Welcome to chapter 3!

Summary:

Never one to go looking for love, she let life lead her wherever it would, and she followed. Then she met him, and her life turned around. However, how can one keep what is taken, and how can one love what is lost? Not Serena-centered.

(Suggestions on the summary are welcomed gratefully).

Title:

Even so, Life Goes On

Warnings:

None that come to mind.

Pairings: [Not in order of my favorites, don't worry =) ]

Ami/Trunks: 3

Ami/Vegeta: 3

Ami/Piccolo: 2

Ami/Tien: 1

Ami/Yamcha: 1

Ami/Goku: 0 [Poor Goku]

Symbols: -word- = Emphasis or Italics

--- = Separates present from past - - or what Ami is writing

Notes:

This is going to be a 2-Part chapter, so in the next chapter it's just going to continue from where it left off in this chapter. Okay? Okay!

Chapter 3

Straight as a board without the tiniest of flickers, the candlelight flame [AN: Yes, if you hadn't noticed already, fire fascinates me, which is a distinct reason why I keep writing about it in the beginning of each chapter. Good job to those who noticed! Bravo.] stands motionless. A blotch of moonlight sits proudly on my paper, highlighting my writing as if it is a masterpiece. And it will be, one day.

I smile, my head resting in my palm and slightly tilted, thinking about the next part of my story, and about the woman who will soon make it most enjoyable if it is not already.

Bulma . . . one of my best friends . . .

---

She looked human enough---not to say that any of the men here didn't look human, no---with a brilliant, confident smile and wide demanding blue eyes. Her hands rested upon a slim waist in a pose that screamed Minako, yet for an odd reason she reminded me of Molly---a friend I got the pleasure of meeting only a few times before---with her seemed innocence and naiveté. Of course, she looked no older than I was, just wiser. Much wiser, as if she had seen everything there was to see and done everything there was to do.

And then she caught me staring.

"Bulma" waved to me, catching the attention of Trunks and Gohan, who had both surrounded her with smiles and laughs and chatter.

"Hey, it's Ami!" Gohan came bounding over to me. I had to admit, I absolutely adored the way Gohan called my name as if I were a good friend of his that he hadn't seen in so long. The kid was on my soft side the minute he introduced himself. Well, maybe ten minutes after he introduced himself. Anyhow, I liked him.

"Hi, Ami!" He gave me that beaming smile, the smile that made him seem at ease with everything in the world. I admired the kid for that. Suddenly, Goku yelled something and Gohan cocked his head, listening. "Oh, dad's calling me. Be right back!" And he was off.

"Ami, huh?" Bulma strolled over, greeting me with a million-dollar smile and an outstretched hand. "Bulma," She said.

I smiled, taking the hand and shaking without hesitance. "Ami." Whether from being shy or not knowing what to talk about, I lapsed into silence, just smiling a small smile and waiting for her to give me the polite brush- off of: "It was nice meeting you; see ya around." And never speak with me again.

But she didn't and instead asked: "Man, is it just me, or is it kinda hot out here?"

Hot? I had never once noticed the temperature, but now that she mentioned it, it was a bit sticky. "Yes-" I began.

"So where're you from?" She gave me that same smile, shifting her weight from her left foot to her right.

"Tokyo, Japan." Bulma raised a suspicious eyebrow, asking: "What part, and do all of the girls have blue hair, like yours?" That seemed to be a question I could have asked her, because Bulma had an aqua-green colored hair. I only shook my head. "It's natural."

Bulma laughed suddenly, as if my sincerity was the funniest thing in the world. At my questioning stare, she giggled out: "Sorry, the way you said it was just---okay, there's this joke, right? And it goes like this: This blonde girl was walking in the mall---I think it was the mall, she could have been walking downtown---and sees a girl---I don't know how long she was walking, probably about five minutes or so---with brown hair . . ."

I'd heard the joke too many times from Minako, and that was because every time my friend explained it to me, she'd forget days later that she told it to me already, then she'd tell it again and the cycle would continue. I'd never, though, heard the joke told by a person who put her two bits in after every line.

Personally, I still didn't understand what made Minako crack up at the part where the woman with green hair wiped her nose and ran her hand through her mucus-filled mane, declaring her hair color as "natural," but I guess I hadn't been around humorous people long enough, just easily-amused ones.

