Mameko: Mother of Goku
A Dragonball Z Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah
Part Two - Arrival
"We will not surrender!" she screamed and charged again. Mameko may not have been raised as a fighter, but all Saiyajin had a fighting spirit. Only two members of the party of six remained, fighting with everything they had to defeat the creatures. They had misjudged their strength. It would have taken ten more Saiyajin to subdue them; ten more elites. They were all 3rd class and they were doomed.
"Beta!" she turned around after blasting another one into oblivion and looked for her comrade.
"Mameko... get out of here," the woman muttered. Her body was hefted above the head of one of the monstrous, green natives. Her tail hung limp. With little effort, the creature pulled and rent the body in half at the waist.
"No!!" Mameko flew at the monster and gave it her all, but her left arm was already broken and her energy level was pitifully low. She knew it was all over, but she would rather go out fighting than turn tail and run.
Just before the darkness closed in, she felt her body being lifted up. Unable to protest, she was carried for some distance. She was placed in a cold, wet substance. As her nose, mouth and ears were covered, she lost consciousness.
.x.
Dim. Grey. Muffled voices. A tiny beam of light in her eye.
Mameko blinked rapidly and struggled to renew her senses. A purple shape resolved itself.
The alien in front of her was short and aquatic looking. He held a medical monitor in one hand and a high-powered tazer in the other.
"Ah, you're reviving nicely."
'Regen tank...' she thought. 'I survived?' The stench of decaying flesh put her on guard but she was still only semi-conscious.
He continued to poke and prod her with the instrument. "Yes, I was worried. You sure took your sweet time healing. Then we ran into a bit of difficulty. Don't know what caused this change in pigmentation, however. But yes, a fine specimen you are, regardless. I shall have to start all over again, but you're fine, fine..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, blearily. Her eyes focused and she took in her surroundings. "This- this isn't..."
All around her were tall cylinders with frosted windows. Inside each, she could make out the form of a being. Confused and angry, she pulled at her restraints. The purple alien turned on the tazer apprehensively and it crackled menacingly.
"Now, don't try anything funny, Saiyajin." He spat her race's name like a curse.
Mameko gritted her teeth. She was a captive. 'Not for long,' she thought and quickly snapped the ties which bound her to the wall.
The alien cried out and thrust the tazer at her in panic. She reached out quickly and snapped the arm holding the weapon off like a twig. A pale, white sort of blood flowed profusely from the wound. She then flipped the arm around and tazed him with his own hand. Mameko stepped up to his now crouching, twitching body and twisted his head around. He slumped to the floor, dead.
Mameko panted and stared at her hands for a moment. "Now, where am I?" Still dazed, she stepped over him and wandered out of the room.
It wasn't long before she realized she was on a spaceship and that that ship was hovering in orbit over a small, blue-green plant.
Her stomach rumbled. Frowning, Mameko looked at the foreign controls.
"Computer?" she asked tentatively. To her relief, a tinny voice answered.
"Yes?"
"Take us down."
"Only the captain is cleared to navigate this ship."
'Machines,' she thought angrily. "He's dead. Land, now."
"All right," the computer nonchalantly agreed and began descent.
After a few minutes, the ship's voice called out again. "Captain, we are being hailed on all frequencies."
Mameko's stomach growled in reply. She had been in deep thought as to whether or not to eat her former captor for the last hour or two. "Uh," she said as she wracked her brains for the right. "On screen?"
An image of a smallish, furry man in a military uniform appeared on the large display.
"Attention incoming ship. Identify yourself!"
Mameko raised a brow and bid the computer open her channel. "This is the Hunger Express!" she shouted. "We're coming in."
He looked visibly shocked. "Be you friend or foe?!"
A thin, hunger-crazed, evil grin came over her face. "You'll have to see for yourselves!" she laughed and closed the communication.
When the ship landed, Mameko disembarked and was met by a fairly large and heavily armed military force. She put her fists on her hips and grinned. No one moved. She took a step forward.
"What are you!?" a man's voice boomed from a public address monitor. "Friend or foe?!"
