Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Amazon & Saiyan: Consequences ❯ Shades of Gray ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: Yes, I am aware that it's taken me forever to do this, but hey, quality stuff takes time. I've spent ages researching and developing things for the Amazon culture that I'm about to subject you all to in a few chapters. Anyway, not much here, just…stuff preparing for other chapters. And the start of a conclusion to the Gohan Situation. At least for right now, anyway.

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Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. I do, however, own assorted original characters and cultures, and don't mind sharing as long as I'm asked first.

Amazon and Saiyan

By Nadia Rose

Chapter 7: Shades of Gray

Chichi's first thought as she came back to consciousness was that she was alone in her bedroom. Vegeta's presence, which had been so close to her for days, was now much farther away. Not too far-it felt like he was out past the ruins of the castle's outer wall, but not by much. She pushed herself up on one elbow and looked around, noticing that the door to her bedroom had been replaced, and the drapes had been pulled across the windows to keep the sun out.

The room went out of focus and she closed her eyes, resisting the urge to lie back down. She could tell from the stiffness of her body that she'd been in bed for a long time, and staying there for much longer would only make it worse. She pulled her knees up, wriggled her toes while stretching her arms and neck, encouraging the blood to start circulating again. After a few seconds she tingled all over and the blurriness had receded.

Yawning, she stumbled into her bathroom to relieve herself and get a drink of water. Her father had given her that damn tea again; the horrible-tasting stuff he and Aunt Bai had regularly poured down her throat all during her pregnancy with Gohan. It always left a horribly dry taste in her mouth. She was brushing her teeth when Vegeta strode into the room, glistening with sweat. She stopped mid-brush, belatedly remembering to yank the toothbrush out of her mouth as she stared at him, admiring the well-developed musculature. Even his spandex was sweaty.

He watched her out of the corner of one eye, stalking straight to the ledge next to the window to sit down. She watched him for a moment. "Were you training?"

Her mate nodded, leaning against the bathroom wall. Chichi gave him a slight smile and continued to attack her mouth; it tasted like something had crawled in there and died while she slept. "You know," she muttered around her toothbrush, "you didn't have to stop training because I woke up."

Vegeta's reflection in the mirror shrugged, dark eyes darting around for something. They landed on the bathtub and he smirked, yanking off his spandex tunic. "It's almost time to eat," he barked gruffly, turning on the faucets to fill the tub with warm water. As she discarded her toothbrush in favor of a hairbrush he stripped off the rest of his clothing and stepped into the water, sinking up to his waist. "I will not misrepresent my people before the King and Queen."

Chichi nodded, not bothering to take note that he'd never seemed concerned before, but then again, Bulma wasn't really on regular visiting terms with royalty. She pinned her hair up on top of her head and stepped over to the tub, shed her nightgown and eased her way into the water, ignoring Vegeta's gaze while she reached for the soap and washcloths. She tossed one at him and began to scrub her body, making no attempt to make a big fuss over the situation. He wouldn't be comfortable with that.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days," he returned, working the lather over his arms.

"Two days?" Chichi swore, shaking her head. "If I'm not more careful they're going to keep me asleep through half of this pregnancy."

Vegeta looked up from his washing, narrowing his eyes. "It's true, then," he muttered.

Chichi paused from examining the wounds on one of her feet and looked up at him, emotions flitting across her face. "My ki flickers, so it would seem so." She ticked off days on her fingers, trying to figure out how long it had been. "It's too early for the baby to have its own ki yet, probably not for another two or three weeks." She glanced up at him, seeing confusion pass across his face. "You haven't felt it flicker, have you?"

Before he could answer she had seized one of his hands and placed it between both of her own. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you don't know how to look beneath my shield."

"Shield?"

She looked up at him, sweeping the fringe of bangs out of her eyes and nodded. "I don't actually suppress my ki. I have a shield that blocks my ki from the outside world, and I keep a light layer above it most of the time for the other ki-sensitives to read. When I don't think about it or get very tired, I forget to project that layer and my ki, for all outside senses, just disappears."

