Just One Week

IX.

Imagine that…even after all these years, it's still possible for Goku and I to become closer. Well, I guess there's still many ways for us to get as close as we possibly can, but I won't go into that right now. After all, I felt more alive than I had in quite awhile and it was all because of him.

People say I'm hard to please…if you get way down deep, I'm really not. Or maybe it's just the kind of person we're talking about. With Goku, he could just flash me his famous grin and I'd be in a puddle. Man, do I feel like I'm in high school all over again…

When we slept in the same bed, I have to say that I was a little…nervous. Okay, maybe nervous isn't the word to use, but I was something, nonetheless. 'Cause right before that…he actually kissed me back! Kami, is he a good kisser. Never thought it possible…wow, Chi-Chi really had something there. Too bad she couldn't have pulled through. If only she had known she would see him in four long years…but she didn't know.

I feel guilt swelling within every inch of my body. Here, Goku hasn't even been back for four days and I'm all over him. Yet the thing is…he's not pushing me away, or telling me to stop, or saying that he still misses Chi-Chi, or…or anything! And another thing…what if Chi-Chi was still alive? Goku would be spending all his time with her and their kids at their house instead of with me…who has no one.

Do I sound selfish? I can't help it. I want Goku. I'm glad he's spending time with me at my place. And if Chi-Chi was alive…well then…

Okay, I should stop before I start sounding like I'm glad my best friend's wife is dead…

Day three continues…

* * * * * * * *

"Mom? Hey, Mom…wake up," Bulma heard this continuous chanting for about five minutes before she finally realized that the voice was not a dream. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked to the side to see Goten and Trunks standing there, looking quite excited if that was the word for it.

"Wha' do ya wan'?" she mumbled out, running her hands over her face. She yawned, closing her eyes again and digging her head deeper into the pillow.

Trunks spoke up; "Can we go outside and play in the pool?"

"Yeah, can we?" Goten added; his voice dripping with plead.

Bulma sighed and turned away from them, waving a hand over her shoulder, "Yeah, yeah, whatever…"

"Great!" they both screamed at once, making her body jump and her eyes shoot open with surprise. She heard them run out of the room, laughing loudly, and slamming the door behind them. Bulma winced and closed her eyes again, moaning in frustration from the disturbance.

"Wow…talk about getting excited over something little," Goku, who still laid beside her, spoke up.

She cracked one eye open, giving a small smile, "You're not one to talk…" she noticed that his hands were behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, "How long have you been up?"

'Bout an hour or so," he answered before turning to his side to face her.

Her eyes got wide as she sat up in bed and looked at the digital clock, which read 11:36 A.M. She looked back over to him, "Why didn't you wake me up? …And why did you let Trunks and Goten wake me up if they could have just asked you?"

Goku grinned, reaching out one arm to wrap around her waist and pull her back down, "I didn't wake you up because you looked exhausted and I told the boys to ask you."

Bulma's eyes dulled, "Gee—," she was about to say more, but her breath got caught in her throat when Goku got closer to her, rubbing his face into the crook of her neck and sliding his hand across her stomach.

"Goku?" she questioned, not expecting anything like this. She felt heat rise to her face and her stomach tighten, making her feel as if she needed a short dip in the pool, also.

"Hmm?" was the only vibrated response/answer she received. Bulma felt him smile against her neck.

He knows exactly what he's doing, that little twerp. Bulma thought to herself, now having a dark blush light her cheeks. After all, if he knew what he was doing, and he was doing it, he must know the effect it was having on her right then. So much for thinking of him as naïve now…

She lowered her eyes to watch as his hand roamed across her stomach multiple times before laying her hand over top of his to follow his movements. Closing her eyes, she felt herself drift into her own little wonderland. This could go on all day for all she cared.

Then suddenly, as if it were a horrid villain destroying everything, thunder boomed loudly and there was a heavy downpour of rain that began with no warning. Outside, Goku and Bulma were able to hear the frightened and surprised screams of Trunks and Goten.