She paused for dramatic effect before shouting back, "FOE!!" and charging into the thick of them.
The battle was extremely one-sided and was going fairly quickly until the backup arrived.
Mameko spotted the four people flying in and stopped her rampage. Their leader called down to her.
"Oi! I think your fight is with us!"
She raised her brows and dusted off her hands. "Did you bring food?"
"No…"
"Then you're right!" She lifted off the ground and followed them away from the ship, much to the surprise of the remaining army.
When they touched down, the leader opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by a shorter man.
"What are you?!" he barked.
"Again with the 'what are you'! How rude you people are," she prattled, her stomach making almost as much noise as her mouth. "Why does no one ever ask who?"
"Answer the question!"
She sighed dramatically. "I'm a Saiyajin."
"You lie!"
Mameko unraveled her tail from around her waist and bellowed in her native tongue. "I am a proud Saiyajin and you are about to find out just what that means!"
The shorter man charged at her. One of the younger men of the group called out after him. "Papa, no!"
He wasn't listening. They exchanged blows for a minute or so before Mameko discovered that she was hopelessly outclassed by just this one man. The other three were probably her match as well. Some of them seemed strikingly familiar. It didn't matter. She would still rather die fighting on this strange world than return home to Furiza's rule.
Just as the man was powering up to deliver a hefty blow, the leader called out to him.
"Vegeta, Stop!"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
"Vegeta..." Mameko's eyes went wide. She fell to her knees and looked up at him. "Please forgive my insolence, Ousama!!"
Vegeta halted his attack and frowned down on her. "Get up!" She stood immediately at attention and waited. "Who are you?"
"I am Mameko, Saiyajin, 3rd class, Division 14, 53rd draft platoon, Ousama!"
Trunks made a face, only catching a word here and there of his father's native language. "What's going on, Papa?"
Vegeta held up a dismissive hand and circled and scrutinized the stranger. "Where did you come from?"
"A PT take-over on the planet Elkye, which I must with deep shame report went horrible awry, Ousama."
"Stop calling me that. I am Vegeta Ouji."
"Ouji?" she asked, switching as he had to Gal-standard and made eye contact with him. She had had audience with the king only once, but she would never forget how tall and intimidating he was. This man looked like the king, sounded like the king, but he was a few feet shy of his impressive stature. 'Can this be an older son?' she thought. 'A rouge brother? The Prince is just a child...'
"And you cannot be a Saiyajin!" Vegeta yelled and charged at her again.
No one dared interfere until the woman was hardly conscious. Goku flew in front of Vegeta and held out his arms.
"That's enough."
Vegeta growled and backed off. "Calls herself a Saiyajin," he scoffed.
"Papa, you could have asked her to elaborate." Trunks folded his arms and frowned.
"Is she alive?" Goten asked.
"Thankfully." Goku picked her up gently and they followed him as he carried her back to Capsule Corp.
.x.
A small crowd gathered around Bulma as she programmed the regen tank. After she bumped into someone for the third time, she screamed for everyone to get out. Only Vegeta remained.
"Honestly, Vegeta. Did you have to go this far?"
"She's weak," was his only answer.
"Let her heal. Then after I talk to her you can beat the poor helpless thing up again," she said as she passed him.
"She wasn't so helpless when she took out those platoons of Earth soldiers."
"What?"
"We found her plowing through a fleet of tanks. I guess she didn't take too kindly to their idea of a welcome wagon."
Bulma frowned and looked at the young woman in the tank. Her eyes were closed, but rather than that same permanent scowl that Vegeta wore when he slept her face looked sad. "Come on. Let her be for now."
.x.
A few hours later, Mameko stirred. She opened her eyes, shocked to feel the warm liquid against them. 'How did I get back here?!' she thought wildly and struggled to get out. The pain that coursed through her limbs reminded her of the encounter with the man who called himself 'Prince'. She began to think that she had died on the battle field and this was simply some form of hellish afterlife. Mameko thrust her good arm through the plate-glass and it burst into a million shatter-proof pieces. The liquid sloshed out on to the floor. She ripped free of the restraints, found her tattered armor, put it back on and staggered out of the room.
