Chapter 5
Bunk Mates and Girl Talk
Goku released a miserable sigh, exiting the room with his suitcase in one hand and a hammock in the other. So much for that idea. Chi-Chi wanted nothing to do with sharing a bed with him right now, mores' the pity. So it looked like he was going to be rooming with Vegeta for the time being. Goku winced as he approached the door behind which the Saiyan Prince had claimed as his own.
This wasn't going to be pleasant.
Goku knocked on the door, and waited only a moment before it was thrown open gruffly. Vegeta stuck his head out, took one look at Goku and what he held, then burst out laughing. Goku's cheeks colored with embarrassment, but he scowled. "Ok Vegeta, ha-ha. Very funny. Now can you let me in please?"
"No way in hell, Kakkarott," he growled half-way good-naturedly after he'd gotten himself back under control. "I'm not sharing my living space with a third-class clown."
"But there's no where else for me to sleep!"
"Then I suggest you either buck it up to your mate or start groveling, because you aren't sleeping here!"
Goku shook his head. "You don't understand Vegeta. Once Chi gets something into her head, there's no changing it. She's gonna have to have a few days to calm down. So it's either I sleep here, or I go down the hall and sleep with Bulma."
In the next breath Goku found himself pinned up against the wall, a furious Vegeta's forearm buried into his throat. It was all he could do not to chuckle, and ruin everything. For all his frightening strategic brilliance, Vegeta was so easy to maneuver sometimes, especially when it came to Bulma.
"You've got some nerve, Kakkarott," he snarled, onyx eyes narrowed into furious slits.
"Oh c'mon Vegeta," Goku wheezed, deciding he'd better go ahead and correct the Prince's misunderstanding before he really started getting bent out of shape. He'd hate for the ship to become damaged if they started having it out. "Bulma's like family to me. Having sex with her would be like having sex with my own sister. Not to mention that I'd never cheat on Chi-Chi." Vegeta scowled at him a moment more, then let loose another growl before letting him go with a jerk. Goku coughed and wheezed a bit, rubbing at his sore neck. He took note of Vegeta's continued look of suspicion however, even as the prince crossed his arms and gave his usual haughty scowl.
No doubt Vegeta was having a hard time imagining anyone considering the mother of his son nothing more than a sisterly figure.
Just as Goku had hoped. Not only did it serve his purpose of getting a place to sleep tonight, but it also inadvertently confirmed his suspicion that—despite Vegeta's recent actions and attitude—the Saiyan Prince still cared for Bulma and still considered the Capsule Corporation President his mate. The knowledge would make Goku feel less guilty about playing shameless matchmaker later on. Next to eating and fighting, that was one of his favorite hobbies.
"Well, look, if you don't want me bunking up with Bulma, my only other option is to sleep in here with you." At Vegeta's sour look of disapproval, Goku quickly added, "I'll put up the hammock over there in the corner and you won't even know I'm here. Promise."
Vegeta considered him for a moment more, then—to Goku's faint surprise—moved to the side and allowed him in, giving in a lot quicker than he would've expected. The reason why was revealed, however, as he quickly snapped, "fine, you can sleep here. If you spar with me in the gravity simulator."
Remembering the left hook he owed the Saiyan Prince, Goku grinned eagerly. He set his suitcase and hammock down in his designated corner, then turned back with a laugh. "Whatever you say, Vegeta. We gotta stay in our normal forms though. If we go Super we could possibly damage the ship. Then we'd really be in hot water."
Vegeta's only response was his raspy chuckle as he led the way out of the room and toward the gravity chamber in the lower levels of the ship.
Chi-Chi bit her lip, staring at her reflection in the mirror of her bathroom. It was still so surreal to her, to see her face of nearly thirty years ago staring back at her. She still woke up expecting this all to be some strange, surreal dream. This sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen to her. She was just the house wife. Sure, once upon a time she might've hoped for something more. Yet Chi-Chi had given up on those dreams a long time ago. And now this. Being young again only put salt in the wounds, ones she thought she had finally put behind her and forgotten for good.
Add on to that the fact that her husband was only interested in her now because her boobs were no longer sagging and her wrinkles had disappeared, and it was shaping up to be a pretty rotten situation all the way around. It had to be the explanation. Goku had wanted almost nothing to do with her before, even her cooking had seemed to hold less and less appeal. All he thought about was training that boy Uub.
Now all of a sudden he was insisting she come with on this crazy adventure? Chi-Chi was confused and hurting, and right now she needed some space to figure things out. Which was why she had just kicked her husband out of her bedroom to go fend for himself with Vegeta, despite the now-very-familiar hungry look in his dark eyes. Yet she didn't want him wanting her because she was young again. Kami help her, Chi-Chi wanted Goku to want her because he loved her. Something she had never been very clear on, from the very beginning of their relationship.