Vegeta's frown was reflective, and that funny little crease showed up between his brows again. "It's…in your blood."

Chichi nodded. "I'm an Amazon. We're born with an innate ki-sense." She ran her thumbs across his hand. "I'll explain later-it's a very long story, and I'm not the best person to tell it. I haven't been to Amazonia since I was a little girl." Climbing out of the tub, she dried herself and pulled clean clothes out of the closet, sliding into them and tying her hair back neatly. By the time she was done, Vegeta emerged from the bathroom in normal clothes-dark slacks and a white dress shirt that were so contradictory to what she had come to think of him in that she almost dropped her ornamental hair comb.

She slid it against her scalp and smiled, not quite sure if she should comment on the clothes or not. She settled for straightening her shirt instead, and lead the way back down to the informal dining room, a route that Vegeta was more than familiar with now.

Her father was there, sitting in his massive chair, in deep conversation with Merebai, who had discarded her heavy coat in favor of a thin sweater. Neither noticed when they came in, and Chichi quietly spiked her ki just enough to get her aunt's attention. The two older adults looked up, a practiced smile sliding across Merebai's face. "Chishali, darling," she exclaimed. "You don't look like a zombie now. Are you feeling better?"

Chichi lifted an eyebrow and gave the only two parents she really remembered a piercing glare. "The little trick with the tea was smooth, but don't expect me to fall for it again."

Her father had the grace to blush and look away, but her Aunt stared back at her with an expression identical to her own. "You needed it, hatchling, and it did you good." She waved graciously at the two empty seats across from her and Ox. "It gave us a little time to get things settled out with Gohan first."

Heart rising immediately to her throat, the Princess's eyes pleaded with the adults to tell her what was going on. When it came to her son, Chichi had no shame, although she was more than a little ashamed that she hadn't thought of him immediately. "How is he?"

Merebai's smile was the imitation one again-the one that didn't quite crinkle her eyes.

"Don't lie to me Aunt Bai. I want to know the truth."

"Very well," the gloss in Merebai D'Amazon's tone was gone, although her voice was no less smooth. "He was moved to Capsule Corps yesterday and put into the intensive care unit there. Bulma's hired the best doctors in the hemisphere to help her take care of him, and they're being…optimistic."

Dark eyes swung to her father, hunting for a more straightforward answer. Ox shrugged, the movement sending the mass of his shoulders rippling beneath his shirt. "It's still too early to tell, Chi-chan. They're doing everything they can."

Chichi lifted her chin proudly, a gesture that she had unconsciously adopted from her late mother, and one that gave both of the monarchs a pang of nostalgia. "I want to see him." It wasn't a question, and the words echoed in the unpretentious room that was filled only with a table and chairs. "Now."

Ox was the first to shake off his disorientation, and he shook his head in a motion that sent the horns of his hat vibrating. "No Chichi," his voice was stern-the same tone that had often made his wayward young wife take pause. "We'll go after lunch, and not before."

Vegeta watched in surprise at the change the firm tone brought over his mate. She ducked her head slightly and closed her eyes, submitting without losing her demeanor. "Yes Papa."

She sat down at the table and folded her hands in her lap, staring blankly ahead, at Vegeta. Her eyes were smooth-too smooth. She'd buried herself back beneath the mask, and ate automatically, finishing her food quickly, then sat in silence while the rest of them continued to eat. Vegeta watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting her stiff posture and dropped head. Between one bite of roast pork and the next, he poked at the little piece of her that rested deep inside him, and her head shot up, shining eyes locking onto his for a split second. She shook her head minutely and dropped her head again, studying the hands she had folded in her lap.

