Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wishing Well ❯ Step right up and place your bets ( Chapter 26 )

Wishing Well

Disclaimer: Je n'own pas Inuyasha ou DBZ. If they were mine…hold, wait; this story is what'd happen if they were mine. Hrm. Anyway…don't sue me.

It took a while, and a lot of complaints of hunger from men and chibi alike before the women controlled their laughter. Even then, snorts and muffled chortles could still be heard as the women spread out the picnic blanket and unpacked the food from the capsules. Bulma wryly remembering the struggle that she and Eighteen had trying to stuff the groceries in their few capsules and the car trunk; why did she have to forget Chi Chi's grocery capsules when shopping for 2 Saiyans, 3 demi-Saiyans, and a number of humans with enhanced metabolism? She only hoped that there would be enough food for the newcomers; judging from the way that the priest and the silver-haired canine version of her mate were staring, you'd think they'd never seen food before.

Which wasn't exactly true. Inuyasha had, of course, seen food, just not so much at once. Well, not so much at once that was staying still. Small herds of deer just about constituted Inuyasha's version of a buffet, and most villages of the Sengoku Jidai couldn't cultivate enough food for themselves most years, let alone provide festival banquets. Throw in a life spent in hiding and on the run, and Inuyasha would assure you that two years ago, after he met Kagome, was the first time he'd ever truly eaten since the early years of his life.

Miroku, on the other hand, had never even dreamed of this much food. He knew that he, Shippou, and Inuyasha ate a lot for people from their time period, but all of them would stop well short of filling their stomachs; besides, he was also a born and trained priest, who could easily fast for a week once there was drinking water nearby. Add in the fact that monasteries are not terribly famous for large banquets, and the depression that came from walking the world with a curse on his head, and you could understand why most of his meals were spotty. He had been amazed at the amount of food that Gohan ate, wondering how the demi-Saiyan had stayed alive if he needed to eat so much. The food on display answered his questions. And the aroma! Inuyasha was licking his lips in an attempt to keep his mouth from openly watering, and Miroku was using the sleeve of his robe to wipe away the saliva that crept down the corner of his mouth.

Shippou, being a chibi, had no reservations whatsoever. He drooled. Copiously. Not that he was alone; Goten and Trunks flanked him, eyes bugging out as they watched their mothers unpack the baked desserts. The food had captured the undivided attention of the three boys, leaving Marron and her dolls to their own devices. The little girl pouted, stepped over the large rivulet of boy drool, and toddled over to her mother and Chi Chi.

"Mama I wanna learn how to cook like Chi Chi-san," the little girl said in a tremulous little voice, tears in her eyes. She wrapped her chubby arms around her mother's leg, seeking comfort. The boys had left her with no one to play with, and she often felt lonely being the only girl born into the Z senshi family.

Eighteen and the other women turned to look at the weepy little girl. Her face was so sad it just about broke their hearts. Kagome rummaged through her pack to pull out a pack of Pocky, and, looking to Eighteen for askance, offered the treat to the lonely child. Eighteen nodded her permission, then crouched down to hug her daughter.

"Now my little dream, why would you want to cook like Chi Chi-san, hrm?" Eighteen didn't show this softer side in public very often, but her family was about the most important thing in the world to her. If Marron or Krillin asked her for a sunny day so that they could tan better, she'd realign earth. She'd nicknamed Marron her little dream, as she'd never imagined that she'd be a wife or a mother. Her birth had banished any doubts Eighteen had about her choice not to destroy herself.

"Look at all the boys! I wanna control boys too!"

The women, startled by this response, looked up.

From the smallest chibi, namely Shippou, to the oldest man, namely Vegeta, the men were lined up, eyes locked on the food, drool of varying degrees slipping down all of their faces. Bulma moved the haunch of roast beef in her hands to the left. Nine pairs of eyes slid to the left. She moved it back in front of her. All eyes center. She slowly brought it down almost to the ground. All eyes down. Bodies crouched as the males prepared to jump the food, looking like a pack of wild dogs. The slowly wagging tails on Shippou and Gohan didn't help to dispel the image. Wait a sec.

"When the hell did Gohan's tail grow back?" she whispered savagely. While she may have wanted to shriek in surprise, she was also enraptured by the hungry pack…er, men and children in front of her. She didn't want to break their concentration yet.

Videl responded under her breath, "It grew back when we first got to Inuyasha's dimension. Actually, Inuyasha ran smack into Gohan, crushing him into a tree. While they were trying to recover, it grew for some reason."

Bulma and Chi Chi shivered, knowing all too well the power and prowess of the Saiyan tail.

