Mameko: Mother of Goku

A Dragonball Z Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Part Five : Too Good

On a pleasant Sunday afternoon Goku touched down on the lip of Kami's lookout and approached the palace. He held a note in his hand written in a fine, antique writing style. It read 'Your presence is requested at Kami's Lookout at a quarter to three in the afternoon on Sunday.' "Hello?" he called out. "I'm here!"

Rather than God greeting him, the vampire girl who was friends with his mother appeared in a puff of smoke before him. "Oh, good. You got my note," she purred.

"You wrote this? I could hardly read it, it's so fancy!"

She laughed lightly. "That's how we used to write in the old days." She threaded her arm through his and walked him toward the palace. "I want you to see something, Son-san."

"Uh, ok?" he agreed and followed.

"Mr. Popo? Would you come here for a second?" she called out as she saw the genie watering his garden.

"Oh, yes. Sexy gonna rub Popo?"

Goku cringed at the statement. "Sekkaku," she corrected him. "Yes. I am, unfortunately. Usually we have your mother do this, but this is a top-secret mission of mine," she said as she slipped her arm out from Goku's and rubbed the small, round man's belly a few times. "I wish that Son Goku was also Majin!"

"WHAT?!" he cried, but Popo had already performed the act. An M graced his forehead.

Sekkaku giggled with pleasure as the genie waddled away. "Oh, it becomes you, my dear! Wait till Koshi gets a load of this, she'll be ecstatic! There will be no obstacle to Majin Nation with you among its ranks!"

"Why did you do this?" Goku asked her seriously.

Sekkaku pouted. "You don't like it? It's all the rage, I hear," she said, pointing to her own M.

"When Mom got hers I told her how dangerous it was but she wouldn't…" He fell silent and a strange, blank expression came over his face. "No. This- This isn't right."

"Um, Son-san, everything alright in there?" Sekkaku asked, getting worried for the first time since thinking of this idea. 'Uh oh,' Sekkaku thought to herself. 'This doesn't look good. I better bring Popo back out here.' Very suddenly Goku turned on his heel and Shunkan Idoed into nothingness. "Uh oh! Where'd he go?" she panicked and looked high and low.

"Where is Kakarotto?" a voice growled as a shadow touched down behind her.

Sekkaku shouted in alarm. "Good thing I'm already dead!" she cried and held her chest. "Pete's sake, Vegeta what are you doing here?"

"I went to spar with him and felt that he was coming here."

"He left."

Vegeta scowled. "Where did he go?"

"Well, I'm not…"

Suddenly Vegeta boggled and turned to look over the edge of the lookout. "That's him! What happened?! His power is immense!"

Sekkaku beamed. "I wished him Majin!"

"You did what?!"

"Well, you see. You can rub that little black guy's tummy and…"

Vegeta reached out and grabbed Sekkaku by the neck of her dress. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Obviously you're about to tell me…"

.x.

Many miles from Kami's lookout under the shadow of Mount Paozu, Chi-chi was very surprised to see her husband home so early.

"Goku-san! Let me guess, you're hungry?"

"No," he said, fairly innocently.

"Then what do you want? You're usually out training all day and it's too late for lunch and what's that mark on your forehead?"

"You know, Chi-chi," he said, his brows arching downwards. "I never loved you."

"What!?" she asked and backed away a few paces.

"Not one bit..." he walked slowly towards her.

"Goku-san! What are you saying!?" she gasped and knocked over a chair. Goku reached out quickly and grabbed her wrist. He squeezed until the bones crumbled in his hand. Chi-chi screamed out in pain and shock. Her husband sneered and knocked her through the kitchen wall.

Chi-chi sobbed and tried to crawl away, but he was on her. "Say goodnight." He brought his foot down and crushed her skull. The emotionless look fell across his face again and he lifted into the air.

.x.

"He's moving." Vegeta concentrated.

