Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ One simple decision can change everything ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Heya fellow DBZ lovers,

What I have for you today is a story that came from a single idea I had one day when I was watching re-run's of Dragonball. What if Bulma always had a thing for Goku? And what, more prominently, if she choose to pursue it? My personal thought is that it would change just about everything and not necessarily for the better.

Soooo here's that thought magical brought to life by a word processor and my imagination. Please note that this is intended as a Vegeta/Bulma coupling. The only difference is how it comes about.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own it but if I did Vegeta would be the main character and the rating would be s high it'd probably be illegal to watch in most countries.

One simple decision can change everything

By Ariel (a.k.a. StrawberryKisses)

Prologue

Bulma watched in horror as the disgusting scene before her unravelled, her sky blue eyes wide in shock and glimmering with unshed tears. Chi Chi, a not-so-fond memory from many years ago, had shown up out of the blue to partake in a heated battle with Goku. Without consciously acknowledging it, Bulma realised the outcome would change the course of all their lives... forever. The battle had begun.

With each punch thrown, each kick dodged Bulma felt a little part of herself crack, break and fall apart, forever to be left shattered and broken in the lost regions of her soul. Her heart throbbed. Her eyes stung. Something was happening. Something important. Something crucial... But what? Dear Kami, what?

She felt like a woman looking for a tiny precious jewel in the sand. Becoming more and more frustrated, more and more distressed, as each grain slipped swiftly through her fingers. Never gaining the upper hand. Always two steps away from capturing that stray jewel, that stray thought, that stray knowledge. The one thing that, at that moment, seemed the most important thing in the world. She had never felt this way before and suddenly she was scared, more scared than she'd ever been. What was it she was missing? What?

The battle's end was swift and unforgiving. The inevitable conclusion leaving Goku victorious and Chi Chi sore and a loser. In Chi Chi's haste she revealed her angered tale of long ago to the unsuspecting audience. Bulma sat shocked, listening deftly as the rash, somewhat pathetic story unfolded to the rapt audience. Fans and followers, it's now story time!

Apparently, during one of the Z-gang's many childhood adventures, Goku had made a innocent pledge to take Chi Chi's hand in marriage when they were both fully grown, not knowing what the word marriage meant, not knowing what the banshee now standing before him was really like, not knowing much of anything, really. However Chi Chi had taken this promise to heart, almost obsessively so, and that was her reason for being here: to cash in. From the vicious, ice-cold determination glaring in her eyes, to the fact that she was willing to undertake a battle where she was so obviously disadvantaged, it become apparent that this was no joke. Somewhere, some time long ago, Chi Chi had made the decision that this man would be heir's. Even now, years later, nothing was going to change her mind.

Bulma scoffed in righteous indignation at the false promise long forgotten by all but Chi Chi. Words that, even now, meant nothing. Just what right did this obnoxious woman think she had?

Chi Chi's black eyes flashed in anger, a scowl clearly present on her plain features as she clung triumphantly to a very indifferent looking Goku. So far as she was concerned this agreement was a done deal. She once again insisted, in her haughty, arrogant tone, that he "marry her at once". However blank the promise may originally have been it had know come back to haunt him.

Bulma grasped dearly to the hand rail when she heard the soft, innocent response of the man who now stood in the centre of this controversy. One small, irritating, heart-breaking word: "Sure."

Her knees felt like jelly and she bit into her tongue, hard, to keep herself from fainting. She closed her eyes in an attempt to gather what was left of her fractured nerves. Like knifes plunged viciously into her soul, she listened to the couple's conversation unfold. The fact that he was and always had been naive, coupled with his tendency to think with his stomach rather than his brain, had left Goku thinking that marriage was some kind of food. Not only was he about to make the biggest mistake of his life, he didn't even have a clue what he was agreeing to.

Bulma ground her teeth, hearing Chi Chi's soft concurrence as she made the conscious decision to deceive.

"Yes, that's right," she muttered, the words slipping smoothly from her lips. Then softly, under her breath. "Whatever works."

Bulma grimaced in disgust, grasping to her anger like a life preserver as the other emotions were silenced and pushed ruthlessly into the background. Her mind was unable to process the idea that a woman could be so pathetic that she would actually try to trick such an honourable man into a union that was permanent and irreversible: a union supposed to be forged through love. The idea simple did not compute. That her friend would be forever tied to such a person... A shiver of disgust ran down her spine. She just couldn't stomach it and she sure as hell wasn't going to let it happen without giving the bitch a piece of her mind.

But aren't you making a large deal for someone's who's just a friend? Sure she's tricking him. But she can cook, she can clean... She's everything Goku need in a wife. Everything he wants. So, why do you care? A rebellious thought whispered maliciously in the deep recesses of her mind. She ignored it. She had more important things to deal with right now and going over unknown feelings and emotions hardly seemed appropriate. Bulma would not let this happen. It was time for action. It was time to fight.

With one simple decision, one tiny twist, a small, blue-haired woman changed fate.

Bulma stood, making her stealthy way to the stadium floor to where the not-so-happy couple stood, her long blue hair fanning behind her.

