Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ A Surprise About Yamcha ( Chapter 41 )

A Light in the Darkness - part 41: A Surprise About Yamcha
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

PAIRING: Yamcha/Hakusai
RATING: NC-17
WARNINGS: Lemon! (Shades of chapter 15!)
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. At least all of the ones with hair. These characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball itself. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it.
SUMMARY: Something about Yamcha that you really won't expect....
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Thanks to saiyengerl for the beta!

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Day 6, pre-dawn

 

Yamcha felt darkness. All around him was darkness. No light, no sound, no sensation. After what seemed hours, he felt the beating of his own heart, could hear his breath in the mask. Mask? Why was he wearing a mask? He could feel it on his face now, an oxygen mask.

 

::Why am I wearing an oxygen mask?::

 

It occurred to him then that the only oxygen mask he knew of that his friends might have used on him would be the one in the regeneration tank.

 

::Did they put me in there? I'm in the tank?::

 

He recognized it probably was the only thing that would have saved his life, but he was surprised Vegeta would have allowed it. Maybe Goku had forced him. He didn't for a moment think that Hakusai might have cared enough; she had indicated her dislike of him numerous times.

 

::I guess this means I'm going to live.::

 

He hadn't acknowledged until that moment that he really did want to live; he wasn't ready to die despite his earlier suicidal attack on Vegeta. And he realized with chagrin that it had been suicidal; he had fully expected the other man to kill him. He had just been hoping that he might have been able to kill Vegeta at the same time.

 

He stirred, finally able to force his eyes open. His vision was blurred for a few minutes, and he knew that it was at least partially due to the fluid in the tank. He blinked several times and his vision slowly cleared.

 

He was surprised to see Hakusai sitting in the chair near the tank, as though she were waiting for him. He would have thought she would have been long gone. He had expected either Goku or Bulma there, or perhaps Pu'ar if they had called her and if it had been a while. But certainly not Hakusai.

 

It then occurred to him that Vegeta might not have allowed Bulma to be there, although he wasn't sure that would have stopped her. But he was still surprised to see Hakusai instead of Goku. He stirred, slightly, his movement awakening the monitors, alerting Hakusai to the fact that he was awake and stirring.

 

Hakusai wasn't even sure what had awakened her. She opened her eyes and glanced at the monitors, noticing they were beeping differently from before. She looked up at Yamcha and closed her eyes again, not fully alert enough to comprehend that he was awake. Then it finally clicked in her mind, and her eyes snapped open and she sat up straighter.

 

While Yamcha watched her she walked over to the controls, but the language was not written in standard. Hakusai sighed and glanced up at him apologetically.

 

::So what does the word 'drain' look like in your language?:: she asked him telepathically.

 

Yamcha blinked at her, not sure why she was asking. He wasn't familiar enough with telepathy to be able to project the image, so Hakusai kept getting something she couldn't understand. Finally he gave up on it.

 

::Ask Bulma's mother,:: he thought at her. ::She can tell you how it works.::

 

Hakusai appeared to consider this then nodded.

 

::I'll be back.::

 

She grinned at him before she turned to leave. ::Don't run away on me now,:: she teased.

 

She found Mrs. Briefs in the kitchen making breakfast, and Hakusai got her to write all the words on the dials down for her. Hakusai promised herself she was going to have to learn to read Chikyuu writing as she walked back into the infirmary. She gave Yamcha a nod as she approached the controls and smiled when she found the one to drain the tank.

 

Yamcha had reached up to take the oxygen mask off his face and Hakusai arched a brow. "Well, looks like you're going to live. Let's get this stuff off of you."

 

At first Hakusai was professional as she took the devices off of Yamcha's nude form, but she soon discovered she had an advantage over the warrior. She gave him a wicked grin as she smoothed her fingers over the areas where the devices had been. When Yamcha sucked in a breath, she smiled at him.

 

"You know you are very well proportioned," she said as she ran her gaze from his head to his toes. "As a matter a fact you look almost good enough to eat," she said playfully, before slipping her arms around his waist and pressing herself against him.

 

She ran her fingers up his back slowly before she brought her mouth down to his chest. Hakusai at first was just content to kiss the skin she found, but soon she was nipping his skin with her teeth as she caressed the skin on his back with her hands.