The rest of the meal continued in silence: Chi studied her hands, Merebai absently swirled the rich red wine in her glass, Ox watched the dreary weather, and Vegeta continued to pack food away in a fashion that would have made any seasoned trencherman jealous. The only real activity in the room was the castle servants, who seemed to have multiplied since Vegeta had arrived, jogging back and forth from the table to the kitchen with dishes.

When he sat back, finally sated, the humans were still sitting quietly, avoiding speaking to each other with the ease that suggested they had far too much practice with it.

The last of the dishes were cleared away in silence, before Chi finally cleared her throat. "May I go now?" Her voice was light and polite, but it was about as warm as the vacuum of space. Not even light could escape. "I do have a son to go and see," she barbed blithely, watching dispassionately as both adults cringed.

Without even glancing at the King, the Queen nodded. "Of course, dear," she sounded about as real as a soap opera star, "Go ahead." She stood up abruptly from her chair, depositing her wine glass back on the table. "I'll come with you, in fact." Her smile was a bit more real this time, and she glanced at her brother-in-law. "Are you coming?"

The woman's father pondered for a moment then shook his head. "No, at least one of us should stay here, and I'm not going to do any good there."

Merebai nodded. "Very well. I've always been curious about this Capsule Corps anyway, I've never been there." She smiled at Chishali and linked an arm through hers, practically hauling her towards the door, pausing long enough to take two coats from one of the servants.

With one last glance at his empty plate, Vegeta followed.

He found the women in the courtyard on wet cobbles, the whole place still reeking of wet earth. The Queen kept trying to get his mate to put on a coat, which she was denying. "It's not that cold, Aunt Bai!"

Merebai shook her head. "It is cold Chishali and you've been through a lot. Please, take the coat." She nodded at the trench coat hanging over one arm. "You don't have to wear it, but just take it if it gets cold."

Consenting, Chi took the coat and stuffed it beneath one arm. Before her Aunt could say anything more she lifted her voice and summoned that little cloud of Kakarot's which zoomed down from the sky to hover before her. She hopped onto it easily and extended a hand to her Aunt, who merely shook her head and concentrated on something. A few seconds later a little silver cloud almost identical to that of Kakarot's wrapped itself around her feet and lifted her into the air.

Vegeta shook his head. Humans and their playthings. He leapt off the ground and hovered in the damp air while the two clouds sped off towards Capsule Corps. Vegeta followed at a more sedate pace. He didn't want to leave his mate alone to face the vultures who were probably circling around the boy, just waiting to tear her apart.

The threesome landed at Capsule Corps about half an hour later, Chichi hastily braiding the hair that had come loose on the ride over, while Merebai stared around her in open curiosity. Kinotoun zipped back off towards the heavens, and the cloud that had been hovering at Mereabai's fingertips dissolved into nothingness.

If Bulma had seen it, she would have had a thousand questions. Even Vegeta had questions, but he didn't really want to talk to the older woman. She asked too many questions that she didn't need to know the answers to.

The Saiyan Prince scanned the building for kis, and was slightly dismayed to recognize that they were all there, from the Namek to the weakling human samurai. He crossed his arms and arms and waited.

Bulma burst through the door a few seconds later, having been alerted to someone inside of their presence. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at Vegeta. "Don't destroy anything."

Vegeta glared at her but disappeared into the house, and Bulma turned back to the two women. "Chi?" Her attempt at a reassuring smile failed miserably. "We've got Gohan down in the new hospital wing." Blue eyes glanced to the second woman. "Who're you?"

"My name is Merebai," the woman inclined her head politely, which was actually an honor Bulma couldn't even begin to realize. "I'm Chishali's Aunt."

Bulma's eyes flickered to Chichi. Roshi had said something about Chichi having an Aunt earlier. "Very well," she nodded. "Gohan's this way." Gesturing vaguely towards one of Capsule Corp's many domes, she turned on her heels and marched inside.

