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Just a Ride
Chapter 4: Self-Preservation
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As the hover car twisted through the mountain roads she kept her eyes shut beneath a dark pair of oversized sunglasses with her hands tightly clenched on her lap. Throughout the drive Goten would take occasional glances at the beautiful girl seated beside him, noticing the further they got from West City, the quieter she would become.
When the nervous prickling of her aura had begun to itch under his skin, he boldly reached across the seat and took one of her hands in his. Her eyes shot open in surprise and she couldn't help the poignant smile that pulled at her lips upon noticing the look of concern on his handsome face.
She could love him.
"What's wrong, Bulla?" he asked, his strong hands giving hers a reassuring squeeze.
She looked down at the large hand entwined in hers and ran her fingers across his rough skin of his palm. These hands looked so similar to the ones that would run across her soft skin whenever she closed her eyes.
"What do you mean?" she asked, mesmerized by the contrast of his caramel skin against hers, "I'm totally fine."
He quirked an eyebrow, "I can tell somethings bothering you."
"If you must know, I'm actually kind of nervous."
Goten's couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. "Nervous? What could possibly make the famous Bulla Briefs nervous?"
"I'm only meeting your parent's for lunch," she began, taking an uneasy breath as the dome shaped capsule homes came into view, "And no offense Goten, but your moms kind of intimidating. And she's going to be watching every move I make. I just don't want to blow it."
"My mom's intimidating?", Goten laughed, giving the girl a disbelieving look, "Every time I look at you, I get this mental image of your father going super and crushing my skull with a stomp of his boot."
From beneath her sunglasses, Bulla rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh, please Goten. Don't be so dramatic."
Their three hour drive came to an end as Goten's aircar came to a slow stop in front of the Son residence. With a push of her finger, Bulla slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to take in the home where her soul's captor rest his head.
Her large blue eyes stared out the window, unable to believe that within those walls she would have to smile and politely laugh with the Saiyan that ravaged her sanity. Her body tensed as a cold tremor ran down her spine, ending with a nauseating lurch at the pit of her stomach.
Goten opened her car door and offered his hand to the princess. She blinked up at him, suddenly aware of how uncomfortably electric the mountain air was.
She could feel him.
She could actually feel him.
The instant her strappy sandals met the ground, she regretted her decision to come here. She had blamed her earlier embarrassment around Goku to exhaustion and too much champagne. But now, as she stared at the duo capsule homes, she knew that this twisted infatuation had reached a point where it was physically revealing itself.
At this point there was no reason in justifying her sanity.
When Goten gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, she was pulled out of her jumbled thoughts. His warm eyes continued to look at her with concern. "Hey, really what's going on? I know you, Bulla. You don't feel right?"
She looked at her hand, entwined in his and furrowed her eyebrows, unable to remember which of them had initiated the warm gesture. She softy pulled her hand back and in a tone he hadn't heard her use in years chided, "Don't feel right? Please do tell, exactly what do I feel like to you?"
He was momentarily rendered frozen by the angry way her lips twisted, and her finicky facade was extinguished by one that was much more familiar. There was that spoiled princess he remembered.
"You feel like someone about to face their death. It was making me nervous." he laughed with a shake of his head. He threw his arm around her shoulder and began to guide her to the front door, "Let's go, its only lunch. And I can promise you haven't lived until you've tasted my mom's tonkatsu."
Relief flooded her when she heard the synthetic ring of her phone. She rummaged in her large bag until she found her phone and gave Goten a reassuring smile after looking at the name on the screen, "I have to take this. I'll be in there in a minute."
Without giving him a chance to reply, she answered the phone and turned around to face the large river running at the edge of the house.
"Hello."
"Bulla, sweetie where are you?" her mother replied in a voice that was much too cheerful.
"I'm with Goten. What's up?" Bulla asked as she made her way closer the calm river, sneaking a glance past her shoulder to ensure that Goten had gone inside.
