Love Is A Strength, Not A Weakness

~Part 11 ~

Usagi tossed and turned lightly in her bed, for once home in the small house in the middle of the Black Forest. Her face twisted into one of determination, and annoyance as she slept fretfully.

Usagi stared at the swirling emptiness that surrounded her, the entire place having an almost evil feel to it.

“Hello Princess.” A familiar masculine voice spoke from the mist, a dark form barely visible.

“YOU!!!” Usagi hissed out in extreme distaste.

“Ahh, so you do remember me,” the form responded snidely.

“Leave me and my family alone!!!” she yelled at the thing, the crescent moon on her forehead beginning to blaze.

“Temper, temper,” the figure taunted her and stepped out of the mist, the resemblance to an old tyrant unmistakable. “Soon enough you can face me, but I’m afraid I will not be able to leave your family and friends alone. I owe them,” he stated, earning a fierce growling from the silver haired Lunarian. “Soon enough, my princess,” he taunted then vanished.

Usagi bolted upright in her bed, her blankets everywhere, her braid a tangled mess. Her face turned into one of determination.

 

The next morning Piccolo sat beneath a tree in the Black Forest near a small urban house, meditating long before predawn appeared in the Eastern sky. As the sun began to peak over the horizon Vegeta softly touched down and leaned against a tree 50 feet away from Piccolo, his arrival awakening Son Goku, who in turn woke up Goten. The two soon appeared outside yawning and stretching as then Gohan and Krillon touched down and smiled at them. Within the next 15 minutes, Mirai arrived with a yawning Trunks, soon followed by Ubb, Yamcha, and Tien. The group of men stood there for a minute glancing from one to another.

“So who wants to go wake up Usagi?” Goku asked in his normal cheery voice. Silence reigned for about two minutes before Mirai, seeing as no one else wanted to, and with no idea why stepped towards the Son household, the sun now fully above the horizon.

“I’ll do it Goku,” he said, and then headed inside the house. Moments later there was a loud bang and a crash as Mirai flew through the wall and impacted about fifteen trees before slumping to the ground, shock and surprise written all over his features. The rest of the Z Senshi all snickered.

“You just learned an important lesson Brat. Never volunteer to wake up that Lunarian,” Vegeta told him as he smirked. Mirai nodded dumbly. The Z Senshi then quickly went about taking care of the trees that had been knocked down; turning them into firewood size chunks as they waited for Usagi to appear. When she did she was smiling brightly, her silver hair tied in its familiar braid, wearing a navy blue gi with silver sash.

“Ready to go?” she asked them smiling, while at the same time ignoring Mirai.

“You bet,” Krillon answered and rose from the ground the rest following suit and heading off to where they planned on training for the day. Mirai feeling somewhat dejected slowly took off, he had been flying for no more then a min when a weight settled on his back, and he noticed a silver braid fluttering behind, he turned his head to see Usagi sitting cross-legged on his back and smiling at him sweetly.

“You wanted me up, now you have to deal with me,” she told him, a mischievous glint in her eye. Mirai gulped he had a feeling this was going to be a LONG day. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, Mirai just being the object of some teasing and mocking, while Usagi sat cool as a cucumber on his back. Soon they arrived in the wide-open desert that had been designated their training grounds for the day, Usagi jumping nimbly to the ground before Mirai could utter a word.

Before anyone else could speak Piccolo had lunged at Usagi the two immediately taking off into an intense spar. Vegeta and Goku watched for a moment before they too began. Trunks tackled Goten starting a spar there while Krillon and Yamcha faced off. Tien jumped in with Krillon and Yamcha the three taking turns teaming up on each other. Gohan watched for a moment as Mirai studied Usagi fight with Piccolo. ‘He’s got it BAD.’ he thought then grinned powering up and attacking the distracted demi-saiyan.

This continued on throughout the day, stopping occasionally to switch partners, or take a rest. The entire group stopping for lunch, which appeared from several capsules; unfortunately for Mirai he still seemed to be on Usagi’s bad side as she then *accidentally* dumped a cream pie on his head. Thus initializing a food fight, which the likes of no one on Earth has ever seen before as food began to be thrown at super saiyan speeds, only to be caught and then thrown at some other poor unsuspecting victim. Surprisingly, one silver haired figure had managed to dodge most of the flying food, that was until Gohan, Goten, and Trunks all spotted her clean head and gi. Usagi backed up slowly as she eyed the Z warriors that were beginning to surround her.

“Now, now guys, do you have any idea what it’s going to take to wash that out of my hair …..”SPLAT!!! and with that, what had once been silver hair became a food filled mess.