I offered Bulma a laugh when she finished the joke I knew inside and out, and she laughed along with me just as Trunks decided to come over and see just what was so funny.

"Hey, Trunks," Bulma said, calming a bit, "I was just telling Ami this hilarious joke."

Trunks sighed. "You mean the one about the girl who covered her hair in snot? Yeah," He said, "funny."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "I thought so too."

I don't know what possessed me to do so, but in the next instant I was staring down at Trunks' arms, watching a small infant wriggling around, crying in protest. How I hadn't noticed Trunks was holding a baby earlier, I -still- don't know. But the next words out of my mouth were: "Is he yours?"

Trunks looked straight at me, the bridge of his nose turning a slight shade of embarrassed red. "No, not at all, he's not mine." Then he looked at Bulma. "He's hers." He handed the baby to her, letting the babe grasp hold of his larger finger.

Bulma smiled proudly. "Yup, he's mine. All mine." At Trunks' disapproving stare she sighed, annoyed. "And Vegeta's, too."

"Vegeta's his father?" That couldn't be possible! For starters, the baby looked like he was Trunks' infant clone or something, and Vegeta didn't seem like the family type of guy. And hadn't Gohan said that -Trunks- was Vegeta's son anyway? Did that mean Bulma was Trunks' mother? No way. She looked young enough to be my sister! But then again, Vegeta didn't look that old either . . . It must have meant Vegeta had more than one wife. One as Trunks' mother, and Bulma as the baby's mother.

I stared in awe at the gruff-looking man still leaning against one of the pillars. He must have been really -old-. He glanced over at Bulma and the baby, caught me staring, scowled and looked off. I blinked. "Are you sure he isn't Trunks' son?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I'm sure. Especially since Trunks is -my- son, as well."

My head snapped toward hers to make sure she wasn't just trying to make me confused. Her eyes told a story of no lies, and my mouth dropped. "Wait a minute, back up." My head was starting to hurt with all the thinking it was doing. "If I understand this correctly, Trunks is yours and Vegeta's son, and so is this baby?" How could it be possible? Was Bulma 45 with an infant son, even though her looks stated otherwise? If so, my mother---a doctor, of course---would have loved to know her secret!

Most women didn't have children after the age of 45 because it was a known fact that their children would almost always be born with Down syndrome or some other genetically altered mutation.

I stopped thinking when Bulma's hysterical laughter reached my deafened ears.

She was doubled over with Trunks holding his younger brother and staring down at her with a small frown on his good-looking face. "Th-the look," She wheezed, "the look on your face---priceless!" Her coughing stopped the laughter and she stood straight, giggles making her body shake and tears dropping from her eyes. "I'm sorry," She gave a last laugh. "It wasn't that funny."

It really wasn't and I had half a mind to tell her so, but my manners kept me in check. "It's fine." I replied to her apology, only slightly less offended.

"My mother laughs at things that aren't funny." Trunks offered. "She thinks other people's faults are humorous, even though she herself has too many to count." That actually made me laugh, but Bulma looked angry.

That made me laugh harder.

"Har, har, har," She barked, grabbing her baby from Trunks. "This is your cue to leave, son." She snarled the last word, glaring at him until he snickered and walked off.

Her glare followed his back for a minute until she turned around to me, a pleasant smile upon her face. "Well now, let's get down to business."

I nodded, having absolutely no idea of what she was talking about.

"How exactly did you wind up here?" With her free hand she gestured to the palace around us.

My eyes traveled to Goku, still talking with his son. "I was at my beach--- "

"You own a beach?"

I smiled. "No, I just call it my beach because no one else seems to know about it, and I found it when I was really young."

She nodded. "Uh huh. So you were at your beach . . .?"

"And it started to thunder, so naturally I figured a storm was going to hit. I---"

"If you knew a storm was going to start, why'd you stay? Did you try to get to your boat? What---"

"Mrs. Bulma." I regarded her calmly.

First she cringed, then she started laughing. "One: Call me Bulma, nothing else. Two: I sometimes run off at the mouth, it's a trait you'll have to get used to. Sorry."

"It's fine." My smile re-assured her. "Anyhow, I figured a storm was going to start, so I stayed where I was. I like to write, so whenever something beautiful in my life happens, I record every detail as sharply as I can."

