The Warrior of Pure Heart | Dragon Ball Z

21

21

Chi-Chi's fifth day at Korin Tower started with the hermit cat abruptly waking her up mid-morning with a loud scream just inches from her ear. The young warrior screamed, shuddered, and stood up in alarm from her makeshift bedspreads. She stepped forward unintentionally, still in the grip of her sudden awakening, and her feet became entangled in her blanket. Her body fell to the ground, landing face-first on it.

"You should be more alert," Korin commented in a laughing voice, while the young woman writhed on the ground, clutching her face, which was red and sore from the blow.

"More alert?!" Chi-Chi exclaimed angrily, turning to him. "I was sleeping!"

"In your moments of greatest weakness, your enemy will try to appease you. Did you not know that?"

"If that's the case, then I should try to take the vessel away from you while you're sleeping," Chi-Chi threatened in a harsh voice, to which Korin mainly responded with another of her mocking giggles.

"Get your clothes up and get on so we can get started. There's no time to waste, is there?"

Before receiving an answer, Korin headed for the stairs leading to the top of the temple. Behind him, Chi-Chi reluctantly began folding up the blanket and futon the old master had given her to sleep on.

Five days had passed in the blink of an eye, and each day her routine had been exactly the same: wake up, spend the whole day trying to snatch the vessel with the Sacred Water from Master Korin without obtaining any kind of result until then, and at the end of the day simply go to sleep. The only exception had been on the third day, where the master had allowed her to take a bath in his tub, and little else.

She was so fed up with everything that she missed cooking or cleaning her house. But thanks to the effect of the seed she had eaten the first day, she hadn't even needed to eat until that moment. And that small space, with so few things, barely got dirty.

Doing anything else would be better than this, she thought bitterly as she climbed the stairs. At the top, Korin was already waiting for her, the vessel held securely on the tip of his staff.

"Are you ready to start?" he asked moderately.

"Do I have another choice?" Chi-Chi replied with annoyance.

"You've had the option to go home from the start," Korin said harshly, which only irritated the young mother even more. This didn't go unnoticed by the old hermit, although Chi-Chi had realized that it was nearly impossible to hide anything from him by this point. "You seem more irritated than usual today."

"And you don't think I have any reason to be?!" Chi-Chi exclaimed loudly, her voice booming, even though there shouldn't be much echo in that open space. "I've been here wasting my time for five days, while Gohan has been in Piccolo's clutches all this time. I can't stop thinking about everything he must be going through and everything he must be suffering. And here I am, playing this stupid game with you!"

Korin remained silent, apparently unfazed by the woman's screams.

"Do you really think you've been wasting your time all these days?" the hermit asked her with astonishing calm.

"Of course I do!"

"Then I'm afraid you'll be even more unable to obtain the Sacred Water."

Chi-Chi was startled, surprised by such an ecliptic statement.

"What do you mean by that?"