Author's note: I just wanted to say that there may be a few inaccuracies later as far as the Budokai portion of Dragonball. I've only seen bits, so I just have to ad lib.

Also, thanks to DoraMouse and tim333 for writing about Yamucha and Krillin, because minor characters need their space too.

Tienshinhan:

Why am I writing?

It's kind of weird when I think about it. I haven't even known how to write for most of my life. Why would an assassin really need to write? All I had to do was kill the people I was paid to kill, and live my life.

I just realized how brutal that sounds. Well, I can't say I have no regrets. I've done some things I'm sorry for. That might be part of why I'm writing this. To get everything down on paper and out of my head for the first time. The only person who's heard any of this is Choutzu.

It is kind of nice to have a friend who's psychic. They can just read your mind and know. You don't have to bother with talking. Sometimes, talking only confuses things more. We try to rationalize things, or change them for the better. Yeah, I guess that's why I don't really talk that much.

So this is it. My story.

The Third Eye:

"I can't believe it. It's all true." The woman looked happy, but too shocked to really show it much. "I just can't grasp it."

The man standing next to her was beaming. He was chinese, with a thin moustache and long, pointed beard on his chin, with a face that seemed older, wiser than the woman's. but at the same time he seemed young, energetic. He was clad in flowing robes that were so many different colors it almost hurt the eyes.

"He will do great things. The power is I him, my wife." His voice was high, but still male.

The woman was beautiful, almost angelic. Her hair was long and golden, to full of light to be called blonde. Her eyes matched the color exactly, and she was wearing the same robes as her husband.

"But they'll come for him. They'll want him." She looked worried now, but the happiness was still visible underneath. "When they come for him, we won't be able to fight."

"Maybe so." The man said. "But right now we mustn't worry about that. We must be happy and celebrate the new life."

The woman's smile returned full force. "Of course, my husband."

She reached down into the cradle in front of her, and lifted out a bundle. It was a healthy looking baby, squirming and full of life. A bouncing baby boy, as they wold say now. The baby was normal in every respect but one.

In the middle of his forehead, exactly between and above the normal two, was a third eye.

"What shall we call him?" the man asked, looking down into the baby's face with love.

"He will be great of spirit. He has the mark, just like they said he would." She said. "His name should be powerful."

"Tienshinhan." The man said. "Eye of Heaven."

The baby smiled, as if the name pleased him. He laughed and clasped his mother's hand in his own tiny ones. Her smile grew even wider, and she laughed.

"It's perfect." She said.

And maybe it was. They were all happy, but not destined to remain so for long.

On a snowy hill not far from the small house where the aforementioned events were taking place, a man with long gray hair lowered a pair of binoculars from his eyes. he was wearing a heavy green parka with an RR symbol stitched into the left breast. His eyes were a cold silver, like his hair.

Next to him (they were sitting in a jeep) was a slightly frightened looking soldier, clad in the normal Red Ribbon army green uniform. He was shivering, even though the gray haired man next to him didn't seem to feel the cold at all.

"Lieutenant Gray?" the shivering man asked. "Is it time to move in? has it happened yet?"

"Yes." Gray said, his voice scratchy, like a lifelong smoker's. "The boy is there. We move in, in just one second."

He picked up a CB radio with one wrinkled hand and pressed the button. "We have confirmed the child is in the hut. Shall we proceed?"

The radio crackled static, and then the reply came, generic coded army chatter. But Gray understood well enough. They had permission to proceed.

The elderly lieutenant slumped down into the seat and cranked the old jeep's starter to life. The jeep also displayed the Red Ribbon logo. It drove through the snow, it's rather loud engine rattling over the wind that was rising up.

The glow of light from the small house was visible on the snow, providing a beacon for the two soldiers to drive toward. The sound of the jeep's engine would probably alert the two adults inside the house, but what did it matter? There was nowhere to hide, and no way to fight.

At least Gray assumed so.

The mother stopped laughing instantly as the sound of a motor revving came suddenly out of the snow. The father's face mirrored her's, suddenly looking worried and just the tiniest bit angry.

"They wouldn't." he said, his eyes narrowing under the brim of his circular, pointed chinese hat. "Not so soon after the birth."

The motor stopped, directly outside, idling in the snow.

For a second there was nothing. Then a series of hard bangs hit the door.

"Quick, take Tienshinhan out through the back window, and hide. Get away from the house."

The mother clutched her baby tighter. "But what about you?"

"I will do what I can." The man said. "Perhaps I will join you later. But if not, rest assured that I died well."

The woman did not argue. She ran to the back of the hut, where there was a large window. She pried it open and lifted it, snow blowing in past her, sending her golden hair flying.

She took one last glance back at her husband, then was gone.

He stood for a second, listening to the banging on the door. The wind whipped in through the open window, and as the snow covered the floor, his hat was blown off, revealing long black hair pulled into a single braid.