"O-oh! I see. Interesting. I'll have to read one of your works someday." She caught herself and shook her head. "There I go again. Continue, sorry."

I laughed a little. "It's really OK. Well, the next thing I knew half of my beach was gone, and only the waves of the ocean water remained. I decided that then it would be a good idea to find my boat. In the next instant I was scooped up, and . . ." I gestured to the space around us. "I was here."

Bulma placed her baby on her opposite hip, nodding. "So you were rescued. Yeah, I'm glad Goku found you. Cell was out there destroying the Islands [AN: I forgot if "Island" was supposed to be capitalized or not. Is it?] and stuff."

Cell. That sparked something in my mind and I remembered I -still- didn't know who Cell was. "Thank you. By the way, who exactly is Cell?"

She stared at me long and hard for a moment. "Umm . . . sweetie, did you hit your head?" When it was obvious I had done nothing of the like, Bulma gasped loudly. "Oh my gosh!" Her yell attracted much attention.

Much -un-needed- attention.

Vegeta was standing by Bulma in an instant, glaring straight at me. "What is it, woman?" He growled, his eyes radiating the hatred he had for me.

I backed up, shaking on the inside, but just blinking on the outside. I may have looked calm, but I was terrified. So I backed up more . . .

. . . right into Piccolo.

My head tilted back and I was staring right up into curious yet annoyed black eyes. And I blinked.

Piccolo took me by the shoulders and pushed me forward a little, just to make sure there was enough space between him and I.

Then a hand fitted into my own and I knew Gohan had heard Bulma's cry as well. I stood next to the little guy. And his dad. His muscle-y dad. Heh.

This is a first, I mused. Being surrounded by guys. If only Minako knew . . . she'd be so jealous! My happy thoughts were cut short when Bulma pointed right at me, mouth open.

"She doesn't know who Cell is!"

The next thing that happened was---in my mind---completely unexpected. I was sure everyone would stare at me as if I was a lab specimen because of my lack of knowledge of Cell, but that didn't happen. There were a whole bunch of annoyed sighs and the guys shook their heads at Bulma, then--- sadly---left, and Vegeta yelled---I really didn't think he had to raise his voice---:

"Then why don't you TELL her!" He started to stalk away, back to his post. "Idiot woman screaming for idiot things. I should have eliminated you back on Namek instead of letting you produce my offspring!"

Bulma glared at his back and thrust her baby in my arms. When she was sure I had him, she bent down, yanked off her shoe and hurled it at Vegeta's back, hitting him square in the middle.

"Ha-HA!" She bellowed. "That's why you just got hit with a shoe, you lousy excuse for a husband!"

Vegeta didn't even flinch, just retrieved the shoe . . .

. . . and tossed it over the side of the floating palace. And kept walking.

I, sad to say, was laughing like an idiot, and Bulma focused her heated glare on me for a second, before turning it back to Vegeta's dorsal side, howling:

"You'd better get that for me or no food for . . . a week!"

I had no clue as to why that would make a difference when Vegeta could just go out shopping, but it slowed Vegeta's pace a little, and I thought that maybe it had hit home.

Until Dende came walking out of his room with about forty plates of food and beverages. He smiled, oblivious to Bulma's murderous gaze, and said, "After you eat, Vegeta and Trunks, you can go into the Time Chamber. You must eat before you go into it to conserve your strength."

Goku skipped---not literally---right over to the food and plopped himself down beside Vegeta, who promptly scowled and moved away. Gohan placed himself next to his dad and Piccolo ignored them all.

"Lousy, ignorant, greedy, filthy, unloving, irresponsible . . ." Bulma's ranting brought my attention back to her.

She noticed me staring, and her foul mood seemed to . . . vanish. "Well," She said sweetly, "now you know how much of a jerk my loathe-full, mangy, disgusting, hateful and arrogant husband is." Okay, so maybe it hadn't.

I nodded slowly, the babe in my arms beginning to doze. "So, who -is- Cell? So far, all I know is that I know nothing about him, and that seems to be a bad thing."

Bulma smiled---it seemed a little forced---and reached out for her baby, which I gently gave to her. She cooed at him for a moment, then slowly sat down on the ground, me following suit.

