So I know it has been forever since I've updated but I'm still here, this story is always at the back of my mind so I'm determined to see it through.
The chapter after this one is mostly written because it was originally apart of this one, it was so long I felt like it had to be cut into two so you can expect that one to drop within a day or so as well. Maybe even later tonight if I can tough it out.
Happy reading! C:
Disclaimer
I in no way own anything DBZ related, Akira Toriyama is king.
-.
Today had been the first time in seven years Gohan had entered his old home.
In the morning when the four had set down on Mount Paozu Gohan had spent some time showing everyone the highlights of his childhood before silently slipping out for a moment to decapsulise his parents old house, leaving the boys to play in The Great Lake and hunt for their lunch.
Once the smoke cleared it was like being thrown back in time. The cottage remained the same pale white/yellow that he remembered, the same curtains hung behind unopened windows, his fathers' wooden tub stood unhindered by time and his mothers' clothesline was still connected to the backside of the house.
Padding up to the door he turned the knob and pushed it open, taking his first step into the house he stood there and took in all he saw. Everything seemed smaller then he remembered but he supposed he had grown an inch or two in the past few years.
The contents of the house sat exactly where his mother had left them. Her homemade pillows still sat on their small couch in front of their outdated TV, their bookcase still held all his old textbooks and photo albums and the little ornaments still stood on the fire place mantel in front of the big canvas picture of his parents on their wedding day.
Coming all the way in he left the door open and forced a few of the windows open to let some air waft through the house. Moving into the kitchen he opened up the backdoor and placed the rock they kept aside in front of it to stop it from slamming close.
Walking through the house he came to a stop first at his parent's room. Gohan didn't linger here, he felt it was an invasion of privacy even though both parents were long gone. He simply opened the window and continued on to his own old room.
The door was already open so he breezed in, spotting wooden figures on the floor by his bed he knelt down and held one between his fingers. His dad had whittled these little toys for him when he was young and they had remained his favourite throughout his childhood. There was an Indian Chief and his brave son, a Frankenstein's monster looking character and a girl donning a hat with wings. Perhaps his favourites of them all though were the figures that his father had made of himself and Icarus.
Picking up all of the figures he gently sat them down on his study desk so they wouldn't be in danger of being stepped on. Letting them lie idle he fell back to his bed and stared at them until he could hear his brother calling his name from outside of the window.
"Gohaaaaaaaaaaannn," he walked over to the window in time to see three boys poke out from the army of trees, four gargantuan fish accompanying them.
Making his way outside he gave his brother a big smile, "wow buddy did you catch that fish all on your own?"
"Yah I sure did! But Mirai caught two!" he chirped.
"Yeah I figured I was going to have to get an extra one," Mirai promptly chucked one of the fish from his shoulder into Gohans chest.
"I didn't know you could fish," Gohan smiled in thanks to which he just shrugged.
"You taught me." He said, both knowing he meant the Gohan in his timeline.
Goten tugged on the belt of Gohans gi, "Gohan, whose house is that?" he pointed to the faded home in the distance.
"That's mom and dads' house," he said.
"Oh boy!" Goten jumped, letting his fish sag to the ground in his excitement, "can I see Gohan! Can I, can I, can I?"
Trunks grabbed Goten by the collar before he could speed off towards the cottage, "where do you think you're going!" he exclaimed, "food first, I'm starving!"
Gohan chuckled as the two started to squabble, "Trunks is right Goten," he broke them apart, "how about lunch first? That way we won't get hungry and we can stay in there longer," he looked down to his thoughtful face, waiting for his answer.
"Well ok," he complied, hiking his catch back over his shoulder.
"Well come on then!" an impatient 8 year old Trunks interrupted, "let's get a fire going I'm starving!"
And without further hesitation the four settled in and made camp.
-.
-.
After a rushed lunch, thanks to an insistent Goten, Gohan found himself catching and refolding all the clothes that the two devil twins were throwing out of his old wardrobe. He had given everyone a quick tour of the house and now they were in his old room laughing at all the awful clothes he used to wear as a kid.