Very soon after their marriage ceremony, it became apparent that Goku didn't feel for her what she had harbored for him all those years. That he in fact didn't even know what marriage was, thought it was a food for Kami's sake! She should've bowed out gracefully. But no. Chi-Chi had to be stubborn, just like she was with everything else. She had gotten it into her head at the age of twelve that she wanted to marry Goku, and like a pit-bull she'd clung to that dream in the face of all adversity, including the groom's complete cluelessness. Looking back, Chi-Chi began wondering if she had really been ready for something that huge.
She had only been nineteen after all, as was he. Had they really been ready for that kind of monumental step? She had thought that marriage to Goku was what she'd wanted, more than anything else in the world. She'd been willing to give up her life as a princess to marry a common man—albeit the strongest man in the world, which in and of itself came with certain perks—and live with him in a simple house deep in the woods of Mount Pazou.
No . . . she was still fairly certain that marriage to Goku was still what she wanted above all else. It was just that, in her girlish fantasies concerning her life, Goku would treasure her and their family above all else. Not run off at the first sign of adventure, abandoning her several times over the years to fend for herself and then expect her to just welcome him back with open arms whenever he decided to wander back into her life, sometimes after years at a time.
Chi-Chi sighed, scowling at her reflection. She would like to blame this recent fiasco for all of her problems, but the hard truth was that things had not been right in her home for a long, long time. That Goten had picked up on the tension and the unhappiness was proof in and of itself. She sighed.
There were times when she envied Bulma. For all that her Saiyan lover was a mass-murderer and a temperamental, arrogant jerk, at least Vegeta stuck around. It was more than she could say for Goku.
So where did she go from here?
Chi-Chi stared into her own eyes, searching for answers that were not readily available. Even if they succeeded, found the Dragonballs and the wish was reversed, what was she going to do? Return home to her kitchen and her laundry and pretend as though nothing had happened? She frowned. No . . . she couldn't do that anymore. She couldn't live that life anymore. She adored her children, and somewhere deep inside she was sure she still loved her husband.
Chi-Chi just didn't think she could live with loving him anymore. Loving a man like Goku was slowly killing her inside, bit by bit, with every time he forgot about her or broke promises in order to help others. Apparently she had ceased being as important to him. If she ever had been to begin with.
Perhaps it was time she cut them both loose from a thirty year old mistake.
Chi-Chi turned at a sudden knock at the door. She considered ignoring it for a moment—if it was Goku, she just didn't think she could deal with him right now, the wounds to her heart were too fresh—yet decided against that. It could be an emergency, and it probably wasn't Goku anyhow. He had Vegeta to train with now, for as long as he wanted. Chi-Chi bit her lip as tears swam before her eyes. He wouldn't even remember her until his stomach started growling.
She quickly dashed the moisture from her face, then reached over to press the button that would open the automatic door. To her relief, it was Bulma—not her estranged husband—standing on the other side. The blue-haired genius gave her a soft smile.
"Hey, you holding up ok?" Chi-Chi shrugged.
"As well as can be expected I guess. Is there anything I can do to help you out?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked, because actually there is," Bulma revealed with a laugh. "We're fully stocked with food, but unfortunately I'm not known as the best of cooks. Ah . . . I was kinda hoping you might help us out with that?"
Chi-Chi's smile was a touch on the bitter side. "Sure, Bulma. It seems that's just about all I'm good for nowadays anyway." She took a deep breath, and attempted to ignore Bulma's concerned look. "Which way is the kitchen?"
The C.C. President didn't budge, brow furrowed in concern. "I kinda got the feeling there might be some tension between you and Goku earlier, but I had assumed it was just the usual run-of-the-mill upset because of this wish. Are you . . . are you guys okay?"
A part of Chi-Chi wanted to snap that it was none of her business and to leave her alone. Yet Bulma had been one of her longest friends—her only female friend to be precise. The true concern in the woman's blue eyes was Chi-Chi's undoing. Tears gathered in her eyes, her expression crumpling.
"Oh Bulma, I don't think Goku and I have been okay for a very long time."
A few minutes later the girls found themselves in the kitchen area, steaming cups of tea between them as they shared everything that had happened to turn their lives so upside down on both sides.
Bulma winced. "Oh, Chi, I had no idea things had gotten so bad between you two. You always seemed so happy." The dark-haired girl shrugged.
"Looks can be deceiving I guess. How can I keep living with a man who would rather fight and train complete strangers rather than stay home with his family?"
