Disclaimer; I hate these things. I DON'T OWN DBZ!!!!.
A/N; I hope this chapter is long enough to make up for the crappiness of chapter 3. I know it took a long time to get it out but I have a really sore hand so I can hardly do anything, and with school work and the basket-ball finials coming (I train 3 times a week now). I hardly have time for anything. Ok I want to say thanks to every single person who reviewed my last chapter, it is very much appreciated. And if you have anything thing you would like to see in this fic just leave it in a review and I'll see what I can do. ~Deadly Beauty
A Helping Hand
Chapter 4
17,
I told you I wouldn't be here when you got back.
18
17 ripped the note into a thousand tiny little pieces and stormed off up the stairs. He didn't think 18 would actually go. It just proved that he didn't know his sister as well as he thought he did. Now he had two reasons to kill Krillen, but something was stopping him. He knew that even if he did come face to face with the midget he wouldn't kill him. Beat him up a bit sure, but not kill him. All he wanted was for his sister to be happy, this baby seemed to be making her happy and even 17 knew that every baby needed a father and 17 also knew that 18 had feelings for the midget. So he couldn't kill him. But now all because of his stupid short temper he had lost his sister and he made a promise to himself that he would get her back if it was the last thing he did.
***
Krillen arrived on Kame Island and was relieved to find that the pink house was still standing, he walked inside and saw Master Roshi on the couch, fast asleep a small line of drool running down his chin. Oolong walked into the room.
"Oh hey Krillen you're back. Some guy was here for you earlier and he seemed pretty peeved at you to." He said
"Did he say he'd be back?" asked Krillen
"No I don't think he did" replied Oolong. Krillen nodded his head and walked into the kitchen to fix himself something to eat.
Later that night he lay in bed wide-awake, he couldn't stop thinking about 18. He'd fallen head over heels for her and all over one little kiss, which was probably totally insignificant to her, but still it had changed his life. And now the best news of all, he was going to be a dad, and he was going to be a damn good one. Now all he had to do was convince 18 to move in at Kame House and who knew how things would progress from there.
A few minutes later someone started banging on Krillens door. He got up and opened it.
"What do you want Master Roshi?" he asked.
"I wanted to asked you about your friend" said Roshi
"Which one?" asked Krillen
"The one who stopped by earlier"
"You must be talking about android 17, he's not my friend" said Krillen.
"Well then why was he here looking for you?"
"Uh, he's a little bit pissed off at me at the moment"
"Why?" asked Maser Roshi
"Let's not worry about that right now, I'll explain everything to you when the times right" said Krillen and he pushed Master Roshi out the room and closed the door, then he went and stood out on the balcony.
***
Bulma had said any time 18 had needed to chat she was available, and it was only 10 o'clock. Bulma should still be awake. 18 threw off the covers and went downstairs to see if Bulma was awake.
Bulma was sitting on the couch watching a documentary when she heard someone walk into the room, she turned around and saw 18 standing in the door way.
"Hi 18, what are still doing up?" asked Bulma.
"Well I was wondering if we could have a chat" said 18. Bulma patted the spot on the couch next to her. "Sure we can, come sit over here and tell me what's on your mind" she said. 18 went and sat next to Bulma, she was quiet for a few minutes while she thought about how she should tell Bulma.
"Um ok I guess I should start from the beginning" she said. Bulma nodded her head.
"Well it was about 2 months ago I think and I don't really want to go into detail about what happened but it all resulted in me carrying Krillens child" said 18
"What?!" exclaimed Bulma, her shock was obvious "are you saying your pregnant?"
"That's what I'm trying to say, but you didn't let me finish, there's still more".
"Ok, well go a head then" said Bulma.
"Today 17 found out and he got mad and he went to go and destroy Krillen, but I put a stop to that and then Krillen brought me here because he thought 17 might come after me to once he found out I helped him" explained 18. Bulma went into deep thought for a few minutes then she looked at 18 and smiled.
"Well I can see where he's coming from, he's trying to protect you and your baby".
"I know that" said 18.
"I know it's late but how would you feel about letting me run a few tests on you? You know just to check up on the baby" asked Bulma as she stood up.
"I don't know Bulma" said 18, she didn't really like the idea of someone running tests on her, especially someone she hardly knew. That was how she got herself into this mess in the first place.
"It's ok, I won't hurt you or do anything you don't want me to ok" said Bulma. 18 sighed and stood up. "Ok then, let's get this over with".
"Well everything appears to be fine" said Bulma.
"What do you mean 'appears to be'?" asked 18
"I mean your still at a very early stage in the pregnancy, I'd say 3 to 3and a half months, and it really is still too early to tell is anything's wrong" explained Bulma. 18 yawned, the tests had taken longer than she had expected. "I think I'm going to go to bed ok" she said. Bulma nodded her head and 18 turned and left.