After another half hour of flinging food, the group that somewhat resembled a buffet of sorts headed to an oasis to clean up before continuing with their training. Unfortunately for all the guys, Usagi beat them there and shielded off the pool so she could clean up and wash her hair without interruption. But then the way she saw it, they deserved having to wait, after all it was there fault her hair was full of this gunk, never mind the fact that she started the entire thing. Eventually, two hours later to be exact, she finished cleaning up, and finally let the guys in, who at this point were to determined to clean off the now reeking food and retaliate against her.

Finally after much scrubbing and a near water fight the entire group was clean and ready to begin sparring again. This took off without a problem really Gohan going against Usagi, Vegeta and Goku taking after each other again. Piccolo decided to sit out this one and meditate, which actually meant due to their vicious scrubbing his ears were full of water and soap and couldn’t hear. Goten and Trunks fused and set against Mirai; Tien, Krillon, and Yamcha picking up where they had left off.

Mirai had just blocked an attack from the fused pair, when a blast hit the back of his ki shield, with a glare at Gotenks he turned to identify where the blast came from, only to see everyone busy sparring and Piccolo meditating, with no sign of where the ki blast has come from. At this same time Goten and Trunks had started laughing their rears off, causing their fusion to prematurely end, leaving two demi-saiyans rolling on the ground laughing. Mirai glared at the two then decided he would be better off meditating took up a position not that far away from Piccolo. The sparring continued well into the afternoon with little real excitement, save for that whenever Mirai seemed to just get into a totally relaxed state, a blast would come flying his way, practically singed him a couple times. After each of these events someone would always be snickering, but from what he could tell no one had had the opportunity to attack him, thus he would go back to meditating only to be blasted at again.

Things continued like this until the group called a halt as the sun sank below the horizon. The group levitated and began to take off calling out goodbyes as they took off. Usagi walked over to Mirai an innocent smile on her face.

“Ready to go Tru-chan?” she asked. Mirai simply walked forward and scooped her into his arms, and blasted off heading for the Son household.

“Tru-chan!!! What are you doing!!” she exclaimed and struggled in his arms.

The next two weeks went by quickly, and relatively quiet, well as quiet as it could be with Saiyans, demi-Saiyans, and of course a Lunarian and two Lunarian cats. Usagi carefully packed her supplies into the bag then stuffed it into her sub space pocket before heading downstairs to help her mother load the numerous baskets of food she had prepared for the Son and Brief family evening gathering that they were having. Well every Son, save her, and every Briefs but Mirai that is.

Mirai Trunks had asked her out the other night, and she had happily agreed. So while their mothers kept the rest of their families involved in the gathering, they were going out for a night on the town. Something that Usagi knew she needed. She had been uptight since she had had that dream, knowing that Korihi would make good on his threats if she didn’t take precautions to prevent him. So she eagerly, and somewhat nervously was looking forward to her date, of course the fact that it was Mirai, or Tru-chan as she called him, made things much more exciting.

Soon the Sons arrived at the Briefs household, a.k.a. main complex of Capsule Corp, and almost immediately Usagi found herself dragged upstairs to her room there by Bra and Pan, whose family had already arrived. Mirai Trunks watched silently from the shadows, nervous that she had changed her mind. Goten and Trunks approached him.

“You nervous buddy?” Goten asked and smirked already knowing that he was. Mirai just gave them a light glare. “Come on Pal, we’ll help you pick out a good outfit, plus give you some tips on Usagi and girls in general.” Goten told him smiling, both boys leading him off very much like how Pan and Bra had lead off Usagi.

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Mirai stood nervously in the living room, waiting for Usagi to come down the stairs. Why, he had no idea, but he had allowed both Goten and Trunks to help him pick out an outfit and ‘get ready’ for his date, both also sharing little tidbits they knew about the silver haired princess and girls in general. So now he stood there, awaiting her; then a small noise caught his attention and there she was halfway down the staircase. Mirai’s eyes went wide as he took in the gorgeous maiden before him.

Her long silver hair cascaded down from a single bun on the back of her head. She was dressed in a sleek black dress that reached halfway down her thigh and clung to her frame beautifully, accenting all her curves. The dress left her shoulders bare, and had a square collar cut, and the strap disappeared back around her neck in what must be an X. On her feet were black high-heeled sandals that helped show of the sleek legs and dainty feet. She wore little makeup, and her only jewelry were two eight pointed star earrings, and a silver chain with a crescent moon pendant.

“Usagi, you look gorgeous..” he breathed out softly after taking her hand and kissing it lightly, causing a rosy blush to adorn her cheeks.

“Thank you,” Usagi replied quietly her eyes shining as she took in the young man beside her. She found her eyes roaming over his choice in clothing, dark jeans, with a black snug fitting tank top, a blue light weight Capsule Corp jacket over it. His long lilac hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a few strands escaping to frame his face. Mirai smiled at her warmly before then taking her hand in his and leading her quietly out of the building, there would be no need to announce that they were leaving to everyone or they would never get out. Once they were outside, Mirai scooped her up and took off to the restaurant he had made reservations at, and then later to a club.

