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Another Chapter for Blame! Yay!

Blame

Chapter 15

Tai leaned back into the sofa waiting for questions about her time. She knew Bulma was going to inquire about the future. What else could you do with a kid from the future? A couple of seconds passed and nobody said a word. "Do you want to know anything about the future?"

"Well, I didn't think you would want to talk about it? Bra got sick of the questions at about the fifth one. I didn't want to bore you." Bulma said.

"Anyway, some things you may want to keep a secret." ChiChi said.

"What do you mean by that?" Tai inquired, her heart speeding up.

What did her mother mean by that? Did she know? Did Gohan tell her? If he did, Tai was going to hurt him. She couldn't find out. She just couldn't. Her finding out would ruin everything Tai had worked to keep a secret.

"You know, your personal life. I know I wouldn't want people butting into mine." ChiChi said.

Tai immediately felt better. So she didn't know. She was just saying things. Tai did stuff like that herself. It was good. Nothing was wrong.

"Everybody has secrets." Bra piped in. "What fun would life be without secrets?"

"You're right." Bulma said to her daughter. "Secrets are good."

"But, sometimes secrets are bad." Pan said.

"I agree with Pan." ChiChi said. "Secrets can hurt people. Wouldn't it be best if we just told people our feelings? If we don't, they could get hurt."

"But what if you do tell them?" Tai asked, wanting an answer. "What if the truth would just shatter them? Wouldn't it be best to keep a secret then? If it is for everybody's own good, even if that secret is so bad, it is killing you on the inside; you should still hide it. No matter how bad it is, right? If it protects people, that is. Nobody deserves to be hurt. So why put it on them?"

Everybody stared at Tai for a moment. Pan and Bra exchanged uneasy glances. They knew what was going on, what Tai was talking about. And they knew the secret they kept was eating away at Tai, because it was eating away at them also. They didn't want to hurt anybody with the secret, so they thought they shouldn't tell. But all three girls knew the past would find out sooner or later. It was only a matter of time. Either somebody was going to tell them, or they would find out on their own, when Tai was born. Either way they kept the secret, the past would end up getting hurt.

"Well, I don't know the answer to that one Tai. I guess it is whatever your gut tells you to do." Bulma answered.

But what if your gut is telling you that you killed your mother, Tai thought. Tai was beginning to hate the situation she was in. She was beginning to hate the fact that she got transported into the past. Her life would have been better off if she never showed up here, if she had never met her mother. She hated the secret she was keeping. It was a demon. Secrets were demons. Tai wished secrets were nonexistent, that nobody kept them. But Tai knew that wish would never come true. The world ran on secrets and she wasn't about to ask Shenron to change that. Shenron probably wouldn't even grant the wish. He didn't grant the wishes that they wanted before, why should he now?

"Well, Tai, if you want questions, I've got one for you." ChiChi said.

"Yeah Mom?" Tai asked.

"What is your father like? Is he any different?" ChiChi inquired.

"Oooh." Bra cheered. "This will be good."

"Totally." Pan agreed, grinning at her best friend.

"Well, yeah." Tai answered. "He is like any other dad with a daughter. He is so overprotective it isn't even funny. I am pretty sure he is worse than Vegeta is with Bra."

"No going to happen!" Bra contradicted. "At least you got to date when you were thirteen! I'm fifteen and I Daddy has scared off every one of my boyfriends."

"Dad is way worse. He totally beat up Uub after he caught us making out on the front porch swing!" Tai reminded.

"But Goku didn't say that any of your boyfriends had to beat him in a fight." Bra argued.

"That's why I don't have any boyfriends. I have a boyfriend. Dad would probably murder anybody who broke my heart. Come to think of it, that's probably why Uub's stuck with me so long." Tai mused.

"Could you stop comparing how annoying your fathers are. It's getting pretty annoying." Pan sighed exasperated.

"Sorry!" Tai and Bra apologized in unison.

"Scratch what I said earlier. Gohan is totally worse. He'd probably bore any of Pan's future prospects to death." Tai said with a smirk.

Bra and Pan couldn't help but laugh. They knew how Tai was about Gohan. Tai couldn't imagine why anybody would want to be a scholar. They both knew what Tai's opinion was on schooling. She couldn't imagine why anybody would actually want a job in schooling.

"Why would Gohan be boring?" ChiChi asked.

"Duh! He's a scholar. Come on, how lame of a job is that? All he is a brainiac just showing off. What talent is there in being a scholar? It's not like acting where you have to watch yourself. Acting takes skill, discipline, and what does it take to be a scholar? Just smarts! I know I could go to any college I wanted to, but I want to be cool. I want to be me. My kids would actually be proud of who I am!" Tai said triumphantly.

"I'm proud of my dad!" Pan defended.

"Sure you are, but you won't be. You are just too young to understand." Tai replied.

"I'm thirteen! Isn't that old enough?" Pan snapped.

