Author's Note: Here's another chapter. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been busy with other things and just haven't been in the mood to write this story and if I tried to work on this story when I didn't feel like it I wouldn't write very good stuff. Anyways I'm sorry again for the wait. I'll try to work on this story more often and I'll update it again as soon as possible. Probably in about a month or so. Alright so Trunks and the others just got a major clue about what Yamako experienced in her past and have questioned her about her brand and Yamako has just let off all of her pent up rage and frustration. How will she react to this massive emotional release? And how will the others respond to it as well? Read and find out. Anyways hope you like this chapter! REVIEW!

"talking"

thinking

dream or something happening within a dream or vision

"talking within a dream or vision"

something written/read like a sign or note

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Chapter 25: Release, Numb, & Tattoos

The heads of all the Saiyans and Marron shot up and towards the other side of the house when they felt Yamako's ki skyrocket. The Saiyans' keen ears even picked up the roar of pure rage and pain that came from the young Saiyan princess' mouth. They felt the ground shake slightly below them and Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan quickly caught their wives as the quaking caused them to lose their footing and nearly fall to the ground. Since Marron wasn't a Saiyan and Bra never trained they both wobbled on their feet but shakily remained standing. Goten took a quick grasp of each of their arms to help steady them. Also since Pan was still weary from her fight with Yamako she ended up loosing her footing and she sunk down to 1 knee roughly. Trunks instantly bent down next to her and grabbed onto her. He gently hoisted her to her feet and continued to hold her securely to his chest and on her feet. When the shaking ended Trunks and Pan locked eyes and gazed at each other for a couple of minutes. Then when both realized this and the fact that Trunks was still holding onto her they quickly separated and looked away from each other as they both blushed. Fortunately, nobody except Vegeta noticed and he simply smirked to himself in secret before turning towards the approaching figure.

Yamako came around the corner and headed towards them with a completely blank and void expression on her face. Her normal scowl was plastered on her face but there was no trace of any emotion in it; even in her eyes. Even Vegeta's eyes usually held some residual trace of an emotion (even if that emotion was anger and hatred) but Yamako's were completely hollow, empty. When Yamako got close enough for Pan to get a good look at her expression she instantly became concerned; especially taking her appearance. She walked up to her as Yamako stopped a few feet away from them.

"Yamako are you alright?" Pan asked worriedly as she placed her left hand on her right shoulder.

Yamako didn't say or do anything. She didn't even acknowledge her presence or question by looking at her. Yamako just continued to stare straight ahead of her. After a few seconds of not getting a response Pan started thoroughly looking over her appearance. When her sights reached Yamako's hands she gasped in shock and horror.

"Yamako…your hands…" Pan said quietly as she gently grasped the back of Yamako's hand in her right hand and her wrist with her other hand and raised it up to the point where Yamako's elbow was bent so that the hand was almost even with her chest as she gazed at the 4 deep crescent moon shaped wounds on Yamako's palm.

At first it seemed like even this wouldn't be enough to get Yamako to move on her own or react but then out of nowhere she turns her head to look down at her hand. Yamako looks over her hand with a blank and emotionless expression on her face for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah…" Yamako casually stated with a voice void of anything even remotely resembling emotion. "I forgot about that…" Yamako said almost to herself.

Pan gasped and quickly stepped back as Yamako's right hand was illuminated by her aura as a tiny violet ball of ki formed in her hand. Everyone's eyes grew wide and they gasped as they looked on in shock and horror as they heard the skin on Yamako's palm sizzle as she used the ki ball she was holding to sear the wounds shut. As Yamako did this she didn't give any indication of what was happening or the fact that it had to be extremely painful to do what she was doing since she was literally giving herself a second degree burn. After a moment the ki ball dissipated and Yamako briefly glanced over her palm before lowering it to her side and looking straight at Pan as though what she had done was perfectly normal and expected. Pan looked from Yamako's face to her right hand and back several times before finally stopping on Yamako's face.

Pan looked at Yamako like she was insane. "How could you do something that painful?"

"What pain?" Yamako sincerely asked emotionlessly as she turned slightly to look at her left hand and proceeded to do the same to it as she had done to the other.

Pan's jaw dropped slightly along with everyone else as they watched this. They couldn't believe that Yamako was so numb at this point that burning herself didn't hurt her. It meant that she had endured more than they all thought because she had become so accustomed to pain that nothing seemed to hurt her anymore.

Without another word Yamako walked past everyone and went to 1 of the picnic tables that was still set up. She sat down on it in reverse (her back facing the table) and raised her left leg up so her foot was on the bench and her knee was up against her chest. She rotated her left shoulder slightly in front of her and lifted her elbow to set it on her knee. With her right hand she rubbed her upper left arm for a moment and after a while a faint scar was revealed. It was obvious that the scar wasn't just any kind of scar but 1 that was designed but exactly what design was unclear.

