The Way Love Works

It's funny the way love works, you know? I mean, you see a cute boy or girl (of course, it was a girl in my case) and suddenly, they become the center of your universe. You just can't think about anybody but that one person. Ever happen to you before?

Well, it happened to me a lot of times. Each time, I would end up doing something stupid, because you do weird things for love. When you're head-over-heels for someone, you'd do anything for them, even something dumb. For example, I used to be a normal monk. . . Ok, so maybe I wasn't normal, but I did shave my head to prove I was a monk at the temple I was from. Now that I'm married (I know, monks usually don't marry, but I'm not an official monk anymore. Not since those guys beat me up and kicked me out), I stopped shaving my hair. It surprised all my friends to see that I had hair, especially Goku.

I think this would be a good time to mention Goku. He and I met at Master Roshi's Turtle Hut for training. I didn't like Goku very much at first, and considered him my rival. Good-old Goku, however, was very. . . interested in my appearance.

"Hey Kuririn?" he would often ask. "How do you breathe without a nose?" Of course, I would never answer that. Over time, however, we became best friends. The reason I'm talking about Goku is because of how jealous I was when Chi Chi announced their marriage. I mean, first of all, Goku was only nineteen, and Chi Chi was eighteen. And second of all, Goku didn't even know what marriage was. So could you imagine how jealous I was when Goku would get married and have a wife before I even had a girlfriend? It wasn't fair.

To top things off, five years later, I see Goku with a kid. "You baby-sit now, Goku?" I had asked.

Goku smiled and shook his head. "He's my son," he replied.

Now, I was surprised as well as jealous. Not only did Goku have a wife, he had a son and heir as well (I was surprised that Goku had what it takes to make a kid, if ya know what I mean). Gohan may not have been the fiercest person in the world, but he did become a great warrior. His only reasons were constant threats to the Earth. I felt sorry for him to have to learn how to fight so early on in his life. We knew, though, that he would be as strong as his father, because like Goku, Gohan had a tail, as Bulma discovered.

Speaking of Bulma, that comes to another point. As far back as I've known them, Yamucha and Bulma had been a couple on and off. One minute they would be going out and happy, the next they were mad at each other, then later they forgave each other again. I never could quite understand them. Whenever Bulma broke up with Yamucha, I was tempted to ask her out (because I. . . had a little crush on her for a while), but I never did. I thought it would have been wrong to take my friend's ex-girlfriend.

Eventually, I found my own girlfriend, anyway. She looked a lot like Bulma, except she had a darker hue of blue hair. Not only that, but she didn't have Bulma's intellect (or Bulma's volume, but that's a good thing). Her name was Marron. Marron was charming, nice, and beautiful. Not too bright, though, but hey, no one's perfect. Unfortunately, when I discovered I couldn't please her, I had to let her go. She ended up leaving me for some rich pretty boy. Though I was jealous of him, I secretly thanked him for being able to please her.

Turns out that dumping Marron wasn't a bad thing. After a few days, I didn't have time for her. A mysterious young man (from the future I might add) told Goku that there would be androids that would appear to destroy us. So we had three years to prepare for them.

When the time came, however, we made some interesting and surprising discoveries. First of all, what Bulma had been up to since those three years: she gave birth to a son. The next discovery was Yamucha wasn't the father.

"If you think that's a shock," Yamucha had said, "just wait. Wait until she tells you who the father really is." He sounded jealous and disgusted. I would have been, too, I guess, if I had gone out with Bulma for as long as he had and then got dumped for someone else. But who?

Thanks to Goku, who couldn't keep a secret for his life, we did find out who the baby's father was. We even learned the kid's name.

"I'll bet it's Vegeta," Goku had said. "Right, Trunks?"

So that was it. Bulma had married Vegeta and gave birth to a son, Vegeta's heir to the "Prince of the Saiyans" title.

Now I was really pissed off. I mean, Vegeta hadn't even spent more than five years on Earth, and he had a family before me. I couldn't believe it. Vegeta wasn't a sociable person, yet he had a wife like Bulma, who WAS sociable, and then they have a kid! My God! I may not have had the looks Goku and Vegeta had, but I deserve someone to love me too, didn't I? But who would?

It seems I found out that answer later. When we found two androids, we discovered that they weren't the ones we were looking for. So, we had to look for Gero's laboratory to find them. Unfortunately, by the time we had gotten there, Gero had already unleashed androids Seventeen and Eighteen.

I didn't notice at the time, but Eighteen was gorgeous. She had shoulder-length blond hair, ice-blue eyes, and. . . she was just gorgeous. I didn't see it at the time, though, because I was scared to death of her. This was, after all, the same girl who had killed me twenty years into the future. I had a right to be scared of her, didn't I?