'This is heavy. I need backup!' Sekkaku thought wildly as she realized how upset Vegeta was. "I'll be right back!" she piped and vaporized. Vegeta didn't seem to notice. He tried to track him and think of how best to deal with a Majin Goku.

Moments later Sekkaku returned with Koshi, Leeli and Mameko in tow. Koshi saw her father and pushed Sekkaku aside to run to his side.

Leeli held Mameko who was nearly hyperventilating, wide-eyed with shock.

"I didn't know it would be a huge problem!" Sekkaku insisted.

"Just shut it, will you!" Koshi barked. "What can we do, Father?"

Mameko spoke up. "Oujisama, you can feel his whereabouts. Please, take me to him!"

"No. We wait."

The girls were silent, waiting as their Prince had commanded.

.x.

Bulma typed a few lines of code and sipped her tea. It was early in the afternoon and she knew she could work for a few more hours before her kids would come looking for food. She leaned back and looked at the monitor. "Damn," she said to herself. "I gotta get my eyes checked." As she was squinting to focus on the program she was working on, she saw something flicker across the screen's reflective surface. She turned around to see what it was.

"Oh! Damn it, Goku! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry."

Bulma stood and held her chest. "It's bad enough that Vegeta seems to want to put me into an early grave by doing that to me all the time..." she stopped short and raised a brow. "You ok? Is something happening?"

"You could say that."

She at last saw the mark on his forehead and gasped. "You're- you're Majin."

He nodded, his features were noticeably dark.

"So..." Bulma took a few steps apprehensively towards the door. 'Vegeta, please be home,' she thought frantically. "How's that working out for you? You know Koshi just loves it, though I really think it's just a phase."

"Hm," he sneered. "Then for me I suppose it's a mid-life crisis."

Bulma laughed weakly and felt for the door switch. She turned her head to look for it and there he was, blocking her path. She cried out in alarm. "Goku, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, Bulma. Nothing at all."

"Yes! Yes there is! You're not the same! You don't act like this! Stop it!" she screamed. He pinned her to the door.

"It's too late for me," he breathed in her face. "And for you." Goku took her head in his hands and snapped her neck with a quick motion. She slumped to the floor, dead.

.x.

Vegeta and Koshi gasped.

"No!" Koshi let out a short cry.

"Bulma," Vegeta whispered. His brows met in the middle. At last powered up and shot off into the air, heading for Capsule.

"What just happened?" Leeli shouted.

Mameko grabbed Koshi's arms. "Koshi-sama, what is it?"

"My mother is dead." Her eyes looked forward, but she was lost in grief.

"This can't be." Mameko ground her teeth. "Leeli, come with me. Sekkaku, stay here with Koshi-sama."

"But I want to help fix this!" the vampire protested.

Mameko ignored her request. "If he's been swallowed by the power of Majin, I may be the only one who can reach him. Koshi-sama is in shock. Please stay with her."

Sekkaku noticed Koshi's vacant, open-mouthed stare and nodded. Mameko looked to Leeli who also nodded and they took off after Vegeta.

.x.

By the time Vegeta reached his home, Goku was long gone. He charged through the front door and looked into the living room, kitchen and bedroom. No luck. He then ran down the connection to her private lab. Vegeta pushed the button to open the door and to his horror, his wife's body, which had been leaning up against it, fell towards him. He caught her in his arms and sat there for a minute, his tears falling silently onto her cool skin.

.x.

In the gigantic CEO office at Capsule Corp's downtown headquarters, Muzai giggled.

"Mu..." Trunks smiled. "I know I usually make you meet me here for illicit reasons." He blushed a little and loosened his tie. A box of tissues was close at hand. The beautiful eighteen year old girl was sitting on his lap.

"Yes?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"But I have something serious I want to..."

"Discuss?" she tried to help speed things up.

"No. Um, ask you."

"Shoot."

"Um, Muzai. Do you think I'm too old for you?"

"What?!" she laughed. "You're a Saiyajin, I'm a Cyborg, who cares how old we are?"

He sighed a little.

