Hi everyone...Well that is if anyone is still reading this story... I am so sorry for taking so long to update this. A mix of writer's block and life got in the way. But anyway here it is.
Last time...
"Oh by the way, how was he?" Bulma asked with a wink causing Lime to go cherry red.
"Bulma!" the girl whined.
Confrontations...
"Hah!" screamed the young Trunks as he sent a barrage of ki blasts at his future counterpart. The older male powered up and sent out a strong ki wave, effectively cancelling out the blasts the child was sending his way. Like his father and younger 'brother', Mirai's clothes were tattered, drenched in sweat and stained with spatters of deep red blood. All in all it was typical father-son bonding with Vegeta.
He smirked at the child, ready to make a snide remark, but as he opened his mouth, a feeling of utter panic flooded his senses. His body shook uncontrollably as his heart immediately started beating at twice its normal rate. A steady, dull ache thrummed in his temples as his lungs constricted. He was having a full scale panic attack and he had no idea why! He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs to capacity before slowly letting out the air in an attempt to slow his racing pulse. His body complied to a degree as he tried to calm himself down. Then, as his heart rate returned to a normal level, he heard it. Well to use the word 'hear' wasn't exactly accurate. It was as if he was getting a glimpse into someone else's mind, sensing their thoughts. The only other time he had experienced anything remotely similar to this was after he and Lime had mated so he knew this had to be her. But unlike the last time where her thoughts lucid as if she were directly speaking to hum, these thoughts were distorted, punctuated by overwhelming feelings of fear that were like daggers to his skull. He tried concentrating harder to decipher the message and soon his efforts were rewarded when he heard as clear as day, 'Oh my Kami I'm pregnant'.
His heart rate sped up once again as his own panic began to set in. He knew Lime was going to see his mother for a pregnancy test sometime this week and she didn't want him to be present for it. It had hurt his feelings a little but then again he would have gone absolutely mad waiting in the lab for the results. But this message completely defeated the purpose of that arrangement. She was pregnant and she didn't have to tell him anything.
One part of his mind wondered if they'd ever be able to keep secrets from one another now. Every day since that talk with Goku, he wondered whether bonding with Lime at such an early point in their relationship had been the best thing to do. What if they didn't last? What if she decided one day that she was going to leave him? What would become of him then? Goku said that Saiyans were bound to their soulmate for life. But was she bound to him or was she free to do whatever she wanted? And now she was pregnant? He knew he was pretty open to having a baby before but that idea also became less and less appealing each time he thought about it. He had thought that raising a child wouldn't be that hard; after all he had to take care of the whole world in the future! But soon enough reality gave him a swift kick to the behind. Maybe in three to five years but right now neither of them was ready to raise a child. But now they had no choice. Neither he nor Lime was interested in aborting their baby so the question now was: were they going to suck it up and keep the baby or were they going to put it up for adoption? But then again, was letting a ¼ Saiyan baby loose on the world without training a smart thing to do? How Saiyan was a ¼ Saiyan anyway? Was it going to be as strong as the half-Saiyans were or would the Saiyan genes continue to dominate regardless of their dilution? Was he even supposed to call it an 'it'? Kami, was Lime able to read his thoughts right now?
The next thing Mirai knew, a rather large ki blast had hit him square in the chest. Blinding pain skipped along his nerves, reaching a climax as he crashed into the side of a barren mountain. Mirai coughed, clearing his airways of dust, groaned and rose to his feet, tensing as he popped his shoulder back into place. He rose into the air, vacating the hole he had made in the rock to face his scowling father. His younger counterpart was nowhere to be found.
"Brat you answer me when I am speaking to you!" Vegeta said gruffly obviously having no patience with his son's sudden attitude change.
However Mirai stared at him blankly. Was he that deep in thought that he didn't hear what Vegeta said?
"I said, what is it that has you so so preoccupied that you cannot focus on a simple spar?" Vegeta repeated.
"She's pregnant." The words spilled out of his mouth before he'd even realized he had said them. "Oh my Kami, she's pregnant! What am I supposed to do? I can't raise a baby! I-oof!" Mirai rambled on before before he got a fist to the gut courtesy of Vegeta.
"Shut up brat!" Vegeta yelled. "How do you know that?"
Mirai wheezed as he tried to pull air back into his lungs. "The mind-link thingy that Goku was talking about," he gasped.
Vegeta shook his head at the troubled young man. "Brat, you are twenty-two years old. Be a man and sort out your issues with your woman!" the older man said, essentially giving him permission to go. Sighing, he put his hand on his future son's shoulder. "Just don't be an idiot and leave her. No need for you to make the same mistake I did."
Mirai looked back at his father's sober face and nodded. He knew his parent's relationship had started out on pretty rocky soil and his father's actions must have had major consequences for him to warn him about it. Sure he was freaked out, but she probably was even more upset than he was. "I won't," he promised before taking off.