Bulma smirked before laughing and shaking her head, "So much for the day in the pool."

Goku laughed also, but stopped abruptly when Trunks and Goten ran into the room again, this time dripping wet and leaving a puddle right in her doorway.

Her eyes widened, "Hey, hey! Get out of here! You're leaving a huge mess!" she scolded, sitting up once again. She felt cold after having just left Goku's embrace.

Instead of running to their room, they only ran further into her room, jumping on her bed and crawling up to her. They decided to plop themselves right in between the two adults, shivering but chuckling all the same.

"Ew!" Bulma screeched, getting far away from the two, "Go get some dry clothes on!"

"B-but—," they both started before being picked up by Goku, each being under one of his arms.

"Come on you two, let's go get you warm and dry," Goku announced, smirking over his shoulder at Bulma before walking out of the room and down the hall with the two boys.

Bulma listened to them go for awhile before laying back down, letting out a loud, exasperated sigh, "The joy of having children…"

Yet even as she said this, a grin was present on her lips. She reached down and ran her hand across her stomach where Goku had left off. Who would have thought he could be so romantic…?

Well, she did remember a time when Chi-Chi was still alive. It was a little before the Cell Games, Trunks being only one year old. The dark haired woman had found out who the father was, giving a snotty look and crossing her arms as she bragged:

"Bulma, I don't know what in the world possessed you to sleep with someone like Vegeta. Maybe you like the rude, rough type, but if you had ever been with someone like my Goku…" she would say, "you would totally forget about Vegeta. No one is as sweet as Goku…"

As she thought back on it, it was quite ironically humorous. Chi-Chi seemed to have set the future. It was true; she didn't know what possessed her to sleep with Vegeta. Yes, she did like the rough type, therefore never imagining herself with someone like Goku. Yet now that he's here and they're showing affection towards each other…she had totally forgotten about Vegeta. By the sweet part, Bulma always thought she meant that the man was just gentle for being a world savior, but now that she got up close and personal…Chi-Chi had meant much more than that.

She sighed again, this time in content. What was it about him? Was it his good looks? His naïve side? His sweet side? The way he handles children? The way he handles her? His gentleness? His small aggressive side? All of the above?

All of the above…and that's my final answer. Bulma smirked, wiggling underneath the covers and gripping the bed sheets tightly into her fists. Yes…I feel like a millionaire! …Not that I wasn't one before, but that's beside the point.

The thunder booming again made her jump out of her thoughts and look out the window to see the rain patting heavily on the window and the distant lightning striking. So much for spending the day outside.

She looked to the spot in front of her bed, a TV hanging off the ceiling with a DVD player connected. Maybe they all could just lay in bed all day and watch movies. She knew eventually Trunks and Goten would get bored and go play in their room, or just get tired and fall asleep, but she didn't know if Goku had the will power to just sit and look at the TV all day. Truthfully, watching TV is about the only thing she ever did on a rainy day. That, or read one of her books or work on an invention. But she didn't feel like working today.

Bulma decided to just relax and listen to the sounds around her. Every once in awhile, she would hear Trunks and Goten's laughter and water splashing, but other than that, it was just the rain and the thunder.

After about ten minutes, Goten and Trunks ran back into her room, this time in dry pajamas. She smiled as the two made their way up the bed and underneath the covers, Goten being beside her and Trunks on the other side of him.

"Did I say you two could come in here and make yourselves at home?" Bulma asked playfully.

"Uh-huh," Goten answered, his whole body disappearing under the covers.

"You said we can come in here anytime," Trunks added, smirking up at her, his head being the only part of him visible.

Goku then entered, grinning at the scene in front of him, "Well isn't this a Kodak moment?"

"Sure is," Bulma said, mimicking his grin, "why don't you join in?"

Without another word, Goku got under the covers also. The two boys were hyper for a little while, forever wiggling every which way. Eventually, however, they got still and quiet, an indication that they were asleep.