Well, turns out that Seventeen and Eighteen were pretty strong. They were able to beat Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Vegeta, and the boy from the future, Trunks (yes Trunks, Bulma and Vegeta's son from twenty years in the future). I didn't fight them because I was too scared. A Super Saiyan like Vegeta couldn't beat them two Super Saiyans, Vegeta and Trunks, couldn't beat them, and Piccolo and Tenshinhan didn't help that much either. So what could I have done?

Turns out that by not fighting the androids, I actually did something good. After the fight (Seventeen and Eighteen nearly killed everyone), the two androids, along with another one called Sixteen, talked about going to look for Goku. Goku, who had been affected by the heart disease Trunks warned that he would have, would have not been able to stop them. I did try, though, to convince the three androids not to.

That's when it happened. Before they left, Eighteen walked up to me and kissed my on the cheek. I was stunned. I forgot everything in that one instant. Even after all three androids left, I was too stunned to move. It was only when I felt the Senzu beans in my wristbands did I remember the others. After giving the others a Senzu each, Vegeta flew off, Piccolo went to Kami's palace, and Tenshinhan eventually flew off to find Chaozu. So that left me and Trunks to move Goku to Master Roshi's hut. Yamucha and Chi Chi helped out, and when Gohan arrived, we left.

Well, later, that seemed like a fat waste of time. A creature called Cell appeared. When he arrived, he let everyone know it. His power was incredible, a combination of Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Freeza, and Freeza's father (or that's what we felt). After an encounter with him, we found out his purpose was to absorb the androids Seventeen and Eighteen. In the meantime, Cell gained power by absorbing people. Another thing we found out was that he had come from the future, as Trunks had. The Cell in our time was still developing. Trunks and I found that one, along with blue prints for a remote control to destroy the androids. We destroyed that Cell, and gave the blue prints to Bulma.

When we were going to stop another one of Cell's free-for-alls, Goku orbed in, all better, and told us all of a room at Kami's palace where someone could train for a whole year in just one day's time. He took Gohan and left to find Trunks and Vegeta.

So while they were gone. . . a lot of things happened. The next day, the androids appeared at the Turtle Hut. Piccolo went to fight them. Afterwards, Bulma called me and told me to meet her to pick up the remote control. I met up with her, and she gave it to me, but told me that I had to get close enough for it to work.

Finally, after looking for a few hours. I found the location of Cell, though he looked different. He probably absorbed an android, though which one, I wouldn't know. If he got the other one, however, he would become perfect. That would doom us all.

Looking down, I also noticed Vegeta and Trunks, who, like Cell, looked different. However, he didn't go under a complete transformation as Cell had. They looked older, was all. Also, Goku and Gohan weren't there, as I thought they would be. So where were they?

I then remembered that Goku said only two people at a time could be in the Room of Spirit and Time. That was least twenty-four hours ago. That must have meant that Vegeta and Trunks went first, Goku and Gohan went after them. That would explain how Trunks' hair was longer than the other day.

I turned my head, and that's when I saw her. Eighteen, along with Sixteen. So it was Seventeen who Cell had absorbed.

Was I supposed to be happy or angry that Cell absorbed Seventeen? In one sense, Eighteen was well and still alive. On the hand, however, that left me with the difficult task of killer her myself, with the remote control. If I didn't, then Cell might find her and absorb her, becoming perfect. If he did, then he could destroy the world.

I flew downward quietly, so no one would notice me. I landed several yards away from them, but I moved in closer so that the remote could work. I moved slowly, partly to be quiet, and partly because I was dreading the task that I was about to do.

When I was close enough to actually use the remote control, visions of Eighteen came into my mind. The way I felt when she kissed me, the way she looked, the way her voice sounded when she said goodbye. It was maddening. Even though I knew Cell would eventually find Eighteen, I couldn't bring myself to destroy her. With a heavy sigh, I dropped the remote.

Of course, dropping something like, it was likely to produce a sound as it hit the ground. And being so close, of course both androids would hear it. The look on Eighteen's face when she saw me made it clear that she knew who I was. The look on her face when she saw the remote control was another matter entirely, one that I'm not too sure of myself.

After a short apology to Bulma for destroying all her hard work, I stepped on it, crushing it to pieces. Both androids were. . . surprised, for lack of a better word.

"You've got to get out here!" I said to them. "Cell will see you if you stay here!"

"Why?" Eighteen asked. "Why did you destroy the remote control?"

"I. . . uh. . ." You know that you would never go up to the person you like and say, "I like you," right? Well, same thing in my case. I couldn't tell her that I destroyed the remote because I liked her.

Wasting time like that, I shouldn't have been surprised that Cell found us. However, I was too busy with my own situation. Luckily, Trunks called out a warning to us as Cell was coming straight for us. Trunks tried to intervene, but Vegeta knocked him out of the way. They went at it for a while, then Trunks was able to get rid of Vegeta ling enough to try and attack Cell. That was good, because even though I was protecting her, there was nothing I could really do. Unfortunately, when Trunks was about to attach Cell, Cell used the Taiyoken attack (which I had forgotten he could do). He blinded all of us, and by the time we could see, Cell was perfect.

