Disclaimer; Ok you know the drill by now, I don't own DBZ
A/N; I am really sorry about my lack of updates, but it is soooooo close to the end of school now that I can count the remaining days on one hand. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter, I put lots of hard work into it. I'll really try to update sooner from now on ok. ~D.B
And Then You'll Know
Chapter 24
Bulma rested her head in her hands and entwined her fingers in her long cerulean hair. So what if it wasn't normal for Sayians to have blue hair, she liked it and that was all that mattered. Chi-chi's slave had blonde hair and that wasn't normal. Sighing, Bulma let her eyes drift over to the clock that was perched in the corner of her big desk, it was 5.55, still 5 minutes till she was officially allowed to stop working, though she had done hardly anything all day. Usually Bulma's days consisted of drifting around the palace performing repairs and upgrades, making sure the palaces computers were in smooth running order. Of course she also spent a large amount of time in the lab carrying out experiments and creating new gadgets and gizmos. She loved her work, but sometimes she just felt she was wasting her life trapped in a lab all day, sure she was living the sweet life. In the royal palace, the princess her best friend. She had grown up getting everything she had ever wanted, but she still felt like she was missing out.
For instance, she had never ever attended a real school, as a child Bulma had attended special classes in the palace for the King's children and the children of the Kings soldiers and employees of the palace. Maybe that was why Bulma had always longed for something more in her life, something that would make her sit up and say wow.
Sometime during her mid to late teenage years, she had discovered that boys could give her the thrill she sought, and she also found that they were more than willing to give it to her. She had taken full advantage of the undeniable beauty she had been graced with and gotten in more than a few dangerous situations. But that was really only where her problems began because she liked that danger. She thrived on the thrill of not knowing what was going to happen next. Her life had taken a wild turn, a turn for the worst.
Then she met the man of her dreams, but he quickly turned out to be her worst nightmare. He went by the name of Yumcha, and right from the very first second she laid eyes on him, a fire had ignited within her, he had trouble written all over him and Bulma was becoming increasingly addicted to trouble. She was only 17 years old on that night when she met Yumcha, and in many ways, it was the beginning of the end of her life.
Blinking herself back into reality, Bulma leaned back in her big leather seat she stretched her arms up towards the ceiling. Some time during her musings, the hour of 6 had come and gone, Bulma was free to leave. But she had one more stop to make before she could head home and to the delicious warmth of her bed.
Resting beside Bulma's desk was a rather large black bag, letting out a loud sigh, Bulma picked up the bag and quickly made her way towards the door.
***
18 pushed open the big heavy doors to the slave quarters and slipped inside. She had had an absolute exhausting day, and she was practically asleep before she even made it halfway across the first room.
"17" she called out, hoping her brother was somewhere in the complex. Mere seconds later, 17 walked in through the archway on the opposite side of the room, he took one look at his sister and quickly rushed to her side. "Are you ok?" he asked, his voice just oozing with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just exhausted that's all" she said. She let 17 support most of her body weight as he helped her to her bed and sat her down. 18 rested her head against the pillow, it was pure bliss, then just as she was on the brink of sleep, she remembered she had something to tell 17.
"17," she began "I made an arrangement for someone to come and give Tarie a check up tonight" she said.
"What?" asked 17, "why?"
"Well I had the chance and I thought that it might be nice. Bulma can tell you once and for all weather Tarie is pregnant or not, and she can also make sure that she is physically able to have a child or not" 18 replied.
"What do you mean physically able?" 17 asked skeptically.
18 sat up and looked at her brother with dead serious eyes. "Think about it 17. None of us are at all healthy; carrying a child might just be too much for Taries body to handle and what if she does have the baby 17. Then what? You don't honestly think you could raise a tiny child in here do you, it would surely die within hours"
17's face paled and his eyes seemed to sink back into their sockets. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. 18 – his own sister, his flesh and blood, was telling him to kill his own child, to abort the pregnancy. Well he wasn't going to listen to her. He could tell that Tarie really was pregnant, he didn't need a doctor to tell him that, and he already loved his child and there was no way he was going to entertain the thought of killing his son or daughter for even a second.
