~~Capsule Corp.~~
Bulma sat, hunched over, at her desk trying to piece together some part for the new time machine that Piccolo had brought in for her. Only but a few seconds had past since Goku had returned back from the past. He hadn't even had a chance to teleport home and tell everyone what had just happened.
To Bulma's side stood an irate Chi-Chi. Though she wasn't as angry now as she had been before the strange angel had summoned her to her realm, where she met her past self. "How much longer, Bulma? I need to see Usagi. I want to make sure she's all right. I have a bad feeling that something big is happening in the past."
A bright golden light caught her attention as she looked into Bulma's computer screen, where she was typing in a formula for the new wrist bracelets that were needing to be made. "Who's there?" She turned around and nearly went into shock at what she saw. "USAGI!"
Bulma quickly turned around, thinking that her friend was hallucinating. "What?"
Usagi's smile grew wider as she jumped into her mother's arms. "Mommy!" At that point Usagi didn't care what kind of trouble she would be in. She was just happy to be in familiar grounds, meaning her OWN family. Not the one from the past, though she would miss them dearly. Usagi nuzzled her face into her mother's neck as she began to cry. "I missed you so much, mommy."
Chi-Chi was in a pure state of bliss. She hugged Usagi back as if she hadn't seen her in years. She felt like she had when she was finally reunited with her son, Gohan, after a year of being ripped away from him. "Usagi, I missed you too." Chi-Chi hadn't planned on acting like this when her youngest child were to return home. She had in fact planned to just let into her, but once she saw her, she couldn't bring herself to yell at her right away.
Unconsciously, Usagi began to raise her power level from being so excited. "I'm sorry I left. I wont ever, EVER do it again. I promise." She and the two adults who were in the room with her turned her head as another flash of light quickly came and left. Usagi's eyes widened as she smiled brighter. "DADDY!" Usagi ripped herself out of her mother's arms and ran for her father, who in return kneeled down to catch her.
Goku wrapped his arms around his daughter and picked her up. "When did you get here? I was only here for a few seconds before I felt your power." He smiled as Usagi rested her head onto his shoulder. "You look tired, what happened in the past?" Goku asked as he walked over to his wife.
"Daddy a lot of stuff happened after you left. Mom came to practice with us."
Goku sat down on the table next to Bulma's computer as the two women traveled over his way to listen to the story. "I know. I asked her to go there. I didn't trust myself to go in there with you?" He looked over to his wife, who was looking quite confused. "I'll tell you in a minute."
"Before we even got a chance to finish up in the room, Cell attacked us. You and Gohan had to come and get us out of there so you could train together to become stronger."
"What?! I thought that Cell couldn't be in that timeline." He thought about the situation for a moment. "Wait, when I left there was still about a year before the androids were even supposed to attack. What happened?"
"Oh daddy it was horrible. He was from THIS timeline." She waited for his reaction and decided to continue when he got an even more stunned look on his face than before. "He said that his queen or whatever revived him so he could get my power for her."
"What did she want with you. Wait, who is this lady?"
Usagi shrugged. "I don't know. But I started fighting him and he had this protective shell around his body that his queen gave him. We had him under control until the androids showed up. After that everything went worse. I almost died because he started sucking my life out of me."
Chi-Chi jumped in front her daughter's face as she sat on Goku's lap. "HE WHAT!? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!?"
Usagi nodded. "Yeah. Daddy from the past came and got me. He gave me a Senzu bean. But before that, Gohan went Super Saiyan and saved me. And when he left he went to fight Cell. And when daddy came to get me, he was at level two. And a lot of stuff happened after that until Cell became more powerful than us and spit out this egg thing. Me, Minako, Makoto, Ami, and Rei got locked in the room of spirit and time with it. It hatched into thousands and thousands of little Cells. Luckily we fought them and became more powerful and learned cool stuff and killed them all."
"And how did you defeat Cell if he was more powerful than all of you?" 'Gees, we had a hard enough time in this timeline. It sounds like I didn't even die in that timeline either.'
"The combined attack. We figured out a way to make it work. But really, I'm tired now."
"I bet. You've had a long day from what you're saying. You deserve a break." Goku stood up and sat his daughter down on the ground. "We should get you home and into bed."
Chi-Chi crossed her arms and frowned as she watched her husband take their daughter away. "Oh no you don't. Now that we've gotten the reunion done there is still the matter of my little talk with her, Goku."
Goku groaned as he turned around to face his wife. "Come on Chi-Chi, she's tired. Let her rest, then do it."
Chi-Chi's frown turned into a glare. "Goku you promised that you would let me handle this. Now don't try to stick up for her. She put herself in more danger than ever before. She even admitted just now that she nearly got herself killed."
Goku sighed as he looked down to his daughter, who was currently looking up at him for redemption. Though he had agreed to let Chi-Chi handle things, he hardly thought that now was the most appropriate time for something like that. Usagi's power was lower than half of its max. Goku looked up to Chi-Chi with a slight hint of a frown. He hated to be put in a situation like that. He was torn between the two. On one part, he wanted to save his daughter from being scolded, and on the other, he didn't want to go back on his word to his wife. "Fine." He stepped away from Usagi, hoping that he hadn't hurt her too badly by agreeing with Chi-Chi. He had, after all, told her in the past that he would let her mother take care of things.
Bulma quickly walked passed Chi-Chi and Usagi to get to the door. "I think I should leave. I don't want to get into these family squabbles." She opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind her.
Usagi looked to her father with fear written all over her eyes. She couldn't believe that he was actually going to make her go through this on her own. She gulped as she looked back over at her mother. "Mom, I'm sorry. I di…"
Usagi backed away as Chi-Chi walked closer. "You're not going to be able to talk your way out of this one, young lady. You've put us all in a very bad position with this little stunt of yours." She tried to keep in mind what the white angel told her about how her daughter was important to the good of the earth and that she could keep letting her fight. But at the point it was a struggle for Chi-Chi to not take her fighting privileges away. "You broke the trust of almost everyone you know. Do you realize that? There's me, your father, your brother Gohan, who trusted you enough to let you stay in his house without supervision. There's Bulma and all of your friends' parents. What was going through your head when you made this decision? Did you think that no one would notice that you weren't here for two days?! Because if you did you were sadly mistaken!"
Usagi's heart begin to race inside her chest as she listened to her mother. She was afraid that she would start hitting her. She had done it once before, there was really nothing that would be stopping her now. "I didn't think that we would have been gone that long. I'm sorry." A single tear trailed down her cheek as more began to form in her eyes.
