Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Doubts ❯ A Call to Arms ( Chapter 3 )

Doubts: Chapter 3

Bulma spent the better part of an hour cheering up the overly distraught Bra. Through tears, hiccups and sniffles, she managed to make it clear to the girl that the woman's squabble with Vegeta had nothing to do whatsoever with the child. Bulma patiently summed up the situation for the girl, admonishing that her 'Daddy was just being difficult'. At first, Bra didn't even want her mother to emerge into her bedroom, but it wasn't too long before she collapsed into Bulma's lap, where she cried ceaselessly. As the tremors in the young child's shoulders failed to quake with their former ferocity, Bulma sighed and used her fingers to straighten and comb through the girl's blue strands.

"Are you going to be ok, sweetheart?"

Bra glanced up from the relative safety of Bulma's lap, her lower lip quivering as she used the back of her hand to wipe away a few last teardrops. "Yuh-yeah."

Bulma forced a small smile, pulling Bra upright so that her hands were on the upper portion of her daughter's forearms. "You need to get so sleep... it's really late."

Bra simply nodded mutely.

With a little coheresion from Bulma, Bra was soon tucked beneath the cover of her bedspread. The blue-haired scientist reached out, gently caressing the top of the demi-Saiyan's temple. Bra's eyes fluttered shut, exhaustion finally kicking in. With a waning smile, Bulma turned off the lights and took the opportunity to exit.

As she was closing the bedroom door behind her, she nearly blindsided a frustrated Vegeta in the process.

"Woman! Watch where you are going!" He barked.

"Shhh, you imbecile! I just got Bra to go to sleep!" Her voice came in a hissed whisper before she went on to say, "If you wake her up, I swear to Kami that you will be the one calming her down for the next hour or so, not me!"

The short Saiyan merely crossed his arms against his chest and grunted dismissively at the threat. It had been almost fifteen minutes ago that he had come up from the GR, only to pause near Bra's room at the sound of muffled cries from within. He had heard the last part of what Bulma told Bra, and nearly burst inside to make her take back the remarks she made about his fault in the matter. In truth, it wouldn't help matters at all, and this logic alone restrained him.

"You are impossible. I can't believe you made her cry."

The accusation hit him like a ton of bricks, and the tone of his voice was a gruff rasp as he replied, "Me? You were doing enough yowling for both of us, plus an entire alley full of mongrel cats!"

She scowled defiantly at the barb. "Well, if you didn't spend so much time in that dumb Gravity Room, I wouldn't have to! It's about time you shouldered a little bit more responsibility to your family these days. You were lax enough when it came to Trunks."

A contemptuous snort was the only reply she got at first, but he was quick to retaliate with his own complaint, "Now you are just being hypocritical. You spend hours in that lab of yours, and do you see me simpering over it? No."

The hair at the back of Bulma's neck stood on end. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was vaguely aware that they were arguing right in front of Bra's bedroom. So much for good planning. It didn't matter much to her at that particular moment, as all her rage was currently being lashed out at Vegeta. It blinded her to all else. Gritting her teeth, the woman leered at Vegeta as she lifted a hand to prod him none too gently in the middle of his chest. "I have responsibilities to my company and business life. My time in the lab has everything to do with that, and you know that. Without me, you wouldn't have anything. All you ever do is train and feed that bottomless pit of yours. You aren't good for anything else!"

Vegeta was taken aback for a split second, his eyes widening as surprise flickered briefly across his stony countenance. He was amazed at her audacity, even after all that time. "You dare..."

"Yeah, I do. You need to set your priorities straight. When you do, we'll talk." She didn't allow him the ability to get one more word out. With an abrupt about-face, Bulma stalked off to the bedroom they shared at the end of the hall, slamming it behind her. The walls seemed to shake for a brief eternity, before all lapsed into silence.

Vegeta frowned, muttering incoherently about baka women. Clenching and unclenching the tight fists he had since balled at his sides, he gave one last curse aloud and strode off towards the kitchen without a further word. His departure was like saying farewell to a maelstrom that had finished wreaking havoc for the time being.

Inside the dark enclosure of Bra's spacious bedroom, a small girl was curled up into a fetal position underneath her bed covers. She was shaking slightly, after having overheard the entire argument that had occurred right outside her door. Her acute hearing was both and blessing and a curse that she had undoubtedly inherited from Vegeta, but her emotions ran as deep as her mother's did. Even though they had started to bicker in hushed tones, their vocalizations eventually ran high in the end, adding to her six-year-old understanding of their troubles.

Bra straightened up, shivering slightly as she wiped at her sore eyes. She felt hollow inside, but at long last she began to feel the determination of both her father and mother, while what logic she did possess began to reason out a way to help her parents. She had heard each of their complaints to the other, and it was with a firm resolution that she decided to do something about it.