"It's just that you left without saying goodbye. I was just a bit worried. You know how a mother is with her babies." Bulma laughed before adding in a much quieter voice, "And your father got nervous when his internal GPS tracker lost your signal a few hours ago, and demanded I give you a ring."
"I did no such thing!" a loud voice boomed from within the background, causing her to flinch.
Bulla scoffed, "I'm completely fine. Tell daddy to just chill before he gives himself an M.I."
"So I take it, it's just you and Goten, hmm?" her mom crooned, obviously thinking the worst of her and without a drop of subtlety added, "I mean why else would your ki drop off the map like that?"
She looked down at the silver ring around her thumb and smiled, knowing exactly why her ki had disappeared, "Because I'm sure if a certain someone knew where I was going, he would've been here by now."
"I was a girl blind in love once upon a time, and let me tell you nothing else on earth feels as good. Just remember, I'm too young to be a grandma!" Bulma laughed, earning another audible growl from the Saiyan prince who obviously had no shame in eavesdropping.
"Mom, we're only having lunch. And for dad's sanity, I'll let you know there is adult supervision. I'll be home in a few hours anyway; I've got a night planned with Marron." Bulla admitted, hoping it would quell her father's worry, knowing full well he could hear every word of the conversation.
"Well, that doesn't sound like a fun time at all, sweetie."
"Right, for now it's enough fun for me." Bulla sighed running her index finger across the silver ring her brother had given her for her 16th birthday.
"Okay, but for your sake do try to have a little more fun. These are supposed to be the most exciting years of your life. Get in some trouble. Love you. Bye.". Bulma said, ending the call just as Vegeta had begun a verbal tirade in the background.
She walked over to a large nearby stone, and with a loud sigh let herself slump onto it. Fiddling with the ring on her thumb, she stared into the clear blue water and tried to subdue the nagging sensation that would eat at her whenever she knew he was around.
'There's no way I can really sense him.' She mentally reassured herself, trying to ignore the buzzing at the back of her head, "I mean, I'm the most un-Saiyan, Saiyan to ever have a drop of Saiyan DNA. I can't even sense ki. Hell, I can't even channel my own ki enough to dry my hair. The only reasonable explanation is that I'm losing it.'
The nagging sensation suddenly manifested itself as a dreadful chill that left her cold all the way to her red pedicured toes. She let out a dry sob into her hands at the sudden intrusive sensation, losing whatever measly amount of courage she had initially started the afternoon with.
Before she could even indulge herself in another second of self-pity a cheerful voice called out beside her.
"Hey, there Bulla! What are you doing here?"
She snapped her head in his direction, wide blue eyes staring hopelessly at the most powerful being in the entire universe. She knew there was no way she would be walking away from this with her head held high, but at least she would try.
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After breakfast he had taken off to South Island in search of the boy he had taken to training for his past few years spent on Earth. Goku had never been the kind of man to worry too much about ominous feelings or unpleasant emotions, unless they somehow went hand in hand with whatever universal threat he was opposing at that point in time.
After the defeat of Majin Buu, life seemed to slow down. There wasn't some power-hungry villain lurking in the horizon, his children were growing up and having children of their own, and even though he would probably never realize or admit it, he felt useless.
While he spent his days same as he always had; a routine of consuming piles of food, hours of grueling physical exhaustion, and adventures trapesing through the woods; life just no longer had that spark it once had.
Sure, he loved his family more than anything, but he lived to fight.
He wiped the sweat dripping off his forehead with the back of his hand, eyes narrowed in determination as he encouraged his student with a beckoning motion of his hands, "Come on, Uub! All you have to do is channel that energy. I know you can do much better than that!"
The dark skinned boy landed midair a few feet near Goku and looked up into the afternoon sky, pointing his finger at the sun, "Look Goku, it's nearly midday. My mother is expecting us for lunch. Perhaps we should take a break and start again later."
If there was one thing that could drag Goku away from training, it was food. He looked up into the sky, noticing that the sun was at its highest position and tried to remember what Chi-Chi had told him as he was walking out the front door. Something about guests being over for lunch or dinner. Or maybe she needed him to take her somewhere in the afternoon.
