Another day without him.

She had woken up this morning full of energy, and full of life, but as the day wore on, and the mark of another month passed by without him coming to visit was realized, she fell into depression once more. It wasn’t that he came every month, or even close to it, but she always hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would remember that he had been away for awhile and needed to visit. Hope was shallow though, and as much as she wished for him to come back, he never did.

With a sigh, ChiChi hung one of her purple dresses on the clothesline to dry, pinning it securely with two clothespins and stared at the fabric for a moment. She should be mad at him, she really should, but it was almost impossible. Every time he stared at her with those big black eyes, she forgot all her anger and all the broken promises, and just wanted to be in his arms and feel his heart beat next to hers. The last time he had come to visit, so long ago, she had been wearing that dress, and if she closed her eyes and imagined real hard, she could almost envision herself being with him once again, a time when she was only truly happy.

So wrapped up in the moment, and lost in the thought of Gokuu, ChiChi didn’t even notice when the dark figures appeared at the edge of the forest and began walking slowly towards her and her laundry. There were four of them, all with wild black hair and scowls on their faces, and one of them was holding a strange gun.

Gokuu was training Ubuu now, in the islands, and although she missed him a great deal, she understood his cause. She had been talking to Bulma about it the other day, when she came to drop Goten off, and she seemed to think that Gokuu had forgotten he even had a family back home. And now that Goten was staying with Trunks for awhile, she didn’t have anyone to be with. The Son House was so empty and sad that it made her heart ache every time she stepped through the door. Even a visit from her father would be nice, but he was so busy with his own life that he didn’t have time for her anymore. No one did. How she could feel so alone in a world with so many people, she didn’t know, but she did.

Tears began to fill her large dark eyes as she stooped down to pick up a clothespin. “Oh Gokuu….” She murmured, and was fighting back the urge to sob when her eyes came in contact with a pair of boots right next to the clothespin.

She felt her breath start to quicken in fear as she followed up the body, seeing the muscular legs and the Saiya-jin armor, and the thick furry tail that she recognized from Vejiita. But when her eyes reached the face, she saw that this was definitely not Vejiita, but someone entirely different.

Sukuashi stared down at the woman expressionless. She was remarkably beautiful for an Earth creature, with dark hair up in a bun and small strands falling across her face. ChiChi backed away from him and her red lips formed a perfect “O” of surprise.

“Who are you?” She asked in a shaky voice. He didn’t appear to be trying to hurt her, but a voice in the back of her head was screaming for her to run away as fast as she could.

He didn’t answer, and several others stepped from behind him and quickly surrounded ChiChi. A young female, the only in the group, sneered at her in disgust, hating the way that ChiChi looked so vulnerable and pretty in a soft green dress. The others were male, and were gazing at her with more approval than hatred, but they still stepped menacingly closer to her.

“Where is Kakarroto?” Sukuashi finally asked, holding out a hand to halt his minions, his tail uncurling from his waist and falling gently behind him.

ChiChi looked puzzled. “Excuse me?” Only one person in the entire world referred to her husband as Kakarroto, and that was Vejiita. “My husband is not here right now, if that is who you’re looking for. He is on the islands, training-----”

“Kakarroto is your mate?” Sukuashi demanded, looking shocked.

She frowned at the term. “Well, that’s one way to put it, I guess. He’s my husband. But he isn’t here. So please leave.” She stared at them, starting to feel more than just a little frightened.

They showed no signs of leaving. “When will he return?” the female asked eagerly, and shook her wild mane of short black hair away from her face. She was wearing the same armor as the men, but it seemed more feminine on her. A long red cape also fell from her small shoulders, brushing the green grass at her feet.

ChiChi narrowed her eyes at her and attached the clothespin to the line, securing the dress. “How am I supposed to know?”

The girl gave a look of surprise, then anger, and her tail uncurled, twitching slightly. “If you don’t tell us right now, I’m going to take great pleasure in killing you.”

“No.”

Everyone turned to see Sukuashi, who had spoken so abruptly that it was almost as if he hadn’t said anything at all. ChiChi smiled, and the others just looked up at him in complete shock. He had never spared the life of anyone, let alone a weak earth woman. The girl looked about to say something, but changed her mind and stared hard at the ground.

