Chapter 18: Observed
A/N: I suppose we've been teasing one aspect too much, but now it's time to bring back that other part you all have love.
For two full weeks he'd been stalkin-... no, no not that. He'd been follow-, nope that wasn't true either. He was watching… yes watching. It had taken him time to locate where she had been.
"Oh Chi-Chi? Broly why would you like to know where our caretaker is?" The voice of his aunt had told him that she clearly wasn't at home. Was she perhaps off on another purging assignment with one of Bardock's sons. He knew that she wasn't dead, he would've heard some chatter from his father about that had it happened.
The unease about asking Chi-Chi in front of his aunt made him, Broly uncomfortable. Sneaking away from his father's eye for a little while in order to see her again. The small human woman hadn't left his dreams and thoughts since their forced, seperation.
A woman who held his hands, took him shopping, and treated him to an earthling creation known as ice-cream. There wasn't another single person like her in his entire life, she was just… just… the words for who and what she was, he couldn't find the right ones.
There was trepidation that existed where there wasn't before. Long ago he had just wanted pure quiet and freedom from his father were replaced by new strange emotions. Desiring companionship as he often found himself lonely, the few books she had given to him via a capsule were nothing without her to share them with.
'Oh this one is a good one, it's all about mythology, gods, humans and everything in between. I think you'll love it.'
Truthfully he had enjoyed it, but he bet that he would've liked it more had he someone too share it with. That small simple Chi-Chi had opened up his mind in ways beyond the dreary and mundane world that he had so readily experienced. One who valued the small things, the simple beauty of a world around them and not what his people found essential.
And that was what caught his eye more than anything else, the small things. The way she laughed smiled, pointed things out, even if it was trivial like showing him a good book from a bad book. In her usual human mannerisms.
Perhaps it was because she was human that he liked her? Maybe his mind was built around the product of her being human. Yet that was not the truth either. Regular Earthlings, it made him disgusted. They were nothing like her, frail, weak, timid, and pitiful.
None of them were like her. Calm, strong, confident, and passionate. Well except possibly that blue hair, she could shatter glass with her voice and if she was strong as she was angry, she might be able to fight the prince in a blow for blow match if it was a verbal battle.
Yet that was the only true outlier of her entire race.
Maybe it was why he found himself closer to her. He was the same, unlike his own people, unable to grow attached or feel the same things that they did with those of their own kind. But it couldn't be so simple, attachments weren't born out of sheer opposites. Though the Idioms of other races that claimed that both were attracted to each other. That simply wasn't the case.
His mind could picture her soft complexion, the way she smiled and laughed with him. Uncaring of what they might be to those around them, even trying to stand up to her father until she was threatened with her own life. A beautiful creature, one that showed a physical exterior of confidence. But he could tell there was something inside that bothered her.
Her heart was much like his own.
"Chi-Chi said she wouldn't mind cooking for me, and I've heard that she can make really amazing food and wanted to try it." He had told Gine who had chuckled, it was true she was an exceptional cook, and there were more than a few rumors about her prowess. The idle boasting of Bardock's personal purge team and the few guests that frequented the residence all claimed they had been thoroughly satiated.
But it was a smokescreen, while eating her cooking would be good. He had wan-... No he needed to see her once again, to look upon that smiling face and soft brown eyes that once showed such great concern for him. But merely to look upon her would calm his restless body, who wanted to be near her.
"Well she's at the vineyards with Kakarot, Bardock's got my pups all spread out and he's off training and purging and I don't recall which one he sent them too. But you can probably find them out there."
All alone… with Kakarot? The thought made him angry and stirred his blood, but of course he had been expecting the son of Bardock to make a move. He had been left without a recourse, or way to get some earnest payback for the words he had shared at the gathering months ago.
But that fire had burned down to nothing, up until now.
Kakarot wasn't looking to appreciate the woman he would have, far from how Broly would. He'd seen the way Raditz had treated his caretakers and how he'd interacted with the outwards Viv and the modest Nevah there was little doubt how the eventuality of paths would go in that house.
