Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Birth of a Prince ❯ The Dinner ( Chapter 20 )

Part 20 The Dinner

The kitchen was full when Bulma and Chichi arrived in it. Trunks and Goten were raiding the refrigerator, Vegeta was warming two bottles in his hands, and Goku had a giggling Sage wrapped in his tail and was waving him about in the air as the chibi screeched and chortled in obvious delight, secure and completely trusting of the larger Saiyjin.

Two seconds after the women entered the kitchen; it was deserted, multi-colored tails (one holding a startled chibi) having fled out the door into the yard.

Bulma looked bemusedly around. "Boy," she said. "Can we clear a room or what?"

She glanced over at Chichi, who was glowering at the screen door that was still banging from the mass exodus.

"Are you all right Chichi?" asked Bulma.

The raven haired woman didn't answer for a moment. Then she turned to Bulma and said "What do you really think of those tails Bulma?"

Bulma frowned slightly. "I told you Chichi. The way I personally feel about them is irrelevant. The simple fact of the matter is that they are Saiyjin, and Saiyjin's have tails. I will tell you this. I think I was wrong to have Trunks' tail removed when he was born."

Chichi looked surprised. "Why do you say that? Our boys are half human after all. Is it so wrong that they should look human?"

Bulma's answer was decisive. "Yes. When they are born with such an obvious Saiyjin trait, it is clear that their bodies are intended to have that trait. I haven't had a chance to do an extensive study, but I think that the tail serves a very real purpose in Saiyjin physiology." She shrugged. "It was my own fault I guess…I got so used to seeing Vegeta and Goku without tails, that it seemed natural for me to have Trunks' tail removed too. But it wasn't."

Chichi was silent.

Bulma continued. "I've also noticed that Sage's motor skills are considerably more advanced than Trunks' were at the same age. I've been going over the notes I took when Trunks was a baby, and the differences are astounding. Saiyjin babies typically develop more quickly than human babies, but Sage is off all the charts." She shook her head. "At this rate, he'll be crawling in a month, and walking in three."

Chichi remained silent. Bulma frowned. "Something the matter, Chichi?"

The woman looked at her, her expression shuttered. "No, Bulma, of course not," she replied in a curiously flat voice. "Did you have something planned for dinner, then?"

Bulma started to reply, then stopped when her mother came into the room.

"Oh, Chichi," said the blond grandmother happily. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Yes, Mrs. Briefs, do you need help getting dinner ready?"

"Oh with all those Saiyjins in the house, an extra pair of hands is always welcome. That husband of yours," she chuckled. "I swear, he eats more than Vegeta and the boys combined."

"What did you have planned for tonight, Mom?" asked Bulma hurriedly.

"I thought I'd make spaghetti. It's easy to make, and all the boys love it. Let's see…we'll have a big salad as well, and of course, plenty of bread to go with it." The older woman smiled happily as she bustled around the kitchen, and in an amazingly short time, the double stove was covered with steaming pots and pans, filled to the brims with simmering savory meat sauce and boiling water, just waiting for the cascades of pasta. Bulma was busy making a HUGE salad, with her mother's secret dressing and crumbled feta cheese, and Chichi was engrossed in preparing huge baskets of fresh garlic bread.

The three women chatted amiably as they prepared dinner, Bulma almost forgetting the friction between Chichi and her family, but not forgetting the barely contained animosity that Vegeta held towards the woman. It was odd, Bulma thought. He never seemed to have much of a problem with Chichi before. Never paid much attention to her. She filed that thought away for future contemplation as she poked her head out of the kitchen door, looking around for some Saiyjin sign. Her eldest son poked a lavender head around the corner of the house.

"Is dinner ready, Mama?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied. "Where is everyone else?"

Trunks pointed. "Over there…" Bulma could just make out several shapes under the shade of a few large trees close to the edge of the main house property. Trunks continued, "They sent me to find out if it was time to eat yet."

Bulma shaded her eyes and squinted at the trees. "What are they doing?" she asked Trunks.

"Teaching Sage to crawl," the boy replied casually. "But he can't do it yet. Papa took his bandages off. His arms an' hands are still red though. But he doesn't seem to mind much."

Bulma ruffled Trunks' hair. "Go and tell them to wash up, will you?"

Trunks grinned. "Sure Mama," and he took off at top speed.

Dinner was tense, with a few barely contained conflicts.

First of all, seating everyone had been tricky. Bulma finally decided to seat Chichi between herself and her mother, with her father on the other side of Mom. Then Trunks and Vegeta in that order next to her, then Goten on the other side of Trunks and Goku sitting next to her father finishing out the seating around the large circular table.

It had been fairly quiet, interrupted only occasionally by her mother's empty chatter, and Sage's occasional screeches or chirps. Vegeta and Goku took turns holding the chibi and eating, earning wide eyed stares from Chichi. Goku and Vegeta were both on their fifth helpings of pasta and salad when Goten asked for a fourth. Chichi told him that he had had quite enough and to stop being a pig in front of his hosts. Bulma had been shocked beyond words, but what happened next shocked her even more.

Goku handed Sage back to Vegeta and looked at his son. "Are you still hungry?" he asked him. Goten looked away, his tail wrapping itself around his waist. Goku gently caught the boy's chin in his hand and repeated his question. Goten looked in his father's eyes and nodded slowly.

