-1Eyes Of Water

Chapter 7

A New Life

By

Bulma

Hatsumomo stared agape at Mother. They were going to let her punching bag, her enraged outlet, her personal slave go like that? Not on her life. She will fight tooth and nail and that is just what she did. Hatsumomo laughed nervously, but anger intertwined within her voice showing how she felt threatened. "Mother, you can not be serious. We can not let our little slave go. She owes a debt!" "And thanks to Miss. Venux and her Danna, it shall be repaid 5 times over." Bulma stared in disbelief at the man who was holding her in his arms. Who were these people and what did they want with her. Only one thought came to mind. They were going to use her for their own profit. She began to struggle out of the boy's arms, but he held her tightly. Her pure savior, now turned into her demonic killer. She struggled and cried for him to release her. The boy was so taken aback by this he didn't know what to think and in so loosened his grip around her. Bulma ran but Hatsumomo caught her.

"See! She does not wish to leave us! Mother you can not be serious about letting her go!" Hatsumomo tried to reason with Mother. But Miss. Nitta stood her ground. "She is to go and you are to find a new slave to reek your wrath upon." Mother told her coldly. "MOTHER!" Hatsumomo shrieked. She tossed Bulma to the ground at her feet. Bulma softly sobbed. "Mother please don't send me away…please!" She begged. Mother stared coldly at Bulma and with her bamboo stick was about to swing at Bulma to quiet her, but it was caught by the boy. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!" he cried. Time stopped, everyone stood silent, all except Bulma's soft sobbing. "I apologize. She is yours to do what you wish. Now please, it's been an interesting evening. Please, I shall personally show you three to the door." Bulma lost all hope. They may have saved her from Mother's bamboo stick, but she can only leave to her imagination what was yet to come of her. Venux bent down and gently picked up the shaken girl. But the boy cradled her in his arms and they were lead out into the snow with a sobbing girl to him. "Honestly Trunks! You could have worn clothing in this time!" Venux hissed at him angrily. "So the boy's name was Trunks" Bulma thought to herself as she laid in his arms as helpless as a newborn kitten.

She could not find the energy no more to fight. A look of utter defeat and a sickening feeling in her stomach was all that remained of her shattered spirit. She felt lost and pain and despair. Just what was to become of her life now? "Well V, I could care less. We need to get her looked at…Kami she is cold. I don't know what they did to her, but if I find even one scratch on her body, I swear you better keep me locked up, because I'll fucking murder those fuckers…" he hissed under his breath. His main concentration was the young girl in his arms. He didn't know what to do but he knew she was hurting. He cradled her to the hotel they were staying at. Bulma, by now, had closed her eyes and given into the dark abyss of nothingness.

Hours later the young girl had awaken, not to the cold wood floor of the Okiya, but of warmth and pillows and blankets. She was changed in purple silk button up pajama shirt and matching pajama pants. Such unique and interesting clothing she had never in likes have seen before. She was alone in a comforting room. There was a fire and fresh food on the table. The stars and moon shown brightly through the window as nightfall had taken over. Bulma was frightened. This was the first time in her young life she had been anywhere outside the Okiya and school. Just where was she anyhow?

She slowly gotten up and blushed a deep red when she realized that what she was wearing was not her slave kimono but of unusual clothing and her kimono was no where in site. She frantically tried to find it so she could get out of here. That is when she heard the door open behind her and she fell upon her knees and bowed before the people coming in the room. "I am sorry to displease you. Please…take me back to Mother…I do not wish to be a consort concubine…" she begged helplessly. She squeezed her eyes for the result of consequences for speaking out of line, much less begging to go back to her old life.

No words, just steps coming toward her til they stopped before her and bent down. "You do not need to be afraid little one. You are safe. We are glad to have found you. Please do not bow any longer. You are Bulma Briefs and you are not to ever be treated any lower than from wince you came from. Please stand and look me in the eye. I wish to see your face." the kind voice of Venux told her. Bulma stayed as she was. A small giggle came from the girl before her. "Stubborn as he, I see. Now I know where he gets it from. Come on, you are going to get my pajamas dirty." Venux tugged on Bulma's arm. She was so shocked. She didn't understand who this girl was or what she meant by what she said. All of it seemed rather strange.

"Wh-where are my clothes?" Bulma spoke softly. "You are to be giving proper clothes, not what those rags where. Please sit with me and eat. You must be starving." Venux smiled kindly at Bulma and helped the weak girl to her feet. "Please, I wish to return to the Okiya…" Bulma spoke to her twiddling hands and the floorboards underneath her. "Honestly, do you really want to go back to that hell? No offense Bulma, but why? There is nothing back there for you. With Trunks and I, you have a future. And it seems to me, that you do not wish to spend the rest of your life beaten half to death by a bitter woman because you are a threat to her. Don't you want to see other worlds?" "Other worlds?" Bulma asked timidly as she gazed at the girl before her. "Other worlds. Places besides here, you will not become a slave, nor a Geisha, you will become your own person." Venux smiled at her.

Bulma didn't know what to say or how to act for that matter. Her mind was so busy. Leave this place and go out and be who she wanted to be. But who would take care of her? "Please….I don't…" Bulma was interrupted by a knock at the door. Out of instinct, Bulma took to the floor and bowed before the person. The person, Trunks, stood agape at his Mother from this time bow before him and he did not like that one bit. And what pained him the most was he saw her body, or what the doctor discovered. She had hold faded scars and some minor bruising. She was thin, pale, and sickly. Without even saying anything, he cradled her in his arms and looked to his girlfriend.