Chi-Chi stopped approaching her daughter when she had her up against a wall with no where to go. "Oh, and that just up and makes it all better. As long as your parents don't know about what you're doing it's all right, is that how you think? I don't EVER remember teaching you that it's all right to go behind our backs. Honestly Usagi. Why are we even here? Why have parents if you're never going to listen to us? We aren't here just to hear ourselves talk. We do serve a purpose." The room went silent for about a minute as Chi-Chi tried to collect her thoughts. She shook her head in disbelief. "Well I just don't know what I'm going to do with you, Usagi. Every time we set rules for you, you just turn around and break them. Do you think we're stupid? Is that it? Do you think that we are just going to let you break rules?"
Not a single word came out of her daughter's mouth. "Well fine then. You know what, you can consider yourself grounded until I say otherwise. No friends, no T.V., no fighting with your father, and no leaving the direct yard of our house. That means no going into the woods. I want you to apologize to Bulma, and all of your friends' parents."
She quieted down to let her daughter say anything that she may have wanted to say in protest. She became angrier when it continued to stay silent. "Are you listening to me, young lady?" There was not a single sign of motion to let Chi-Chi know if her daughter was listening to her or ignoring her. "Are you just going to ignore me now?" She raised her hand and laid a hard slap upon her daughter's already bruised cheek from fighting off the Cells. "Listen to me when I'm speaking to you!"
Usagi looked up into her mother's eyes with more tears flowing down her face as she reached up and grabbed her cheek. No matter how much she had prepped herself for this, she still wasn't ready. She slowly turned her head to her father, who didn't seem to be trying to intervene with the situation, which upset her more. A pile of emotions were building up inside her. Fear, anger, sadness, etc… It was just too much for her to handle on her own. "I never know what I'm supposed to do with you guys. You want the perfect daughter who doesn't do anything wrong. Something I can't be because I make too many mistakes. Daddy wants someone who doesn't whine. Someone who is tough and doesn't make mistakes while fighting. Something I can't be either. I don't know what to do. If I try to be what you want me to be, I get yelled at by daddy for being a whiner. If I try to be like what daddy wants, I get yelled at by you. I can't do anything right."
Chi-Chi was a little shocked by her daughter's response, but she had to stay firm. She had to let her daughter know that her recent behavior was unacceptable. "What does this have to do with you going into the past?"
"I went to the past because I was scared. Daddy didn't seem to care if I was born there or not. When I was talking to him about the past and asked him what would happen if Trunks wasn't there to save it from the androids and give daddy the medicine all he said was, 'This is just the way things work out'. He didn't sound like he cared If I was born or not. Maybe you both just didn't want me to be born at all. You always want me to study, and you're always telling me what I do wrong. Never what I do right. And Daddy always thinks the worst of me. Teasing me by telling me something, then complaining when I want to know, only to tell me I have to WAIT until later if I want it. When I first started training he thought the worst. When he made me run and I ran into those people who wanted to kill me, he was disappointed in me. Almost angry that I didn't live up to what he wanted me to be." She paused to catch her breath. It felt somewhat good to finally get all of this out of her system. It had been playing on her mind for some time now. "And you're not like your younger self. I know she loves AND likes me."
Chi-Chi felt hurt as she looked over to her husband, who looked the same way as she did. She quickly turned back to her daughter. "I love you."
"I know you LOVE me. But I know you don't LIKE me. Mom, She came with cookies while we studied. Something you never do for me. She even believed Ami and Me when we found out music helps me learn, not music with words, just the instrument kind. You and daddy always yell at me when I listen to it. And she even let us train her. She never slapped me, or hit me, though Daddy did, but I know that he liked me in the past too. Both of you did. I DON'T know if you ever liked me. Maybe you didn't want me to be born at all. That's why you're mad at me for going to the past. I went to make sure daddy was safe and that I would be born, something you don't want. You never believe me or believe in me. I know what I did was wrong. I'm ready to be punished." Not wanting to go on for fear of getting even more emotional, she teleported to her special spot in the woods where only she and her father go when they are upset about something.
Chi-Chi's face grew pale as she turned back to Goku, who was about to teleport away to find their daughter. "Leave her, Goku. I think we've made a terrible, terrible mistake here."
Goku brought his hand down to his side as he walked towards his wife. "You're telling me. I never knew she felt that way. She thinks we don't like her and that we didn't want her to be born? How could we have sent that message to her. We always show her that we love her."
Chi-Chi's muscles began to get numb as she felt that she was slipping further and further away from her daughter. "What have I done? She thinks I hate her now. I've told her that I think she's just a big screw up. How could I have done that to my baby?" She covered her face with her hands.
Goku wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her close to him. "This is still fixable, Chi-Chi. It's ok. We've made many mistakes. But we just have to try harder." 'How could I have been so stupid as to let her think that I didn't want her to act herself. I guess I did tell her to stop whining too much. I expected her to be too much like Gohan and Goten.'
"I don't understand what I could have done. Do you really think we can fix this?" There came no answer from her husband. "She's right, you know. I do put too much pressure on her to be someone she isn't. I just want what's best for her. She has so much potential, I just don't want her to waste it. But I don't want her putting herself in danger either. This time she went too far."
"You have to admit that you were a little harsh on her. I mean, she is only eight years old. It's not like she's a teenager. She doesn't always understand. As much as we would like her to."
"I know. It's just so hard to see her get herself hurt and then NOT punish her."
"Maybe we should find another way to get our point across to her. Like talking civilly."
Chi-Chi giggled. "What did you do with my Goku? He never would have said something like that."
"I'm starting to see things more clearly, I guess."
"You're right about that. Now if we can only get Usagi to see things our way. She needs to understand that we don't hate her."
"Maybe we should tell her this. She would probably like to hear it."
"But Gohan and Goten never reacted to us this way. Are we THAT bad of parents? Maybe it was wrong of us to think that we cold raise another child. Look how badly we've screwed up her life." She sobbed into his chest as he tightened his grip.
"She isn't like Gohan or Goten. She's far more sensitive. And we haven't totally failed. Obviously she loves us otherwise she wouldn't be so upset about this whole thing. She cares about what we think about her. I don't think we should leave her alone right now. She's probably not expecting us to follow her right now."
Chi-Chi pulled away from her husband and looked into his eyes. "Are you going for her? Is that the right thing to do? She probably just wants to be alone."
Goku smiled. "Trust me. If she wants to be alone, I'll leave. But I don't think that's the case right now. She's hurting right now because she thinks we hate her. If we go there and don't yell at her, then it may help her trust us again."
"I hope you're right. Don't say anything to upset her though. Be careful about what you say.
"You aren't going with?"
Chi-Chi shook her head. "No, I need to collect my thoughts. I don't think I could handle myself if I saw her right now."
"Gonna fly off the handle again?"
"No. I'm not. This is just too emotional for me. I would probably just end up…well I think you know." She turned around and walked out the door, leaving her husband to make his decision of whether he wanted to leave or not.