He looked at 18 with absolute contempt; it wasn't often he felt like he truly hated his sister, but now he did, she obviously didn't know what it was like to love someone.
18 felt horrible, but someone had to state the facts, Tarie was small, fragile and delicate, there was no way her body would be able to handle pregnancy and even if she did manage to somehow make it through the 10 month gestation period, she would surely die during the labor. It was a horrible thing to think about, but that was the cold hard truth.
"Why so icy?" a calm female voice echoed through the almost empty room. The twins looked up at the newest arrival, effectively putting a temporary end to their feud.
"Tarie" 18 smiled weakly at her friend, "hi"
17 opened his arms wide and Tarie quickly accepted the invitation. "What's going on in here?" she asked, "Am I interrupting?"
17 placed a loving kiss on her forehead and smiled warmly at her "not at all. 18 and I were just talking. How are you feeling?" he asked as he stroked her long brown hair
"Fine"
"Tarie, I hope you don't mind, but someone is coming down here to check up on you" 18 informed her friend.
"What," Tarie sat up a little. "Who, why?" she asked.
"Her names Bulma, she works here in the palace. She's just coming to check up on you and the baby"
"Oh…ok" replied Tarie absent-mindedly.
Not even 5 minutes had passed and the only 3 people in the entire complex heard the door creak open, then a happy, chirpy voice that could not possibly belong to one of them "Hello. Anyone home?"
18 stood up and dragged herself across the room, "Bulma," she greeted, "Follow me".
Bulma looked around the room in disgust. Sayians actually lived in here? "This is Tarie, Tarie this is Bulma. Bulma this is my brother 17, 17 Bulma"18 introduced everyone as she resumed her position on her bed.
Taking another step towards the bed, Bulma put her black bag down on the bed and opened it, then she proceed to pull out an assortment of medical equipment that neither 17, 18 or Tarie had ever seen before.
"What are you going to do to me?" asked Tarie nervously, she sought out 17's hand and gripped it tightly
"Relax, I'm only going to give you a simple check up, it should take about 10 minutes" explained Bulma, "now can you please sit forward and breath in and out when I say so?"
18 watched on, only slightly interested, really the only reason she was even here at all was because her bed was. Nison walked into the room then and perched himself next to 18 "hi", for some reason he felt compelled to whisper the words.
"What's up?" 18 asked, equally as quiet.
"Nothing much," he replied "you?"
"Same"
"What's going on here? Tarie sick?"
"No".
Nison yawned and closed his eyes, it had been a hard day, and he was well and truly ready to go to sleep. But for some reason he felt compelled to sit and watch Bulma, maybe it was because she was treating Tarie, who was one of his oldest and dearest friends.
"Hmmm" Bulma ran her hands through her long blue hair, a kind of disturbed expression settled on her features "Ok Tarie, can you please take a deep breath for me?" she asked.
17 could feel Tarie shake with fear as she complied with Bulma and took a slow deep breath. She cast her big green eyes up and looked into 17's crystal blue one, than she mouthed the words 'I'm scared'. 17 rested his head on top of Taries and kissed her, "I know," he whispered "It'll be ok"
Bulma stepped back and was quiet for a few minutes, the tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. "Well," Bulma finally spoke up "you're pregnant, that's for sure, but…" Bulma trailed off a fell back into deep concentration.
"But what?!" 17 demanded to know, the fury in his voice evident
"But I wouldn't recommend keeping the child. Now before you yell at me, just hear me out. Tarie, you are a very small woman, I just don't know how well you would cope with a pregnancy, and you're also very thin, I highly doubt you have enough nutrients in your body to feed a growing fetus. Really, I'm surprised you've even managed to keep yourself alive" Bulma spoke with a certain compassion in her voice, it was hard to get angry with her when it was so obvious she was only trying to help.