Bulma's eyes were wide. "Are you . . . are you really considering divorce?" Chi-Chi fought back the emotional torrent that that word stirred up, yet she hardened her expression and her resolve.
"If that's what it takes to make the both of us happy again, then yes. It's apparent that Goku isn't really happy with me, else he would want to be around me more. And Kami knows I can't go on like I have anymore." Bulma shook her head, staring down at her tea cup.
"This is just so surreal. Never in a million years would I have thought that you and Goku wouldn't make it. I guess there's no real hope for any of us then," she added morosely.
"How long have you and Vegeta . . . ," Chi-Chi trailed off, uncertain how to word her question. Bulma smirked however, with very little humor to it, quickly understanding her meaning.
"I'll never understand why he did it. A part of me respects him for coming clean and telling the truth . . . but another part of me hates him for telling me." Now it was Bulma's turn to become teary-eyed. "If he had just kept his mouth shut, I'd have never known, and things would have stayed okay between us." Chi-Chi gasped, stunned.
"Vegeta cheated on you?" she demanded, incredulous. Bulma quickly shook her head however.
"No, no, no. Hell, I might've been able to deal with that easier. Kami knows I had enough experience with it when I was with Yamcha. Vegeta hasn't ever slept with another woman, at least he didn't before we split. I honestly have no idea whether he's gone to bed with anyone else these past three years. He certainly hasn't been with me." That stunned Chi-Chi, as it would anyone else.
It was no well kept secret that Saiyans could be a rather lusty lot, and Vegeta was nothing if not the perfect specimen of his race.
"Well then, if he didn't cheat on you, what could he have possibly done to mess things up so badly?"
Bulma toyed aimlessly with her spoon, staring down blankly at her hands, her thoughts obviously far away. "After Buu was defeated and we went back home, I could tell something was wrong with him. At first I just thought it was post-traumatic-stress syndrome, you know, because he had died and all. Yet this seemed to go deeper than that. Finally that night, after Trunks and my parents had gone to sleep, he took me up to our room." Bulma clenched her fists, scowling through her tears. "Kami, Chi-Chi, it had never been so good between us as it was that night. He was so gentle," she reminisced bitterly. "Like he really cared. Then when we were through, he told me the truth." She looked up at her stricken friend, heedless of the tears spilling down her cheeks. "He let himself be possessed by Bobbity on his ship." Chi-Chi gasped, eyes rounding with shock. Bulma continued, tone deadened. "He said that he'd wanted to forget his petty attachments to this world, to reawaken the cold and ruthless warrior he had been in the hopes of finally being able to beat Goku and reclaim his precious honor. All those people at the tournament . . . he wasn't being controlled, Chi-Chi," Bulma revealed at last, her voice nothing more than a thread of sound. "He killed all of those people on purpose. Just to goad Goku into a fight. He nearly killed me," she cried, "and never even batted an eyelash about it!"
All Chi-Chi could do for a moment was offer her silent support by clutching Bulma's hand, her eyes still widened with disbelief. She sighed.
"He tried to make up for it, though," she felt compelled to point out. "He did sacrifice himself against Buu, and helped Goku defeat him later on."
"For Trunks," Bulma answered angrily. "He cares about his precious heir, but I'm just a convenient fuck. Not once in ten years has he ever told me he loves me, or even that I matter on a permanent basis. I was just a convenient place to get laid. He never really intended on sticking around. It was just dumb luck that Goku died fighting Cell. He didn't have anywhere else better to go." Bulma shook her head with a shaky sigh. "I was fooling myself thinking that Vegeta of all people could ever love me. And I'm not going to waste one more day on that man. I refuse."
"I guess we've both made up our minds, eh?" was all Chi-Chi could think to respond. Bulma nodded, then sighed.
"My father wants me to try and patch things up with Vegeta, for Trunks' sake. I still don't think that's the best idea. I mean, Trunks from the future was raised away from his father, and we all saw how well he turned out."
"Trunks deserves to be around his father," Chi-Chi corrected sternly, but she shook her head soon after. "But that doesn't mean that you have to be. I guess we should just worry about getting those Dragonballs back for now. We can try and sort out the mess our personal lives has become later."
Bulma nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She pulled out the Dragon Radar and clicked the top. "We've got a signal coming through more clearly now, as I'd hoped. I estimate we should be arriving to the first Dragonball's location in about three days." Bulma stared down at the green and yellow grid, expression wary. "Hopefully we won't run into too much trouble getting it back. You never know with these things though." She made a face. "It's been my unfortunate experience that wherever there's a Dragonball, trouble won't be far behind."