So he had set out, looking to find Chi-Chi and if possible confront Kakarot. But the later part had faded as he wanted to hold back, jumping into this now while the right thing to do. Wasn't going to change her predicament.
So he had spent his days following tracking them down. He'd been observing the two of them. Though it might enrage him to see what was happening. His mind was still focused, still watching them intently. Using those powerful emotions to channel what he needed into himself, there had be fuel to drive him forwards. This could only help him, despite it also hurting him.
Chi-Chi and Kakarot had become intimate together, it wasn't unexpected. But he didn't see a glowing woman basking in the moment, no he still saw pain in her eyes. The kind of pain that you grip and hold down despite your appearance to the outside world. That quiet suffering where it's only bottled up inside of you and has nowhere to go except into a blind world that was unable to pick out those emotions.
But he knew.
Perhaps Chi-Chi had no other choice, or maybe Kakarot had deceived her. It wasn't possible for him to tell which was the real reason, but getting angry with her wasn't going to change anything. To act as if saiyan females never engaged with other males, or other species didn't look for partners throughout their lives would be dishonest to himself.
However, it only fueled his anger towards Kakarot. That he would touch her in such a way.
She was delicate in how she should be handled, meaning she could be broken and in the way that tarnished one's soul like an artist who threw black paint across their work to hide their shame. Not that she was some piece of glass or flimsy piece of wood.
Perhaps she was more like paper, difficult to pull apart but easy to tear.
When he got his hands on Chi-Chi there would never be that face on her. She wouldn't look despondent and going along with the flow of things. No, there would be none of that.
A silent war had been going about inside of his mind, watching as Chi-Chi maintained herself and the house whilst Kakarot spent his time training in the little chamber for multiple hours on end. He could approach Chi-Chi, speak with her and try and brighten her face with a smile for a few minutes.
It's what he wanted to do in his mind, yet he did not. Something in his heart held him back, telling him that to approach her now would hurt her more. There wasn't a sound reasoning for why he believed this to be true but he did not question his greater instincts, it was beyond a minor tingle in his veins feeling more like a full grasp of his soul that pulled him away from an object of his attentions.
Though he did dream after he left her presence that he might swoop down from the clouds, offer her his hand and take her away from the life she lived. Where she would smile and throw herself into his chest just like she had before when he had protected her from several beleaguered fools.
But that wasn't what would happen, despite his dreams teasing him with more lucid thoughts as he had witnessed her without her knowing walking around in the nude. Noting the way she walked with a sense of pride and her actions were not of a defeated woman.
Sad yes, but she had not given up. There were signs of life in her, and it was that sight that kept his attentions.
For someone who had endured as much as he had throughout his own life, it was a feeling that was in his bones and marked upon his flesh.
The most vivid of these times as he watched Chi-Chi sit upon her chair watching the holo vid, recreating words into sight and sounds. Turning written literature into a literal video play, rare technology and she sat listening a book: The Name of the Wind.
The concept lost on the saiyan as it dealt with fantasy and a myriad of magical tales and actions that made more sense to Chi-Chi than it did him.
A distraction and the few rare moments where he saw the woman whom he had really met. She smiled, laughed, frowned, and showed emotion that she truly felt. Where she could be herself, no judging, that was the real Chi-Chi.
Not the pretend puppet she pretended and it was beautiful. Like watching the evening sun set and crest creating that strip of stars and mixture of the rising sun all once, not revealing Vegeta-sei's moon as it cut just a small strip through the sky. This was the same as his Chi-Chi, watching the same old mundane actions that passed by, where no one noticed or cared to this small sliver, where only he, got to enjoy watching her.
A soft pounding came from the front of the Villa alerting Chi-Chi to the sounds of visitors. Though who exactly would be coming to the location would be very few. Broly however could tell quite clearly who it was, she didn't exactly fit in, but it was also hard to see her. The pink skinned Norlean did stand out like a sore thumb, dressed in her usual attire as she crossed her hands behind her back. She seemed a little excited but about what… well he hoped to find out.
