Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 31 - Good News, Bad News

"Where is she?" Trunks asked, sitting on the edge of one of the beds in the hotel room. Reena and Ceres were sitting on the other bed, while Sirius and Goten sat on the floor, facing inward toward the group.

"Last I saw she was out in the hall arguing with the Saiya-jin named Kakarotto." Reena said.

"You can just call him Goku, it's easier." Trunks said. "Or...whatever. Nat calls him Kakarotto, but I don't really know why."

"I think they left." Goten said, and walked toward the door. Looking out the peephole, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Are they there?" Trunks asked.

"Iie. They must have teleported, because we would have felt them leaving if he had walked."

"But why, and to where?" Trunks said, standing up. "Hell we just got back and she has to run off again."

"Listen Saiya-jin." Sirius said, looking directly at Trunks. "There is something bothering her, and she probably went to talk to the other Saiya-jin to calm her nerves."

Trunks eyed Sirius suspiciously.

"What could possibly be wrong??" he cried. "Hermes is dead, Orion is dead, and everyone is safe. She should be happy. I thought she was..."

"Just give her a while." Sirius said. "She has new memories to adjust to."

"So because you're her brother, you suddenly know everything about her?" Trunks snapped.

"More than you know, which is pathetic, since you are her supposed mate." Sirius retorted. Trunks growled threateningly.

"STOP you two!!" Reena cried, stepping in between the two Saiya-jin hybrids. Their respective tails thrashed wildly. "Trunks, how can you complain about Carina...Natalie...being angry, when you can't even keep yourself under control? And Sirius, what gave you the idea that you could insult Trunks just because he was confused about the situation?"

"I didn't insult him." Sirius said defensively.

"And I wasn't complaining." Trunks added.

"Just stop fighting, please." Reena continued. "If we're going to live together for a time, we can't constantly clash over minor differences."

Suddenly, Natalie appeared in the room, causing everyone to jump back in surprise.

"Nat! Where have you been?" Trunks asked, and started to move toward her, but refrained.

"I was having a talk with Kakarotto." She explained. "Sorry for taking so long."

"Are...are you okay now?" Trunks continued to question. Natalie just nodded.

"I'm surprised Vegeta and Kakarotto haven't noticed." She commented, looking down at Sirius and Goten, and then at Trunks.

"Notice what?" they all chimed simultaneously.

"The tails." She replied, waving hers about before wrapping it around her waist. She looked down at herself and noticed that she was still dressed in her bodysuit.

"What we really need...is to clean off." Natalie said, unwrapping her tail. Trunks looked at Goten suggestively before turning back to Natalie and smirking slightly.

"Right. We have plans for tonight." He said.

Natalie looked at him like he was crazy and raised an eyebrow. Trunks then realized that his statement had come out the wrong way.

"What I meant was..." he trailed off, trying to think of a better way to word it. Natalie just shook her head and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door before he could reconcile.

Trunks slumped back onto the bed.

"Well that went all wrong." He said, sighing. He then noticed that Sirius was shooting him a deadly glare. "Sirius NO! It's not what it sounds like..."

"I know what Trunks is up to." Goten said. "And it has nothing to do with his hormones...entirely."

"Goten!" Trunks hissed. Goten just snickered.

"We forgot about Nat's birthday. What he meant was, we're going to go out tonight." He said, running a hand overtop of his black, spiky hair. "Besides, what are they gonna do in here with four other people?"

"Goten, can it!" Trunks said angrily.

"Aw come on Trunks." Goten said. "You know I'm joking."

"I do...but not everyone else does." He said, and gestured toward Sirius. The half Saiya-jin, half Sidra-jin just shook his head "no".

"I know, Trunks." He said. "But remember that I do have the ability to read minds."

Trunks gulped. He didn't think he was going to hang around with Sirius much during this trip. If he did, he wouldn't make it back to Japan alive.

"Not if you continue to think those kinds of things." Sirius said, replying to Trunks' thoughts. Trunks just jumped back and looked at Sirius with wide-eyes. Sirius just smirked and snickered lightly.

<Damn him!> Trunks thought. <As if he is oblivious to the Saiya-jin hormones!>

Sirius looked at Trunks and raised an eyebrow. Trunks just folded his arms and nodded his head slowly, as if to say, "yes, I did just say that."

About ten minutes later, the bathroom door clicked and opened, and a cloud of steam escaped the room, followed by Nat, who was wearing a towel and a big grin.

"MAN that feels better!" she exclaimed happily. She the realized the situation that she was in, being next to nude, with three males, even if one of them happened to be her brother.

Trunks looked at her and his eyes twitched as he forced himself to think rational, calm thoughts.

