaioshin standing there, waiting for me patiently. He smiled down to me tenderly, his eyes glimmering with a certain happiness in them. The dread within of me grew once I had stopped in front of him, my eyes shifting up to his light purple face. I could tell that he was tired in a sense but still had a certain liveliness to him that overruled the tiredness.

"Time to start your training," He told me in a bland voice, the sparkle of happiness fading as his face became more serious then it had before. "It is going to be a long path until you actually will be able to protect me off of Kaioshin-Kai as well as a trust must be earned to do so, yet today will be a start for you. First, we will have breakfast as we can't start the day without having something to eat. Then, it is off to your reading and writing and other educational skills."

"Uh....." I whispered as the Kaioshin turned and started to walk towards the dining room. He turned his head around to look at me, an eyebrow raised to indicate that I had to follow him.

"You can't very well not be educated while you are serving me, now can you?"

"I, um...." I started, scratching the back of my head as I followed him towards the dining room. How am I going to tell him this? I thought to myself, embarrassed at the mere thought of this.

"There is nothing to fear about this. The training and whatnot may be hard, but it will be worth it," He spoke up as we entered the dining room. Food had already been placed along the first few seats of the table as Kaioshin stopped at the head of the table and turned around to face me. "Now, eat your breakfast so that the training can begin."

"I don't know how to read," I blurted out, my eyes going wide as I stared at him for a moment before hanging my head low. I could feel his penetrating gaze on the top of my head and I didn't bother looking up at him as I heard him walk towards me. I was too embarrassed at what I had just to bring myself to look him in the eye.

"Kibito," The East Kaioshin whispered, kneeling in front of me as he placed a hand under my chin, bringing my head up so that I could look him in the face. I had to divert my eyes a little as I moved my head away so that I wouldn't look at him directly but he just pushed my gaze back onto him by using his other hand.

"I...I never was taught how to. There were few books left and there were few that could read them. My mother was probably the only person in my family who could read," I said in a low voice, my eyes tearing up. "But my father forbad her to teach us how to read and write because he knew we were going to die on that planet. He didn't want to waste time on teaching us things we would never use in our lifetime. I'm sure you don't want to have someone teach me now because of this. It would be a waste of that person's time and yours as well."

"No, you're wrong," He said slowly, dropping his hands from my face. I blinked my eyes, somewhat surprised at his words. "It is just a little setback, that's all. How about this: I'll teach you how to read myself. Does that sound okay with you?"

"Y..yes..." I stammered, a small smile coming to my lips.

"Good. Now, let's eat before the food gets cold," He said, nodding slightly as he stood up and walked around to the other side of the table to sit down at the same seat that he had sat at before.

It would be a long and hard journey, but it wouldn't be one that I would have to do alone.

****

After a long and nearly silent breakfast, the two of us headed towards the library with me trailing slowly behind the East Kaioshin. I had my eyes down towards the marble floor as I twirled several strands of my hair around one of my fingers. He didn't have to do this for me by teaching me how to read and such, but it seemed like he still wanted to take on this job himself. I had told him several times during breakfast that it wasn't worth the effort to teach me something that I hadn't learned by now yet he insisted that he didn't mind doing it or anything else that might come up.

I sighed, looking at the back of the Kaioshin. It was then that I realized that I was nearly as tall as him even though I was only eight years old and he was older then I knew. Of course, I knew I was different then anyone else that was on my planet or this one, so that realization floated away from my mind and out of my thoughts. My eyes then drifted towards the walls of the hallway that we were going down I hadn't had the chance before to really take a good look at the palace itself since everything seemed to be going at a steady, quick pace then. Now there were things that I hadn't noticed before, things that were different in a sense that I couldn't really put my mind on.

There were designs of flowers, vines, and other kinds of plants going along the border between the ceiling and the top of the wall with a plain white background to it. The walls itself were painted green, red, and yellow, each color fading into the next with a soft, flowing tint to them. At the point where multicolor wall met marble floor, there was another border but this time it was a filter of a certain light upon a black vine that moved up and down with ease. The floor was covered with marble tiles that stretched to one end of the hallway to the other in a never-ending array of a shiny reflection. The ceiling above was coated with a dull color of grey that went from nearly black-looking to a soft grew as we walked along.