"Pan, you are in middle school. You haven't even started high school. You'll learn about the future there. You can stick to your opinions and I'll stick to mine." Tai said.

Pan grumbled something and crossed her arms. Pan loved Tai more than anything, but sometimes she could be so annoying. Tai thought the world revolved around her most of the time and it was begging to get annoying. That was partly because Tai was spoiled when she was younger, but there was more. Everybody loved her wherever she went and that was inflating Tai's ego. Pan sometimes thought it was even bigger than Vegeta's but that was nearly impossible. Pan knew she had to accept who Tai was, but it was hard…very hard.

Elsewhere…

It is funny how one training session could look like an all out war. Maybe because it was with the earth's strongest fighters. Maybe it was because it was with the ki blasts. Maybe because there was somebody from the future was there. Maybe it was all three reasons, but it was easy to see that the fighters were giving it their best, and were having fun at it too. Soon they fighters took a break to relax and maybe talk.

"So what's the future like?" Goten asked. "Is it fun? Is it cool? Am I stronger?"

"Hey, Goten, give the guy a break, you can't ask him too many questions." Goku said to his youngest son.

"'Kay." Goten mumbled, disappointed.

"Ummm…thanks." Uub said slightly confused.

Goku was actually nice to him in this time. He didn't shoot Uub evil looks like he did in his time. Goku didn't care that he and Tai were going out in their time. The Goku from the past was way different from the one in his time and it was a little scary. Goku practically threatened to kill Uub the time he and Tai stayed out an hour past curfew. He nearly killed Uub when he found out the two teenagers were going out. This Goku was cheerful and happy. This Goku didn't care or seem to care whom his daughter was dating. It was kind of reassuring, but still scary. Uub liked this Goku. He wished he was the one from the future, but he knew that would never happen. Not in a million years.

In the future

Gohan drank a mug of coffee. It was his fifth one today, but there was a good reason for that. He didn't sleep that night. He was too worried about Pan. Pan was his only daughter an if anything happened to her… He didn't want to think about those things, but they kept popping into his mind. There was a new threat now, the new androids. None of the Z Fighters had been in a real battle since Buu, and that was over eighteen years ago, nearly two decades. Pan, Tai, and Uub had never been in a real battle before and that scared him. He usually wasn't scared, but he was scared now. What if the Androids attacked in the past, before Gohan and the others arrived? What if they were stronger than every one thought. Pa could get hurt. Gohan knew Tai would never let anything happen to Pan, but things happened in battle that you don't want to happen. He knew that from experience.

"Hey."

Gohan turned around to see Videl behind him. Bags were under her eyes, but she was standing strong. He knew this was hard on her. She had only been experienced to this kind of thing once before, and she had died. He walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her.

"Everything is going to be all right." He whispered.

"I'm just worried. I know you were into these things when you were her age, but that's no comfort. She has no real experience. What if she gets hurt?" Videl cried, trying to hold back her tears.

"I know how you feel, but you have to be strong, you have to have faith in her, in them all. If we don't, who will?" Gohan comforted. "Pan will be all right. I know she will."

"Gohan, I know you are just saying that. I can see it in your eyes. Well all feel like this battle will be the worst yet." Videl said, finally letting go of her tears.

"Listen to her."

Vegeta entered the room. A towel was draped around his shoulders and a dark expression was etched onto his face. He looked meaner than he usually did. Gohan and Videl both knew he had locked himself in the Gravity Room, but were confused on what he just had said.

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked.

"She's right." Vegeta said acknowledging Videl. "None of us has done real battle over the years. We may have trained, but not as hard as we used to. We've gotten soft in these times of peace and now it is our time to pay the price."

"Are you saying, it's over?" Gohan inquired. "That this is it? We all are going to die? That doesn't seem right."

"Listen, you know that the Androids are out to get your father for revenge. They will do that by getting to Tai. The thing is that Kakarott hasn't trained since your mother died so he will be no use in battle. They will probably be so strong that only you the Namek, Uub, and me will be able to take them on. Forget about Goten and Trunks, they've given up on their training." Vegeta explained.

"What about Tai?" Gohan asked. "She's stronger than I am."

"Her original plan was to run away, remember?" Vegeta answered. "Who says she'd want to help us in battle."

"But Tai wouldn't let the Androids kill you all, would she?" Gohan inquired. "She's not like that. She's good."

"But she's no angel either. She has a dark side. You know what the Androids did to her. They manipulated her mind. If she does help us, they may try to do that again." Vegeta explained.

"They wouldn't do that around us, would they?" Videl asked. "The Androids should be smarter than that."

"Videl, Vegeta is right. Either way you look at it Tai will get hurt. The odds are against us. They're telling us that we'll lose.

Not to optimistic, are they? Well, I hope you liked Chapter 15. I know I had fun writing it. REVIEW!