"I love mommy?" Mirai held up a stray pale yellow t-shirt that Gohan hadn't got to yet.
Gohans cheeks reddened, "my mom made me wear that," he snatched it from his grip, folding it up and adding it to the pile of other clothes.
"I didn't think mom was telling the truth when she said we were lucky she dressed us," Trunks held up a little golfers hat, forcing it onto Gotens head over his stubborn spikes, "but she was so right."
"Yeah Gohan," Goten agreed, "All of these clothes are weird."
"I hardly wore any of these clothes!" he defended, "I always wore the gi piccolo gave me."
Walking over to the closet he leaned over his kneeling brothers to sift through his wardrobe, pulling out the first ever gi he owned. The one his master had gifted him before his first ever battle.
Stepping back he pulled out a coat hanger that had a purple shirt, pants and red belt hanging from it, "mom hated this thing so much," he chuckled recalling all the times she had tried to get rid of his beloved gi, "I remember the day I finally grew out of this. She was so happy."
"Is that when you had to wear all these ugly clothes Gohan?" Goten pushed himself off the floor to take the clothes from his brother which he willingly passed on. Discarding the ugly golfer's hat he started to undress.
"Well no," he watched as his brother started to strip his usual orange gi to throw on Gohans old one, "after I grew out of that gi I grew out of most of these so Piccolo gave me a new one."
"The one with the cape?" Mirai recalled the kid he went into battle with.
"Uh huh," he nodded, watching Goten tie the red belt around his hips to hold his pants up, "I'm pretty sure I have that one at home still somewhere."
Goten shoved his feet back into his shoes and then jumped to his feet, "it fits!" he happily announced.
"It sure does bud," he smiled, catching him in his arms when he leapt up to him.
Goten fit snuggly into his chest and he couldn't believe that once upon a time he had been this small. He couldn't even remember being a kid like Goten was, it felt so surreal seeing him in the same gi he wore.
"Y'know, I wore this in my first ever battle," he walked over to the desk and dropped down into the chair, Goten still in his arms, "It was the first time I ever fought your dad Trunks."
Trunks stopped his search through Gohans closet and Goten reached for one of the wooden toys Gohan had put on his desk earlier.
Mirai relaxed back on Gohans old bed, wanting to hear the story, "I imagine that went well."
"Well not exactly," he chuckled, "your dad crushed the hell out of me."
Trunks pushed himself off the ground and threw his body into Mirai who caught him without even a glance, pinning him to the bed under his arm.
"What was my dad like when he first came here?" Trunks asked.
"Well he was basically the same as he is now," he carefully answered. He knew the two younger ones didn't know very much about Vegeta's past and he wasn't going to be the one to explain it to them, "he was stronger than anyone I'd ever known and crazy as hell." he laughed, "I remember thinking about how crazy his hair was the first time I saw him."
Mirai gave his own guffaw, "that was the second thing I thought, the first was how short he is."
All four boys laughed at their prince and continued to talk until Gohan suggested some spar time to stretch out their muscles. The younger half of the group immediately raced each other out of the room, leaving Mirai and Gohan casually strolling out behind them.
"Was that really the first thing you thought about your dad?" Gohan asked Mirai.
"Yeah, that wasn't the first thing you thought of my dad?" he chuckled.
"Well no," he said, "I was only 5 when I met him so he was maybe an inch taller than me," he joked, realising he would definitely be a dead man if that comment ever made its way to the proud prince.
The two continued to laugh as they joined the younger saiyans, off to enjoy the rest of the day out in the sun and fresh mountain air.
-.
-.
Shifting in her hospital bed under the itchiest blanket she'd ever felt Videl lay awake, drowsy and in pain. Her throat was sore from misuse, every breath she took caused sharp stabbing pains in her chest and the stiches in her side throbbed with every little movement she made. If this was how she felt with pain medication then she was not looking forward to when the effects wore off.