Goku rubbed the back of his head and looked up to the clouds in thought, "Hmm…. Chi needed me to go home for something." He gave Uub a lighthearted smile while bringing up two fingers to his forehead, "I'm gonna' head home. Rest up. I'll see you tomorrow, same time."
Before Uub could reply Goku was already a flickering flurry of colors as he transported himself into the woods of Mt. Paozu. The summer wind was much more arid in the mountains than it had been when he was sparring with Uub over the waves of the Southern Sea. As he walked towards his home he removed the top to his sweat soaked gi and slung it across his shoulder.
After lunch with his family the afternoon before, Goku had spent his past waking hours training much harder than he had become accustomed to in these times of peace. The blue haired princess had been the last thing on his mind as he immersed himself in his training, and pushed his body until he couldn't move without having every muscle ache. It wasn't until he exit the forest, a small gust of wind had picked up the lingering scent of fear. It was so strong it overpowered the more familiar scent of breaded pork drifting from his home, and was surprisingly much more tempting.
He raised his nose and took a few more testing sniffs, trying to identify the source of the disturbingly enticing scent. It was peculiar for such an ugly emotion to smell like that, and it confused him even more when he was only able to sense Goten and his wife's ki nearby.
When his eyes moved across his quiet home he noticed her soft voice coming from behind a large rock near the river. He made his way closer to the sound, entranced by the sweet scent of her anxiety becoming sharper as he neared her. Goku approached her soundlessly and stopped when he was only a few feet beside her.
He cocked his head as he studied her, confused by how the girl didn't have the slightest hint of ki; yet he could see her, hear her, and smell her. His dark eyes lazily roamed her body, starting at her bare legs and slowly moving up until they stopped momentarily at the flesh of her large breasts, visibly quivering under the thin fabric of her dress with every sharp breath. Long cerulean hair cascaded down her back, across creamy shoulders, and he could already see emotion shimmering in eyes so blue he was sure he would drown in them.
His eyes wandered down her neck, stopping once again at the front of her dress, mesmerized by how the tops of her breasts would shake ever so slightly. Goku was shocked out of his trace when the girl suddenly brought her hands to her face and sobbed so pitifully it made his mouth go dry.
Before it escaped his throat, he swallowed a strangled groan as he shut his eyes and bit down on the insides of his cheek.
Kami, her fear smelled delicious.
That sudden spike in her emotions shocked him all the way down into some part of him that he didn't even know existed. That he didn't want to believe existed.
He opened his eyes to the blindingly bright sky, and was suddenly aware of what he had been doing. He was looking at Bulla, his best friend's daughter, in a way that a man should only look at the woman who claimed his heart. Shame slid down his throat as he realized there was a warmth bubbling in his lower stomach and his heavy cock was pulsing eagerly between his legs.
The blue haired girl had captured his attention again with her quiet sobs, his mind flooding him with past images of her mother perched suggestively across a hoverbike, hugging him so tight after some battle that his face would end up crushed against her modest chest. Nearly forty years later, he could still remember with pristine clarity the night he had caught Bulma and Yamcha enjoying each other when they thought he had wandered away from camp. The first time he had ever wrapped his fist around himself, he had mentally replayed the sight he had witnessed. How Bulma had taken her ex-boyfriend in her mouth, sucking until white dribbled out the corners of her lips, licking him until he was hard enough to bend her over and make her scream.
He thought he'd never seen a girl as beautiful as Bulma, but this girl was otherworldly. Had she always been this stunning? He watched her bite down on her lower lip to stifle a sob and couldn't help but wonder if she let men bury themselves in her mouth as well.
The thoughts racing through his head were sick.
Kami, what was wrong with him?
This wasn't him.
He had a strong wife who had fathered his children, who he loved more than anything. How could his mind betray her like this?
Was this blue haired girl even real? He couldn't sense any life force coming from her small body. He had to know she wasn't just some trick his mind was playing on him, so he tried to reel himself back in and bring back the side of himself that would never have been lusting over Vegeta's wife and daughter.