"Was that it?"

Trunks's stomach flip-flopped. "Uh, I should get back to work now!" he laughed and stood up, effectively dumping her off of his lap.

"Trunks!" she shouted. "You are just so weird!" Muzai frowned and stomped to the door. Trunks opened the top, right-hand drawer to his desk and touched a small white box. He struggled, but still couldn't do it. He closed the drawer.

"Oh!" Muzai shouted. Trunks's head whipped up. Standing in front of Muzai was Son Goku. Trunks was about to say hello when Goku reached out and plunged his hand through Muzai's chest. Blood and sparks emanated from the wound as he pulled his hand back out. He walked over her body and grinned at Trunks.

"What have you done!?!" Trunks cried and charged him. He never got so much as a punch in before he too was run through. The grin fell from Goku's face and he put his now bloody fingers to his head again.

.x.

When Mameko and Leeli arrived at Capsule, Vegeta had laid Bulma's body on the couch and covered her with a throw; her favorite one with the angels on it. Except for her neck being a little too crooked, she seemed to only be sleeping.

Leeli hung her head.

"Oujisama, there must be something we can do."

"Why did you do this?" he whispered without turning away from Bulma

Mameko began to cry again. She knew that even if she wasn't directly responsible, the fact that she was a member of Majin Nation made her partially to blame. "I'm sure Sekkaku didn't realize…"

"Majin takes all the evil in a person and multiplies their power-level by how much evil there is. Sekkaku should be the strongest Majin because she's a vampire, but Kakarotto is infinitely more powerful. It's almost as if all the good in him has been negated. If he was 100 good before, he's 1000 evil now."

"We've got to at least try to stop him!"

"You can't!" he shouted. "There's no stopping him. Even I cannot possibly stand up against such a destructive force."

Leeli gnawed on her fingers. Mameko's tears fell to the floor. She dropped to her knees and began to mutter to herself.

"Please, Kakarotto, Please hear me..."

.x.

Sekkaku paced back and forth. Dende startled her by shouting.

"What, what is it?"

"Trunks and Muzai!"

"Trunks?" Koshi whispered and slid down against a column. She sat and stared out, grief and guilt consuming her.

"Damn it!" Sekkaku cursed. She grabbed God by the collar. "Where is he now?!" Dende had had just about enough of the Majins, so he told her where to go. "Look after Koshi for me," she asked and shot off to the west in search of Goku.

.x.

Just to the East of Capsule Corp, Goku flew along at break-neck speed in a bee-line for Juunanagou's cabin, where he knew he's find his son, still obliviously locked in a closet. He was visibly shocked to be met by a vampire.

He came to an abrupt stop and folded his arms. The evil look fell across his face again. "Shouldn't you be more careful? You're gonna get a sunburn."

"SPF 300," Sekkaku pointed to her ivory skin. "You should be careful. Seems wherever you go, people drop dead."

He shrugged. "Are you going to try to stop me?" Goku laughed.

"No. I am going to stop you. I might have messed this up, but I can also stop what I started." Sekkaku clenched her fists and powered up. Her eyes glowed bright yellow, her fangs protruded and her relatively light frame bulked up. She flew at Evil Goku.

Energy arched around them as Goku tried to out-maneuver the vampire. She leapt out of the way in plenty of time and landed a kick to the back of his head. She flipped, jumped off the ground and punched the large man in the jaw, good and hard, sending him flying a good 100 yards away before he caught himself. Goku flew leisurely back to her.

"Well, well. This is a nice surprise!" he laughed.

Sekkaku kept her stance. Her breath was even, her mind was clear, but she was still a little frightened of his power. "Will you kill me to, Son-san? Like you did the others?"

"Yes, I will."

"Why?!" she shouted. "You're a good person! The rest of us didn't freak out when we went Majin, so why you?!"

He shrugged. "Cause it feels good." He sneered and charged again. Just as he was about to land a punch, his eyes drifted from his target. Sekkaku took the opportunity to bring her fists down on his head.

