Chapter 042 - Preparing For The Future Part Two

Age 765

They were at it again.

Corset lay awake on one side, covers almost pulled over her head. She could hear her mother and Yamcha yelling at each other from one of the other rooms and could tell what each of them were saying. Horrible words were being spoken. It sent shivers down her spine and lured emotions from inside of her, emotions she wasn't comfortable feeling.

Her mother's voice was loud and slightly wobbly; Yamcha's just as loud and emotional. It sounded like Yamcha had cheated on her mother with another woman. The eight-year-old hated him. She hated him for how upset he'd made her mama; even while yelling Corset could hear the hurt in her voice. That's what had summoned the uncomfortable and unwanted emotions.

What time was it? She glanced over at her alarm clock: almost twenty-past ten at night. Yet again she'd gone to bed around nine just to find out she wouldn't be sleeping for a while. Were they even aware she could hear them?

Something slammed quite heavily; Corset guessing it was a door. Shuffling feet brushed past her door alongside a shadow moving across the small gap between her door and the floor. Yamcha's energy was moving past her room. She heard him mutter something insulting as he disappeared down the corridor, probably leaving the house. Corset hoped he was leaving. She didn't want to see him here, not when he'd made her mama sad.

A couple of footsteps came from the room next to hers, then nothing. The quiet was eerie and full of suspense. Corset only hoped her mother was alright. She was almost certain she could hear her sniffling through the wall. With luck her nana and grandpa were still awake and wandering around the house; they'd be able to cheer her mother up...

Yamcha's ki started to travel away from the house, Corset keeping one eye on it for a moment before turning her attention to other matters. Out of curiosity and seeing as she was tracking ki signals, she took a quick peek onto her father's. His ki was as strong as ever; no doubt he was still training inside the spaceship with that gravity machine her grandpa'd told her he was training with. She wondered if he'd heard her mother and Yamcha's fight…

Silence quickly fell. Corset listened out a little longer before her mother's footsteps were heard once more, this time walking out into the hallway and away from her room until she could no longer hear them. At last she could close her eyes and try to drift to sleep, providing her brain would shut up and stop making her worry about her mother...

Bulma was sat moping at the table when Corset finally found her. Almost as soon as she'd realised her daughter had walked in, Bulma hurriedly got to her feet and put on a smile, "Morning, honey."

"Morning," Corset greeted her mother, quickly glancing down at the floor. She looked awful, even with that fake and unconvincing smile. Without saying anything more Corset walked up to her mother and hugged her tightly. After a moment Bulma's hands gently laid themselves on Corset's head and she heard an audible sigh escape her mother's mouth.

"I've got some bad news," She started.

"Yamcha's a jerk," Corset interrupted, deliberately not making eye contact with her mother. A small moment of quiet passed before Bulma spoke again.

"... So you heard us?"

Corset nodded her head; she'd suddenly found herself coming close to tears and was determined not to let her mother see them. She'd spent much of last night worrying over her and hoping she'd be ok. She had to be strong for her mother's sake.

"Sorry about that," Bulma apologised. "It looks like your mama and Yamcha won't be seeing each other anymore..."

"... Are you sad?" Corset asked, face still hidden.

"... Yes and no..."

"What does that mean?"

"Well... mama's sad because she got hurt... but she's happy because now she's free and has all the family she needs."

Corset didn't really get it and she could tell her mother was sadder than she was letting on. If she said she was happy then that was something.

"Hey, haven't you got training today?" Bulma asked. "Come on - let's get you some breakfast..." She gently pushed her daughter back and got out of her seat to prepare herself and her daughter some food.

"... Corset?"

"Yeah, Mama?" Corset kept her eyes fixated on her mother's back as she wandered over to the cupboard.

"Don't call him a jerk," Bulma ordered.

It was an odd request, and one that filled Corset with annoyance since she felt it to be true; he'd obviously hurt her mother and Corset was very protective over her mother. Nevertheless she respected her mother's wishes. "Sorry."

The weeks passed by and Corset kept an eye on her mother; she seemed to be getting on alright and had the support of her parents. Yamcha hadn't dared return to the house and Corset was glad; if he did return he'd have her on his back! She wasn't sure what she'd do but she wanted to think she'd tell him off!

Training became tougher and tougher for the child but she was sure with each passing day she was growing stronger. It had been over a year now since the mysterious Super Saiyan from the future had come, just under two more years to go...