"G...gomen!" Natalie cried, jumping behind the door and peering her head around, which was bright red. "I wasn't thinking. Can someone hand me my bag? I don't have any clothes in here with me."

Reena looked down at the pile of suitcases, trying to decide which one was Natalie's.

"The blue and white one." Natalie urged. "Please, I'm getting cold!"

Trunks' eyes twitched again.

Reena reached down and grabbed the blue and white duffel bag, tossing it to Natalie, who promptly caught it in her right hand and zipped back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

As soon as she had left the scene, everyone turned and looked at Trunks, who was looking rather uncomfortable.

"What did I do??" he cried.

Sirius was staring intently, most likely picking up on every thought that passed through Trunks' mind. Trunks noticed this and clenched his fists in anger.

"Look Sirius, I can understand your need to watch out for your little sister..." he said, "but you DON'T have to do it like that!"

"I don't trust you." Sirius said blatantly.

"Would it console you to know that she has lived with me for about a year now, and nothing like that has happened between us, to that degree?" Trunks continued. "But you had better get used to it, because she is my mate, and that fact is pretty much inevitable!"

Sirius looked at Trunks in disbelief.

"Sirius give him a break." Goten said. "Trust me, I've been around this whole time, and those two are fine."

Sirius just broke off his stare with Trunks and looked in another direction. Just then, Natalie walked out again, now clothed in a white tank top and khaki shorts, with a towel still wrapped around her hair.

"Uh...why did everyone get quiet?" she asked, cautiously stepping out of the bathroom. Trunks locked eyes with her and then shifted his gaze to Sirius. Natalie looked at her mate and then at her brother, figuring that they had gotten into some kind of disagreement while she had been in the shower. Wanting to know what had happened, she chose to involve herself.

"Sirius what happened while I was gone?" she asked firmly, raising the tone of her voice to a pitch higher to stress her inquiry.

"What makes you think that something happened?" he asked, looking at her. His eyes were angry.

"Because I can see it in you." She replied. "And in Trunks as well. Now tell me what you two did."

"Nat, they got into an argument." Goten answered for them. "Sirius is being overprotective."

"Of what, me?" Natalie asked, pretty much surprised at that fact. "I don't need protecting." She said, turning her head to look at Sirius again.

"So now that we're on Earth, you want us to forget about our responsibilities to you?" he said, gesturing to Reena and Ceres. Natalie looked at him.

"That's exactly what I want." She said. "If you worry about me all the time, you won't be able to relax. You want to enjoy your own lives, as do I."

"Please..." Sirius started. Natalie interrupted him.

"Sirius, that's the last order I'll ever give you." She said. "After today, you three are on the same level as I am, as Trunks, and as Goten."

The three guardian senshi looked at her with looks of bewilderment on their faces.

"Your mother...managed to preserve your personality, not to mention your headstrong flare." Ceres said halfheartedly.

"That's nice. Let's focus on today." Natalie said. "Any ideas of what your 'plans' are yet, Trunks?" she asked, looking up at the purple-haired hybrid.

Trunks laughed nervously and blushed ever so slightly.

"Nat that's not what I meant..." he said.

"I know." She replied, looking at him confusedly. "What did you think I interpreted it as...?"

Trunks felt much worse. He now had to explain to Natalie the assumptions he had made about her thoughts earlier.

Sirius smirked as he looked down at the ground. She knew what she was doing. Though he wasn't able to read her thoughts because she had a natural block so to speak, he could tell be her tone. Very subtle, but it was still there.

"Uh...let's just forget about that one." Trunks said, trying to save himself. Natalie took half a step forward and folded her arms.

"No I want to hear it." She demanded.

"I thought..." Trunks started, thinking of a way to explain his situation. "You see..."

"Nevermind, Trunks. I can use my imagination." Natalie said, placing her hand up in the air, signifying for him to stop. "I think that we should all six go out to eat somewhere really ritzy!"

"I don't know of any places on this island." Trunks commented. "Kaasan might, but what are we going to do about them?"

"They can do their own thing." Natalie replied. "And I guess I will have to find something better to wear. Something more...appropriate for the occasion." She added, drawing her hands out at her sides as if to present herself as being underdressed. "Then again..."

"Nani? What is that supposed to mean?" Goten asked.

"We should probably stick to something fun and laid back. None of us really want to spend all that money just to sit in stiff clothing and act like royalty."

Everyone raised their eyebrows.

"NO pun intended!" Natalie clarified. "The five of you still need to get cleaned up. Reena, Ceres, I'll find some clothing for the three of us. Goten and Trunks, you guys find something for Siri-chan over here." She teased, grinning at Sirius playfully. Sirius just shook his head sadly.

A few seconds later, everyone was still standing in a big group.