Frustrated, confused and tired, she grew impatient trying to find a door and blasted a window out. Mameko shielded her eyes against the bright, yellow sun and wandered out onto the lawn.
"Oi!" a girl's voice called out from behind her. "Just where do you think you're going, impostor?"
Mameko turned and looked at the girl. She was short and had black hair. She was wearing a blue and white set of Saiyajin armor and her dark tail wagged back and forth anxiously.
"I'm- I'm not an impostor," Mameko replied and held her head. "Who are you?" Her voice held that same strange, almost British accent that Vegeta touted when he spoke Gal-standard.
"I'm Koshi. Father says you can't possibly be a Saiyajin."
"You're one. Why do people think I'm lying?!" Mameko grabbed her tail and pulled at it a little. She winced at the slight pain. "See! It's not coming off!"
"But," Koshi raised a brow. Her arms were tightly folded. "It's blue."
"Huh?" Mameko looked at her tail. "What the hell?!"
Koshi couldn't help but laugh out loud at the horrified look on the young woman's face. "Hahahaha! You mean this is news to you?!"
"Well yes! It was brown the last time I checked!" Mameko pulled the spiky hair on her head down and was shocked to find that it too was a dusty, blue color. Koshi continued to laugh. Mameko growled and took a fighting stance. "Quit laughing at me, you jerk!"
"How dare you speak to me like that! If you are a Saiyajin then I am your Princess!"
"What?! Not this again," Mameko groaned. "What's going on? Where's that man who looks like the King who calls himself Prince?"
"You know what the king looked like?"
"Yes I... wait," Mameko relaxed her shoulders, "Looked like?"
"I never knew my grandfather. He's been dead a long time."
Mameko stared at this girl. She slowly shook her head. "This is either hell or I have completely lost my mind!"
"There is no way you could have known what my father looked like," Vegeta said as he stepped out of the hole Mameko had blasted in the side of his house.
"Of course there is! I was even given audience with him once, in person. He congratulated me on a job well done for transcribing ancient royal ordinances just a few years ago."
"I was a child when the ordinances were revised and transcribed. Father made me read them until I had memorized them." Vegeta, visibly shaken, walked up to her and examined her torn armor. It was decorated with the Saiyajin Empire logo Q as bold as the day it was printed, and the blood stains of battle. "I am Vegeta. Prince of the Saiyajin and your leader. I do not know where you came from of how it is that you are here, but I believe you."
Mameko shuddered. "What happened to me? Why are you grown, Oujisama?"
"It appears that time has somehow left you behind. What was the last thing that happened to you?"
Mameko furrowed her brows and recanted what little she had experienced. When she was done she looked up and saw Koshi burrowing a hole in her with eyes. Vegeta paced away and thought.
"While you were healing, my woman and son did some research on your ship. It seems that this purple thing that you so neatly disposed of was a collector."
"A what?" Koshi asked, interested.
"He had an example of nearly every species of sentient being I've ever seen on board that ship. Something went wrong though, and all the life support systems shut down. They were all dead. You somehow survived this."
"He collected me?!" Mameko cried. "Did he do this to my hair?!"
"No. That was probably an after effect of the cryogenic process."
Mameko sank to the ground. "Cryogenic. As in, stasis?"
He nodded. "You've been paused for roughly 50 Earth years... 25 to you and me."
Mameko stared at the ground.
"So, she's technically in her seventies?" Koshi whispered to herself.
"What can I do now? My life is in your hands, My Prince." She bowed deeply, despite the pain of her wounds and to hide the tears of despair that arose.
Vegeta thought for a second. "Koshi. Get this woman a room. She will stay with us until further arrangements can be made. You," he addressed the newcomer.
She stood up, eyes wide. "Yes, Oujisama!"
"You are to do whatever Koshi, Trunks, my woman, Bulma or I say. You are too old for school." Vegeta tilted his head. "Do you have any useful skills other than combat?"
"I was a scribe and a historian."