~*~*~
Usagi sat on the top of a rock that sat on the edge of a large lake surrounded by trees covered completely in snow. The lake was totally iced over. It was her favorite place to go when she was upset about anything. And now, she was upset more than ever. She wasn't angry about her punishment, it were the words that accompanied it. Her mother just reassured Usagi's feelings. Her mother didn't even care that she was hurt from battle. Her mother only cared that she was well enough to yell at. Sure she was worried about her, but she didn't wait to yell at her. Usagi had only been there for a matter of minutes when her mother laid into her. Sure her mother from the future yelled at her, but she also showed that she like her. She didn't just seem to ignore her when she wasn't doing something wrong. She sighed just as she felt her father's energy appear just behind her. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
Goku waited to answer as he walked to the rock and sat down by his daughter. He just gazed at the ice, not know exactly what to tell her. He knew that there were going to be many questions. "No, you aren't in trouble. It's quite the opposite actually. Your mother and I are in trouble."
Usagi looked to her father in confusion. "How are you and mom in trouble?"
"With you, we are. You were completely right."
"I was? You mean you didn't want me to be born?" Usagi felt her heart shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.
Goku was quick in his reaction. "NO! We were happy to hear that you were going to be placed into our lives. There is nothing in this world that would ever make us want to change the past and not have you born." He wiped away a tear from her face with his thumb.
Usagi looked around to the snow covered trees, not fully believing him. "Then how was I right?"
"Your mother and I DO put a lot of pressure on you to be how we want you to be. We both have our idea on what a perfect child should act like. But that doesn't mean you have to act how we want you to. We want you to act like yourself and we want you to enjoy it as well."
"Why didn't mom come, too?"
"She didn't think that she would be able to handle the emotional effects."
"So I made her cry?" Usagi wasn't sure if she wanted to make her mother cry or not.
"No, no. You didn't make her cry." He wasn't sure if that was the right answer as his daughter's eyes grew heavier with sadness.
"So she doesn't like me enough to cry about something like that?"
Goku frowned as he wrapped his fingers around his daughter's chin, guiding it up to look at him. "Don't ever think that, Usagi. Your mother and I will always, always love you. And like you for that matter. I know we usually only point out all the bad things you do, but you see, that is our failure as parents. It's nothing you did."
Usagi sighed. "Are you sure? I mean, mom always…"
"Do you know why mom always yells at you?" Usagi shook her head. "I didn't think you would. You're still very young. Your mom yells at you because she wants you to know the difference between right and wrong. But that's just the half of it. Other times she is just upset because what you did put you in extreme danger. As you and I both know your mom has a thing about letting her emotions come out in her speech. Most of the time she yells at herself for being so hard on you kids. But she does it to make sure you don't do it again, so you have less of a chance of endangering yourselves. This isn't something that only you have to go through. Your brothers and I all had to go through it too. That's how we know that she loves us." He put his arm around her shoulders to keep her warm as it began to start snowing and she was only wearing her Gi.
"Really? But she was so much different in the past." Usagi was beginning to warm up to her father again. She could sense his feelings and how difficult of a time he was having with all of this.
"She's still the same person, Usagi. You just have to hit her at the right time."
Usagi let on a hint of a smile. "Literally?"
Goku laughed. "No, of course not. Though that would be a funny sight, don't you think?"
Usagi giggled. "Yep. That would. Mom hit you in the future you know, she stuck up for me. She was really cool."
"Hey now, your mom is cool here too. I bet if you ask her to train you in her ways that she would be glad to do it. All you have to do is ask."
"Daddy?" Usagi leaned into her father as he was completely in her good graces again. "Can we go see mom now?"
Goku smiled. He had managed to calm her without a fight. "Of course. I think that that would make her happy."
"So do I." She hopped to her feet and put her hand out for her father to grab. "Let's go."
~*~*~
~~Another Dimension~~
Cell Jr. angrily stormed through the corridor of his new queen's giant castle. His feet clicked and echoed throughout the large hallway that led to her lair as he passed the room where his father was remade. 'If those brats think they can kill my whole family PLUS me, they're mistaken. With my new power that I got from my brothers AND father I am unbeatable. There is no way that I can be beaten now. Even if we are in the future. I've even got that brat's energy that father stole from her before her brother came and saved her. He shall pay for what he did, even if this is another time. He's the one that originally killed father anyways.' He stopped just before entering his queen's lair and took a deep breath. He hoped that she wouldn't take her anger out on him since it wasn't exactly his fault that his father failed her. He raised his fist to knock on the door.
"Come in!" Cell Jr. hesitantly pushed the door open, creating a large squeal from the door hinges. "Just push it open fast you annoying fool!"
Cell Jr. jumped and pushed the door open all the way. "Yes your majesty." He quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head to pay his respects to his queen. "I have come from the past."
The queen smiled. "Ah yes. Cell. You have returned soon. It has only been a few seconds since I sent you away. You may rise and bring me my power."
Cell Jr. stood as he was told. "Your majesty, I am not Cell. I am his one remaining son. He was killed by Usagi and her friends. I miraculously survived and am here to serve you as you wish. I have some of the power that father absorbed but I wish to keep it until I beat them. These people are tricky an…"
The queen's happy mood soon deteriorated into an furious one. "ALL THAT WORK I HAD MY PEOPLE PUT IN ON THAT BASTARD AND HE SCREWED UP BY LETTING HIMSELF DIE!!??"
Cell Jr. coward away. "Yes, but he was weak. I am stronger than he was."
The queen looked directly into Cell Jr.'s eyes. "And that little bitch Usagi has screwed me over for the last time. I will not put up with her any longer. Give me her power. I shall put it to good use."
"Ma'm, I can do this. I know I can."
"I'm threw with you people." She stuck out her hand and a white web like energy emerged from it and wrapped itself around Cell Jr. "Give me the energy, now!" The web like energy seeped into Cell Jr.'s body and extracted Usagi's energy. But this wasn't her normal energy. It was her special energy that was to be protected at all times, which was why Gohan thought that Cell hadn't taken any energy from her body. "I'm not going to waste any more time with you." With a snap of her fingers a white portal opened up underneath Cell Jr., causing him to fall through to Usagi's dimension. "Get yourself killed for all I care. I've got what I want." She laughed as she held Usagi's pure white energy in her hands. It lit up the entire room even though it was only as big as a marble. "Usagi will pay for sure."
~*~*~
~~DBZ Dimension~~
Usagi and her father arrived in Bulma's living room where her mother, brothers, Piccolo, Vejita, and Bulma sat. Usagi stood behind her father as she was afraid that her mother would yell at her again. "Hi everyone." She sheepishly hung her head low.
