VeggieBlueRaven, Hieiko and ju-ju beanz: thank you for staying with me and helping me out.
Lady Lianna Kari,andmurdrax: thanks for the encouragement.
chibi dende: I think you are the steadiest of all my reviewers…
icarus: wow, you reviewed all the chapters! I am happy that you showed your appreciation. It is readers like you who help me go on.
Zhekee: now this is the interesting part – the interaction/clearing of air between Veggie and King Vegeta is the climax of this fic, do not worry, it will come within the next two chapters.
And SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE ADDED THIS STORY TO THEIR SUBSCRIPTION LISTS.
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DISCLAIMER: (yawn… *o*)
FAMILIES
Chapter - 5.
4 days after the arrival of the dead Saiyans on Earth:
After a thorough massage session, during which he did not even feel anything, Radditz was taking a sauna. He did not get the point of encasing one's body in a heat chamber, unless it was a torture session at Frieza's. Then again, the temperature was barely adequate to make his Saiyan body break a sweat.
He sighed, cursing his fate, that he got dragged in a 'shopping session' with his sister-in-law, Bulma and her mother.
It was difficult to explain his tail to the masseur, but he had no choice, as the three human women left him there and went off to buy garments for the King, Bardock, Nappa and himself.
"Cool, isn't it?" the Masseur said.
"What is cool?" Radditz drawled in a bored tone.
"The sauna I mean."
"I was under the impression that the temperature was meant to be high, so how can it be 'cool'?"
"Um… well, I mean, this is the latest and most luxuriant facility around here…"
Thankfully the timer went off and Radditz was saved from further mindless chattering.
Dressing up in a set of garments and cape materialized by Piccolo, Radditz tried to exercise his newly learnt ability to locate ki and found out the frenzied trio who promptly dumped in his arms a bunch of storage capsules already filled with new clothes.
He groaned, sighed and cursed as the shopping continued, thankful that he was spared at the beginning at least.
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Dr. B and Gohan had taken King Vegeta and Bardock to a Science and Technology Award ceremony where Dr. B. was the chief guest. King Vegeta was introduced as a visiting foreign diplomat and Bardock as the head of the Science Department of that foreign land. They both wore menacing expressions and spoke in low, harsh tones, keeping the curious guests away. Plus Gohan, dressed as security personnel, was there for any damage control.
The Saiyans did not enter the main auditorium, but waited with Gohan at the food court.
They were getting annoyed with people staring at the halos on their heads, but the buffet table kept them from blowing up.
After some time, they started observing the decoration, behavior of people around them and their dresses that screamed of useless and lavish indulgences possible only in way too comfortable and soft planets, where the inhabitants were invariably ignorant of what treasure Nature has bestowed upon them, and somehow were foolish enough to pollute their own environment.
Such locals were basically weak and incompetent, and stayed at ease not because they were capable of protecting themselves from extra-terrestrial attacks, but because they were simply ignorant of the outer space.
They were getting bored when a funny looking man came in, surrounded by a swarm of fans and reporters.
The overly hairy man was dressed in black and white, and started striking ridiculous poses while cameras started clicking madly.
"Who's your hero?" He flashed a smirk and roared.
"Mr. Satan, Mr. Satan…" the crowd chanted.
Dr. B. came out of the auditorium at this point and the group was about to leave. As they were sidestepping the mob, someone shouted:
"Hey! How can you show such disrespect to the Champ? Who do you think you are?"
Gohan somehow managed to tell them that they were 'not locals' and Hercule took the introductions in his own (hairy) hands.
He was bragging and bragging unaware of the rising ki of King Vegeta and the raining sweat-drops of Gohan, when a small voice squeaked up:
"Finally I met someone who doesn't know dad! I had almost given up hope…"
Everyone turned to look at the speaker and Dr. B took the opportunity to drag the Saiyans out.
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Vegeta came out of the GR after training for the whole morning at 650 times earth's normal gravity. He bristled at the thought that again, he had been left with the task of baby-sitting.
He peeked into his son's play area and found Goten trying very hard to beat Trunks' highest score in a video game.
Trunks was lounging on the sofa and sipping some fizzy drink while flipping through some science mag.
Nappa stood at attention behind him, just as he used to stand as Vegeta's body-guard… years ago.
The bald Saiyan had been shocked to near insanity when the prince he had practically raised as his own child and more had killed him thoughtlessly, but somehow, through his warped mind, it had filtered that this lavender haired kid was immensely powerful, and was the future heir to the throne.
His instinct bent him to serve Trunks.
"Get me another one, will you" Trunks threw away the empty can and ordered Nappa.
Vegeta smirked at his son's inherent attitude. Then suddenly his smirk vanished as he heard Nappa's reply:
"Yes, my prince."
Vegeta turned away and left as memories began to resurface.
After some thorough meditation, Vegeta repeated to himself what he had concluded to himself in the Hyperbolic Chamber while training with Future Trunks – he had lived that life once, but that Vegeta had died in Namek. This is a new life, he had started anew.
