Mameko: Mother of Goku

A Dragonball Z Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Part Six : Akira's Curse

Akira sang off tune to himself as he toddled into the woods. The mid afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees. A butterfly wafted just a few feet ahead of him. He laughed and chased it, not realizing he was wandering away from the little cabin his family and he called home.

The butterfly floated up on the breeze and away from him. He frowned slightly, but his two-year old mind quickly shifted interest. He looked around and didn't recognize his surroundings. As panic set in, he started to run. Tears welled up in his eyes and he sucked in his breath, ready to let free a desperate cry for his mother. This was quelled when he tripped over something and landed flat on his face. Akira was surprised and before he could begin to cry over this as well as his disorientation, he noticed what he had tripped over.

.x.

Mameko finished marinating the roast and put it in the oven. Juunanagou would be home soon. If she could just get Akira in the bath before then, maybe, just maybe she could keep him clean for a few hours. Her ears perked up as she heard his feet tapping quickly though the house, into the bathroom.

'Oh what a good boy!' she thought. 'Getting himself ready for dinner! He's so smart!' Her smile fell when she heard him run back outside.

Mameko wandered to the front door and put her hands on her hips. Akira was jogging into the woods, medical tape and bandages streaming from his arms. "That boy, what is he up to now?"

Just inside the forest, Mameko found Akira bustling around, a roll of medical tape in one hand and a band aid, half of which was stuck to a good load of pine needles in the other.

"Ok, mister. Just what is going on here?"

He looked as all children who are caught in the act do: surprised, yet innocent. He pointed into a low shrub. "I wanna fix him..."

"What have you got there, a bird or a little animal?" she asked and parted the branches. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw the patient. A young man lay in the shrubs. His hair was mostly matted to his head by blood. He was unconscious and Mameko could barely feel his life force. She instinctively grabbed Akira and backed off from the scene.

"Go get the phone."

"Moma?"

"Please! Akira, bring the phone to Moma!" She struggled to think if that was such a good idea, but she would rather have her eye on the situation. Akira ran into the house and emerged moments later with the portable phone.

Quickly, Mameko called her husband's cell phone, ticking off another marker in her mind as she did so. This wasn't the first time the device Juunanagou had been loath to get had come in handy.

.x.

Although he had to come from miles away, Juunanagou was there almost instantaneously.

"Are you alright?!" he asked as he touched down, running.

Mameko adjusted Akira on her hip. "Yes, but he's almost dead." She motioned to the shrubs.

"Who is he?"

"Beats me, but he needs attention. Akira, go inside." She put her son down and when he hesitated, gently pushed him towards the house. She turned her attention to the wounded stranger. "Nana, use the blanket I brought out as a stretcher and help me get him inside."

"Mameko! We have no idea who this guy is!"

"And that matters because..?" She shot him a look and he grumbled under his breath, but did as he was told.

The young man was perhaps six feet tall and had course, but straight, blue-black hair. They carried him in and laid him on the floor in the living room. Mameko called their doctor and by the end of the evening it looked like he would pull through.

.x.

Juunanagou sat up all night watching the stranger. He, as well as his wary wife, had an unsettling feeling about this stranger. What had happened to him? And why had he found himself here? Juunanagou waited for him to awaken.

.x.

The day passed anxiously. Akira seemed to watch the sleeping stranger every second. Mameko tried to get some house work done. She folded laundry in the basement. With the door open, the sound of the washer and drier could be heard throughout much of the house. Juunanagou got up and went into to see if he could help.

"Let me." He took the basket from his wife. She smiled and gave him a kiss. Mameko wandered up into the kitchen and got a glass of water.

Akira took the opportunity to walk up and get a good look at the stranger. He was laid out on the floor in the living room and breathing deeply. Were it not for the pained expression that never left his face, he seemed to be doing very well. Akira reached out tentatively and poked the stranger's cheek. To his shock, his eyes flickered open.

Before he could get a good look at him, Akira ran into the kitchen.

"Moma, Moma! He's 'wake!"

Mameko instructed her son to stay in the kitchen and she emerged to investigate.

He was standing up and feeling the bandage on his head. He was also staring at a photo of the Saiyajin woman on the wall. Slowly he turned and looked at her.

"Are you Mameko?"

