Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Dark Heart ❯ A New Generation ( Chapter 9 )

Bulma knocked at the door of her friend's little house in Mount Paozu as she held baby Trunks in her arms. While she waited patiently for Chichi, she realized that it had been a long time since she'd last visited, and she felt a tinge of guilt course through her. Apparently, her child seemed to be feeding off her nervousness, since he was wide awake, watching her with curiosity while he played with his mother's hair.

Suddenly, she heard some steps approaching her and Goku's wife opened the door.

“Hi, Bulma!” she greeted her.

“Hi!” Bulma replied as she gave Chichi a friendly hug; “It's been a long time, hasn't it?” she continued.

Chichi nodded and she made a welcoming gesture, encouraging the scientist to enter. Bulma gratefully accepted the invitation and she walked through the small living room until she was able to take a seat on the old couch.

“I'll bring us some tea”, Chichi said politely.

Bulma smiled and she nodded in acceptance. While she waited, she took the time to observe her surroundings. It always surprised her how humbly her friends seemed to live, certainly a big cry from her luxurious and busy life, and she briefly wondered whether Chichi would feel unsatisfied or even bored with the simple life that she was living. Perhaps that might have been the reason why she kept pushing Gohan towards an academic life, in order to rise beyond their current circumstances. Before she knew it, the raven haired woman had come back with a teapot and two cups.

“Boy! Trunks sure has grown since the last time I saw him”, Chichi said, cooing the baby and making him giggle.

Bulma grinned, she took a sip of her hot drink and she felt her smile falter a little as she took in her friend's appearance. She didn't look well. She appeared to be tired, and she was actually wearing makeup, no doubt in order to try to conceal the dark circles under her eyes. For an instant, she felt tempted to ask if she was OK, but then she thought that it might be impolite to ask such things, especially considering that the reason was probably the fact that her friend was missing her deceased husband.

“Is he walking already?” Chichi asked.

“Uh? Um… no, not yet. But Trunks has been really active lately, and I think it might happen soon” she replied.

“It will, I'm certain. Saiyan babies develop fast and they become quite independent at an early age… I'm sure Vegeta will want to start training him as soon as he starts to walk”, she continued.

Bulma took another sip of her tea, trying to control her emotions. Obviously, Chichi wasn't aware of her current situation.

“Well,” she started, “Vegeta did mention that Saiyan babies begin their training as soon as they can walk, some of them even learn how to fly before that, but I don't think Vegeta's going to train him anytime soon, anyway”.

“Oh? And why is that? I thought after the Cell Games Vegeta had started to show an interest in his child” Chichi cautiously said, having the feeling that something wrong was going on.

“Um, well, Vegeta… he kind of” she sighed tiredly, “He kind of left about a month and a half ago…”

“What?! Are you serious? Did he tell you when he'll be coming back?”

Bulma shyly stared at the floor and she shook her head, trying to hold back her tears.

Goku's wife nodded in understanding and she didn't ask any more questions. She put her hand on top of her friend's and she rubbed it in a comforting way.

There was a silence as both women drank their tea, and it hit Bulma that, if someone could understand her current situation, that would be Chichi. After all, they'd both had the misfortune of falling in love with a couple of emotionally stunted alien warriors, and both women surely knew what it felt like being the second most important thing in their men's lives, fighting being the first one, of course.

As Chichi unsuccessfully stifled a small yawn, Bulma took it as an opportunity to finally try to find some answers about her friend.

“Are you alright, Chichi?” she paused briefly, unsure about whether she should continue or not, but her concern towards the woman made her carry on with her questions.

“I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but you look tired, are you OK?”

Her best friend's wife exhaled in frustration and she shook her head. Then, she looked at Bulma with a sad smile on her lips.

“It's that obvious, uh?”

“What's obvious?” the blue haired woman replied with curiosity.

“Well… I was actually trying to keep it a secret for as long as I could, since it's still really early, but…” she sighed again, “I guess you could keep the secret for me, right?”

Bulma felt her concern begin to grow. So there was something wrong going on with Chichi… Her guilt came back with full force, knowing that she shouldn't have stayed away from the Son family for so long, especially after Goku's death. Ironically, that was the real reason why Bulma hadn't visited her friend's family for so long. The death of her best friend, whom she'd considered a little brother for so many years, had affected her deeply. She still didn't fully understand the reasons why he'd decided to remain in Other World, and she could only hope that Goku had really known what he was doing when he'd made that decision.

“Bulma,” Chichi whispered, pleadingly holding her friend's hand, “You have to promise me you won't tell anyone…”

Bulma squeezed her hand delicately but firmly.