"Venux, what is going on here?" "She wants to go back to the Okiya." was Venux's only response. Trunks could not believe it. "Why?" he asked the young woman in his arms. "Please…put me down…I wish to return to the Okiya…I do not want to become a pleasure slave…" Bulma whimpered. Trunks' eyes soften. "I wouldn't dream of it Bulma. Please we mean you no harm. Please don't leave us." "But you went through so much trouble." "And if I have to do it again I will. You are not going back there because if you go back I am going to personally strangle Hatsumomo or whatever that bitch's name is. Stay with us, you are safe. I give you my word." "Who are you people?" Bulma finally asked quietly.

"Lets just say we are friends. Please eat and sit. We have much to tell you." Venux said comforting as Trunks sat her down in a chair. Bulma could only stare at her hands. Her mind still puzzling and such. "I…I wish to get my things from the Okiya…" "All ready taken care of." Trunks told her. "But I want you to eat every bit of food on this plate." He said as he and Venux joined Bulma and he began to make them portions of food on the table. Bulma, called herself crazy, but she just wasn't that hungry. "No thank you…" "Eat. That isn't a request now." He told her. Bulma didn't even look up from her folded hands in her lap.

"Who are you people?" "Eat and we will tell you." Venux compromised. Bulma looked between them. "…..all right…" she said soft and Trunks let out a small smile of relief that she was trusting them. Bulma began to eat as she listened to Trunks and Venux talk. "We come from other planets in the galaxy and from a different timeline than this one. To make a long story short the future is bad and so we have come here to seek a new life." Venux told her as Trunks ate his food quietly. Feeling that Venux could handle explaining the situation better than he.

"Then what do you want with me?" "We knew you in the future and you were our friend. So we want you not to suffer like you had in the future." Venux told her. Bulma stared at her confused. "I was in the future?" she asked softly, a bit surprised by this. "Yes the future." "What was I like? How did we meet?" Bulma asked forgetting her manners and where she was. Trunks seemed a bit nervous but Venux winked at him secretly and he relaxed. "Well we can't reveal information like that. We don't to ruin too many things in the future." "Something good happens to me…" Bulma asked bewildered. "Um…you could say that." Venux chuckled at how Bulma was defiantly like her boyfriend. "But I wanted to ask you something. Do you wish to see other worlds? To leave this place for a while? I'm pretty sure you would, but I would like to ask just in case."

Bulma didn't know what to say to this. Leave the place from where she grew up from? But how could she? Bulma couldn't bare to leave this place without the one person who has shown her kindness. "I…can't…there is someone here I can't leave." Venux gave her a confused look and Trunks looked interested in hearing this. "Who? Is it a man? Tell us." He asked eagerly. Bulma look at him strangely. "Um…no one like that…Mother wouldn't allow me to have any friends, not even to start even that type of relationship of what you are thinking of. It's forbidden for Geisha to love." Trunks sank back in his chair, clearly disappointed in her answer but Venux put a comforting hand on his knee.

"Well…then who are you talking about?" "She is the only friend I have here and I wont' leave without her…I haven't seen her in years…and I bet she won't remember me…but I wish to see her before I go and if she can, could she come with us?" Bulma timidly asked. For someone who has lived her life mostly in fear of her next meal and never having confidence, this was the first time for the rest of her life she would have a say in something. Trunks smiled at her. "You mean Andrea right?" "H-how?" Bulma asked shocked. "Well we were going to get her before we got you. But we found you first. We hear she is working for the Royal Family in the palace. She appears to be the King's highest advisor." Trunks explained.

Bulma couldn't help but feel a bit saddened by this. There was no way she would ever see her friend again, after all it seems her life has turned out better than hers. "Perhaps…we shouldn't bother her…she must be happy." Bulma put on a smile to help convince the other two that she was not distraught. But somehow Trunks seemed to see right through her. "Bulma…I bet she has missed you just as much as you have missed her. It would be nice for us to at least ask her if she wants to go with us you know?" "Yes, but how are we going to get into the palace?" Bulma asked hopelessly. "Leave that to us to worry about. Now continue to eat, you have not finished all that is on your plate." Trunks smiled at her.

Bulma noticed this and continued to eat and asked after dinner if she could have her things returned to her. Trunks gotten up and went to get her things as she finished and Bulma took what she had. She didn't have much; she had her teddy bear from so long ago, some old outfitted clothing, personal items, and a box it appeared. Bulma took it all and put it by the bed she was sleeping in. She made sure to hide the box among her things. To her, it was the most precious of her things to have. This went unnoticed by Trunks, but Venux missed how she was completely. "Well it's late and you need to rest more. Tomorrow we will go get you some proper clothing and then we go see your friend." She smiled at Bulma. Bulma nodded in agreement. Once again she bowed before them, "I am eternally grateful for all that you have done for me. Nothing I can do can repay the kindness you have given to me. Thank you…" she spoke softly and gratefully.

"Well you can start repaying your kindness by getting some sleep and just being yourself for once." Trunks chuckled kindly at her."Very well…" Bulma spoke quietly. Her confidence gone now and her old demenor taking over once more. Trunks and Venux left her to get some rest and Bulma gazed around the warm room, but to her it felt so foreign. What was going to happen now?

-Bulma

P.S. Moment of Zen!

"I want a life that is mine!"

-Sayuri