A new chapter. Sorry the schedule's been slower lately, I don't have an excuse lol

Some1call4MR-E (Guest): It was, indeed a very necessary development.
Also, most of the lack of knowledge from this point on is her have never seen Super, at all. I based her knowledge on what I remembered before my rewatch and I'd never watched Super at that point

Qinlongfei: Lol. My thought process was literally just that they'd be easier with the tail but that's funny too
Writing the conversation between Krillin and SIGohan is interesting because both of them are pretty conflict-avoidant so there would naturally be some topics that wouldn't really be brought up.
And huh, that's a neat headcanon for someone to have. I could certainly understand the thought process behind Blue being not a real god form since Vegeta got it without the ceremony, but that unfortunately doesn't work because Vegeta does use the base God form in, I believe, the Broly movie
I think Ultra Instinct is neat, Ultra Ego is ok but clearly only exists because they needed a Vegeta equivalent. If anything, Super's assistance that Vegeta be consistently close in power to Goku seems to miss the point of the series more so than the new forms (honestly Blue is the most unnecessary transformation to me. At the very least they should have waited an arc or two before introducing it)

Donald Duck (Guest): Glad to see you've caught up! ^.^ And it's super neat to know it's the first fic you've read

Seventeen

Seventeen stirred awake to the sound of soft whines. He glanced over to see Gohan hadn't woken.

Well, that was one fortunate outcome. Kuriza only really cried if he got really upset. If he woke in the middle of the night he usually wasn't loud enough to wake her.

He got up carefully so he wouldn't disturb her. If she woke she'd insist on helping, and probably be too tired, both in the moment and then again in the morning. He didn't need nearly as much sleep, it was simply more logical.

All he ended up needing was attention anyway. Soon enough he was asleep again and he was able to place him back in the crib- which became increasingly more useless as Kuriza began to float around.

Maybe they should get bars to go over the top too. He'll bring that up in the morning. If they do get the crib a top then they'll have to get a fairly sturdy clasp for it. Infant or not Kuriza was already stronger than most humans. That could be worked around. With all the Saiyan-safe materials going around while raising those gremlins he's sure they'd have something.

What a double-edged sword that is. Kuriza being pretty strong already was the reason he bought into it being safe enough for him to stay here after all. It was, frankly, an ideal scenario. They get a child and wouldn't have to worry about raising him off the island. He supposed it was fair that it'd cause its own issues as well.

Incidentally, he wasn't quite as careful getting back into bed. Gohan stirred as he pulled up the blanket.

"Hm?" It was barely a noise as Gohan hardly blinked and opened her eyes.

"Kuriza," he answered.

"Oh…wake me next time…" she said even as she snuggled into his shoulder, sleep clouding her voice.

"Sure," he lied.

…

I looked over at Kuriza in his lil high chair as Seventeen brought up his idea of getting the crib a lid as he made breakfast.

"I dunno…what if being trapped stresses him out too much?"

"That's the point of a crib. To trap them so they can't wander off and get hurt. It's safer."

"I guess…"

"It's not like one of us won't always be close enough to deal with it if he gets upset."

Kuriza sat chewing on a toy and kicking his legs, unaware of any of the conversation.

I got up to grab a little jar of baby food. It's hard to say what exactly he needed nutrients-wise. Raditz collected some information- which I can't read at all and he's slow at translating it. He insisted that we blow up the ship almost immediately after finding him, saying that if the rest of Frieza's crew thought he was still on board they might stage a "rescue" mission.

His stated best-case scenario was that they assumed we didn't check out the ship and just blew it up first thing and that we'd killed Kuriza without ever knowing he existed.

Morbid, but that would be the ideal thing for them to think.

But anyway, until we knew if there was anything specific he needed, regular baby food would have to suffice. He'd already not been pleased with formula, but he'll eat the mush at least. So, I fed him the jar of pea mush that kinda icked me if I thought about it too long. Luckily, it was not mine to eat.

I finished scooping the vaguely green mush into his lil mouth just as Seventeen placed our plates on the table.

…

Mr. Satan stared at me for a moment as I walked in.

"You uh- you babysitting or something?"

"Huh, oh no. We found him on Frieza's ship. It was kinda decided that since I technically found him, he's mine to care for."

Mr Satan stared at me for a second. He then started backing behind his desk. He grabbed something just out of sight.

"What's that?"

He didn't answer, but was instead writing something. Taking a few steps it was quickly clear what it was. A checkbook.

"No."

He had already ripped off the paper.

"It's uh-" he stuttered over filler noises as he looked for the phrase, "maternity pay."

"I didn't give birth."

"That's not what maternity pay's for-" a much quieter muttering of "is it?" -"it's for caring for the child." He pushed the check over the desk.

"I don't need it." I pushed it back.

"I insist!" He pushed it towards me again. I never really properly bothered to figure out how Zeni translated to dollars that I'd recognize, but the number of zeros on that check was excessive no matter the currency.

I pushed the check back over. I kinda felt bad for rejecting it every time he tried to give me a "bonus" but I knew he just liked giving me money. At a certain point, it felt like I was taking advantage of him.