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Gohan and Videl's residence- The Next Day

Around 10:00 a.m., the phone began to ring with the obnoxious buzz that only that particular item possessed. Videl, Gohan and Pan were in the middle of eating breakfast when it happened. Pan was the first to reach the call, nearly leaping out of her chair in a rush to get to the receiver. "Hello?" She piped.

"Hey, Pan. Is your mom or dad home?" It was Bulma.

"Yeah, hold on." The seven-year-old became a bit disheartened that the call was not for her, but she got over it quickly as she rushed back to her cereal and handed the cordless off to the first parent she encountered. It happened to be Videl.

"Hello?" Uncertainty flowed across the phone line as Pan settled down into her chair and made a face at how soggy she believed her cereal had become. In the meantime, Gohan lowered his morning newspaper and sent a questioning look over to Pan. The tomboy spared him a glance, before silently mouthing the name 'Bulma'. The man nodded in return before redirecting a twin set of dark eyes on Videl, who appeared to be listening intently.

"Oh, Pan? Well, I'm sure she would love to! We were just about to head out of town tomorrow for a speech Gohan is going to give, and she would probably be bored to tears. This sounds much better."

Through a mouthful of soppy cereal, Pan glanced up suspiciously at her mother, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"I think it's a great idea, Bulma. It would cheer your daughter up and give Pan someone around her own age to be with for a week."

By now Pan was shaking her head furiously, arms outstretched and hands flailing wildly at the mention of keeping company with Bra. She looked like a desperate basketball player on the court, trying to get the attention of the player with the ball who was hopelessly oblivious to her presence.

Gohan noticed it, but wisely didn't say a word just yet. When Pan shot him a frantic look that begged for help across the table, he simply raised the paper in front of his face again. Going up against what Videl had decided was a good idea was like facing off with the determination of his mother. In that the two were unfortunately alike, and all throughout his growing years he had learned not to go against the wishes of a woman on a mission.

"Well, I guess that settles it, then." A light frown eclipsed Videl's visage as she witnessed her only child jumping up and down and making obvious signals for her mother to cease and desist at once. In all honesty, she believed it would be better for Pan to stay out of the educational function that she and Gohan were to attend in the coming week. It would be a boring affair for the kid, without anyone her own age out and about. In all likelihood, she would be the only child there. Videl had considered the possibility of leaving her with Goku and Chi-Chi, but they had had Trunks over for the past two days. Now Bulma had called of her own will, asking for Pan's presence over at Capsule Corp. It seemed like a fair trade.

Pan looked about ready to hit her head against the nearest wall as Videl sealed the deal.

"Alright, I'll drop her off tomorrow. We were going to head out early tomorrow morning, so this works out perfectly." A pause on her end, and then Videl nodded her goodbye. "Thanks, Bulma! See you later!" She hung up.

The first word out of Pan's mouth was the long drawl of a single vowel followed by a line of consonants. "Awwwww, Mom!"

"Don't look at me like that, Pan. You would of hated the seminar, anyways."

Gohan finally found the courage to peer over the edge of his periodical. He had battled many a foe, all very fearsome in many different ways, but none of that could measure up to Videl's scorn, should she choose to bestow it. He would happily skip that, if at all possible. "It's ok, Pan. You'll have fun." He smiled brightly, trying to get the perky facial expression across to his depressed daughter while still supporting his wife at the same time.

Pan's shoulders slumped, and she sagged down in her chair. She suddenly felt as if she couldn't finish the rest of her cereal, even with the legendary appetite of the Saiyan's flowing in her veins. "This is gonna be the pits." She ended that statement by folding her arms across the surface of the table in front of her, letting her head land squarely in the middle.

Over the bandanna that held back their child's medium crop of black hair, Gohan and Videl shared apprehensive looks. They knew of their daughter's hostility towards Bra, as the two were nearly exact opposites in personality. Pan liked to train and fight, while Bra... well, Bra liked to shop and play with dolls. Pan thought Bra was far too girlish for her own good, and Bra seemed to feel that Pan acted too much like a boy. The only difference was that Bra would openly try to dissuade Pan of her chosen lifestyle while the older Pan would sulkily sit through the torture each and every time they were forced to get together by their parents. If she was lucky, she might get in a degrading quip or two that temporarily eluded Bra's newfound goal to get Pan interested in the more feminine aspects of life. This tactic usually ended with Bra running to the nearest adult and proclaiming to the entire world in her highest voice that Pan was being rude. To anyone with half a brain, it was no small wonder that Bra's own twenty-year-old brother stayed away from home on summer break for days at a time. It was going to be one long week.

-AN: Chapter 4 coming soon. R&R, please!