Without speaking, Goku released the boy's chin and stood up. He piled Goten's plate with pasta and refilled his salad bowl. Vegeta passed him a basket of bread without being asked and Goku set it down in front of his son. "Eat," he said simply. Then he looked at his wife, who was glaring wrathfully at him. Chichi seemed about to speak when Goku's quietly angry voice cut her off before she could begin.

"Don't EVER call my son a pig again. He will eat until he is full. Period. There is no reason for him to go hungry."

He sat back down and continued eating as though nothing had happened. The rest of the table, save Vegeta was all staring at him in openmouthed astonishment. Vegeta simply looked smug as he refilled Trunks' plate.

Dinner was all but over when the next conflict arose. Sage had been increasingly agitated and squirmy, and even Goku's little trick of waving him around in his tail didn't work. Vegeta tried to calm the chibi without success, when Bulma asked if he might be hungry. As if respond to his mother's question, Sage stopped squirming, and without warning sank his needle-sharp teeth into his father's wrist. Chichi screamed. Vegeta looked surprised, but didn't make any attempt to remove the chibi's teeth from his wrist. Sage's eyes closed and a soft purr filled the room. Vegeta smirked at the ashen faced Chichi as his youngest son shared his blood.

Chichi looked at Goku apparently expecting him to share her surprise and disgust, but to her shock, Goku was looking at the pair with a tender look on his face, a soft smile gracing his handsome features as he absently caressed his son's hair. Goten and Trunks were both fascinated, but not revolted, Bulma was slightly white, but not appalled as she might have expected. Dr. and Mrs. Briefs didn't even seem to notice, as they left the table, still talking quietly amongst themselves.

Chichi finally found her voice. "What exactly is going on here," she screeched.

Vegeta smirked even harder. "Sage is sharing his father's blood," he said calmly. "I would have thought that was obvious." He glanced down at the bloody visage of his youngest chibi as Sage released his wrist and fell into a deep slumber. "Hn, not bad for his first real try. Bulma, make sure you get this down. He's what…a week shy of two months?"

Bulma nodded. "That sounds right. I'll make note of it tonight."

Chichi felt as though she had entered a nuthouse. She looked frantically from Bulma to Goku, to Vegeta who had that little monster cradled in his arms, face still bloody, Vegeta's wrist still bleeding slightly from the bite. She stammered, trying to make sense of it all. First tails, now this….she wasn't sure if she could handle it.

"Chichi, calm down," said Goku concernedly. "It's ok, he is a little young for it, but it shouldn't cause any problems."

"This…this…this is not normal," she finally managed to choke out.

"Bakayaro onna, this is perfectly normal," said Vegeta. He added evilly, "For Saiyjins, that is."

Bulma shot a look at Vegeta and led Chichi from the room, trying to explain to her what was going on as best she could. It didn't help that as the door closed behind her, she could hear Vegeta laugh out loud.

While Bulma was still talking to Chichi, Mrs. Briefs came back into the dining room with a huge tray loaded with her specialty….pastries.

"Who's ready for desert?" she asked cheerfully.

The response of course, was instant, enthusiastic and unanimous.

Vegeta had put Sage down to sleep, and Goku was helping the two boys get ready for bed as Bulma and Chichi chatted in the living room after dinner. Bulma had managed to get Chichi calmed down, though she still wasn't sure if the woman actually understood and accepted what she had been saying. She had the peculiar feeling that Chichi wasn't listening to anything she said anymore about the subject of Saiyjins and demi-Saiyjin children. Goku came into the living room, followed by two clean and pajama-ed chibi's, one with silvery purple hair and tail, the other with pitch black spikes and dark brown tail. Trunks flung himself at his mother, giving and receiving a good night kiss and squeeze, while Goten stood uncertainty by his father, looking at his mother with something like longing in his lovely dark eyes.

Chichi looked at her husband. "So, you aren't coming home tonight, then?"

Goku gazed levelly at her. "No, Chichi. Not until Gohan comes back."

She pushed herself up off the couch. "Well then, I should be going. Back to our empty house."

"Don't Chichi."

"Don't what, Goku? Remind everyone that because of a few tails I have been virtually abandoned by my husband and sons?"

"It's not like that Chichi, you know it isn't."

"Hn. It sure seems like that to me."

"Stop it," hissed Goku. He glanced at his three year old son who had tears in his eyes.

"Why should I, Goku? Don't you think he deserves to know how selfish his father is? If you had just agreed in the beginning when that foul tail of yours reappeared, then none of this would be happening."

Goku's hands clenched into fists at his side. Calling upon a great deal of strength and control, he said, "Goten, bid your mother good night, and then you and Trunks go to bed. Now."

Goten hesitantly stepped up to his mother who knelt down and allowed her son to kiss her cheek, and hugged him briefly, telling him to be a good boy for the Briefs. Goten nodded then he and Trunks fled for the upstairs, passing Vegeta who was on the way down the stairs.

Goku and Chichi were still staring at each other, and it was impossible to tell which one was angrier with the other. Vegeta stood back and waited for the fireworks. They didn't come.

Chichi turned her back on Goku and thanked Bulma for her hospitality. Then she left.

It was almost…anticlimactic.

Bulma hoped it was the end of the conflict.

Goku and Vegeta knew it wasn't.

In her air car, Chichi flew home, immersed in her own thoughts…and plans.

To be continued….