***
Krillen was up bright and early the next morning, he had a shower and got dressed into a pair of black pants and a red tee shirt. Then he went down stairs to make himself and Master Roshi some breakfast his cooking wasn't the best in the world but at least it didn't taste like Bulma's. Some people, like Chi-chi were lucky enough to possess the knowledge and skill to be able to prepare a decent meal, but some people, like Krillen and Bulma, were not. Soon Master Roshi and Oolong walked into the kitchen, they were chatting about something or other, it didn't interest Krillen at all.
"Here you go guys, enjoy" he said as he put a plate in front of each of them, he kept one for himself and sat down and ate. As soon as he had finished his food and his cup of coffee, which he couldn't start the morning without, he left for the Capsule Corp.
***
18 felt her whole body being shaken around and she opened her crystal blue eyes. Bulma was standing over 18 shaking her awake.
"What do you want?" asked 18
"Good, you're awake," said Bulma "you have to get downstairs now" she demanded. 18 sleepily sat up and rubbed her eyes "Why?".
"17's coming up the driveway. Vegeta's dealing with him now, but I don't think he can hold him off for long" said Bulma.
"Where should I go?" asked 18 as she picked up her brush and ran it through her messy blonde strands
"Go downstairs to my office, there's an elevator at the end of the hall, go to floor six. Once you get to my office lock the door and then press the big red button and stay in there until I come and get you' explained Bulma. 18 nodded her head and picked up her clothes, then she headed for the hall.
"And 18" called Bulma. 18 turned to look at her "Hurry".
***
"I will only ask you one more time android. What do you want?". 17 wipe some blood of his face and smirked at Vegeta.
"I already told you, I want my sister" he said.
"Well my woman told me not to let her near you and I told her I'd keep you away, I'm a man of my word 17" said Vegeta. Both men were silent for a few minutes neither one daring to break eye contact because the second they did the other would beat them into a bloody pulp. Then all of a sudden they vanished, only to re-appear high above the Capsule Corporation, locked in fierce hand to hand combat.
***
Krillen stopped mid flight and blinked a few times. He had just felt a huge power surge coming from the direction of the Capsule Corp, it had to be Vegeta. Krillen felt the fear surge through his body as he thought of all the horrible things Vegeta could be doing to 18 right now, he was only about 10 minutes away from Capsule Corp so he took off at full speed to at least try to help 18.
***
The battle had grown in intensity, Bulma who was watching from the front step, wondered if the two men even remembered why they were fighting anymore. Vegeta seemed to have the upper hand at the moment but Bulma wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. Suddenly a rather large energy blast hit 17 in the stomach and sent him flying back a few feet, it did little more than just shock him for a few moments. Vegeta looked down at his hands, had he done that? But no, for when Vegeta looked to his left he saw Krillen, lowering his hands from the blast he had just fired. 17 saw him to and he felt all his anger and hatred for the small human come back to boiling point.
"17 what are you doing here?" asked Krillen
"Well I was here to bring my sister home, but now I think I'm going to kill you instead"
***
18 was completely unaware of what was going on above her as she made her way to Bulma's office, she found it easily enough and locked the door and pressed the button just as Bulma had told her to. She looked around the office in search of something to do, she got board easily and didn't like the idea of having nothing to do for however long she s going to be down here for. She turned on the t.v, nothing good was on, went to the computer, Bulma had no games, raided the mini fridge, nothing good to eat. 18 sighed and slumped down on the black leather couch, there were a few women's magazines on the table so she picked one up and began to read. All of a sudden she felt Krillen's ki take a huge nosedive, she jumped up and ran for the door and unlocked it but it just wouldn't open.
'Stupid Bulma and her stupid inventions' she muttered to herself as she sat back down 'I swear if Krillen is hurt I'm gonna hurt her'
***
Back on the battlefield Krillen was indeed hurt, or at least in the process of being hurt. 17 had lashed out at him and while Krillen was trying his very best, it was no where near good enough. 17 delivered the final blow and Krillen was sent plummeting towards the earth.
"Krillen" screamed Bulma as Krillen hit the ground with a loud thud. Bulma ran over to him and leaned down beside him, he was unconscious and bleeding rather badly from several different places. He would need to go in a re-gen take for a while. Bulma tried her best to pick Krillen up but she just wasn't strong enough.
"Need some help?" came a deep voice. Bulma looked up and saw Piccolo towering over her, he bent down and picked Krillen up then he followed Bulma to the medical unit of Capsule Corp.
****
"Thanks Piccolo, I don't think Krillen would have made it if it wasn't for you" said Bulma as she pressed the buttons to start up the re-gen tank.
