Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Second Chance ❯ Changes ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

~Goku~

I woke up before Ellery the next morning, but she looked so peaceful with her head laying on my chest. I didn’t really want to move her, especially since I was so comfortable and her weight was a pleasurable one. It just made me feel close to someone again, and it had been a while. In the two months since Chi had passed, I was extremely lonely, even if I didn’t want to admit it.

I softly shifted Ellery off of my chest and slid myself out from under her. I got up and got changed into my usual gi and went outside. I could sense that Vegeta, Bulma, and Trunks were all outside already. All of their power levels were heightened, so it worried me a bit. Going out to the lawn, I noticed that Vegeta was training Bulma. I should have guessed that he would be. After all, he couldn’t have his mate being a weak Saiyan.

He was just going through basic martial arts for now, because even Vegeta knew that you had to start slow at first. I’d never seen Bulma excited about being physically active before, but she seemed to have an amused glimmer across her face. I was guessing that it was the Saiyan part of her.

I didn’t see Trunks, but the gravity chamber was running, so he was probably training inside of it.

Bulma and Vegeta both turned to me as I walked across the lawn. “Good morning, guys!” I said excitedly.

“It’s about time you woke up, Kakarot. I’ve been out here with the woman for over two hours.” Vegeta scoffed at me. He had his arms crossed over his chest like usual and continued to scowl at me.

“That’s strange. I usually don’t sleep this long.” I said, scratching my cheek with my forefinger in confusion.

Bulma whistled lowly. “Long night, Goku?” She wagged her aqua eyebrows at me.

What does she mean? Why would I have had a long night? I didn’t have anything to do, and I didn’t train.

OH.

She wants to know if Ellery and I slept together, but not like just in the same bed. She wants to know if we had sex.

“What?” I shouted, almost laughing. “No! I stayed in there with her to help with her nightmares is all.” I explained.

Vegeta nodded stiffly. Bulma made a pouty face, her bottom lip jutting out. “Really? That’s no fun. I figured she’d be all over you by now.”

I swallowed. “Bulma, Chi Chi just died, remember? I can’t just jump into something else. It’s not fair to either of us.”

“Oh, Goku.” Bulma sighed, putting her fists on her hips. “It’s been six months, and Chi would have wanted you to be happy. She sure doesn’t want you walking around sulking all day like you have been. Even if you don’t fall in love with her, you can still help her out, and get yourself a little fun out of it too!”

I was taken aback by her suggestion. How did she expect me just to sleep with Ellery when I really didn’t know her well at all? I’d only ever been with Chi, and I hadn’t expected that to ever change. I was attracted to Ellery, I’d admit that, but I wouldn’t rush into anything, especially since my wife, the mother of my boys, just died.

Bulma’s eyes widened and she blushed. “Did I say something wrong, Goku?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s just that I couldn’t see myself doing that.”

Vegeta chuckled. “Of course you couldn’t. Kakarot, the saint, fuck a woman for fun?” He shook his head. “Unheard of.”

I hated when Vegeta said things like that. It wasn’t like I was trying to act any better than anyone else. I just couldn’t see myself using Ellery like that.

“Oh, Vegeta, let him alone. He’s just shy.” Bulma said, smiling at me. “Don’t worry about it.”

I looked over at the prince. “How can you even suggest I do that to your daughter, anyway?”

Vegeta looked a little shocked at the question. “She wouldn’t have asked for it if she wasn’t willing. She’s an adult and can make her own decisions.”

My eyebrows furrowed together. “Aren’t you even a little protective of her?” Every time I’d seen Bra bring home a boy, Vegeta would act like a child, and be completely overprotective. Why wouldn’t he do the same thing for Ellery?

“Of course I am, Kakarot. You’ve seen it every day since she’s been here.” He turned so his body was square to mine. “I also know that Ellery has no problem defending herself against you, and that you’re honorable enough to listen to her.”

I guess that was a compliment. “Uh…” I thought for a moment. “Thanks, Vegeta?”

Vegeta’s smirk returned. “Just remember that my daughter will kick your ass if you try something unwelcome, and then I’ll kick your ass again.”

I nodded in acknowledgement. This was such a weird moment. I’d never seen Vegeta this way and it was definitely odd to see him act like this. I mean, he was caring, but also not so much.

As Vegeta and Bulma continued to train, I watched as my childhood friend became stronger by the moment, and how excited it made both of them. Bulma definitely wasn’t someone who got a kick out of learning technically correct martial arts, but the Saiyan in her just wanted to be stronger, and stronger she would be. Vegeta seemed to be beaming with pride as Bulma’s fist collided with his palms.