Sometimes he scared himself.
"Hey, there Bulla! What are you doing here?" he called out in a cheery voice he hoped only sounded forced to his ears.
Bulla's head snapped in his direction, leaving him momentarily stunned by how breathtaking her eyes looked when they were glossy with unshed tears. Her body gave a little shiver, leaving Goku to wonder if somehow she had been able to sense his revolting, lust filled thoughts.
She pushed herself up from the rock, walking over to Goku with her head held high until she was only a few steps away from him.
"What's up, Uncle Goku." She said crossing her arms across her chest, hoping that this time putting up a brave front would be able to stifle the nervousness eating at her. This time she would be ready. She nudged her thumb in the direction of the capsule home, "I'm here for some of Mrs. Son's world renowned tonkatsu."
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. As mouthwatering as the tonkatsu was, it paled in comparison to the scent of the blue haired princess. His appetite was completely gone at the thought of having to be in the same room with this girl who ignited a sickness in him and his kind, faithful wife
"Smells great. I'm starving." Goku lied with a smile, patting his stomach for emphasis.
He watched as her eyes followed his hand, landing on the sweaty, bronzed skin of the large Saiyan in front of her. He didn't miss the way her eyes lingered over his abdomen and arms, or how her lips slightly parted when she looked at his muscular chest. In the quiet of the mountains he could hear the swift thudding of her heart increase. It almost seemed as though he was the cause of her fear. Was it wrong of him to hope he was?
A soft pink tinged her cheeks by the time she managed to tear her eyes away from him, and even though he couldn't rationalize it, knowing that she appreciated what she saw left him with a strange sort of satisfaction.
"Did your dad teach you how to mask your ki?" Goku asked, finding himself drawn to every move she made, needing to know what it was about this girl that had him battling with the inner-beast he had long subdued.
Bulla chuckled dryly, eyes focused on the river only a few steps away. "My father couldn't even teach me how to sense my own ki, let alone hide it. I'm certainly no super saiyan like the rest of you." She brought her hand up, wiggling her thumb so that the silver ring around it gleamed against the bright sun. "Trunk's gave it to me when I was a teenager so that I could actually have a little privacy. You know how bad daddy can be. He's such a square."
"A square?"
"Yeah, a total square." Bulla laughed, outstretching her arms and putting her hands together so that her fingers made four sharp angles. She peeked through her self-made frame, looking at the man at the center of it and gave him a playful wink. She furrowed her eyebrows at Goku, crossed her arms, and in a gruff voice snarled, "Girl, you'd best be home at a reasonable hour if you plan on ever seeing the light of day again. Don't think you can sneak around somewhere you shouldn't with your clan of harpies. You seem to forget I can sense every move you make. And if I can so much as smell a trace of some hormonal boy on you, may Kami have mercy on his soul, because I sure as hell won't."
When Goku tossed his head back and laughed, so did she. As long as she focused on her breathing, and attempted to ignore that suffocating tingling she was able to keep a straight head. She could play this game.
"I didn't know Vegeta and Gohan were so much alike. You should hear him when he's upset at Pan. They seem to have a knack for the whole 'dad thing'."
"You mean nagging." Bulla smiled back at him.
"I guess you could call it that. I've never been too good at it." Goku shrugged, looking over his shoulder at the capsule home behind him in what almost looked like regret. He'd always known that when it came to being a father he had done poorly, but to be such a bad husband left his heart heavy.
Bulla bravely took a few steps towards the older Saiyan. That little smirk was already on her lips when she began counting names off her fingers, "Good at being a dad? Seriously? Goten absolutely adores you! And don't even get me started on Pan. From what I hear you're even buddy-buddy with the freaking Kai's! Hell, my dad even opens up the gravity room for you. If that's not love what is? The list goes on and on."
Goku gave her that bright smile that she'd learnt to hate and brought his hand up to scratch nervously at his wild, dark hair. "I guess you're right, Bulla."