"What's that?" Trunks whispered to himself.

Pan smiled to herself because she knew what it was but was still curious as to what exactly Yamako was up to. Just then Yamako shifted into Feral Saiyan and raised her now clawed right hand up to her face. She looked her hand and claws over for a second before she looked back at the scar on her left arm and then, with her pointer finger extended, she brought her right hand to the scar. Everyone gasped in horror and shock as Yamako sunk her claw into her skin and drew a short line straight down her arm for an inch or so before pulling the now blood covered claw away from her arm.

"YAMAKO!" Trunks practically shouted rushing over to her. "What are you doing?! STOP!"

Yamako's eyes snapped to him and Trunks backed up because of the look in them. Although they were completely void of all emotion they clearly showed 1 thing; that she wanted him to get away from her and Trunks wasn't about to find out what she would do if he didn't comply so he took a few reluctant steps back. Once he was a little way away from her Yamako focused on her arm once more as she began cutting into her arm again.

"I'm re-scarring myself. Tattoo parlors don't exactly exist in my world anymore so I had to give myself 1, and since super advanced healing make it so the scar only lasts a week at most I have to redo it every week. This time it's for good though." Yamako stated as she finished cutting the design into her arm.

"What mark?" Trunks asked almost horrified.

Yamako glanced at him with a raised eyebrow for a second before she pulled a small bottle of ink out of her pocket and put it on the table next to her after giving it a good shake. She opened the lid and after quickly glancing at Trunks she grabbed the ink bottle firmly in her right hand. She then proceeded to pour the ink on her left arm just above the mark she had made. She watched as the ink flowed down her arm and into the fresh cuts she had made; mingling with her blood as it dripped to the ground. Trunks and the others looked on in utter shock as she did this. Doing something like that could cause an infection (although unlikely since she was a Saiyan) and on top of that it had to sting and burn a lot with that ink going into a fresh open wound like that. Yamako carelessly put the ink bottle back on the table before she turned forward and pushed herself off of the bench. She stood up about a foot away from the picnic table and after glancing over everyone quickly she raised her right hand to the side and halfway in front of her face. As everyone watched she summoned her ki into her hand and brought it to her left arm. She and everyone else watched as her arm was burned by her ki in order to solder the capillaries and skin shut. When she pulled her hand away a brand new professional looking tattoo adorned her upper left arm.

The design resembled a combination of the Chaos Star and the Lemniscates (the Chaos Star has a round dot that has 8 lines with arrow heads at the end spanning out from the center dot in a circular pattern and the Lemniscates is more commonly known as the 'infinity' symbol). The design looked like the Lemniscates was laid on top of the Chaos Star so that the 4 diagonal lines with arrow heads actually ended up forming the Lemniscates centered exactly where the Chaos Star was centered. The line from the Chaos Star pointing downward was twice as long as the others and the arrow head ended up turning into a symbol that resembled the bottom part of an anchor and the line was broken by a gap with 2 horizontal equally spaced dashed lines within that gap. Everyone stared at the mark in amazement and utter disbelief; especially Vegeta who audibly gasped and openly stared at the symbol. Bulma turned to look at Vegeta with a strange expression at the way he was looking at the mark.

"Vegeta…?" Bulma questioned.

Yamako glanced up at this to notice Vegeta staring. She smirked and moved her arm to show off the mark better.

"You recognize my tattoo don't you Grandpa Vegeta." Yamako stated.

Vegeta nodded as everyone turned to look at him. They gazed at him with curiosity.

"Yes…it's the same emblem my mother wore on her Saiyan armor." Vegeta stated with a little bit of difficulty.

Everyone's eyes widened a little as Vegeta said this and they stared at Vegeta for a minute before turning to look at Yamako in slight shock. Yamako smirked at them and stood up as she casually wiped her right hand on her pants to clean off the blood from it. She stared at everyone calmly.

"That's right." Yamako stated before turning her head to look carelessly at the tattoo. "The symbol for the female members of the Royal House of Vegeta is combined with the Saiyan symbol for Feral Saiyans. The symbol that looks a little like a sun with the anchor is the symbol for female royals. The symbol that looks like the sign for infinity is the Saiyan symbol for Ferals. To Saiyans it means 'sacred' which is what Feral Saiyans were considered to be. The other symbol means 'chaos' and 'serenity' to Saiyans; and to Saiyans 'chaos' stands for balance. Together they stand for royal females." Yamako paused for a second. "Since both Grandpa Vegeta's mother and I are Feral Saiyans of the Royal House of Vegeta we both wear this symbol. "Yamako paused for effect. "It's customary for the heir to the throne to get the royal symbol tattooed on their upper arm when they reach adulthood." Yamako explained.