Chichi followed Bulma through the labyrinth of hallways in Capsule Corps, aware that her son's pulsing ki was getting closer. It was so unlike Gohan that she wanted to turn and run, but love kept propelling her feet one in front of the other. Merebai's hand on her back kept her moving, and Bulma shuffled ahead without saying a word. The purple velvet circles beneath her eyes and the sag to her back said enough.

After passing through several security measures, Bulma finally led them into a section of CC Chichi had never been in before; the hospital. She'd known they'd installed one not too long ago, but had never actually been there.

It smelled like a hospital.

She swallowed, trying to ignore the acrid disinfectant fumes that violated her senses. Chi hated hospitals.

Bulma paused before a glass-fronted room equipped with closed blinds and turned to them. "Are you sure you want to go in, Chichi? It's-it's not very pretty. I can get the doctor to come out here and talk to you."

The younger woman shook her head. "No. I have to see; let him know I'm here."

Bulma's eyes glimmered. "He won't know. They've been keeping him sedated to keep the pain down."

Chi's eyes clamped down on hers. "He'll know," she whispered hoarsely.

Bulma nodded and palmed the door open, mentally preparing herself for the worst.

Chi brushed past her and stubbornly marched towards the plastic tenting, ignoring the frantic roiling in her stomach. She'd lived through this-she had to be there to help her son, a comforting voice to anchor him right now. She knew what he was going through. Pulling herself to a stop at the edge of the sheeting, she took a deep breath, braced herself, and looked in.

It wasn't as bad as she was expecting.

Gohan was lying on the bed in the middle of the plastic tent, surrounded by monitors and tubing. He didn't really look that bad. There were burns, but not…all over. The worst were on his arms and hands, where he must've tried to shield his face and neck, although she could see the patterns of less-severe ones dotted all over his body.

They had braced his neck, and Chi thought there might have been some sort of casts on his legs, but her attention focused on the fifth limb that draped over the side of the bed. Gohan had regenerated his tail. And the soft hairs that covered it were without pigment; his tail was white.

Aside from the burns and the wires, he didn't really look…injured. More like he was sleeping, but she still couldn't take her eyes off him.

Bulma watched Chichi watch Gohan, and was surprised when the woman didn't do any of the things she'd expected her to do. There wasn't any screaming, any tears, or any temper tantrums. Instead she stood quietly and simply looked at him, the red-haired woman who had been introduced as her Aunt at her shoulder.

The Capsule-Corps heiress idly wondered where the Ox-King was, but squashed that thought when the doctor let himself into the room. Nakamatsu Makoto was a tall thin man just out of medical school, but he was undoubtably the brightest doctor she had yet to meet. He was the only human on the planet outside the family who'd ever looked at the biological information Bulma had gathered off of the Saiyans and various aliens over the years. Most importantly, she trusted him implicitly.

"Chichi?" She touched the woman lightly on the shoulder. "I want you to meet Dr. Nakamatsu. Dr., this is Gohan's mother, Son Chichi." Bulma grimaced, not sure if she should have used that name.

Makoto, however, merely pushed his wire-framed glasses onto his nose and extended a hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Son."

Chi took the extended hand and shook it lightly. "Chichi," she corrected quietly, eyes straying to Gohan. "Tell me about my son?"

The Doctor glanced down at her. "Perhaps you'd like to sit down first?"

The young woman shook her head. "I'll be fine. Just…tell me. Please."

After receiving a quick nod from Bulma, the Doctor launched into an explanation. "Your son was struck by lightning, Mrs. Son, which is much briefer than an electrical shock. Instead of having current flowing through him for an extended period of time, it just flashed through him. Probably the only thing that saved his life."

Chichi closed her eyes, and the red-haired woman put a gaunt hand on her shoulder to support her.

"Like all electrical shock victims, he went into cardiac arrest, but Miss Briefs and her father were able to stabilize him long enough that it wasn't as devastating as it could be. The worst of his burns are on his hands and arms, and we're already trying to grow the samples for grafts." He took a deep breath and continued. "We're certain most of his injuries are internal; they usually are in this type of case, but only test results will tell."