'What the hell?!' she thought wildly. 'He just left himself wide open for a second. What was that?'

The respite was brief however. Goku shook his head and came at her again.

.x.

"Mameko...?" Leeli touched her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

She rocked back and forth lightly on her knees, mumbling to herself. "Kakarotto-kun, please come back to us. I love you, my son. Please hear me..."

Vegeta heard the name and looked over. "What is she doing?"

"I dunno." Leeli shrugged. "You think she can talk to him like that?"

Vegeta frowned and looked back to his dead wife. "It doesn't matter. There's nothing we can do."

"Oh!" Mameko cried.

"What is it!?"

"I felt him! He reached out to me! Just for a moment, but I got through the enchantment. He's close. Oujisama, where is he?"

"It's no use..."

"Tell me!"

"You'll be killed!" he shouted back.

Frustrated to the point of tears again Mameko shouted at him in Saiyago. "He's my son. I must try! Surely you can understand that, Highness! Where is he?!"

Vegeta sighed. "Just east of here."

"Thank you, Oujisama," Mameko said in a reverent tone and ran out of the room with Leeli hot on her heels.

.x.

They could see the arcs of light for miles. Mameko and Leeli were both shocked and amazed to see their friend going head to head with the unstoppable killing machine. Goku threw Sekkaku through a grove of trees and cracked his neck. He looked up at the floating women and sneered.

"Hello, Mother."

Mameko floated down and began to walk towards him. Her fear pushed down under her desire to save her only son. "Kakarotto..." she began. "My little boy."

"I'm not a child. Don't call me that."

"You are my son."

"I am old enough to be your father."

"You look so much like your father."

"Shut up." He winced.

"He would be so proud if he could have seen all that you've done for this world..."

"I said SHUT UP!" Still, Goku stood where he was. Leeli watched from the sky above, her heart racing.

"I love you, Kakarotto." She stepped closer, determined.

Goku's face distorted. "I... Mom? Help me..." His brows arched upwards.

"I'm here. Don't worry," Mameko shushed him and was close enough to touch him. As she reached out to put her arms around him his sneer returned.

"Yes... help me," he feigned.

Sekkaku burst out of the woods and grabbed Mameko as she ran by, depositing her a hundred feet out of his grasp. "Oh no you don't!" She spread her feet and took a stance. "Yeah, remember me, pal? I'm the one who did this to you, remember? We're not done, oh no. I'm just gettin' warmed up! Leeli!"

"Yeah?" she called from her safe distance.

"Get Mameko outta here. I'll take down Goku."

"Ok!" she shouted and flew down.

"NO!" Mameko tried to get in the way. "Please! There must be another way! I got through to him, I know I did!"

With the girls distracted, Goku moved instantaneously and struck Sekkaku down with a chop to the neck, snapping it.

"No!" Leeli shouted.

He laughed and crept towards the remaining girls.

Sekkaku sat up and cracked her head back in place. "O ye of little faith!" she laughed. "You gotta do better than that to stop a dead girl, pal!"

Goku rolled his eyes. "Fine." He took a familiar stance. "Kame..."

.x.

Dende, Koshi and Popo watched the proceedings through a crystal ball. Koshi shook her head. "No.. no no no... this all wouldn't have happened if we hadn't wished him Majin!" she cried, finally regaining her senses. Her eyes went wide. She lunged at Popo and started rubbing. "I wish Kakarotto to not be Majin anymore!"

.x.

"Hame...!"

"Oh no. This is it!" Leeli cried.

"Kakarotto, NO!"

Sekkaku braced herself.

"..."

Slowly, Sekkaku opened her eyes. Goku was standing there, looking lost with his hands at his sides. The M was gone from his forehead.

"Goku?" she asked tentatively. "You ok?"

He fell to his knees and hung his head. Mameko rushed to his side.

"Kakarotto!" She hugged him and stroked his hair as if he were a child. "It's all right, now." She lifted his face so she could look into his eyes.