Gohan stood up and walked over to his sister and knelt by her side. "Hey there. Long time no see. Heard you had quite an adventure in the past. Did you have fun?"
Usagi nodded as she barely lifted her head enough to look her brother in the eyes. "Yes." She quietly replied.
"Well that's the important part. As long as you had fun. Now if you didn't have fun I would have to yell at you for wasting your time."
Usagi raised her head. She knew that she wasn't going to get yelled at by her brother. "Of course I had fun. I got to hang out with you."
"What did you think? I was a stud in my young age." He ran his fingers through his hair.
Usagi giggled. "You're funny, Gohan." She emerged from behind her father and kept her attention on Bulma. "I'm really sorry, Bulma. We ruined your time machine. It blew up on us and we couldn't get back. Are you mad at me?"
Bulma squirmed in her chair. She was mad that all her work was destroyed, but she couldn't yell at Usagi. "Why do you have to do this to me, kid? You're just too cute to stay mad at."
"Thanks, Bulma. I'll find some way to repay you for the damage." She started to inch her way to her mother.
"Don't worry about it. I think we've learned something important from this. We shouldn't tamper with time. Maybe it's better that we don't have the time machine. I'm not even going to rebuild it."
"I don't think you have to worry about her going back in time." Chi-Chi met her daughter half way and bent down to hug her. "Come with me. I want to talk to you." She grabbed her arm as she stood up and pulled her off to the side.
Chi-Chi led her daughter to the hallway that led out of the living room and looked her straight in the eye. "There are some things we need to talk about and I think you know what I mean."
Usagi groaned as she anticipated what was going to come up. But she kept in mind what her father had told her about how her mother expresses her feelings through yelling at people. "I do."
"I know we don't always see eye to eye on most of the things. That's just something that happens between a mother and daughter. But I know I do have a tendency to make situations bigger and more miserable for all of us when it can be avoided. I'm not perfect, as you know. But you have to understand where I'm coming from. Like today, I have been worried sick about you for the past two days. I know that's not a long time to you, but for a mother it seems like an eternity. But I also knew what kind of danger you were in with Cell. And when I heard you say that you nearly died I was even more scared."
"You were scared?" 'Maybe she does like me after all.'
"Of course I was scared. You're my little girl and I don't know what I would do if you were taken away from me or if you died in a battle. It's bad enough that your father takes your brothers out to a fight every time that one is going on. I worry about you four whenever something attacks the earth."
"Well if you fought with us maybe you wouldn't be so scared. You could be there to help us."
"I can't fight with you guys. I'd be nuts to try."
Usagi shook her head with high hopes of luring her mother into the world of fighting. "You trained with us in the past. I know what you can do. It was your training that helped us through the fight with Cell. You believed in us when daddy didn't. He didn't want us to do our combined attack buy you knew that we could do it."
'The angel said something about that attack. Should I tell her about the angel? Maybe not. I think she's been through enough. I'll tell her later.' "You really think I am capable of being a fighter?"
Usagi smiled. "You already are. You beat up dad in the past. It was SO funny. I really think that you should learn how to fight our style, even if it's just the basics. If you do, I'll promise not to ever do anything bad again."
"I appreciate that, dear, but that's not a promise that any child can keep. Just listen to your parents when they tell you something. They know what they're talking about. We only set rules to protect you. I know I can't promise to let up on the yelling, but I'll make an honest effort to do so. And maybe I'll give fighting a chance. It may be kind of interesting."
"Thanks mom."
"I can't withdraw your punishment though. What you did was wrong. I'm sorry."
"I know. I've done a lot of thinking about it. I deserve it." The mother and daughter duo went silent as they turned to join their friends and family, but for some reason Usagi stopped. "Mom, I love you."
Chi-Chi smiled as she looked down into her daughter's wide eyes. "I love you too. Don't you forget or ever doubt that." Usagi smiled as she happily skipped down the hallway with her mother.
~*~*~
~~The Mizuno Household~~
Ami crept around her house ever so quietly so as not to scare her mother. She was certain that she was working on something important. She was probably worried sick about her too and unable to really concentrate anyway. "Mom?" She quietly asked.
Mrs. Mizuno popped her head up from looking at the computer screen with tears in her eyes. "Ami? Is that you?" She bolted up from her chair, letting it fly out from underneath her as she ran to the main hall where, to her surprise, her daughter was standing. "AMI!" She flew down the stairs and scooped her daughter into her arms. "I was so worried about you!"
Ami smiled as she leaned into the familiar touch of her mother's arms. "I missed you too. I'm sorry I left."
Mrs. Mizuno frowned. "It was the influence of that Son kid wasn't it?"
"Not entirely. It was MY decision." She didn't want Usagi to take the heat for everyone. And it WAS her decision to listen to her friend. She could have just ignored her.
"I'm just happy to have you back home with me. I don't ever want you to leave again."
"Aren't you going to punish me now?"
"No. I think you've been punished enough. Bulma told me that as one day passes here, a whole year passed there. So what did you do while you were there?"
Ami was a little on the reluctant side to respond to her mother. But she knew that it had to be answered sooner or later. She wanted to get it out in the open as soon as possible. "Well, I sort of started training with the girls and got pretty powerful."
Mrs. Mizuno pulled away from her daughter and looked straight into her blue eyes to make sure she was just joking, but she wasn't. Her eyes were more serious than ever. "YOU WHAT?! YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT!"
Ami sighed. 'Here we go.' "I know, mom. But the girls needed my help. This guy Cell came and…"
"Cell!? I heard Bulma and the rest of the people telling me about him. He's the one that nearly killed off everyone on the face of this planet. What in the hell were you thinking about when you decided to fight him?!"
"Mom, please calm down. I didn't get hurt. I was trained by the best."
"By the best I'm guessing that you mean Mr. Son?" Ami nodded. "He's an animal. You saw how he let Usagi get hurt that one day when you first met her. He LET'S her fight like a beast."
"Well, mom, technically they ARE both beasts. Heck, they're even aliens, sort of."
"Well that doesn't mean I want you to fight. Did you think that just because you went into the past that I would want you to start fighting? Leave it to the rest of the girls. I don't think you should be hanging out with them."
"Give me a break!"
"And what's with that language, young lady. You never used to use slang like that."
"Mother! My FRIENDS have taught me to live a little! Maybe you should come and see me fight before you shun all who do it!"
Mrs. Mizuno continued to frown. "I don't like the position that you're putting me in, Ami. I really don't. But I'll give you a chance. The first time you come home severely hurt, you're stopping, do you hear me?!"
Ami smiled. "Yes mom."
