Chapter 4

ONE WEEK LATER

"Thanks for watching Trunks, Chi Chi," Bulma whispered into the phone on the front porch of Roshi's home. The sun had already set over the waterline, and the humid, evening air caressed her face like a warm hand. "I don't know when I'll be able to-"

"Don't worry about it. He and Goten are having a great time. Besides," her voice grew solemn. "There is nowhere else I'd rather you be than with him, Bulma."

"Hmm."

"I'm so sorry."

"So am I, but he brought it upon himself Chi Chi," Bulma reassured, hoping her voice didn't sound half as exhausted as she felt. "He left you a widow, not an estranged wife. Til death do you part, remember?"

The woman on the other end sighed heavily. A couple seconds passed, and Bulma heard a soft sniffing, and a sharp intake of breath.

"Chi Chi?"

"Oh, Bulma," she whispered suddenly, "Piccolo is starting to think he should have just left. And Gohan's going crazy," she said. "He takes off every morning and spends the entire day searching for Goku. And when he comes home at night, he's twice as upset," she seemed to bite back a sob. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this from him!"

Bulma threw up her emotional barriers. Goku's incessant misery was already swallowing her in a vortex of despair, and she didn't have much heart left to spare. And come to think of it, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring Gohan over. Maybe HE could stop his father's downward tumble. It was worth a shot. "Tomorrow, Chi Chi."

"What?"

"Tell Gohan first thing in the morning, and send him over. Maybe he can help."

"Are…are you sure that's wise?"

"Trust me," Bulma said, forcing the quiver out of her voice. "I don't know that it can get much worse, and I'm all but out of ideas."

Chi Chi went silent for a few seconds. "It's that bad, huh?"

"Yeah," Bulma conceded quietly.

"Heavens…"

"I'll talk to you later."

"Right."

Bulma hung up and rested her head against her knees. She'd spent the last week dragging Goku around the world, trying to re-live the happy adventures before Chi Chi came into his life. They'd been to his grandfather's home where they first met, the small town where Oolong was trying to build a harem, the desert where Yamcha first tried to rob them…

They were moments filled with more than a little humor, and fond recollection. Yet for all the memories they shared together, Goku's face would only light up for a moment at each location, and then sink again when the novelty wore off. The conversations had gone on like this:

"Remember this place? Where that crazy rabbit turned me into a carrot?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah…" He'd grant her a forced smile that never made its way up to his eyes.

"And remember how Oolong stopped Pilaf from making his wish by ordering a pair of underwear? That he wore on his head for months afterwards?"

Pause. Nod.

"We had fun, didn't we?"

Nod.

She'd tried everything she could think of, and somehow…somehow maintained her composure for him, when all she really wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck and beg him to not give up. Nothing was working. He was only getting worse, a shell of the man he used to be. They were losing him, and it was ripping her heart in twain.

Her cell phone rang, and she wiped the back of her hand over her eyes and took a moment to compose herself before answering. Then she hit the button and held it up to her face. "Yeah?"

"It's Krillin."

"…hi…"

"Listen. We just dropped off the last of the dragonballs with Dende, so they're there if we need them. Eighteen and I are heading home right now. We should be there in a couple hours."

"…okay…"

"Is he…?"

"He's still…alive," she managed.

"Well we're bringing back some senzu beans. Maybe they can sustain his body until his mind heals."

"…yeah…"

"How are you holding up?"

She thought Krillin sounded incredibly chipper, but then he'd been gone for the past week searching for the dragonballs. Only she and Master Roshi had felt the full brunt of Goku's woes.

"I'm still alive, too," she responded ruefully.

"Hang in there Bulma. He's bound to pull out of this soon."

"yeah…"

"How's Vegeta handling the fact that you're spending every waking minute with his biggest rival?"

She snorted. "As long as his gravity room is working, the man could care less where I am or who I'm with." Then she recalled a conversation with her father earlier in the day. "But considering that it broke this morning, I imagine he'll be showing up any time now, demanding that I return and fix it."

"Yeah. That sounds like him, all right. Well, see ya in a bit."

"Bye."