"Ah yes," Vegeta barked at her in the rough Saiyajin tongue. "Excellent. You shall teach my offspring Saiyago."
"Yes, Oujisama!" She barked back.
Koshi raised a brow. "But, Father! I know Saiyago!"
"You language skills are poor because I do not have the patience to teach you. Her diction is very clear and precise."
"Yes, Father."
"Now come on. Your mother will start screaming if we're late for dinner again."
"Dinner!" Mameko cried. "I'm so hungry!!"
Vegeta walked back through the hole in the wall. "After dinner, fix this."
"Yes, Father."
"Yes, Oujisama."
Koshi turned to Mameko and made a face. "So. I guess you'll be staying here for a while."
"If that's all right with you, Koshi-sama?"
Koshi blinked a few times. "Koshi-sama..." she grinned. "Nice ring to it. Come on. Let's go eat."
Note: Koshi was the GirlZ version of Bra, played by Lindsay from Ohio.
.x.
There was a nice, sunny lounge on the fourth floor that served as a cozy classroom for the three. Trunks tried to stay awake in the warm sun and Koshi sat bolt upright, eyes glued to their teacher. "Ok," Mameko wrung her hands and pulled at the strange, new, cotton tee-shirt she had been given to wear. "I think the first thing I need to know is how much Saiyago you know already. Trunks-sama, what can you tell me," she said as she looked around the room for a good subject, "about the chair you're sitting in?"
"Well..." he looked at it. "The chair is lazy and weak. Er, b-b-blue."
Mameko blushed. "Well, I don't think that's what you meant to say. Koshi-sama, how about you? Can you describe the door?" She said and pointed to the electronic sliding door to the room.
"The, er... I don't know 'door', is a bastard."
"Ok! So you've had no formal teaching. That's all right. We'll start with the basics."
Bulma walked by the study room and paused as she heard the harsh, guttural sounds coming from within. She listened at the door for a minute. Her teenage children were... singing?
"Very good!" Mameko cheered in Saiyago. "I must confess to you, that song is what very young Saiyajin children sing in order to learn their numbers!"
Koshi and Trunks raised their brows.
"Good thing this is a private lesson!" Trunks laughed.
"Yes, I suppose so, Trunks-sama."
"Mameko," he laughed again. "You don't have to call me that. I'm not royalty. I'm just a teenage boy."
"Oh, sorry, Trunks...-san?"
He nodded.
"You can call me sama," Koshi grinned. "I quite like it and unlike my unworthy brother, I consider myself every bit as much royalty as my father."
Trunks rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Koshi-sama," Mameko smiled and continued with the lesson.
It was nearly dinnertime when Koshi, Trunks and Mameko emerged from the study room.
"Tomorrow I'll try to speak nothing but Saiyago like your Earth teachers do with, what does this planet call the language we're speaking? We call it Gal-standard."
"English," Koshi said and followed them down to the kitchen.
Dinner was take-out, as usual. Mameko puzzled over the gyudon and devoured anything with Teriyaki sauce on it. Afterwards, the various members of the family wandered off to their own pursuits. Trunks had a date with his girlfriend Muzai, Bulma wanted to watch Takashi's Castle and Koshi had a couple hours booked in the gravity chamber. Vegeta took a Sapporo out of the fridge and looked at Mameko. She was standing a respectful distance from her prince and seemed to want something.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Oujisama, I don't mean to be rude, please excuse my impudence."
He looked at her funny, took a sip of his beer and asked her again in Saiyago. "What is it?"
"I was wondering, if it wouldn't be too much of an imposition, if I could borrow a space ship? The one I arrived in was totaled in the little skirmish I incited, heh..."
"To go where?" he asked, puzzled.
"Well, to go home," she said cheerfully.
Vegeta put the beer down. He let out a breath, slowly and looked into her hopeful eyes. "No."
Mameko's face fell. She averted her eyes. "Please excuse me, Oujisama. I did not mean to make such an outrageous request."
Vegeta walked away.
Mameko looked up. He walked into the living room and stood behind the sofa his wife was sitting in. Vegeta bent at the waist and muttered something to her. The television clicked off.
