Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ A Tale of a Tail ( Chapter 56 )

A Light in the Darkness - Part 56: A Tale of a Tail
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

 

PAIRING: None
RATING: G
WARNINGS: None
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. And yes, we're including Yamcha in that, now you know. Dragonball Z and the associated characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. Ranma 1/2 and the character of Ryouga Hibiki are owned by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, and some Japanese studio I don't know the name of. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball or Ranma 1/2 themselves. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it. Oh, I guess we do own Hakusai and Serori. But no one else would want them. ^_~
SUMMARY: The Saiyans take Ryouga to see Bulma.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Thank you to TwoMoons and Lady Lark for their betas.

 

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Bulma woke slowly, feeling the sun gently warming her face. She glanced over at the other side of the bed, and was slightly disappointed - although not surprised - to see that Vegeta was already gone. She ruthlessly suppressed her immediate feelings of uncertainty at his absence.

 

::No, he loves me,:: she reminded herself. ::He wouldn't have said he did if he didn't. That's not like him.::

 

She rose and stretched, lazily taking a shower and dressing before going downstairs to eat breakfast. The robots had already cleaned up the mess from the previous breakfast that the Saiyans had shared. Vegeta would have been horrified to see the small, sparse breakfast Bulma ate, consisting of simply a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit. He could never understand that humans simply didn't eat as much as Saiyans did.

 

Bulma went out to her lab to do some research. When she got there, she ignored devices she had already begun, blueprints which were half-finished, theories she hadn't completed yet. No, it had occurred to her last night that there were too many Saiyans with tails running around. She needed to think of something to make it so they wouldn't change to their oozaru state if they happened to see the moon accidentally.

 

Fortunately, she still had several weeks until the next full moon, but she wanted to begin working on a device idea that had come to her last night, a visor they could put over their eyes to filter out the light frequencies of the moon. The visor would make it more difficult for them to see at night, but it would prevent them from going on a rampage. It was either that or cut off their tails, and they didn't seem to like the idea of cutting off their tails.

 

She worked on the device for a little while, then put it down and began to work again on the device for measuring Saiyan DNA. She had just finished completing the prototype, which was bulkier than she wanted to carry around, when she sensed Vegeta returning. She smiled and got up to greet him as he returned.

 

To the surprise of the three Saiyans, Bulma was outside waiting for them as they arrived. She hadn't been expecting the other three, her eyes resting solely upon Vegeta. She smiled at him fondly, unable to hide her affection for him from her face.

 

Gohan blinked at her in surprise, then followed her gaze to Vegeta. He didn't understand why she was smiling when he couldn't see anything change in the scowl on the Saiyan Prince's face. He looked back at Bulma, but she hadn't yet torn her eyes from her study of Vegeta. Although Vegeta's face hadn't softened in the slightest, he also couldn't seem to tear his gaze from Bulma.

 

Suddenly Gohan smiled in realization. “Is Bulma your girlfriend?” he asked Vegeta happily. “Bulma's your girlfriend, isn't she?”

 

“No, she is not my girlfriend,” Vegeta said, never looking away from Bulma. “She is my mate. Which is quite different.” The look he gave Bulma left no doubt in her mind that he was proud of that fact.

 

A large grin spread itself across Serori's face as she glanced between the adults, and then she giggled happily. “I guess this means you're my sister now, huh?” One look at the little girl's face confirmed her excitement at the prospect. “Yay!” she said, spinning a surprised Gohan around. “Now I have two sisters and a brother! This is so cool!”

 

Gohan blinked. “I don't have any brothers or sisters,” he said simply, feeling a twinge of jealousy. “I don't even have any friends. Mommy won't let me.” It didn't occur to him how that would sound as it came out.

 

Bulma shot him a sharp look, but couldn't find it in her to disagree with his statement. She had always felt Chi-Chi's over-protectiveness of Gohan tended slightly towards the cruel, but had never felt it was her place to say anything. Now she was beginning to wonder if by doing so she was implicitly agreeing with Chi-Chi that her behavior towards Gohan was proper. Wasn't that a sort of abuse? Something in her identified with Gohan and sympathized with him for the casual emotional cruelty his mother inflicted on him.

 

“Well, Gohan, you can have as many friends here as you'd like. You can come over here as often as you want to. Don't let your mother tell you that you can't!” she said firmly, trying to ignore the bright smile Gohan shot her.

 

“That's right!” Serori said, startling Gohan by hugging him. “I'll be your friend. I am new on this planet anyway and you're the only kid I know.” She made a face. “On Kassan all the kids my age didn't want to play with me `cause I was a lot stronger than them.” She grinned suddenly. “But here I can have lots of friends! Just like me!”