Chi nodded.

The woman standing behind her raised an eyebrow. "And?"

The Doctor sighed. "Given Gohan's…unique…physiology, we're not sure how to treat him. Any commonly-used drugs might have an adverse effect on him, and the tanks that Miss Brief has been working on are nowhere near ready yet."

Chi's dark eyes filled with tears. "Is he in pain?"

Makoto shook his dark head. "No, Miss Briefs has already found a pain-reliever that doesn't react and we were able to use it. He's not in any pain."

"But you don't know how to treat him," she murmured, stricken.

Unable to say anything reassuring about that, the doctor merely nodded.

Chi put a hand on her back and another on her forehead, coming to terms with what she'd just heard. When the information had finally sunk in, she nodded briskly. "Your prognosis?"

Makoto shook his dark head again. "It's still too soon to tell. There are the burns, and he's broken one of his legs, and we're still checking his spine for any cracks. He was lucky, though; I don't think we'll have to amputate anything." He paused for a moment. "Even if Gohan does survive, lightning victims often have numerous health problems. Cataracts, heart problems, nerve problems, and a lot of the time psychological side effects like anxiety attacks and sleep disorders."

The boy's mother bit her lip.

Makoto shuffled his feet uncertainly. He'd never expected to actually be doing this-he was just hired to learn about them as a backup after the healing tanks were finished.

He found himself being stared at by a pair of dark silver eyes. "Will the boy survive?"

The Doctor glanced at the woman, then at his sleeping patient. "Judging from what little we do know, I'm surprised he's still alive."

Bulma's blue eyes flashed with worry as Chichi swayed on her feet, almost colliding against the unnaturally thin redhead. She moved quickly to support her other side. "C'mon Chi," she soothed. "Let's go out in the hall so you can clear you head."

She guided Chi out into the hall and settled her down in a nearby chair, glancing down at the drawn features of the younger woman, who had taken on a slightly green tint. "Are you ok? Do you want a glass of water?"

Chi swallowed, not trusting herself to talk, and nodded.

"Stay there," Bulma ordered, then marched off to do something for the younger woman. She'd never seen her look so lost, and it bothered her. Anything, even the screaming and ranting and general irascible temper that made them all uncomfortable was better than accepting silence.

There was a refrigerator and mugs at the nurses' station, and Bulma quietly poured Chi a glass of water and herself a cup of the sludge-like coffee she'd been living off of since the storm. She was only thankful Piccolo had been there and was able to catch Gohan; she wasn't sure how she was going to do that from a sealed cabin, but she would've figured out a way. Somehow, along the line, she'd become Gohan's godmother-although she wasn't sure of the when or how, and she felt responsible for him.

If she hadn't nearly run into him with a plane he would have been able to dodge that last lightning bolt.

No matter where the blame lied, what had been done was done, and there was no way she could turn back time. At least, she didn't think so-she hadn't really poked at any quantum mechanics lately. Giving her head a brisk shake, she took both cups and wandered back towards where she'd left Chichi.

And promptly almost dumped coffee down her front because Chichi wasn't alone.

Vegeta stood by the chair next to her, peering into Gohan's room. He wasn't paying any attention to Chichi, but Bulma could see his mouth moving as he said something to her. She was watching him, wringing her hands in worry. Vegeta stopped speaking and looked down at her for a long moment before he said something else that made a grim smile flicker across Chichi's face. A strong hand rested on her shoulder for a moment before he turned and walked away towards the general direction of the Gravity Room.

As soon as he was gone Bulma continued forward, not wanting to intrude on whatever it was that had just happened. She dropped into the chair next to Chichi's and held out the mug of water and tipped some of the coffee down her throat, despite the fact that it was still scalding hot. Chichi drank slowly before cradling the cup in her hands; Bulma was glad to see that her color was a little better. "You ok?"

