Prologue: The First Victim

Kani: This is my first DBZ fic! I expect to get flames, since I've see very little of the actual anime, but this fic has been bothering me, and I just HAD to post it!!!

Disclaimer: If I owned DB/DBZ/DBGT, would I be sitting here begging you to review my pitiful fan fiction? And why would I write fan fiction about something I owned?

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"F-Father! Wh-what happened? Where's...where's Kaasan?"

I slowly open my eyes and am greeted by the slightly blurry but worried face of my half-breed son. "T-Trunks?" It was one of the few times I referred to him by his given name. "What are—" Then I remember. Totoma Henshin.

"Onna!" Ignoring the stinging that radiates through my broken ribs, I leap to my feet. I shove the light haired brat out of my path and run. I'm too worn out from the fight to fly.

Trunks is following me...I can sense it.

The onna...where is she? Dread begins to rise within me, and it's all I can do not to voice my worries. Trunks is asking his annoying questions again. I can barely hear him.

But just when I'm about to give up hope and succumb to the knowledge that Henshin didn't kill—merely kidnapped—my mate, I caught sight of something lying in a shallow crater near the Capsule Corp mansion.

Blue hair...

No... My legs carry me as far as to the something's side before buckling completely under me. I stare in pure horror at what I see before me.

Bulma's clothes are torn and soaked thoroughly with blood. Her arms and legs are twisted at a strange angle. Her head is turned towards me, but tangled, crimson-stained blue hair covers the face. I lower a shaking hand, brushing the sky-colored strands from her eyes. I couldn't help but let my face contort in sudden agony at what I see.

"K-Kaasan...?" I hear Trunks whimper behind me.

Strangely enough, my mate's face...is still untouched. Just as perfect and whole the day I'd met—

I-ie... I was in complete shock. He paralyzed me...then he killed...

Sudden wrath flows through my veins. I tremble as the awful yet powerful feeling fills me. My head spins in a feeble effort to keep my chi level down as I remember that Trunks is still behind me.

But the pressure is too much. I throw my head back, yelling in anger. Chi swirls around me, and I power up to Super Saiyajin. Then SSJ2. Curses come into my throat unbidden, and I have no choice but to shout them at the sunset sky.

"Curse you, Kami!" I howl, barely aware of what I'm saying. "H-how could you do this?!" Power rushes off me in waves, so quickly that I can't control it. "How could you let that...that...yaro...kill my mate?! She didn't deserve this! She didn't deserve to die!" My bare fists clench painfully tight, causing my nails to cut into my palms. Blood trickles from my hands, but I'm too far gone to know or care. "I was the one...who destroyed countless alien races and planets!" My throat is going sore, causing me to choke as I scream. "I deserved to die, Kami! Why didn't you kill me?"

Chi flows from me, leeching away my strength like water. My energy spent, I collapse to my knees and stay there for the longest time, hanging my head and shivering all over.

A light footstep sounds beside me. I wince slightly, but recognize the chi signature as Trunks'. He's crying. I know it.

"Father?" he whispers tentatively. "I-is Kaasan...dead?"

Blood floods my mouth, gushing up from the tear in my lungs. I spit it out, too exhausted to reply.

The brat sniffles. "P-Papa?"

At the sound of that name—that confounded ningen name—my head snaps up. I turn to face the boy ever-so-slowly. I must have been giving the half-breed a death glare, because he shrinks back.

"D-don't...you...ever...call me that," I hiss, too numb with pain to care that I'm hurting him. "And what do you think happened? There was a battle here."

Trunks slowly glances around, seeing that what I say is true...all too true. The signs of combat are everywhere; craters from wayward ki blasts, a huge, smoldering, unsightly wound blasted into the side of the Capsule Corp mansion, a thinning fog of gray smoke, and worst of all, a faint reading of a departed ki signature. I wince at its familiarity.

Trunks recognizes it too, and looks at me with questioning, tear-filled eyes.

"It's...Bulma," I rasp brokenly. "Her soul's gone."

The brat tears up again. "What else...Father?"

No. No, onna...you can't mean that… I lower my gaze to Bulma's body, my heart hammering so hard in my chest that I think that it will burst out and I'll die...

"She doesn't want to come back to life."

"Wh-what?" I hear him sob.

Don't cry anymore, boy...please... "I can...still sense what she thinks...through our bond." I slowly gather the limp body in my arms. "She wants to go..."

"Iie!" Trunks screams. I feel his chi increase. "No, Kaasan! Come back!"

The shock is too much for him. He breaks down and cries as he flashes to SSJ.

But he only remains at the level for a moment. His shock is too great.

And so, for the matter, is mine.