Bulma smirked, "I knew it wouldn't be long. They're always tired after they get a bath." She looked over to Goku, who was staring down at the two, a distant look in his eyes. Following his gaze, she noticed that he was looking at Goten more. Also taking a good, hard look at the youngest kid, her eyes saddened. Sure, he was mostly a duplicate of his father, but he still had some features that let people know who his mother was.

Her heart dropped as her mind raced for something to say, "Hey, I'm hungry."

Goku's eyes shot up to her in an instant, "Food?"

She giggled quietly and nodded, throwing the covers off her and getting out of bed, her body shivering slightly from the disappearing warmth, "Let's go get some."

He nodded immediately, jumping out of bed also and following her down to the kitchen. Once there, she turned on the light and looked around, "What do you want?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Goku said, already looking in the refrigerator. Bulma went beside him to open up a top cupboard and look through there, deciding if she wanted to make vegetable soup or not.

"Hmm…" she hummed out, leaning over more to push cans out of the way, seeing what else she possibly could have.

"Hmm what?" Goku asked, now standing behind her to look in the cupboard also. Feeling his body press up against hers, her body stiffened instantly and her pupils dilated. She knew Goku noticed for he began running his hands up and down her arms before turning her around and looking into her eyes.

Before she knew it, he leaned down and captured her lips with his, only being gentle for a second then bringing her closer to him for a passionate kiss. Bulma moaned within the lock, her hands finding their way to his shoulders to hold on for dear life as he lifted her up to sit her on the counter. She pressed her head against the cupboard doors, Goku slipping his mouth over her jaw and to her neck, making her close her eyes and groan in ecstasy…

"Bulma?"

"Huh?!" Bulma's eyes snapped open as she realized she was still staring into the cupboard, Goku beside her with questioning eyes.

"Umm…are you okay?" he asked nervously, his eyes blinking, "You just kinda zoned out there."

Bulma, also blinking, turned to look at him before blushing ferociously and going over to the table, "Guess I'm just really hungry and I'm frustrated because I don't know what to eat…" she murmured out, blushing even more from her stupid excuse.

"Oh…kay," Goku said slowly, taking out two boxes of cereal and putting them on the table, "well, when in doubt, eat cereal. It's always there," he stated, also getting out bowls, spoons, and the milk.

She put her hand to her forehead and plopped down in a chair, watching as he made her a bowl of Lucky Charms.

What the hell was that? Bulma wondered to herself, picking up her spoon subconsciously when he slid the bowl in front of her. I never just had one of those erotic fantasies out of nowhere…

"Are you sure you're okay, Bulma?" he asked again after noticing she wasn't eating, even after seeming to almost pass out from hunger. Even he didn't do that! He put a hand on her forehead, seeing how she jumped. "You do seem kinda hot…you sick?" he put a huge spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

Bulma sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them back up, she took a bite of her cereal and smiled a little, "Nah…I think I'm just a little tired still…"

Goku eyed her weirdly for a moment before shrugging and eating some more, "If you say so."

After a few more moments, Bulma got over the weird experience and ate her cereal happily, hardly even taking notice to the fact that Goku ate two whole boxes of cereal. Once they were both done, Bulma put her index finger to her chin as she thought.

"What to do now?" she questioned, more to herself. Goku shrugged and leaned against the counter, waiting for her to decide. He looked out the window and saw that it was still raining. Sighing, his shoulders slumped. He was dying to train…

"I know!" Bulma finally shouted, her eyes brightening as she ran out of the kitchen and into the living room. She went to the closet that was located on the far wall, opening it and holding her arms out immediately to catch hold of a mattress that just so happened to fall out.

Goku saw this, raising an eyebrow, "What a sport…catching mattress's…"

She glared at him over her shoulder, giving him the mattress quickly before taking out about six pillows that were also in the closet. Quickly, she shut the door and headed past him and down the hall.

