The Searching:

Prologue

For the high northern provinces, it was a warm day. The sun was bright, and a gentle breeze stirred through the pine forest. For once no haze hid the snowcapped mountains on the horizon. The deep blue sky was clear, save for a single figure speeding through the air.

The flyer paid no attention to the beautiful surroundings or the pleasant weather. Her blue eyes were scanning the ground, searching intently for someone who had been killed over a month ago.

Now he lived again--thanks to the power of the dragonballs.

Whether he was in this area, she didn't know for certain, but the police had reported a rash of stolen cars in the region; that was as good a sign as any. How ironic that she had to rely on the police for information, when not too long ago she had killed cops who were chasing them.

It was even more ironic that she wasn't able to find her twin brother on her own, even though she claimed to rely on no one but herself.

She flew on, as she had for the past four weeks, systematically covering thousands of miles without rest since she never ran out of energy.

The mountains grew larger as she neared them, and the air colder. There was no sign of human habitation anymore; all she could see was dense coniferous forest broken by a shallow river flowing from high up in the mountains. There would be no reason for her brother to be here--unless it was part of another "fun" adventure of his. She came to halt, hovering just above the treetops, and closed her eyes. The strain of trying to guess her brother's actions was starting to wear down her mind. It was typical of him to play hide-and-go-seek with her when they had more serious things to worry about.

Like what to do with their lives now.

Sighing, she opened her eyes and surveyed the landscape, considering her next course of action.

Her eyes fixed on a speck hovering in the sky towards the northwest.

It was a very familiar speck.

"Juunanagou," she whispered aloud. Her face softened with relief, then hardened just as quickly with stony rage. She took off and chased after her brother.

He was flying obliviously, carrying an ax over his shoulder, when his sister suddenly appeared in the air in front of him.

"Juuhachigou!" he exclaimed, slamming to a midair stop with surprise plain across his face.

"I've been searching for you!" she yelled, all the pent up frustration of the past month welling over. "Where have you been?!"

He smiled languidly, taking control of the situation again. "Here and there. I woke up in a huge crater somewhere, flew out of that desolate wasteland, stole a few cars, and drove till the roads ran out," he said with a shrug. "It was fun."

"Fun? Is that all you care about?" Juuhachigou scowled at him. "Didn't you wonder where I was?!" She lunged forward to slap him, but he easily floated beyond her reach. He smiled again. "Anger makes you clumsy, sister!"

She crossed her arms and glared. "Idiot! You were dead!"

"What?"

"Remember Cell?"

Juunanagou was silent.

"He killed you," Juuhachigou continued. "Cell absorbed me, too. But I was healed before it was too late. And you were wished back to life with the dragonballs. That's when you 'woke up'."

She neglected to mention that someone had also tried to wish them back to being complete humans, but this wish had been beyond the powers of the dragon.

"And Cell?" Juunanagou asked.

"Dead."

They hung in the air for a moment, silent.

Finally, Juunanagou smirked and dropped down through the trees, landing nimbly on the pine needle-covered forest floor, his ax still in hand.

"Where are you going now?" Juuhachigou called down to him.

"My house," he replied, already walking away. "Come on, let me show you."

Unable to refuse, Juuhachigou descended and followed her brother into the forest.