"But…but what if we do keep it, will it be healthy?" asked Tarie timidly
"I really don't know, I'd need to conduct further tests later on in the pregnancy, but honestly, I wouldn't count on it"
18's head hung limply, it was so painful for her to hear this, that her little niece or nephew was almost certain to die or be seriously brain damaged. She didn't want to agree with Bulma, but what else was there she could do. It seemed to be a hopeless situation. Then suddenly a thought struck her.
"Bulma, what if Tarie had somewhere better to stay, somewhere warm and livable. You could supply her with food couldn't you?" she asked.
"I suppose that wouldn't be to hard, but where could we possibly put her?" Bulma mused
18 smiled slyly and pulled the necklace containing the key out from underneath of shirt.
"What's it open?" asked Bulma.
"This is the key to prince Krillens bedroom, he gave it to me before he left for Namek and told me to use it how I see fit. I think he would approve of this idea"
Bulma's jaw dropped, how had 18 possibly managed to get the key to Krillens bedroom? She didn't even know they knew each other. Oh, the things you learn when you only listen.
"Yes, that would work" said Bulma, a wide smile crossing her features.
18 turned to face 17 and Tarie "Well, what do you think. Would you two like to move upstairs?"
"Can we?" asked 17
"Of course you can," piped up Nison "How can you not!"
"What do you say Tar, wanna move upstairs?" 17 asked Tarie as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I'll do anything for my baby" she replied through a loud yawn.
18 smiled, quite proud of herself for coming up with such a brilliant plan, she would even go as far as to say it was a life saving plan, and it wasn't every day that one came up with a lifesaving plan.
Shortly after that, Bulma left, leaving 17,18, Tarie, Nison and all the others who called this place home to turn in for the night.
"Thank-you 18," said Tarie humbly, " I know how much that room meant to you, I can't imagine how hard it must have been to do that"
"It was worth it, I don't think I could of lived with myself knowing your baby didn't even have a chance"
17 stood up, walked over to his sister and wrapped his arms around her, "Thank you 18. From the bottom of my heart, thank-you"
18 looked across at her brother, it warmed her heart to know she had given her niece or nephew a shot at life, even if it meant giving up something that meant so much to her "It's ok," she replied honestly "it's fine"
~
Later on that night, well after everyone gone to sleep for the night, 17, 18, Tarie and Nison were still up and awake.
"I wonder what Krillen is doing right now?" 18 though aloud as she wrapped her arms around her pillow.
"Do you think he's on Namek yet?" asked Tarie
"I don't know," she replied, "Nison, what's it like on Namek?"
Nison smiled into the darkness of the night at the thought of his home planet. His background was a weird one; his father was a Sayian while his mother had been Namekian. The Sayians had been sent on a mission to Namek, to scout it for possible extermination and sale later on down the track. Whilst there, Nison's father had not only come across a group of helpless female Nameks, but raped each and every one of them. Out of the entire group, it was Nison mother who fell pregnant
His 'father' had left Namek, far before he even knew he was going to be a father. So from then on Nison had been raised by his mother and step father. They had given him a loving home and a joyful childhood. All through out his childhood years, Nison had assumed this was his family, he paid no heed to the fact that his skin was only slightly green while everyone else was dark. Or that his antennas were shorter than every one else's. It just didn't matter to him, nobody treated him different or chastised him for it, so why should he care.
Then it happened. It was a warm sunny day in the middle of a hot Namekian summer, Nison had been walking through the little village he lived in, on his way home from school with his friends, laughing, running, playing, just enjoying being a kid. To this day it was still one of his most vivid memories.
As soon as he walked into his house he knew something wasn't right, his little baby sister hadn't come running to the door to greet him, there was no happy voices floating from the kitchen and the small house didn't smell like freshly baked cookies.