And seriously, this blanket was the itchiest thing she'd ever felt. She was so uncomfortable.
Lying on her back she brought her hand up to rub at her aching head. She was so tired but too sore to be able to willingly fall into a nice sleep. So now all she could do is lie there and hope that eventually she'd get so exhausted she'd fall into unconsciousness.
Videl continued to rub at her head when she caught a flicker of a light in the corner of her eye. Shifting her head to the side she found it brightening behind the curtains outside of her window.
At first thought she figured it was probably another copter full of paparazzi trying to get a glimpse of the wounded Satan but then she heard the creak of the window as it was being pushed open.
Using her elbow she pushed herself to the side so she could reach the remote on the side table to call for help and once she had it in her hand, thumb placed firmly over the button she stopped.
Climbing into her room from a 19th story window was the Golden Fighter. Still partially hidden behind the curtains he turned around to close the window after him and only then did he properly step into the private hospital room.
"Hi," he lamely greeted, clearing his throat.
This was the first time Videl got to fully take in the fighter before her and she couldn't form the right words to describe the impossible being before her.
His glowing aura lit up her whole room with a brilliance that was reminiscent of the sun, spreading a much needed warmth to Videl that she just wasn't getting from her horrid hospital blanket. His power sent a tickle through her that made all the hair on her arms and neck stand up, the amount of power that he was emitting was chilling.
Videl continued to run her eyes over him. Taking in the muscles on his chest that lay just beneath his gi, down to his arms and then back up to his face that had now taken on a worried frown.
"You look awful," he sighed as he glided over to the chair next to her bed, making himself comfortable at her bedside.
As soon as he sat down a million and one questions flitted in and out of her mind but thanks to her wounded lung it felt like a hundred needles poking her chest with every word she tried to utter. Using her left arm she pushed herself to the right, trying to reach for the notepad she'd been using to communicate with when he grabbed it for her, encouraging her to sit back and not move too much.
'Who are you?' she slowly scrawled after taking the item from him.
Leaning over he read what she wrote and smiled, "I'm a friend and I'm here to help," digging into his pocket he pulled out what looked like a small green lolly that he held to her in the palm of his hand.
"Eat it and I promise you'll feel a whole lot better," he motioned for her to take it from his palm and she hesitantly took up the bean between her thumb and index finger, looking at it curiously.
Why should she take this? This could be poison or something and she'd really never even talked to this guy before so why should she trust him? How was this little pea supposed to make her feel better anyway?
Videl looked up to this stranger in disbelief and all he did was chuckle at her. She couldn't see what was so funny.
"It's not poison if that's what you're thinking," he folded his arms across his broad chest, sitting back into the plushy chair, "if I wanted you dead I wouldn't have tried to save you. Please, it'd be a load off my mind if I knew you were ok," he confessed.
Videl scanned his emerald eyes and only found sincerity.
Eating this thing was going against everything she was taught about stranger danger but she couldn't help but trust him. He had saved her life after all.
Bringing the bean to her face she gave a precautionary sniff before closing her eyes and placing it into her mouth.
She chewed it twice then swallowed and within a few seconds she felt a warmth in her stomach rise up and wash through her whole body, like a strong gust of wind that blew all her ailments away. First she felt it in her side as the pain from the wound lessened and then in her chest where the stabbing faded into nothing.
Looking to the Gold Fighter with eyes wide she took a deep breath and felt no pain, "w-what?"
Pulling up her night gown she manoeuvred herself around so she could see where the cut in her side had been only to reveal threaded stitches poking into her skin but no trace of a wound.
The cuts had disappeared from her arms, the headache she had been nursing had gone and now she wasn't even tired.
"What was that!" she exclaimed, throwing the blanket off and stretching all her limbs out.
"It was a senzu bean," he answered, "They have magical healing properties."
Videl scoffed, "magic doesn't exist," she automatically replied, still marvelling at her newly healed body.