Her tail wagged quickly from side to side. She stood firm, but knew there was something wrong. Akira peeked out from behind a series of herb jars at the scene.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"No one of consequence," he answered and leveled his gaze at her stomach. His face as grave as stone. "I'm sorry but I must destroy your baby before he destroys you all."

"What?!" she cried. Juunanagou heard this over the loud appliances and charged into the room. Mameko backed away.

The stranger aimed his hand at her midsection and powered up.

Juunanagou growled and fired his own blast at him from behind, sending the stranger crashing through the fireplace. He burst from the rubble and punched Juunanagou several times, all the while his power level was skyrocketing.

When he had Juunanagou sufficiently subdued, he charged Mameko again. Just before he reached her, Akira (who would be three in June) leapt out of the kitchen and rammed into the stranger. He flew back from the impact, but got to his feet quickly.

Akira hissed as he drew in breath. His eyes were narrowed and focused on his opponent. A large Majin M graced his tiny forehead.

"Akira! No!!" his mother shouted.

"What? I'm that far off? Damn it! I'm too late, it's started already!!" The stranger twitched. "Mameko, Juunanagou, get out of here. I can't control it much longer!" With his back turned to them, they could not see as an M was drawn as if by invisible hands on the stranger's own forehead. When they didn't move, he fired a pulse of energy at the couple which threw them out of the house through a large picture window. He then rushed at the little boy.

After just a few minutes, the sounds of battle stopped. The parents ran in to locate their son.

"Akira! Akira!!" Mameko dug through the bricks and wood towards the energy her son emitted. Juunanagou pulled him out and examined him. The mark was gone, and he was both alive and relatively unhurt. The stranger was in a similar state, only the wound they had found on his head had re-opened. Mameko made sure Akira was all right then began to pull the stranger out of the wreckage.

"Mameko!? What are you doing!?"

"I don't know, he's just… There's something..." she muttered as she tended to him. "He said my baby would destroy us and you saw for yourself just now how powerful he was. Maybe this man knows more about Akira then we do."

"Well, if he wakes up again, this will probably happen again and we've run out of houses for him to destroy." Juunanagou sneered and looked at the chimney. Mameko winced as a few more bricks fell from what was left of it. She wandered in to where the living room had been and pulled out a photograph of the little family in its broken frame.

"Mameko," Juunanagou cradled his son against his shoulder. "Maybe this man is right. He wasn't listening to us. Akira didn't even know we were there. If it weren't for this stranger to fight, maybe he would have hurt us."

"No! No, not my baby. He wouldn't..."

Juunanagou sighed. "Perhaps you should call in a favor to the Son House," he said and handed his cell phone to her. "We could use the backup." Mameko nodded and dialed the number.

.x.

When the stranger awoke, he was surprised to be in a new location. The walls were white and bright. The sweet smell of food hung in the air. Sunlight streamed in through a nearby window and for a moment, he sighed. "Perhaps it was all a dream."

"Nope. Fraid not, friend." A high-pitched voice soothed. "Mind if I ask what you have against my mom?"

The stranger blinked. "Mom? You're...?"

"I'm Goku. Who are you?" he asked, still calm, and in a soft voice so as not to wake his family.

The stranger seemed taken aback but tried his best to hide it from the older man. "I'm no one of consequence."

"So I've heard." Goku folded his arms. "Please tell me. What's your problem with my mom?" he asked again, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Your mother? Not...?"

"Mameko," Goku answered, still waiting.

"I don't understand," he started, but then hung his head. "It's not her, it's Akira. He's a natural born Majin. He can't control his powers. He'll kill you all if I don't kill him first."

Goku raised a brow. "You think you could take him on?"

"I'm one, too." The stranger replied, still not lifting his head. "And uncontrollable, just older. I'm not as emotional as I was when I was a child."

"Well, how 'bout we train and see if we can't do something about that?"

The stranger looked up, wide-eyed at the Saiyajin. "But you don't understand. I destroyed you all!" he blurted out.

Goku pursed his lips. "So that's it." He stood up and paced away from him, keeping his voice low. "You must have taken us all by surprise. That's too bad. Must be a sad world to live in."

"Uh, do you mind telling me how you know all that?"

Goku grinned and pulled a capsule out of his pocket. "I found this on ya." It was marked 'number one' and showed its age.

