They had been trudging along through the snow in a straight line, with Gokuu in the lead and Vejiita bringing up the tail for quite sometime. Juuhachi-gou kept her eyes trained on the back of Juunana-gou’s head, and the effect of it was almost hyponotic; she felt her blue eyes closing slowly, lulled to sleep by the repetion of footsteps, the sting of cold, and the long, empty silence. It felt as thought they had been walking for days, for months, and though her body felt no exhaustion at all, her mind was dying. She longed for some sort of stimulating thought, some sort of excitement or even a sense of anger would have been welcome then. Her eyes wandered from the back of Juunana-gou’s head to the side, off into the vast whitness of the snow. The snowfall had decreased since they started walking, and the visibility was starting to increase, to a point where she could see at least fifty feet of white stretched out before her, and she could make out individual snowflakes as they fell.

“I’m telling you all, I have a bad feeling about Yamucha leaving.” Bulma said suddenly, breaking the silence. It was something that she had been saying since he very first left, pointing out that him breaking away from the group placed them in serious danger. Juuhachi-gou agreed with her, but she also knew that they had to continue on with the mission. Yamucha had been right about one thing: ChiChi needed help as quickly as possible. Juuhachi-gou took another step, sinking knee deep into the snow, and pushing through the path, as if wading through extremly dense and heavy water. A breeze fluttered through the air, stinging her cheeks with cold wind and ice, and she lifted a hand up to brush away the rements of cold and snow from her cheeks. One single thought ran through her mind over and over again as she methodically walked behind her brother: it’s cold.

“I don’t feel safe out here.” Bulma continued. “I think we are way too out in the open. Yamucha headed straight into that city, and now they know we’re out here….Even if we did change our course a bit, I think we’re still in a lot of danger. Maybe we should turn back.”

“We’re not turning back, woman.” Vejiita growled from behind.

“I’m just trying to be sensible.” She argued. “I’m telling you, I don’t feel safe here. I feel like we’re being watched. There are eyes everywhere! Can’t anyone else feel that?”

Gokuu in front shrugged. “I’ve felt that all along. But---“ There was a sudden silence, and Gokuu halted in his foosteps immediately, his body still and erect. One by one the line stopped behind him, and Juuhachi-gou peeked her head around to see exactly what had made him stop so suddenly. At first there was nothing, just wind and snow, and white all around them, as far as the eye could see. There was an uncomfortable silence, in which she suddenly felt a sharp sense of fear creeping into her heart. She could feel Bulma’s eyes now, everywhere around them, on every side, from every angle.

There was a slight roar then, something that Juuhachi-gou couldn’t quite make out, a loud, unorganized rushing noise that seemed to come from every direction, filling her ears and stinging her heart with cold, cold fear. “Oh Kami.” She breathed. “We’re surrounded, aren’t we?”

Koronu opened the large wooden door before by lifting a latch at the side of the door, and pushing it open with strong, powerful hands. A rush of snow came flying at them, but ChiChi felt protected by the cloak she had draped around her, covering her face from the sting of cold. It was strange though, how she didn’t feel cold in the slightest. She knew by just the look of the planet that it was the kind of cold that would creep into your bones, chill your very heart. The kind of cold that existed only in nightmares and in movies, the kind of cold which you could only find on the ends of the Earth, bare and pure white with snow. She didn’t feel it though, because of the injection that Potuto had given her, all she felt was the wetness of the snow against her cheeks, ankle deep as they walked along the coblestone path, jumping from shadow to shadow in secret.

Like Koronu had warned her, the city was nearly empty. Except for what sounded like the constant roar of an engine and an occasional yell, it was dead silent. All of the soldiers had gone out to battle in the snow fields, probably attacking Gokuu and her friends at this very moment. Koronu paused for a moment near the corner of a building, and waited as a lone soldier, equipped with a very large gun walked past, not noticing them in the darkness of the shadows. He walked on until he was about thirty feet away from them, then stopped and stood guard near the far wall, straight across the coblestone square from them. Koronu bent her head low, and dug a scouter out of a pouch that was attached to a heavy belt around her waist. She flipped it around in her hand, then placed it tightly around her ear and snapped it into place. When her eyes found ChiChi’s again, she was startled to see the violet glass against Korono’s sharp eyes, numbers splaying across it, reflecting in green figures. “It isn’t the soldiers we need to be concerned about. They are merely Sukuashi’s watchdogs. It’s Sukuashi himself that we need to worry about, and being spotted by him.” She whispered, in a voice so light that it could have been mistaken for a winter breeze.