( Hmmm….This WAS supposed to be the last part of this chapter but I added some stuff and made it longer. So I think that tomorrow's part will be the last part of this chapter. So what did you think? Good or bad? Ja )
Bulma sat, hunched over, at her desk trying to piece together some part for the new time machine that Piccolo had brought in for her. Only but a few seconds had past since Goku had returned back from the past. He hadn't even had a chance to teleport home and tell everyone what had just happened.
To Bulma's side stood an irate Chi-Chi. Though she wasn't as angry now as she had been before the strange angel had summoned her to her realm, where she met her past self. "How much longer, Bulma? I need to see Usagi. I want to make sure she's all right. I have a bad feeling that something big is happening in the past."
A bright golden light caught her attention as she looked into Bulma's computer screen, where she was typing in a formula for the new wrist bracelets that were needing to be made. "Who's there?" She turned around and nearly went into shock at what she saw. "USAGI!"
Bulma quickly turned around, thinking that her friend was hallucinating. "What?"
Usagi's smile grew wider as she jumped into her mother's arms. "Mommy!" At that point Usagi didn't care what kind of trouble she would be in. She was just happy to be in familiar grounds, meaning her OWN family. Not the one from the past, though she would miss them dearly. Usagi nuzzled her face into her mother's neck as she began to cry. "I missed you so much, mommy."
Chi-Chi was in a pure state of bliss. She hugged Usagi back as if she hadn't seen her in years. She felt like she had when she was finally reunited with her son, Gohan, after a year of being ripped away from him. "Usagi, I missed you too." Chi-Chi hadn't planned on acting like this when her youngest child were to return home. She had in fact planned to just let into her, but once she saw her, she couldn't bring herself to yell at her right away.
Unconsciously, Usagi began to raise her power level from being so excited. "I'm sorry I left. I wont ever, EVER do it again. I promise." She and the two adults who were in the room with her turned her head as another flash of light quickly came and left. Usagi's eyes widened as she smiled brighter. "DADDY!" Usagi ripped herself out of her mother's arms and ran for her father, who in return kneeled down to catch her.
Goku wrapped his arms around his daughter and picked her up. "When did you get here? I was only here for a few seconds before I felt your power." He smiled as Usagi rested her head onto his shoulder. "You look tired, what happened in the past?" Goku asked as he walked over to his wife.
"Daddy a lot of stuff happened after you left. Mom came to practice with us."
Goku sat down on the table next to Bulma's computer as the two women traveled over his way to listen to the story. "I know. I asked her to go there. I didn't trust myself to go in there with you?" He looked over to his wife, who was looking quite confused. "I'll tell you in a minute."
"Before we even got a chance to finish up in the room, Cell attacked us. You and Gohan had to come and get us out of there so you could train together to become stronger."
"What?! I thought that Cell couldn't be in that timeline." He thought about the situation for a moment. "Wait, when I left there was still about a year before the androids were even supposed to attack. What happened?"
"Oh daddy it was horrible. He was from THIS timeline." She waited for his reaction and decided to continue when he got an even more stunned look on his face than before. "He said that his queen or whatever revived him so he could get my power for her."
"What did she want with you. Wait, who is this lady?"
Usagi shrugged. "I don't know. But I started fighting him and he had this protective shell around his body that his queen gave him. We had him under control until the androids showed up. After that everything went worse. I almost died because he started sucking my life out of me."
Chi-Chi jumped in front her daughter's face as she sat on Goku's lap. "HE WHAT!? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!?"
Usagi nodded. "Yeah. Daddy from the past came and got me. He gave me a Senzu bean. But before that, Gohan went Super Saiyan and saved me. And when he left he went to fight Cell. And when daddy came to get me, he was at level two. And a lot of stuff happened after that until Cell became more powerful than us and spit out this egg thing. Me, Minako, Makoto, Ami, and Rei got locked in the room of spirit and time with it. It hatched into thousands and thousands of little Cells. Luckily we fought them and became more powerful and learned cool stuff and killed them all."
"And how did you defeat Cell if he was more powerful than all of you?" 'Gees, we had a hard enough time in this timeline. It sounds like I didn't even die in that timeline either.'
"The combined attack. We figured out a way to make it work. But really, I'm tired now."
"I bet. You've had a long day from what you're saying. You deserve a break." Goku stood up and sat his daughter down on the ground. "We should get you home and into bed."
Chi-Chi crossed her arms and frowned as she watched her husband take their daughter away. "Oh no you don't. Now that we've gotten the reunion done there is still the matter of my little talk with her, Goku."
Goku groaned as he turned around to face his wife. "Come on Chi-Chi, she's tired. Let her rest, then do it."
Chi-Chi's frown turned into a glare. "Goku you promised that you would let me handle this. Now don't try to stick up for her. She put herself in more danger than ever before. She even admitted just now that she nearly got herself killed."
Goku sighed as he looked down to his daughter, who was currently looking up at him for redemption. Though he had agreed to let Chi-Chi handle things, he hardly thought that now was the most appropriate time for something like that. Usagi's power was lower than half of its max. Goku looked up to Chi-Chi with a slight hint of a frown. He hated to be put in a situation like that. He was torn between the two. On one part, he wanted to save his daughter from being scolded, and on the other, he didn't want to go back on his word to his wife. "Fine." He stepped away from Usagi, hoping that he hadn't hurt her too badly by agreeing with Chi-Chi. He had, after all, told her in the past that he would let her mother take care of things.
Bulma quickly walked passed Chi-Chi and Usagi to get to the door. "I think I should leave. I don't want to get into these family squabbles." She opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind her.
Usagi looked to her father with fear written all over her eyes. She couldn't believe that he was actually going to make her go through this on her own. She gulped as she looked back over at her mother. "Mom, I'm sorry. I di…"
Usagi backed away as Chi-Chi walked closer. "You're not going to be able to talk your way out of this one, young lady. You've put us all in a very bad position with this little stunt of yours." She tried to keep in mind what the white angel told her about how her daughter was important to the good of the earth and that she could keep letting her fight. But at the point it was a struggle for Chi-Chi to not take her fighting privileges away. "You broke the trust of almost everyone you know. Do you realize that? There's me, your father, your brother Gohan, who trusted you enough to let you stay in his house without supervision. There's Bulma and all of your friends' parents. What was going through your head when you made this decision? Did you think that no one would notice that you weren't here for two days?! Because if you did you were sadly mistaken!"
Usagi's heart begin to race inside her chest as she listened to her mother. She was afraid that she would start hitting her. She had done it once before, there was really nothing that would be stopping her now. "I didn't think that we would have been gone that long. I'm sorry." A single tear trailed down her cheek as more began to form in her eyes.