Gohan just chuckled to himself, of course she'd deny magic even after witnessing it firsthand.
Magic beans and fully restored health aside she rounded on the other fighter, "who are you?"
Standing from the spot he'd made himself comfortable in he stretched, "I already told you, I'm a friend and I should leave." Turning he made his way back to where he had entered.
"Hold it right there Mr!" flinging herself off the bed she made a break to wedge herself between the Gold Fighter and his exit. Planting her hands on her hips she looked up into his face to hold his eyes with hers, "you aren't going anywhere until you tell me who you are," she demanded.
"Well…" he nervously looked around the room, "I'm the Gold Fighter."
"Nuh-uh buddy boy," Videl crossed her arms, "try again."
He shuffled his feet, gripping and ungripping the hand at his side he looked at her pleadingly, "I can't tell you who I am," he sighed, he stepped to the side and continued towards the window.
"Wait! Can I at least have a name?" she reached out for his arm and he turned to look where her skin met his, "well I can't just keep calling you Gold Fighter can I? Since somehow you keep showing up at all my crime scenes."
Videl let her hand drop to her side as she waited for his response.
"Junior." he said after a moment of silence, "you can call me Junior."
She smiled, having gotten something out of him, "Junior." she mimicked.
He smiled and nodded at her as he continued over to the window where he pushed back the curtains and levitated out into the open city air.
Seeing him out of the window Videl ran over before he could close it behind him, "wait!" she yelled out for the thousandth time that night. Leaning on the window sill she watched him float mid-air.
"Thank you for saving me the other day." she blushed, not accustomed to being the savee instead of the saviour, "and thanks for coming to heal me."
He smiled, "anytime, Miss Videl."
With that he left her to watch him soar off into the sky to blend in with the stars.
"Whether you like it or not I'm going to find out who you really are one day Junior." She promised, returning into her room to gather all of her things.
There was no point in her staying at the hospital any longer now that she was healed, it'd be easy enough to remove the stiches in her side by herself and she was not going to be forced into sleeping on that uncomfortable bed under that ungodly blanket.
Quickly changing out of her hospital gown and into the clothes her father brought her she slung her back pack over her shoulder and cracked the door open to check that nobody was in the hallway. Sneaking over to the stair case door she entered, firmly closing it behind her.
Now all she had to do was get past reception. She couldn't wait to get home.
-.
-.
Flying over buildings and roads making it back to the mountains Gohan landed near his parents' house, seeing their fire had dwindled down to nothing but ash and smoking embers he went inside and grabbed a bunch of blankets. Tip toeing over to the pack he gently laid out a blanket over each slumbering saiyan, careful not to wake them up and then settled into his own spot after throwing a number of logs onto the fire.
Hours ago when they had settled into camp the younger boys had complained about sleeping outside but Gohan had insisted they do it and they had been glad they had complied. They had never seen this many stars shine this bright before. The only time they had spent time out of the city was when they visited the ox king and even then they spent their time mostly eating and exploring the gigantic castle.
They fell asleep pointing at the pictures they connected in the sky, leaving Gohan to lie awake. He thought and he thought and he thought while he listened to the rushing stream behind them and the soft snores of his brothers.
He had forgotten how much he loved this place. Being out in the middle of nowhere was freeing, especially when this nowhere was all so familiar. You were free to do what you liked and be who you liked, no pressure.
After what felt like an hour he hadn't felt the tiniest hint of sleep wash over him and he started to think of Videl, wondering if she was ok or not.
To be completely honest the thought of his injured friend had lingered in the back of his mind since he had left her at the hospital the day before so after another few minutes of sleepless tossing and turning it was an easy decision to go and deliver a senzu bean and now that she was all better it was one less thing the teen had to worry about.
Now as he lay down on the grass Gohan looked to the stars as he wondered what Videl was doing now.
When he sat in her hospital room he spent that short amount of time trying to familiarise her ki and now if he concentrated hard he could feel her out from even this far.