Chi-Chi peered over the Balcony and saw the familiar caretaker. "Nevah!" Her voice reaching the other who looked up and waved at her fellow sister. "What are you doing here?"
The smaller woman smiled, "I've come to tell the young Lord some terrific news. Normally I'd feel it be appropriate for his mother and father to tell him but with both of them off world they let me come and tell him myself as Viv is working with Lord Raditz."
Broly's eyebrows raised, from his vantage point he could still clearly hear the conversation. Chi-Chi jumped down to warmly greet Nevah with a hug as the smaller woman did feel like an older sibling to most.
Knowing that woman better as she had been tasked with caring for him for several weeks. The little thing had been caring for him after one his father's usual beatings. Bandaging his wounds, washing him, and feeding him in a few years past.
A simple woman who took to her duties seriously, doing whatever she could to care for him and appease the wishes of his Aunt Gine who could only do so much without going so far as to offend Paragus.
Being the mate of an Elite gave her a great deal of stature but she couldn't openly tell his father to lay off his treatment. But offering her aid in caring for his son, that was seen as a token gesture of respect and something his father couldn't just outright refuse.
Afterall that would be an insult to Bardock and dear old Dad just couldn't do that now could he.
Nevah had lifted his spirits and attempted to explain away all of the problems he'd experienced as some sort of cosmic fate or whatever her beliefs were. That good would be rewarded, that evil would be punished and it might not always be the same aspect but life would be given its value on the other side. That rewards were given and the yada yada…
He really lost interest but he was laying on his back for quite a few of the days and had to quietly listen. Not that it wasn't a bad little stories he told him, he just simply did not believe what she was saying.
A hereafter? That wasn't possible, afterall many saiyans took on personalities of their forefathers and ages past. It was how the prophesized Legendary was to be Re-Born. Reincarnation was the way of the world, not in a peaceful afterlife where souls gathered together in mutual happiness.
Shaking his head he focused back in.
"Well, what is it? You came all the way out here so it must be something actually important." Chi-Chi said with a knowing look and tone. Though as she stood there it clearly wasn't bad news.
"Oh of course, Lady Gine. She's pregnant!" Nevah exclaimed giddily. "A third saiyan for the house of Bardock! Oh the God's have blessed our Lady for she will be bearing our newest household member and I can't wait!"
So I shall have another cousin… Well I believe my aunt shall be happy. The thought of another saiyan child didn't fill him with disgust, he felt indifferent but the celebration of course would be rampant. Saiyan's conceiving children were rare and elite children were rarer, the expectation of a powerful son or daughter that would be even stronger than his parents. That was the expectation…
Unfortunately, he had never quite lived up to that.
But he persisted and focused back on Chi-Chi.
"Oh that is good news, I suppose the baby shower and all of the joys of pregnancy will cause me to work twice as hard." Chi-Chi said in a sarcastic tone but she didn't appear truly angry. Maybe teasing? He couldn't tell.
"What is a baby shower?" Nevah replied curiously looking back at Chi-Chi who stared back down at her in disbelief.
"Oh right." Shaking her head she covered her forehead with her other palm. "I'm on Vegeta-sei they probably have training matches while they are in the womb."
"You have such a strange custom to shower the unborn, do you give birth to your young when they are weeks old or do you perhaps lay eggs?"
"Nevah, I'm human. I have babies in my womb for nine months. I don't give birth to fetuses or lay eggs."
"So why do you shower the child… or how do you shower the child? Or is it symbolic in nature like you showering the child?"
"I'll explain it later, I have to remind myself I'm not on Earth anymore." Chi-Chi sighed, the frustration slightly showing as her obvious references and customs appeared to be irrelevant here on Vegeta-sei.
"You must tell me of the baby shower ritual, it sounds intriguing. But with saiyans they do not carry their own children to term."
"What?" She sounded shocked, "What do you mean, I thought she was having a baby, how can she not carry it to term?"