"I killed them..." His tears flowed down his cheeks. "Bulma, Trunks and Muzai... and Chichi. I killed my Chichi." His eyes focused on the M on her forehead.

"Oh, Kakarotto, I'm sorry. This is our fault. How could we do this to you?"

He pushed away from her and got to his feet. Wordlessly, he lighted into the air and flew off towards the coast. Mameko hugged herself for a moment, the followed him.

Sekkaku sighed and looked to Leeli. "He really killed Chichi, too?"

"I guess so." She thought of the look on Vegeta's face. "We should go to Capsule. I'm concerned about Vegeta."

Sekkaku nodded and they took off.

.x.

"But, my mother..." Koshi looked away from the crystal ball after she saw Goku was all right. "And Trunks..." she lunged at Popo again. "Bring them back to life!"

.x.

Vegeta sat on the coffee table, still staring at her ashen face. He tried to remember what her laugh sounded like. He found it incomprehensible that he would never hear it again. The Prince held his face in his hands and sobbed.

"My neck is sore..."

"…?!"

Bulma was sitting up, rubbing her neck and very much alive.

"Bulma!" he shouted.

"What?!" she asked, alarmed. "Vegeta, are you... crying?"

He wiped his face with his forearm and grabbed her.

"Vegeta!"

"I love you," he said into her shoulder as he hugged her tightly.

She blushed, confused. "Oh, Vegeta, I love you too." She smiled and enjoyed the hug. "I just had a wicked nightmare," she confessed, "that Goku killed me."

"Yes, a nightmare," he whispered. "It's all right now."

Bulma sighed, glad to know that it had all been in her head. She looked up and saw Leeli and Sekkaku standing off in the doorway. She gently pushed her husband back and indicated to the girls.

"Do you know how to knock?" the Prince growled.

"Sorry, Oujisama, but we thought we should tell you it's over."

"It must be," he nodded to Bulma.

The girls smiled.

"Where is he now?"

"He took off, Mameko followed him."

"Who?" Bulma asked. Vegeta waved for her to forget about it.

"So he's no longer a concern?"
"Nope," Sekkaku folded her arms. "And I don't see what the big deal was, he wasn't all that strong."

Vegeta glared at her and she cringed and grabbed Leeli as she hurriedly left the room.

"Who are you talking about?" Bulma pried.

"Nothing," her husband barked. "Why don't you, take a nap or something."

"I just did. Vegeta, what's going on?" she became cross and stood up.

.x.

Mameko found Goku sitting on a rock outcropping along the breakers about a half a mile off shore. She approached cautiously and hovered just beside him.

"May I?" she asked.

He shrugged.

Mameko seated herself next to him.

"It wasn't your fault," she began. "It was mine."

"That's not the point. I killed them. Ruthlessly, brutally."

"I'm sure they've been wished back..."

"Doesn't matter. I still know what I did. They'll still remember what I did. Everything is changed now. Things will never be the same."

Mameko choked back her tears. "You know, Vegeta said that the reason you were so powerful as a Majin was because you were too good. The enchantment took all that goodness and flipped it around, making you not only evil, but super evil. The rest of us all have a little evil in our hearts. You don't. Everyone knows that."

He was silent. She wasn't sure if her words were helping, but he hadn't asked her to leave yet.

"I meant what I said before. How proud Bardock would have been, if he could have seen all that you've done."

"Really?" he asked, timidly.

She nodded. "I'm so glad that I found you, my Kakarotto. My only son. Please forgive me."

"Mom." He pouted. "You didn't know what Sekkaku had planned or what it would do to me. It's ok."

Mameko leaned over against his shoulder and they hugged. "I love you very much. I just wish there was a way I could make it all better!"

Goku squeezed his eyes shut and hugged his mother back.

.x.

Koshi stalked Popo. "Come on, one more!"

He guarded his Indian-burned stomach and stepped back. "No!"

