The Saiya-jin War

Chapter 2: Ties of Friendship

Bulma automatically reached up and brushed a stray tendril of hair that had stubbornly found its way over her eyes. She was tempted to close her eyes and simply revel in the feel of the wind against her skin, but wasn't foolish enough to risk the chance of a crash. Even out here, over the expanse of water with no land currently in sight, there was a chance of hitting something... or even someone. She was too used to people that could fly at speeds that could rival or even exceed that of her air-car, and she knew that if she hit one of them, it would probably be her that was hurt, not the person she it.

Bulma was trying to let the feel of the wind and sun on her skin, and the sound of the ocean below her, calm and soothe her. It wasn't always easy; she was so angry with Yamcha that it was difficult to keep her anger under control. She couldn't believe that he'd done it to her again! It was their anniversary, and of course he'd forgotten. She was convinced that he was tired of her, maybe he was even seeing someone else. She tried hard not to think about that.

Bulma fought back her tears, blinking them back and letting the wind dry them from her eyes. She wasn't going to let anyone know how upset she was. She'd never let them see her crying in the past - well, not often at least - and she wasn't going to start now. She'd let them think she was annoyed - angry maybe - but she wasn't going to let anyone see how hurt she was.

By the time she could see the tiny island where Muten Roshi had moved back to after he'd finished Kuririn's and Goku's early training, she'd gotten hersel completely under control again, and had even managed to relax herself to some semblance of normality. She knew that most of her friends weren't perceptive enough to see past the outer facade that she exhibited, so they were unlikely to notice that she was upset about anything. She didn't realize that they were also generally too intimidated by her to ask whenever they thought she was upset about something, as well.

When Bulma finally reached the tiny pink house, she leapt from the vehicle and encapsulated it quickly. "Hey old man!" she shouted without ceremony, bursting into the house without even knocking. She wasn't surprised to see the hermit crouched in front of his television, the large purple turtle-shell almost obscuring her view of the set. She could still make out what he was watching, and even if she couldn't see it, the sounds would have told her.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Lift those legs! Stretch! Stretch!"

Bulma rolled her eyes, then walked closer to the old hentai. Roshi was sitting in front of the television, drooling slightly out of the corner of his mouth, staring avidly a number of shapely spandex-clad women in leotards and leg-warmers doing aerobics and otherwise contorting their bodies into what Bulma considered unlikely positions on the screen. He seemed oblivious to the way Bulma leaned closer to him, as she opened her mouth and shouted as loudly as possible.

"HEY OLD MAN!" she yelled directly into his ear, causing his eyes to bug out past his sunglasses and his other ear to go extra large in typical anime fashion.

The old man fell over onto his turtle shell, his arms and legs sticking out stiffly in surprise, a look of shock and horror on his features. When he finally managed to right himself he glared at her in annoyance.

"Why did you have to do something like that?" he shouted at her. "I was just watching my...."

"I know what you were watching!" Bulma snapped at him irritably. "I also know you would have been staring at that television screen for the next hour! I've come here with what you wanted me to bring, and I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to notice that I'm here!"

Roshi's irritation vanished abruptly. He still looked annoyed to have his favorite television show interrupted, but at least he looked suitably ingratiating. "You brought them for me? My favorite cookies?" He looked hungrily at the plate in her hand.

Bulma tossed her head, gratified by his response but wasn't going to admit it. "Of course. You called and asked for them, and besides, I wanted to see how everyone was doing." She wouldn't admit it, but she was curious to hear news about Yamcha. She hadn't heard from him since their last break-up a month ago, and she was hoping that one of his friends would have heard from him. Almost masochistically she wanted to know if he was already seeing someone else, or if he missed her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to gloat if he was, or if she was hoping to get back with him, or... she really didn't know at all. But the last thing she was going to do was admit to any of that.

"So... how are Kuririn... and the others?" she asked, trying to sound casual. "I don't suppose you've heard from any of them lately?"

Just then she heard some sounds from the kitchen, and without waiting for the old man's response, put the plate down on the coffee table and headed towards the kitchen. "You have someone over? Who...?"

She answered her own question when she walked into the kitchen and saw her old friend Goku looking into the refrigerator, a small dark-haired boy clutching nervously at his leg. "Goku! I haven't seen you in years! And who is this?" She knelt down and looked at the little boy, who looked back at her shyly. "And who are you? Goku, is he yours and Chi-Chi's? What's his name, Goku?"

Gohan peeped around his father's leg cautiously, tiny fists still maintaining their tight grip on Goku's pants. "Um .. my name's Gohan!" he introduced himself shyly, slowly loosening his hold on his father to step a little more into the open.

"Gohan, huh?" Bulma smiled at the little boy. There was something about the shy boy's innocent smile that touched at her heart. Goku had been innocent as a child as well, but this child had a sweetness that even Goku hadn't had. She was reaching for him to touch his cheek when the brown furry tail reaching from behind Goku's leg made her freeze in surprise.