"H-hey, Bulma! Wait up!" Goku called, picking up the mattress under his arm with ease and running after her. It didn't take long for them to reach her destination. She typed in a six-digit code, two doors disappearing to let them walk in. Once Goku entered, he looked around the place in amazement.

"Wow…what is this place?" he questioned, subconsciously seeing her stop sometime in the middle and setting the pillows down, him also dropping the mattress.

"This was once my favorite lab…" Bulma answered. And it was no wonder. The place was huge! Goku almost imagined the room he was standing in took up about three-fourths of Capsule Corp. There was no carpet, just a hard, metal floor and metal walls all around. When looking straight up, he noticed that all the ceiling was, was glass. He smiled at being able to see the heavy ran pounding down atop him, yet staying completely dry.

Once he was able to take in the whole room, he looked back to Bulma, only to realize she dragged the mattress to about the middle of the room and laid the pillows on top, plopping down afterwards.

"It's a little cool in here, but I think it feels nice," she stated, falling back onto the pillows and showing him a smile.

He walked over to her, staring down at her, "You said this was your favorite lab…what happened?" Again, he had to look around; "I can't even imagine how much stuff you could've put in here…and you didn't even fix it up?"

Bulma sighed and lay her hands on her stomach, intertwining her fingers together, "I have my reasons…" she looked away from him to look straight up into the rain, "This is where I built all my spaceships…and lost one for good."

Goku tilted his head to the side for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. After all, it didn't even take a semi-smart person to figure out that this was the last place Bulma saw Vegeta. So instead of digging further into the subject, he just nodded, "Hey…this looks like a pretty good place to train. …Do you mind?" he asked.

She sighed and closed her eyes, shrugging, "Whatever, doesn't matter to me," she answered.

"Great!" Goku said, sounding like a little kid who just got told he could pick out any toy he wanted. Quickly, Bulma heard him whoop past as he began his training with multiple back flips everywhere.

And everyone knows that Goku can train for hours on end. Needless to say, that's exactly what he did, too. Bulma didn't really mind; she hardly paid attention to anything around her as she stared at the see-through ceiling.

She somehow felt…awkward just lying there. Ever since the incident four years ago, she hadn't been in there. She really found no reason to. After all, isn't that where her life fell apart? That was the event marking the beginning of many other horrible things to come.

A couple of times, she could have sworn she was so deep in thought that she was dreaming, but then Goku would pick that time to jump over her, making her jump back to reality.

Eventually, Goten and Trunks woke up and found the two, wanting to join Goku in his training. Since those two were quite noisy in everything they did, Bulma couldn't find herself thinking straight, leaving her to search for Losing Hope, the book she was reading the day Goku came back. She almost forgot what it was about but as soon as she began reading it again, it all came back to her.

^*^*^

…Shiori and Takeru walked along the silver-coated path, flowers sleeping in the lush green grass on one side of the walking couple and sparkling slow-flowing water on the other. The bright, full moon shone down, the only light illuminating everything around.

The young girl, who had her hair down to flow around her shoulders, looked down at the path before her, her mind fully focused on the hand that held hers. Yes, the hand did belong to Takeru, in fact, ever since they decided to go on the walk, he never let go. As far as she could remember, no one has ever taken the time to just hold her hand and walk in perfect silence.

Such a romantic moment. That's the only phrase her mind could make out. Ever since she had her children, all her days were focused on their needs. But now that she was reunited with her best friend…her life seemed to be more worthwhile…just how she felt about six years ago…

"Nice night…" Takeru stated, making her jump from her thoughts. Her lips made a small smile, noticing the urgency in his voice to strike up a conversation of any sort.

"Yeah, it is…" she whispered back, purposely walking closer to him. All her life, Shiori has always been on the shy side, but suddenly, she didn't want to waste any more of her days like that. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime and she wasn't going to pass it up. Standing up straight and wrapping her free arm around his, she boldly said, "And it's even better because I'm with you," she rested her head on his shoulder, "I missed you so much, Takeru."

