Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Dark Heart ❯ A Special Bond ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6: A Special Bond

Bulma stood in front of Piccolo, waiting patiently for the green warrior to say what he had to say. It had been such a long day and she was completely exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

Piccolo noticed how drained she looked and he decided to get to the point as quickly as possible.

“Your child is strong, Bulma”, he said.

Bulma nodded.

“So I've been told. I recall Vegeta mentioning it before Trunks was even born”, she declared with a mixture of pride and sadness at the memory of the Prince talking about his son.

The Namekian stared at the child for a minute before he continued.

“How old was Gohan when I became his sensei? Four? Five years old?” he asked her.

Bulma hesitated for a moment, confused by the question, and she did some thinking.

“I believe he was about four years old”, she finally replied.

“Four years old, and yet your son is already far stronger than Gohan was at that age”.

The woman remained silent, looking at her baby boy that had fallen asleep again with his little head buried in the crook of her neck.

“Does that surprise you, Bulma?” he asked.

“Well, to be honest,” she sighed. “I guess nothing surprises me about those Saiyans anymore,” she said with a hint of humor in her voice.

“I see… And would you be surprised if I told you that Vegeta is far stronger than Goku's ever been?”

Bulma shook her head in disbelief.

“I'd find that hard to believe, Piccolo. I mean… Vegeta has never actually won a fight against Goku, right?”

“I'm not talking about the results on the battlefield; I'm talking about pure, raw potential”.

Bulma remained silent, confused by his statement.

“Do you remember Mirai Trunks?”

She nodded. Of course she remembered her boy. She missed him so much!

“I believe that, under the right circumstances, he would have defeated Cell without much trouble”, he said confidently.

Bulma shrugged.

“I guess you're right. Mirai Trunks didn't get the best training, after all…”

Piccolo shook his head.

“Again, I'm not referring to his technique, but to the use of his full potential”. He paused for a second before he decided to continue.

“You see, Bulma, your son from the future had a very hard life.”

She nodded, and she felt her eyes burn again at the thought of her poor boy suffering so much.

“And so did his father”.

Bulma remained quiet, silently agreeing with the Namekian warrior. It was the second time today she was reminded about how hard Vegeta's life had been, and she couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt and regret at the thought. Objectively speaking, she knew it wasn't her fault that both her mate and her son had gone through the pain they'd been through, but there was a part of her, especially regarding Vegeta, that felt that perhaps she could have done more to help him and that maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't be in this situation right now if she had learned more about him and his past.

Almost as if he had read her thoughts, Piccolo said “It's not your fault Bulma. None of this is anyone's fault. That's just the way things happened”.

She nodded, swallowing her tears and trying to remain calm.

“I do not know much about the Saiyan race but, most of what I do know, I learned it through my experience as Gohan's teacher and, later, from training with Goku and his son”.

He paused again, trying to gather his thoughts.

“The Saiyans are a strong race, I have known that from the moment I met Goku and we fought for the first time. However, through the years I've also learned that their strength is not purely physical, but mental as well… I have witnessed Goku communicating telepathically with his friends, and I do feel that his connection with his child is even stronger. It's almost like, like some kind of bond”.

Bulma listened carefully to the Namekian's words, silently fascinated by this new information that was being revealed to her.

“I also believe that, the bigger their physical power, the greater their mental abilities will be, which would mean… It could mean that both your child and your mate would possess great intuition and, if my ideas are correct, they'd probably share a strong connection with each other. Perhaps even with you, Bulma”.

“With me?” She replied in shock. “What do you mean?”

“I hope you don't find me intrusive Bulma but I must ask you about how you've been feeling ever since Vegeta left the Earth”.

`Like shit' she thought. She knew she hadn't been able to get much sleep lately, and she'd had difficulty trying to stay focused at work. But, then again, wasn't that how everyone felt after a breakup?

Again, Piccolo seemed to have read her thoughts.

“I know humans are deeply sentimental creatures that become attached to each other. I'm not asking you about regular human emotions, just if… If you've experienced anything unusual”.

Bulma paused for a minute. Maybe she had…

“I have nightmares. Some of them pretty bad ones. They leave me shaking when I wake up, and I can't manage to remember exactly what they were about, but I always get the feeling that they were violent. I… I can't fully explain it…”

Piccolo nodded in understanding and he kept staring at the woman expectantly.