Bulma stood and looked at Mameko. She bit her lip and beckoned for her to come over.
.x.
"It's..." Mameko whispered. "It's all gone? The entire planet... destroyed?"
Bulma nodded. She didn't take her eyes off of her. Vegeta had disappeared at the start of this conversation. Bulma wondered if Saiyajin were taught to kept their emotions locked up inside of them, or if Mameko would prove that Vegeta was just like that to begin with.
"How long ago?"
"Forty three years ago."
Mameko's mind managed to do the math. "A short while after I was placed in stasis," she muttered.
"Mameko, if you want to cry, do it. I won't think you're weak."
"I-I..." Mameko stuttered. "I'm just in shock, I mean, it's gone? Vegeta-sei is no more?!"
Bulma nodded. "I'm sorry, Mameko." She was surprised to see tears roll down the Saiyajin's cheeks. Her tail flopped restlessly from side to side.
"I just don't believe it, Bulma-san." She looked up suddenly, anger splashed across her face. "Please tell me someone has destroyed Furiza!!"
Bulma gasped. "Yes! Yes... we did."
Mameko nodded. "Good. Good." She stood. "Bulma-san, please excuse me." Mameko walked out of the room. She passed Vegeta who had remained just out of sight without looking up and left the house.
.x.
The ship was still there. Mameko touched down and walked around the mortar craters the army had greeted her with. Inside, the small, purple alien's body was decaying. The stench didn't bother her. She walked through the corridors and touched the glass tubes, each containing a specimen, collected as she had been. Each being was thawed out and long dead.
She leaned up against one of these and slumped down to sit on the floor.
"I was there..." she said to no one. "Last week. They sent me off to this supposedly harmless planet. Even before it went horribly wrong, I wanted to go home. I never wanted to be in the Planet Trade. Furiza didn't give us a choice and he- he..." she couldn't hold it in anymore. "He eliminated us!!"
Mameko beat her fists against the floor. "I wanted to live! I wanted to live to see the day when the Saiyajin would rise against him! Now, I wish I was dead! Do you hear me, you stiffs!" she cried at the corpses. "Why did I live?! I've lost everything I've ever known! I thought it was bad enough that I should be 76 years old, but now I have no home, no people, no nothing! All I have are my memories and they're fresh! I was there!" she trailed off, sobbing heavily.
A pair of boots clicked down the corridor. Mameko looked up and was only a little surprised to see her prince. "I was just there..." she whispered.
"I know. I envy you."
She realized that standing before her was a Saiyajin who had been without his people for most of his lifetime. She stood up and wiped her face. "This blue-green world is so strange, Oujisama. How did you get used to it?"
He shrugged. "It grows on you. Come here," he said and lead her out of the ship.
As Mameko choked back the last sob of her despair, tears of joy sprung from her eyes. The sun was setting in the western sky and a warm, red glow spread across either end of the zenith: the same color red as the sky on Vegeta-sei.
"Sometimes." Vegeta put his hands in his pockets. "Little things like this help."
They stood and watched the sun dip down and the indigo of night slide over the rouge. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you like, Mameko."
.x.
A week passed and Mameko was beginning to fit in, as much as a blue haired, blue tailed Saiyajin could fit in on Earth. She had a nice room at Capsule Corp. A and the Briefs family treated her very kindly.
Late one afternoon, Trunks, Koshi and she emerged from the study room chatting in Saiyago. Mameko laughed. "You guys don't have to keep it up! Class is over!"
"We know, Maks." Trunks smiled.
Koshi raised a brow. "Maks?" Mameko gave him a similar look.
"Mameko the Aoi Kami [blue hair Saiyajin," he shrugged. "It's a nick name."
"Ah." Koshi shrugged and turned to go downstairs. "I can't wait to have dinner tonight, Mameko. Those Saiyajin recipes are great."
"Yeah, great..." Trunks muttered dreamily.
"Trunks, I thought you said it was too heavy for you?" Koshi turned around to see her brother's eyes wide and his mouth curled up into a demented, almost evil-looking smile.