"Hey! I said get a move on!" Nat cried, trying to shoo the boys out of the room.

"No you didn't!" Trunks cried in protest.

"I just did, now go!" Natalie said, hurling the three Saiya-jins out into the hall and slamming the door. After a few moments, the door opened and two bags flew out, nearly impaling Goten in the face, and then slammed shut again.

"Man, I thought two boys were bad. Now there are three!" Natalie whined, slumping onto the bed. "I feel like a soccer mom!"

Ceres and Reena sweatdropped once again.

"Er...Natalie..." Ceres said, making sure to pronounce the name correctly.

"Nani?" the girl said, bent over and unwrapping the towel from around her hair. She stood back up, her face flushed from the rush of blood to her head, and her wet hair fell messily onto her head.

"What are we supposed to do?" the girl asked.

"Go get a shower." She replied plainly.

"A what?" Reena blurted out. Ceres also looked confused.

"You're telling me that we didn't have showers on Vela-sei??" Natalie cried. "Whoa...didn't everyone smell bad?"

"N...nani?" Ceres said, her face twisting into an even more bewildered expression.

"A shower. You know, it's when you go stand under a big faucet-like thing and hot water comes out and you clean yourself with soap." Natalie said, still shocked that they didn't even know what a shower was.

"Oh." Reena said, smiling again. "That's a strange method of cleaning yourself."

"Well what did we use?" Natalie asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer or not.

"Just a standard sanitizer." Ceres replied. "I guess...you don't have those here."

Natalie blinked, shaking her head quite slowly.

"It's just a little stall that you stand in and all of the impurities are removed from your body. It sure is quicker than one of those...showers you were talking about." Ceres explained.

"But probably nowhere near as relaxing." Natalie said. "Showers are so nice, especially if you get a soap that smells really nice and the water is just the right temperature. The hard part is getting out."

"What do you do with your clothing afterward?" Reena asked.

"What are you talking about? You just wash it normally." Natalie said, and then realized what Reena had been talking about. "Oh you don't shower with your clothes! You have to strip everything off first."

Ceres and Reena looked at Natalie like she was crazy.

"Just TRUST me!" Natalie said. "Now get in there, one of you. There are towels to dry off, and I have clothes for you to wear when you get out. Don't forget to wrap a towel around your hair so that it doesn't drip everywhere."

Reena inhaled and bravely entered the bathroom. She looked around at the facilities...the sink, the toilet, the mirror, and then the toilet. Not too much different on this planet.

Natalie walked in with Reena to show her how to turn the shower on.

"You just turn this to the middle and then adjust it wither way depending how warm you want it. If you turn it toward the red, it gets hotter, and with the blue, it gets colder. Here is the soap, and shampoo for your hair."

"Anything else?" Reena asked, chuckling.

"That's about it. Um...I don't know if you two...shave or anything, but I didn't bring any blades because for some freaky reason I don't even have hair on my body." Natalie said, looking down at her legs.

"Neither do we." Reena said. "We're Sidra-jins, not animals. Trust me...we've evolved."

"Wow awesome! The girls on this planet would kill us." Natalie laughed. "Uh, well I guess I'll leave so you can get in."

Natalie walked out of the bathroom and shut the door on her way, sitting onto the bed with a sigh.

"I have a lot to learn." She said, looking at Ceres. "So you guys remember it all, huh? You didn't have your memories erased?"

"Iie." Ceres said, sitting down onto the other bed, sinking into the soft mattress. "You probably wouldn't want to remember some of it though."

"Why not?" Natalie said, shifting so that she was sitting "indian-style" with her elbows resting on her knees. "I'm very curious. I don't even remember the fight with Hermes, just killing him at the end."

"Nothing prior?" Ceres said, cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes.

"Why..." Natalie asked, sensing that she was not revealing something.

"N...no reason." Ceres said. "I was going to ask you a question but you wouldn't remember."

"Maybe I will. Just ask." Natalie pleaded. "Please Ceres I'm such a curious cat, I can't stand people keeping secrets from me."

"Do you remember anything about Orion?" Ceres questioned.

Natalie crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Only the memories of him coming here. All of the things that happened on this planet are still stored up here." She said, pointing to her head. "I just don't remember Vela-sei."

"Nothing at all?"

"Iie...at least not right now. Maybe something could trigger my memories. You know, like, cause a flashback or something. Why what did you want to know?"

"You know that you two were a couple on Vela, don't you?" she said cautiously. Natalie suddenly stopped looking around the room and froze. Slowly looking back at Ceres, she blinked.

"Iie." She said in a flat tone. "You're lying."

"I am not." Ceres said. "I am asking because there is a possibility that you could be pregnant."