"Here we are," The East Kaioshin said as he stopped at a towering doorway that nearly reached up to the ceiling above. I stopped next to him as he gestured to the open doorway with his head, a light smile overshadowing his happiness. Feeling like my heart was going to burst through my chest, I peered around him as I looked into the room in which we had stopped at. Inside were shelves upon shelves of books that reached as tall and as wide as the whole room itself. Ladders went up towards the top of the shelves in order to reach the highest books at the peak of them all. On the other side of the room sat a pair of stained glass windows in which overlooked the gardens that laid just outside the palace. A desk sat in the middle of these windows, a chair underneath of it as things cluttered the desk top. Several plush chairs were placed along the room overtop a plush white carpet as a single three seat couch stood several feet in front of a cold fireplace. There were a few lamps placed about the room to give light to those that would want to curl up onto one of the many chairs to read a selected book.

"Wow," I mused in meek surprise, stepping around him as I walked to the doorway so that I could get a better look inside. The only other place that I had seen so many books was inside the West Kaioshin's own library.

"My words exactly when I first saw this place," The Kaioshin replied, stepping behind me as he placed both of his hands onto my shoulders. "This is where you will be spending your time learning how to read, write, and everything else that you can't lean anywhere else. It will take a lot of discipline and patience to through most of these books, but you will manage."

"How much time do I have to spend on that?"

"It depends, really. Some lessons will only take a half hour or so while others will take up the better part of your day. Everything will be rotated so that you won't easily fall in a normal routine and get bored because this job isn't routine. While some things may stay the same, others may just very well mean the difference between saving both your life and mine." He patted my shoulders as he lead me into the room. "You just have to be ready for anything and everything that will come in your path."

"What if I am not ready?" I asked nervously as I sat down onto the couch. The East Kaioshin walked to the nearest shelf, moving a single small leather-bound book from it before he walked over to the couch and sat down next to me. "What if I make a mistake?"

"There are times in life, young Kibito, that your training will not prepare you for. In those times, you have to make the right choice to save a single life or to save many," He told me as he opened the book to the first couple of pages of it. "Don't worry about making mistakes. That is how we learn things in life by making a mistake and correcting it so that we won't make it again." He smiled down at me once again. "Remember, Kibito. One day, you will have to make the decision to either save my life or a whole new generations. When that time comes, I want you to forget me and save those that need to be saved."

"But, what about you? I mean, I am sworn to protect you, aren't I?"

"Yes, but I have lived a long life that needs to fuse out when it is time to do so. There will another that will take my position as the East Kaioshin and that person I know you will serve. Just don't worry about it right now. That moment won't come for a very long time."

"O-okay," I stammered as he pointed to the page of the book. I knew it was going to take a long time to learn everything and anything that I needed to learn. Perhaps it would be a journey that I needed to take instead of living on a war-stricken planet, rotting in a place that I didn't need to be in. Right now, though, I was just content on having a warm bed to be in and a place to call home even if it wasn't my real home.

****

Twelve Years Later

The land hadn't changed in the years that had passed, but those that lived there had changed. At least, in wisdom, knowledge, and power. Their outward appearance stayed at an age, in which fate has chosen so delicately, when they just barely started their adult lives. Yet, they had more power and knowledge in their bodies then any other beings in the universe. These creatures stand tall and proud during troubled times but playful when all seriousness left. These are the Kaioshin; the highest known Gods in the universe.

I stood behind the Eastern Kaioshin, my hands clasped behind my back with my eyes straight ahead and my face serious. I still wore the same clothing that I had received many years earlier yet these garments now fit my bigger and taller body. I was no longer the scared little boy that had lost his family and home but now a older, wiser man that protected a God. A God that had taken me in so that I would not be sent to some other forsaken planet. I still didn't know exactly why he had bothered then or why he wanted me to be his assistant. I was just grateful for everything that he had done for me. Now it was my turn to repay him for those things and much more.

I had spent the last twelve years learning how to do the smile things that I had never been taught before while learning things I needed to know whenever the East Kaioshin and I would leave the planet. It was a good three years before I was even allowed to do the necessary tasks to do my job well. Even then I had made many mistakes, and I was corrected every time I had made one. As the years passed, I became more and more sure with everything that I had done and more longing to do the thing I did best.