 

Yamcha trembled at her touches, too surprised to move and too aroused to want to. His hands found their way to her shoulders and back, and he pressed her against him. His member enlarged, and she could feel it pushing against her belly, an obvious sign of his desire for her.

 

He groaned when she licked him lightly on one nipple, and squirmed, unable to contain himself. He wanted to tear her clothes off right then and there, and bury himself inside of her forever. He didn't, however, have the ability to even move, as the feelings of ecstasy washed over him, pounding against his ears and thrumming in his head and body like an insistent command.

 

Hakusai licked and nuzzled at his nipple before she trailed kisses up to his throat. She could feel herself getting excited as she felt Yamcha's hands on her, touching her almost hesitantly. As her hands trailed down Yamcha's back her hand connected with something that had not previously been there. It startled her so much that she pulled away from him in shock. She blinked a few times as she looked down.

 

"I don't believe it," she whispered as she stared at Yamcha.

 

Hakusai backed away from him and sat down hard in the chair she had recently vacated. "Why do you have a tail?" she asked looking up at him in confusion. "I don't understand...."

 

Yamcha was too aroused to understand her for several minutes, until her absence from him allowed his brain to begin to function again. "Tail?" he asked hoarsely, looking down. He saw his engorged manhood throbbing, as though reaching towards her, and he shook his head. "That's not a tail!" he growled. Then he felt something swishing at his back and he turned his head slightly... and almost fell down when he saw the tail moving behind him.

 

He gave a shout and grabbed it instinctively, and then shouted again in surprise when his tight grasp shot pain up his spine. He dropped to his knees, agony twisting in his gut, unused to the feel of that sort of pain from an appendage he had never previously had.

 

"What..." he grated out harshly, "what's going on? What have you done to me?"

 

Hakusai shook her head. "Nothing. I did nothing. Bulma put you in the tank." She blinked at him a few times before the shock of what she was seeing wore off. Yamcha? A Saiyan? No, that was not possible! He was human; if he had been Saiyan he would have said something.

 

"Maybe Bulma accidentally used some of Vegeta's DNA to heal you faster," she suggested as she got to her feet. "Some isolations tanks are modified for that."

 

She sank down to her knees next to him and touched his face with her hand.

 

"You may not want to grab your tail like that though," she said. "It's really going to hurt."

 

Hakusai couldn't tell from Yamcha's expression if he was angry about the tail or about her sudden retreat from seducing him. Although he was in pain from grabbing his own tail, the warrior was still aroused.

 

"Take deep breaths," she suggested. "It helps."

 

"DNA? Vegeta's DNA?" Yamcha was oblivious to Hakusai's advice; his mind was too numb to understand what she was saying. "No, she wouldn't have. She couldn't have."

 

Would she? he wondered in confusion. What if some of Vegeta's DNA had still been in the tank when he had been put in? What would that have done to him? And would Bulma have done this to him on purpose, or was it an accident?

 

"No," he denied, shaking his head, unable to accept it. "It can't... I can't have his DNA. She has to fix this! I don't want this!"

 

"I don't think she can, Yamcha. Once you have Saiyan genes, you're sort of stuck with them. Being a Saiyan isn't all that bad."

 

Hakusai reached up and ran a finger over his jaw. "Your scars are gone as well. How disappointing," she said looking up into his eyes. "I liked them. Gave you character. Now you are just way too cute." She smiled at him as she leaned forward. "Not that I am complaining," she whispered as she leaned forward to press her mouth against his.

 

Yamcha whimpered, although whether it was from denial or arousal it was difficult to tell. He pulled away from her abruptly, and she could see the confusion in his eyes.

 

"But I don't want to be a Saiyan! I'm a human, that's what I am! I don't want to be something I'm not, it's not right!" He took several shaky breaths, and she could tell that he was on the verge of mental collapse. "There has to be something we can do! I am not a Saiyan!" he insisted.

 

"Yamcha. Listen to me." She cupped his face with her hands and looked into his eyes. "When Bulma wakes up I'll ask her about it. But getting upset over something we cannot immediately change is pointless."