He had ventured down the hall, towards the bedroom that his mother shared with her husband, only to find a big man, at least 4 times his size and with a tail sitting there, "Hello Nison" he hissed.
Nison had jumped back in fright; he was a healing Namek, not a warrior, and so all his instincts kicked in and told him to run. But it was a futile attempt; he hadn't even made it to the bedroom door before the big burly Sayian had pined him to the floor.
"Who are you!" he had shrieked, "What have you done with my family? Let me go!"
The big man only laughed triumphantly in reply, a boisterous laugh that shook the entire house "Little boy, I'm the only family you have left now. And let me assure you, I'm going to make you wish you were never born"
"Niiiiison" 18 hollered as she waved her hand across his line of sight. This small action caused Nison to be thrust into the hear and now where he really didn't want to be, but would gladly take over reliving the hell of that day.
"I'm sorry 18, what were you saying?" he asked
18 rolled her eyes and flashed him a casual smile, Nison smiled back; she could light up a room with that smile "I was asking you to tell us what it was like on Namek"
"Hehe, oh yeah, of course you were," Nison rubbed the back of his head in a way that clearly signified embarrassment "Well it's been a long time since I've seen my home, I don't remember a lot about it anymore. But I do remember a story that the Guru told me when I was only a boy. It's an old Namekian legend. Would you like to hear it?" he asked. His question was answered by 3 heads eagerly nodding up and down, despite their drowsy state.
Nison racked his brain trying to remember all the fine details of the story Guru had told him and his friends so long ago, slowly, piece by piece it came back to him, and he began his story.
"It is said that our home land is watched over by a great and powerful guardian. One thousand times bigger than the Planet and able to see and hear everything that is going on at any given time. For millions upon million of years it has been this way. The guardian would lay dormant, hiding, never seen but always seeing. Many a man set out on quests to get even the tiniest glimpse of this beast, for it was is said that the man who has the courage to summon the beast will be granted any one wish that he can possibly think of…" At this point in time, a very skeptical 17 interrupted Nison.
"Wait a minute. You're telling us that just any old Joe can yell at the sky and a big 'guardian' will appear and give them a wish? If that were true wouldn't everyone be doin' it?"
"Well if you let me finish, I'll get to that" replied Nison with a laugh. "Now, where was I? Ah yes, the guardian. According to the legend, the guardian is a huge lizard, with glowing red eyes and a fiercely short temper, his name is Porunga – which in the native Namekian tongue means 'Peace Keeper'…"
"Do you still speak the Namekian language?" asked Tarie quietly, she didn't want to interrupt Nison's captivating story, but she just had to know
"Yes, I do, It's not really something you could forget," he replied. "Now on with the story. The only way to summon Porunga is by collecting small orange glowing spheres that are called Dragonballs. There are said to be 7 Dragonballs scattered across the planet. They could be right under your nose and you might not even know it. The odds of finding even one in your lifetime are astronomical so the chance that anyone would ever be able to gather all 7 of the balls and summon Porunga is a near impossibility. They say that only one man has ever seen the great beast, and that was the man who created the Dragonballs many millennia ago, he was the Grand Elder, but today, he to is only a legend." Nison concluded his story with a sigh.
18 blinked, then blinked again. Nison had told that story with so much passion that she had to believe him, he was so convincing, he made her believe that something as amazing and wonderful as the Dragonballs had to exist "Do you believe the legend, Nison?" she asked.
Nison shook his head up and down "I most certainly do"
Tarie being the inquisitive person she was, had the next question "Have you ever seen a Dragonball?"
"No, well at least I don't think I have, but like I said, you could just pass one by and not even notice"
17 shook his head, "This is stupid, you don't honestly expect us to believe that crap do you?" Tarie crawled up onto his lap and looked him directly in his crystal blue eyes – which were shimmering in the faint glow of the moon, which was faintly illuminating the room, giving it an eerie glow. She pressed her lips to his, causing 18 and Nison to turn away before she spoke to him, "Why shouldn't we believe him?" she asked
"Well because it's stupid" he replied huskily as he planted his lips on Taries again, but she only pushed him away, "Why is it stupid?"