Chichi studied her cup. "Not really," she admitted. "Too many memories." She turned her head to glance back towards the room her son was in. "And a guilt trip the size of the planet."

Internally, Bulma swore. When she'd first heard why Gohan was out in the thunderstorm in the first place she'd been mad enough that her anger had rivaled the storm outside. She'd blamed both Vegeta and Chichi for betraying Goku, not sure who deserved it more. She was apt to blame Vegeta entirely, but she knew him well enough that he wouldn't have touched a woman in an intimate fashion without her consent. But sitting here next to Chichi and looking at her expression, Bulma couldn't really lay blame on her either. "Chi, I was the one who practically hit him with a plane!"

"And if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have been out in that storm in the first place."

She sighed and rose, peering back into Gohan's room, where her Aunt was practically interrogating the poor doctor. "Don't get me wrong, Bulma, I love Goku. I gave up my entire way of life to marry him, and I didn't regret it in the slightest. But then…then the Saiyans came and everything changed." Fingers tightened around the cup until knuckles whitened. "I tried to change too, to turn back to the fighter I'd been as a teenager, but I wasn't good enough. There wasn't any room for me in the circle, and I was left behind to wait and wonder and worry."

Bulma opened her mouth to protest, but shut it quickly. She was right; they had excluded her from their plans to save the world from the likes of the Saiyans and Frieza. She had always been Goku's wife or Gohan's mother-the woman crazy enough to compete in a World Tournament to find the man who'd promised to marry her, or the one who was so intent on making her son a scholar that when it came to matters of martial arts they didn't even talk to her about it.

Chichi continued. "And I waited, because somebody had to be the stable one. And they forgot me." She shook her head. "I've been married to Goku almost nine years, but I've only been with him about half of that. Giving up my way of life didn't mean anything to him; I was just supposed to be the same, no matter what happened to me, and I couldn't take it anymore this last time." She sighed. "I just…had to be me. I still love Goku, but I couldn't wait anymore for him. Not knowing that if he ever did come back I'd just be asked to accept him back without question, and…I can't do that again. Not and keep my sanity."

Bulma sat quietly, the woman's words echoing something that Roshi had said to her while they waited out the storm at Kame House. How little any of them had actually bothered to get to know her over the years, to discover that there was more than a humming little housewife to Goku's wife. Hell, they hadn't even known her real name. "I'm sorry."

A sad smile tickled the corners of Chichi's-no, Chishali's-lips. "For what? I've made just as many mistakes as the rest of you. I could have said something, I could have let you know about my past, I could have forced my way into the circle. But I didn't, and I have to deal with that."

She shook her head. "I love Goku, but he would have managed to let us know he was coming back by now if he was, and waiting for a man that isn't going to come back was going to make me a bitter old woman." She sighed. "I'm not even 25, Bulma, and I feel like I've lived three lifetimes."

Bulma winced, her anger at Chichi gone. She just really hadn't realized what the people they'd left behind had gone through. She should have said something to Goku, let him know that he couldn't have expected Chichi not to be upset, but she hadn't. There were just so many things that had gone wrong, and nobody had bothered to try to fix them. It was too late in some cases, because according to Piccolo, Chichi and Vegeta had bonded.

Vegeta.

Who, despite his sullen and arrogant exterior, was probably just as apt to leave Chichi alone as Goku was. He was much more familiar with the whole concept of social relations and feelings than Goku, but he had no concept of the type of emotions that created a family. Bulma was afraid Chichi had moved on from one type of abandonment to another.

She hadn't forgiven Chichi, not by a long shot, but she wasn't openly blaming her for what happened. She wasn't blaming anyone-the whole situation was just too bizarre to be clean cut for that. There wasn't any black and white: devil Vegeta vs. angel Goku with confused mortal Chichi caught between them. It was all a murky shade of gray.

And for one of the first times in her life, Bulma Briefs was truly confused.

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