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"Ready?" Gohan asked, turning to Videl as he closed his locker for the day.
"Yup!" Videl chirped flashing him a quick smile. She was about to reach for his hand but pulled back when her fingers grazed his, remembering there were prying eyes around. The entire day they had dealt with slip-ups like this. It was such a stark contrast to the time they had spent in the wilderness, and the few days in their week off that she had spent at the Son estate. Being close to one another had become sort of automatic for them and it was hard to simply turn that inclination off. She had decided she was going to tell her father about their relationship once he got back from his business trip that weekend, regardless of the consequences. This wasn't really a secret she wanted to keep. She shot Gohan an apologetic look to which he shrugged and gestured for her to lead the way.
The two walked side by side, maintaining a reasonable distance between them as to not draw attention but remaining close enough to be friendly. The chatted animatedly as they entered the large double doors of Orange Star Elementary. Once inside, Gohan led the way to Kiara's classroom. They walked into the brightly coloured room, searching amongst the little groups of children working on some project or another for their foster daughter. Their spirits fell as they finally laid eyes on her sitting in a corner opposite a dark haired little boy. The two were wearing identical scowls and were glaring daggers at one another.
Miss Lisa got up from helping a group of three children solve a puzzle, noticing the two teenagers entering the room. "Hi, Gohan," she said politely.
"Hi Miss Lisa. This is my friend, Videl," Gohan introduced.
The two women exchanged greetings before Miss Lisa turned to the punishment corner. "Kiara, why don't you go and get your stuff while I talk to Gohan," she suggested.
Kiara turned to face her quickly, a huge grin lighting up her face as she saw both Videl and Gohan near the door. She raced over to them and gave them both a big hug before dragging Videl off to see her cubby.
As soon as the two were out of earshot, Miss Lisa began speaking. "Well as you can see Kiara was in the punishment corner today for fighting with Daisuke over there."
Gohan's face fell. "I'm sorry about that. We spoke about that just this morning. I'll talk to her when we get home," he apologized.
"Thank you for that. You wouldn't believe the number of parents that come in here believing their child can do no wrong. I'm happy to see you're not like that. But, to be fair, she was protecting her new friends after Daisuke was pushing them around. I'm happy to know that she was standing up to a bully but we don't encourage fighting here of any kind so I had to punish her as well. We like to use our words here and not out fists to sort out any issues," Miss Lisa continued.
Gohan felt a bit of relief knowing that she was only protecting her friends but understood where the teacher was coming from. He knew that especially once he started training Kiara properly she could really hurt one of the kids if she wasn't careful. That was the reason Goten wasn't enrolled in school yet. "I understand. I'll let her know that it's not ok even if she thinks it's for the right reasons," Gohan supplied.
"Thank you," Miss Lisa said giving him a smile.
"Gohan!" Kiara yelled, coming up behind him dragging an amused Videl behind her as she balanced her artwork and her schoolbag in one hand. "Oh I'm sorry. Are you done talking to Miss Lisa?" she asked politely. Chi Chi had instilled some manners in her during their short time together and it was definitely showing.
Miss Lisa smiled as Gohan replied. "Yes, Kiki."
"Oh great! Can you come see my cubby and meet my new friends?" she asked excitedly.
"Sure!" Gohan said, grabbing her bag as some of its contents threatened to spill from its still open zipper. This girl was a truck-load of energy.
"Okay! Follow me!" she said leading the way.
Kiara chatted enthusiastically as she introduced Gohan and Videl to her new friends and showed them the work she had done that day but soon enough it was time for them to leave.
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The three strolled side by side, Kiara holding on to both their hands in the middle as they headed towards the Satan residence. The teens both had a lot of homework to catch up on so Videl had decided to go home and get started. Their teachers had decided that they were going to get enough work to make up for the week's worth of learning they had missed between the field trip and their break. They chatted mostly about Kiara's day, the two foster parents getting a better idea of the personalities within the little girl's classroom and the activities they were taking part in. It seemed like to no time before they reached the massive gates of the Satan residence.
Kiara's eyes went big as she looked up at the massive structure before her. "Videl? This is where you live?" she asked incredulously.
Videl nodded a bit embarrassed, hoping the little girl didn't notice the new statue of her father in all his glory in the front garden. This was not how Kiara needed to learn about the male anatomy. How this was not deemed public exposure was beyond her. "Yeah, this is my house," she said lamely.
"Wow! It's even bigger than the castle!" Kiara said, amazed.
"Yeah, it is," Videl said. "One day soon you can come inside and visit but today I've got a lot of work to do, ok?"
Kiara nodded in understanding although her face showed the slightest disappointment. "Ok, Videl," Kiara said, giving her a hug goodbye.