"Think about it"
"I am thinking about it"
"It's just a legend"
"You're no fun 17" Tarie pouted and 18 had to laugh at her friend as she watched her poke fun at her brother.
***
"Hey Krillen, is what I heard true?" asked Ari as he rolled over and ran his hands through his sleep tousled hair.
"I dunno" Krillen groaned, he pulled his pillow from under his head and smothered himself with it. "What did you hear?"
"That you are Prince Vegeta's kid brother"
Under the pillow Krillen moaned to himself, he'd be sure to kill Kakkarot later for telling Ari that "Yeah it's true"
"Than that must make you a prince!" Ari gasped at this latest revelation. Krillen pushed himself up onto one elbow and rested his head in his hand, facing Ari "Yeah," he said sleepily "so?"
"Well why aren't you down the hall with Vegeta, living in style?"
"How do you know it's all style down there?" asked Krillen, but he continued before Ari could reply "I dunno, I could go down there if I wanted, but I don't. I'd rather be down here, I mean; my brother hates me so why waste my time with him. I have friends down here, and I don't like being seen as 'better' than anyone else, I don't see how that's fair. Why should someone be treated better or worse because of the family they were born into?"
"That is so true" Ari agreed, "I got me a wife and two daughters. We're only a middle class family, but we can afford to put bread on the table, we get by. But I suppose the prejudices on my planet isn't as strong as on yours"
Krillen sighed, because what Ari had said was all too true. The class distinctions on Vegeta-sei were almost set in stone. There were peasants, 3rd class families, 2nd class families and 1st class families. The peasants usually earned their living by stealing, or operating carts at the local bazaars. 3rd class Sayians were typically laborers, they spent their days in sweat shops, or down in the mines, they were hard laborers, often constructing buildings or monuments, all for an absolutely measly pay that couldn't even feed one Sayian for week let alone an entire family. Next came the 2nd class citizens, they were usually the people who managed and operated stores, boutiques, services for higher classed people. These Sayians usually got by pretty well; most of them owned their own businesses and didn't have to worry about the crappy government pay. Then there were the first class families, Krillen wasn't exactly sure how they obtained the wealth they did, as he had never seen a member of a first class family do anything. They were just rich for the sake of being rich, and it disgusted him. But the worst part was, the class you were born into, was the class you would die in. Sayian law stated that one was never able to proceed up to any level above that they were born into. Krillen swore to himself that one day he would rule the Kingdom, with 18 by his side, and they would abolish those stupid laws, and give everyone a free chance to achieve anything that they wanted to achieve.
That was his idea of utopia
Krillen was snapped out of his musing by the sound of Kakkarot yawning loudly on top of him. "Hey, you awake up there?" Krillen asked while he rubbed at his eyes.
"Yeah"
"So Krillen, you got yourself a girl?" asked Ari, continuing on from the conversation they had been having before Krillen had trailed off.
He sighed before he replied, "Well, there is this one girl, her names 18. She's amazing, but there something there, something about her, a wall that I just can't penetrate"
Above him, Kakkarot sat up at gasped, "What?" Krillen asked. Kakkarot's big feet connected with the cold metallic floor with a loud thud "Chi-chi's gift – I never opened it!".
Several minutes later, Kakkarot sat cross-legged on the floor, holding a simple cardboard box in his hand, and a letter written by Chi-chi in the other. Krillen was watching Kakkarot read, and he saw the tears build up in the corner of his eyes. It was funny, Krillen had never pegged Kakkarot as the type of guy to cry, but here he was, crying.
"Who's Chi-chi?" Ari asked from under the covers
"My sister and his girlfriend" replied Krillen. He sighed, seeing Kakkarot like this only reminded him of 18, and he didn't want to miss her any more than he already did, they had been in space for 5 days now, and already it seemed like an entire lifetime had passed without her.