“I think I felt it, you know?” she whispered.

“What did you feel?”

“The morning he left the planet… I remember waking up in cold sweat, almost in shock, as if something terrible had happened, but then I looked around me and everything was fine. Well, except for the fact that Vegeta was gone…”

She was talking in a really low voice now, almost ashamed about the fact that she'd been abandoned by a man; a man that had left without an explanation and without even saying goodbye.

“And what about Trunks? Have you witnessed a change in his behavior?” he continued.

“Trunks? Well, he's just a baby, you know…” she said looking at her sleeping child again.

“He has been a bit difficult these days, to be honest; quite crazy sometimes. He crawls a lot, as if he had all of this energy inside of him and he didn't know what to do with it… He's also been breaking his toys.”

“Has he ever hurt you, Bulma?”

She shook her head firmly.

“Never”

“So your child is having trouble controlling his energy and his strength, and yet, he seems to have the emotional intelligence not to hurt you or your parents, is that correct?”

Bulma nodded deep in thought. She'd never seen it from that point of view. Could it be possible that her son's intuition was stronger than she believed? She sighed sadly, realizing, once again, that she was raising a child that wasn't fully human, and she wondered whether she'd be able to do a good job at it.

When she'd discovered her pregnancy, Vegeta had already left to train into space, and she was left alone to make the decision about whether she wanted to have this child or not. It should have been a hard decision, given her circumstances and considering who the father was. And yet, it had been extremely easy to decide to bear the Prince's child. It just felt right, and even though she'd known at the time that she would probably be doing it all alone, she'd been confident somehow that everything would be alright. Now, she wasn't so sure anymore.

“You've already done a great job, Bulma”, Piccolo said almost sensing her insecurities. “Mirai Trunks was an outstanding young man, and you'd raised him on your own in that timeline”.

“And yet something was off, wasn't it?” Bulma replied. “There was an air of sadness about him, don't you think, Piccolo?”

The green man nodded.

“At the time I thought it was because of all the horrible things he must have witnessed but now… Are you…? Are you trying to imply that growing up without a father affected him so much?”

“I'm just speculating here Bulma, but from my experience, Gohan's progress was much greater when he trained with his father than when he trained with me. It's almost as if Goku knew exactly what his child's needs were and he knew exactly how to teach and guide him…”

“Mirai Trunks never had that, did he? I mean, he had Gohan but… Do you think it would have been different with his father by his side?”

Piccolo nodded again.

“It already was, actually. Trunks experienced a major transformation after spending time with Vegeta in the Room of Spirit and Time.”

Bulma exhaled in frustration and she clutched her baby a bit tighter, trying to control her emotions, and she felt her baby stir a little in his sleep.

“Did you see that?” the warrior asked.

“What?”

“Trunks' behavior”

“Uh? Um, he does that sometimes when I hold him close.” She paused, suddenly feeling insecure. “Is that… bad?”

“Bulma, while you were talking to Dende, I observed Popo's interactions with your child. He woke up shortly after you left him with Popo, and he was in a fairly good mood. Yet, when you came out and you held him, he got really close to you, and he hasn't let go ever since”.

The blue haired woman's eyes widened a little, and she considered Piccolo's thoughts for a second.

“You think he's looking for comfort?”

“Either that, or he's actually trying to comfort you, Bulma; your child seems to be really in tune with your emotions”

The thought of her boy trying to comfort her brought more tears to her eyes, and she just stood there, not knowing what to say or what to do anymore.

“Bulma, if you decide to stay on Earth and raise him alone, I want you to know that Gohan and I will be there for you. I could try to help your child learn how to control his ki as he gets older. I'm sure it would be easier if his father was in charge of his training but, I'm sure things would work out in the end”.

“Thank you Piccolo. That's… That's very generous of you…”

“Don't thank me. I wouldn't do it just for you, or even for Trunks; I'd do it because this planet needs a new generation of warriors to protect it. Your child has enormous potential Bulma. It would be a shame to see it go to waste. It could even be dangerous for him not to know how to properly use and understand his ki.”