In the middle of the man's forehead was a third eye.

The banging on the door stopped, and all three of the man's eyes closed. He wasn't so stupid as to believe that they had given up. Red Ribbon had been very clear in their demands.

They were going to ram the door.

The man's eyes opened again, calm. He folded his hands in front of his chest, facing the door, the parted them slightly, forming a triangle.

"Come, then." He whispered.

Gray stopped pounding on the door in frustration. He let out a ragged sigh and turned to the young, still shivering soldier beside him.

"I want you to circle the house, and make sure that they haven't wormed out some other way. I'll shoulder through the door."

The soldier saluted weakly, clutching his gun, and walked off briskly around the corner of the house.

Gray put his shoulder to the door and shoved hard. The wood was old, and gave way easily. He almost fell into the house, but caught himself just before he would have run into the man on the other side.

"Wha…" he began, but that was as far as he got.

Then Tienshinhan's father threw his life at him.

The soldier got around the second corner, so that he was in the back of the house, and saw the woman sneaking into the woods. He immediately got a bit of vigor, mostly at the thought of what Gray would do if he let her get away.

"Hey, you!" he yelled. "Get back here! I'll shoot!"

The woman showed no sign of hearing him, which wasn't surprising with the wind howling around them. But it didn't really matter, his orders were clear. Thy were supposed to kill the parents, anyway.

He raised the assault rifle, looking through the telescopic scope, immediately bringing the speck of a woman near the woods into sharp focus. She might have still gotten away, but she paused once just before entering the trees.

He settled the crosshair on her throat and squeezed the trigger.

At the same time, a huge explosion of light and sound suddenly tore a huge chunk from the front of the house. The soldier cried out in unison with the woman he had just shot, and spun to see what had happened.

But the light was gone already. And strange as it had been, the soldier knew he had a job to do.

He took off across the brief field that separated the house from the woods beyond, wading through the snow toward the woman. Before he was even close he was sure that she was dead.

When he finally got to the spot, he could see that his shot had torn her throat away. She lay in a puddle of blood on the snow.

The baby lay a few feet away, still wrapped in a blanket, and crying quite loudly. He picked it up, and it promptly began to fight, proving marvelously strong as it hit him in the chest with one little fist. The soldier would look in amazement the next day at the huge black and blue patch it would leave.

He held the baby as tightly as he could to keep it from squirming out of his arms. Then he headed back across the field.

Tien's father lay on his back in the middle of the floor of a house that was now completely open to the elements. The whole of the front wall had been turned to splinters, and lieutenant Gray had been reduced to dust.

The man was hardly much better off, though. His life force was gone, and now he was surviving on pure will, for what purpose he couldn't know. He only felt that he must, for at least a minute longer…

Then the soldier carrying his son came around the house, into plain view. The young man jumped at the sight of what had happened to the house.

"Where is Lieutenant Gray?" the man asked, walking into the house with the still struggling child. He didn't sound angry. In fact, he sounded simply puzzled.

"He's in hell." The father said, struggling to draw breath. "Where you and those who you follow will all end up eventually."

"What happened?" the soldier still seemed too puzzled to be angry. "How…"

"I sacrificed myself for the life of my son. It may be in vain, because you have him now anyway. But please…" now the man's voice seemed to falter, and his face grew more lined by the second. "Take care of Tienshinhan. See that he lives."

The soldier said nothing.

"Tell me you will do this." The man said. "Please. So that I may die in peace."

"I…" the soldier cleared his throat. "I will see that he's taken care of."

"Then I recant my words." Tienshinhan's father said. "You are a decent man, despite your profession. I can go now and rest."

The father's chest gave one final rise, then it fell. It did not rise again.

The soldier lingered for a second, then bowed his head and walked out of the house to the jeep.

He had started the mission not knowing much about it, only that General Red wanted this specific child to be Red Ribbon's new top assassin.

Now he had to somehow find a way to make sure it would live, to make sure the baby was at least treated decently.

He had promised the boy's father, a father so dedicated he had died for his son.

The soldier sat the baby down in the jeep's passenger seat. Tien seemed to be exhausted, and was now in a fitful doze, looking as if he were having nightmares.

The soldier jumped into the driver's seat and gazed down at the baby.

"Tienshinhan, huh? Well, I guess I have to take you back to headquarters, Tien." He started the jeep with a rumble that made Tien stir but not awake.

They drove off into the night.

Tienshinhan:

So, that's the beginning, my earliest coherent memories. I never knew until just recently that I'm probably the only human who can remember that long ago, when I had only been born hours before.

My parents. Were they warriors? Priests? Maybe even minor gods? I wish I knew. Maybe someday I'll be able to find out, but for now there are other things, other stories to tell. I'm going to take a break; this writing thing is still a little new to me. But I'll be back. My tale is far from over.