Chi-Chi stopped approaching her daughter when she had her up against a wall with no where to go. "Oh, and that just up and makes it all better. As long as your parents don't know about what you're doing it's all right, is that how you think? I don't EVER remember teaching you that it's all right to go behind our backs. Honestly Usagi. Why are we even here? Why have parents if you're never going to listen to us? We aren't here just to hear ourselves talk. We do serve a purpose." The room went silent for about a minute as Chi-Chi tried to collect her thoughts. She shook her head in disbelief. "Well I just don't know what I'm going to do with you, Usagi. Every time we set rules for you, you just turn around and break them. Do you think we're stupid? Is that it? Do you think that we are just going to let you break rules?"
Not a single word came out of her daughter's mouth. "Well fine then. You know what, you can consider yourself grounded until I say otherwise. No friends, no T.V., no fighting with your father, and no leaving the direct yard of our house. That means no going into the woods. I want you to apologize to Bulma, and all of your friends' parents."
She quieted down to let her daughter say anything that she may have wanted to say in protest. She became angrier when it continued to stay silent. "Are you listening to me, young lady?" There was not a single sign of motion to let Chi-Chi know if her daughter was listening to her or ignoring her. "Are you just going to ignore me now?" She raised her hand and laid a hard slap upon her daughter's already bruised cheek from fighting off the Cells. "Listen to me when I'm speaking to you!"
Usagi looked up into her mother's eyes with more tears flowing down her face as she reached up and grabbed her cheek. No matter how much she had prepped herself for this, she still wasn't ready. She slowly turned her head to her father, who didn't seem to be trying to intervene with the situation, which upset her more. A pile of emotions were building up inside her. Fear, anger, sadness, etc… It was just too much for her to handle on her own. "I never know what I'm supposed to do with you guys. You want the perfect daughter who doesn't do anything wrong. Something I can't be because I make too many mistakes. Daddy wants someone who doesn't whine. Someone who is tough and doesn't make mistakes while fighting. Something I can't be either. I don't know what to do. If I try to be what you want me to be, I get yelled at by daddy for being a whiner. If I try to be like what daddy wants, I get yelled at by you. I can't do anything right."
Chi-Chi was a little shocked by her daughter's response, but she had to stay firm. She had to let her daughter know that her recent behavior was unacceptable. "What does this have to do with you going into the past?"
"I went to the past because I was scared. Daddy didn't seem to care if I was born there or not. When I was talking to him about the past and asked him what would happen if Trunks wasn't there to save it from the androids and give daddy the medicine all he said was, 'This is just the way things work out'. He didn't sound like he cared If I was born or not. Maybe you both just didn't want me to be born at all. You always want me to study, and you're always telling me what I do wrong. Never what I do right. And Daddy always thinks the worst of me. Teasing me by telling me something, then complaining when I want to know, only to tell me I have to WAIT until later if I want it. When I first started training he thought the worst. When he made me run and I ran into those people who wanted to kill me, he was disappointed in me. Almost angry that I didn't live up to what he wanted me to be." She paused to catch her breath. It felt somewhat good to finally get all of this out of her system. It had been playing on her mind for some time now. "And you're not like your younger self. I know she loves AND likes me."
Chi-Chi felt hurt as she looked over to her husband, who looked the same way as she did. She quickly turned back to her daughter. "I love you."
"I know you LOVE me. But I know you don't LIKE me. Mom, She came with cookies while we studied. Something you never do for me. She even believed Ami and Me when we found out music helps me learn, not music with words, just the instrument kind. You and daddy always yell at me when I listen to it. And she even let us train her. She never slapped me, or hit me, though Daddy did, but I know that he liked me in the past too. Both of you did. I DON'T know if you ever liked me. Maybe you didn't want me to be born at all. That's why you're mad at me for going to the past. I went to make sure daddy was safe and that I would be born, something you don't want. You never believe me or believe in me. I know what I did was wrong. I'm ready to be punished." Not wanting to go on for fear of getting even more emotional, she teleported to her special spot in the woods where only she and her father go when they are upset about something.
Chi-Chi's face grew pale as she turned back to Goku, who was about to teleport away to find their daughter. "Leave her, Goku. I think we've made a terrible, terrible mistake here."
Goku brought his hand down to his side as he walked towards his wife. "You're telling me. I never knew she felt that way. She thinks we don't like her and that we didn't want her to be born? How could we have sent that message to her. We always show her that we love her."
Chi-Chi's muscles began to get numb as she felt that she was slipping further and further away from her daughter. "What have I done? She thinks I hate her now. I've told her that I think she's just a big screw up. How could I have done that to my baby?" She covered her face with her hands.
Goku wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her close to him. "This is still fixable, Chi-Chi. It's ok. We've made many mistakes. But we just have to try harder." 'How could I have been so stupid as to let her think that I didn't want her to act herself. I guess I did tell her to stop whining too much. I expected her to be too much like Gohan and Goten.'
"I don't understand what I could have done. Do you really think we can fix this?" There came no answer from her husband. "She's right, you know. I do put too much pressure on her to be someone she isn't. I just want what's best for her. She has so much potential, I just don't want her to waste it. But I don't want her putting herself in danger either. This time she went too far."
"You have to admit that you were a little harsh on her. I mean, she is only eight years old. It's not like she's a teenager. She doesn't always understand. As much as we would like her to."
"I know. It's just so hard to see her get herself hurt and then NOT punish her."
"Maybe we should find another way to get our point across to her. Like talking civilly."
Chi-Chi giggled. "What did you do with my Goku? He never would have said something like that."
"I'm starting to see things more clearly, I guess."
"You're right about that. Now if we can only get Usagi to see things our way. She needs to understand that we don't hate her."
"Maybe we should tell her this. She would probably like to hear it."
"But Gohan and Goten never reacted to us this way. Are we THAT bad of parents? Maybe it was wrong of us to think that we cold raise another child. Look how badly we've screwed up her life." She sobbed into his chest as he tightened his grip.
"She isn't like Gohan or Goten. She's far more sensitive. And we haven't totally failed. Obviously she loves us otherwise she wouldn't be so upset about this whole thing. She cares about what we think about her. I don't think we should leave her alone right now. She's probably not expecting us to follow her right now."
Chi-Chi pulled away from her husband and looked into his eyes. "Are you going for her? Is that the right thing to do? She probably just wants to be alone."
Goku smiled. "Trust me. If she wants to be alone, I'll leave. But I don't think that's the case right now. She's hurting right now because she thinks we hate her. If we go there and don't yell at her, then it may help her trust us again."
"I hope you're right. Don't say anything to upset her though. Be careful about what you say.
"You aren't going with?"
Chi-Chi shook her head. "No, I need to collect my thoughts. I don't think I could handle myself if I saw her right now."
"Gonna fly off the handle again?"
"No. I'm not. This is just too emotional for me. I would probably just end up…well I think you know." She turned around and walked out the door, leaving her husband to make his decision of whether he wanted to leave or not.