"Why didn't he get you all to cut it off?" the scientist asked with deep concern in her voice. "Didn't he warn you about what happens to him?"

"Inuyasha and Miroku taught him how to control his Oozaru somehow," Videl responded hastily. After last night, she couldn't dream of removing her mate's tail.

"Plus she kept him busy," Sango added with a small leer. Somehow Videl managed to blush, glare, and giggle wickedly at the same time.

"We should still cut it off for safety," Chi Chi said absently, wincing inside. She'd never had a chance to say it, but she loved her men's tails. When she'd first met Goku, he'd had a tail, and every time that his tail had been severed since then, she'd always thought that he was missing something. And her boys looked so wrong without their fuzzy appendages. She came out of her reverie as Bulma shook her head.

"It shouldn't be a problem. The moon is gone anyway, and he knows how to control it now. Besides, he's the only…"

All of the females' eyes were on Bulma when a violent rip broke through the conversation. Eyes turned sharply as the women and girl prepared for an attack, Sango, Videl, Chi Chi, and Eighteen jumping in front of Bulma, Kagome, and Marron. Which gave them the best view of the disturbance.

From the backs of each full-blooded Saiyan sprouted a long, furry snake. The snakes rose into the air, ripping fabric away to make room for their bases, and soon came to a halt nearly three feet in the air, on par with Gohan's tail. The men stumbled a bit, and Goku even gave a subtle sigh of relief, but they soon returned to their tense crouches, their tails wagging in perfect synchronization with Gohan's and Shippou's.

Chi Chi's eyebrows twitched nervously as Bulma looked over her shoulder. The older woman gasped, then sighed wryly.

"Well, at any rate, there's no moon."

Marron peeked between her mother's legs at the men, pouting again.

"I still wanna cook like you, Chi Chi-san. I can't believe they haven't stop staring yet!"

"I'll teach you everything I know Marron-chan," Chi Chi assured her as the women relaxed their stances and returned to the chore of unpacking the food. "But first, how about we snap a picture of these silly boys, just for us girls to laugh at, hm?"

Vegeta sighed inwardly as the pressure on his back eased. He felt in perfect shape again, and he blamed the pain on an unlimbered muscle. The brawl had been a bit of a surprise. He mentally noted the small sigh of relief that Goku gave and it further strengthened this belief. Goku had been taken by surprise too, so it was obvious that he would suffer from slightly cramped muscles as well. Besides, he was the one that the fight landed on at first. Vegeta smirked slightly at the thought of the initial pain that must have caused the Earth-Saiyan, then refocused his attention on the roasted haunch in the pretty hands of his Onna. He stumbled slightly and frowned. If he still had his tail, he'd be in perfect equilibrium.

Goku sighed again under his breath; whatever muscle it was that had been hurting him seemed to have unraveled itself, relieving him of the pain. A swift glance at Vegeta showed that the prince's glare had eased by a wrinkle, which made Goku smirk. It was nice to know that Vegeta had been in some measure of pain too. He stumbled again, which led him to mentally rue the loss of his tail once more. He'd never stumbled when he had his tail to balance him.

Krillin didn't normally allow his stomach to control him like this, but he could smell all of his favorite dishes, and he knew that he'd need speed to get anything before the Saiyans had their way with the food. He'd been used to having to dash in between the larger acolytes to get food during his youth at the monastery. He was a tad faster than the Saiyans when they were untransformed, plus his small size allowed him to scurry through the most unlikely places. He crouched a little lower, feeling the sweet tension in his legs as the old need for speed built in him.

Gohan just drooled. And waited. And drooled. And planned on how to dodge the others to get at his favorite foods. And drooled.

"At least they're mannerly about it," Kagome huffed angrily, watching Inuyasha's eyes as they ogled her. Well, not her, really, rather the large platter that held a larger leg of lamb. His eyes had been on the food since they started unpacking some 15 minutes ago, and she was wondering if he'd cramp in that position. She didn't realize that Inuyasha had the ability to freeze for hours if necessary, whether it was to fool his prey into a false sense of security, or hide from youkai hell-bent on killing him.

"Oh we have them well trained," Chi Chi assured her. "They won't flinch until we give the signal."

"That's a relief," Videl noted. "I've never seen Gohan look quite so…predatory."

"Oh really, Videl?" Sango droned slyly as she unpacked the vegetables from the strange chest-that-never-seemed-to-get-hot. She seemed to remember Kagome telling her that it was a kuu-something. "So he wasn't predatory in the least last night?"

"Stop that! You act like I'm the only one that got…lucky," Videl snapped at Sango, even as she grinned at the older girl. She was in too good a mood to be ruffled by the taiji-ya's good-natured teasing..