Around a month after Bulma and Yamcha broke up, Corset was walking around the grounds on one of her days off. She'd had to take time off of training due to an injury to her elbow; it was stiff and painful to move. As a result Goku'd suggested taking it easy and her mother had suggested not studying as she'd need to rest her arm. Corset wasn't complaining about the studying part!

Feeling a little restless being around the house and doing nothing, Corset had ended up spending the morning with her nana on a small trip to buy some cakes.

The sun was blocked out by a large grey sheet of cloud covering the entire skyline and it looked like it was about to rain. She needed to be quick otherwise she'd be caught out; she only wished her nana would walk faster!

"Come on Nana, it's gonna rain!" Corset called, holding several large boxes of cake in her arms.

"Don't worry dear, I have my umbrella," Mrs Brief cheerfully replied. "If it starts to rain we'll just walk under it!"

Corset frowned and faced ahead once more; she could see their house at the end of the street. It was difficult not to notice the large yellow building looming over the other buildings of the street.

Nothing prepared them for what happened next.

The ground suddenly shook violently as a deafening roar struck their ears. It was so unexpected it almost made Corset drop her cakes! Thankfully she didn't; instead the young girl watched in confusion and awe as the spaceship in their yard took off into space once again, quickly vanishing through the veil of grey. The ship had been stolen again?

"Oh my, I wonder who that was?" Mrs Brief mumbled. "I hope it wasn't Vegeta! What a shame..."

Corset knew it was Vegeta; she sensed his ki as it quickly increased the distance between them. He was gone again, she wondered for how long... Would he come back?

"I think we'd better hurry inside dear," Mrs Brief jogged Corset from her thoughts. "Let's get these cakes inside while it's still dry!"

As they walked down the main entrance path and inside the building, the receptionist's greeting was lost on the young girl. She was replaying that moment she'd seen the ship take off. Why so sudden? Why was her dad leaving the planet? She didn't understand what the motive behind it was and felt more saddened that now her chances of asking him to train her were completely gone. He was barely around the house yet Corset appreciated that. He kept her training because of how passionate he was about it. As the weeks had gone by and since he'd rejected her, Corset had wanted to train in the hopes that one day he would accept her as his pupil and his child.

Before she knew it she'd put the cakes down in the kitchen; the boxes had been nothing and she'd forgotten about her elbow! Leaving her grandmother to it, Corset entered the living room to find her mother and grandpa glancing out the window, talking about her father.

"... I wonder how much fuel there is left in the ship..." Dr Brief mumbled. "To be honest I can't remember the last time I topped her up!"

'Fuel? Corset gasped. There was a chance he had little fuel? How would he get back? Was he leaving the planet and planning not to come back? What about the androids? Would they have to face them without his help? Corset didn't like the idea of one of the stronger of the fighters on the planet not being on hand for when the danger came...

"Let the jerk go," Bulma grunted crossing her arms. "It'll save us having to fix the gravity machine or the training equipment only for him to break them again, not to mention the food bill he's been running up!"

A month passed since Vegeta's untimely departure up into space. There'd been no word from him. Training continued as normal, Corset continued to train with Gohan, Piccolo and Goku. Every-so-often she would instead head over to Kame House and insist on a sparring session with Krillin, wanting to fight with him as well as catch up with him to see how things were going.

Then one evening she returned home to find her mother had some news for her. It was big and very important news judging by the look on Bulma's face; she appeared slightly stressed and worried and a little pale.

The news was a big shock to her. For a while Corset did not blink as the information slowly sunk in, her jaw lowered slightly as she stared at her mother in disbelief.

"...I'm going to be a big sister?"

"Yes," Bulma nodded, slightly relieved to hear her daughter speak. She hadn't quite expected Corset to go quiet as she had and it had worried her all the more!

Bulma was indeed pregnant and had been for just over a month. She knew her daughter would have all sorts of questions for her. Hell, her parents had had many questions for her such as who the father was and how she was going to cope.

"Wow... I'm gonna be a sister!" Corset seemed more excited than anything. "Wow, I get a little..." She paused realising there was more information she needed. "... Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I'm not sure yet," Bulma answered, not about to add she'd spent most of the week knowing she was pregnant and not knowing when and how to let her daughter know! "Listen sweetie, I wanna surprise the guys when we all meet up again to see the androids, so don't let Goku, Gohan or anyone else know about this, ok?"

Corset nodded. She wasn't entirely sure if she could keep a secret as big as this; she was so excited and thrilled to find out she'd have a baby brother or sister coming, she wanted to tell someone!

"Don't you wanna know anything else?" Bulma asked.

"Oh..." Corset pondered. "... Can I tell Grandpa and Nana about it?"