That was when I felt my blood boil. I was really angry, no, enraged. Because of my anger, I did something very stupid. I attacked Cell. He was perfect, and I attacked him. I was blinded by love and anger to think rationally, and I attacked.

He didn't feel a thing. I punched and kicked him, and he didn't feel anything. He just inspected his new form. Then he tried a few kicks.

That's when he kicked me in the back of the neck. He turned around so fast, surprising me, and kicked me hard I flew at least fifteen meters (if not more) away. I almost died then. Luckily Trunks had a Senzu, or I would have.

I won't get into much detail about what happened afterwards, or in the Cell Games, but here's a general bit of what happened. In the Cell Games, Goku fought Cell as a Super Saiyan (he was like that since he came out of the Room of Spirit and Time). Later, Gohan fought Cell, because Goku got him to, but Piccolo told us that Gohan didn't like to fight. Just as were about to help, Cell sent out these "Cell Juniors" to kill us, and they almost did. When Sixteen get destroyed, however, was when Gohan's power skyrocketed. He defeated Cell, even though Goku died first (longer story) and afterwards, we all, (okay, not Vegeta) went to Kami's palace.

What I didn't mention was that during Gohan's fight with Cell, he was able to get Cell to spit Eighteen out. Dende healed her, and she woke up I tried to explain the battle to her and what happened. That's when big-mouthed Gohan butted in.

"I get it!" he said. "Kuririn has a crush on Eighteen!"

I gave him a swift hit in the head, but it was already too. Everyone heard even Eighteen. She left afterwards.

So we used the dragon balls to wish everyone who was killed by Cell back to life, but when we wanted to wish Goku back to life, he said he wanted to remain dead. Then I wished for Eighteen to become human.

Eighteen, who had come back and hid, surprised us then. She called us idiots, or rather me, for doing so. Talk about humiliation.

Okay, so she seemed a bit ungrateful, right? Well, before leaving, she left a nice goodbye.

"See ya later." And she left. Yamucha found it appropriate to tease me afterwards. So, Piccolo stayed at the palace, we all went to rest, and the next day, Trunks returned to the future.

I didn't forget what Eighteen said. I did see her about a year later. She had settled in Satan City, keeping away from everyone. She didn't seem to mind me dropping in every once in a while, though. We went out for about a year, then I popped the question one day. Her reaction showed. . . she wasn't too thrilled.

"ARE YOU NUTS!" And she left. After a while, though, she accepted and we were wed a few months later. We lived (and still live, in fact) in the Turtle Hut. Master Roshi didn't act perverted around Eighteen, because she would slaughter him if he did. She made that clear the first on the first day.

A year later, Eighteen gave birth to a baby girl. After a big discussion, she agreed to let me call the kid Marron (after my first girlfriend, remember her?) Eighteen blamed me for the fact that baby Marron had no nose (I can't help that. That was the way I was born).

Now, since Gohan had a little brother, Goten (a present that Goku left Chi Chi before he died), and I had Marron, we hardly see each other. Especially since Gohan was 'man of the house.'

That's okay, because shortly after Marron turned one, Eighteen began to bug me about my appearance. Namely. . . my shaved head. I argued that it would have felt too weird if I let my hair regrow, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Because I loved her, I let my hair grow back. My head felt funny at first, with the hair and all, but I got used to it, and soon, black hair covered my once shiny head.

As Marron grew older, we discovered, that also like me, she had small, black eyes. She had her mother's golden hair, however, which Marron liked to keep in pigtails. That caused her pain, though, because little Trunks (Bulma's son in this time) loved to pull her hair. He even got Goten to do it sometimes. Then they would run as Eighteen threatened them.

When Marron was four, Goku was permitted to come back for a day. He chose to come on a World Martial Arts Tournament. He was shocked to see Eighteen there, and he was even more shocked to hear why.

"It's because," I told him, a slight blush tainting my cheeks, "she's my wife, and we have a little girl." Needless to say, Goku was surprised.

But that was so many years. Now, Marron is a young lady of fourteen, and she looks more like her mother everyday. Much to our surprise (and Eighteen's delight), Marron grew a nose, and I must admit, she looks better with one. Her eyes somehow became blue, and her hair retained it's pigtails style. Even though she kept it the same as when she was younger, she looks very pretty for her age, and as I said, looks more like her mother everyday. If Marron's beauty continues to grow, then she will become as gorgeous as her mother, and maybe even Trunks, who used to tease her and pulled her hair, will turn her way and fall for her as I did for her mother.

And that's the way love works.

The End