Yep, it was official now, he was in love with 18 and there was nothing he could do about it. His father had always warned him about women. He had said that once you found the right one for you, the became like an addiction, and you would never ever be able to get enough of them, never be able to quench you undesirable urge to have them. Oh if only his father had any idea how right he was.
***
Bulma sighed and sunk thankfully into her chair. It was only 10.30 in the morning and already she was exhausted. Yet for every one day she had that she was so unbelievably busy she thought she would die, she had two days were she did absolutely nothing, so in an odd kind of way, it even itself out.
Sifting through the cluttered mess on her big desk, she picked up the one that contained today's schedule – and groaned disapprovingly as she read it. She barely had 5 minutes to herself between now, and 9 o'clock tonight. She was going to be around the palace until about 12, then she had to attend a meeting with her father at one of Vegeta-sei's top universities and then she had to go to a press conferences to discuss one of her latest inventions with the media.
And if there was one thing she hated more then anything, it was the media – oh god they gave her the shits.
Her five minutes of free time was just about up, looking at her schedule she smiled a little, she had to run a routine virus scan on the palaces defense system computers, she loved to work with computers, or anything electrical and mechanical for that matter. She just found it all so fascinating. It would only take about half an hour to check the computers, and then she had to hurry to the other end of the palace to undertake some upgrades to the G.R's.
Bulma ran her hands through her long blue hair and sighed, but just as she was about to get up and leave, the phone on her desk began to ring.
"Vegeta-sei palace science department, Bulma Briefs speaking. How many I help you?" she rolled her eyes as she repeated the formal telephone greeting.
"Oh thank-god it's you Bulma, I need your help" It was a woman on the phone and she sounded extremely distressed about something, Bulma could tell as soon as she spoke that she was crying, but she had no idea who she was speaking to.
"Um ok miss, calm down. Now who is this and can you please slowly and carefully tell me what's wrong"
"Bulma, don't you know who this is?" asked the frantic woman
"No ma'am, I'm afraid I don't"
"Bulma dear it's me Cama. I need you help, it's a matter of urgency!"
Bulma sat up in straight attention. Cama, what in the hell did she want? And why did she think Bulma would be willing to help her – her of all people, she was the mother of the most monstrous man on the planet. Yumcha!
"Bulma, Bulma, are you still there?"
"What do you want Cama?" she asked, any compassion that had existed there before was gone now, leaving nothing but a passionate hatred of the woman who time and time again went to any lengths she could to save her precious son.
"I need your help….well Yumcha needs you help"
Bulma almost laughed, "The day I help your son of a bitch child, is the day you dance on my cold hard grave"
"Please," the desperation in the older woman voice was pitiful "you're the only one who can help, the only one I know who to turn to"
Bulma smirked, Yumcha's life was in her hands, she could either let him die, or toy with him then let him die. Either way, he would suffer.
"Cama. What is wrong with Yumcha exactly?" she asked, her voice calm and smooth now
"I don't know, he's sick. He has a fever, the doctor is worried about him"
Bulma twisted the phone cord around her finger as she though "I won't be able to get there until tomorrow morning at least" she said
"Can't you come sooner?" Cama begged, her voice weak with fear.
"No, sorry, I can't, I either come at about 10.30 tomorrow morning, or I don't come at all" said Bulma, not even bothering to pick up her diary to see if she could reschedule
"Ok I guess we'll see you then" Cama said with a sigh and she hung up the phone.
Bulma leaned back in her chair. Already her mind was going overtime, thinking up the perfect revenge for that lying jerk, Yumcha
***
A/N; Well, what did you all think? If my Namekian information is either really really stupid or ridiculously wrong, well I tried my best to make it sound good. Also, I need to know…do any of you really care if I don't go into huge amounts of detail regarding the battle against Frieza…because it's not all that important to the storyline, and I really suck at writing fight scenes. Your input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. ~D.B