“Of course, Chi, you can tell me anything”, she said softly.

“I'm pregnant”

The scientist remained silent, dumbfounded, and she blinked a few times as she tried to assimilate the news.

“Wow, Chichi!” she finally said, “That's… great! Congratulations!”

The black haired woman nodded and she smiled, and Bulma's heart broke a little as she saw her dark eyes fill with unshed tears. Maybe this wasn't such great news?

“Dende, Chichi…” she whispered, “Are you alright? You aren't happy about it?”

“Oh, no!” she replied quickly, softly touching her abdomen. “It's not that, it's just that…”

Goku.

Of course; `How could I be so stupid?' Bulma thought. What woman would be happy about having her dead husband's child? It certainly was a less than ideal situation.

“Oh Chichi, I'm so sorry…” she said as she got closer to her friend, sitting next to her and holding her with one arm as she held her boy on the other.

Chichi buried her face in her neck and Bulma felt some moisture on it as Goku's wife allowed her tears to fall now.

`Shit!'

Bulma kept soothingly rubbing Chichi's back, and she remained quiet, letting her friend cry and release her emotions freely. She felt a knot in her stomach and she experienced a brief moment of déjà vu as she recalled the day she'd discovered she was pregnant with Vegeta's child. Her man had also been far away from home back then, but at least she'd had the certainty that the Prince was eventually going to come back to Earth, if not for her sake, at least for the sake of his promise to take part in the fight against the androids. But now it was different, now her friend knew her husband was never coming back.

Bulma felt her child move and she realized her little boy was trying to hug Chichi as well.

“Aww, baby… Do you want to hug Chi too?” she said lovingly.

Her words made the other woman stare at the child and smile softly.

“May I?” she asked Bulma.

“Of course! Be my guest…” the heiress said as she carefully put Trunks in Chichi's now opened arms.

Trunks hugged Goku's wife and he giggled, making both women grin. It was as if he knew what to do to make them feel better.

“Chichi, whatever you need, you just have to ask…”

The black haired woman nodded.

“I know Bulma, and I really appreciate that, but I'm doing OK I think… At least, considering the circumstances… It's just…” she sighed, “I guess this pregnancy is already feeling a bit rougher than my first. Maybe it's because Goku isn't here. I don't know…”

“Yeah, I know… I'm guessing it's still early, since you're not showing.”

“Yes. I'm only about eight weeks pregnant. I visited my doctor last week and he said everything's fine. I also had to tell Gohan, although he already suspected something was going on because of the morning sickness. It's been pretty bad…”

Bulma understood what the other woman was talking about really well… Her first three months of pregnancy had been hard on her body, to the point where she spent entire days resting in bed and she even lost some weight due to the fact that she had no appetite and that whatever she ate didn't last long inside her body anyway… I was only after the first three and a half months that she started to feel well, really well actually, and she felt her desire for food increase.

The door opened all of a sudden and Gohan entered the house, closely followed by Piccolo. The young Saiyan was carrying a huge fish and his sensei held a huge basket filled with what seemed to be some kind of wild berries. By this time both women seemed to be in a better mood, and Bulma noticed that Chichi was trying to put on a brave face for her son's sake.

“Bulma!” the young boy said happily, “I didn't know you were here! We went fishing, look!” he said, proudly lifting the large animal with a bright smile that was just like his father's.

Bulma smiled.

“Wow, Gohan! That is quite a fish! I'm sure your mom is really proud of you!” she said as she ruffled the kid's hair.

Gohan offered her another brilliant grin and he looked at the baby.

“Hi, Trunks! Wow, you're so big!” he said clutching the little boy's hand. The baby giggled and he stretched his arms towards him.

“Can I play with him for a while, mom?” he asked.

Chichi nodded.

“Sure, just make sure you come back in time for lunch”

“Sure, mom!”

Gohan picked up the baby and he went outside, followed once again by Piccolo. But before the green warrior left the house, he gave Bulma a questioning look, almost as if he was wondering about whether she'd already made her decision or not. Bulma looked at him and she nodded, letting him know that she'd talk to him later.

Both women stayed inside the house, talking and sharing their little stories. Bulma noticed that Chichi really seemed to show a lot of interest about what life in the city was like, and she enjoyed the heiress' juicy tidbits of gossip about some of her parents renowned friends. She figured that the life of the rich and famous looked like a different world to someone like Chichi, and she indulged her with as many tales of the metropolis as she could. Every now and then, she'd look out the window, where she saw Gohan and Piccolo playing with her little boy, well, if you could call making little Trunks chase tiny balls of ki “playing”. The scientist was amazed at how happy and engaged her child looked, and she felt her chest constrict at the possibility of Vegeta not being the one that would eventually train the purple haired boy.