 

“Well, not just like you,” Gohan qualified. “Not everyone is that strong.”

 

Ryouga looked startled. “Why doesn't your mother let you have any friends?”

 

Gohan shrugged. “I dunno. I think she thinks it'll make it so I can't study. She doesn't want me to fight, either.” He sighed unhappily.

 

Vegeta growled. “Kakarotto obviously did not choose his mate well.”

 

Serori blinked. “I'll say. I mean, Hakusai says that fighting is what Saiyans do. It's in our blood; we can't ignore it.” She grinned at Gohan. “But she makes me study, too. She always says `A warrior's strength is not in his arm, but in his head.'” She shrugged. “I don't know what she's talking about, though.” The little girl reached up and scratched her head and shrugged again. “Maybe I'll figure it out one day.”

 

Gohan stuck out his lower lip belligerently. “She's my mommy!” He instinctively felt the need to defend her, even though it made him unhappy. “She only wants what's best for me,” he said, almost consciously imitating her words.

 

Serori blinked, realizing she had hurt her new friend's feelings. “Oh, I'm sorry,” she said sincerely. “I didn't mean to make you sad.”

 

Vegeta said nothing as he watched the children interact, but he turned his head toward Bulma and spoke up. “What's for lunch, woman?”

 

Bulma blinked. “Isn't it a little early?” She sighed, realizing that for a Saiyan there was no such thing as `too early' for the next meal. “I have no idea. Ask Mother. There's probably nothing ready, so you'll have to wait for the robots to process something for you. Is that the only reason you came back? Because your Saiyan stomachs said it was time to eat?”

 

Vegeta snorted then jerked his head over in Ryouga's direction. “I think you should examine this kid.” He looked over at the `kid' in question. “He has some interesting abilities for a human.”

 

“Interesting abilities? Like what?” Bulma looked at Ryouga curiously. Ryouga just looked at Vegeta with a puzzled expression, not entirely certain what the older man was talking about.

 

“When he experiences strong emotions he can decimate a small country,” Vegeta said aloud. ::And it's possible he has Saiyan blood, woman,:: he said telepathically.

 

Bulma looked startled. As she recalled, Gohan had described what had happened with his father's transformation - that he had gotten angry over Krillin's death, and then had gone Super Saiyan. Gohan's power as well seemed to increase when he got angry or upset. That might be a Saiyan trait, she realized.

 

::Do you think he might be one of Yamcha's brothers?::

 

::He is about the right age. And they have the same eyes,:: Vegeta commented silently. ::Anything is possible, but until he learns to control his power he is a danger I would like to keep an eye on.::

 

Bulma contemplated Ryouga thoughtfully. ::I have a prototype of the DNA analyzer ready. It's bulkier than I want for the ones we'll carry, but it should do.::

 

“Would you mind if I take a look at you?” Bulma blinked, realizing no one had introduced them. “What's your name?”

 

“His name is Ryouga,” Gohan piped up. “He showed up this morning and wanted to train with us.”

 

Bulma wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement, but looked back at Ryouga. “Ryouga, would you mind coming to my lab with me?”

 

The lost boy looked startled at her question, but nodded nervously and followed her into her laboratory. She held the prototype analyzer against him and pressed a button. He gave a startled yelp when it pricked him, although it really didn't hurt.

 

“What was that?” he asked in surprise, rubbing his arm where she had placed the prototype.

 

Bulma glanced at him. “Hmm? Oh, I just took a quick blood sample. Hold on a second.”

 

She pressed a few buttons and watched numbers display on the screen. She watched them for a while as they changed and eventually settled, then pulled up a display on her computer and compared the numbers. She looked at them for several long minutes, during which Ryouga fidgeted nervously, with no idea what they were doing.

 

Gohan had no idea what Bulma was doing either, but he trusted her completely. If she wanted to take a blood sample, then there was a reason she had to take that blood sample.

 

Bulma gave Vegeta a piercing look when she was finally satisfied with what she saw. “Well, now we only have to find one of them, at least.”

 

Vegeta head snapped over to Ryouga and was looking at him so intently the younger man began to squirm under his gaze. “I thought so. Tell me, brat,” he said still watching the boy closely. “Were you adopted?”

 

Ryouga's jaw dropped in shock. “Huh?” He was too surprised to know how to answer for several seconds. Finally his thoughts came back to him. “No. No, I wasn't adopted.” He looked around in bewilderment. “Why do you ask such a question?”

 

“I think you were.” Vegeta inclined his head towards Bulma. “According to the test she just did you have Saiyan DNA.”

