Chapter One: Towards a new beginning

Twelve years later…

Dear Diary,

I'm finally seventeen…But I don't feel seventeen. My life does not seem to be revolving with the world. It's been about twelve years of hard work, it feels as if my life has not yet begun…

Bulma looked outside her window. Outside seemed so peaceful. The breeze were blowing softly against the trees, the sky was light blue. She wished that she was outside to enjoy the movement of spring. Suddenly she felt a painful slap on her arm. She turned around and faced her master, Riyuka. Riyuka was holding a whip.

"Get back to work, you little twit! Otherwise, you won't be getting any dinner tonight!" She whipped Bulma very hard a couple of times. Bulma cried out.

"I'm so sorry, Lady Riyuka. I'll get back to work!" Bulma screamed again, and this time she dropped to her knees. She covered her face with her arms trying to block the pain. Riyuka kept on whipping her.

"Maybe this would teach you a lesson not to daydream when you should be doing your chores!" Riyuka then stopped whipping. She straightened up and walked off, leaving Bulma lying in a corner. Bulma looked up, tears in her eyes. She wiped her tears and finally stood up. She lifted her arms and examined them. She saw the crimson blood trickle down each long cut. She tried to shrug of the pain and picked up a broomstick and started sweeping the floors. She started to think about how much longer that she would have to do chores for Lady Riyuka. It was not always pleasant. Bulma had recently just turned seventeen and she hoped that she would be able to leave home by the time she was eighteen and live her own life. She had grown up in Riyuka's house. She had spent her twelve years doing chores and cooking, and with the daily beating from Riyuka and her whip. She had no memory of her earliest years, no memories of her parents or anything about her family. Nikeyu had been a close friend of hers but he was gone forever. She sighed and kept on sweeping.

After Bulma had finished sweeping the whole house, she put the broom away and took off her apron. She got out her little bag and walked out of the house. She loved the gentle breeze blowing across her face as she did her daily walk to the markets, buying vegetables.

"Hey Bulma!" she heard a faint voice calling out to her from the distance. She turned around and smiled.

"Hey ChiChi!!" she yelled back, waving her arms around and running towards the girl who was calling her name. The two best friends hugged each other.

"Oh, Bulma, I haven't seen you for days! How have you been? Did you know what I found -" ChiChi suddenly stopped speaking and saw the bruises and cuts all over Bulma's arm. "Bulma! Has Lady Riyuka been beating you up again?"

Bulma quickly put her arms behind her back. "Oh I'm fine ChiChi, nothing out of the ordinary," she gave a weak smile.

ChiChi didn't look satisfied. "I hope you're okay. Well anyway, I was just trying to tell you, did you know that something might happen to Taisen City?"

Bulma stared at ChiChi strangely. "What do you mean?"

ChiChi shrugged. "Oh I don't know, I just heard a few things around. I better get going and do my chores. I'll see you tomorrow or maybe later tonight!" Bulma nodded and waved goodbye. Riyuka's house was right near ChiChi's master's house. Bulma tightened her grip to her tattered bag and continued to walk down the marketplace.

Later that night… near midnight…

Bulma's eyes suddenly opened and she sat up her bed. She had a strange feeling that something wasn't right. She sniffed the air. She was right, something definitely wasn't right. She quickly jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. She saw Riyuka running out of her bedroom. "Get out of my way you fool!" she yelled and she pushed Bulma out of the doorway. Bulma screamed as she landed right outside of the house. She lifted her head and looked around. All the houses surrounding her were set on fire. People were screaming and trying to evacuate the area. There were people dressed in armour and shooting dangerous looking weapons at every person in sight. They weren't far from Bulma.

"Holy shit," she breathed and got up and ran as fast as she can. She saw a flash of black hair in front of her. She squinted her eyes. Could it be? "ChiChi!" she yelled out. The girl turned around. It was definitely ChiChi.

"Bulma!" ChiChi yelled back. The two girls ran towards each other. "Oh my god, what is going on here? We better get away from here as fast as possible!" They both started running into a forest. Trees surrounded them and suddenly they heard thunder. Bulma looked up the sky and saw black clouds above her, making the night more threatening. It all of a sudden started pouring.

"Oh no! What are we going to do?" Bulma yelled. ChiChi, who was running in front of her, suddenly screamed and fell down, out of sight.

"ChiChi! Where are you!" Bulma screamed, frantically trying to find where ChiChi was. She could barely see as water was dripping into her eyes. She started walking and then tripped over the root of a tree. She screamed as she started falling down a sloped ground. Then she blacked out.

AN: Hi! I hoped you liked the first chapter. I know that it's going really slow at the moment and nothing happens. But please be patient. Vegeta won't be popping up in this fic yet. Not until another chapter or two. Sorry! Well, please review and tell me what you think so far!