.
.
.
Flu
.
.
.
She served herself a cup of coffee and placed it on the table. She thought about eating some toast with marmelade, but in the end she chose four bran biscuits and light peach marmelade. She was not the young girl she used to be and she did not have the body of a Saiyan either, so she had to take care of her body. She sat quietly while still listening to the screams that came from the living room.
"Don`t disrespect me, brat," she said by inertia.
"Don`t disrespect me, brat!" said a voice from the living room.
"I'm sick of you getting into my life, I'm not a child,"she continued the dialogue to herself.
"I'm sick of you getting into my life, I'm not a child!" another voice said from the living room
Bulma sipped her coffee and followed the dialogue to herself. Same story again. It was like
putting the same unpleasant song every day, and by doing so, forces you to memorize the lyrics.
The following was…
"Four, three," she counted down. "two, one…"
And Bra entered to the kitchen.
"I'm sick of my father," Bulma keep with the internal repetition dialogue.
"I'm sick of my father!" the princess said aggressively.
In truth, it was like a bad lyrics of a song, maybe like the one that gets on and off and sounds and sounds without stopping.
"There's some coffee if you want," Bulma offered, "I've just prepared."
"No, thanks," said Bra still annoyed. "Tell me, mom, how do you deal with him?
"He's not that bad," Bulma said in response. "He doesn't do it on purpose, but I have to admit that he overprotects you so much. I imagine that because you are his daughter and also because he doesn't want to make the same mistake with you that he made with Trunks.
Bra gave a long sigh. She had heard that before. She knew it, but hell! She was no longer a child.
"I've turned eighteen seven months ago!" Bra shouted.
Bulma smiled. The truth was that for the Saiyan prince, Bra would always be his little girl, but if he told her that, she would probably get more angry.
"So, will you go?" Bulma asked.
Bra raised an eyebrow.
"Have another choice?"
"I don't think so if you want to make some progress to convince Goku"
Bra crossed her arms. Her mother was right.
"I still think that is very strange that he has become ill," the owner of the Capsule Corporation continued speaking. In general Saiyans are very healthy, but I suppose that even they get sick. Til a few days ago your father was the same. I guess he infected Goku during some of the trainings when Vegeta hadn't been affected so much by the flu. For Saiyans that is fatal," she laughed, "because they must be in bed til they recover without being able to train."
"I suppose they're old now," Bra said, shrugging. "How old is Goku?" she asked out of curiosity.
Bulma sipped another bit of her coffee. She could tell her, but doing so also meant revealing her age, and she did not like that at all.
"Who knows."
Bra looked at her with narrowed eyes and hands on her hips. It was obvious that she would never tell her.
"Anyway, not even being a Saiyan could saved you from a terrible flu if you always bathe in the river at this time of year," said Bra.
Bulma blinked.
"Really?"
Well, that was not uncommon: Goku was very lazy to warm the water as his wife used to do when she was alive, and now that he lived alone he was always going to train the forest, the mountains, some part of the world with extreme temperatures, or to the King Kai's planet if he was not angry with the Saiyan for leaving the small planet in ruins.
"Yes, he seems not to be cold."
Oh, that was interesting...
"I see, so you saw him in the river bathing."
Bra was suddenly stunned.
Bulma finished drinking the coffee without looking at her. The daughter made some babbling without knowing why she behaved that way, really.
"It-ts not my fault," she said with her cheeks slightly reddened, "whenever I went he was bathing in the river."
"I understand," Bulma said calmly.
"Don't think anything weird."
"I'm not thinking anything weird"
"I went to see him every day to insist that he train me and I happened to find him that way," she explained.
"Oh, so insistent? You really want him to train you, "she said.
"I have no choice! Dad doesn't want to do it! So I'm going to bother Goku til he accepts."
"Why he doesn't accept?" Bulma asked.
"He says he wouldn't be a good master. And if you ask him? He listens to you."
"Me?" she looked at her daughter in bewilderment, then laughed. "Goku barely listened to Chi chi. I don't think he would tell me anything different from what he told you. Better keep insisting. Take care of him a bit, and that way he will accept."