She heard him make a small sound that indicated how surprised he was, but he soon got over it as his body relaxed against hers, "I know what you mean."

Again, they were silent. They continued to walk along, taking notice to the ducks that were sleeping on the waters edge, softly bobbing up and down from the currents. Soon, they came across a willow tree. Shiori spotted it and giggled lightly, pulling his hand towards it. She pushed away the blanket of leaves that hung down, making her way to the trunk of the tree.

Shiori sat down against it, smiling beautifully up at her best friend as he grinned back, "Spur of the moment thing?"

She simply nodded, patting the spot beside her. Taking the hint, he sat next to her, leaning his head against the tree. She felt as though they were in hiding…keeping secret from the rest of the world behind the safety of the willow tree's leaves.

Takeru suddenly grabbed both of her hands into his, making her look at him with curiosity, "Takeru?"

"Shiori…" he began, looking deep into her sea blue eyes, "I know you went through a really rough time in your life and I'm sorry I wasn't there…I remember before I left six years ago I said that I would always be there for you. Shows how much—."

"Don't take the blame," Shiori interrupted, shaking her head, "you couldn't have known what—."

"Just let me finish," Takeru said sternly, gripping her hands tighter, "I said I would always be there and I meant it. However…I do need to go back and finish up some things…but I promise you, Shiori, that I'll come back to you and…" he trailed off.

Shiori's eyes glistened with sudden hope, "And…?"

"And…" he looked down at their hands before looking back up and continuing, "and we can be together. If that's what you want…"

If the world stopped turning, she didn't notice. If her heart stopped beating, she didn't notice. All that was there was she and he, their minds racing madly against each other as their breaths sped up. Were words needed? If they were, so much for fulfilling what was needed.

He was her best friend. She was his. Could it work out? Did she care right then? No…all that mattered was that she was with someone that she loved and who seemed to love her in return. Love can surpass all…

A smile was all that was needed for him to let out a breath he'd been holding in. Quickly, he let out a joyous laugh, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. She laughed also, pressing her face into his chest and gripping his sleeves, feeling her eyes moisten.

Slowly, they pulled apart from each other, leaning in for the kiss that would lead to the rest of their lives…

^*^*^

"Look what I can do, Mom!" Trunks suddenly screamed, interrupting her from her reading. She blinked a couple times before looking to her right and spotting Trunks and Goten standing side and side, looking at her.

She smiled slightly, "What is it?"

Trunks smirked while Goten grinned. They kneeled down until they were almost on their knees before springing up, each of them jumping as high as they possibly could. She watched as they both flew up, getting closer and closer to the ceiling. Eventually, they began slowing down as the momentum lowered, they fingers outstretched above them to try and reach the ceiling.

Unfortunately, neither of them succeeded, but Trunks was a little closer than Goten. Mostly because the lavender haired kid was slightly taller.

They both groaned in frustration as they fell back down to the floor, landing with a loud humph.

Bulma set her book down and clapped, "Yea! Very good you two!"

They blushed and looked down at their feet.

"It was supposed to be better…" Trunks said, kicking the ground with his foot.

"Yeah…we were supposed to touch the ceiling and skyrocket back down," Goten added.

Her eyes widened as she turned over on the mattress and looked at the sheepish looking Goku, "Oh, how…pleasant…"

"Eh heh, heh…" Goku put his hand behind his head and chuckled, "the idea seemed to intrigue their minds so…"

Bulma only shook her head and laughed a little, turning back around for the three guys to continue their training. She looked at the cover of her book and sighed silently. What a romantic book…

She couldn't help but replace hers and Goku's name in place for Shiori and Takeru. It just seemed to fit. She closed her eyes for a moment and pictured the scene she just read, except without the actual characters. She couldn't help but show a small smile.

I think I'm in love…

---

Happy Easter! ^^