Unwanted thoughts continued to nip at the edge of her mind but a more reasonable side quickly dealt with them. She was just looking after her friend's best interests, that was all. Chi Chi had lied. Chi Chi had deceived. So what if she could cook and clean. So what? Goku was the most noble man in the world, perhaps in the universe. He didn't deserve that. He was the best fighter, best friend... best person she had ever met. Besides, it didn't sit well with her that he didn't even realise what the hell he was getting himself into. It just wasn't right and it certainly wasn't fair. For someone who has saved the known world countless times to be punished so harshly... It just wasn't right. Goku deserved better. Someone and something more like-

She had reached the odd couple. All reasonable thought left her only to be replaced by a deep-seated rage that overtook her very being. Chi Chi, who must had had some idea of what the other woman wanted, clung furiously to Goku's arm and scowled. Bulma ignored her completely.

“Goku,” she all-but-screamed, immediately shifting his attention from his angry `fiancée' to his even angrier best friend. “Don't you dare listen to her! She's tricking you, idiot. You can't marry her… For god's sake Goku you don't even know what marriage is!”

Goku grinned down at his blue-haired buddy, innocence shinning from his eyes. He had thought marriage was some kind of foreign delicacy. Apparently he had been wrong. But he wasn't worried, it would hardly be the first time that had happened. He meant to ask Bulma what he had just agreed to but, before even a syllable could escape his barely parted lips, Chi Chi's irritating voice cut in.

“Mind your own damn business,” she screeched. “Goku made a warriors promise that he would marry me and, as a noble and fair man, it is now his duty to honour that. Now leave us alone you ugly, blue-haired idiot!”

Bulma seethed. How dare she. HOW. FUCKING. DARE. SHE!

“He was just a boy,” she ground out, trying and failing to keep her depthless anger in check. “An innocent and naïve child. Are you really that wretched that you're going to make a man keep a promise he made as a boy? One that he doesn't understand even now. Are you really that pathetic?”

“It doesn't matter,” the younger woman screeched. “Nothing matters apart from the fact that he has agreed and we are getting married NOW!”

Chi Chi grabbed Goku's outstretched hand, triumphantly pulling him towards the makeshift alter she had had prepared. A spade was a spade, as far as she was concerned, and she would be getting married. Nothing and no-one was going to get in her way.

Bulma could hardly believe what was happening. She didn't know what to think, what to feel. Suddenly, desperately, she was finding it hard to breath. Something, that one crucial thing that had seemed so very far out of reach, had just clicked. Like a dusty jigsaw puzzle that had been forever left incomplete that one, final piece had finally been put into place. All at once everything made perfect sense. She felt complete. She felt more there than she had ever been... But mostly, she just felt scared.

“Wait… Goku, please wait."

She was grasping at straws, she knew that. But she didn't care. She would do anything, try anything, for that one final chance just to touch hold and forever be with that man... her man. She wanted so desperately to confide in him all the emotions she had only just acknowledged, all the thoughts and feelings she had kept secret. She wanted to embrace them, let them envelope her in a blanket of comfort and warmth. She wanted to let go, of all the pain, all the hate, all the regret, and just be with him. The man who had always stood by her. The man who had always protected her. The man that she loved.

The thought of losing him tore at her heart and crystal tears began their gentle descent down her pale, flawless features. Each heartfelt drop carrying with it a piece of her dying soul. She had lost him forever... But somewhere, not with his ears but with a more fundamental, primal sense, Goku felt her pain. He heard her call. He went to her.

“Bulma,” he muttered, inches away from her prone form. He raised his hand, delicately wiping the tears from her eyes. His other hand encased her own. Chi Chi stood metres away, spluttering in anger and contempt. Goku didn't see her. Neither did Bulma. They were somewhere else entirely. Alone together. In another galaxy far, far away.

Bulma's deep blue gaze met Goku's calm onyx one and they stared at each other, into each other, for moments which could easily have been an eternity. It had finally all fallen into place. Bright and brilliant realisation. How could she never have noticed something that now seemed so damn obvious? Bulma couldn't help but sigh, sure that someone so pure, so honourable, so great could never feel that same way.

“You can't marry her Goku,” she said, falling into his arms and resting her head on his shoulders as tears continued to fall. She couldn't look at his face, couldn't see the rejection she was sure to find there.

“Because I think," she whispered, repressing the shudders that racked her body. "I think that I'm... that I'm... in love with you... In fact I know it."

Goku lifted her chin up, willing her to look at him, willing her to really see him. He was smiling. Beaming in fact. Bulma was so shocked she barely recognised it for what it was. Because right now, right at this very moment when Bulma had just confessed her love for him, Goku was more happy than she had ever seen him.

“Well, why didn't you tell me before?” he muttered bluntly, raising his strong hand and gently caressing her anxious features. “Because I love you too, Bulma. I always have."

Bulma laughed brightly, silenced as Goku met her her lips in a tender yet furiously passionate embrace.

Next time on DragonBall Z: Time has passed and things, big things, have changed. But one thing stays the same: the Sayains are coming! Will the altered Goku have the strength to beat them? Will all the Z-gang still be friends? Will only Radditz show up? Tune in next time to find out!