Damn his smile. It made her think of poor Goten, probably waiting for her patiently at the kitchen table. Damn him, he made her feel so fucking sick. She was sure if she wasn't clenching her jaw so tightly she would've retched all over his boots.
With a renewed sense of purpose, she took a few more steps toward Goku and looked up at him, trying to match his warm smile with one of her own. "You've only saved the universe a million times. Humanity thanks you for your services and forgives you for being an inadequate nappy changer and enforcer of curfews. You're a good man, Son Goku."
A good man wouldn't want to grab her neck and pin her against the boulder she was standing near just to hear if her screams sounded like her mothers. To feel the fear pulsing in her veins. He had to get out of here. Nervously, he swallowed the tightness in his throat, "Thanks a lot, Bulla."
Emotions made him uncomfortable, she could see that. Saiyan, human; when it came down to it, all men were the same. She watched the muscles in his throat move, and couldn't stop her eyes from trailing down to the thick scars tattooed across his chest.
They looked glorious.
And just like that, everything changed. Those vivid images of his tattered bronze skin on top of her came barreling through her mind. Even in her dreams his scars stayed true, and the ache she felt when she eyed her favorite was absolutely painful. She couldn't even put a number to the times she fantasized about running her tongue against the raised flesh running across his chest.
"You've fought many battles." Her voice was no longer playful, and along with her resolve, that smile she had worn so courageously was gone. The static in her head was so loud, it drowned out everything else but him. "And you've won every one."
Only being a breath away from the battle-worn skin she obsessed over was driving her near the edge of a place she knew she would lose herself in. And with all her might, she hoped that there was a way to knock this good, honest man down so far from grace he would drown alongside with her.
"Almost." He admitted, in a voice so low she nearly missed it. Words of thanks and admiration never left his wife's lips. And to hear them spilling so boldly from these full, blood-red lips made him hate himself more for the needy, longing it invoked.
"Do you remember how you got each of them?" she asked, her attention focused on the creamy, raised flesh marring his skin. The playful nonchalance they had both feigned had been forgotten, only to be replaced with a painful awareness.
That loathsome pull he had always had on her became choking and she was feeling too weak to fight anymore. She had never been a brave or strong girl; in her defense she never had to be. He should have been brave enough for the both of them, but this was his first time stepping into this kind of fight.
And in this universe, and the one before, he had always been destined to lose.
Sweat was beading down her hairline and pooling under the curves of her dress. The thin cotton material seemed to be constricting around her chest; her sharp, labored breathing making the rivulets of sweat slide down past her clavicles, to the part of her he was fighting to keep his eyes from roving. The static in her head synchronized with the hammering of her heart, and it was just too much.
Hyperawareness of everything and self was not something she was familiar with, and now she could feel every blade of grass rustling against her ankles and whatever heat she imagined radiating off Goku had become blistering.
Goku watched her intensely, having lost his mask of obliviousness the moment his princess had called to the Saiyan in him. The thoughts he had been fighting so hard to push down surfaced in a torrent of unrepressed hunger. He wanted to dominate her.
Bulla's hands were clasped together at her chest, fighting the urge to slam her palms against his chest just to see if she would burn.
She just had to know.
Her hand slowly made its way between them, drawn to that jagged tear running vertically across where his costal cartilage lay underneath. The wound that had caused it must have nearly been fatal. Her studies left her privy to the exact locations of the veins and arteries roping around a human's body, enough so that she could imagine how the blood had gushed down his chest and the rage and pain it must have invoked in him.
What beast had nearly managed to tear out her warrior's heart?
The instant the tips of her fingers made contact with his skin, the small hairs on the nape of her neck rose, leaving a trail of gooseflesh down her arms. She hadn't missed the way he jolted at her touch, or the startled hiss that had managed to escape him at the electric sensation. When she looked up at him, she was taken aback by the mix of rage in his dark eyes as they landed on the particular battle scar she had chosen to inquire about.
"That was done by your father."
Before giving her a chance to react, he grabbed her wrist with inhuman speed and tossed it back at her chest, using a bit more strength than intended. Her hand landed against her chest with a dull thud, her breath leaving her in a sick wheeze; either from the intensity of his skin momentarily scalding hers or from his careless handling.