"Ko-Koshi-sama..." Mameko stuttered. "Help." She was panting. Her hands were curled up into fists. "Hold him back. I can't... I can't... I..."
"What the hell's going on?! Trunks, knock it off!"
"He..." Mameko panted, "He can't help it. Hold him back, please!" She seemed like she was in pain.
As Trunks lunged for the woman, Koshi jumped on him and shook him, vigorously. "Knock it off!" He wasn't listening. Koshi reeled back and punched her out-of-control brother. He fell to the floor, unconscious. "What's wrong with you, Mameko?"
The woman's eyes were locked on something just past Koshi's left shoulder. She turned to see her father standing in the hallway with an amused smirk on his face.
"Ooh... Oujisama..." Mameko moaned.
"Oh please. You know very well that I'm bonded."
Mameko pouted but slinked over to him anyway. "I know, but I just can't help myself!"
With a flick of the wrist, Vegeta gave her a quick chop to the neck and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Alright, what the hell is going on?!" Koshi screamed.
Vegeta's amusement faded. He made a face and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Shit," he hissed. "I didn't think I'd have to deal with this."
Koshi frowned and squinted at him, waiting for an answer. Trunks began to stir.
"Take her out to the middle of nowhere," Vegeta commanded. "Make sure you go north! Far from the bloody Son house. When she wakes up, ask her what's wrong with her."
"But, Father..."
"Now!"
Koshi grumbled and did as she was told.
Trunks came to just as Koshi left, carrying Mameko under her arm like a sack of potatoes.
"What happened?" he mumbled and rubbed his face.
"You let your hormones get the best of you," Vegeta scoffed and walked away.
"What? Papa?" he asked and chased after him. "Papa, wait. Wait! What did I do?!"
.x.
Mameko groaned as she came to. Koshi's highly displeased image became clear.
"Koshi-sama, where are we?"
"The middle of freaking nowhere. Now why did my father tell me to bring you here? Why was my brother turned into a salivating moron!?"
Mameko blinked at her for a moment. "Y- you don't know?"
"NO!"
"Forgive me, Koshi-sama!" Mameko sat up and folded her legs under her. "I'm having my cycle."
"You mean your period?"
"What's that?" Mameko asked.
Koshi made a face. "Why don't you just tell me about your 'cycle' or whatever."
"Alright. Every other year or so for about 20 years, Saiyajin women are fertile. The cycle only lasts only a few days. At that time, we give off a pheromone that drives men crazy. They fight over us and the victor gets to procreate. It helps ensure that the strongest possible children are born. Not all heats end in copulation and sometimes even the ones that do don't end in pregnancy. Your father was unaffected by my pheromones because he has bonded with your mother."
Koshi blinked at her. She thought for a moment. "That's different. But it explains why I haven't... er... Never mind. So," Koshi calmly changed the subject and sat down next to her. "Does this mean you can't come home for a week or so?"
Mameko nodded. "I'll be all right. There are plenty of animals out here to eat."
"Have you ever had this happen before?"
"Oh yes, once before."
"Did men fight over you?"
Mameko smiled at her inquisitiveness. "Yes. One man won and we mated." She continued, knowing the innocent girl would only be satisfied by the truth. "Furiza would not let Saiyajin bond. He banned all of our traditions. But we bonded anyway." Mameko smiled, but it soon faded. "He must really be dead. I wouldn't have reacted like that otherwise."
"Were you married?"
"Oh, no. We weren't allowed. But I did have his son."
Koshi was shocked. "You had a baby?"
Mameko nodded. "He was taken from me when I delivered him and put immediately into the planet trade. I didn't even get to name him."
Koshi gasped as she realized that everyone in Mameko's past, like her father's, were all dead. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.
"Well, it did happen forty some odd years ago!" Mameko laughed sadly and stood up. She strolled away and looked up at the bright, blue sky. "I miss my mate terribly. I hadn't seen him for almost six months when I was collected. He was so smart and strong. I really loved him. In a world where love was being frowned upon more and more I wished that one day we'd all be together like my grandparents' generation had been before Furiza arrived." She shrugged.