“Dende! It's so late!” Chichi suddenly said. “I must start making lunch. Would you like to stay, Bulma? I'm sure there's plenty of food for all of us.”

Bulma shook her head.

“I can't Chi. I should really get back home. There's a project I'm working on and I don't have much time to waste…”

The other woman nodded politely.

“I understand,” she said slowly standing up, “I'll let you go back to your busy life…”

“Oh, it's busy alright!” she chuckled. “Anyway, thanks for everything Chichi, I hope I'll see you again soon…”

“Can you ask Gohan to get inside so that he can wash before lunch, please?”

“Sure thing.” Bulma said, and she reached Goku's wife for a hug. “Stay strong” she whispered in her ear.

Chichi squeezed her back and nodded.

“You too, Bulma. Don't lose hope, maybe Vegeta will come back. You never know with those Saiyans…” she smiled sadly.

The two women said their goodbyes and Bulma exited the little house, walking towards Gohan and Piccolo. To her surprise, Trunks had finally stopped chasing the tiny ki ball and he looked unusually sleepy. When the baby saw her, he extended his arms towards her, silently asking to be held again. She indulged him and she brought her baby into her arms as she turned to Gohan.

“Well young man, your mom wants you to wash before you two get to eat that big fish you caught…”

Gohan smiled and assented.

“Are you leaving, Bulma? You're not staying for lunch?”

“I can't kiddo. I've got a lot of work to do… I'll be visiting you guys again as soon as I can, alright?” she promised.

The young boy gave her a hug and he waved goodbye before he run into the house. Bulma waited until the door was closed and she turned towards Piccolo, whom had been silently witnessing the conversation, no doubt waiting for Gohan to leave in order to talk to the woman.

“How is he doing, Piccolo?” Bulma said, seemingly deep in thought.

“Gohan?”

“Yeah…”

“He's doing alright I suppose. Given my little theory about the Saiyan bond, I was actually expecting him to do a lot worse”, the green warrior replied.

Bulma smiled shyly and she looked him in the eye.

“I think it's because he has you, you know?”

The Namekian raised an eyebrow in question.

“Aww, come on, Piccolo! You must surely know by now that Gohan sees you almost like a second father…” she giggled, amused by the sight of the large man blushing.

Piccolo cleared his throat before he continued.

“Perhaps… Although I believe that the fact that Gohan's going to be a big brother soon has something to do with his behavior as well. It's almost as if he has already accepted that he's the man of the house now”.

Bulma grimaced at those words. In moments like these, she actually felt anger towards Goku and his inability to fully understand the emotional consequences that his actions had on other people. For a man that was so intelligent on the battlefield, he sometimes behaved like a big child.

“Did you already know, Piccolo?”

“About what?” he asked in confusion.

“About the pregnancy. Did you know Chichi was pregnant when we last met on The Lookout?” she asked again.

“No, I didn't. I suspected that Goku's woman had some kind of mild human illness at the time. I only started to feel the boy's ki a few days ago.”

“You already know it's a boy?!” Bulma asked in surprise.

The warrior nodded.

“Yes. It's male, and quite powerful already, although not as strong as your son.”

He thoughtfully looked at Trunks once again, who had already fallen asleep in his mother's arms.

“Trunks is unusually strong Bulma. He can already handle small amounts of ki”.

“Is that what you guys were doing with him while I was inside the house with Chichi? I thought you were playing some kind of game with him…” she said as she affectionately caressed her child's soft hair.

“I suppose to your child it might seem like a game, but it could be a pretty effective way to teach him how to handle ki and to help him release his pent up energy. Haven't you noticed how calm he looks now?”

She nodded and she sighed sadly.

“So you were right. He needs his father to help him learn how to control his energy…”

“That would be the ideal scenario, Bulma.”

The heiress exhaled in frustration and she picked up the capsule she kept in her pocket. She opened it and she released it at a safe distance, revealing her air vehicle.

“My ship will be ready in about a week”

The green man smirked.

“So, you've finally made your decision.”

“Yeah… I had a conversation with my father and we discussed the things we all talked about in The Lookout. Don't worry, he's trustworthy, whatever he knows stays in the family…”

“I understand Bulma, it's quite alright.”

“I told him about your Saiyan bond theory and I've already warned him about how difficult things could be for Trunks when I leave the planet. I also told him about your offer to try to help my baby while I'm gone, so feel free to come by whenever you want. You'll always be welcome at our home.”

The warrior silently nodded in agreement.