~*~*~
Usagi sat on the top of a rock that sat on the edge of a large lake surrounded by trees covered completely in snow. The lake was totally iced over. It was her favorite place to go when she was upset about anything. And now, she was upset more than ever. She wasn't angry about her punishment, it were the words that accompanied it. Her mother just reassured Usagi's feelings. Her mother didn't even care that she was hurt from battle. Her mother only cared that she was well enough to yell at. Sure she was worried about her, but she didn't wait to yell at her. Usagi had only been there for a matter of minutes when her mother laid into her. Sure her mother from the future yelled at her, but she also showed that she like her. She didn't just seem to ignore her when she wasn't doing something wrong. She sighed just as she felt her father's energy appear just behind her. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
Goku waited to answer as he walked to the rock and sat down by his daughter. He just gazed at the ice, not know exactly what to tell her. He knew that there were going to be many questions. "No, you aren't in trouble. It's quite the opposite actually. Your mother and I are in trouble."
Usagi looked to her father in confusion. "How are you and mom in trouble?"
"With you, we are. You were completely right."
"I was? You mean you didn't want me to be born?" Usagi felt her heart shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.
Goku was quick in his reaction. "NO! We were happy to hear that you were going to be placed into our lives. There is nothing in this world that would ever make us want to change the past and not have you born." He wiped away a tear from her face with his thumb.
Usagi looked around to the snow covered trees, not fully believing him. "Then how was I right?"
"Your mother and I DO put a lot of pressure on you to be how we want you to be. We both have our idea on what a perfect child should act like. But that doesn't mean you have to act how we want you to. We want you to act like yourself and we want you to enjoy it as well."
"Why didn't mom come, too?"
"She didn't think that she would be able to handle the emotional effects."
"So I made her cry?" Usagi wasn't sure if she wanted to make her mother cry or not.
"No, no. You didn't make her cry." He wasn't sure if that was the right answer as his daughter's eyes grew heavier with sadness.
"So she doesn't like me enough to cry about something like that?"
Goku frowned as he wrapped his fingers around his daughter's chin, guiding it up to look at him. "Don't ever think that, Usagi. Your mother and I will always, always love you. And like you for that matter. I know we usually only point out all the bad things you do, but you see, that is our failure as parents. It's nothing you did."
Usagi sighed. "Are you sure? I mean, mom always…"
"Do you know why mom always yells at you?" Usagi shook her head. "I didn't think you would. You're still very young. Your mom yells at you because she wants you to know the difference between right and wrong. But that's just the half of it. Other times she is just upset because what you did put you in extreme danger. As you and I both know your mom has a thing about letting her emotions come out in her speech. Most of the time she yells at herself for being so hard on you kids. But she does it to make sure you don't do it again, so you have less of a chance of endangering yourselves. This isn't something that only you have to go through. Your brothers and I all had to go through it too. That's how we know that she loves us." He put his arm around her shoulders to keep her warm as it began to start snowing and she was only wearing her Gi.
"Really? But she was so much different in the past." Usagi was beginning to warm up to her father again. She could sense his feelings and how difficult of a time he was having with all of this.
"She's still the same person, Usagi. You just have to hit her at the right time."
Usagi let on a hint of a smile. "Literally?"
Goku laughed. "No, of course not. Though that would be a funny sight, don't you think?"
Usagi giggled. "Yep. That would. Mom hit you in the future you know, she stuck up for me. She was really cool."
"Hey now, your mom is cool here too. I bet if you ask her to train you in her ways that she would be glad to do it. All you have to do is ask."
"Daddy?" Usagi leaned into her father as he was completely in her good graces again. "Can we go see mom now?"
Goku smiled. He had managed to calm her without a fight. "Of course. I think that that would make her happy."
"So do I." She hopped to her feet and put her hand out for her father to grab. "Let's go."
~*~*~
~~Another Dimension~~
Cell Jr. angrily stormed through the corridor of his new queen's giant castle. His feet clicked and echoed throughout the large hallway that led to her lair as he passed the room where his father was remade. 'If those brats think they can kill my whole family PLUS me, they're mistaken. With my new power that I got from my brothers AND father I am unbeatable. There is no way that I can be beaten now. Even if we are in the future. I've even got that brat's energy that father stole from her before her brother came and saved her. He shall pay for what he did, even if this is another time. He's the one that originally killed father anyways.' He stopped just before entering his queen's lair and took a deep breath. He hoped that she wouldn't take her anger out on him since it wasn't exactly his fault that his father failed her. He raised his fist to knock on the door.
"Come in!" Cell Jr. hesitantly pushed the door open, creating a large squeal from the door hinges. "Just push it open fast you annoying fool!"
Cell Jr. jumped and pushed the door open all the way. "Yes your majesty." He quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head to pay his respects to his queen. "I have come from the past."
The queen smiled. "Ah yes. Cell. You have returned soon. It has only been a few seconds since I sent you away. You may rise and bring me my power."
Cell Jr. stood as he was told. "Your majesty, I am not Cell. I am his one remaining son. He was killed by Usagi and her friends. I miraculously survived and am here to serve you as you wish. I have some of the power that father absorbed but I wish to keep it until I beat them. These people are tricky an…"
The queen's happy mood soon deteriorated into an furious one. "ALL THAT WORK I HAD MY PEOPLE PUT IN ON THAT BASTARD AND HE SCREWED UP BY LETTING HIMSELF DIE!!??"
Cell Jr. coward away. "Yes, but he was weak. I am stronger than he was."
The queen looked directly into Cell Jr.'s eyes. "And that little bitch Usagi has screwed me over for the last time. I will not put up with her any longer. Give me her power. I shall put it to good use."
"Ma'm, I can do this. I know I can."
"I'm threw with you people." She stuck out her hand and a white web like energy emerged from it and wrapped itself around Cell Jr. "Give me the energy, now!" The web like energy seeped into Cell Jr.'s body and extracted Usagi's energy. But this wasn't her normal energy. It was her special energy that was to be protected at all times, which was why Gohan thought that Cell hadn't taken any energy from her body. "I'm not going to waste any more time with you." With a snap of her fingers a white portal opened up underneath Cell Jr., causing him to fall through to Usagi's dimension. "Get yourself killed for all I care. I've got what I want." She laughed as she held Usagi's pure white energy in her hands. It lit up the entire room even though it was only as big as a marble. "Usagi will pay for sure."
~*~*~
~~DBZ Dimension~~
Usagi and her father arrived in Bulma's living room where her mother, brothers, Piccolo, Vejita, and Bulma sat. Usagi stood behind her father as she was afraid that her mother would yell at her again. "Hi everyone." She sheepishly hung her head low.