"I want to make Kakarotto forget!"

"NO!"

"Popo-san," Dende stepped forward. "Allow me."

He let his guard down and God wiped a finger across the reddish skin to make his wish. "Considering that Popo's wishes cannot be retroactive, I wish that Koshi, Sekkaku, Leeli, Muzai, Kristel and Mameko were no longer Majin all their memories of Majin Nation to be erased."

"Done!"

Koshi blinked and looked from Dende to Popo. "Um, what was I doing here again?"

"You were just leaving." Dende said, curtly.

"But...?"

"Go, Koshi. Go home."

She furrowed her brows. Something had gone down, and God wasn't about to let her in on it. She turned and flew off for home.

"Will that cover it, Kami-sama?"

"I should hope so, Popo. We've heard the last of Majin Nation."

.x.

Sekkaku flopped down on the sofa. "Whatcha watchin'?" she asked Bulma.

Bulma blinked and looked up to the clock. "Must be a good movie on, it's a Saturday after all."

"Hope there's a Mel Brooks on!" Leeli took a seat next to the vampire.

"When's Koshi getting home?"

Bulma shrugged and surfed.

Vegeta stared at his wife, shivered a little and went off to train.

The door to Kristel's lab slid open and she stretched as she stepped up into the living room. "Hey kids, whadd' I miss?"

.x.

Chichi climbed out of the rubble and scratched her head. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOUSE!!" she cried.

.x.

"Muzai, wait." Trunks pulled the desk drawer open again.

She stopped and folded her arms. "What now? Are you going to ask if I think size matters?"

When she didn't get the typical flabbergasted reply she had hoped for, she raised a brow and turned around. She looked down. Trunks was on one knee.

"Muzai Mizuno..." he began. "Will you be my wife?" He held out a shimmering diamond ring.

She stuttered and trembled as he took her hand and slipped the ring on her left ring finger. Muzai held it up closer and then looked down at him. She laughed, giddy with delight. "Sure!"

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

He stood and she wrapped her arms around him.

.x.

Goku released his mother and looked off into the horizon. "Well, I better be getting back home. Maybe you can come by some night and tell me more about my dad, and Vegeta-sei."

"You know, I have a house too!" she play-hit his arm. "Don't be a stranger!"

"I promise I won't!"

Mameko smiled and stood up. She hugged her 45 year old son again and they both took off for their respective homes.

A month later

Mameko had been sick for a few days and when her herbal remedies failed to work, she began to get nervous. She was on the phone to call a doctor when Juunanagou put his finger on the receiver.

"You don't need a doctor."

She blinked at him.

"Last night, I felt it."

"Felt...?" she began to ask. "Oh no. I'm pregnant again." Mameko sat down.

"Maybe this time it'll be ok?"

"And if it's not!? Nana I can't lose another one, I just can't! I need, what do they call them here, an OBNYG?"
"OBGYN."

"That."

Juunanagou rubbed his hands together. "Do you think that's wise? An alien and an android going to a human doctor? They'd probably make it into front page news."

"I don't care! I want to keep this one, Nana!"

"Excuse me," a voice echoed off the walls of the log-cabin. "Hello, it's Kami. I would very much like to see you both as soon as possible."

Mameko and Juunanagou exchanged worried looks, but headed out towards the lookout anyway.

.x.

"Thank you for coming." Dende sat across from them at a table inside the palace. He wasted no time and got straight to the point. "Mameko, I would like to be your doctor."

She gripped the table to prevent herself from falling. "Kami-sama, I'm deeply honored, but why?"

"Well, you're special. And I know how much concern you have for your baby's health."

She made a face.

"It's all right, you can't hide anything from me." He smiled a little.

Juunanagou rested his ankle on his knee. "Why is Mameko special? Because of what we are?"

"Well, not particularly. Your sister had a perfectly healthy baby, so there's really no reason why Mameko shouldn't."

"But I didn't."