What annoying.
"All right."
"By the way, did you prepare something to eat?" the princess asked.
"You mean lunch? No, it's still very early. Prepare something if you want"
Cook? She? Surely she would die poisoned by her own food if she did.
"No, I prefer to wait to return from Goku's house."
Bulma sighed with resignation.
"One of these days I have to take the time to teach you how to cook."
"Yes, whatever. I'd better hurry, I want to go back as soon as possible," she said, urging her mother to give her the bag of medicine."
"Wait here, I'll go and bring you the medicine so you can take them to Goku."
"Don't forget to give me a capsule to go."
"Oh, right, I almost forgot it."
If she knew how, she would go fly, that was one of the reasons why Bra wanted Goku to train her. It really was a shame that at her age she still did not know something so basic. She had heard that Pan started flying since he was a baby. She could not keep falling behind.
.
.
.
.
She landed the air vehicle and then turned it into a capsule. In a way she liked the place: it was quiet, peaceful and the air was pure; Mount Paozu was very far from Satan City, which was very bustling and traveled. On the other hand, what Bra liked about the city was go to the movies, walk around the shopping centers and buy many things. So she liked both places. She thought that perhaps she could ask her mother to build her a house nearby to spend time when she got tired of the noisy city.
She heard a noise when entering the house and saw him.
"What are you doing?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, Bra." He smiled at her, weakly. "I'm really hungry."
The smell of burning was unbearable.
"Do you want to die drowned? This is the height of stupidity!"
She opened the windows and the door of the house so that the smoke and smell would go away. Then she went to see the kitchen and saw a black pot with something of the same color for what Bra supposed it should be food.
"And what is this?" she asked.
"I left the meat in the water, but since I felt somewhat weak I went to the bed while the meat boling and I completely fell asleep. The smell of burning was what woke me up and when I came I realized that the water had dried and the meat was already burned," he answered.
A droplet appeared on Bra's forehead. She would never tell him, but apparently both were professional burners. There was a big grunt. The princess knew immediately that the stomach of the full Saiyan demanded to be able to ingest something.
"You can't stand anything," the princess complained.
And her stomach also growled, making her cheeks turn scarlet.
"Are you hungry, too?" Goku blinked.
How annoying.
"I have not eaten anything since breakfast," she said, looking away with her arms crossed.
"I see..."
Goku's stomach continued to growl.
"You should better go to bed and take the pills I brought with a glass of water. They are two. You know: the blue every eight hours and the white every twelve hours," she explained.
Goku was thoughtful, apparently doing accounts in his head. Bra thought he would probably have problems to remember when to take the pills, or maybe he would probably just fall asleep again.
"In a few minutes you have to take the white one," Bra said.
That's why she was there. That's why she had used the air vehicle at its maximum speed. She went every day to Mount Paozu to see that he took the pills and to take care of him the best she could. Incredibly, being ill, the Saiyan that had saved the Earth several times seemed like an ordinary child.
She thought about asking him, once again, to train her when he recovered. However, even for her that would be to be insensitive, and in his state perhaps he could say yes without being fully aware. Actually the princess could take advantage of that: she could record him and when he was fully recovered she would demand that he keep his word. It was certainly something she would do, like when she used to do it with Trunks when he got ill and made her promise to take her to the amusement park when they were younger. However, that had been a long time ago, and also right now she did not have the phone with her because she had broken it down in an outburst of anger in one of the many discussions she had had with her father.
"Can I take it now? I would like to go to rest and I think it will be hard for me to get up later," he said with one hand behind his neck and a somewhat tired smile.
Bra stared at him. She was there to take care of him. Bringing him a glass of water with the pills was part of her "duty," but maybe Goku felt he did not want to be more annoying than he supposed to be. For the princess looking at him, as close as they were, was like to see a big boy: always smiling and charming in his own way although now he was somewhat weak from illness.
"I suppose taking it a few minutes before will not make a difference," Bra said.
"Thank you," he enlarged his smile.
She looked away. She had blushed again.