"I'm so sorry..." Koshi whispered again. She had grown fond of her strange house-guest, but now realized that there was a great deal she didn't know about her. "Well, if you need anything..." she said and stood up to leave.
"Thank you, Koshi-sama."
.x.
It was getting dark when Mameko started a little fire and spitted a wild boar for her dinner. Her tail wagged back and forth in anticipation of her meal.
'Maybe I need this chance for a new life,' she thought. 'Maybe...'
She watched the fire crackle and rested her head on her folded arms. "I miss you, Bardock. Keep our son safe for me."
As the fire died down later that night, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Feeling out, she decided it must be a tiny animal because it had no detectable life energy, but she couldn't smell it. Mameko held still and concentrated. Her tail was stiff. Finally she could take it no more.
"Who's there!?" she barked.
A figure moved out of the shadows. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt and an open flannel shirt. He pushed his thin, black hair back behind an earinged ear and folded his arms.
"You're trespassing," he said in a soothing, unthreatening voice. "And I really don't appreciate the poaching and the fire much either."
"Do you own these lands?" Mameko asked, irritated.
"Yes. 300 hundred acres of this mountain. Now please, put your fire out completely and leave."
"I would, except that I have nowhere to go." Mameko stood and glared at him. "And I'd like to see you make me." Her tail wagged back and forth.
The young man raised a brow. "A Saiyajin?" he asked. "My, you're a rarity."
"You know what I am?"
"Yes. And I think it would be fun to make you leave." He took a stance and motioned for her to come at him.
A little exercise was just what the doctor ordered. Mameko nodded and charged. She was stunned by his swiftness, baffled by his blocks and jumped back after just a few quick hits.
"What the hell are you?!" she cried and held her aching fists.
He frowned. "That's not very nice. And you're not very impressive. Are you sure you're a Saiyajin?"
"Of course I'm sure!" she bristled. "I am Mameko! The last full breed Saiyajin woman! Who and what are you?!"
"I'm Juunanagou the last Jinzouningen man!" he shouted, mocking her.
'Artificial,' Mameko thought. 'No wonder I couldn't feel him out.' She closed her eyes. "Unn," she moaned. "Not now!"
The young man raised a brow. "What's the matter? Had enough?"
"Mm, no..." she grinned. "I want more… much more!" Mameko leapt forward and tackled Juunanagou.
"I, er... hello!" he cried, startled and fell to the ground, pinned by the overly-friendly Saiyajin. "Um... I, well, that is I, um, heheheh... ok, then!" Juunanagou might have been artificial, but he was still a man.
.x.
Mameko woke in another strange place and slapped her forehead. "I gotta stop doing this!" she thought out loud. She found her dress and put it on. Her stomach grumbled as she wandered out of the bedroom.
"Morning." His smooth, silky voice startled her.
"Oh! You!" she cried, clutching her heart. "Don't do that!"
He laughed lightly. "Sorry. Did you sleep well?"
Mameko nodded. "Thank you for," she cleared her throat. "And the hospitality." She walked towards the door.
"I thought you said you have nowhere to go?"
"Just for a week. I live at The Capsule Corporation but I can't go back or I'll jump on Vegeta and Trunks like I jumped on you."
"Come again?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"I'm in heat."
"Oh. Neat." Juunanagou picked a flannel shirt off of a coat rack and made for the door. "You're more than welcome to stay here. I haven't had anyone 'jump' on me in a while, not to mention a visitor."
Mameko raised a brow. "Really? Are you sure? Because I'll probably jump on you a couple more times. Not that I can help it, mind you!"
"Sounds good. Make yourself at home. I'll be back later. Gotta go to work." He hefted an axe over his shoulder and opened the door.
"An android lumberjack?" she asked, puzzled.
"A Gentleman android lumberjack. I don't have to do this. I just like to."
"Ok." She shrugged. He smirked at her and walked out the door. "Oh, um, Juunanagou?" Mameko called after him. He turned and looked back. "Thank you."