Everyone nodded in understanding and Vegeta continued to stare at the mark as the memories of his mother were brought back. Pan smiled slightly and stepped towards Yamako. Yamako turned and glanced at Pan as she approached while moving her arm back to her side. Not seeming to notice this, Trunks continued to stare at Yamako in utter confusion and then anger derived from panic and concern for his daughter's welfare surged forth.

"If that's true then why doesn't Dad have 1?" Trunks asked accusingly.

"Because I was only a child when Freeze destroyed our home planet and he wouldn't allow me to get the symbol for the male members of the Royal House. If there had been a way to get the mark, then I would have done so." Vegeta declared with narrowed eyes.

Trunks glanced back at him before setting his sights back on his daughter. He gave her accusing look.

"But why did you give yourself the tattoo instead of having it done? …Especially when Dad never got the tattoo for himself?"

"As I told you before Dad…there aren't really any tattoo parlors in my world for me to have gotten it done there and I didn't know that I would be coming to the past where I could have it done by the time I became an adult so I just did it to myself. And for your information Dad…Grandpa Vegeta did have the tattoo for royal males in my world when he told me about the tattoos. Asking about what his tattoo meant was why he told me about them." Yamako answered firmly as she gazed as their stunned faces, particularly Trunks slightly annoyed face and Yamako scoffed. "What's the big deal? I mean it didn't hurt. Believe me I've taken a lot worse and I am an adult. It's my choice and my body. …Besides…Shinabi has a Saiyan tattoo as well." Yamako declared with a shrug as she carelessly pointed to Pan off to her side.

Pan's eyes went wide and she shot a vengeful glare towards Yamako for revealing that. She saw Yamako turn to look at her out of the corner of her eye with a smirk spread across her face and mouthed 'thanks a lot' to Yamako; only to see Yamako's smirk widen into an almost evil grin. Everyone's eyes widened slightly and they turned to look at Pan with curiosity as Gohan and Videl shot their daughter accusing and questioning stares. Chichi was stunned and outraged at Pan getting a tattoo but Pan had already made her position known when it came to what she did with her body 8 months ago so she chose to not say anything. She just took the tattoo in stride despite her immense shock. Once the initial shock wore off some the accusation in Videl's stare disappeared and she looked at her daughter with genuine curiosity and question. She wasn't going to make a big deal about this after witnessing Pan's speech to Chichi 8 months ago and understanding that her daughter was indeed an adult and thus could do whatever she wanted. Both Chichi and Videl stayed silent along with Bulma, Bra, and Marron who had no right to judge Pan on her choice, let alone say anything. Vegeta, Goku, Goten, and Trunks decided to not get involved. Gohan didn't follow their example.

"What is she talking about? What tattoo?" Gohan asked firmly.

Pan sighed and shrugged off the red and black windbreaker she had been wearing. She tossed it onto the picnic table Yamako had been sitting at a moment before and then pulled out a black rag from her pocket. She brought it up to her right shoulder and began rubbing her upper arm. After awhile a tattoo was revealed when all the 'cover-up' makeup Pan had been using to cover the tattoo was removed. Pan lowered the rag from her arm and stuffed it back into her pocket before rotating her shoulder to give everyone a better look at the tattoo. It was much less complex than Yamako's was. It was a combination of the Lemniscates and the Ankh (the Ankh is a design that has a shape that looks like a balloon on top and at the bottom of the balloon is a cross). It appeared as though the Ankh was laid on top of the Lemniscates so the center of the Lemniscates was in the center of the top circle/balloon part of the Ankh. Everyone stared at the mark curiously; especially Goku.

"What is it Goku?" Chichi asked upon seeing the strange look on his face.

"This may sound crazy but I think I recognize part of that mark." Goku said slowly as he looked like he was trying to figure something out.

"Yeah we all do Dad…" Goten said with an amused smile. "The infinity symbol from Yamako's tattoo."

"No not that part…" Goku responded slowly. "The other part…I think I know it…I've seen it before…"

"You probably have…it's your family's symbol so you probably saw it on the armor of your father or mother when you were born. Or even your brother before you came to Earth." Yamako stated with a shrug.

They all stared wide eyed at Yamako and Yamako simply rolled her eyes at their expressions. Pan smirked to herself as she glanced between Yamako and the others; wondering how long it was going to take for her grandfather to ask how Yamako could possibly know something like that.