"Don't mention it, but now I think I'm gonna go help you husband teach that android a lesson" said Piccolo and he walked off. Bulma washed Krillen's blood off of her hands and then made her way back outside, only stopping to get some sensu beans out of the cupboard.
Vegeta and Piccolo had teamed up and were in the process of beating the crap out of 17, in the beginning he had thought the sayian and the namek would be an easy kill, but unfortunately for him, he was wrong and before long he slipped into unconsciousness.
"What should we do with him?" asked Bulma as she prodded 17 with her foot.
"Kill him" suggested Vegeta.
"No, 18 might get a little pisses if we did that, she already gonna be mad that Krillens out" said Bulma
"Vegeta, Bulma's right. We should probably just dump him in the forest or something" said Piccolo.
"Fine," he said "but if he ever shows his face around here again I'm going to crush him into a thousand tiny little pieces".
***
18 heard the lock open and a few seconds later Bulma walked into the room. 18 stood up to greet her friend. "Is it safe to come out yet?" she asked. Bulma laughed a little and sat down on her desk.
"Yeah, Vegeta and Piccolo took care of your brother" she said.
"And what about Krillen, I can barely feel his ki anymore" said 18.
"About that, 17 got the better of him. But don't worry we got him into a re-gen tank in time, he'll be just fine" said Bulma.
"Can I see him?" asked 18
"Sure," said Bulma "follow me".
***
A few minutes later Bulma and 18 arrived at a big set of double doors, on top the words Capsule Corporation Medical Facility were written.
"Go in there and it's the first door on the left," said Bulma "I'll be in in a few minutes". 18 nodded and made her way into the room.
Krillen was resting in the pale green liquid, his hair was floating around everywhere. 18 walked up to the case and rested her hands on the cool glass.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I never should have come to the island that night" she said, 18 was quiet as if waiting for a reply but when none came she pulled up the nearest chair and sat down in front of the tank, soon Bulma came into the room.
"How's he doing?" she asked. 18 shrugged her shoulders
"I don't know, I was kinda hoping you could tell me". Bulma walked over to the tank and looked at it for a few minutes, then she pressed a few buttons.
"Well it's 10 now, I'd say he'll be able to come out at about 9.30 tonight," said Bulma "now how about we go upstairs and get something to eat".
***
For 18 the day seemed to drag on forever, what seemed like hours were in-fact only minutes. She spent a large amount of the day sitting on the couch staring a spot on the wall, she had no intensions of moving anywhere unless it was to go get Krillen.
"18 maybe you should go and get some fresh air, it's a lovely day outside" suggested Bulma.
"I don't want to" said 18, she sounded like Trunks when he didn't want to do something, but that's five year olds for you.
"C'mon, let's just go for a short walk" said Bulma. 18 realised that Bulma probably wouldn't go away until 18 agreed to go outside with her, so she stood up and followed Bulma outside.
Bulma was right, it really was a nice day, it was the middle of spring and the warm sun shone down on 18 warming her whole body.
"You were right Bulma, this is exactly what I needed" she said. Bulma smiled.
"Glad I could help".
The two women walked right around the Capsule Corp, it was a big walk and took almost two hours. They chatted about many things and they hardly realised that they had been walking for so long, soon they arrived back at the main building. Bulma looked up at the clock, it was almost 4.
"Bulma honey, is that you?"
"Yes mum, it's me" said Bulma as she and 18 walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table
"Is your friend staying for dinner?" asked Mrs.Briefs
"If she wants to" replied Bulma and she looked at 18, the question in her eyes was evident. 18 just nodded her head to show her acceptance. Mrs.Briefs looked at 18. "Can you cook?" she asked. 18 almost laughed.
"Of course I can cook" she said
"Well in that case maybe you can give my Bulma a few tips" said Mrs.Briefs then she burst out laughing, Bulma's face went bright red.
"Mum!" she shrieked.
***
The alarm on Bulma's watch began to beep, 18 looked up.
"What is that?" she asked. Bulma took her safety goggles off and picked up her watch, she pressed a button and the beeping stopped.
"C'mon it's almost 9.30" said Bulma. 18 stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and followed Bulma. They had been in Bulma's lab, she had been running a few tests on her latest project 18 kept herself busy with a couple of magazines.
Now she walked down the quiet hall of the underground lab of Capsule Corp, now that 18 thought about it, almost all of Capsule Corp was under ground. All the other employees had long since gone home, business hours were only 9 till 5, so the only sounds were of Bulma's heels taping on the floor. 18 would never be caught dead in a pair of heels for two reasons. 1) They didn't make very good shoes for her area of expertise, if she were a scientist they might have been ok but she was a fighter. And 2) they were just plain uncomfortable, sure she liked to look her best, but not if it meant she had to squish her feet into pointy toed shoes and destroy her back, no she was perfectly happy to walk around bare foot.