Goku took a glass and filled it with water and then swallowed the pill. Bra found herself watching him, attentive, as if she were his personal nurse, or his mother... or maybe his wife. Thinking about that made something inside her give her a strange feeling. Maybe because worrying so much about someone but herself or her family was not normal for her.
And much less what she was about to say:
"I'll try to cook something," she said, surprised for her own words. "I'll let you know when it's ready, so go to bed."
Since Goku had fallen ill, Bra let him take charge of cooking his own food, but those were days the Saiyan was not so bad. However, now Bra could not help say what she just said. She felt the urgent need to attend to him, to see him recovered as soon as possible. She wanted to see him active, watch him train in the forest while insisting him to train her, always pursuing him, always seeing the his precious smile, always seeing those movements of martial arts exercised with absolute mastery and precision.
"Really?"
He was surprised.
"I'm hungry, too. I'll see what I get. And you'll have to eat it even if it tastes bad, " she said, her cheeks flushed again.
The sayajín blinked several times. Bra did not look like the women he cooked.
"I'm so hungry I could eat anything," He laughed.
And Bra started with her thing. The kitchen was different and small compared to the Capsule Corporation's so it was somewhat uncomfortable to do her work, but it was not as if she had used the kitchen of her house more than to prepare an infusion or to make a salad with boiled eggs. That had never happened. And it only happened when there was nobody at home to make things for her. However, strange as it seemed, she felt the need to cook something a little more elaborate, something that tasted good, or at least that was edible. She explored the little refrigerator and the cupboard. There was still the pasta to prepare that she had brought last week from the shopping. She remembered the times she watched her mother cook. Bra did not pay much attention to her, but at least she thought she could do the basics. Maybe something hot with all the vegetables she could find in the fridge: meat, salt, oil, some spices and whatever came out, but giving her best effort in that the flavor was decent, she thought.
She rummaged, and she felt like when she saw her mother working hard on some invention and begging for it to work. Bra had never felt so focused on something that was definitely not her cup of tea.
"Will he like it?" she asked herself.
She served the food in a deep dish and put it on a tray. Then she went to Goku's room taking care that the food did not fall. She felt strange, anxious, nervous. She, the great Bra Briefs, had cooked, and not even for herself, but for someone else.
"It'd better that after all this he accepts to train me," she thought.
She entered the room as many other times, but she still felt strange. This time even more than the previous ones. He was asleep, with his breathing somewhat hoarse. However, he looked so calm. Son Goku was like a child, but he was not.
He was a man.
"He's a grandfather..." she thought. Something happened deep inside her when she saw him. She did not really understand what, or maybe... she did not want to...
"Wake up!" she said suddenly.
And he woke up with a jump.
"Bra?" he said rubbing his eyes.
"Who else? I already brought you the food."
And a smile widened. How much brightness. And for a moment Bra feared that smile would disappear. But the only thing she could see was the Saiyan eating as quickly as when he was healthy. She wanted to ask, and she felt stupid for just wanting it, but it was a much stronger thing than her.
"Do you like it?"
"Thank you so much for the food. I was starving, "he said with the typical smile.
The princess frowned and crossed her arms. She was standing and Goku was sat so she could see him from above. For Goku, the view was to be feared. Bra was upset.
"I asked you a question," she said sourly.
"Well, you see ..." he said with a hand behind the back of his neck and a nervous smile. "The truth is that I was so hungry that I almost did not give importance to the taste.
A small vein bulged from Bra's forehead. She wanted to hit him and knock him unconscious until she had to wake him up so he could take the blue pill. But she checked herself and left the room. She went to the kitchen and thought of serving herself a plate, but her stomach had closed. She had a mixture of anger and something else inside. He really irritated her. She felt an idiot for spending so much time to him, for trying so hard. She was Bra Briefs. She did not do anything for anyone. Striving so hard to get Goku to be his master was not worth it. He was a low class! And she was the princess!
"It's over! I'm out!" she announced.
She went to see Goku again.
"Listen, in an hour you'll get the next pill. Sure you can take it. I'll be back tomorrow and I'll tell my mother to cook for you so I don't have to,"she said almost shouting. After that she left the house slamming the door.