He watched as she crumpled onto the grass with her shapely legs drawn under her, leaving her dress crumpled up high enough for him to make out the puffy outline of her sex against a lacy scrap of fabric. Bulla continued to hungrily gasp for air, her fingers clawing at her chest and the guilt he felt for hurting her had momentarily subdued the darkness that had nearly managed to surface.
The low creak of the doorknob snapped him out of his daze, his attention drawn away from the obscene amount of creamy skin squirming by the shore of the river. He wanted to help her, but for once his need for self-preservation was stronger. There was something so sinister and primal about her; when he had come into contact with her skin he felt a sort of satisfaction that was alien to him.
Those eyes once again looked up at him full of fear and wonder, and he just knew something absolutely terrible was about to happen. With a heavy heart he raised his fingers to his head and muttered a hasty apology before leaving the Saiyan princess lying alone on the ground.
He had to get out of here.
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Goten had found her sitting on the grass, with her pretty white dress stained with the earth. She had been shivering, and tears were dripping down her round cheeks, but what really startled him was the way she was crying.
"No, no, no." she kept repeating between sobs and taking rattling breaths of air. Goten kneeled down beside her and brought his hands to her face so that she was forced to look up at him.
He pushed back the blue hair that had stuck to her damp forehead and studied her face. Bulla Briefs had always been one for theatrics, but this was something else entirely.
"What's wrong, Bulla?" Goten asked, his large hands framing her face so that she had no choice but to look at him.
She took in another shaky breath and gave him a lopsided smile while trying to steady her breathing enough to form a concise sentence "I-I- I'm okay."
Bulla wrapped her fingers around his wrists and tried to forget about the crazy encounter she just had with Goku. She would think about that later, right now she had to push it away like it never happened.
Behind Goten a small bee lazily flew into the forest giving her an idea.
"You're going to find this pathetic, but I'm kind of allergic to bee stings." She said with a shrug, her eyes looking at her wrist were Goku had grabbed her. It was a bright red and she was going to use it to her advantage. Luckily, he didn't question it and only took a glance at her wounded hand before helping her up.
"Do you think you can take me home?" she continued as she took a few swipes at her dirty dress, "I'm feeling alright right now, but my inhaler is at home. I'm just worried I'll start wheezing in a few hours. I was just worried I was going to start having a reaction right after it stung me. Last time was pretty awful. I had to go to the hospital and everything." Bulla couldn't believe how easily the lies flowed from her lips, and with each understanding nod of his head the guilt intensified.
"Sure. Whatever you need. I'm just glad you're okay. Let's just get you cleaned up first."
Bulla had been able to pry herself from Mrs. Son's care before the woman could properly attend to her wrist and identify that the swelling was a sprain instead of the welt of an insect sting. After tidying herself up as much as she could and scolding herself for not bringing capsules with an extra set of clothes, she and Goten were back on their way to Capsule Corp.
The ride back was nearly silent, she kept her eyes shut and pretended to sleep in order to avoid Goten's concern. Behind her shut eyes Goku's fierce image stared back at her. Never had she seen him look so serious and tense; knowing that she brought that out in him confused her. Could he feel it?
And when he grabbed her, she had been absolutely terrified. Terrified that she liked his rough grip on her and instead of scaring her away, all it did was feed her curiosity. She wasn't stupid, something was going on here. Before she was sure it was just a girlhood obsession, but seeing the way he responded to her just made her wonder if there was something else going on. Or maybe she was just thinking too much. Maybe even beneath that carefree smile, the innocent hero was really just a man.
But he must have felt it! She was getting chills just remembering the way she felt so fucking alive when she touched him.
She opened her eyes when she felt the car come to a complete stop and realized that she had spent too much time trying to rationalize her encounter with Goku. The blue haired princess leaned across the seat so that she could wrap her arms around the next best thing.