 

She brushed her mouth over his and whispered against his lips. "We will fix it. I promise."

 

She scooted over closer to the warrior and hoped that her touches would take his mind off of his most recent problem. When her fingers slid down his back to stroke the base of his tail, she was rewarded with a low moan.

 

"I promise we'll fix it," she murmured.

 

Yamcha's manhood, which had remained fairly much at attention with her closeness despite the pain and confusion he was in, began to swell again. He shuddered, and before she could react, he had her pinned against the ground and was returning her kisses passionately. He didn't consciously recognize that it was the way she was stroking his tail that was causing his utter arousal, all he knew was that he wanted to have her... NOW!

 

He growled as he bent down and kissed her savagely. Quite aware of what she was doing, she stroked his tail from base to tip, caressing it all the way down. He shuddered again, and pressed himself firmly against her, trying to merge with her through her clothing. Too late she remembered she was wearing her Saiyan armor, and he wasn't going to be able to get it off of her.

 

Damn it. She was going to have to stop him again to get her clothes off. Unfortunately for Hakusai, Yamcha had her pretty well pinned underneath him, and she found herself unable to move. Partially because he wasn't letting her, and she really didn't want to move. Since she couldn't get up, she realized she wasn't going to get any satisfaction out of Yamcha's aroused state, but decided there was no reason she could not satisfy him.

 

Hakusai reached down between them and grasped his manhood firmly in her hand and began to stroke him lightly. She moved her other hand over his tail and kept in time with the stroking of his member to intensify his pleasure. From the way he was trembling she knew he wasn't going to last too much longer as she began to stroke him faster and he responded by kissing her even more fiercely.

 

Yamcha growled deep in his throat, his manhood throbbing almost painfully in her hand, and he continued to savagely ravage her mouth. He could feel the way she touched him tenderly, so seductively, so.... When he erupted, it was sudden, his climax releasing itself as he let out a shout, pressing his body against hers and feeling her softness against himself. He panted, collapsing on top of her, and gradually became aware of where he was and what they had just done. He flushed with embarrassment, realizing how he had behaved. He must have looked like an idiot. Or a monster.

 

He turned his head away from her, uncomfortable with his actions. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have done that. I should never have attacked you that way."

 

Hakusai chuckled and smoothed her hands over his back. "It's not considered an attack because I started it. No need to apologize." She snuggled against him, pressing her face against the side of his neck and breathed in his scent. "Kami, you smell good." She tilted her face slightly to lick at his ear and he shivered. "And you taste good." She murmured as she continued to tease his ear and neck with her tongue.

 

He trembled at her touch and closed his eyes. "But I... I attacked you, I lost control. I've never lost control like that. I shouldn't have...." He groaned when she licked his earlobe, and then he rolled over onto his back with a shudder, drawing her on top of him. "Oh, Kami!" he breathed, as he thrust his hips up towards hers. His erection hadn't relaxed very much, since it had been so engorged before, and hadn't released nearly what it could have, so she already felt that it was ready as he thrust up towards her as he crushed her against his chest.

 

Hakusai managed to wiggle out of Yamcha's grasp long enough pull her armor and clothing off and she grinned at his expression as he stared at her. Not letting him move or give him time to stop her, she straddled his hips and leaned forward to lick his nipples, making sure as she did so that the tips of her breasts brushed against his stomach. Encouraged by his low moan of pleasure, she rubbed herself against his arousal and was surprised to find him grow larger with her movements, and she gasped as she felt him pressing himself against her opening.

 

"Please," she begged him, very much aroused as well. "Yamcha."

 

Please? Yamcha didn't know what she was asking of him, but he knew what he needed, at least subconsciously. He pressed her up against him, kissing her fiercely, and thrust his hips up at her, sheathing himself inside of her automatically. They both gasped at how the other felt - Yamcha at her tightness and warmth, and Hakusai at the sensation of him filling her.

 

They began moving together, instinctively thrusting in unison, and Yamcha reached up to caress Hakusai's breasts where they brushed against him. He ran his thumbs over her nipples and was rewarded with her shudder as she bucked against him. He pinched the nipples gently, feeling them harden under his fingers, demonstrating her arousal to him. He drew her tongue into his mouth and sucked on it, and she whimpered helplessly in his arms. He growled again, his hips still thrusting upward, and she matched his movements easily, rocking against him.

