[10] Watchtower

[Reijin]

His feet stumbled carelessly through the leaves, nearly tripping several times as he tried to follow the sound of the running water. What had she done to him? He had completely lost control. It was simply unimaginable. Reijin swallowed dryly. He never lost control. It was not in his nature, it was not within the confines of his training. A freezing feeling passed over him. What would Videl feel of this? He himself felt little in the ways of human love. He did not believe in the limitations of ?one man for one woman?, but he knew that humans were very strong about this. If she heard of it, she would probably interpret it as him having forfeited how he cared about her. Which simply wasn?t true. He could care for another and still care for her just as much.

He let out a growl of frustration, his foot finding a root in the ground almost mercilessly, thrusting him to the ground. He struck the ground hard, and angrily pushed his way back up to his feet. ?Why do humans have to always beckon to me with their foolish notions for weakened ideals?? he nearly yelled. He took a few more steps and somehow fell again, this time landing against the ground as his arm came to rest inside of a pool of water. The water was very cold. He snatched his arm back and shook it quickly, rolling back onto his rear as he leaned against a tree near the water.

He opened and closed his gloved hand repeatedly, attempting to knock off the immediate numbness. Something inside of him whispered to him? Use the flame. Abiding, he attempted to once more call out the flame, but he found that he could not find it anywhere within him. No matter how hard he tried, nor how much he controlled his Ki, he could not find the flame anywhere. His anger had nearly peaked by now as he watched the water rush by. This was stupid! This entire ordeal was mocking him. He kicked his leg out from his seated position, striking a rock into the water with a great splash.

He heard a rustle from behind him and he quickly rolled to a ready position on the ground when he saw Akira step forward, her clothing repositioned to cover her body. She had a slightly disappointed look upon her face, although she carried a smile. She motioned her head to the water and gave him an odd look. ?Aren?t you going to drink??

He shook his head. ?I did not know that it was possible for ice to take a liquid state,? he grumbled.

Laughing, she leaned down to the water, her hands igniting with small flame for a moment. After a few seconds, the water seemed to lose the cool mist over it and she finally extinguished her flame, dipping her hands into the water and cupping them so as to bring out a bit for drinking. She held her hands out to him offering, and when he did not move to accept, she leaned forward and splashed the water on his face. He jerked angrily to the side before realizing that the water was warmer now than the air around them, despite still being someone cool. He found himself sputtering to her. ?How? how did you?? It dawned on him that she was able to control the flame a lot more than he was. ?Your control over the flame is very strong,? he finally found himself saying.

She shook her head. ?You just don?t get it at all. A moment ago? When I was? with you,? she whispered, biting her lip. She seemed a bit nervous, but continued on. ?I was trying to help you realize that you were trying too hard. The fire is a thing of chaos, a thing of passion. You were trying to use cold trained control to affect it, and it doesn?t work that way. That?s why I said earlier that you seemed more likely to be on an ice path than fire, but fire is what I gave you.?

He shot her an almost fiery look himself. ?What are you talking about??

She sighed. ?You have to let go of yourself and not try so hard to control it,? she spoke. She motioned at the water, slowly beginning to collect a mist over it again. ?Cup the water and take a drink.?

He eyed her suspiciously before leaning over, his fingers dipping into the once more cold water, although he found it nowhere near the icy state it was at before, and he pulled out a perfect bubble of contained liquid, taking a cool drink to quench his thirst. After a moment, he looked to her. ?I don?t understand.?

She motioned at the water again. ?Cup the water again, but this time I want you to take both hands and intertwine them. Try to grab the water, holding it as tightly as you can.? She reached over to his heads almost lovingly and placed them in the water, positioning his fingers as she explained to him. He found himself doing as she asked, and noticed that the water sprayed out suddenly from every tiny orifice of his hands when he suddenly clasped them together. ?The harder you try, the more you?ll lose. The more you lose, the stronger you?ll be.?

Reijin?s eyes gazed upon her inquiringly. ?So the harder I try, the stronger I?ll be?? He could not believe that he was essentially hearing her speak his training regime to his face. She shook her head, though, giving him sad eyes.

?No, no, no! One day, you are going to have to realize that sometimes, you?ll just have to let go. Let go of yourself, of your control, of your sanity, of your love, of everything. Just let go. Your spirit will know what to do,? she finally explained. Suddenly a noise was heard to the side of them and she clamped her hand over his mouth. He couldn?t sense anything around them, but she seemed to see shapes. After a moment of allowing his focus to drift off, he saw the leaves parting in the distance as well. He stopped struggling as she handed him his cloak once more. ?Put it on. We have company,? she whispered. She rose to her feet and tightly clenched her fists for a moment.

Reijin rose up beside her, reconnecting the cloak to its place upon his back as he began to see shambling forms in the distance. ?So what?s the plan?? he whispered back to her cockily. After the stress that he?d been enduring, he was happy to finally have a little fun. Other than the fun she seemed to have been wanting. Not that he hadn?t found himself wanting it too. He winced at this, and quickly banished the thought from his head.

?Fire works best against the undead. Fire consumes them. Just watch out for the woods around here. They may catch fire, although it seems to be fairly moist in the leaves from the water?? she trailed off. She stretched a bit, and then her hands suddenly seared up from her fingertips, a blue flame rising along outstretched fingers to surround her entire hand. ?Shall we dance the dance of death?? Her giggle was all the warning he had before she suddenly cart wheeled into the foray, meeting one of the zombies face to face.