 

Ryouga's brow furrowed in puzzlement. “What's a Saiyan?” he asked them in confusion.

 

Bulma blinked. “They're Saiyans. All three of them. Didn't you notice their tails?”

 

Ryouga gaped at her, and Bulma glanced at the three Saiyans, noticing then how firmly they had their tails wrapped around their waists. “Gohan, show him your tail.”

 

Gohan smiled and unwrapped his tail from his waist, flicking it in the air. “See? All Saiyans have tails. Unless they cut them off,” he commented, making Vegeta wince at the thought.

 

Serori grinned as she let hers trail down to the floor. “They are pretty sensitive, so we keep `em close to us so they don't get hurt. How come you don't have a tail?” she asked. “Did you lose it in an accident or something?”

 

“Huh?” Ryouga stared at her, having difficulty comprehending what they were saying. “I've never had a tail,” he said absently. “Why would I?”

 

Gohan frowned at him, then at Bulma. Bulma was still watching Ryouga with an enigmatic expression on her face. “Do you think he's one of Yamcha's brothers?” Gohan asked suddenly. “Yamcha didn't have a tail, either. Why didn't Yamcha have a tail?”

 

“Because he was altered before he was born,” Bulma murmured, still gazing at Ryouga thoughtfully. “Just as this boy was.” She smiled at Ryouga. “What's your name?”

 

Ryouga blushed, dropping his gaze to the floor. “Ryouga. Hibiki Ryouga. I don't... I don't know why you think I'm a... `Saiyan' like them. Why?”

 

Bulma continued to study him. “Because your DNA says you are. And because we found records that indicated that Yamcha's mother - who was a Saiyan warrior who had... settled on Chikyuu before he was born - had two sons after him. Twins. She modified Yamcha's biological structure before he was born, and she modified the biology of the two she carried after him as well to make them more human, less Saiyan. But she didn't change their DNA, and when Yamcha was put in the regeneration tank his own DNA reasserted himself. His tail grew back, and he got stronger and faster and much, much bigger.”

 

Ryouga sat down on the ground with a thump, then blinked, and then blinked again. He wasn't sure how to accept what they were telling him. “Can you prove it?” he asked finally, looking up at each of them in turn.

 

Vegeta blinked. Prove it? There was a thought. A slow grin spread its way across his face before he spoke. Oh the kid would love this. “The woman can put you in the tank for a while and we can see if your body alters. If you don't grow a tail, you are not Saiyan. If you do....” Vegeta smirked at him. “Then you are.”

 

“Tank?”

 

Bulma pointed to the regeneration tank, they could just see it from where the door was open to the infirmary. “That.”

 

Ryouga stared at it, his jaw agape. “You're serious, aren't you?” He looked at Bulma, then at the others, suddenly feeling like he was trapped with a bunch of lunatics. Dangerous lunatics, in this case. They were going to put him in something that it looked like he couldn't escape from, and they wanted to do something to alter his DNA? He knew Capsule Corp did a lot of scientific research, but he didn't know they worked in genetics! And they experimented on people?!?

 

“Why? Why do you want to modify my DNA?”

 

Bulma blinked at his misunderstanding, and then laughed. “No, we're not going to modify it! In fact, what the tank does is take an extract of your DNA, duplicates it into the polymatrix, and then washes you with it. In a way, it rebuilds you the way your genes say you should be. So if you've been altered from what your DNA says you should be, you'll be reverted back. That's not what the tank is for, of course. What we use it for is to heal. Anything but the most severe injuries can be healed with it. Which is very useful, considering the way Saiyans tend to play.” She glared at Vegeta.

 

“I have no idea what you are talking about, woman. A few scrapes and bruises never hurt anyone.” The Saiyan warrior gave his mate a look that was nowhere near as innocent as he thought it was.

 

“So are you going to do it?” Serori asked eagerly. “I mean there aren't many Saiyans left in the universe. It would be nice to know if there were more.”

 

Ryouga was still sitting on the ground, looking completely stunned. “Saiyans? A Saiyan? I can't be a Saiyan. My parents are human. I would know....”

 

Bulma shook her head, interrupting him. “Yamcha didn't know. His mother - your mother - was very good at what she did. She was a Saiyan warrior but she was also a highly skilled bio-geneticist, and she had access to equipment that is far superior to much of Chikyuu's technology.” ::Barring my own,:: she thought, but didn't say out loud. “If you're willing....”

 

Ryouga shook his head. “I don't know. I really don't. Can I think about it?” He looked up at her pleadingly.