 

It was with an explosive shudder that she came, and when she squeezed him inside of her, he climaxed as well, the two crying out with one voice as they reached their peak. Neither was aware of the way their thoughts had temporarily merged in just that one instant, resolving back into their individual psyches after the moment had passed.

 

Hakusai collapsed on top of Yamcha, shivering uncontrollably. ::That was amazing,:: she thought once her brain began to function again, but she realized she had taken advantage of him. Yamcha had been so upset at discovering he had a tail that she had chosen that moment to seduce him. She knew he wouldn't have been able to say no to her and she had not given him a choice.

 

She sighed deeply as she lay there on Yamcha's chest, listening to his heartbeat. When his heart rate finally slowed to normal, Hakusai lifted her head to look into his eyes. She sensed that making a joke would be the wrong thing to do since he was watching her with such a vulnerable expression and instead she smiled at him.

 

Hakusai shifted forward slightly to press a kiss against his mouth. "I think we should take a shower before we find something to eat, don't you?"

 

Yamcha stared at Hakusai, as his muddled senses slowly made sense of what had just happened. He couldn't believe that he had done that to her! She didn't seem upset with him, but he knew he shouldn't have done it. He knew it was wrong; she wasn't the sort of woman one did that sort of thing to. He had vague memories of how angry his mother used to get....

 

He looked at her with a sick expression on his face. "I'm really sorry," he muttered weakly, shame and regret threaded through his voice. "I don't know what came over me. You didn't deserve that. I shouldn't have done that!"

 

Hakusai blinked a few times when she realized he was apologizing. "Let me get this straight," she said, leaning forward to kiss his chin. "You are apologizing to me because I seduced you?" She shook her head. "Yamcha-chan, I should be telling you I am sorry for what I did. But then I would be lying. I have no regrets. Why should you?"

 

She leaned forward again and brought her mouth against his throat and began kissing him gently. As she nuzzled him, she was vaguely aware that Yamcha's hands had buried themselves in her hair. Hakusai licked her way up to his ear and sighed.

 

"But I...." He sighed in bliss. "But I'm the one responsible.... I shouldn't have taken advantage of you that way. No matter how much I wanted to," he murmured. "Kami, Hakusai, you deserve better than me!"

 

He groaned, and gently pushed her off, then stood up. He was only vaguely aware of his nudity. Hakusai was gazing admiringly at his tanned smoothness, the way his tan didn't fade or cut off anywhere on his skin, then her eyes widened as his tail wrapped itself instinctively around him. The gesture was so Saiyan; it wasn't something learned, and it wasn't something that would have come to him if the tail had somehow been added as an 'afterthought'. No, that was a completely Saiyan instinct, to protect the sensitive tail by keeping it close to the body.

 

Hakusai tilted her head and studied him. ::No. It isn't possible, is it?::

 

"Yamcha, what if I want you?" she asked from her position on the floor. "Don't you realize that I was willing?"

 

She eyed his tail for a few minutes, deep in thought. Maybe Yamcha had some Saiyan blood and didn't realize it. After all Goku had told her that something similar had happened to him. "Yamcha, did you hit your head when you were a kid?" she asked. When he gave her an odd look she continued. "And I bet you were adopted. Didn't know much about your parents."

 

Yamcha stared at her a moment. "Why? Am I that stupid? Do you think my brains are mush or something that I had to have hit my head?" He didn't want to tell her about his mother. That was something too painful to relate at the moment.

 

"You are hell bent on having me think the worst of you aren't you?" she asked, wondering why he did it. She sighed. "No, Yamcha, the reason I am asking is because of what you just did with your tail. It was very instinctive, and I think that it is possible that you have some Saiyan blood."

 

Yamcha stared at her incredulously. "No. No way," he said flatly. "No way I have Saiyan blood! My parents are...." He blinked, then flushed in embarrassment, and somehow felt the need to tell her the truth. "I don't know who my parents are," he admitted. "My mother left me a long time ago. I was just a child. I never knew my father. She always blamed him for me. She said he was just a no-good ningen male, and that I was just like him...."