"Well the child will be born via a birthing pod, the child is taken via micro surgery and implanted into an artificial womb thereby not allowing the mother to be hindered in her duties or in battle. Especially since birthing any saiyan child is incredibly dangerous and quite fatal for weaker mothers who attempt natural births due to the strain of a powerful child who does not understand their strength and powers."
It was true, he had been born the same way, it wasn't wrong. He could've inadvertently killed his own mother. That was not something he himself would have wanted to live with after what had already transpired. But he also knew that if she didn't have a choice she would've gladly done what many saiyan women throughout their history had done and performed the act naturally.
But since the tools of science had come to their world the need to lose life pointlessly to birth had been greatly diminished. Though on rare occasions a saiyan placed in a womb could die, but the aspect of losing a fully grown saiyan female who could still have more children was seen as the safer option.
He also doubted that Gine would have any of those issues due to her being a proper elite saiyan and any child of hers would be strong enough and wouldn't die due to the transfer procedure.
Chi-Chi seemed to wince at that information putting a hand on her own stomach, "Remind me not to have a saiyan child then." Nevah smiled and laughed taking the other woman's hand from her stomach.
"Don't worry about such things. Most species are incompatible with saiyans and unable to bear offspring, but even should you and the young Lord have a child there are easy ways to handle such problems… I can see that you have been enjoying your time with the young Lord?" Her eyes rolled up to Chi-Chi's, her body very easily inferring she knew.
"Can we not talk about… that? It's not that I really meant-"
"Hush Chi-Chi, I do not blame you the universe is fated as I have told you many-" The voice of the Norelan drowned out into her usual religious speech about this and that. Broly decided that he'd had enough for one day now.
Not wanting to push his luck with his father noticing where he'd been slipping off too.
…
"Gero, for the last time! If you come to my house again with these ludicrous demands of yours I will fire you!" It wasn't often people heard the normal mellow and soft spoken scientific genius Dr. Briefs. But apparently it was happening.
It alerted Bulma who had come to find out, but in addition there was another guest in the home. One who had a rigid set of rules, planning, schedule, and if it took the woman's attention from him. Well that interfered with all of the above.
Gero however, still bitter about his lack of acknowledgment for all of the good he had done was a jealous, angry, and resentful to the far more successful peer of his. One that he had openly shared as he tried to discredit Dr. Brief's for not taking the huge opportunity they were being placed beside.
The saiyans were one thing, but they had a suspended animation technological prison just next door. One that the saiyans forbid them from messing with, but if they tinkered just a little bit, imagine just what they could learn.
His android technology hadn't flourished greatly but if he just had a bit more of some alien tech he could begin completing a complete full body overhaul. The minor work he had created paled to his dreams, just imaging a fully cyberized body with minor flesh interferance, the texture of skin and blood that was fueled by a computer chip and unlimited energy of an internal perpetual power device.
How could a man of science turn his back on this.
Inside that prison held the secrets he needed! A race of broken down soulless machines that had once stood up against these saiyans and brought them to the brink of ruin, because of TECHNOLOGY! Why did the damn fool not see the far bigger picture, and look towards the future.
"You're a blasted old fool, Brief! We're sitting next to a scientific gold mine, a civilization left behind a monolith of technology and you want to just sit back and ignore it! What the hell happened to you? Have you inherited the mind of that blonde slut you call a wife-!" Another man, a near equal to Dr. Brief's in name but not in talent. His white beard and long white hair modified with cyberized parts as he helped to develop what he believed to be the future of the human race and its android technology.
But there was one thing no man had ever done to Dr. Briefs, and that was insult his beloved Panchy. He lost his temper and tackled the other man to the ground, disregarding his scientific reasoning, and mind. He refused, to let Gero be the person to mock his loving wife. The clatter of the wooden table next them scrapped and fell to the ground along with the movements of their tailored shoes against a clean polished floor.
The fell into a heap as at their age they weren't the seasoned fighters from earth or the saiyan warriors that resided all over this planet. They were two old men fighting from pure emotion.
The two tried to grapple with the other, each one trying to get a hand on the other's neck and choke at the other one, but the smaller Brief knocked Gero onto his back. The old scientist attempted to punch his counterpart but the other blocked it, though his partially human features only were around his face and his arms felt the heavy thuds of the other scientist.