"A... tail...?" she managed to squeak out, looking suddenly afraid.

Goku gave a clear, bright laugh. "Yeah! Isn't it strange? He has a tail just like I did! Chi-Chi keeps cutting it off so he can be more 'normal', but it keeps growing back! Just like mine did!"

Bulma seemed to shiver at the thought. "Goku..." she said with a quiver in her voice, "you've never seen him do anything... strange, have you?"

"Strange?" Goku's laughter ended and he blinked at her in confusion. "What do you mean by 'strange'?"

"Well... I mean... like has he ever... changed? Like when he sees the moon?"

Goku blinked again, his face still a blank mask of confusion. "No... but then, we go to bed pretty early at home. I don't know if he's ever even *seen* the moon!"

Bulma shivered, still staring at the boy. "Goku.... maybe you should...." She wasn't sure how she could explain to Goku that he should remove his son's tail. If, as he said, it kept growing back as his used to, she wasn't sure how useful that would be. ::Maybe I can invent glasses or a hat or something that he can wear to keep him from seeing the moon. Maybe there's a specific wavelength that causes this. If there is, I should be able to come up with something. I *am* a genius, after all!::

Bulma gave a weak smile of reassurance at the boy, realizing that he'd grown nervous when she'd seemed to become frightened. She hadn't wanted to scare the boy; he was so timid and uncertain, so unlike Goku's own personality as a child.

"So, Gohan," she said, trying to make her voice brighter and firmer. "Has your daddy been teaching you how to fight? I suppose you know lots of fighting techniques."

Gohan sent a sidelong glance up at his father with the question, and Goku grimaced good-naturedly himself, evidence enough that it was a point of conflict within their household. "Chi-Chi doesn't want Gohan learning to fight," Goku explained with an off-handed shrug. "She thinks his future lies in education instead. I don't know, I guess she knows best, and he sure is smart enough. I never did have a handle on all those numbers." He grinned. Gohan took another small step away from his father, obviously in an attempt to gather a semblance of courage. He managed a smile at his father's friend, albeit shyly, and said, "Mom says I'm going to be a scholar! She wants me to study instead of fighting, which is okay, but maybe Dad could teach me to fly, because that would be cool!" His courage spent in a rush, Gohan ducked behind his father's leg again, to Goku's cheerful laughter. Reaching down a hand to rest on the boy's hat, he winked at Bulma and explained, "He doesn't get away from home much - isn't used to talking to strangers. Don't worry, he'll get over it after a bit. He certainly isn't shy at home! But how've ya been, Bulma? Gohan isn't the only one that doesn't get away much."

"A scholar?" Bulma blinked in surprise, looking up at Goku from where she was kneeling in front of the boy. Somehow the words 'scholar' and 'Goku' didn't belong in the same sentence. But when she looked back into the little boy's eyes which were at eye-level to her own, she could see much more intelligence than she'd ever seen in Goku's. Well... Goku had always had intelligence, but... there was something so naive about him, something so carefree, it was as though he was simply incapable of learning. Maybe Gohan could be a scholar, if the intelligence that Bulma could see in his eyes spoke the truth.

Bulma was confused by Goku's words. She didn't want Gohan learning how to fight? That made no sense at all to Bulma. "Why doesn't she want him to learn how to fight?" she asked her friend curiously, looking back up at him.

Goku shrugged. "She says it's a waste of time. She says that fighters are lazy and don't do anything, and she doesn't want him like that. She says if he's a scholar, he'll do something with his life."  Then he smiled at her.  "So," he said, oblivious of the impact his next two words might have, "How's everyone?"

Bulma noticed a lot of 'she says' in what he was saying. ::Chi-Chi must really control him!:: She was also puzzled by that attitude. It wasn't as though Chi-Chi hadn't known that Goku was a fighter when she had married him. In fact, she had known from the moment she had met Goku that he was a warrior. Her obsession with him had begun then, when the two of them were only children. Bulma frowned thoughtfully. And it wasn't as though Chi-Chi wasn't a warrior herself. She had, after all, been one of the semi-finalists at the 23rd Tenka Ichi Budokai. She had been a warrior. Her father had been a warrior. Goku had been a warrior - still was, as far as Bulma was concerned. So what was her beef against warriors? If she disliked them so much, why marry one?

Then Goku asked his question about how everyone else was, and Bulma couldn't help flushing in embarrassment. She covered up her pain and humiliation by forcing herself to become angry, as she often did. It was rare for anyone to know how hurt she would become when Yamcha or anyone else ignored her, so she hid it from others - and herself - by using her anger as a shield.

"I have no idea!" she snarled at Goku. "Those clods think they're *so* much better than me that I haven't seen them in months! Yamcha didn't even send me a card or flowers or anything, and our anniversary was yesterday! I swear, that man breaks up with me always right before my birthday or our anniversary or holidays, just so he doesn't have to spend them with me! If he hates me so much...."