"The time machine."

He nodded solemnly. "So. Training? You in or out, Little Bro?"

"In." Mirai Akira stood slowly. "But how can you possibly be my brother?"

Goku laughed lightly. "It's a long story. Come on. We'll have plenty of time to tell stories in the Room of Spirit and Time."

.x.

Mameko woke slowly in her son's house. She yawned and tried to pretend that she was on vacation. She didn't want to think about her destroyed home, or her troubled son. Akira lay, snoring lightly, between her and her husband. She stroked his hair and brushed her thumb over the spot where the M had appeared.

Juunanagou's eyes opened. "Morning." He too touched his son and met his wife's gaze. "Everything is going to be all right." He slid out of bed, came around to her side and kissed her before leaving the guest room. Mameko hugged Akira to herself and tried hard not to cry.

Juunanagou popped his head back in the door. "He's gone!"

"What?"

Mameko leapt up and ran into the living room. The blanket the stranger had been sleeping on was neatly folded, but there was no trace of him.

"Kakarotto!" she cried and looked desperately into the rooms of the Son House for him. Chi-chi and Goten came out of their bedrooms, awakened by the clamor.

"What's this?" Chi-chi asked, startled.

"The stranger has fled!" Mameko wailed.

Chi-chi remained calm. She walked to the refrigerator and picked a note off of it. She returned to the living room and presented the note to her mother-in-law.

"I told Goku-san that if he took off without telling me where he was going one more time I'd never cook another meal for him."

Mameko held the note in disbelief.

'Me and the stranger are at Kami's. Be back tomorrow, Luv Goku.'

"What?!"

"He must know what he's doing." Juunanagou shrugged.

Mameko flopped down into a chair and shook her head. "I certainly hope so!" She lay the back of her hand on her forehead. "Children! They'll be the death of me!"

Akira waddled out of the guest room, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Moma?" he asked. When he saw her, he beamed and ran to her. He jumped up into her lap and hugged her.

Goten and Chi-chi couldn't help but say 'aw'. Juunanagou smiled. "What was that you were saying about kids?"

Mameko tried to suppress her own smile and cradled Akira. "Ok, maybe I'll have just a couple more..."

.x.

The next day, Goku and his brother from the future emerged from the Room of Spirit and Time. Dende smiled as the door finally opened. Goku and he dropped Super Saiyajin but Dende's smile fell as he noticed the mark on the young man's forehead.

"G-G-G-G-Goku… er…" Kami stuttered.

"Huh?" he asked and looked where Dende was pointing. "Oh! Hey, Bro, you can drop it now."

"Oh!" Akira blushed and relaxed, turning off his Majin power. "Sorry, Kami-sama.

Dende blinked, trying to understand what he had just seen and heard.

"Thanks again, Dende!" Goku smiled and waved good-bye as he put his hand on Mirai Akira's shoulder and his fingers to his own forehead.

Dende waved weakly as the siblings Shunkan-Idoed away.

.x.

The sun had only just risen when they arrived. Goku started walking into his house. Akira stood where he was.

"Coming in?"

"I don't think that's a great idea. They're blissfully ignorant. And now that you know how to teach me to control myself, you can keep Akira from killing everyone. I came here to prevent your deaths. I suppose I succeeded after all." Mirai Akira smiled sadly.

"So you're going back there? You know, It'll be the same as you left it."

"I know. Bulma told me."

Goku nodded. "Well, good luck, Little Brother."

"Thanks, Goku. I am very glad to have met you." A corner of his mouth turned up in a sad smile as he took to the sky. Goku waved until he was out of sight.

.x.

When he had cleared the house, Mirai Akira exploded the capsule and climbed into the aging time machine. He set the controls for just a day after he had left.

"Time enough for reflection," he thought out loud. Akira took a deep breath and jumped through time.

As he leaned back and watched the ether swish around the craft, he tried to remember what his mother sounded like; what color the Son House was painted; the smell of the blanket Mameko had wrapped around him. His own memories were fuzzy. Perhaps he would never remember, but after Bulma had told him the real story, he couldn't seem to shake it.

.x.x.