 

He blinked, realizing what he had just said.

 

Hakusai snorted. "Sounds Saiyan enough to me," she said, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "And I take it she just disappeared one day, abandoning you."

 

He blushed in shame. "Yeah," he said in a low voice. "I was about six, I think. She left me by the road. Then she told me to stay there, and she never came back."

 

"Six, huh?" she said thoughtfully. "Usually Saiyan females get rid of their kids right after birth. Wonder why she kept you for so long?"

 

When she saw how hurt he was, she sighed. "I am sorry, Yamcha. I wasn't thinking. It's just the way things were done on Vegeta-sei. I wouldn't give up my kids like that."

 

She stood up and walked over to where Yamcha stood and slipped her arms around his waist. "I am sorry you had such a lousy childhood. At least I got to know my mother. My father on the other hand was someone I'd rather not mention."

 

Yamcha nodded. "Yeah. He was like Vegeta, wasn't he? A real bastard." He blinked then, and blushed again. "Sorry, that's just what Gohan said that Frieza had told him. I wasn't thinking. He's your brother, but...." He shrugged. "He did kill most of us. We don't really think very much of him, you know. Especially since he keeps saying how he wants to kill Goku, every chance he gets."

 

Hakusai chuckled against his chest. "He won't kill him."

 

Yamcha rolled his eyes. Her faith in her brother was a little irritating. "You don't know that!" he growled at her. "He's been training this past year specifically to kill him! The only reason he didn't kill the rest of us was because Bulma said she wouldn't build him the gravity room if he did, and he knew that was his best way to train! You don't know how many times he gloated about when he was going to kill us, and how painful he was going to make it! And you don't know how he lied to Gohan and Krillin and Goku when they were fighting against Frieza with him! He can NOT be trusted!"

 

"Umm hmm..." she said still smiling. "Goku is Bulma's friend, right? If Vegeta killed Goku, it would hurt Bulma. He would rather take his own life than do that."

 

She couldn't resist the temptation to slide her hands down his back and run her fingers over the soft fur of his newly acquired tail. "The bond they have will prevent it." She smiled when she heard his breath catch. "Besides, who would he rule if he killed one of the few remaining Saiyans left in the galaxy?"

 

Yamcha's breath rasped in his throat, and he felt his heart begin to pound loudly again. He wanted to plunge himself into her and drown in her depths; to take her like an animal. It was by sheer willpower that he held himself back.

 

"I don't know," he gritted out. "He was very... sure about it." He felt himself growing aroused again. ::Why the hell is this happening NOW?:: he thought frantically.

 

"Things change," she said casually, as if she was completely unaware of what she was doing to him. "People change, you'll see," she murmured as she kept stroking his tail.

 

Yamcha had no idea why he was suddenly burning again, unacquainted with the fact that the Saiyan tail was an erogenous zone. All he knew was that he was enflamed with desire again, that he needed her right now. He looked down into her eyes, and she could see the passion in the depths of his eyes, his almost feral need for her. He started to push her towards the wall, without any idea of what he was doing to her, nor any interest in knowing whether or not she was even agreeable to it.

 

She smiled up at him as she let him back her into a wall. Hakusai knew it wouldn't take much to push the warrior over the edge again. She also knew she was taking advantage of the fact that she knew a few things about tails that he did not. Hakusai felt a little guilty about that, but when she looked up into his passion-drenched gaze, her breath caught. It had been too long since someone had looked at her that way.

 

She gave Yamcha's tail a slow stroke from base to tip and was rewarded with Yamcha's low moan. She rose up on her toes to nip at Yamcha's bottom lip and ran her tongue over it.

 

"So warrior, I think there is something you need again."

 

He growled, and then crushed her against the wall, as he took her mouth possessively, plundering it without thought or care about what she might feel. He lifted her with ease, then lowered her onto his shaft, already standing proud and tall for her. He slid in easily, as she was also ready for him, and they both moaned at the tight, warm fit. He held her buttocks up with his hands and she wrapped her legs around his hips.