"I'll teach you Brief! You damn thief!" The long haired doctor spat in a seething rage, his face flushed red with unrepentant anger.
"Like hell you old son-of-a-bitch! My genius is my own and Panchy was never yours!" His hand caught a graze on Gero's cheek before his counterpart bit him on the palm.
Brief howled in pain as Gero dug down starting to draw blood. A self fulfilled smirk as he drew blood upon his bitter rival. Watching as Brief pulled back he then smacked with a full fist into the other man's face knocking him off of him and giving Gero all the excuse he needed to beat the shit out of the man who had stolen so much from him.
He had Earned so much more and yet everyone wanted to support this old crazy bastard because of capsules! Did they not see the future since the aliens had nearly decimated their world?
Then… Gero was flung into the wall. His head slamming into the plaster wall and into the studs behind it. His bell was rung and he hadn't even felt what had happened.
"Dad! Dad, are you alright?" The panic voice of Bulma who saw the blood on her father's hand alarmed her immediately. She didn't give two shits about Gero as a brown saiyan tail snapped angrily just between her and the man who had hurt her father.
She hadn't realized that Vegeta had even followed her, hell she hadn't even seen him. But she could see the prince now. An angry scowl on his face as he clenched a fist in front of him the other flicking a ball of blue ki on and off in the other palm.
For once the arrogant prick had done something, but she diverted her attention back to her father whose eyes were rolling back into his head. Feeling the swelling from the connection from the floor, as if she hadn't already heard it when she had come towards the sounds of the yelling.
"A lowly human deems to interrupt my training." Vegeta said, his voice low as his brows were completely focused together. The snapping of his ki only told of the restraint he was showing. Something he'd had to learn when dealing with the blue haired banshee, he couldn't kill her so he'd been doing his best to hold himself back from just outright killing that which bothered him.
"A? Saiyan what are-" Gero's voice exploded into a violent seizing gasp as the prince's clenched fist now was buried in his stomach.
"I am prince Vegeta, the prince of all saiyans… and you have come to harm valuable assets to my family and do not admonish me by using the proper title of the race of people who has given you sanctuary." Vegeta snarled, his hand reaching up and grabbing the old man by the throat.
It was as solid as cast steel and Gero couldn't feel skin as much as he could feel the ripples of pure alien muscle cutting off his air. His cybernetic enhancements were nothing compared to the raw power of evolution. The bruises formed on his neck as the Prince began to choke the life from him slowly. "You would dare insult me twice in my presence. The punishment shall be death…"
His eyes, his voice spoke of complete seriousness. He was going to kill him for the relatively minor offense.
"Vegeta. Help me take my Dad to the infirmary, forget about Gero. You can do what you want later." Bulma's voice caught the prince as he had only thought about blood. Uncharacteristically he dropped Gero who fell to the floor in a crumpled heap gasping for air as his windpipe was nearly crushed watched as the prince turned around and came to Bulma's side.
"Hm… minor bleeding, he has a concussion, and minor swelling…" The prince said almost robotically as he examined the down human. His hand reached down and picked up the doctor in one arm while not being delicate, he did not sling him around.
The heiress watched in shock as Vegeta quickly determined the extent of her father's injuries, he'd been able to tell when he had broken bones, or bruises, cracked ribs and torn ligaments with just a look. Though it probably was his own body he could tell the answers to those questions without too much difficulty.
"Are you certain? He's unconscious and-" She was cut off as the prince held up his hand for silence.
"Woman, do not doubt me I am no fool, to be a prince such as myself I am well aware of seeing injury and knowing the effects of obvious blows that a body can sustain and my intellect is that of what you might call a physician or scientist if using your terminology." Vegeta snorted as he waited for Bulma to tell him where to go. He'd gone to the infirmary before, but never under his own power.
He missed the look of shock and surprise from the blue haired scientist who quickly found an actual level of almost admiration and surprise. Through all the dealings she'd had with Vegeta-mostly under duress- she'd never once actually imagined he was much more than just a brainless fighter.
