Another Life a Second Chance: Chapter 5 "Kaiou-sama?" Yamcha was crouched as he spoke. His legs were weakening. Though he already knew his answer he continued to press on, simply feeling the need to hear it directly from his master. Kai-Ou didn't reply as he mentally scoured the black void that had once been Namek, for any signs of Gokou's body. After confirming his fears, he did not bother to look back at his students. "Gokou... Gokou is dead." The shock did not go unnoticed on the three warriors' faces. Tenshinhan, Chaozu and most notably Yamcha, who had always looked upon Gokou as the little brother he never had. He felt himself falling to his knees and call out his friend's name. Gokou... This was it. The second time he'd died. And the last. He wouldn't be coming back again, as would not Kurilyn and Chaozu. I guess the Dragon Balls aren't as great as the legends made them out to be after all, he thought bitterly. After another soundless moment Kai-Ou asked, "What shall we tell his son?" Yamcha came forward. "Leave it to me Kaiou-sama." He walked up and flattened his hand down on his master's back. "I'll contact Bulma and ask her to explain it to everyone..." ****** "So basically this is the plan..." Bulma explained after running it all through her mind once over. The entire gang was walking its way through the forest clearing, searching for any nearby houses or cabins where they could call for help. "We use the Namek Balls to wish Kurilyn and Gokou's spirits here, then revive them. After that we can one by one, wish our other friends back and the finally, a new planet Namek for the Namekseijin!" "Sounds good!" Gohan chirped as he skipped along beside her. Bulma felt pleased. Everything was working out perfectly. She turned her head to look at Vegita who was trailing behind them, obviously not wanting to be considered part of the ‘group.' He'd actually been quite a help, giving them the idea of transporting their friends souls' here before wishing them back. They'd probably still be thinking that it was hopeless to revive Gokou and Kurilyn if he hadn't interrupted, which was why she had extended the invitation of temporary residence at her place, to him. Gohan also felt a sense of gratitude towards the older man and dropped his pace until Vegita had nearly walked past him. The Saiyajin prince paused a minute in his tracks as the boy extended his hand out towards him. "Thank you for your help," he smiled the smile that Kakarotto was well-known for. Snarling, Vegita slapped away the small hand and crossed his arms. "Don't misread me brat." He then resumed his steady walk behind the others. Rubbing his hand, Gohan stood a moment dumbfounded before scooting up to catch up with Bulma and Piccolo again. Noticing what had just happened, Bulma wondered briefly wether letting Vegita stay in Capsule Corporation was prudent thinking, but then shook away the thought. With luck he may not try to take over the world until AFTER they wished Son-kun back. Maybe... "Hey Bulma-san, you're going to suffocate that guy if you keep on squeezing him like that!" Gohan piped in, smiling. "Oh?" Bulma caught herself as she noticed she was squeezing the child in her arms, rather tightly without realizing it. "Whoops," she chuckled sheepishly. "Guess it's that motherly instinct of mine I long-thought didn't exist, that's kicking in." She looked down at the kid and brushed a few strands of gold hair from his eyes, "Besides, he's just adorable!" "Are you and Yamcha-san going to have babies?" She grinned a bit awkwardly. "Well... eventually..." she winked down at Gohan. "I didn't realize it before until he died but, I really do love him. I can't imagine what life would be like without the big lug and besides, my parents keep bugging me for grand-kids." Gohan nodded happily before turning to his sensei. "What about you Piccolo-san?" Caught off guard, Piccolo's eyes widened in an almost comical way as he stared down at the boy in shock. "What?!" "Have you ever thought about spitting out an egg and... well, having a kid?" Gohan explained. The Namek man calmed down a bit at this and thought. "Hmm... I don't know. Maybe a few centuries from now," he grinned. "You know Gohan, technically I'm just a child myself, even for a Namek." "Honto?" "That's right. In fact I'm not that much older than you. Four years maybe." "But how can that be? You're so much BIGGER than me!" Piccolo grinned again. "That's because I had the ability to manipulate my growth and maturity." He looked ahead of him and sighed. "See