 

He used the wall to hold her up as he crushed his chest against hers, thrusting into her almost violently, his hips the only part of him moving. Their kiss deepened, and as their thrusts became more savage, he felt her climaxing on him. He followed her almost immediately, groaning and growling into her mouth.

 

She panted against him, falling against his shoulder, and he held her as his trembling eased. Suddenly he realized what he had done, and he felt mortified. This beautiful gentle woman, and he had been like an animal, slaking his lusts on her. He had treated her more roughly than she had deserved, and he didn't know how to explain it to himself, let alone to her.

 

::She must hate me!:: he thought in despair. ::I'm treating her as no more than a whore!::

 

Hakusai closed her eyes and panted against his shoulder, practically gasping for breath. In all her experience she had never felt anything like this. Well he had Saiyan stamina that was for sure. She looked up into his eyes, brushing away some of his hair that was damp with sweat.

 

"That proves it. You have Saiyan blood. The way you react when your tail is touched proves it." She chuckled at his blank look and rested her head on his shoulder. "Didn't know that Saiyan tails are an erogenous zone did you? It's why you lost control the way you did."

 

He stared at her blankly. "You mean, when you...." He blinked at her, and then realization dawned. "You knew what you were doing, didn't you? You did that to me on purpose!" he accused, almost resentfully. He felt slightly used, although he didn't know why he felt that way.

 

"Yes, I did," she said, snuggling against him. "I am sorry about that. I didn't realize you were so new to all this, and can't control...." Hakusai's words trailed off as she frowned. "Oh no," she whispered. "That's not good."

 

"What's not good?" Yamcha demanded, suddenly worried by her concerned expression. Did they do something wrong, and now he was going to lose a limb or something because of this? Was it going to age and kill him? She wasn't being very forthcoming.... "What is it, Hakusai? What's wrong?"

 

"Umm, nothing." She hoped that her voice was steadier than she felt. "Can you put me down now?"

 

He frowned, but lowered her gently, pulling himself out of her before he did so. He could tell she wasn't being truthful, but he didn't feel like he knew her well enough to push it.

 

That made him frown again. He had just had sex three times with a woman he really didn't know, and it was his first time. He wasn't sure if that was moral or not, but it didn't completely feel right. Still, somehow she had felt right, in a way he didn't understand.

 

He put her on her feet but didn't release her, and he stared down into her brown eyes, his own eyes dark and fathomless as well. There was something nice about the fact that he didn't have to bend his head too far down to look her in the face. Although she wasn't close to his height, she was still half a foot taller than Bulma, who had been a full foot smaller than he was. There weren't very many women this tall, and he found it was pleasant knowing she could stand next to him in a fight and not need to be protected.

 

His tail snaked around her waist and drew her against him again. "I've put you down, woman, but I'm not sure I want to let you go," he said softly, then wondered where those words had come from right after they were out of his mouth.

 

Hakusai blinked as she looked up at him. Where had that come from? She found herself unable to reply as she stared up at him, realizing that he was beginning to sound almost Saiyan-like. In fact, that phrase was among those formally given in a Saiyan mating ritual.

 

"Maybe I don't want you to," she said just as quietly.

 

Yamcha continued to stare down at her for another minute, and then his stomach growled loudly. Hakusai realized that the time he had spent in the tank had depleted all his resources; the only thing that had been keeping him going since then was reserves. But if he were a Saiyan, he would need food soon, and lots of it.

 

Hakusai smiled when she heard his stomach rumble again. "Maybe we ought to get you something to eat. You sound like you are starving."

 

He shrugged. "I guess so." He looked around for his clothes and found them near the tank. To his surprise, he found that they fit him a little snugly. Somehow he had... grown, when he was in the tank? Not by a significant amount, but it was noticeable. This was making less and less sense. He didn't really even like the idea that he might be a Saiyan, and here he was, changing physically as well. He didn't like it at all.

 

He pulled his clothing on with a frown and stood up again. "What time is it?" He glanced at the clock and noticed it was early in the morning, but there would probably be someone awake by now. Maybe Bulma would be awake, or if not her, then one of her parents.

 

He felt a lump in the back of his pants, and then realized it was his tail, which didn't have a place to go. Wincing, he tore a hole in the back, and his tail poked its way through. He breathed a sigh of relief when it wasn't pressing against him; it had felt almost painful the way it had been squeezed in there so tightly.