Just as there was no point in dwelling on past values, there was no point dwelling on past deeds too, especially if they cannot be corrected now.
He went to answer the door as the ready food delivery trucks arrived.
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Everybody had assembled at the CC lounge, and was telling each other how the day went and what they did and what happened. Even Piccolo had come, and sat meditating in the distant corner.
Bulma was happy that the new comers were settling down. She suggested that a full group gathering could be conducted peacefully to celebrate one week of their guests' arrival.
Chichi's face darkened. Her 'baby' (Gohan) was already wasting precious study time.
Oblivious to all this, Goten asked,
"Mom, Trunks will be allowed to enter the GR from his fifth birthday, can I join him too?"
"No. Absolutely not! You do not even know how to fight!"
Everybody rolled their eyes. They knew that it was Chichi who did not let Goten fight.
"But mommy, Trunks' dad is teaching him how to since he was three, and I am already four…"
Bulma, the beautiful genius suggested a solution to make all parties happy.
"Chichi, why don't you let Bardock teach science to Gohan; after all, he was an inventor, and that way your 'baby' will not lose precious study time when he is with Bardock."
Gohan added hopefully, that the more time he spent with Bardock, the better.
Bulma continued,
"And you yourself can teach Goten the basics of martial arts; after all, you were the strongest female on earth when you married Goku…"
Chichi was about to interrupt, Bulma held her hand up and went on
"That way, you can regulate his level of training"
Chichi looked like she was considering that possibility, she did not want a repetition of Piccolo kidnapping Gohan out of the blue.
Bulma hammered in the final nail –
"Goten looks so much like Goku, it will be a shame if he could not fight."
That did it.
King Vegeta, in the mean time, had developed a new scheme to annoy his son. He started addressing Bulma as Princess Bulma. Without saying, she was more than happy with that.
Bulma, on the other hand, had also formulated a plan to tick Vegeta off.
The resemblance between her husband and his father was uncanny. All they needed to adjust was their heights and the beard – then they would look almost identical.
There was no way to adjust the height, but for the beard…
"Hey, Dad V, I got a request" Bulma chirped merrily.
"Anything you command, my little princess." He gave a mock bow.
Everyone watched with curiosity their comfortable level of familiarity and only Piccolo's ears caught what she whispered in her 'Dad V's ear.
The King went out and came back after fifteen minutes. His beard was gone.
Vegeta felt he could reach a new level of Super Saiyan with the intensity of his anger at seeing how much they resembled each other.
At this point, Mrs. B twirled in wearing an obscenely frilly gown she had purchased that day. Never before having seen such a ridiculous piece of garment, Bardock stared open mouthed.
Mrs. B. pinched his cheek
"Oh, my, Am I that hot that you have to stare speechless (what am I saying, I'm a married woman)!"
Bardock hesitantly raised his hand and touched her forehead,
"No, according to human standards your temperature is normal, you are not hot."
She giggled, "You are so funny, just like Goku!"
Goku's voice (from HFIL) – "Did any one just call my name?"
Gohan – "Dad, you won't believe whom we met today! The person who became the champion after you stopped fighting in the Tournament. And he has been winning every year ever since."
Goku – "Really, what is he like?"
Bardock – "Son, I am happy you are nothing like him. He is a ki-less moron who blows his own trumpet."
Gohan – "Even his own son is bored with his fame…"
King Vegeta – "Where did you get a boy from? That was his daughter!"
Gohan – "What, but she looked like a boy to me…"
Vegeta – "Now this is rich; Kakkarott's brat cannot even tell male from female! No surprise, his best friend is a Namek."
Piccolo bared his teeth.
Goku – "Hey son, let me teach you how to tell a boy from a girl. It is just like I found out that Bulma was a girl when we me met the first time. All you have to do is – "
Bulma gave a blood curdling screech – "SON GOKU! SHUT UP THIS INSTANT IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU. THERE IS NO WAY I WILL LET YOU TEACH THAT TO ANYONE ELSE!"
The Saiyans covered their ears; Piccolo fainted and up at the Lookout Dende winced. Goku withdrew.
Vegeta started badgering Bulma to tell him 'what Kakkarott did to her'.
She kept on refusing, and the two began a staring/glaring contest.
Trunks asked his grandfathers,
"From whom did I inherit my maturity?"
"A trait may somehow skip one generation and reappear in the next" Dr. B. explained.
It was almost midnight. At Chichi's, Bardock and Radditz were still pondering over the bizarre concepts of 'hot' and 'cool'.
Suddenly everyone felt an enormous rise in Vegeta's energy.
Almost half of CC was blown away. Bulma sighed and went to get the back-up house capsule.
Apparently, Vegeta had coaxed her into telling him how Goku found out that she was a girl.
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Okay, if you have found this fic worthy of reading upto this point, please do leave your opinion (positive and negative – both are equally welcome).