The female Saiya-jin rose her hand and pointed straight ahead of them, with a gloved finger, towards what ChiChi assumed was the sky, white with snow. “There.” She said. “That is where the bastard is probably hiding. There is a camoflauged look out high above the city, and when an invasion occurs, that’s the first place that Sukuashi runs to. Sukuashi isn’t like most real Saiya-jins. He hides, let’s his servants do the dirty work for him, and kills only when it is convienient for him to do so. The plan is to take your friends, Kakarroto as well, and place them in prison. Once they’re in prison, you see, they won’t be able to fight back. There are restraints, guards, and many drugs to keep prisoners lifeless and sedated. However strong your friends may be, they won’t stand a chance against him in those conditions.”

ChiChi narrowed her eyes, still searching for the lookout, but seeing only snow. Her chest was growing tight with hate for Sukuashi. “What a cowardly thing to do.” She whispered, glaring angrily at the sky.

“Kakarroto especially is in danger.” Koronu continued. “Sukuashi is after his blood, and has been for years. I think that was the original reason that he went to Earth; to kill Kakarroto. He is in more danger than any of your friends, I believe.”

The roar of the engine that they had heard earlier, accompanied by the yelling grew very near, and they ceased talking for a moment, not sure if it were safe or not. Both of them stood tall and still in the darkness, waiting for the sound to stop, but it only grew louder, as if something were nearing them.

“We have to find him!” ChiChi said after awhile, not being able to stand the silence any longer. Her eyes were wide and frantic, concerned for her husband’s safety. “I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“We will, ChiChi, but I’m concerned for your safety as well. Though you have improved greatly in strength, you would not stand a chance against fully trained soldiers, let alone Sukuashi. And with the dirty way that they fight, you stand even less of a chance.”

A sudden burst of sound and a cry of rage had them both spinning around in time to see a white and black blur of a rider shoot past them into the cobblestone square. The guard against the wall poised his gun to shoot, but a quick ki blast sent him to the ground, sizzling against the snow as smoke rose up from his middle. The sound of an engine cut through the silence, and the blur slowed down to reveil a very familiar figure, riding on a shiny white Capsule Corporation bike. The bike spun around and the rider stopped to examine his kill for a moment, revving the engine lightly with a spin of the handlebars. Koronu steadied her, holding her tightly by the arm, not silently commanding ChiChi not to make any kind of noise in case the rider was dangerous. But ChiChi found him so familiar that she couldn’t help but lean forward, trying to make out his face. When the rider finally wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to face them in the shadows, unaware of their presence, ChiChi caught sight of his face. Her heart lept, pounding hard in her chest.

Wrenching her arm away from Koronu, she burst out into the open, the hood of her cloak falling back to her shoulders, her black hair streaming behind her. “Yamucha!!” She cried.

It was the most beautiful, unexpected thing that had ever happened to her. She had been hoping, praying for a friend, for someone to come and rescue her, and it had finally happened. She had been so uncomfortable around Yamucha before, so scared that he might hate her or still be angry with her, but now, seeing him here, she didn’t even think about that. What had happened between them suddenly didn’t matter, didn’t even cross ChiChi’s mind. It was so amazingly wonderful to see a friendly, familiar face that it brought tears to her eyes, and they sparkled down her cheeks as she ran towards him, a huge smile on her face, and her heart so filled with happiness that she honestly thought it might burst.

His look at first was pure confusion, but at the sound of her voice, a smile lit up his handsome face. He cut the engine and jumped down from the bike, falling into the snow clumsily, making his way toward ChiChi at a dead run. They met in the middle of the square and flung themselves at each other, wrapping their arms up in a tight hug. With his arms tight around her waist, He spun her around, hugging her tightly to his chest. Snow fell softly all around them, creating a magical, beautiful light, and ChiChi cried hard, so happy to finally be in the arms of someone that cared.

Koronu eyed the man suspiciously, her arms crossed as she leaned against the stone wall. ChiChi’s reaction of course, meant that he was a friend, but there was something almost threatening about the way ChiChi had looked at him, and the way that he was gazing at her now. If she didn’t know better, she would swear that there was more than friendship in this man’s eyes, and that bothered her, though she didn’t quite know why. Perhaps she felt a certain degree of jealousy. Kakarroto was her son after all, and ChiChi was his mate. Of course, being a human, Koronu couldn’t expect Yamucha to understand the importance of a mate for life, and the seriousness of the title.

Having a mate meant total and complete manogomy. That had been a longstanding rule of the Saiya-jin culture since the very beginning of the race, and there were no loopholes to that law. It had been one of the few laws from planet Vejiita that the Saiya-jin Council had taken along with them, citing that stability within the relationships of mates meant stability as an empire. Often times, the law didn’t even have to be enforced. Once a two Saiya-jin lovers came together, there was often no desire for any kind of outside relationship or pleasure --- they were together for life. Seperation by death was the only way to rid yourself of a mate, and begin a relationship with a new one, and that is why Sukuashi had tried so desperately to have Koronu killed. When Sukuashi stole her away from Bardaku, he broke one of the most sacred Saiya-jin laws, though he would never let the Council know any of this.