"No prob."
.x.
The week passed quickly. Bulma arranged for a welcome-home party for Mameko. They were waiting for Goku to show up, as usual. This was fine with Bulma. Mameko had called home the day before to say she would be back by dinner time, but had not yet arrived.
"What could be keeping her?" Bulma wondered. "If I had to live out in the woods for a week I'd run home!"
"You wouldn't survive a day out in the woods," Vegeta muttered.
"Excuse me!?" she yelled. "I did very well for myself all that time on Namek, thank you very much!!!"
Koshi rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. She hadn't told anyone about her last conversation with the blue haired Saiyajin, but she had thought about it all week. She could not imagine herself having a child, let alone having it taken away from her. As soon as she could, Koshi wanted to begin learning not just the Saiyajin language, but all the culture and history that even her father had either forgotten or been too young to retain.
.x.
Juunanagou whined and buried his head in Mameko's coarse, blue hair. "I don't want you to go."
"I must." She squeezed him tightly before pulling away and looking up into his clear, artificial, blue eyes. "I'll come back to visit. A lot."
"I'll miss you," he whispered and they kissed good-bye.
She flew home slowly with a permanent grin on her face. She had a place to live, full of people who cared about her and now, she had a love as well. The hollow pain of losing Bardock was beginning to be replaced. This strange, blue-green world was turning out to be a wonderful place to call home. The domes of Capsule Corp appeared on the horizon and she sped up.
.x.
"Here she comes!" Bulma shouted. Everyone ducked behind furniture and in closets. Koshi and Vegeta wandered slowly into the kitchen, exchanging like-minded exasperated glances.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Mameko asked as she came in to the living room.
"Surprise!" a chorus of voices called. Everyone jumped out from behind couches and closets. Mameko was truly shocked. It seemed that everyone she had met had gathered to welcome her home.
Mameko began to thank everyone, smiling and bowing. It was a cozy party, with about a dozen guests. There were a few people she didn't know at all who were introduced to her. Bulma took her by the arm and introduced her to her friends. Standing next to a large bowl of chips was a handsome, black haired man. His wife stood very close to him, but Mameko didn't see her at all. She stared at the man with her mouth slightly agape. Bulma spoke, but Mameko didn't hear her. He eyes were locked on the tall, spiky-haired Saiyajin man before her.
"Mameko, this is Goku, Gohan and Goten's father. He's a full breed Saiyajin too. Mameko? Are you all right?"
The room went silent.
"Oh no... She's still in it!" Trunks cried and ducked back behind a couch. Vegeta smacked him upside the head lightly.
"Idiot. You're not reacting to her."
"Oh, right," he laughed.
"Mameko?" Bulma asked again.
Goku raised a brow. "You ok, Mameko?"
"I'm sorry. You just look a lot like someone I used to know."
"Oh really?" he asked, as light-hearted as ever. "Who?"
Mameko could barely summon the breath with which to speak. "My mate, Bardock."
"That's funny! That was my dad's name, right Vegeta?"
The prince nodded. His interest was piqued.
Koshi's jaw hung loosely open. "Mameko! Kakarotto is 44 years old! Aren't you?!"
"Yeah, I think so," he answered, confused.
Koshi practically fell over the couch as she ran towards them. "He was put into the Planet Trade when he was just a baby and came here just before Vegeta-sei was destroyed!"
Mameko covered her mouth with her right hand. She reached out and touched his face with her left. "You look just like your father!" she sobbed and laughed.
"Huh?" Goku blinked.
"Don't you get it!?" Koshi cried. "Mameko is Kakarotto-sama's Mother!"
Everyone blinked and stared at them.
"My mother?" Goku asked.
Mameko nodded. "Kakarotto?" she asked.
Spontaneously, the universe's strongest man threw his arms around the young woman and hugged her tightly. "Wow this is so cool! Welcome home, Mom!"
Vegeta continued to blink for several minutes. Trunks folded his arms and shook his head. "Who woulda thunk it, right, Papa?"
He sighed. "I suppose it's a small galaxy, after all."
To be continued…