A/N: Not going to lie, kind of disappointed with the lack of reviews considering how long the last chapter was and what it entailed. I'm going to be dropping updates to once a week, no matter how fast I crank out chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Spectre

23

Goku piled all the destroyed sheets on the floor and snapped his fingers, turning them to dust in mere seconds. He kept incinerating the resulting groups of ash and they slowly vanished as Bulla sat beside me on the bare mattress, neatly avoiding the obvious stain from my blood. She smiled and patted me on the back while I flexed my healed hand in wonder. Senzu beans were a miracle. I would've been in seriously bad shape without one of them, especially when we had no access to the Dragon Balls.

She casually worked a tangle out of my hair with her lissome fingers. "It'll get easier when you're older. You don't have wide enough hips yet—your pelvis gets in the way. Chi-Chi's the daughter of the Ox King so that's the only reason she could deal with it and not bleed to death. Don't feel bad."

My eyes flickered up. Goku was standing in the doorway, clutching clean sheets to his chest and watching me apprehensively. He quickly looked away when our eyes met and stepped back out into the hall, trying to keep himself occupied while I cooled down from our encounter. He could've killed me. If Bulla hadn't come in at that moment, I would've wound up dying in the worst imaginable way.

Bulla noticed me glaring at the door and grinned, blue eyes sparkling with amusement. She was better at brushing my hair than I was. "Don't be mad, Marron. It's not something either of you can help. I'm unfortunately cursed with the same damn blood and I know how it is when we have sex. It's horrible with humans. You're so breakable and small. We have to plan every single move or this happens."

"Well he should've been more careful." I folded my arms irately and leaned on the headboard. "I could've died but he was too busy freaking out to know what to do."

"If you don't want the risk, don't sleep with a Saiyan. You could do what my mom did and go have surgery done to make it easier or you'll just have to suck it up and learn your limits. Oh, and Goku needs to learn how to control himself. It might've been possible if he hadn't been so aggressive."

"I'm not taking the chance," I said. "It isn't worth it."

The half-Saiyan laughed, now braiding my hair. "Don't kid yourself. It's always worth it. Goku, we're ready for you. It's time to talk."

Goku peered around the edge of the door nervously before stepping inside the room. I stood up next to Bulla with my back turned to him while he made the bed, trying to stay as angry as possible. He could've really hurt me! Now he wouldn't say anything because he was too worried about me yelling at him. I sat down stiffly next to Bulla again and he awkwardly sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed. He was seriously focused on twiddling his thumbs instead of looking at us.

I gave him a hide-melting glare. No wonder Chi-Chi was always mad at him—he'd probably broken a few of her bones when she wasn't paying attention. 'Sorry' didn't cut it. I'd never been in so much pain in my life and he acted like it was no big deal; that my body would get used to it after a while.

Bulla rolled her eyes and grabbed a pillow to hug. "You two are so dramatic. It's just sex. Marron, you should've known what you were getting yourself into and Goku… you already knew. You shouldn't have been so rough. Are you forgetting that Marron is one-hundred percent human?"

"I know," he said miserably. His black eyes raised just a bit, pitiful and sad. "I didn't mean to. It gets hard to control myself."

"Well you better learn how because we don't have the Dragon Balls to bring her back if something goes wrong. Anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. I need you to do something for me, Goku. It isn't going to be easy but if you say no, I'm going to have to tell everyone about your little affair."

Goku shrugged, picking at lint on the sheets. "Sure. What d'you want?"

She leaned forward with a maniacal grin that stretched her pretty mouth too far. "Kill Goten."

I shot her a horrified look and Goku's head snapped up, eyes wide with confusion. Bulla turned her head slightly and held up a lean index finger to point directly between Goku's eyes.

"You're the only one who can do it," she said. "Goten isn't very strong anymore but I know you have experience with snapping necks. I'm sick of looking at his smug face and I want him gone. All you have to do is corner him at The Ring, grab his scrawny throat and break it in half. Everyone will pretend to feel bad but no one really will because your son is complete garbage."

"The Ring?" Goku echoed, scratching his head. "Is that where he took Marron?"

"Yes, it is." Bulla moved closer, lowering her voice to a conspiring tone. She held his attention. "Do you really want to risk Goten taking her again? What if Android 18 finds out? What if… well, I don't want to be pessimistic but… you won't always be there. He could attack Marron when she's home alone and hurt her very badly. He could even get her pregnant, or he might sell her to other men."

I watched the fear spread across Goku's features, contracting his pupils and causing him to swallow loudly. He wasn't going to kill his own son because bratty Bulla told him to. I sighed and shook my head as Goku's eyes fell back down to his hands, the spot where he focused to think.

"Goku isn't going to murder Goten," I said. "He isn't going to lay a finger on him."

Bulla shifted in front of me, trying to block me out of the conversation. She reached forward to put one of her dainty pale hands on top of Goku's and I felt pangs of jealousy as he looked up at her for guidance. What was his problem? He hated violence, especially when it involved killing. He tried to avoid it at all costs; to let someone redeem themselves before they experienced permanent death.

"You know what's best for Marron better than anyone else." Bulla squeezed Goku's hand, searching his eyes with feigned sympathy. "Better than her own parents. She's yours, but she's also a frail little human. What do you think is best for your human? Can you really afford to let her run around in such a dangerous world with such dangerous people? Maybe you don't have to kill him, but I think it would be in your best interest to send a message. Just look at what he did to her hair."

"Being human doesn't make me property," I snapped. "What the hell is wrong with you people? Oh, sorry, you're above 'people.' You're Saiyans, so far the foulest race in the entire universe."