“Piccolo”, she whispered, “If… if anything happened to me…”

“Nothing's going to happen, Bulma. Have faith.” He said firmly.

“I know but… It's just… If anything happened to me, I want you to promise me that you and Gohan will teach my child everything he needs to know in order to be a strong warrior and to be able to use his full potential…”

“You have my promise, Bulma”, he declared solemnly, “but again, you have nothing to worry about. Goku used to talk about you from time to time, and if the stories he shared with me are true, I'm sure you'll be just fine.”

Bulma chuckled melancholically.

“Well, someone has to bring that Saiyan back home. I figured I'd at least give it a try… Right?”

She proceeded to walk towards the plane but she suddenly stopped as she recalled something.

“By the way”, she turned again towards the Namekian, “he gave me this,” she said clutching the blue pendant than hung from her pale neck.

Piccolo's eyes widened in curiosity and he slowly approached the woman.

“May I?” he asked, looking at the jewel.

She nodded, and soon the warrior was softly holding the pendant, examining the stone with curious eyes. Finally, he released it and he looked into the woman's eyes.

“Does it have some kind of special meaning to you?”

“Not really. My dad and I run some tests in the lab and we found out that the materials are not from Earth. It also appears to be quite ancient, possibly more than three hundred years old”.

`Well, well' he thought with a smirk, `Who would have thought the Prince of All Saiyans was that sentimental…'

As if reading his thoughts Bulma said, “Please, don't tell anyone about it. If it's something that has some kind of emotional value I doubt Vegeta would be happy about people finding out…”

“Don't worry, Bulma. Your little secret is safe with me”. And if she didn't know who she was talking to, she'd swear there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“Alright then, I gotta go, I have much work to do if I want to leave as soon as possible.” She paused, as if she was forgetting something. “Um, by the way, it's better if you don't tell Chichi about my trip, she doesn't need the stress in her condition. Also, if anything happened to her, feel free to let my parents know and they'll be able to help her. I know she's a proud woman…”

“Do not concern yourself with such matters Bulma. Bringing Vegeta back should be our first priority right now,” he said with conviction.

“Alright then. Take care Piccolo…” Bulma said as she entered her vehicle. Before the door closed she quickly asked, “Will you come to see me before I leave?”

He nodded.

“I'll be there”.

The scientist smiled and she waved goodbye. Holding her child in her arms, she set the autopilot, she closed her eyes and she tried to relax for the first time today. She could have tried to put Trunks in his little chair, but she kind of wanted to hold him as much as she could right now. After all, who knew for how long she'd be gone and how successful her trip would really be.

As she flew back home, she couldn't help the slight feeling of guilt she had in her gut. Yes, she should actually be pissed that her plan hadn't worked out. After all, that was the main reason why she had decided to finally visit the Son family, in order to convince Chichi to allow Gohan to join her in her new adventure. But as soon as she looked at the poor woman, she hadn't had the heart to ask such a thing, and she hadn't even told her about her future trip into space.

She felt like an idiot. No, she felt like a selfish idiot. Now, holding her baby, she realized that she didn't have the right to ask a mother to give up her son just so he could help fight someone else's battles. It was hard enough that Gohan now seemed to have the responsibility of protecting the Earth, especially considering the fact that Goku's son had never really seemed to have the heart of a warrior, and he only fought whenever he felt that he had no other choice.

So it seemed it would be just her and Krillin. She knew her old friend wasn't as powerful as a Saiyan, but he certainly was one of the strongest humans she knew, and his presence next to her would make her feel a bit more secure. She was surprised that it hadn't taken her too long to convince the man to join her in her trip; to be honest a part of her had actually thought that he'd try to convince her to give up on the idea. She hadn't given him all the details about Vegeta's current circumstances, only that Dende had told her that it would be a good idea to bring the warrior back to Earth and that she also wanted him back, especially for Trunks' sake and because she still believed that the warrior could officially become one of the good guys and act as one of the protectors of their planet. Her friend had agreed with her and he hadn't asked too many questions, and Bulma had the feeling that deep down he'd known that one of the main reasons for this mission was that she loved Vegeta and she missed him too, but that she was probably too proud and stubborn to discuss her feelings in public. She'd always been like Vegeta in that way.

As Bulma's plane was getting closer to Capsule Corp., her phone rang. It was her father.

“Bulma?”

“Yes dad, what's the matter?” she asked worriedly. Her father very rarely called her unless something was going on.

“Um, well, I was wondering… Uh, when will you be home?”

“I'm on my way dad. I can already see our house. Why? What's going on?”

“Uh, we have a visitor…” the old man said uncomfortably, and then he whispered, “he's one of your friends and he's not happy…”