“If Kakarroto isn’t here, we will probably never find him.” He paused, looking ChiChi up and down again, which made her very uncomfortable. He stopped at her face, studying the large black eyes fringed with long lashes.

ChiChi began to feel very uneasy about the way he was staring at her. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she murmured a thank you under her breath. Her hands clasped behind her back in self-consciousness and she looked up at the man again. However scary he might have looked, he still sought to save her, and respected her enough to leave her alone.

“We will take his mate instead.” Sukuashi said casually, and gestured at ChiChi.

“What!?” She cried, shocked.

“You will come with us in place of Kakarroto.” Sukuashi repeated.

He said it so simply, as if it were nothing at all that he were about to kindnap her. As if he were speaking of a dog, a vase, or a vegetable. Certainly not a human being.

Astounded, she backed away from him, running into the others behind her. They reached out to apprehend her, but she pushed her way through them, catching them off guard, and started running towards the forest.

She ducked under the laundry line and it snapped in half as she passed, all the clean clothes fluttering to the green grass in small colorful heaps.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, into the shelter of the forest, and hid behind a large tree, panting in fear. She knew that she could not outrun them, if they were Saiya-jins after all, she wouldn’t stand a chance. All she could hope for was that they were too stupid and lazy to follow her, and maybe they would give up. Her chin trembled as tears came to her eyes. She didn’t want to die yet. She still had many years ahead of her, and planned on doing so much with her life.

And what if Gokuu came back to see her the very next day and she was gone? She would never have gotten to say goodbye. Muffling her cries, she slid down to sit at the base of the tree and sobbed.

The Saiya-jins, still shocked that the woman had the guts to run from them, debated among themselves whether or not they should chase her, with Sukuashi insisting that they should.

“Plans have changed. I want that woman.” He demanded, pointing at the forest area in which ChiChi had run.

“Too bad.”

Their eyes followed the sound of the foreign voice to find an eight-foot tall green creature with a flowing white cape and turban descending from the air. He dropped to his feet in front of the intruders, smirking at them. They showed no signs of fear or shock at seeing him, but Sukuashi did roll his eyes.

“And what makes you think you can stop me, Namek?” He asked, brushing off his gloves and waving his tail around like bait. “I am used to getting what I want.”

Piccolo smirked again. “ChiChi is not for taking. She belongs to someone else, and I doubt he would be very happy if you took her. Not to mention how angry her sons would be at you. You don’t want to mess with the Son family.” He threw his cape and hat off and the crashed to the ground with a loud clang. “Or me.”

“I’ll mess with whom ever I please, green man.” Sukuashi informed him. “They can do no damage to me. Now remove yourself from the area before we have to kill you.”

“I will remove myself from the area when you remove yourselves from this planet. You are not welcome here.”

The girl put a hand to her mouth. “Ooops. Did we forget that invitation?”

Piccolo moved his eyes toward her and laughed slightly. “No, but I think you forgot your manners. I told you to leave, and I didn’t mean at your convenience. I meant now.”

She put her hands on her hips and gave him an indignant look. Sukuashi stepped forward and motioned for the others to stay where they were. He stood facing Piccolo without fear, and tapped the red scouter mounted on his eye, monitoring Piccolo’s power level.

“This is a joke.” He said, after the numbers came up. “Even the weakest female Saiya-jin could beat this Namek. He isn’t worth talking to.”

Piccolo laughed and sighed, shaking his head. “When will you bad guys finally realize that those little toys just don’t work anymore?”

Sukuashi motioned for the Saiya-jin holding a strange gun to step forward. “Take care of him. We have to get back to Sukuashi before the Council finds out where I have gone.”

The Saiya-jin faced Piccolo with no expression and raised the gun to fire at him. A drop of sweat appeared at the Saiya-jin’s temple as he stared into Piccolo’s penetrating eyes. And then, before he could even pull the trigger, Piccolo disappeared from firing range and reappeared above him, knocking the gun from his hands and punching him solidly under the chin. The Saiya-jin desperately tried to defend himself, still too surprised to react fully, as Piccolo continued to hit him. Finally, he dropped to his hands and knees, panting from the exhaustion, and Piccolo stood a few feet away, a wicked grin on his face. Piccolo raised his hands and shot an enormous amount of ki at the poor minion, who stared up in shock as the light consumed him, leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke and dust in the spot which he had once stood.