Ellery made her way down a little while later, walking directly over to me. I gave her a smile and turned back to view Vegeta and his bride slowly working things to a higher difficulty, pushing her to her limits.

“How long have they been at this?” Ellery asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

I shrugged. “I haven’t been out here long.”

“She’s getting stronger.” Ellery said quietly, examining Bulma’s sweating body. “She’ll be a great warrior.”

I smiled. “Bulma has always had a fiery spirit. You two are a lot alike. It’s a shame you’re just now getting to know each other.”

I was surprised to see my younger son dropping down onto the grounds of Capsule Corps. I waved at him and he made his way over to me.

“Hey, Dad.” He looked over to Bulma and Vegeta. “Wh—” He paused, looking at me with wide, confused eyes. “Bulma has a tail?”

I nodded to my son. “She did it, Goten. She made herself into a Saiyan.”

Goten’s smile spread across his face quickly. “Wow! That’s incredible! I thought her ki felt different.”

“You know,” Ellery began. Both of us looked over to the small Saiyan. “Bulma could make you a purebred now.”

Goten looked confused, turning his gaze to me again. “Really? How? Is that even safe?”

“She did it for Trunks.” I said, breaking his gaze for a moment. “Bulma won’t do it unless you really want it. She’s not forcing anyone into it.”

Goten took a moment to consider. “I don’t think it would be a bad thing. It would only make me stronger, right?”

Ellery took the conversation from there. “It wouldn’t just be that, but you’d have a longer lifespan as well.”

Goten looked away from her, thinking for a moment. I didn’t want him to jump into anything. It wouldn’t change much, but it would change him. His personality may completely change after his desire for power grew. I was worried that he would become too focused on that, just as Vegeta had been for years.

“Goten.” I said, forcing my son to look to me again. His eyes drilled into mine, and it made me very nervous because it was almost a challenge. “If you’re going to do this, make sure you really want it.”

Goten nodded. “If it’s safe, I see more reason to do it than to not do it.”

That’s what I was afraid of. My younger son as very much like me. I knew he’d want to get stronger, and that would definitely help him push his limits, but we hadn’t seen what exactly can happen with this yet.

Ellery smiled at my son. “We’ll get Bulma to hook you up once she’s done with her training.”

I knew Ellery was just excited to make all of our group Saiyans, but she was moving very hastily. I knew most of the concern came from Goten being my son, but I couldn’t shake the fact that I felt like all of this was moving too fast.

It was about another half hour before Bulma was spent. She was heaving, bruised knuckles fighting to straighten, and her body was slicked with a thick sheen of sweat. She was more than happy to get Goten started with the transformation once Ellery mentioned it. She just had to shower, that way everything would stay sterile.

“I’m going to be a Saiyan, Dad! Isn’t this great? I’m going to be able to get even stronger!” Goten was practically bouncing from excitement. I didn’t want to put a damper on his excitement, but I couldn’t be as excited as he was.

“What’s wrong, Kakarot?” Ellery asked, looking up at me with a smile.

I swallowed, trying to think of how to say this without offending her. “I just don’t want him to jump into something that he is not ready for. I trust Bulma, but I can’t trust something that I haven’t seen what exactly it can do.”

“If it kills him, we’ll just wish him back, Kakarot.”

“That’s easy to say when it isn’t your son, Ellery.” I said, snapping at her more harshly than I intended. “My children are the last thing I have left of Chi, and I just don’t want to lose them. I love my boys.”

“They’ll be fine.” Ellery was obviously trying not to get angry with me. This new soft side of her really was taking over. It was giving her a multitude of patience she didn’t have before.

“I hope you’re right, Elle.”

Ellery rolled her eyes and walked into the house, following Bulma and Goten. I didn’t go in quite yet, knowing it would be a while before my son came to after the medication took hold.

A few minutes later, I felt my son’s power level spike and I could hear his screams. I tensed my body, trying to ignore it. I couldn’t let myself worry too much about him. Goten was a grown man now. He could make his own decisions.

“The brat will be fine.” Vegeta said from the other side of the yard. “Did you ever think that maybe we’re all trying to get you laid because you’ve been so off lately? Bulma has been breathing down my neck about it for months. It’s become very irritating.”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m off because my wife just died, Vegeta.”

“When are you going to stop moping? She’s dead, and has been for a half a year. We get it, Kakarot.” Vegeta walked over to me, crossing his arms. “Either move on, or go to her, if you’re so damn miserable.” He didn’t break my gaze, and I saw that Vegeta was more than just angry about it. He’d been fighting the urge to tell me this for a while, that much was obvious.