Bulma hung up and sighed. So the dragonballs were collected… Not that she had any idea how they would use them if Goku completely lost it, but at least they were there. If Bulma had learned anything from all the trouble they'd been in, it was that being proactive paid off.

She slowly stood and went inside. Master Roshi was sitting at the table, his dirty magazine closed and off to the side. It almost made her sad. So dispirited was he about Goku that Roshi didn't even have the heart to peruse his porn.

"Is he upstairs?" she asked quietly.

Roshi nodded wordlessly, his eyes buried in shadow. Underneath his long white moustache a frown wrinkled his chin. The cloud that hung over Goku seemed to hang over them all. Bulma would blame him, but it wasn't his fault that they loved him so much. He never asked for their friendship - he just had it.

As she walked behind Master Roshi, she gently squeezed his shoulder, and he clasped his thick-fingered hand over hers.

"Krillin and Eighteen are bringing back senzu beans," she said. "It's not a solution, but a quick fix until then."

He nodded solemnly. She left her hand there for several seconds, sharing in the comforted silence of their weird relationship. Finally, Roshi pulled his hand back down.

"He had no defense against this," he muttered quietly.

"I know."

"None at all."

"I know."

"Had Frieza or Cell known of this weakness, they would have spent their time seducing his wife instead of trying to fight him."

His voice was broken and without hope. Do I sound the same way? Bulma wondered. How much more emotional stamina do we really have? With one last, heartfelt grip on the old man's shoulder, she trailed upstairs and quietly opened the door to Goku's room.

He was curled in a fetal position on the bed, and though the night was warm, he was shivering. She tip toed over to his bed and painstakingly pulled a cover over his body. The movement startled him and he jerked upright. She placed her hands on his chest and tried to calm him.

"Shhh. It's just me…"

He squinted at her, his face haggard and strained. "B-Bulma?"

"I was covering you."

"Oh…" He laid back down, his back to her. "I th-th-thought…that you were Ch…Chi Chi."

Bulma found she was glad he wasn't facing her in that moment, because tears immediately sprang to her eyes before she could blink them back. She swallowed several times before trusting herself to speak.

"Krillin is bringing back some senzu beans for you, Goku."

He said nothing, but she knew he wasn't sleeping. His back was convulsing with light spasms, and she figured it was his body battling to hold on against all the days with almost no food or sleep.

Oh, Goku! She silently cried. If I could take this from you, I would! As if in an effort to transfer her willpower to him, Bulma found herself lightly running her fingers in zigzags up and down his spine. He made a small noise of appreciation and inched a little closer. She breathed a sigh of relief. Finally. Something I'm doing is making him feel better.

So she put both hands to work, massaging his scalp and caressing his back. After several minutes, his jitters quieted. In some strange way it comforted her, as if touching him reinforced that he was still alive, and that there was yet hope.

I'll do this all night, every night, if it helps you to pull out of this, my friend. Her fingers kept getting caught in his unruly hair. She smiled inwardly. That hair… No less compliant now than it was when he was a little squirt. She recalled the first time she gave him a bath, trying to untangle the mess on his head. The concept of bathing had been completely new to him, something that had horrified her.

Well, if hygiene is the only thing you learned from me, Goku, then I think did my part. The past week had reminded her how much they had been through together, and in an unexpected way, how much he meant to her. The spiky-haired boy grinned hugely in her mind's eye. Hmph…goofy little terd…

…who grew to be an amazing man… Her fingers delineated the muscles on his back, which despite his body's recent neglect, were still defined more than most bodybuilders. You'd put your life on the line for a chipmunk, you silly oaf. This world is better off with you in it, even without the super hero status…

The sound of heavy, regulated breathing pulled her out of her reverie. Goku was asleep. She would have leapt for joy, had she been able to do so quietly. Easing back, she tip toed out of the room, and closed the door.

Bulma walked down the hallway, into her own designated room and laid back on her bed with her hands clasped behind her head. She hoped that perhaps she'd be able to sleep better this night, knowing that he finally was.

.

Bulma awoke later that night with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed. Huh? She tried to quiet her heart, which for some reason had thumped its way up into her throat. A nightmare? She shook her head. No. Something else.

She'd had her fair share of dealing with villains, and after all this time she knew a negative energy when she sensed one, and right now her intuition told her that they were in danger.