Sliding his hands beneath his head he could feel her moving slowly through the city and only once she stopped and stayed in the same place for more than 10 minutes did Gohan let her ki fade in with the millions of others.
Now that he knew all his friends were safe and his brothers were right here with him in this beautiful place he let his eyes slip closed finally letting sleep take him.
All was good, life was great.
-.
-.
It had been hours since Vegeta had seen Bulma. She was mad at him and he had no idea why. In fact he didn't even know until 5 seconds ago.
Late Saturday night Vegeta casually drifted into her work space, leaning up against the wall he waited for her to roll out from underneath the sphere shaped craft to give him a full report on her weekends work. What he wasn't expecting was for her to roll out, see him and immediately try to throw anything within reach at his head as soon as he had asked.
Humph. Crazy bitch.
There were very few things he enjoyed more than pissing her off but how could he enjoy it when he didn't even know what she was annoyed at in the first place? Her short temper with him right now wasn't amusing, it was downright baffling and annoying.
"What the hell is your problem?" he grounded out, kicking the wrench that had just been flung at his head.
"What is my problem? Are you kidding me!" she barked.
The prince watched her fume as she stared him down, an angry fire shining in her cerulean eyes.
Folding his arms across his chest he gave her a glare that matched hers perfectly.
"How am I to know why you are angry when I haven't seen you in almost 12 hours wench," he smirked and turned away from her. He could practically hear her teeth grinding together in frustration.
"Do not call me wench!" Bending down she picked up a handful of metal tools and flung them all at the back of his head.
Vegeta ducked so they narrowly missed but as he came to turn around to face her one stray improvised weapon managed to clip him in the face.
Of course it didn't hurt but it was the principle. It was disrespectful and now he was mad.
Stomping over to his mate he grabbed her by the wrist just before she could get her hands on another metal object to throw. Pulling her over to a work stool he forced her down onto it. Crossing his arms and planting his feet firmly onto the ground he made it very clear that she wasn't going to be moving any time soon.
"This is your one and only chance to remove the stick from your ass," he firmly stated, "tell me what the hell your problem is before I decide it's not worth my time and I continue to ignore you."
Now the woman wouldn't look at him, defiantly she crossed her arms and directed her angry stare at the wall to her left. She looked like their bratty son when he got in trouble.
"I'm waiting," he impatiently stated.
She continued to look away from him but after a silent minute he could see all the thoughts mull over in her head, her brow softened and her bottom lip pouted out. Dear lord he hoped she wasn't going to cry. An angry Bulma he could handle but a crying one was a whole other ball game.
After another minute passed by she surprised him completely by standing up and walking back over to where she had been working.
"It's nothing," bending over to pick up the tools she had thrown at him she sat herself down onto her trolley, "I just want to get back to work," lying down flat she pushed herself back under the space craft leaving Vegeta to stand there absolutely miffed.
What the hell had just happened? How could one person go from screaming banshee to mopey mouse in less than a minute? How absolutely confusing and infuriating this woman was.
Bulma lay flat on her back staring into wires and bolts, listening to Vegeta's bated breath.
Feeling her shoulders relax she breathed out and just continued to lie still and stare into her work.
This was supposed to be their romantic weekend and she had been so excited for it. She had planned dinners and sweet little activities but as soon as their boys had left and she had pounced he had shown almost no interest in her.
She figured maybe he wasn't in the mood just then but when she had tried again a little later he had pushed her off him and instead ordered her to start on the long list of requirements for a ship. As if she were just another common slave.
So to say she was feeling ignored and underappreciated was an understatement. In fact she was furious because he didn't even know why she was angry at him.
Of course he had asked what was up but what was she supposed say? 'Why didn't you want to have sex with me' sounded too vulgar and 'why don't you want to spend time with me' sounded too childish. Especially since it'd been clear from the very beginning that he wasn't the most affectionate of people.