His body immediately tensed in her embrace and before he allowed himself to return it he quickly made sure her father's ki was busy elsewhere. With her arms tightly around his neck, she buried her face beside his cheek and allowed her lips to lightly brush against his jawline. "Sorry today was such a mess. We'll have fun next time."
His body was warm, and she decided that it felt much better against her than any of the other men she had been with. She caught him by surprise when she pulled back, only to slide her fingers under the front of his shirt and press herself back up against him. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she allowed herself to feel the muscles of his abdomen and hoped that his skin would burn her.
Even without the chaotic surge of energy, it felt nice to have Goten against her. It was comforting, and she knew that he would be good for her. Before she could give him a kiss goodbye, his body became a blur of color and she found herself sitting straight in her own seat with her hands placed neatly beside her.
"Your dad is walking over here." Goten explained with an apologetic smile, both of his hands tightly wrapped around the steering wheel. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. Bulla was sure he would take one look at her and somehow just know she was burning for his rival's touch. Kami, the thought made her sick.
With a roll of her eyes, she threw the car door open and without looking back, walked around the massive dome shaped building towards the back entrance. She was in no mood to face any of her family. All she wanted to wash off the mess of the afternoon and apply some muscle rub to her throbbing wrist.
As soon as she turned the corner of the building, she noticed her father standing on the roof of the gravity chamber. She shielded her eyes against the sun and peered up at the Saiyan who held his impassive stare. She would never allow him to know. She would lie until nothing but an empty shell remained of her heart before ever allowing him to know her greatest sin.
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He got as far away as he possibly could. So far that if he tried hard enough, he was able to lock their presence in the back of his mind. He savored the silence and slowly regulated his breathing while watching the golden clouds billow against the lilac heavens.
With a heavy sigh, he threw himself on the soft grass and stared up at the magnificent sky of the otherworld few mortals would ever have the privilege of seeing. The chaos she had stirred in him was still there, but it was subtle enough to ignore. He decided that he would hide here until either he was able to make a bit more sense of whatever it was that was happening with Bulla, or his wife called him from across the galaxy that dinner was served- whichever came first.
Another weighted sigh left him as he thought of the princess. In all honesty, he had never thought about a single female in such a short time span as he was currently doing with Bulla. For the past two days he was plagued with indecent thoughts of her, and physically exhausted himself so the only thing he could focus on was the stinging of his lungs and body. It was horrible to realize that even when he was dead, his thoughts of Chi-Chi had been fleeting because he knew that she was strong enough for both of them when it came to their sons and that she would always be able to survive.
Goku was snapped out of his reverie when the curious face of a familiar chimpanzee stood over him, blocking his view of the clouds of Snake Way. Startled, he sat straight up and came face to face with his familiar training buddy.
"Bubbles!" he laughed, grabbing the now shrieking primate into a tight hug. "Long time no see, buddy!"
Bubbles protested loudly and struggled against Goku's embrace, drawing the attention of the other planet's occupant. The short blue Kai slammed the door open and wobbled out of his house, throwing off a blue apron and threateningly waving a beater dripping with batter at his favorite pupil. "Goku! What do you think you're doing?! Let that monkey go!"
Goku did as he was told and stood up to greet King Kai as Bubbles shot off to the other side of the small planet. King Kai glared up at Goku from behind his round sunglasses and gave him a sharp swat with the dirty kitchen utensil, "How many times do I have to tell you?! You can't just keep popping up like that! Thanks to you my soufflé is de-flay!"
With an apologetic laugh, Goku awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and gave the small Kai a smile, "I'm awfully sorry about that, King Kai. I just haven't seen you in a while, and just wanted to see if maybe you were in the mood to train."
King Kai brought his stubby fingers under his chin, giving Goku a calculating look before shaking his head, "You're a terrible liar, Son Goku."
In reply Goku awkwardly laughed, "What are you taking about?"
"You seem to forget that it is my duty as ruler of the North Galaxy to know what's going on." King Kai said shaking his head at Goku and then surprising him with another sharp smack with the beater, "And I don't like what I see!"