"Cell," She began, "is a bad guy."

No, really? It was my first thought and it desperately pleaded to jump out of my mouth. I bit my tongue. "Oh."

"Yes, he's a bad one."

"What makes him so . . . bad?"

Bulma's face turned grim. "He used to suck the life out of people to get his power. Sucked the life right out of them like sucking lemonade through a straw." She looked thoroughly disgusted.

Power? The word was familiar, but it confused me. How could anyone other than the Sailor Scouts and our enemies have any sort of power? I figured that Cell was any enemy from the way everyone spoke so lowly of him, but how come the Sailor Scouts had never heard of Cell before, then? And how come we never knew about this floating palace, or about this Time Chamber? Or people who looked like Piccolo and weren't a threat to humans? Or---

"Ami, are you still with me?"

I was staring down at my hands as if looking for something that I couldn't find, but I wasn't thinking anymore, I was stumped. "No," my head slowly shook from side to side. "You lost me a while ago. I don't even know what you've been talking about, or if you've even been talking."

After a brief silence, Bulma cleared her throat. "Ah . . . well, yes, I suppose you would be pretty confused, so would you like me to start again?"

"No. But could you answer me a few questions?" She nodded and I continued. "Have you ever heard of the Sailor Scouts?"

I knew what the answer would be before she opened her mouth, or before she widened her eyes to stare at me with bewilderment written all over her face.

"The Sailor what?"

~*~*~

Sorry if this story is going so slow, but Ami has to figure out where she is and all that before it can actually progress into the romance. I promise, after the next chapter the story shall be boring no more, and the romance can begin as well as the battle with Cell.

That said, I'll get on to the thank you-ing [what a word!]:

Hidden Angel: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again!

Buu: I agree with you about Ami's role in the battle against Cell, and that's what I was planning, but with a little twist. Don't worry, she's not going to fight or anything, but you'll see when it comes to that. Thanks for the review!

NachtMusik: Hello again! I have to say; I like this name better than STC--- Sonic the Comic? Thanks; I was hoping I made her in character even though I haven't seen Sailormoon in too long. Heh. Thanks again!

Phèdre nó Delaunay: Haha, yeah, I like learning about the origins of names and stuff like that. It's interesting. Needless to say, I won't have to wonder about what your name means anymore. Thank you for that; I still think it's a gorgeous name. Yeah, I get a bit confused about the who and whom thing, I just hope it doesn't throw my story off -too- much. Thank you for the compliment about my writing style. I always thought I had this dry, uneasy to read humor, but I guess not. Thanks again, and I hope this chapter satisfied you as well!

Minimerc: What a name. Interesting---but, um, what is it? Haha, it's neat nevertheless. Yeah, this is the Cell Games 10-day wait thing, and I'm hoping I'm not dragging it out too much. I think that part was my favorite part so far, but I haven't finished the story so I guess I don't know. Heh. Anyway, thank you again for your comments! All your questions about why Ami is there will be answered in time, hehe. Thank you again!

Mimercury: Thank you for the review! I'm keeping up the work---good, however, is up to you.

Sadie Joyce - Myst Lady: Heh heh, oops. I didn't mean to hint toward so many guys, but that gives me an idea of how to keep everyone guessing. Especially since when the final votes come, and the man/guy who wins the voting is picked, I'm not showing who it is. Hehe. Yes, your name is really interesting. Thank you for your comments!

Well, I'm going to stop the voting around chapters 5 or 6, but only because I think this story may be just a bit longer than I anticipated. Not too long, though.

Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and sorry for not updating in a little while!

A NOTE TO EVERY REVIEWER: Although it's very sweet when people review me saying things about how they love my story and want me to update, or just tell me to add a new chapter, I really, really take into consideration the critical/praising reviews people give me summarizing my progress so far. I enjoy it when people "grade" my work, so please, don't hesitate to do it! Flames are welcome, but if you want to know which kind I absolutely do NOT tolerate, look at my Bio. Otherwise, be as ruthless, picky, and harsh as you need to to get what you're saying across! I promise, I won't snap at you if you do! More than likely, I'll thank you gratefully!

Thanks & Cheers,

~*azure_chan*~ ][\/][ \\//\\// //-\\ ][-][ !!!