When the smoke cleared, there remained nothing of the Saiya-jin but a small crater in the ground and a scattering of blood.

Piccolo stood nearby and assumed a fighting position once more. He smirked at the Saiya-jins again. “That’s your cue to look shocked and horrified, not believing that I actually just killed your minion so easily.”

He paused, then continued, seeing the anger in their faces. “I suppose you aren’t too happy with me now?”

With a cry, the girl Saiya-jin flew at him in a rage, kicking him in the arm, but he brushed it off as if it were nothing, and as she turned in the air, he reached out and grabbed her tail. She whipped it out of his hands and kicked at him again, but he disappeared and materialized behind her, and he pulled her tail once more.

“Pi!” Sukuashi suddenly called to her. “Leave him.”

Piccolo smirked.

She dropped to the ground in defeat, glaring at him with hatred in her dark eyes. No one had ever made a fool of her that way, or beaten her so easily.

“This isn’t going to be as easy as you think, alien.” Piccolo chided, glaring at Sukuashi and turning his back on the girl. “Your kind has tried this before and lost.”

Though he didn’t say, Pi heard her father’s order in her head, as she glared at the back of Piccolo’s head. She picked up the gun the other Saiya-jin had dropped, easing up onto her shoulder for firing, aimed, and gently squeezed the trigger. A bright blue beam shot out, curving into a spiral and shooting straight into Piccolo’s back. He gasped in pain and surprise and then fell to the ground, unable to move.

“Onore!” She cried angrily, as she dropped the gun to the ground and kicked at him viciously. She wanted to rip his heart out, she was so angry with him. Making her look like such a fool in front of everyone, treating her like a toy. Damn Namek.

Sukuashi put out a hand and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. “I’ll finish him off. Take the others back to the ship and wait for me there. And find some place to put the woman.”

Kicking him one last time in the ribs for good measure, she stalked away from him, leading the other Saiya-jin back to the ship. As soon as they were out of sight, Sukuashi crouched down to Piccolo’s eye level, and glared.

“And now what do you have to say for yourself, Namek? Any more smart remarks for me?” He demanded, looking him in the eyes.

Piccolo spoke in a pained voice. “Gohan will come and b….beat the hell out of you, you Saiya-jin trash. He is already on….on his way.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t stay and play with your little friend. By the time he arrives, I will already be back on that horrid planet, traipsing through the snow, along with the woman you so unsuccessfully protected.” Sukuashi informed him, and stood to his feet.

Piccolo’s eyes closed as he lost consciousness, and Sukuashi kicked him hard in the ribs again, staring at him in disgust.

ChiChi, still sobbing, curled up against the tree tighter, wishing away these evil men. She had watched the fighting wearily, and when Piccolo was shot down, she was certain he had died for protecting her. Guilt was washing over her in waves, and her hair had come loose and was falling into her face, sticking to it with the tears. It wasn’t fair, it never was. Despite how much she had disapproved of Piccolo in the past, he still defended her life, and he was killed for it.

“You can’t fight this.” A voice said from behind the tree, and she knew it was the man that had threatened to take her. She continued to cry, ashamed that she was doing nothing to protect herself, but she felt so guilty over Piccolo’s death that she could barely move.

He stepped into her vision, and put his hands on his hips. “Stand up.”

She did nothing but cry, and wished desperately that Gokuu, that anyone, would come and help. But he wouldn’t come, and no one else did. If she was going to get out of this, she had to stand up for herself. She thought hard about how she had been in the past, a young fighter, full of strength and energy.

Sukuashi grew impatient. “Stand up, I said.”

Still, she sat there, but ceased crying, and stared up at him with watery black eyes. “I heard you the first time. I am not going anywhere with you. I have a family to take care of.”

He looked around. “And where is your family? I see no one here. Drop this insolence now, and I will not harm you.”

ChiChi stood up and brushed her long black hair away from her face, dusting herself off. “I said, I am not going anywhere with you.”

A hand shot out and stuck her across the face. Hard. Her head knocked against the tree on impact, and she was knocked out instantly, slumping into the arms of Sukuashi, who roughly slung her over his shoulder and walked out of the forest with her, smirking.

And miles away, on a small island, a man suddenly looked up in alarm. Something had happened to ChiChi.

Chapter 3
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