 

"All right, let's go," he said, and the two of them headed towards the house.

 

Hakusai was quiet on the way back to the house. She had quite a number of things to think about as she followed Yamcha inside. First of all the was that little subject of a tail that needed addressing, and one other that was a little more important. Hakusai made a face. How could she have been so careless? She had known that Yamcha had no control; in fact it was what she had been counting on when she had seduced him.

 

Hakusai had not taken into account that because no one had taught him, he wouldn't have been able to prevent her from getting pregnant. There was always the chance she was not, she thought, but realized the chance was miniscule.

 

She sighed aloud as she entered the house with Yamcha, but managed to plaster a smile on her face as she greeted Bulma's mother. "Something smells good," she told her.

 

Mrs. Briefs turned around to Hakusai, and took in the fact that Yamcha was with her, and looked like he was fully recovered. "Yamcha-chan!" she cried out, and ran over and hugged him. "You're all right!" He was surprised by her show of affection, but smiled and returned her hug.

 

"I guess so," he replied, not really sure what to tell her. Was he supposed to tell the mother of his ex-girlfriend that she had been dating an alien before? No, she was dating one now, so it didn't really matter.

 

"Um... we're kind of hungry. I guess I have to eat, since I was in the tank. I think Bulma told me that."

 

"Oh, of course!" Mrs. Briefs exclaimed, and shooed them to the table. She started stacking plates of dim sum in front of them, as well as a wide variety of dishes for them to eat.

 

Hakusai sighed as she inhaled the aromas of breakfast. "Kami, I love this planet," she said as she piled portions on her plate, and when she looked up again was surprised to see Yamcha eating as if there was no tomorrow. She started to giggle as she watched him. "Well, you've got that part down pretty well, don't you?"

 

"Huh?" Yamcha looked up at her blankly, picking up another potsticker and biting into it. "What do you mean?"

 

"You are certainly eating like a Saiyan," she said dryly, smirking at him. "I bet you've always eaten like that too."

 

Yamcha chewed thoughtfully, taking another piece. "Hmm... I don't know. I guess so. I always just figured it's because I'm a warrior. Most of the warriors I know eat a lot."

 

He thought of Yajirobe, but then, Yajirobe was fat. He wasn't even sure the short man had ever truly been a warrior, although he guessed that he might have been once, in his youth. Whatever, he didn't really seem to be, any longer.

 

::Although he did help us defeat Vegeta that time. If he hadn't cut off the tail, Goku would have lost.::

 

Mrs. Briefs looked at them in confusion. "Why no! Yamcha doesn't eat as much as a Saiyan! He's never eaten nearly as much as Son-kun or Vegeta-chan! Why would you expect him to? He's human, not a Saiyan!"

 

Hakusai pointed to Yamcha's tail. "Oh, Yamcha-chan is very Saiyan. But he needs to get used to the idea."

 

Mrs. Briefs dropped the tray she was holding, and it landed on the ground with a crash. She stared at his tail for several long minutes, unable to think, and especially not to say anything.

 

"There had to be some mistake, didn't there?" she asked weakly. "Could the wrong DNA have been put into the tank? No," she mused, answering her own question. "The tank can only replicate the DNA of the person inside of it. The fluid itself is a polymorphic matrix, incapable of holding a pattern for longer than an hour after an individual is removed. All it can do is permeate the subject with quantities of his own DNA...."

 

She trailed off when she realized that both people in the room were staring at her as though she had grown two heads. She blinked at them and then smiled impishly. "Well, I do have a PhD in organic chemistry and a BS in molecular genetics. You didn't think my husband would have married just anyone, did you?"

 

"Well, I'll be damned," Hakusai said in awe, then started to chuckle. "I knew Bulma had to get her brains from somewhere." Her smile faded and she looked at Mrs. Brief's thoughtfully. "So what you're saying is that Bulma couldn't have accidentally put some of Vegeta's DNA in there?"

