Enough Time

Enough Time

By Sefiru

***

Pairings: none yet, Mirai x OC
eventually

Warnings: R, violence, character deaths, angst

Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragonball,
but Mirai ownz at
everything.

Pun_xy: Chichi is just a regular
PITA in this universe. And yes, Gohan is even more
level-headed than his father – his Saiyan side allows
him to shrug off intimidation, while his human side means he can’t be goaded by
insults (like we’ve seen lots of Saiyans act).

Macha: Thank you for joining us, even if it’s
belated. The more, the merrier. (Sqeee!
My story makes sense!)

Chapter 13, posted on Friday the 13^th. I
have a bad feeling about this. (Double update: a new chapterof
Pure Evil 4 is also up.)

In this chapter: Mirai and class=SpellE>Shiso go hunting.

***

Chapter 13: Hunting

***

     The grass was
darker than Mirai was used to, and looked slightly
bluish as it absorbed Vegetasei’s red light and
reflected what it didn’t need. Mirai liked it; unlike
Earth vegetation, it didn’t clash with his hair. He lay down in it and let it
hide him. Shiso was a couple of meters to his left,
but he couldn’t see her at all, the grass was so thick. Ahead and downhill from
them he could hear their quarry: a herd of gertha,
the Saiyans’ traditional staple prey.

     A class=SpellE>gertha stood three meters tall at the shoulder, with a
heavy, low-slung head. Its stocky body was covered in dense, shaggy wool in
colors ranging from golden-tan through red to brown and black. Although they
were plant eaters they had ferocious dispositions; that was probably the result
of eons of hunting by equally ferocious Saiyans. And
they were armed. In front, two horns like a rhino’s grew from the nose, as well
as bony spikes jutting from either side of the jaws; at the rear, a long tail
ending in a club could whip around to strike any attacker. Even class=SpellE>Saiyans usually didn’t hunt them alone.

     Two people class=GramE>was pushing it, except when one of them was a Super class=SpellE>Saiyan. Mirai focused on the
animals’ faint kis. There – at the back of the herd,
one ki faltered oddly; the animal had been sick, and
was still under-strength. Shiso’s whisper filtered
through the grass. “What do you think, the one on the
left?”

     The same one he’d
picked out. “Yeah. Let me take a look.” He slowly
raised his head above the grass. His coloration was an advantage here; the class=SpellE>gertha didn’t connect purple with danger as they would
spiky black. He stayed up just long enough to spot his target, class=GramE>then slowly lowered himself. “It’s dark grey with a white
hood marking.”

     class=GramE>“Right. Let’s go.”

     class=SpellE>Mirai rose into a four-footed crouch and crept forward, an
action as natural as walking. Instincts. class=SpellE>Gotta love ‘class=SpellE>em. Both
he and Shiso moved without shifting the grass, leaving
no sign of their passage. They split up as they approached the herd; class=SpellE>Mirai headed to the left of the target animal and class=SpellE>Shiso to the right. This took her upwind of the herd and
they started to scuffle and snort. If the gertha had
been females they would have bunched up to protect their young. But this was a
group of males; they picked up their pace, lashing their tails in aggressive
display. Because of this, though, their weaker quarry started to fall behind.
Perfect.

     class=SpellE>Mirai spiked his ki twice and felt
the answering signal from Shiso. Then he counted: style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>one – two – three – now! In unison they
leapt roaring from the grass. The grey gertha
bellowed in alarm and tried to run, but they had it bracketed. By the time it
tried to turn around, they were on top of it.

     class=SpellE>Shiso jumped inward to try to land a punch, but the clubbed
tail drove her back. Mirai attempted a strike to the
head and had to dodge a sideways jerk of the horns. A punch to the back of the
head would take the gertha down easily – the trick was
getting to it, and class=SpellE>ki attacks were considered very bad form. They danced
around the gertha for several minutes, getting in
some minor blows but nothing critical; a laugh tugged at Mirai’s
throat. No wonder this was the preferred prey of Saiyans,
who loved nothing more than a challenge. Combat reflexes kicked in; he would
test his opponent’s defenses for a weakness, and failing that, attack them
directly to disable them. Shiso seemed to have the
same idea. And they were wearing the gertha down; class=SpellE>Mirai kicked at the animal’s flank, forcing it to turn. class=SpellE>Shiso attacked from the front to try to get in under the
horns; she got through, but the gertha whacked its
head to the side and hit her with its jaw spikes. A red smear appeared on her
shoulder.

     class=SpellE>Mirai’s vision
blurred around the edges. It hit
my mate. Flashing into Super Saiyan, he flew at
the gertha with a roar. The hairy bastard hit my mate. One kick put the animal sprawling on
the ground. Nobody touches my family!
He punched into the gertha’s flesh, again and again
and –

    “Uh, class=SpellE>Mirai, I think it’s dead.”

    He looked up at class=SpellE>Shiso, who was wiping her arm with a handkerchief. Then
down at the gertha. Its skull was completely
flattened, blood and other substances flung liberally about. He dropped his
transformation.

    “class=SpellE>Kami, Mirai, overreaction much?
You’re just lucky you weren’t fighting anything intelligent.”

     style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>But, it hit – he looked back at the class=SpellE>gertha, and at Shiso’s little
scratch. “You’re right. What the hell was that?”

     “I do think it’s
sweet of you, but that kind of thing will get you killed.”

     class=GramE>“Yeah.” Now he could feel that he’d taken a tail-club to the
ribs; he hadn’t even noticed at the time. “I need to do some meditating.”

     “I’ll say. How
rough was your childhood?”

      That’s right, he
hadn’t told her yet. “Let’s fly back and get some drinks, it’s kind of a long class=GramE>– ” His cell phone rang, priority ring. “Hello.”

     class=GramE>“Mirai.” Piccolo.
What was it this time? “I’m only the relay on this; Videl’s
gone into labor.”

      “Wait, class=GramE>it’s good news?
Who are you and what did you do to Piccolo?”

      “Ha.”

      “We’re on our
way.” He closed his phone and repeated the message to Shiso.

      “Well, let’s get
going, you can tell me later. What do we do with tall, dark and handsome here?”

    style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “I brought a capsule.” He pressed the button
and tossed it at the carcass, which it engulfed with a pop. Stuffing it into
his pocket, he rose into the air. He was going to be an uncle. That was just
too weird.

***

I think Mirai has some unresolved
issues.

Next chapter: the birth of Pan.