"Don't risk her safety," Bulla whispered as she touched Goku's cheek. "She doesn't understand how dangerous the world is. You can make it much better for her if you just let Goten know that Marron and her friends are off-limits. As her guardian, you have to make the hard decisions."

"I love her," he muttered in a hypnotized drawl. "She's mine."

"Yes, exactly. She's yours and you love her. Humans are so weak compared to us that they need constant protection. I know you wanted to hit him when you saw what he was going to do to her. You should. Show him that no one is allowed to touch your human except you."

Goku frowned, beginning to break free from Bulla's sickly sweet words. "But I don't want to hurt Goten. I was mad, sure, but I know how he is. We're a lot alike. He's just—"

Bulla forced him to look into her eyes. "He's mean. He pimps women out and hides behind chivalrous intentions that we all know he doesn't have. I think you beating him up will teach him some respect and change his vision of women. Do you want him to hurt Marron? He won't hesitate to suck her into his life of debauchery and violence and she'll stop caring about you. You'll be all alone."

Neither of them moved for a few minutes. Goku's black eyes drilled into hers, clearly terrified, until he reached up to pull her hands away from her face and set them back in her lap. He sat still for a moment then turned to me and smiled weakly. I tried my best to look serious and upset. Now he was silently apologizing to me for all the rude things Bulla was saying. Jeez, did he know how to talk?

Suddenly, he pressed two fingertips to his forehead without looking away from me. I blinked and he was gone, leaving behind nothing but the scent of pine trees.

Bulla was laughing. "God, he makes it too easy. He's so stupid." She looked at me but I was still staring at the empty spot where Goku had been sitting. "He'll get my revenge for me and I can keep my hands clean in this whole mess. Cheer up. When Goten tattles to his mommy, she'll divorce Goku before he can tell her he fucked a fifteen year old. Even my dad would've been a better lay."

My hands tightened into fists. She was making Goku do her dirty work. "He cares about me. You're playing on his feelings to make him do something he doesn't want to."

"Oh, don't try to chastise me. You just had sex with a sixty year old guy who is literally retarded. You're a freak. I know he looks really young and acts really young, but holy shit, you pretty much raped him." Bulla was cackling so hard she couldn't sit up straight. "You lost your virginity to Goku! Of all people! But now you have the strongest person in the universe wrapped around your finger. He's so stupid that he'll do anything you ask without a second thought."

The whites of my knuckles shone through my skin. "Shut up."

Bulla wiped tears away from her eyes, trying to get a grip on herself. "God, you're both fucked up. Goku promises to take care of his best friend's daughter and winds up leaving his wife for her. You become completely obsessed with him and turn into a total zombie when he tries to stay away from you. And you're only fifteen! What kind of sicko has sex with a high school girl?!"

Her laughter stopped. It was dark in the bedroom but I could see tears streaming down her face. I watched her hurriedly wipe them away on her sleeve as it dawned upon me.

Bulla knew all too well what kinds of sickos slept with teenage girls.

I felt terrible for getting angry at her. It was all a defense mechanism to hide the consuming pain she felt on a constant basis. She was jealous of my relationship with Goku. She hoped to have the same connection with an older man but he had burned her. I remembered all the weird looks she gave Goten and how she always seemed eager to please him. She supported Trunks, Pan, Goku and me because she wanted to hide her rage.

Revulsion twisted in my stomach as Bulla took out her cell phone to look busy. She wasn't a willing business partner with Goten. At some point, he forced her to join the team and he wanted to do the same thing to me. If it hadn't been for Goku becoming my guardian, he might've been able to. I was so shy and nervous around mom that I never would've mentioned it and forget telling dad.

The half-Saiyan glanced at me over her shoulder and angrily pulled out a cigarette when she noticed me staring. She lit it with a flick of her fingers. "What the hell are you looking at? Don't tell me you feel bad. I should've known better than to trust 'Uncle Goten' but I didn't. So here I am, ruined and trying to compensate for it by being a total bitch. Is that what you want to hear?"

"He… raped you?" I asked. The middle word stuck in my throat. Saying it hurt.

She inhaled her cigarette until smoke poured out of her nose. "Yeah, so? It was a while ago. I'm totally over it now so I'm just watching the romance blooming around me. Panny and Trunks, you and Goku; everyone is so goddamn happy I could throw up. I'm happy, too. I go shopping, tons of guys like me, and I'm probably the youngest entrepreneur you'll ever meet. Don't give me that sad look."

"Why don't you tell someone? Your dad would snap Goten's neck! Your brother would kick him out of Capsule Corp., you could have The Ring disbanded and…" I trailed off.

Oh.

Love makes you do stupid things.

Furious blue eyes burned holes in the wall as Bulla struggled not to look at me. I couldn't wrap my head around it. How could she love someone who put her through so much torment? Goten has seriously damaged Bulla to the point where she was incapable of anything but hate. But she still wanted to protect him from the repercussions of his actions. Goku was doing what she desperately wanted to do, but could not. She was crippled by her feelings for Goten.

Bulla's head snapped up and she doused her cigarette. "I have some bad news. Chi-Chi's on her way home and she'll be here within minutes. We need to get out of here, unless you're in the mood to explain the reek of sex and blood in this room."

I definitely wasn't. After I tightened Goku's training gi around myself, we both flew out the window toward the city so we could avoid Chi-Chi. As we gracefully skimmed some clouds, I looked down to see a red car zoom by on the road. There were two people in it: one with long, coal black hair and the other with carefully groomed, greyish hair. Yamcha was coming home with her again.