Gohan stood up and walked over to his sister and knelt by her side. "Hey there. Long time no see. Heard you had quite an adventure in the past. Did you have fun?"
Usagi nodded as she barely lifted her head enough to look her brother in the eyes. "Yes." She quietly replied.
"Well that's the important part. As long as you had fun. Now if you didn't have fun I would have to yell at you for wasting your time."
Usagi raised her head. She knew that she wasn't going to get yelled at by her brother. "Of course I had fun. I got to hang out with you."
"What did you think? I was a stud in my young age." He ran his fingers through his hair.
Usagi giggled. "You're funny, Gohan." She emerged from behind her father and kept her attention on Bulma. "I'm really sorry, Bulma. We ruined your time machine. It blew up on us and we couldn't get back. Are you mad at me?"
Bulma squirmed in her chair. She was mad that all her work was destroyed, but she couldn't yell at Usagi. "Why do you have to do this to me, kid? You're just too cute to stay mad at."
"Thanks, Bulma. I'll find some way to repay you for the damage." She started to inch her way to her mother.
"Don't worry about it. I think we've learned something important from this. We shouldn't tamper with time. Maybe it's better that we don't have the time machine. I'm not even going to rebuild it."
"I don't think you have to worry about her going back in time." Chi-Chi met her daughter half way and bent down to hug her. "Come with me. I want to talk to you." She grabbed her arm as she stood up and pulled her off to the side.
Chi-Chi led her daughter to the hallway that led out of the living room and looked her straight in the eye. "There are some things we need to talk about and I think you know what I mean."
Usagi groaned as she anticipated what was going to come up. But she kept in mind what her father had told her about how her mother expresses her feelings through yelling at people. "I do."
"I know we don't always see eye to eye on most of the things. That's just something that happens between a mother and daughter. But I know I do have a tendency to make situations bigger and more miserable for all of us when it can be avoided. I'm not perfect, as you know. But you have to understand where I'm coming from. Like today, I have been worried sick about you for the past two days. I know that's not a long time to you, but for a mother it seems like an eternity. But I also knew what kind of danger you were in with Cell. And when I heard you say that you nearly died I was even more scared."
"You were scared?" 'Maybe she does like me after all.'
"Of course I was scared. You're my little girl and I don't know what I would do if you were taken away from me or if you died in a battle. It's bad enough that your father takes your brothers out to a fight every time that one is going on. I worry about you four whenever something attacks the earth."
"Well if you fought with us maybe you wouldn't be so scared. You could be there to help us."
"I can't fight with you guys. I'd be nuts to try."
Usagi shook her head with high hopes of luring her mother into the world of fighting. "You trained with us in the past. I know what you can do. It was your training that helped us through the fight with Cell. You believed in us when daddy didn't. He didn't want us to do our combined attack buy you knew that we could do it."
'The angel said something about that attack. Should I tell her about the angel? Maybe not. I think she's been through enough. I'll tell her later.' "You really think I am capable of being a fighter?"
Usagi smiled. "You already are. You beat up dad in the past. It was SO funny. I really think that you should learn how to fight our style, even if it's just the basics. If you do, I'll promise not to ever do anything bad again."
"I appreciate that, dear, but that's not a promise that any child can keep. Just listen to your parents when they tell you something. They know what they're talking about. We only set rules to protect you. I know I can't promise to let up on the yelling, but I'll make an honest effort to do so. And maybe I'll give fighting a chance. It may be kind of interesting."
"Thanks mom."
"I can't withdraw your punishment though. What you did was wrong. I'm sorry."
"I know. I've done a lot of thinking about it. I deserve it." The mother and daughter duo went silent as they turned to join their friends and family, but for some reason Usagi stopped. "Mom, I love you."
Chi-Chi smiled as she looked down into her daughter's wide eyes. "I love you too. Don't you forget or ever doubt that." Usagi smiled as she happily skipped down the hallway with her mother.
~*~*~
~~The Mizuno Household~~
Ami crept around her house ever so quietly so as not to scare her mother. She was certain that she was working on something important. She was probably worried sick about her too and unable to really concentrate anyway. "Mom?" She quietly asked.
Mrs. Mizuno popped her head up from looking at the computer screen with tears in her eyes. "Ami? Is that you?" She bolted up from her chair, letting it fly out from underneath her as she ran to the main hall where, to her surprise, her daughter was standing. "AMI!" She flew down the stairs and scooped her daughter into her arms. "I was so worried about you!"
Ami smiled as she leaned into the familiar touch of her mother's arms. "I missed you too. I'm sorry I left."
Mrs. Mizuno frowned. "It was the influence of that Son kid wasn't it?"
"Not entirely. It was MY decision." She didn't want Usagi to take the heat for everyone. And it WAS her decision to listen to her friend. She could have just ignored her.
"I'm just happy to have you back home with me. I don't ever want you to leave again."
"Aren't you going to punish me now?"
"No. I think you've been punished enough. Bulma told me that as one day passes here, a whole year passed there. So what did you do while you were there?"
Ami was a little on the reluctant side to respond to her mother. But she knew that it had to be answered sooner or later. She wanted to get it out in the open as soon as possible. "Well, I sort of started training with the girls and got pretty powerful."
Mrs. Mizuno pulled away from her daughter and looked straight into her blue eyes to make sure she was just joking, but she wasn't. Her eyes were more serious than ever. "YOU WHAT?! YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT!"
Ami sighed. 'Here we go.' "I know, mom. But the girls needed my help. This guy Cell came and…"
"Cell!? I heard Bulma and the rest of the people telling me about him. He's the one that nearly killed off everyone on the face of this planet. What in the hell were you thinking about when you decided to fight him?!"
"Mom, please calm down. I didn't get hurt. I was trained by the best."
"By the best I'm guessing that you mean Mr. Son?" Ami nodded. "He's an animal. You saw how he let Usagi get hurt that one day when you first met her. He LET'S her fight like a beast."
"Well, mom, technically they ARE both beasts. Heck, they're even aliens, sort of."
"Well that doesn't mean I want you to fight. Did you think that just because you went into the past that I would want you to start fighting? Leave it to the rest of the girls. I don't think you should be hanging out with them."
"Give me a break!"
"And what's with that language, young lady. You never used to use slang like that."
"Mother! My FRIENDS have taught me to live a little! Maybe you should come and see me fight before you shun all who do it!"
Mrs. Mizuno continued to frown. "I don't like the position that you're putting me in, Ami. I really don't. But I'll give you a chance. The first time you come home severely hurt, you're stopping, do you hear me?!"
Ami smiled. "Yes mom."
( Hmmm….This WAS supposed to be the last part of this chapter but I added some stuff and made it longer. So I think that tomorrow's part will be the last part of this chapter. So what did you think? Good or bad? Ja )