Reijin heard a grumble from behind him and he spun around, slamming his fist into the face of his attacker. It opened its mouth almost not noticing, spitting a vile liquid from it at him. He snatched his hand back quickly, turning to the side as the liquid hit the ground with no effect. He gave a disgusted snarl and brought his fist around once more, connecting with the creature?s throat until his fingers found themselves embedded into deep flesh to connect around a long dead windpipe. Clasping it, he suddenly pulled it out from the creature?s throat.

The creature, not noticing, continued to slash its claws outward at Reijin even has his hand emerged holding its severed windpipe. Reijin calmly batted the claws to the side and ducked down, rising behind him and wrapping its windpipe around its ripped throat. The creature thrashed wildly, finding only its movement hampered, as Reijin felt another creature bite down on his shoulder. He curse as he released the first rotting appendage to allow the other zombie to stumble forward a moment. He slammed his elbow back, connecting with the soft underbelly of yet another zombie, forcefully dislodging its teeth from his shoulder pads.

He spun quickly and grabbed the zombie, channeling a quick burst of Ki and thrusting it off into the distance where it skidded to a stop moments before climbing back to its feet. He turned to see Akira dancing through a group of five zombies, touching each one of them in key locations with her flaming hands until he noticed the zombies all stumble into each other as the spun wildly attempting to grab her. She giggled playfully as they all found themselves suddenly surround by living flame. She kicked off of a tree, flipping backwards over another pursuer until she landed behind him, slamming her fiery palms against his back igniting him as well.

Reijin scoffed for a moment. ?Well, she seems to be having fun,? he mumbled. He turned around, and finally decided to just go with it. He?d make a game of it. Almost reading his thoughts, she suddenly called out a number. He sputtered for a moment before his jaw tightened. She was keeping track of how many she had killed. Again. Two could play at that game. Why, he only had?

Reijin realized that the two creatures that had attacked him were both still moving. He spun around and grabbed one of them by their arm and ripped it from its body suddenly, slamming the hardened bone against the skull of another passing zombie. The creature crumbled beneath the blow, but the arm itself shattered mockingly. Annoyed, the Saiyan turned and fired a quick beam of energy at the other zombie as it wandered in for another attack. He hard her cry out the number twelve and he angrily counted two. He then smiled and began to dart through the trees, looking for yet another kill. He quickly found two more standing nearby, and he flipped over them, touching his palms to each of their heads before blasting them directly down the center of their spines before he landed. ?Four,? he counted triumphantly. This was rather fun after all.

His hands burst into flame on their own accord, and Reijin smiled menacingly. Now the real fun would begin. He looked over to see, to his surprise, a large pile of blue burning bodies was being formed nearby. She suddenly swung into view from the top of a tree, dropping down by her legs as she grabbed another zombie by the shoulders, lighting him up perfectly. She flipped down to her feet and saw Reijin with his own flame around him. ?Twenty-six,? she said matter-of-factly. Reijin?s eyes betrayed it all as she laughed at his small count. He turned from her, refusing to lose, and found himself competing in her little game.

He quickly fired a blast of energy into the distance dropping three alone by the sound of it, and then he spun around slamming a flaming fist through the skull of another. He found it interesting that the flames sometimes distinguished around his palm whenever he channeled his Ki through them, and then rekindled the moment his channeling ceased. The dark haired youth grabbed another zombie, igniting him and then he thrust him into another horde, lighting seven more zombies in one short. He quickly dropped to his knee as they all flailed about wildly and he took aim, firing a quick, explosive cannon of energy at the group until they all flew through the air in separate random directions.

Without preamble, Akira suddenly found herself backing into Reijin from behind. He jumped, startled a moment, and then he relaxed as he felt their flames interweave themselves and surround he two of them. ?How many?? she asked, breathlessly.

?Thirteen,? he grumbled.

She giggled. ?Don?t worry about it. You always have next time. I think they are gone now.? Suddenly she turned to him, her face furrowed up in disappointment. ?Or we killed them all. Wouldn?t that suck??

The hardened Saiyan warrior found himself laughing, his own flame glowing brightly around his body as he did so. He held his hand up in front of him and smiled even more. ?It seems I figured out the trigger.?

Taking his arm, she began to lead him back in the direction of the watchtower. ?It seems you have.? She grew quiet for a moment as she listened to the wind in the distance. Reijin found himself trailing off in thought as his fire extinguished around him, and she spoke once more, interrupting his thoughts. ?I wonder what the end of the world is going to be like??

He turned to her questioningly. ?Excuse me?? Realization dawned on him the moment she began to explain. ?Wait, nevermind. You mean this Satan destroying the world from hell thing, right?? He waited for her nod before continuing. ?Yeah, I guess I am kinda wondering about that as well. I really don?t think it?ll be the end though. That?s just something humans come up with in order to justify their own existence. Something has to justify their existence,? he mumbled. ?Now that I think about it, they do seem to cause a lot of trouble.?

She laughed. ?You seem to have quite a bit of trouble with them.?

He slowly found a smirk crossing his lips. ?Akira, you have no idea of the kind of trouble I can get into with a human.? He found himself thinking of Videl at nearly the same moment that Akira?s words interrupted his thoughts.

?Back there, I didn?t mean to upset you.?

He snapped back to reality with a quick look, unsure of what to say. She simply continued. ?I was trying to get you to relax. I mean, it was fun, and I wasn?t bothered by it, but if you think that I was trying to put you into a situation you didn?t want to be in, you can trust that I would not do that to you.? She turned to him with an impish grin. ?Unless you wanted me to,? she laughed. ?I got you to relax though, and finally got that damn fire out of you. You have to admit that was a fun route of training. I didn?t expect to have so much fun with it myself.?

He chuckled and said nothing, idly watching the stars as they emerged from the woods once more, standing at the doorstep of the watchtower.