Sango laughed amiably until Eighteen poked her with an elbow.

"Watch this," the android whispered conspiratorially as Chi Chi and Bulma each held a large ham in their small hands. The other girls tried not to giggle as the males drooled even more.

"This is a training session, but they don't realize it," the android continued. "Once we got the older men trained, they began teaching the boys."

Bulma and Chi Chi began swinging the hams slowly, and the eyes followed them. When Shippou, Trunks, and Goten began to inch forward, Inuyasha, Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan gave almost subsonic grunts of disapproval. The girls had to strain their ears in order to hear them. The boys stopped their progress immediately. Even quieter grunts of approval met the chibis' compliance. Sango could practically hear Miroku's leg muscles vibrating in preparation for the leap, and the short former monk; was his name Krillin? He was subtly shivering as his muscles wound tighter.

"I'm surprised the new kids actually have so much restraint," Eighteen mused aloud. "At any rate, this little session also gives us a chance to get our food before they devour everything." Eighteen quickly filled a capsule with more than enough of each dish.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Inuyasha hunts for a lot of his dinner, so I suppose he's stalking right now. I don't know anything about Shippou's ability to stalk though," Kagome noted with a tinge of curiosity as she secured her pack.

"And Miroku won't make the first move if he is on unfamiliar territory, whether he's acting like a human or otherwise," Sango added as she helped Videl fill another capsule with plates, cups, napkins, cutlery, and drinks. The capsules enraptured the taiji-ya; if only she had them in the Sengoku Jidai. Packing and carrying supplies would be a snap!

"Eighteen I dunno how long we can hold them off. That little scuffle seems to have worked up their appetites," Chi Chi whispered harshly.

"Dammit, I've got to fly these new girls out too you know?" the android replied moodily, eyeing Vegeta's tail as it slowed down.

"Don't worry about us. Videl says she can fly, and we have Kirara," Kagome assured her. "Kirara, change quickly please!"

"Mreow," the feline replied as she grew larger. As soon as she was finished, Sango and Kagome leapt onto her broad back, and Videl began levitating. Eighteen got a firm hold of Chi Chi and Bulma, then instructed her daughter to climb onto her back. While Marron scurried into position with her backpack of dolls hanging off of one shoulder, Bulma gave directions to fly some 200 yards away. Kirara and Videl took off.

"Ready?" whisper-screamed the aquamarine-coiffed woman. Eighteen and Chi Chi nodded. They too had seen the tails stop swaying. Boys knew that their wait would soon be over.

In a swift blur, Chi Chi and Bulma dropped the hams as Eighteen bolted into the air. That was the signal. 9 shadowy forms bounded onto the buffet, and chaos ensued. Dust flew, snarls and hackles were raised, and yelps of pain came from the pile. The Z senshi had a head start, seeing as how Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou were following the unspoken rule of waiting for the host to serve himself first. However, this head start didn't stop them from getting a good footing in the general fray, and the outcome was looking pretty even.

The girls, now spreading out a separate blanket a safe distance away, unpacked their portion of the food and began to serve themselves in a neat, orderly manner. As they sat down to dine, a curious twitch could be seen above their eyebrows. They made light conversation, pointedly ignoring the nearby fracas.

"You know, they really should have outgrown that by now," Videl noted as one of Miroku's sandals flew overhead. "You would think that certain intelligent young men would know how to dine properly by now."

"It's just them. And at least the Saiyans have a good excuse; Vegeta told me that this is a form of play and training for Saiyan males. Besides, I'm sure all of them have large appetites from that scuffle. Fights tend to make them hungrier," Bulma said assuredly as an orange gi sash floated down nearby.

"I'm sure it's the sex that made them hungry, not the fights," Eighteen noted in a clipped tone. "I just realized that a certain monk didn't eat a damn thing last night or this morning." Chi Chi nodded in agreement, commenting on the fact that Goku hadn't eaten since the morning before, a rare occurrence in the life of that particular Saiyan.

"That could be it," Sango mused, sipping a can of lemon soda. "I don't think we ate before we left for the well this morning, and we hardly ate anything last night, we were all too busy. Add the general near starvation of most people in my time period, and I bet Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou have been walking around permanently hungry."

"He could have just told me, the clown. He knows that I could bring him back more food if he needed, my family isn't exactly poor you know," Kagome huffed, her closed eyes blocking her view of a white glove as it lodged into a tree.

"That reminds me," Chi Chi began, "we were never formally introduced. I'm Son Chi Chi, Gohan and Goten's mom. I'm the one who got saddled with making all this food, so I expect you all to eat everything." Everyone laughed at her mock glare.