 

Mrs. Briefs shook her head. "That tank doesn't work that way. Bulma didn't 'put' anyone's DNA in it. The fluid in it is a matrix that my husband and I came up with that takes a sample of the subject's DNA, then duplicates it and permeates their being with that DNA." She pondered thoughtfully a moment. "If you want it in simple layman terms, it basically rebuilds you from the ground up. It removes anything on you that doesn't belong - like your scars," she looked pointedly at Yamcha's face, "and anything that's missing that your genetic structure says should be there, it rebuilds. I've been told that the regeneration tanks that the Saiyans used aren't nearly as sophisticated. They would flood you with generic Saiyan DNA, so they would only work on you if you were a Saiyan. This will work on anyone, no matter what race you are, because it uses your own DNA." She smiled at Yamcha. "No, Yamcha-chan. I guess that means you are a Saiyan."

 

He stared at her, not chewing or swallowing his food, unable to comprehend what she was saying. "But then... why didn't my tail grow back when I was a kid? I didn't have a tail until just now!"

 

Mrs. Briefs shook her head. "I don't know, Yamcha honey. If your tail was cut off as a child, would it have grown back?"

 

Yamcha nodded. "Goku's kept growing back. I don't know why he doesn't have a tail now, but when he was a kid it kept growing back at the weirdest times. We never figured out why."

 

"I wonder if those genes could have been repressed," Hakusai said thoughtfully. "This isn't my field of knowledge, but can someone erase certain traits? Maybe you never had a tail to begin with?"

 

Bulma's mother frowned. "It can be done, with a sophisticated enough knowledge of genetics and biology. I could do it. My husband could do it, with my help. I suppose someone else could do it, but there aren't very many people on this planet with the knowledge that I don't know." She sighed. "But of course, the person probably wasn't from this planet, so that's irrelevant, isn't it? It's very likely that your parent had the knowledge. Was it your mother or your father who was Saiyan?"

 

Yamcha glanced guiltily at Hakusai, who was just watching him expectantly. He sighed. "My mother, I think. I never knew my father, and my mother said a few things that seem to imply...."

 

Mrs. Briefs nodded. "That makes sense. For it to be most successful, she probably had to modify you either before you were born or immediately afterwards. Before would have been better; fewer cells to have to modify. Afterwards would have been more difficult, but with the right treatments still possible." She frowned. "But it was probably done before you were born, I would imagine. She would have needed equipment. Maybe if we can find her equipment, we could find something more about you?"

 

"That's not a bad idea," Hakusai agreed. "That is if you want to know." Hakusai eyed Yamcha curiously. "I mean you have been thinking you were human, and now you have this to deal with." She shrugged. "Take your time, Yamcha-chan. In the long run, knowing about what your family was like could help you. Although I would have to say you are of Western descent. Definitely one of those desert tribes." She smiled at him. "It would explain why you like the desert so much anyway."

 

Yamcha picked up another piece of dim sum, and chewed it thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know if 'like' is the right word. I'm comfortable in the desert, so I guess I like it. That's where my mother abandoned me, but I think maybe she was hoping that I'd die. I grew up there after that. It's where I met Pu'ar."

 

He looked at the two women while he chewed and swallowed. "I think it's where we might have lived, though. So maybe she liked the desert. I don't really know. But if we want to find whatever it was that she had, it would be in the desert somewhere." He was thoughtful for several minutes, and then his face brightened. "You know, I think I know where it might be!"

 

Hakusai grinned at Yamcha's enthusiasm but inwardly cringed. She really disliked the heat, all Southerners did. But she would put up with it if she could be with Yamcha. This sudden need to be with him all the time took her a little by surprise but she simply accepted it like she always did.

 

"Hmm, then if you know where it is we can go looking later. I might even know who she was." She grinned when he looked at her surprised. "Females were very rare on Vegeta-sei. Eighty percent of the population was male, so when a female was born we were protected more. We were expected to have a second profession as well as be warriors."

 

Mrs. Briefs beamed at them. "Your mother's other profession must have been biogenetics or something similar. It's the only thing that would explain her knowledge!"

To be continued.....

~~~~~*~~~~~

And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness...  Bulma and Vegeta learn about Yamcha's newly acquired characteristics, and they all learn more of his heritage.

 

[1] ningen = human