"Yes," Dende pressed his fingers together. "You were also fresh from a 40 year nap in stasis." He stood and paced a bit. "What I'm about to tell you must never leave here."

The couple exchanged glances and then nodded to God. He told them the very bare bones of what they had to know.

"You see, a short while ago, you, Mameko, were enchanted by the power of Majin, then made to forget that it ever happened. I believe that your baby was conceived while you were under this evil influence, and I'm not sure at this point whether the baby will be affected by this.

"Mameko was Majin?!" Juunanagou shouted.

"What's that?!" she cried. Dende did his best to explain without giving away any of the unpleasantness that went along with it.

.x.

Mameko wrung her hands.

"So please come see me every first Monday and I'll see how it's going, all right?"

She sighed. "God as my doctor? Ok."

They said thank you and headed home.

"Nana, I don't want to tell any of our friends until I know for sure that everything's ok."

He nodded and held her hand as they flew north.

Seven months later

Outside the delivery room, Kristel, Sekkaku, Muzai, Trunks, Leeli, Goten, Koshi and Chichi waited anxiously. Koshi made a face every time she heard Mameko scream.

"I am never having kids!" she shouted.

"Oh, you'll change your tune when you meet the right man." Chichi flipped through a maternity magazine.

Koshi grumbled something about Chichi and Goku under her breath.

"Yeah..." Muzai read over Chi-chi's shoulder and sighed. "Babies are so cute!"

Trunks blushed. "Oi, don't get any funny ideas, Mu."

Kristel and Leeli sighed a little too. Sekkaku stood up and next to Koshi. "This over yet?"

Juunanagou poked his head out. "If you wanna see it, get in her now!" he shouted.

Koshi shrugged. "I've seen worse." She strode, alone, into the delivery room.

"Here comes!" the doctor announced as she helped navigate the head out. Koshi turned a bit blue, but continued to watch.

"Ok, one more big push!"

"Ahhh!" Mameko thought she was going to explode. Then finally, the familiar release, the rush of it all coming out at last as the baby and placenta finally came out.

"It's a boy!"

They cleared his mouth and nose and handed the unwashed, betailed infant to Mameko, whose arms were already stretched out to receive him.

She looked to her mate quickly and they both tried to conceal their horror. On the newborn's forehead was a tiny, Cyrillic M. He wailed and screamed and Mameko's heart crept up into her throat.

'Oh, no,' she thought. But just as she was about to cry in sorrow, the baby quieted. She stroked his fine, black hair and shushed him. The Majin M faded away. Juunanagou and she both sighed with relief. Mameko looked around to see in anyone had noticed. It seemed not. Koshi had already gone out to tell the others the news. She didn't see the mark.

"Hello," Mameko whispered in Saiyago. "Welcome. Your name is Akira." She then repeated it for Juunanagou. "I never got to say that to Kakarotto." She smiled through her tears.

Goku ran in to the reception room.

"Goku-san!" Chichi scolded. "Always late!"

"I MISSED IT!?" he cried.

"Yes!"

"Crap."

There was a commotion from the delivery room. "... Really, you shouldn't be walking around just yet!"

Mameko jeered the doctor. "I'll do what I like!" She slammed the door shut with her tail. Juunanagou came out after her and apologized to the doctor.

She held out the cleaned up baby. "Look what we made!" she laughed. "Akira, meet your family!"

They all took turns passing him around and even Sekkaku admitted he was cute. He didn't cry once. His eyes were as shockingly blue as his father's. By the time he got around to Goku, Mameko was getting tired. He sat next to his mom and held his brother.

"He's just great, Mom!" he marveled.

"Mm-hm," She hummed and leaned against his shoulder. "Thank you for being here."

"No problem. Anything for my Mom."

After only a short argument with the hospital staff, Mameko was allowed to go home that night and the strange little family slept soundly, at least for a few hours before Akira woke them up, needing to be fed. But even then, he didn't cry. He simply fussed and drew attention to himself. It would be a few years before Akira would cry again.

To be continued…