“Wait a minute Piccolo, if your theory is correct, then what about Goku? He knows how to use his power, and I'd say he's been pretty good at it so far, but he never even knew his father”

“Goku was sent to Earth in a pod. I'm guessing he wasn't even carried full term and he was put on some kind of incubator, so he probably had no time to develop any kind of bond with his parents. Did Vegeta ever mention anything like that?”

`Of course!' She thought

“Yeah, I remember that. When Vegeta came back to Earth I was heavily pregnant at the time… He was surprised that I hadn't had Trunks removed. That's the word he used. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but then he explained that Saiyan children were very rarely carried full term, except for babies from the Royal family, and not even all of them”

She chuckled softly at the memory of her Prince seeing her pregnant when he'd come back from space. He was shocked, but he was proudly trying to hide his surprise. She was pretty sure that he'd never witnessed a pregnant woman before and she honestly had no idea what he'd thought of her physique at the time. One thing's for sure, he never tried to touch her back then, and to this day she didn't know if it was because she repulsed him or because he was afraid for her safety. She hoped it was the latter…

“Do you know if Vegeta was carried full term?”

“He was. He mentioned something about his mother being a strong and highly respected warrior, and she earned even more respect after having survived birthing the heir”

She recalled that conversation with her man. It had taken place during one of those rare times where he would indulge her and he'd answer a few of her very curious questions about his planet, his race and his culture. Usually those conversations took place after sex, in the middle of the night, when her Saiyan Prince was really mellow…

Piccolo's voice brought her back to the present.

“If both his parents were alive and around him during those early years, leaving with Frieza must have been a really traumatizing experience for him”

`Shit!' Bulma thought. She'd never even considered that…

“So this… bond thing… It can be both a positive and a negative thing?”

The Namekian warrior shrugged.

“I guess. I'm only speculating here, but if my theories are correct, your mate has dealt with a great deal of pain, both physical and emotional, from a very early age. It's very possible that the grief stalled his progress somehow”

`What a shame', she thought.

“So perhaps that's Goku's secret?” She said. “He never had that attachment, but he has always been loved, first by his adopted grandfather and then by all of his friends…”

Piccolo nodded.

“I believe the mind and the body are connected, and they both rely on each other on some level”, he replied.

“Bulma, whatever happens, rest assured that you'll have our support. If you decide to leave, I could keep an eye on your child until you come back. I wouldn't start his training, since I think that should be his father's job, but perhaps I could try to help him release his pent up energy somehow…”

Bulma smiled at him.

“I appreciate that Piccolo, I really do; although I don't know if I've made my decision yet. I mean…”

“What?” he quickly responded.

“Piccolo… Do you think he would even want me to try to find him?”

He smirked.

“I wouldn't dare trying to guess what's going on inside that man's head. To be honest, he probably doesn't even know it himself right now. But I'll tell you this, I'm sure nobody's gotten closer to him than you have, and I believe that you're the only one that could help him figure out what is it that he really wants to do and what kind of person he could really become”.

She nodded, feeling flattered by the confidence both Dende and Piccolo seemed to have towards her.

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. I really hope you guys are right about all of this.” She stifled a small yawn. “Right now, if you don't mind, I should probably go home and get some rest. Today has been a really exhausting day for me, Piccolo…”

He nodded.

“Of course, Bulma. Go home, get some rest and make your decision. Just remember…” he paused solemnly, “There's a lot at stake here, not just for your future and that of your child. If Vegeta's mind breaks completely, who knows what kind of chaos could unleash in the Universe. And we don't even have Goku by our side to stop him anymore”.

He was right, of course. And she knew it. Bulma knew that the repercussions of Vegeta's behavior could be catastrophic if he chose the wrong path.

She nodded again and she smiled kindly.

“I know Piccolo, I just… I guess I need to get some sleep and assimilate all of this…”

“Goodnight Bulma”

The scientist said her goodbyes and she opened the gate of her plane. She carefully entered the vehicle and she tried to sit Trunks on his chair, again, with little success. She sighed and she decided to simply use the autopilot and fly back home with the child in her arms. She sat on the pilot's seat and, before she had time to close the gate, she was startled by Piccolo's figure in front of her once again.

“What is it?” she asked nervously.

“Bulma, I know that it isn't my place to ask you this but, may I ask…? What did Vegeta leave you?”

The blue haired woman kept staring at the Namekian in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“Dende told me that Vegeta had left something for you the day he abandoned the Earth. What was it?”