She took the capsule that had in her pocket, and she threw it, but it must have been very engrossed in her anger because she did not realized when an eagle -for who knows what reason- took the capsule before it got transform into the air vehicle and quickly disappeared from Bra's sight, who was cursing the bird and her damn luck.
"I need a phone," she said suddenly.
Goku was surprised to see her again in her room.
2Bra? I thought that you were gone."
"Well, no. I had a problem. I need to call the Capsule Corporation to come pick me up."
"I'm sorry, Bra. Gohan and Goten used to use those devices, but when they went to live alone they took them with them."
Damn!
"So you don't have anything to communicate with others?" she asked incredulously.
"Once Bulma gave me a cell phone, but I ended up losing it," he laughed.
A nervous tic invaded the right eyelid of the princess.
"Well, take me flying, make teleportation or something"
Goku looked at her thoughtfully. Bra did not like that at all.
"I'm sorry, Bra, but if I take you flying I will probably l release you in these conditions. And I don't think I can use teleportation."
Impossible. Was she trapped there? She wanted to find a solution immediately. However, something alarmed her. Goku seemed to have somewhat difficult breathing. She touched his forehead and had it boiling.
"You're running a fever," she said with remarkable and sudden concern. Maybe leaving him alone would not have been a good idea after all.
"I think so ..." he said in a faint voice and a weak smile.
How could he keep smiling in that state? She took the temperature and the thermometer looked like it was going to explode. Bra decided it was best to continue taking care of him. And from that moment she put a cold cloth on the Saiyan forehead every few minutes and made sure that he took the pills. Without realizing it, the night had already fallen and she resolved that would prepare him a hot soup for dinner.
"How do you feel," she asked.
"Thank you, Bra," he said.
The princess blushed. He was a fool. He had not answered what she had asked him. Bra did not know if what she was doing was fine. At some point her mother would notice her absence in Capsule Corporation and go to look for her, maybe his father would, but for the moment, or at least for that day, no one would notice that she was not there, and it would not be anything uncommon. Surely for Vegeta would be normal because after the discussions between him and her, she always disappeared from his sight for days and Bulma would be too busy to notice it too, anyway Bra was already an adult. The point was that as soon as she could return home she would ask her mother to hire someone who was well prepared to take care of Goku. A small annoyance invaded her thoughts. She knew that she was not the best to take care of someone, but for some reason she wanted to be the one who take care of him. She does no want to move away from Saiyan's side until he was completely recovered, because she simply could not rest while leaving him in someone else's hands without making sure that he was fine.
"What nonsense," the princess thought. "Goku is a Saiyan. "Of course he will be fine. Apparently he no longer has the same body of yesteryear, but without a doubt this is nothing for him."
"You're welcome," she mumbled with a warm smile.
She found some blankets and put them next to Goku's bed. The Saiyan said nothing and probably the high fever would not even let him know about it. It did not matter much. She would be nearby to help him if something happened.
"Surely I won't be able to sleep," she whispered in feigned annoyance. She wanted to be angry, because that was her nature when something or someone demanded that she do something and try too hard, but she could not. Not with him.
Knowing that it did not really bother her being there for him made her feel strange, like during the whole day. She would have to be irritated to have to be in that situation. However, it seemed to be the opposite: Bra in a certain aspect was relieved. Now that she thought about it better, surely if she had gone home she would be worried.
And she opened her eyes widely: surprised by what she saw and that by being absorbed in her lucubrations she had not noticed.
"Are you awake?" She asked as she glimpsed the eyes of the Saiyan on her.
The moon glow was the only luminary that came through the window and showed the silhouette of both. In fact, it was practically impossible to know if Goku was looking at her, but Bra knew it.
And she was looking at him too. She was going through the darkness with some kind of inexplicable connection.
"You're weird..." he said.
What the hell had he said?!
"I didn't know you were still here," he continued.
She frowned. In truth, the fever was affecting him.
"I have to know how you are, if you need something. I also have to change the cloth on your forehead every so often."