 

Bulma shrugged after a few moments' hesitation. “All right. You can stay with us while you're thinking about it. I'm sure Yamcha would like to meet you.”

 

Vegeta stood there, arms folded across his chest, and studied Ryouga. Vegeta hadn't known Bulma to ever make a mistake when it came to scientific matters. Something about the way the boy hesitated put the older man on edge. He supposed it was a normal reaction for Ryouga to be a little apprehensive about getting into the tank, but Vegeta felt it was necessary.

 

“It occurs to me that if your DNA is reactivated, perhaps you will have better control over your abilities. We can not force you into the tank,” Vegeta said at last. “But it may benefit you in other ways as well.”

 

“What?” Ryouga blinked up at the older man in confusion.

 

Gohan looked from Ryouga to Vegeta and then back to Ryouga again. He realized Vegeta wanted Ryouga to go into the tank, and then something occurred to Gohan that might encourage Ryouga to do so.

 

“Ryouga,” the little boy piped up, causing the lost boy to look over at him. “You know how you said you weren't fast? Well, Saiyans are fast. If you're a Saiyan, you'll get really fast.” When Ryouga continued to stare at him blankly, Gohan decided to demonstrate. “Like this.”

 

He moved across the room so fast Ryouga didn't even see him. The bandanna clad boy blinked again. “How did you do that?”

 

Gohan shrugged. “I'm a Saiyan. If you're a Saiyan it just takes training. If you're a Saiyan, if you get your DNA back, you might be able to go this fast, too!”

 

He wasn't remembering that he hadn't been able to move that fast until Piccolo had trained him, but Ryouga probably wouldn't have listened at that point. His jaw had dropped and his expression was now one of eagerness as he got back to his feet.

 

::If I get that fast, I'll be even faster than Saotome! I'll finally be able to defeat him!:: The idea of defeating his nemesis caused his fists to clench at his sides. ::I will defeat you, Saotome! For all the pain and misery you have caused me, I shall defeat you yet!::

 

He looked at Bulma with resolution on his face. “All right. I'll go in the tank.”

 

Bulma nodded a little reluctantly. There was something about the boy's stance that bothered her. She wasn't certain, but thought the boy was planning on using his newfound powers wrongly. She hoped she was not creating another Vegeta. She knew Saiyans tended to be violent and cruel, but she had thought that was an environmental thing, not inborn. Goku and Gohan and Hakusai were different, and they hadn't been raised on Vegeta-sei. But what if this one wasn't? Was she just assuming because Yamcha was never interested in world conquest that his brothers wouldn't be, either? What if she was wrong?

 

Bulma went into the infirmary and opened the tank, beginning to prepare it. She glanced at Ryouga. “You'll have to remove your clothing.... Serori, would you mind waiting outside?”

 

Ryouga stared at her, his face white, and then blushed bright red. “But you can't... you can't be here if I get undressed!” he declared wildly.

 

Bulma looked at him in dispassionate amusement. “I'm the only one who knows how to operate the tank. But if you're that concerned about it, I'll close my eyes,” she teased him. She looked at Serori. “We'll be out in a little while. If you don't mind waiting in the lab while we finish....”

 

“Okay, Bulma-san,” Serori agreed reluctantly. She really wanted to see what was going on but she figured that if Bulma wanted her to leave it was for a good reason. “I'll see you guys later,” she said, waving as she left the room.

 

Vegeta snorted. ::It isn't as though he has much you'd want to see in the first place,:: he grumbled to his mate.

 

::Now, be nice, Vegeta,:: Bulma replied. ::He's only a boy. You don't want to give him a complex or anything.::

 

She smiled at Ryouga, then began to prepare the equipment. With Gohan's help Ryouga removed his clothing, and blushed brightly as Bulma attached the monitors to his skin and put him in the harness. She made certain to keep her eyes away from anywhere he might find embarrassing even as she lowered him into the tank. They watched the tank fill slowly with a light blue liquid, and as the warm fluid washed over him Ryouga found himself drifting to sleep.

 

Bulma nodded and the three of them left the room. “He'll be all right,” Bulma stated confidently. She looked at them curiously. “Don't you think Yamcha might have wanted to meet him, first? In case he is his brother, you know.”

 

Vegeta shrugged. “It may be better to be certain Ryouga is related to Yamcha. Wouldn't want him to be disappointed, would we?” Vegeta could tell from Bulma's expression that she was surprised he was being considerate and he glared at her. ::What? Do you think I am completely without feeling?::

 

To be continued.....

 

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And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... A bit of lemon between Yamcha and Hakusai. Yamcha learns that one of his brothers may have been found.