She obviously could never imagine him buying her flowers or kissing her sweetly for no reason but she needed at least some kind of affection. She was Bulma friggin Briefs, the most beautiful and smartest woman on this damn planet. She deserved some love and attention.
Suddenly Bulma felt her body being pulled out from her position only to come face to face with Vegeta's stony expression. She hadn't heard him leave but she hadn't heard him come over to her and pull her out.
"Wah-Vegeta!" she tried to push herself back in place but he had her firmly put.
"Are you carrying?" he cut her off, effectively bringing her struggling to a halt.
"A-Am I what?" she sat up, looking at him in confusion.
"Are you or are you not carrying another child in your womb?" he impatiently demanded.
"No! What gave you that idea?" pushing herself up and Vegeta out of her way she came to stand face to face with him, "Where is this coming from?"
"You are acting as crazy and irrational as you were when you had Trunks." He boldly stated, looking her square in the eye.
Bulma's eyebrows dropped low over her eyes, "excuse me?" she breathed.
"Do not stand there and act like you did not just go crazy at me for no reason!" he growled.
"For no reason!?" was this guy serious, "I didn't just 'go crazy' at you for no reason!" her hand tightened into a fist, he was really pushing her buttons today.
Vegeta just continued to stare at her in annoyance, if she wasn't being a hormonal bitch then what?
"What the hell is the problem then?"
For a moment she just continued to stare at him, mulling over whether or not she should just tell him. Folding her arms in a similar fashion to him she turned away.
"Where are the boys this weekend?" She asked him. She knew he wasn't going to figure it out himself and she didn't want to straight out say it so instead she was going to help him to realise.
The poor elder saiyan had never been so confused, what did the brats have to do with this?
When he didn't immediately answer Bulma peered over her shoulder to look at him expectantly.
"Not here?" he knew they were with Gohan up in those bug infested mountains but why did it matter?
"And how long are they going to be gone for and what have I been talking about all week?"
Vegeta tapped his finger against his arm and looked to the wall behind her. One of those questions he could answer but the other he was not so sure of.
When he didn't reply and continued to look away from her Bulma dropped her arms and turned to face him, "you are unbelievable!" she screeched, "Do you ever listen to a single thing I say?"
"How am I to know what you are specifically referring to when you talk nonstop!" he shouted back. Why couldn't the blasted woman just tell him what the hell it was? This little game was infuriating as hell.
Bulma opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to find the right words to tell him how much of an insensitive jerkoff he was but when he continued to just look at her like she'd lost her mind she had had enough. Walking straight past him she stomped into the ship she was working on and promptly closed the door behind her, leaving him to figure it out for himself.
As soon as that door clicked shut she heard The Shed door slam close.
He was such an asshole, an unbelievable and selfish asshole. She made a point of trying to talk to him every day to make sure he was included in her life but apparently he didn't care much for it.
Sometimes she had to wonder why they were even together. Because they have a son? Because they lived together? Which she knew was probably just out of convenience for him anyway.
And then there were the very rare times that she wondered if they were together at all. It was hard to tell sometimes. They had their little kisses here and there, a romp in bed or in the shower but really the only nonsexual thing they did that was intimate was share a bed. I mean they weren't even married. Well they weren't married properly anyway.
When Trunks had been born she needed to put someone's name on the birth certificate which meant she needed to make an identity for Vegeta and obviously it had been easier to just state that they were married and give him her last name.
She was so mad at him but at the same time just really sad.
What if he didn't want her? What was she going to do then?
It would be hard for someone like her to go out and do the dating thing. It always had been hard for her actually and that was all besides the fact that she didn't want to date anyway. She wanted Vegeta but if he didn't want her then she was sure she was destined to die alone.
Tired of standing there making herself sick with worry she mentally shook herself, turning around she opened up the door again and made her way back to where she was working.
She could do with a good distraction right now and she could think of nothing better than throwing herself into her work.
-.
-.
Your feedback is always appreciated, even if it's negative!
Btw guys, new DB series and movie and game? How exciting is it to be alive.