“You look so great, ChiChi.” The man said, and brushed a hand along the side of ChiChi’s face as Koronu watched with narrowed, dangerous eyes. Yamucha smiled fondly at ChiChi. “It’s like you’re twenty years younger! You look just like that little girl that I remember from so long ago. You’d think being kidnapped would add a few years on, but you just look fantastic.”

“Arigatou.” ChiChi replied simply, distracted. Her eyes kept moving off into the distance, as if searching for something very far away, yet visible to her heart. And Yamucha stood at ChiChi’s side, touching her so often that it made Koronu want to slap his hand away and blast him into sometime next week. As far as she was concerned, Yamucha was simply another mate-stealer, not that different from Sukuashi, if only a bit nicer.

Koronu glared steadily at him. “Where is Kakarroto?”

The man looked down, as if embarrased, or perhaps angry. She couldn’t read his emotion very well, but she knew from their intial introduction on, that she made the man uncomfortable. Rightfully so, since she had spent every moment since staring deep and hard into his eyes, as if searching for something. He placed a hand on the back of his head and didn’t meet either of their eyes. “Gokuu and the others went the long way around, so they wouldn’t be spotted. I tried to tell them not to, that you needed help now, but they were worried about the enemy catching sight of them.”

Koronu uncrossed her arms and pointed up to the sky, to the place where she knew the hidden lookout was. “And they were very smart to do so. There is a lookout there, high above the city, with a startling area of visibility. They probably saw you coming miles away.”

He frowned. “Well, ChiChi was in trouble. I wasn’t about to take the long way around.”

She didn’t like his answer. To her it seemed like a very careless decision that he made, and she could see in his eyes that he was very unpredictable and at the moment even unstable. However, his appearance with a fast moving vehicle and his comfort with ChiChi would prove to be very useful to her. She knew that Kakarroto was out there and probably in a lot of danger, and she wasn’t about to let her son be killed. She would have to find him and take him into safety, and she couldn’t do that with ChiChi tagging along. She would worry about her too much, and although she knew ChiChi was strong, she also knew that she would never be able to hold her own in a vicious battle.

“Do you feel safe with Yamucha?” Koronu asked ChiChi suddenly, and she bent down to the snow and took off her belt, searching for something.

ChiChi looked puzzled. “Hai. Why do you ask?”

She ignored her, and pulled out a handful of several small pills and one large, flat gray pill. She handed them to Yamucha as she explained. “Antidotes to the paralzying guns that the soldiers are equipped with. And a small dosage of Nairb.”

“Nairb?” Yamucha asked, accepting the pills from her.

She clipped the belt tightly onto her waist again, and wrapped her tail above it gently. “Nairb is a medication that we developed to keep away the cold. A nessecity if you are going to be out in the snow fields, where there is no warmth to be found.” With agile hands, she adjusted the scouter on her ear and tightened her cloak around her, arranging it to keep the snow out as she flew. “Just northwest of here, there is an entrance to the snow tunnels, a little while through the snowy fields. It is a small cave, barely noticable through the snow, but you’ll be able to recognize it when you see it. There is blue ice around the edges of it, the only color you will find out there. You should be safe there, because not many of us know of the tunnels or their routes. If you keep making lefts at the forks, you will make it out of the tunnels, just keep turning left. Once you’re on the other side of the tunnel, you will be in no danger. No Saiya-jin soldier would dare travel that far out into the snowy fields.”

A very angry ChiChi stared back at her, and held up a hand. “Wait! Are you sending me away? What about Gokuu!?”

Koronu placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I will find your Gokuu, and I promise he will be safe. I am concerned about your safety too, however, and you cannot go where I am going to go.” She turned to Yamucha, hoping the the amount of faith she placed in him was worthwhile. “Take care of her, and bring her to safety. If not, you will not only have to answer to her mate, but to me as well.”

With those final words, she adjusted her cloak once more and took off into the air, hovering several feet above them, snow falling lightly on the blackness of her cloak. Her eyes met ChiChi’s, and Koronu could see that the anger had left them, replacing with concern --- for her. Koronu’s heart swelled. It felt nice to have someone care about her, be worried about her. Just as much as she cared for ChiChi’s safety, ChiChi cared for her’s. It was very comforting to know that she was cared for, something that she hadn’t truly felt since she was taken from Bardoku’s arms and placed in this very cold, very frightening place.

Now the only part of Bardoku she had left, ly in the soul of a son that had never really met. She closed her eyes, and with her heart she gently searched for him, seeking the warmth of his eyes and the softness of his beating heart. She flew blindly towards him, snow whipping against her cheeks in the wind, gathering on her eyelashes as she flew. It was like this: she had nothing left to lose. Her life had already been thrown into such turmoil that she didn’t ever expect to find happiness again. But if she could have even a part of what had been stolen from her so long ago, she might just be able to go through the rest of her life knowing that she had something to live for.

Chapter 56
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