Again she heard Goku's strong breathing. Bra got up suddenly and, without even thinking about turning on the light, she touched the forehead of the Saiyan over the cloth. He was boiling again. She took it out, wet it with cold water and put him on again. That seemed to alleviate him a little. She stayed there kneeling beside the bed watching him only with the moonlight bathe the face of the man. Bra could not move from his side, she seemed to be under the spell of something. And in a moment Goku seemed to come to himself, but the sweat was dripping.
And he looked at her.
With a dangerous closeness.
"You have something..." he said.
She blinked confused.
"Eh?"
"You are..." He was silent for a moment. He seemed to be looking for the right word, "nice ...
And she remained still. Her eyes dilated and wide opened. Her heart beating at a rate never before felt. She wanted to say something, but what? She was just there, motionless without being able to react.
Just feel.
"I-I..." she stammered.
"Bra..."
What a dangerous.
"Impossible..."
So dangerous...
"You should be careful," the princess said once she managed to regain her composure.
And her sanity.
"Uhm?"
"If you say that to someone," she said with a strange seriousness, and a certain disappointment in her eyes, "you could make that person misunderstand him."
"Do you think?"
She just realized: how much she thoughtlessly knew Goku. Before persist in foolishness with making him her martial arts master, she remembered doing certain things: every time he appeared in the Capsule Corporation to find her father, she was there. Every time her mother needed him for something, she offered to go and look for him. Every time Vegeta went to train, she went and watched them from afar. It was automatic, and she never questioned her own actions. She just did them. At some point she would have told herself that she was doing it to learn from the strongest Saiyan in the universe, but the truth was that it went much further. And during all that time observing him, Bra, without realizing it, learned many things about him, his personality, his way of being, his essence. Therefore, although for a moment she felt happy, she understood what he had wanted to say to her.
And she also understood something about herself.
"Yes," she finally answered.
.
.
.
"She's in her room," Bulma replied.
"I see," said Goku.
He climbed the stairs and he felt a tiny ki behind a turquoise door. He knock the door a couple of times and finally a weak voice told him to enter.
"Hi, Bra," he said with a raised hand and a jovial smile.
She was surprised to see him, and despite the blush that was already on her cheeks, they seemed to redden even more.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I came to tell you something."
Bra looked at him confused. She felt uncomfortable when he saw her disheveled, with her face full of sweat.
-"What?"
"Well... "he began, "I accept to train you." He enlarged his smile even more.
She opened her eyes widely.
"Oh, yeah? What made you change your mind"
Goku crossed his arms thoughtfully. Bra found his expression very funny. Actually he was not sure, but most likely the fact that she had cared for him during his terrible flu would have influenced him.
"I don't know," he said sincerely. "But actually I always wanted to do it," he revealed.
That surprised her.
"Then why did you refuse every time I asked you?" she asked.
"Well, because of Vegeta. He forbade me to train you."
And a sudden anger flooded her. Definitely her father would listen to her later.
"So this will be our secret," he said.
"How do you pretend we hide our presence if he can feel the ki?"
"I'll take you to a distant planet. H won't be able to locate us"
Actually, the first time Vegeta tried to feel his daughter's ki and could not find her, he would go crazy, but, surprisingly, Bra did not care. She would solve that later.
"All right," she agreed with a smile.
"Great! Now I'm going to bring you the chicken broth that your mother prepared."
Bra raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I'll take care of you," he announced.
And Bra's heart trembled. She was in silent.
Goku just laughed. Bra's face looked funny. Then he went to find the food for the princess.
Alone with him: training on a distant planet for a long time. She could not stop thinking about that.
The possibilities would be endless.
The opportunities... would be many.
The end
.
.
.
Hi, people! This is another GoBra that I wrote some weeks ago (Resfrío in Spanish). It is part of my anthology called Rosa in Spanish (A translation would be Pink: a collection of oneshots, drabbles and vignette about Goku with different pairings). This oneshot is the last chapter I published in Rosa.
Thank you soooo much for reading! :3
Anna Bradbury.