One afternoon when Akira was just about 3 years old, Vegeta had come to pay a visit to discuss a trip that Mameko and he were planning. Goku and Koshi were present as well. There had been an argument. Akira had been deeply upset by his Mother's anger and Vegeta's stubbornness didn't help cool the conversation. Akira became too emotional and went Majin.

Goku, Juunanagou, Koshi, Vegeta and Mameko were all killed. He didn't remember doing it. Chi-chi found him lying unconscious in the charred rubble of the cabin. She took him home to live with her.

A few years later, there was a party at Gohan and Videl's house. Bulma told him she had no idea what could have set him off, but Gohan, Videl, Trunks, Muzai and Goten were all killed. Trunks and Muzai's children, Hiro and Michelle were with Bulma, and Chi-chi had taken little Pan to see her ailing grandfather, the Ox King, so they survived.

Akira was raised by Chi-chi who always told him that she was his grandmother and that a murderer had killed his family. When he was old enough, Akira set out, without telling his grandmother, to find this man.

In the city, he met a nice girl named Michelle. She took him home one night, because he had no place to stay. She identified with him. Most of her family had been killed as well - by a murderer. When he went to her house he noticed right away that Michelle's grandmother was uneasy around him. When he told her his story, Bulma seemed different, but still uneasy. He stayed there at Capsule Corp for a week.

Then one day Bulma told him she knew his family. She took him to the ruin of the cabin and said she knew who the murderer was... she was looking right at him. Akira had killed his family and her husband and children as well. When at last he believed her story, he begged her to take his life, but Bulma had other plans.

On the day he was to leave in the time machine with instructions to kill Mameko before she could give birth to him and to then kill himself, Michelle and her twin brother Hiro overheard their discussion. They proceeded to beat Akira to within an inch of his life. Bulma saved him and put him in the time machine, but his wounds were too great. He lost consciousness just as he imploded the time machine in the past, only yards from his target.

And he might have died there, had it not been for Bulma setting the date too late and the inquisitive little boy who saved him and saved himself.

.x.x.

The time machine popped into the future. It landed in the Capsule House's front yard.

Bulma ran out of the house as she saw the craft appear outside the living room window. Akira neatly imploded the device and handed the capsule to her. Bulma stood a few feet away from him, looking and waiting. She did not take the capsule.

"Well?" she asked anxiously. "I really didn't expect to see you back here again."

"I succeeded without having to take my own life."

"How is that possible?"

"My brother - who I used to think was my grandfather - intercepted me. He took me to the room of spirit and time where he taught me to control my powers. And he'll teach the past-me too. They'll all live."

Bulma forced her heart to stop racing and extended her hand to take the capsule. That was the best they could do. She had to move on.

"Gramma!" a voice called out. A young woman with long, lavender hair came running out of the house. "Stay back! Get away from him!!"

"Michelle, it's alright!" Bulma tried to tell her what Akira had told her, but she was unstoppable.

"I thought I'd seen the last of you, you monster!"

"Michelle," Akira pouted and held out his hands in a peaceful gesture. "I have learned..."

She cut him off. "When will we be rid of you!? You murdering bastard!!"

Akira hung his head.

"Oh no, he's changing!" Bulma gasped. "Please, Michelle, don't provoke him!"

"You killed my mother and my father, my aunt, my grandfather and everyone who could have had a chance to stop you!! When you asked me what you could do to make it up to me, I said kill yourself!!" she screamed, not heeding her grandmother's warning. "WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!" Tears coursed down her face.

Akira looked up, the Majin M became inscribed on his forehead. Bulma fell over her own feet as she backed away. She looked up at him in horror.

"Michelle. I swear to you. I am a changed man." He blinked a few times, slowly. His patience was rock solid. His eyes locked on hers. The final grain of her fear disappeared and she stepped up to him. Michelle took a deep breath and reeled back her fist.

Bulma winced as the young woman delivered a sound right hook to the Majin. Akira stood in place. Michelle screamed and began to pummel him with everything she had.

Almost an hour later, Bulma pulled her near exhausted granddaughter off of Akira. He got unsteadily to his feet and began to walk away.

"Come back here," Michelle muttered.

"Don't worry. You will never see me again," he said without turning around.

"Akira..." Bulma struggled with her own hatred, but believed in the truth. "It wasn't your fault." She helped Michelle to her feet.

"It has to be someone's, Bulma-san. It has to be someone's."

To be concluded…