Goku…! Bulma leapt out of bed in her nightshirt, and stumbled towards the Saiyan's room. How do you make so many enemies, boy? She thought crazily. Whoever has come to destroy you this time picked a perfect moment. She tore into his room and gasped. He was gone. Without thinking to wake Master Roshi, she flew down the stairs desperate to find him.

Then she saw the kitchen.

The refrigerator door was all the way open, and there were wrappers and empty containers strewn all about the floor. The cupboards were also left open, and it looked as though a small tornado had blasted through the place, stripping it of all the food. What the…?

Her panic spurred her onward, even though she had no idea how she was going to protect him from whoever was out there. She bolted through the front door, combed the beach with her eyes, and froze…

Standing at the water's edge, with the waves lapping gently at his feet stood Goku. His stance was unwavering and strong, arms folded heavily across his chest. A hazy red aura encircled him in an almost foreboding manner, and Bulma found herself fighting the urge to run back in and lock the door behind her.

Confusion gave way to concern for his well-being, however, and she marched over to him in the sand, stopping just feet from where he stood. His back was to her, and though she'd made plenty of noise, he did not turn around. The hair on her arms raised.

"Goku. There's something out there," she panted, "and considering you're a magnate for trouble, it's probably after you." Several uncomfortable seconds passed in silence, and again she fought the urge to run away. "Goku…?"

He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "I was wondering," he began in a dark, ominous tone that reminded her of Vegeta in his early days, "…why it is that I never decimated this planet."

She took a step back as he turned around and faced her. She gasped and fell in the sand, scooting away from him. "What's happening to you?" she hissed, feeling fear tickle up and down her spine.

He sneered down at her, wholly regenerated, and the grin that curled his mouth was one she'd seen before…on Cell, on Frieza, on a myriad of other villains thirsting for mayhem. The gentle demeanor that she'd always associated with his face was replaced by murderous, red pinpricks in his eyes.

Cold air sucked in through her teeth as she met his gaze. Unfamiliar, stranger, evil…

Shit!

"Goku, fight it!"

The words could have been feather darts for all they affected him, and she felt her guts twist in knots as his malignant gaze fixed on her body, and narrowed in a raw desire.

"I'm also wondering," he said, shifting his focus from her legs to her chest, then back to her legs, "how it is that I never took advantage of our 'friendship'."

She would have had a hundred angry retorts for an enemy. But a friend? The intent behind his words stole her courage, and before she could put any more distance between them, Goku had grabbed her by the biceps, and lifted her up until their faces were inches apart. He laughed malevolently, and sniffed at her hair.

"Goku! Fight this! It isn't you!" she cried, feeling tears sting her eyes as his breath raked across her neck.

"On the contrary," he purred as he forcefully hugged her body against his. "This is EXACTLY who I am." His grip was like a vice, and for all her struggles she couldn't even budge.

Suddenly, his arms slackened, and he dropped her in the sand. A split second later, she knew why.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

Vegeta! Her breath caught in her throat as the prince set foot down beside them. She scrambled away from the once-hero and threw her arms around the neck of the once-villain. Vegeta possessively circled an arm around her waist without taking his hateful gaze off of Goku.

"Nothing," Goku grinned maliciously. "But if you'd shown up a minute later…" Goku let the sentence hang, and Bulma could tell by the look on Vegeta's face that he didn't appreciate the visual anymore than she did.

"Something's happened to him, Vegeta," she whispered fiercely. "He's snapped."

She watched nervously as the prince's scowl seemed to freeze as his eyes took in Goku's appearance. Then, as understanding undoubtedly dawned on him, her man's brows drew further together in the center, and a thin-lipped grin lifted the corners of his mouth. It was a face she recognized. Vegeta's battle lust was taking over, and this was one fight he'd been looking forward to for years.

"I know those eyes," Vegeta said, flashing his teeth as he spoke. "They're the eyes of a Saiyan."

Bulma heard Goku's smug snort, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. Not like this…

"Well then, Kakkarot," Vegeta continued as he pushed Bulma aside and eagerly crouched down into a fighter's stance. "It looks like that glitch in your brain has finally been fixed."