Since she was in such deep thought about Bulma's shoes 18 didn't notice they had arrived and the re-gen tank and she almost had a heart attack when she looked up to see where they were and saw Krillen no more that 3 feet away.
"Would you like to do the honours?" asked Bulma.
"Huh? What?" asked 18
"Do you want to press the button?" asked Bulma.
"Oh, I don't know which one to press" said 18.
"It's the big blue one" Bulma informed her.
"Well in that case". 18 took a step forward and pressed the button. She watched as the liquid drained away and Bulma opened the tank and Krillen stepped out, dripping with icky pale green stuff. 18 didn't even get a chance to talk to him before Bulma pushed him off into another room and closed the door before she could follow.
A few minutes later Bulma came out again, Krillen wasn't with her.
"He's in the shower" Bulma answered 18's question before she could even ask it.
"Ok, thank you" said 18.
"Now if you don't mind I have something which I really have to attend to. If Krillen comes out before I get back you two jus wait for me in here, I shouldn't be any more than 20 minutes" said Bulma and she left.
18 sat down on a chair and began to wait. She rested her hands on her stomach and smiled, today had been a weird day, this had really been the first time she'd been alone to think about her current situation. She was 3 and a half months pregnant, which was great; with Krillen's baby, which was good; but she had nowhere to live, which was bad. She could hardly stay at Capsule Corp, she already felt like she had out stayed her welcome. 18 buried her face in her hands and groaned.
"What am I going to do now?" she asked herself.
"Well if you wanted to you could come stay with me" came a voice fro across the room. 18 looked up and saw Krillen
"You're just trying to be nice, you don't really want me around, I'd cramp your style. Krillen laughed and moved a little closer to 18.
"What style?," he asked "Kame Island doesn't really have much style, more you're more than welcome to come stay with me". 18 thought about it. she probably wouldn't get a better offer and living out there wouldn't be to bad, she would have lots of privacy and she really didn't want to stay at Capsule Corp any longer than she had to
"Ok I'll stay with you" she said.
"That's great, I was hoping you would" said Krillen.
"How do you feel?" asked 18.
"I'm ok, a bit sore, but nothing I haven't felt before" replied Krillen. 18 felt really bad that her brother had hurt Krillen so bad.
"I'm sorry about what my brother did" she said.
"Hey don't apologise, you didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't your fault" said Krillen.
Soon Bulma came back.
"It's good to see you Krillen, I'm glad your feeling ok" she said.
"Thanks Bulma" said Krillen.
"Now are you ready to go home?" asked Bulma.
"I am" replied Krillen.
"Ok, now since I'm not going to let you fly we're taking the plane" said Bulma. And she headed for the door.
"C'mon 18, let's go home" said Krillen.
***
During the flight home a thunderstorm began. 18 who was asleep on the chair next to Krillen groaned and rolled over, Krillen caught her just before she hit the ground and he put her back on the seat. When the next crack of thunder sounded 18 sat bolt upright and looked around.
"Go back to sleep, it's just a storm" said Krillen.
"I was asleep?" asked 18
"You sure were," said Bulma from the front seat "but stay awake now, we'll be landing on the island in a few minutes". 18 looked out the window and down at the ocean, the waves were huge. In the distance 18 could see a light, she guessed it was coming from the Kame House. Soon Bulmas' plane touched down on the island.
"I guess you staying in here," said Krillen.
"You bet I am, I'm not getting wet," said Bulma. Krillen looked at 18 and held out his hand. 18 was confused but she took it anyway. Krillen powered up a little and his ki surrounded both him and 18 then they climbed out the plane and went inside.
Inside the Kame House it was nice and warm. The TV was on but Master Roshi and Oolong were nowhere to be found.
"They must be in bed," said Krillen "are you hungry?". 18 shook her head and turned off the TV.
"I've already eaten" she said.
"Well then if you'll follow me upstairs I'll show you where you're sleeping" said Krillen and he made his way up the stairs.
"This is my room, you can sleep in here until we clean up one of the spare rooms tomorrow" explained Krillen.
"Well where are you going to sleep?" asked 18
"I'll take the couch" replied Krillen.
"Uh-uh, you've had a rough day today and you're not sleeping on the couch," said 18 "I won't let you, I'll take the couch".
"You're not sleeping on the couch" said Krillen.
"Well if I'm not letting you sleep down stairs and your not letting me then I guess there's only one thing to do" said 18
"What's that?" asked Krillen
"We'll just share this bed, it's plenty big enough for both of us and it's only for one night. We're both mature adults, I think we can handle it" replied 18. Krillen smiled at 18, that was a great idea.
"Ok then, it's agreed".
A/N; What did you think? Please tell me in a review
Oh yeah go and read Juu-Chan2002's fic 'Let Him Be Me Hero' it is a really good K/18 get together fic.