“Tru-chan!!! What are you doing!?!?” Usagi squealed laughing freely in the night air.

“I’m taking you on a date, what does it look like?” he asked and winked at her.

“I can fly myself, you know,” she then stated while studying his handsome face.

“I know, but humor me,” he replied.

Prince Korihi sat in his throne and yawned, he was bored again, servants and slaves cringed and cowered, afraid that they would become the tool with which he relieved his boredom. Much to their relief the changeling prince got up and left the room. Korihi slowly made he way to the prison quadrant of his ship and then entered an observation room, his lips curling in an evil grin. On the screens his ‘collection’ was displayed, the first six or so displayed the only other remaining saiyans, besides Vegeta and Goku. The next revealed Z Senshi, first was Master Roshi, then Tien, and Chao-tsu. Then the mighty Namek Piccolo followed by Krillon. In two separate cells farther down were Eighteen and Marron, along with the female saiyans. He let out a chuckle, he would have quite the ‘harem’ when he was through, the real prize would be the Lunarian Princess.

He studied the screens for a while longer amused with his catches, but is was time to add a few more to the collection. The Saiyan Prince and his family, as well as the one called Goku and his family, save for Her, she would be his last and most glorious conquest. He left the room with an evil smirk on his face, and made his way to the bridge of the ship, upon entering he sneered at the site of the woman who had raised him to be all that he was. His sneer turned back into a smirk, oh she taught him all right, taught him that you could never trust a woman, for they will always strike back when provoked, sometimes in the worst ways imaginable. His mother had striked by keeping him secret, and then taking over his Father’s kingdom when he had been killed.

“Oh there you are Korihi, you have arrived just in time. They have all gathered at the Saiyan Prince’s home, except for her. It is time for the next attack my son,” Tsurara told her son, upon seeing him enter the room. Korihi was not very amused.

Usagi and Mirai walked silently together through the park, the moon casting gentle light upon them. Each happy and content to be in the others company, the unspoken bond between them drawing them close together. Occasionally someone would spot the couple and let out a heart felt sigh, at what to them, was obviously a very happy couple.

“Thank you for the wonderful time tonight Tru-chan,” Usagi said softly resting her head on his shoulder, his arm wrapped warmly around her waist.

“No, thank you Usa, I haven’t had this much fun in such a long time. You have become the light in my life,” he told her in response, the two stopping to sit down on a bench. Usagi looked up into his cerulean blue eyes, becoming lost in their depths, as his face came closer and closer, their lips meeting in a warm and gentle kiss. Waves of warmth and love washed through the pair, as their lips caressed one another. Usagi let out a soft sigh as they pulled a part, Mirai holding her tightly. Suddenly Usagi moaned, and gripped her head in pain.

“NOOOooo. It can’t be! Not Now!!” she cried out as dread, and danger washed over her.

“Usagi?!? What is it??” Mirai asked beginning to become very worried. Suddenly Usagi sprang up.

Princess Tsurara laughed gaily as she watched the Z fighters feeble attempts to stop them. They had already capture Goku, Vegeta and Gohan, as well as Chichi, Bulma, Videl and Bra. The girl Pan let out hiss of curses as she was grabbed from behind, then knocked unconscious. The two remaining demi-sayians screamed in rage, and then fused, surprising everyone, and managing to take out many more of her forces than she liked.  Tsurara growled in annoyance and moved in herself, with a well timed and aimed blow rendered the fused pair unconscious, one going back to two. She scanned the area as her troops moved out taking their catches with them, and gave a nod of approval, it would be very evident to the Lunarian what had happened. She then spotted a silver flash a little ways away, and laughed out loud merrily.

“Your too late foolish girl, too late!” she called out amongst laughter before she was teleported back to their ship.

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Usagi groaned as her mind was suddenly bombarded with the flaring ki’s of her family and Senshi team. They were under attack, by something; something resembling Freeza. At this realization her mind and body sprang into action.

            “NOOOooo. It can’t be! Not Now!!” she cried out, knowing that Korihi was behind the attack. He had attacked when she was gone. “NOO!! You can’t take them!!” she yelled again gathering her senses and strength and teleporting, momentarily forgetting about Mirai, and not even hearing his voice before she vanished. As soon as she had finished teleporting she was off and running across the grounds to the main Capsule Corp buildings, and she could see and sense the battle, then she heard the voice.

            “Your too late foolish girl, too late!” Usagi launched an attack at the retreating woman in desperation, unfortunately the woman had been right. She was too late.