Her jaw snapped shut before she could say more, as she realized that she had given away too much of what was really bothering her just then. Before he could question her - or before she could inadvertently blurt out more of the truth - Bulma stood up and gently pushed Goku away from the refrigerator as she peered in side of it herself.

"Why don't I make you two something to eat?" she asked them in an attempt at an apology, her tone still somewhat belligerent from embarrassment. "Just like when we were kids, Goku. Except that I'm not going to let you bring in a dead wolf and a centipede."

She glanced back over her shoulder at her friend, a tiny mischievous smile playing about the corner of her lips. Her ever mercurial moods allowed her to switch from angry to apparently cheerful in a matter of moments, something that had always confused Goku. He wasn't bright enough to realize that she was still hiding the pain, and that her way of coping was simply to pretend that it didn't exist.

Bulma's brief outburst sent Gohan back to hiding his face in the scarlet material of Goku's pant leg again, one onyx eye peeking out only at the mention of food. In some regards, he really was like his father. Shyly he abandoned the protection of Goku to slip beneath Bulma's arm and stand on tip-toes to peer wide-eyed into the refrigerator. "I'll help!" he volunteered brightly, conflicting with his reserved demeanor of before with the enthusiastic 180 degree turn that only children seemed to manage. "That looks good," he suggested with a nod, extending one pudgy finger to indicate the article of food in question. "And that .. and that ... oh, maybe that too ..." Goku's amused chuckle only made the boy smile as he glanced shyly up at Bulma's face.

Bulma laughed softly as she watched Gohan point to things, and then she started pulling them out as he indicated what he wanted. After they'd amassed quite a sum of food on the table - both processed and unprocessed - she put her hands on her hips and contemplated all of it with a small smile.

"Well, let's see what we can make of all this, shall we?" she commented to the little boy, then started sorting the items by type. "I think with the flour, chocolate, sugar, and these things, we can make ourselves some cookies, couldn't we? And maybe even a cake, if there's enough. And with this meat, these ingredients," she pulled aside some vegetables, spices and sauce mixes that he'd put on the table, "I can make us a meal. Possibly a large enough meal to satisfy even *your* father!" She smiled at Goku, who smiled back at her with an eager innocence mirrored by his son's.

"So, you want to help me?" she asked the little boy, her eyes sparkling, even as she started to pour flour, water, sugar, milk, and a few other things into a bowl. "Then you can start by mixing the cookie dough!" she told him, as she handed him the mixing bowl, along with a whisk. "Let me know when it's completely mixed, and then we'll add the chocolate, and make cookies!"

Gohan's eyes had grown wider with each addition to Bulma's list of prospective treats, and by the time she had handed him the bowl he was positively beaming. For that matter, Goku was looking more than a little excited at the prospect of all that food himself -- there really wasn't any better way to befriend a male in the Son family then through food, it seemed. Gohan took to the task of mixing the dough with cheerful enthusiasm, stirring so quickly that he succeeded in splattering a little of the dough on the tip of his nose and on his right cheek. Goku laughed as his son stuck out his tongue to lick of the splatter on his face, smiling at the taste of the treat before returning diligently to his task. After a few minutes, he turned towards Bulma with the bowl cradled carefully in the crook of his arm. "I think it's done!" he announced with a smile. "Did you find the chocolate yet?"

"Hmm...?" Bulma glanced at Gohan, and laughed at the sight he made. "Of course, Gohan. Here you go!" She poured the chocolate chips into the bowl, and allowed him to mix it. While he was doing that, she continued to move around the kitchen, mixing and stirring other things as well. She normally hated cooking, considering it a waste of her time, but she *had* learned how. Her mother had insisted that it was necessary for her to learn, after all, and even though she thought it a waste of time learning since she could always hire cooks or build robots to do the work for her, she had done it to get her mother to stop nagging her. And occasionally there were times like this when cooking could even be fun, like right now, when she was having fun with her friends. It didn't stop her from cheating a little, however, as she decapsulated two robots to do most of what she considered the tedious bits - chopping, cutting, stirring, etc.

She caught Goku sneaking a finger into the cookie dough that Gohan was mixing, and she smacked his hand with her spoon. He gave a cry of pain, even though she knew it hadn't really hurt him, but had only startled him, and he looked at her like a little puppy that she had just kicked. With a laugh she relented, handing him a whisk with some chocolate clinging to it, and making him move to a corner to eat it and get out of her way. Then with an efficiency that Goku had rarely seen her display - but which she had developed in the past few years while learning to run her father's company - she moved around the kitchen, cooking more things than Goku realized she knew how to make.

Yes, this chapter is BORING! That's why we need new players, because we can't do much with just Bulma & Gohan! *looks irritated*