Apparently he wasn't.
But her moment melted away as she focused and led Vegeta hurriedly to the infirmary forgetting all about the nearly crippled doctor behind them. Though as Vegeta rounded the corner his ears could hear the door opening to the complex and a pair of boots that were obviously worn by a saiyan from the weight and heavy pressure put upon the ground.
Gero was greeted as he rolled onto his back the face of another saiyan. His face neutral but defined primarily by the criss crossed scar covering his face.
…
"What?" Kakarot was shocked, "My mother is having another pup?" He knew his mother had been trying for a while to get pregnant again. But she'd been trying hard for several years now. He just probably hadn't been expecting it.
"Kakarot, your mother is not a dog. Can't you say baby?" Chi-Chi sighed shaking her head. Though saiyans and even Gine herself called her children pups, she just didn't understand their reasoning.
The saiyan ignored her, "Well I'll be. How far along is the little shit of my old man?"
Nevah shrugged, her hair shaking slightly in a no. "I'm not sure, she just underwent the procedure to remove it this morning. Your mother about tore the whole house apart in joy… Fortunately the lizardmen helped me get her out while she went out a joyful destructive rampage. I'm certain without Viv or Chi-Chi I could've managed to fix the house before your father returned home. Though the surrounding land will need many divets and boulders cleaned up."
It was pure excitement, pride, and satisfaction as she went on a happy go smash the living hell out of everything spree.
Nevah felt bad for their reptilian groundskeepers but it wasn't much worse than a training session outside. Gine had wanted the house to herself and worked on sending a message to Bardock while sending Nevah out to go tell her other family in person as this wasn't something one simply did over a scouter.
"Well I do hope that you will enjoy the celebration that will be coming soon. I know your father will be overjoyed to see a new legacy of his born." The small caretaker could imagine the amount of planning that often went into a grandiose celebration.
Chi-Chi however, wasn't used to what would probably be coming next. Though Kakarot could see Chi-Chi wasn't probably ready for what would be coming.
"This will require a blessing of the royal family, Chi-Chi, any elite child is welcomed by royal blood even before they are born. Their power measured and the house that has a stronger heir is given more favor in the ranks but since the other three elite females perished this rule was looked over out of respect for their sacrifice. But the ceremony is still important and won't be changed until Caulifa and Kale take mates and restart this old tradition of welcoming new elites."
Chi-Chi herself didn't understand its significance, but having a child back on Earth was always important for family and friends.
It was just another level of celebration, one that all enjoy.
"Any word on when my father will return?" Looking to the caretaker who tapped her bottom lip with her thumb as she tried to predict his expected return date.
"He left several days ago for another mission, assuming his team isn't too stonewalled and he gets the message he'll be back here in five days or ten if the mission requires his presence. I was wondering if you would like to return home to congratulate your mother along with your brother." Having stopped by Capsule town to inform the oldest brother of the news to which Viv happily raced home to congratulate their lady of the house.
Raditz showed a lack of interest much like his other brother but nevah wasn't anticipating a huge explosion of joy. Afterall it only created more rivals for their position, but blood was still blood and very important to any elite saiyan family.
Kakarot knew it was important to his mother, so he made the mature choice. "I'll head back home in a few minutes. Chi-Chi you can remain here while I visit with my mother."
"Alright, I'll have dinner ready when you get back."
"If you wouldn't mind my Lord flying myself back would be taxing, would you mind carrying me?" Nevah asked as she had just spent the last thirty minutes in flight to capsule town then directly her, as per her ladies instructions.
Grunting in acknowledgement Kakarot disappeared to his room and prepare for a quick trip home.
This left Chi-Chi alone as the saiyan departed with Nevah shortly after getting in appropriate attire to return home and congratulate his mother. Without any real duties to attend to for awhile Chi-Chi made her way back towards her small loft atop the villa.
A sort of quiet peace remained as she lingered she found a note… from someone.
R&R
Kerghan