The Battle for Dragon World

A Fanfiction by Moonlit Memories

A.K.A. C.C. Stallings

Chapter Five:

Disclaimer Applies

Claimer Applies

Two weeks since the strange girl had awoken from her comatose slumber.

Two weeks since Rosy had refused to leave her room for anything but the necessities.

Two weeks since Trunks had been placed on "Care Taker Duties".

Two very, very long weeks.

He could still remember her exact words:

"This is a very important project Trunks. Those gems you found may be the key to finding out that ship's purpose," Bulma instructed while gathering things from her lab. "Not to mention the reconfiguration of the Recovery Tank. I mean, sure it works swell when dealing with Saiya-jin's, not…Saturians, whatever that is. So I'm going to be very busy. I'm going to need you to run things while I'm working, okay?"

"Okay," he had replied with confusion.

"That includes taking care of our less than capable guest," Bulma added.

"W-what?"

"You can't expect Rosy to do it, can you?"

"Well no," he started, but was effectively cut off.

"She's starting to eat solid foods, but you need to make sure it's still soft enough," Bulma began, "and you have to bathe her too, Rosy can help with that if need be. Check her vital every night, and update her progress chart. Don't leave her alone too long either, she's in a very fragile state and the last thing we need is an accidental death on our hands."

Now, here he was standing outside the strange girl's door (that's right, Bulma had clarified that the girl was pretty much human, save for a few DNA differences, very much similar to Rosy's in fact) uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck. It had become somewhat of a ritual over the last few weeks, this process of steeling one's self. Every evening, he came to the door, about the same time, and waited for a period of about five minutes before he knocked and let himself in. It was bath time, and it always took a little more mental readiness than any of his other tasks that involved the girl. Strangely it had nothing to do with the grotesqueness of the girl's appearance, but rather the anger that naturally set in whenever he saw her. Just the thought of any living person doing something so horrible to someone else made him want to go back and finish the job!

And that help from Rosy? Well it never came. The child, while he often found her lingering outside of the room, never dared to step even a foot inside it. Thankfully, however, the process was becoming easier due to the girls rapidly recovering strength: she could sit in the tub now without being held up!

Trunks lifted his hand knocked. He waited for a period of ten seconds before entering the room. As every evening, he found the strange girl lying in the bed, with an unopened book in her lap that his mother placed there whenever she woke her up in the morning. She had left it hoping it would help familiarize their guest with their world, and yet she never touched it.

She never spoke a word to him, and rarely looked at him during his visits. More often than not she turned her head away. Every time, he felt guilty for being the one to have to do this job. It did her no good, nor did it help him keep a better image of the creature in his mind.

"Bath time!" Trunks announced despite the depressing atmosphere the room was encompassed in.

The girl did not so much as flinch at his overly cheerful voice. It was no surprise. Grabbing up the wheel chair he moved to the bed side. He grabbed up the book and placed it aside. It was one of Rosy's picture books. Not that it mattered. She still could not move her hands, but when your tendons were torn and never healed as they should have, it was to be expected.

"After your bath, I'll get you your dinner, okay?" Trunks said. The silence of the room, of the girl, was nerve racking.

Pulling back the covers Trunks more, or less, moved her to the chair and as always he found himself surprised by her lack of weight. Even with the food she was fed she did not even weigh more than 90 pounds. As always though, he did his best not to mention it, or her appearance which reminded him more of an old man than a young girl, in his absentminded ramblings.

"I'll be right back okay, we're going to take a trip after your bath," Trunks offered, "and I'm going to need to pack up some of Rosy's things. So don't go anywhere…"

No reply, as usual.

Hotaru closed her sunken eyes for a moment as she listened to the man's foots steps leave the room. A few moments later she opened them back up to resume staring at the dead image before her. As per usual her current care taker had placed the wheel chair in such a fashion that she was forced to stare at the vanity mirror across the room; forced to look at that reflected filth that was her body. Unlike every other time though, he didn't wheel her away. No, he left her there with nothing else to do, but stare back at it.

"Rosy," Trunks called as he knocked gently on the bedroom door. He peaked into the room partially.

Rosy sat on the edge of her bed, a back pack on the floor beneath her dangling feet. The solemn expression she had worn since the arrival of their guest was still painted on her face and made her seem far older than just four. It was a painful sight for him to see, especially when he became so attached to the child's smile.

"I'm about to give our guest her bath," he stated softly, as if afraid that anything louder would shatter her. "We're going to be leaving for the other lab after that. Did you pack everything?"

The other lab was a small branch located on the other side of West City, and currently contained the regeneration tank that his mother had spent every waking night working on. She finally had a break through and wanted to try it out for the first time. If things went well, she could possibly restore this Saturian back to full health. Oh how he hoped.

"Hai," came the soft reply.

Trunk's brows furrowed a little more and slowly he moved into the room. He squatted down before her and rested his elbows on bent knees. His blue eyes met her crimson ones only to find them rimmed with tears. His eye brows knitted in concern.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" he finally asked. He tried before, but was always met with a stubborn shake of her head. He did not expect anything different tonight. "Does it have something to do with that girl?"

Rosy stared at him for a long moment in silence. Trunks was about to give up, as he usually did, when finally, she spoke.

"Hai." Rosy dropped her gaze to the sandals on her petite feet. "I. Scared."

"Scared? Whatever for?"

"She hurt," Rosy tried and the paused, trying to find the words in that would fit what she wanted to explain. "She hurted because me."

Trunks looked at the frustrated and tearful expression of the little girl for a long moment, before suddenly it clicked. "Rosy do you know that girl?" She nodded. "Are you from the same place?" She nodded again.

"She bringed me here." Rosy lifted her hand, instinctively clutching the crystal on the necklace she wore.

Trunks never thought much on the large gem she wore constantly, and was often caught staring at. However, the sudden images of ten pedestals bathed in light flashed in his mind. His gaze shifted to the birthmark that decorated the child's brow, and slowly he tilted his head to the side. His eyes slowly widened as he stared at the golden crescent at this new angle and made the connection with the large pedestal he had seen that day.

"The moon," he muttered absently.

Rosy's eyes snapped to him instantly.

Seconds later, the sound of shattering glass filled the hall and both Rosy and Trunks snapped their gaze to the doorway of her room.

To be continued…

Dear Readers:

Over a year since my last update! And with not so much as an even descent one! I'm so sorry! Trust me it's not an intentional neglect, but life has been quite a bit hectic I'm afraid. In any case, I expect to update more often, especially once I move and all. My goal is to update a chapter, of each of my stories, a month. Starting with this one as you can see, and regardless of chapter length (but hopefully longer than this one). Wish my luck!