Goku took a sharp breath, his eyes going wide as the weight of the kai's words sank in. He'd never been a bad guy. Never had he stolen, or hurt someone who didn't deserve it, so why did he suddenly feel like he was the worst person alive?
He hadn't done anything wrong.
Yet…
Goku stood still as stone, watching the kai standing below him, hoping with all his might that the deity before him was blind to the actions that took place between Bulla and himself. He really felt horrible about shoving her near the riverbed and really just meant to push her hand away. He wondered if King Kai had noticed the way he stared at the Saiyan princess with that hungry glint in his eyes.
King Kai twitched his antenna a few times before taking a deep breath and reaching up to pat Goku on the shoulder. "While I may not like it, and from what I saw it looks like you're definitely having a rough time not liking it- I can assure you that none of this will be your fault."
"My fau-" Goku began, but was cut off by the Kai raising his pudgy hand. The blue deity moved besides him so that they both faced the beautiful golden clouds. His nasally voice had taken that serious tone which Goku had learned to be wary of, because it only meant bad news.
"You are the strongest warrior in this galaxy, Son Goku. And you have used that magnificent strength to bring peace to the universe. It seems wrong to ask more of you when you have already given so much." King Kai said, resting his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the swirling gilded heavens. "You were destined to die years ago from that nasty heart virus, remember?"
"Yes, but I don't understand what that to do with…her." Goku said, his brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to make sense of where this revelation was going.
"This has everything to do with her." King Kai began, waving his hand in a sweeping motion at the sky above them. "You may not have died in that battle, but you rewrote destiny a million times over. We kais were not the only ones watching what you've been up to. The sentient forces that weave destiny have been watching you as well, and fear that with your permanent demise from the living world, those dark entities currently hiding in the shadows of the universe will reawaken with a vengeance."
"While you may be able to jump to and from the land of the living as you do now, once you are deceased it would tear apart the barrier separating the living from the dead, and of course we wouldn't want that." King Kai laughed at his pitiful attempt at humor then took a quick glance at Goku to see if he was paying attention. It pained the deity to continue, but he knew that no matter which route he took, Goku was destined to suffer. "In this universe, you along with a bunch of people who should be dead aren't. Like your buddy Vegeta for instance."
Goku dropped to the grass, leaning his elbows against his bent knees because he knew for some reason he should be sitting when King Kai explained everything. All this otherworld business went way above him. He didn't mean to go around messing with fate or screwing up timelines; his whole reason for being was to protect those he loved. Things were getting too complicated.
"Vegeta was supposed to have died a long time ago, but because he now lives, the cosmos planned to use him in order to ensure universal peace, for at least the next two centuries. Think of it as universal self-preservation if you will." King Kai explained. Now that Goku was seated, he put one comforting blue hand on Goku's shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "The universe recognizes your strength, and has seen how you have stopped the gods of destruction who live to cause nothing but pain and suffering to its children. The very instant Majin Buu was defeated and Vegeta was brought back to life, it was fated that he would have another child."
A sick, heavy feeling was gnawing at the bottom of his stomach when the blue deity gave his shoulder another squeeze to get his attention. Goku looked up at his mentor besides him, staring at his reflection off the Kai's dark lenses.
Kami, he didn't ever think he'd seen himself look so pale.
"You can try to fight this, but when you fail please don't lose hope. After all, it usually is quite useless to fight against your instinct. I apologize, but destiny never really considers anyone's feelings- but you see Goku, the set up for a perfect warrior was all there." Now King Kai had grabbed onto Goku's shoulders, so that he was forced to stare at his cringing reflection. "A Super Saiyan God and the Saiyan Princess with paths that intercede? It was quite literally written in the stars. As you know, I cannot see definite truths, only possibilities. And in each scenario there is always grief for those around you in some way or another, but for trillions of others there is life and hope."
Goku listened but shook his head in denial. The blue deity took Goku's head between his hands so that he was forced focus his attention on him. At King Kai's next words, his heart sunk into the pit of his stomach and for the first time in decades he felt an intense sense of helplessness.
"Don't you see, Goku? She was born for you."
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