"How…how could you possibly…?" Goku stammered.

"Know that?" Yamako finished cockily.

Goku nodded as he and everyone else stared blankly at her. Yamako smirked and shrugged.

"Apparently I have memory encoded DNA. Important memories or knowledge from my ancestors is coded into my DNA sequence and I'm able to access it through my subconscious. It's a trait that's bred into the royal line in order to ensure they have all the knowledge necessary to rule but it's also a recessive trait that tends to skip 2 or 3 generations and mostly retains memories and knowledge mainly from or about the royal line but sometimes information from or about the non-royal line is also retained." Yamako paused in her explanation. "When Grandpa Vegeta was telling me about our symbols I asked him about that 1 and several other Saiyan family symbols I had seen within my mind. I guess at some point your ancestors held some importance in the Saiyan hierarchy and to the royal line and that's why your family symbol was logged into the memory of 1 of my ancestors. Anyways…Grandpa Vegeta remembered your family symbol from seeing your father, Bardock, when he developed the artificial moonlight technique." Yamako explained.

Everyone nodded in understanding as Pan smirked over at Yamako. Yamako smirked back briefly before turning to lock eyes with Vegeta who was looking at her with suspicion. He knew that there was something off about her story. It was unlikely that at 1 point Goku's ancestors had held enough importance to the royal family for them to be coded into the royal DNA. Even if they had been important enough at 1 point the symbol shouldn't have been remembered because it was a small detail pertaining to the family, not something that should be remembered through DNA coding. His eyes narrowed with scrutiny as he looked at his granddaughter. He would find out the truth behind this whole situation sooner or later. He'd give himself some time to filter through the information Yamako had given them and then wait for everyone else to put this whole conversation and everything behind them so he could easily approach Yamako for questioning without anyone around. He'd wait a few months for this to be forgotten and keep watch for the opportune moment to confront Yamako about the holes in her story.

Yamako knew that Vegeta suspected something but knew that he wouldn't say anything to anyone. She knew Vegeta better than probably everyone except maybe Bulma and even that was debatable. He had raised her and taken care of her throughout her entire life. He had been more like a father to her than a grandfather but on top of that he had been her trainer, her teacher, and most importantly her friend. Yamako knew his habits and how his mind worked because she had many of the same habits and her brain worked basically the same way. She had no doubt that he didn't believe her tale but was positive that he would only confront her about his assumptions and not reveal them to anyone else. Yamako was sure that he knew perfectly well about the necessity of keeping certain things secret and he wouldn't reveal her secret as long as it didn't do anything to jeopardize him or the people and things he cared about. Yamako's smirk widened for a second as she looked at Vegeta before turning to look back at Pan.

"I gave Shinabi that tattoo when she turned 18. But there's more to the tattoo than just your family symbol. It's combined with the symbol for a Feral Saiyan…just like mine was. Your family symbol means 'eternal life' to Saiyans. But it's not 'eternal life' as in immortality it's more like 'eternal loyalty' and such." Yamako shrugged as Pan nodded in agreement with a wide half smile.

Everyone looked between Pan and Yamako with wide eyes. Gohan's eyes settled on Yamako and he gave her a hard stare as he clenched his jaw.

"What do you mean 'you gave Pan that tattoo'? You convinced her to get it?" Gohan asked heatedly.

"No Dad she didn't. I asked about her tattoo when I was 16 and she told me about it. Then she told me she knew our family symbol and showed me what it looked like. I liked it so I asked if she could tattoo it on me but she said that she couldn't until I was 18 and even then that she wouldn't because she refused to give me the mark the same way she gave it to herself. She knew that I wouldn't have the same tolerance to pain as she had and that it would be too painful for her to give it to me; especially since I would have to constantly redo the tattoo to prevent my Saiyan healing from making it disappear. But I really wanted it so on my 18th birthday I took a drawing of the symbol and went out to Satan City and got it professionally done. I asked Yamako to come along but she decided to stay and train some more. She said that her way was just fine for her but she was fine with me taking time out of training to get my tattoo. You know…preserve my Saiyan heritage." Pan said shrugging at the last part.

Yamako and Vegeta smirked proudly at that remark. Pan was definitely the only member of Goku's family that actually acted like a true Saiyan and seemed interested in her Saiyan heritage. It was the 3 of them that were the true Saiyans. The only Saiyans that were completely and utterly proud and in tune with their Saiyan heritage and refused to pretend to be anything else. They wouldn't be content with hiding their true power or forget Saiyan traditions in the name of acting human. Yamako and Pan's Saiyan sides were in complete control and both tossed their human sides away and took after Vegeta in regards to their Saiyan behavior. All 3 refused to settle for being anything less than what they were. And they were Saiyans.