"Can we just talk about why I'm actually here?" It was one of the days where we discussed what the official stories were we're gonna use were.

Mr Satan cleared his throat. "Right, right of course. About the alien that destroyed North City- I assume that's this Frieza?"

"Yeah, that's him. And sorry, but I gotta say no you can't claim to be the one who beat him. We could do that with Beerus cause he just doesn't care. But Frieza would, and he still has soldiers roaming around."

"But you guys won right? He's dead?"

"Well, yeah, but he's been dead before and clearly that didn't stick. Even if he does stay dead last thing we need is some rouge Frieza Force member to come and try to take revenge."

"Right right. Don't want that." He paused to think over a new cover story. "Alright, how about this? I was too far away to react immediately, but my star student- that's you- happened to be in the area and took out the threat instead. And uh- you can still stay anonymous if you'd prefer. I could just claim privacy or something for you."

I shrugged. "Works for me. I'm not opposed to being named entirely, but I would prefer to stay out of a direct spotlight… I guess it wouldn't get to your level of attention but still."

"Right, you wouldn't have to worry about that. I doubt you'd get any media attention when you're not with me."

I hummed, letting Kuriza hold onto my finger. "That should be fine. It's not like I live in any of the cities where I even could be recognized."

"And if anyone ever bothers you, you just tell me! I'll be sure to set them straight!" He announced with his usual boisterous tone.

I blinked dully. "Dude. It's fine. I can deal with it myself if I need to."

Mr Satan deflated some. He lightened when Kuriza started babbling. He managed to catch Kuriza's attention and made funny faces at him. Kuriza's face scrunched up in confusion.

Still, Mr Satan smiled. He stuck a hand out across the desk, extending a finger towards him. Kuriza grabbed it and started shaking it around. Whether Mr Satan was letting him or he was genuinely strong enough to pull his arm around I couldn't say. Kuriza was stronger than most humans, but technically so was Mr Satan.

"Guess an alien baby isn't that different from a normal one. But, if you're so worried about me being in danger by associating with that Fri-za guy, what about this little guy?"

"Freeza. Also, yeah that could be a concern. Everyone's already agreed that he can't really be left alone ever until he's way older. But odds are, Frieza's goons probably think we blew up the ship without ever finding him."

Mr Satan balked before quickly covering it. "That, uh, that makes some sense, I guess. But while I completely agree that those guys are bad influences, what with the city destroying, doesn't that border on kidnapping…?"

I shrugged. "Destroying planets and committing genocide I think is a justified reason to deem him and any associated too dangerous to raise a child. Besides there's no reason to ruin this little guy's chances of being a productive member of the universe just because of who he was born." I bounced Kuriza on my knee as he was blissfully unaware of the entire conversation.

The conversation drifted to the mundane, occasionally refocusing on the thing he actually paid me for.

I couldn't tell you how, but by the time I got home that dumb check ended up in my bag. I never once saw him even approach it.

…

I crouched down looking through the bars of the crib. Kuriza was fast asleep, completely content in his little cage. Before I'd look over the top, but the lid had been affixed. I don't even know how Seventeen got that made so quickly, let alone installed.

I fiddled with the hinges and the latch. Kuriza wouldn't be able to budge either with how strong he was. That'd make the wood the weakest link, but Kuriza wasn't really prone to breaking things either. That could change if he got frustrated though.

"He's fine," Seventeen interrupted my train of thought. I looked up to see him leaning against the door frame.

"What if he wakes up and gets scared or stressed?"

"Then one of us will get up and comfort him until he goes back to sleep."

I looked back down at Kuriza. He was so small and squishy. I never once considered the idea of raising an infant. That was never something I had an interest in.

"What if, I'm not good at this?" What if I got distracted, or forgot, or got too tired and that made me forget something?

"What if you aren't? You think you could possibly be worse than Frieza or his men?"

I frowned. "That shouldn't be the standard."

"No, but that would be the alternative. Besides, even ignoring that you're fine, it's not like you're alone here. I'm here to help too."

"I'm the one who brought him here. It's not fair that you have to go out of your way." He was standing behind me now. I stood with his prompting.

"If it bothered me, I'd say something. As far as I'm concerned it's not different from adopting any other child, with less prep time of course."

He brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "Come on, it's late."

I went to check the locks and went to bed. A bit silly, this was the only building that anyone could live in on the island. The island was filled with animals and borderline monsters that were dangerous for most people to even approach.

I found myself uncertain if I'd actually checked the locks or not after a few minutes in bed.

"Yes, you already checked the locks."

Ah. Guess I wasn't being all that subtle.

"I know…"

Seventeen rolled on his side to face me. "Let's say someone did manage to come to the island, and did somehow find this house, and got past all the animals in between in the middle of the night and broke in. How do you think that'd turn out for them?"

It was pretty silly when actually laid out. Well, I already knew it was pretty dumb but still.

"Probably not well," I answered.

…

"…you still want to check the locks again, don't you?"

"…maybe…"

He sighed and got up with an easy smile. I started to say he didn't need to get up but he waved it off.

Instead, I just accepted his outstretched hand.