The memories of my past has never left me, haunting my dreams to the point where I dreaded to fall asleep. During the nightmares, I'd wake, drenched in a cold sweat as I'd sit up quickly. At times I swore, even though I was many planets away from my home planet, I could barely see the movements of many people in my room despite the fact that I would be the only one in there. The Kaioshin tried to comfort me in this, but it failed more often then not.

"....and that is everything up to now," The Dai Kaioshin said as he moved along the line of four other Kaioshin that stood in near perfection in front of the Dai's palace. Other bodyguards, like me, stood behind their own charges, each of their positions nearly identical as mine yet they were not as serious as myself.

"Yes, sir," All four Kaioshins muttered at the same time, their eyes faltering for a moment before they moved back to the highest Kaioshin there.

"That is all for now. We have worked hard in the past week, so I think it is time to rest," He stated, his pacing stopping as he turned to face these Kaioshins. He nodded to them, indicating that they could go to wherever they needed to be at that moment. Each Kaioshin nodded in turn back at him, smiling in their own way as they turned to leave with their bodyguards. Before the East Kaioshin and I could leave with the others, the Dai called out, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Y-yes," The Kaioshin stammered out, turning back around as the other Kaioshin moved past him without any looks towards their fellow Kaioshin. I stood there, not knowing whether or not I should stay with my own charge or leave with the rest as they took flight into the air. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"You've been taking a liking to one such planet in the far reaches of your Quadrant," The elder Kaioshin started, an eyebrow raised. "Care to tell me why you've left Kaioshin-Kai late at night and sometimes without your assistant?"

"I....I...." The East Kaioshin began as he was now at a loss for words, his face going red as he lowered his gaze to the ground. "I was just checking up on them because I am, um, just worried that....that..."

"That what?"

"Worried that something would happen in that sector. After all, it is very volatile in that area and it doesn't help that....."

"I know, but it doesn't concern us right now even if all of us has had trouble in that place. If things get a little bit more hostile there, ,then you can do whatever you have to do. Otherwise...."

"I know, I know," The Kaioshin grumbled, slumping his shoulders. It is none of my business to really do anything about this right now. I should wait until something drastic happens, right?"

"Exactly," The Dai answered, bobbing his head in agreement. "Now off with you both. I'm sure that there is a lot of things that you two need to be doing right now."

"Yes sir," We said together with me looking over towards my charge. His face was no longer red but nearly back to it's original light purple color. I had to smile at him for this, following the Kaioshin as he turned around, taking a few steps away from the Dai before taking off from the ground.

It was one of those times that I was glad to be somewhere else then a planet covered in war.

****

"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" I asked blandly as I stood near the doorway of the East Kaioshin's room, the Kaioshin himself pacing in front of his bed. This room was the biggest bedroom of them all, but also the plainest. There wasn't much to gawk at once inside as many people would figure that it would have the most interesting designs and exotic furniture in the whole palace. Those that were lucky enough to wander into the East Kaioshin's bedroom would be disappointed in what they saw once there, yet some would figure he wouldn't go to any extreme for himself.

"You know what would happen if the Dai ever found out what I have really been doing over there?" The deity cried out, ringing a sock in his hands as he continued to pace back and forth in front of his canopy bed. "I'd lose my title, my powers, the memories that I have had here. Everything! There is no reason why I should even bother with it."

"But....but...."

"No, Kibito, listen....." He started, stopping so that he was facing me. "I can't give this up because of love. I shouldn't even have done this in the first place. I...I..."

"You're stuck, right?"

"Yes, I am," He admitted, sitting down onto the edge of the bed as I walked over to him. "I don't know what to do. It's either tell the Dai the truth about this and lose everything that I have known since I was young or lose the one that I love. It's a hard decision to make." The Kaioshin sighed as he looked up at me. "If you had the chance, would you give up what you were doing now if you ever fell in love?"

"I don't know, sir," I replied, a forced half smile coming onto my lips. Even after all this time, I still wasn't much of one to really show any emotions. There times, I would admit, that some things got the best of me and I allowed those certain emotions float out. The rest of these times I made everyone around me guess what I was feeling inside, even myself. "I would probably go for both."

"Both? Why?"

"Because, that way, I don't have to chose between two things I want. Of course, no one ever gets what they want and keeps everything old."

"You don't know that, Kibito," The East Kaioshin replied, smirking a little. "Sometimes, you could get things you really want and still have the old things. It just depends on how much you want those things."

And how right I knew he was.

To Be Continued.....