Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 44 - Sibling Rivalry

When they were finished, Natalie and Sirius stumbled out of the gravity room, having nearly killed each other by overexerting in training.

"...well if you hadn't attacked me while I was getting the dirt out of my eye, I wouldn't have gotten beaten!" Natalie said as she stepped inside.

"You can't honestly expect me to sit back and wait while you rub your eye uselessly, do you?" Sirius countered.

"Yeah, I can. Next time something like that happens to you, we'll see who's sorry."

"I hate to disappoint you princess, but you won't catch me making such a stupid mistake."

Natalie punched her brother in the arm, hard. She was irritated by his sanctimonious attitude. He enjoyed making others feel stupid while he basked in the glory of knowledge. What she wanted more than anything at the moment was to prove him wrong at least once.

"Hey have you seen Ceres this morning?" Natalie asked as they headed toward the kitchen. Sirius instinctively tensed and forced his mouth shut.

"N...no." he stammered, cursing himself mentally, again, for letting his defenses down. Obviously noting his hesitation, Natalie turned to him.

"What do you mean...is there something you're not telling me?" she asked accusingly. "Because I see that look in your eyes."

"No I have not seen her, Carina, mind your own business." He snapped. Natalie placed her arms up in front of her defensively.

"Damnit Sirius I was just asking!" she replied. "Now I know there's something wrong because of the way you're coming across. I'm going to go find her and ask her myself."

"Don't." Sirius said, grabbing her by the shoulders and stopping her. His grip was so strong that his fingernails dug into her skin.

"Ahh, get off!" she cried, twisting out of his grip. "You little psychotic weirdo! If you touch me again I'm going to kick your ass!" Her tail puffed slightly as her anger increased.

"Don't make empty threats, princess." He responded, his frustration growing as well.

Natalie reeled back and punched him in the face. "Would you stop-" *punch* "...calling..." *punch* "...me..." *punch* "...princess!" *punch*

Sirius had managed to block all of her punches and on the last one, he grabbed her fist and held it, suspended in the air.

"No." he answered simply. Natalie growled furiously and her tail slashed back and forth behind her.

"You stupid son of a-"

Before she could even begin her long line of waiting insults, someone entered the kitchen and cleared their throat. Natalie and Sirius turned their heads simultaneously and looked at the figure standing in the doorway: Ceres.

Immediately, Sirius took his hands off of Natalie's shoulders and laughed nervously. Natalie glared at her older brother before looking back at Ceres.

"Good morning." Ceres said plainly, not bothering to look at Sirius as she strolled into the kitchen. "I see you two are at it fairly early."

"Yeah well I was just fine by myself until he came in and bothered me." Natalie spat.

"You were the one who suggested I train with you! If you weren't so pathetically weak you wouldn't have lost so miserably." Sirius shot back.

"I didn't lose!" Natalie cried. "You took advantage-"

"Guys..." Ceres interrupted, placing her palm out like a stop sign. "Can it."

"Gomen." Sirius said quietly. Natalie folded her arms and huffed angrily. Just then, Vegeta, who looked tired and rather cranky, walked in, brushing past Ceres rudely and heading straight for the refrigerator.

"You brats need to keep quiet." He barked, digging through the selection of food. "There are other, more important people in this house trying to get some sleep."

"We were training." Natalie commented argumentatively. "I don't see why it's such a bother to you."

Vegeta turned around and glared, gripping a chicken leg in his right hand.

"Training is done outside, not in the kitchen!" he hissed. "Don't argue with me, girl, or I'll rip you to shreds and throw you to the fucking birds!"

"You won't touch her." Sirius said, stepping in front of his sister. Natalie facefaulted in disbelief. Apparently, he was the only one allowed to push her around.

"Oh, really, and who are you to challenge the prince of Saiya-jins?" Vegeta asked defiantly.

"The prince of Sidra-jins." Sirius replied daringly. Natalie could see that this was going to lead to a nasty fight.

"Stop!" she yelled, stepping between them.

Vegeta ignored her pleas and literally shoved her out of the way, causing her to slam into the cabinets. And with that, Sirius jumped on him and pinned him to the floor. Vegeta sent a ki blast into Sirius' face, knocking the boy backward. He quickly recovered, however, and was upon Vegeta once more. Natalie, regaining her composure after being smacked into the wall, turned and fired at them. The ki blast exploded on impact, ripping the two Saiya-jins apart and sending them flying in opposite directions. Sirius was thrown into the dining area, and Vegeta down the hall.

"Bakas..." she muttered, rubbing her finger over her lip where it had split when her head impacted with the cabinet handle. She then picked herself up and walked out of the room, heading upstairs toward her own. Ceres, who was still standing, frozen in place, heard Vegeta recovering down the hall. The Saiya-jin prince stood up and brushed himself off, heading outside.

"Hey Ceres."

Ceres saw Sirius standing next to her out of the corner of her eye. His shirt was ripped nearly in half, apparently having caught on something as he flew into the dining room.

"Nani?" she replied.

"Sorry about that...fighting I mean." He offered. Ceres shifted her weight and looked around nervously.

"Well no...I think standing up for your sister like that was very considerate of you." She said.

"Oh...I only did it because she's weak, and he would have hurt-"

"You don't have to make excuses." She interrupted, allowing a small smile form on her lips.

Sirius swallowed nervously. "Y-yeah...sorry."

Ceres was at a loss, with no idea of what to say or do. She wanted to scream in frustration and punch a hole clear through the wall. Sirius was supposed to be her friend. He was, but it was different now. And now, she didn't know how to act around him anymore. She was new with this love stuff...seeing as someone actually had feelings for her, instead of the other way around. So, she decided, she would do exactly what she would want someone else to do if the situation were reversed. She timidly stepped closer to him, leaned up, and kissed him.

Natalie, who had been watching from upstairs, facefaulted again and slammed her hands over her mouth. Sirius and Ceres...who would have known!? Sure, she had suggested it to Ceres before, but she didn't think anyone would take it seriously. She wanted to run into Reena's room and tell her, but she resisted. She figured that they would tell everyone when they were ready.

After overcoming her initial shock, she decided that she was very happy with this. She felt slightly guilty for watching, but she had just being sitting with her legs crossed on the top of the stairs, and she happened to catch it. If she told them, they would probably have her head. In fact, it would be worse if they caught her. She didn't want to risk flying, because they would sense it, so she simply picked herself up and walked silently to her room, her feet noiselessly sliding along the carpet.

When she walked in, she saw Trunks, still asleep, lying on her bed. Watching him sleep made her want to cry. She didn't know exactly why, but she felt suddenly guilty about practically invading their lives and dragging them into the mess she had brought upon herself. Brushing it off, she shut the door behind her and slid into the bed, lying on her back right next to Trunks, who was on his stomach with his head turned to face her. Natalie stared at the ceiling and subconsciously placed her hand on her stomach as she sighed. She was in over her head.