So open up your
morning light
And say a little prayer for I
You know that if
we are to stay alive
And see the peace in every I
- Paula
Cole, "I Don't Want to Wait"
Bulma sat in the
nursery room, rocking Trunks and listening to the softly playing
radio. She turned her head slightly as a song she knew came on.
"She
had two babies"
Trunks yawned
and raised a chubby fist.
"Would her son grow to know his
father?"
Bulma inhaled
deeply as the words of the song stirred something within her.
"I
don't want to wait for our lives to be over, I want to know right now
what will it be? I don't want to wait for our lives to be over, will
it be yes or will it be sorry?"
She looked down
at Trunks. If Vejita didn't come back, Trunks would still have many
father figures. Goku, Gohan, Kurilin, Yamcha, Tien, maybe even
Piccolo would care for him like their own son, but it still wouldn't
take the place of his real father. Mirai Trunks had grown up with
just Gohan and he had been so polite and nice but he had also grown
up in a world that was destroyed. Thinking of Mirai Trunks still
brought tears to her eyes. He had been with them so long that she had
actually begun to think of him as her son. And then, as suddenly as
he had come, he left them again. The Vejita in his world had not been
with them because he died a noble death defending their world. This
one; however, wasn't there because of pride and haughtiness, and
because he was an all-around bastard. No one knew why Bulma saw
anything in him, and frankly, neither did she. She had always been a
proud woman, and she guessed that was what she saw in him. He never
gave up, and even when he was bruised and bleeding he didn't
surrender. He had grown up knowing that he would have to kill his
father someday, and he hardly saw his mother. That was a normal
childhood for him.
"Ha!" she said aloud, startling
Trunks. Normal was no longer a part of her vocabulary. None of them
had ever had a normal childhood. She guessed that Gohan had the
hardest childhood (Besides Mirai Trunks). He had been taken from his
home when he was 4, and trained for a year with someone who had
murdered his father. After only a couple of months he had to fly to a
distant planet with a couple of people he hardly knew. He had to
witness the death of his father and fight an extremely strong
monster. After all this, he still had to take care of his pregnant
mother. Now that she was a mother she had an idea of the pain that
ChiChi had gone through all those years, why she was so protective of
her son. But ChiChi had always had Goku, a wonderful father and
husband. Her thoughts were interrupted by a male voice.
"Attention
classes of 1999: wear sunscreen."
She growled. She
hated that song. She turned around and hit the radio to the floor.
The voice stopped. Trunks woke up and started crying. Bulma shushed
him and sighed. ChiChi and she had learned English during one of the
few dull points of their lives. They wanted to learn it because they
thought a lot of the American singers were cute, but of course they
didn't tell anyone that. A deep voice startled her.
"If you
listen to anything I say…" The voice continued the "Sunscreen"
song, but Bulma was sure she had turned the radio off. She turned and
saw it lying on the floor, silent. She turned again and saw a dark
figure approaching her. She gently put Trunks back in his crib and
stood up.
"Don't move!" she said. "I'm trained in
martial arts!" The figure laughed and stepped into the pool of
light that was formed by Trunk's small lamp. Bulma looked down at his
face- the porcupine hair, the tightly drawn eyebrows, and the smirk.
"Vejita!" she gasped. She drew back her hand and slapped
him. He didn't move, didn't even blink.
"Woman," he
said calmly, "Where's my son?" She walked to the cradle and
picked Trunks up, holding her protectively to her chest.
"What
do you want with him?" she asked defensively.
"Can't a
father see his son?" Vejita replied, a tinge of amusement in his
voice. Bulma hesitantly handed Trunks to him. Trunks reached up and
wrapped his hand around one of Vejita's fingers. Bulma stepped back.
There was something in Vejita's eyes, something she had seen only
once before affection. He blinked and resumed his scowl. He handed
Trunks to Bulma wordlessly and flew out the window. Bulma stood where
she was, staring out the window.
"Oh Vejita," she
whispered. "We need you."