"Bye, Videl," Gohan said giving her a little wave.
"Bye, Gohan," she replied softly, giving him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. She wanted more than anything to give him one little kiss but knew the paparazzi could be hiding anywhere.
"Why didn't you kiss Videl?" Videl heard Kiara asking Gohan as the teenaged girl walked through the front gates.
"Because there are some bad people hiding in the bushes, trying to take pictures of us so they can sell them for money. And we don't like that," Gohan replied as he took the girl's hand and walked towards the edge of the city.
Videl smiled at Gohan's reply and walked through the front door and closed it behind her, leaning on it and closing her eyes for a minute, frustrated that she couldn't even give her boyfriend a hug without it making headline news. She sighed and opened her eyes only to come face-to face with her father…and he didn't look very happy.
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"Who was that?" Hercule asked, looking his daughter straight in the eyes. He was dressed in a brown robe, the comfortable attire he usually put on as soon as he came home from a long trip.
Videl placed a hand over her heart. "Daddy! You scared me! When did you get back?" Videl asked trying to steer the conversation to him, hoping his narcissistic side will take the bait.
However, luck was not on her side that afternoon. Once Hercule saw a boy around his little girl he went into overprotective mode and would not be deterred unless the threat was eliminated… or at least permanently several hundred feet away from his daughter. "Answer my question," Hercule reiterated.
"Oh that, that was um… a boy in my class. We um… have a school project together and um… he walked me home with his um…little sister and um…we were discussing the project…so yeah," Videl stuttered, slapping herself at the weak lie she had just told. She was going to get them into some deep trouble.
Hercule raised a suspicious eyebrow. He and his daughter may not have had the best relationship but she had never been able to lie to him convincingly. "Oh really? So why did you hug the girl and why did you touch him?" Hercule interrogated. He would get the truth out of her yet.
"She just…um… got attached to m-me…that's all. And-and I just wanted to say good-goodbye to him and-and thanks for walking me home," Videl stammered. Inside, she sighed. They were totally screwed. Why couldn't she lie to him? He was such an expert liar obviously so couldn't he have passed on those skills to her?
Hercule looked at her disapprovingly and all of a sudden she felt like a five-year-old who just got caught stealing extra cookies. She folded instantly. "Ok dad, he's my boyfriend," she admitted. They were bound to slip up sooner or later so she guessed it was better she tell him now.
Hercule's face immediately smoldered and he turned around, pacing the room as he spoke. "What do you mean he's your boyfriend?!" he bellowed. "You're too young to have a boyfriend! I said you cannot date unless the boy is stronger than me!"
"But he is stronger than you!" Videl retorted angrily. The hurt and betrayal she had felt upon learning of her father's lie fuelled her anger towards him. But she didn't want to fight with him about that right now. That, they could leave for another time. All she wanted right now was his blessing…or at least his acceptance of her and Gohan's relationship.
Hercule immediately stopped in his tracks. He sobered up and stared at his daughter. "It's him, isn't it?" he asked, a little afraid to know the answer. Videl's hesistation was all the answer he needed. The man laughed dryly to himself. Of all the people his beautiful, perfect daughter had to fall in love with, it was the boy he had cheated all those years ago. Definite father-of-the-year material wasn't it?
He sighed heavily. "I just want you to know that I'm not proud of what I did," he began, but stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw Videl shaking her head at him. She didn't want to talk about this now and he understood. She was now facing her father, a person she now knew to be a fraud. Instead, he backtracked. "I know that there's nothing I can do to keep you apart. But I have to warn you. I've seen the destruction he is capable of. Who's to say he won't get mad at you one day and kill you?" Hercule said in a defeated tone. "I can't lose you, sweetpea."
Videl stepped closer to her father. She didn't hug him. She hadn't forgiven him enough to do that yet. Instead she laid her hand gently on his shoulder and said, "I know what you've seen. He's told me about his past but I can assure you that although he has the power to kill, he is not a killer in any sense of the word. He is the most compassionate, forgiving guy I have ever met," she said quietly. "Can you believe he's actually grateful to you for taking the spotlight away from him?" she laughed.
Hercule turned around to face her at that. "You mean he's not mad at me?" he asked tentatively.
Videl shook her head. "Well he was a bit upset that you discredited the ancient forms of martial arts and called his family and friends frauds but he's moving past that," Videl added, not wanting to let him off the hook that easily.
"I-I want to meet him. Just the two of us," Hercule said after a long pause.
"Okay," Videl replied simply before dropping her arm and retreating to her room.
Once she got there, she flopped down on her bed, a small smile on her face. It had been a long time since she'd had such a productive talk with her father. She definitely hadn't planned it this way but they were taking a step in the right direction.
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I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think!