"Well I can't believe you actually went through with getting a tattoo!" Bra said amazed. "I mean don't get me wrong…I think it's cool…I guess…but the fact that you actually got a tattoo when you are terrified of needles."

Pan laughed slightly. "Yeah well I got over that fear as soon as Yamako threatened to…what was it that you said again Yamako…?" Pan asked as she turned to look at Yamako.

Yamako smirked. "I said 'don't tell me you're going to act like Goku and be a big baby about this because if you are then I'm going to forcibly inject you with this even if I have to knock you out in order to do it!' and I would have done that and a lot worse." Yamako relayed calmly.

"Hey!" Goku interjected when Yamako made the comment about him being childish.

He put a pitiful pout on his face shot a small scowl at Yamako. Yamako allowed an amused smirk to cross her features at this and Pan shook her head as she rolled her eyes at her grandfather before she laughed at what Yamako had said about Goku all those years ago.

"Yeah that's it. Anyways that's what she said when she was preparing to give me the serum to get my tail back. After I found out that it didn't hurt when she injected me I got over my fear; especially when I had other things to fear and worry about." Pan stated with a smile.

Everyone stared at Yamako curiously. Trunks raised an eyebrow at Yamako.

"You remember the exact words you used after more than 4 years… How is that possible…?" Trunks asked.

Yamako looked at Trunks blankly. She gave a small shrug.

"Photographic memory. Or better yet…idiographic memory since I remember what is said as well as everything that happens." Yamako stated impartially.

Trunks stared as his mind processed exactly what this meant. A look of anguish crossed his face as he realized that this meant that everything that had ever happened to Yamako in her past; every action, every harsh word, every pain she had endured was fresh and crisp in her memory. It meant she didn't even have the comfort of knowing that her memories would dull and fade with enough time. They would always be as vivid as the day they happened. Trunks' eye softened as he gazed at Yamako sadly. Yamako's eyes narrowed and she turned away as she snorted.

"It's no big deal…besides…I'm not the only person to have that kind of memory. Believe me it was a lot worse for Grandpa Vegeta after Rizaado killed Grandma Bulma." Yamako stated with a shrug.

Vegeta suddenly looked very alert, almost nervous, and tensed as everyone's eyes quickly shifted to him. He silently cursed Yamako for revealing that little bit of information. He didn't want them all knowing that he would always have a vivid memory of what Freeza had done to him. He didn't want them to pity him for that. He had dealt with the issues of his past long ago and in doing so he tapped into a portion of his full potential and made himself stronger. He didn't and hadn't wanted anyone to be aware of just how vivid the memories still were and so far had been successful in keeping that information from everyone, including Bulma. He did not know why his future self would have told Yamako about his memory capabilities. He guessed that it was because she had the same memory capabilities as he did and that she had endured some of the same traumas as he had as a child. Never-the-less Yamako should have known better than to bring such information to light and thus resulting in this unwanted attention and he was not pleased about that. Noticing Vegeta's slight glare Yamako decided it would be best to take the spotlight back off of him.

"Look, don't get all emotional about it! It's not going to change anything. The past is the past and no amount of wishing or pity will change that so save it for someone who cares!" Yamako stated harshly as she turned to leave.

Lunis let out a whimper from behind Trunks (Bra had released him once Yamako had calmed down but he had hidden behind Trunks when Yamako released her ki and cried out and had remained hiding behind Trunks the entire time) and hearing that stopped Yamako dead in her tracks. Lunis whimpered again and Yamako stiffened slightly as everyone watched with curiosity.

"Lunis…?" Yamako nearly whispered out in shock.

Pan and Trunks' eyebrows hitched up at this and they both turned to look down at the little puppy that cautiously began to venture out from behind Trunks' legs. Yamako turned around and looked down at the little puppy. An expression resembling sorrow and adoration flashed across Yamako's face for a fraction of a second the instant her eyes landed on the puppy's face. Yamako stood perfectly still and stared at Lunis as he slowly moved farther out from behind Trunks. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at Yamako and slowly began wagging his tail at Yamako. A tiny smile graced Yamako's lips at this and her entire stance relaxed.

"Lunis…" Yamako said softly as memories flooded her mind.

Author's Note: Alright so everyone has just found out about Vegeta and Yamako's ideographic memory and the fact that their past experiences will remain fresh in their minds forever. Also it seems that Lunis is causing some sort of emotional response from Yamako. Why is Yamako reacting so strongly to Lunis and how does she know him? The answers will be given in the upcoming chapters. Anyways hope you all liked it and please remember to review!