I didn’t say anything at first. I just continued to stare into the empty black eyes of the prince. I continued to hear Goten’s cries in the background. I hadn’t noticed that my power level was slowly climbing, like I was going to jump Vegeta. I didn’t want to do that.

I turned away and took off into the sky. I hadn’t expected to be followed, but the prince was hot on my heels. “What do you want, Vegeta?” I asked, continuing in my trek.

“You can’t keep running away from this, Kakarot. Ellery was right. You aren’t understanding that being a pissy brat about it isn’t going to bring back your mate, and that’s all you’ve been.” Vegeta was slowly closing the distance between us. He was almost flying beside me now.

“Why do you even care, Vegeta? I’m nothing to you. You’ve made this obvious on more than one occasion. Why all of a sudden do you care about anything I’m feeling?”

“I’m the one who has to listen to the woman blubber about it. I’m the only one you seem to listen to. After all, Bulma has tried to tell you that time and time again and you didn’t listen. You can’t keep dwelling on this.” Vegeta had caught up, coming face-to-face with me.

“I was with her for forty years, Vegeta. I’m not going to just go and pound the first woman I see. None of you are even trying to understand.” I knew I was being a little childish at this moment, but Vegeta had never chased me like this before and it was really irritating.

“Are you done bitching like a teenage brat?”

I clenched my jaw and extended my arm to send a ki blast right in Vegeta’s direction. I was getting tired of hearing his royal insults. He had no idea what was going on. He just wanted more Saiyans, and still no one had even considered how I had felt on the subject.

“Oh, are we playing dirty now, Kakarot?” Vegeta said, returning a blast of similar strength at my suspended torso. I blocked it, knocking it back in his direction. That didn’t stop him from flaring into a Super Saiyan and continuing his assault. I had to do the same to keep up with him, trying to do as little damage as I could to him. I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to be left alone.

I wasn’t expecting the Gallic Gun that came my way, sending me plummeting toward the ground. I hit the ground and bounced before skidding across the dirt. I powered down and simply waited for Vegeta to do his worst. I really wasn’t in the mood for this.

I saw Vegeta’s boots by my head and he looked down at me. “Are you finished running away?” he asked, freezing in that position, waiting for an answer.

I clenched my jaw. “Who says I’m running away?”

Vegeta’s smirk extended across his face. “Don’t play dumb with me. Are you ready to listen to what I have to say?”

I didn’t give a verbal answer, so Vegeta took that as a yes. He stayed in his Super Saiyan form, but sat next to my head. I continued to lay on my stomach, looking over at him.

“You’re telling us that we don’t understand, but what you’re not thinking about is all the times before that you were gone. You were dead for seven years. You left your wife and sons behind to deal with everything that you had run away from. You’re a warrior, Kakarot, but you’ve made a habit of running away when you don’t want to actually deal with something.”

I clenched my fist, but he kicked it with his boot.

“Stop that. You don’t want to hear it, but I’m the only one who has the balls to tell you. We understand grieving. I understood it at the harpy’s funeral and even extended my condolences. Now, it’s gone too far. Just as my daughter told you, you’re not dealing with this. You’re just waiting for someone to look away long enough for you to run off again.”

“What do you expect me to do?” I asked, fighting my urge to look up at his face.

“I expect you to move on with your life. There was nothing that could have been done for your mate. You were there for her until the end, and this is why she didn’t want you to know that she was sick. She didn’t want you to close off, because she knew you would. Now, you’re doing exactly what she didn’t want you to do. As much as she was a loud, annoying human, she did care about you and let you do what you wanted because she wanted you to be happy.”

I’d never heard something like this come from Vegeta, and it was something I hadn’t been expecting to ever hear it from him. I’d never put much thought behind Chi Chi dying until it happened. Now, I was so blindsided and I felt like I had nothing to hold on to. My boys were grown, and they didn’t need me anymore. I never expected to miss being yelled at and hearing her huff as she cleaned the house.

“I’m going home. Whenever you’re done moping, come back. Your brat is a Saiyan now.” Vegeta said, standing and taking off all in one fluid motion.

I laid there, thinking for a long time. I didn’t want to believe Vegeta, but I had no choice. He was right. Chi Chi loved me. She wanted me to be happy. She’d been so good to me in life, and I just wish I could have held onto her a little longer.

My thoughts drifted. Nobody really needed me anymore. Vegeta and Ellery were by far strong enough to take care of earth, and with Trucks and Goten being Saiyans now, they were even competing with Vegeta’s strength.

Then, I thought of Ellery. That past night, she was so caught up in me. She’d broken down all of her barriers, and she wanted comfort.

She needed comfort.

She needed to know that she was important too.

Maybe we had more in common that I thought.