"Well I'm Briefs Bulma, president of Capsule Corps., wife and slave to Vegeta, mother of the lavender-haired boy, Trunks. I'm the scientist who helped to invent these capsules, and I can do just about anything."

"Except cook," Chi Chi noted dryily.

"Darling, that's why I invented the food replicator," the scientist replied in a haughty manner, taking an imperious forkful of food.

"With the database built off of my recipes," Chi Chi added, a smirk plastered over her face. Bulma frowned at the woman's teasing; her cooking wasn't that bad.

"Ignore them, they do this all the time," Eighteen assured the younger women. "My name is Eighteen. My father was as creative as a dead doorpost. I'm an android."

"And I'm her little dream, Marron!" the small girl piped, barely looking away from her doll tea party, where Kirara was eagerly playing the part of honored guest. The rosy-cheeked girl seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that Kirara had changed from a small purring housecat, to a huge, flying, saber-toothed, wild feline, and back again. Evidence of a life spent with the Z senshi; things like that became common-placed, and no one ever said never to any possibility.

The other girls quickly introduced themselves, and all of them eventually conveyed the concept of an android to the confused Sango. Kagome quickly updated the women on the happenings in the Sengoku Jidai for the past four days, and Bulma reassured them that she would be able to check them after their meal. Chi Chi eyed Videl appraisingly, this being her first official introduction to the girl, then began speaking in a deceptively nonchalant voice.

"So, Videl, I hear my son's been training you."

"Yes Chi Chi-san, he's taught me lots of things."

"You do know that as his mother, I'll have to test your ability, to make sure that you're strong enough to be his wife. He's sure to be a very physically demanding fellow, just like his father. He'll want a wife he can spar wife without holding back too much of his energy. And please, feel free to call me Kaasan…preferably after our meeting."

"I look forward to your examination," Videl finished, and both women had wicked gleams in their eyes.

"This is just a formality, isn't it?" Sango asked aloud, afraid of the older woman's safety if she insisted on battling Videl.

"Nope, it's a full out call to battle. Chi Chi was the strongest human woman on Chikyuu before she retired and married Goku," Bulma informed her, barely taking note of the dialogue. "She hasn't had a good sparring partner in ages. I'm more into long range projectile weapons like bows and arrows, darts, and guns, and Eighteen…"

"I'm just too strong for her," the android stated bluntly. "Anyway, it'd be nice to watch a girl-versus-girl match for once."

"Ano, Bulma-san, I'd love to test my archery skills with you. I don't know many people who are still interested in archery in the modern era," Kagome asked shyly. While her archery skills had grown considerable over the past two years, she had never used it for sport.

"Sure thing Kagome, but only if you call me Bulma from now on; I may be old, but I'm not that old."

"I guess that leaves us to pack up Sango."

"If you'd like, Eighteen-san," the taiji-ya responded in a lackluster manner. She would have enjoyed a little competition too. While she could understand that Eighteen was exceedingly powerful, she was used to being outmatched by her usual competition, namely youkai. She was confident that she wouldn't be an easy target, and she was slightly miffed at the fact that Eighteen had dismissed the thought of fighting her entirely…

"Or we could see how that oversized boomerang of yours works against enemies. I'd be willing to stand in as an enemy." While the android's face remained expressionless, Sango's face lit up in glee.

"Just let me change, Eighteen-san!"

"I'll even let you use that cat-thing of yours, just to even things out. And don't call me Eighteen-san. Eighteen is just as fine. Wastes less air too."

The women were too busy talking to notice that the sounds of fighting had been replaced with the sounds of eating and quiet, yet heated debate. Miroku and Krillin, being the only ones who could be trusted around food, were currently taking culinary-based bets on the outcome of the women's impromptu competitions. Gohan and his father were alternating between vicious discussions on who would win in the Chi Chi vs. Videl match, and placating the near violent debate between Inuyasha and Vegeta on who would win in the archery contest. Goten was physically stuck between Trunks and Shippou, who were childishly arguing over who would win in that same contest. He was also the only one aware of the side bets than Miroku and Krillin lay on the competition between their own mates. He was mentally stuck on whom to cheer for; his mother or Videl, his sister by mating. The whole affair left the little demi-Saiyan confused and exasperated until he came up with a great idea.

"Who wants the last spring roll?" he cried, even as he dodged his sibling's first attempt at the food. With a quick toss in the air, the lunchtime fight was back on track. Goten sighed wearily.

'The things I do for peace,' he thought, shaking his head at his noble sacrifice.