kid... The minute I was born, I already harbored this strong resentment and desire to beat your father, Son Gokou which had been passed down from my father. I also knew that three years from now, one of the infamous Tenkai Boudokais would be held and decided to mature faster than usual, in order to strengthen myself as much as possible in time for the tournament. "Wow..." Gohan was quite surprised to say the least. "That's right. I probably grew 6 years for each year I trained on earth, so by the time the Boudokai came, I was pretty much in adult form, both mentally and physically." "That's amazing Piccolo-san!" Gohan laughed. "Can anyone do that to their body?" "Iie, I'm pretty sure it's a Namek thing." The green man chuckled at the boy's enthusiastic behavior, but understood it as well. He himself felt a bit light-hearted at being back home again. Bulma said nothing, but listened on in disbelief. She'd never have thought Piccolo to win the "Babysitter Of The Year" award. But there was the proof before her eyes. The ruthless Piccolo Daimoh and the son of Son Gokou holding somewhat of a good-natured, although odd, conversation. Gohan had actually reached his heart. Sure Bulma still and would probably always feel a definite uneasiness around the demon king, but he now seemed to be a much more stable comrade than Vegita. She paused, when something caught her eye all of a sudden. "Hey!" she called out to the others around her. "There's a house right over there! I'm going to ask to use their phone, so we can call my father to come pick us up. Wait here okay?" "Umm... Bulma-san?" Gohan asked timidly as he stepped forward. "Yes?" "Do you think I could stay with you guys for a bit?" "Don't you think you should go see your mom?" Bulma asked, not understanding his question. "Well... I didn't get to do my homework... Mom's going to be really mad..." ****** "Gohan-chan!" Once again in tears, Chichi was kneeling down and clutching her son to her desperately, as though he'd slip away from her again at any moment. "You're finally back with me for good!" She pulled away from him briefly to examine. He hadn't been away from her for nearly as long this time. Three months, when compared to a year, was not *that* bad. But still, that didn't lessen the fact that she missed him. And though physically he had not grown as much as the last time Chichi could still see in his face, hardened features, the fading innocence in his eyes. Her little Gohan had seen too much for a child his age during the time on Namek and the strange armor he now wore also seemed to contribute to his new air of maturity. "Okaasan?" Chichi completely lost track of time as she stared at her boy, his voice had shaken her out of her trance though. Quickly wiping away the rest of her tears, she placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "Let's go home." Gohan smiled brightly at her as they joined the other in boarding the Briefs' Personal Craft to transport them back to Capsule Corp. From then on they would be taking Chichi's air car back to Mount Yama. It was just then that something had suddenly occurred to Gohan... "Uhh... Okaasan?" he said looking up nervously. "Where is Arale–" "Hiiiiii!!" A small face held up by ridiculously large glasses suddenly appeared in front of Gohan, nearly scaring him out of his skin. "Waaaa!!! Arale-chan! You scared me!!" Gohan clutched at his chest with a small hand, gesturing a heart attack. "Oh come ON now mister space man," the violet-haired girl clucked, "you've fought against aliens and journeyed to planets across the galaxy! And you get scared by little me? For shame!" Grinning along now, Gohan crouched into a predatory position. "You won't be laughing so hard once I make *you* feel the MEANING of fear." "Ooooh! Kowai!!" Arale teased pulling down her lower eyelid and sticking her tongue out. "Gotta catch me first." "Not a problem!" Gohan pounced at the girl who squealed out loud and quickly took refuge behind Chichi's legs, clutching at her skirt. "Now, now children," the woman laughed, trying to maintain a strict face, "at least wait until we get home. Neh?" Appalled, Gohan stopped and stared at his mother. Was she actually laughing? And along with him and ARALE no less. Disbelievingly, he began to wonder just what had been going on all this time he had been gone... ****** From the corner of his eye, Piccolo quietly witnessed the sugar-sweet scene with a smug look on his face. Just what would that woman think if she knew her precious little boy had been duking it out with the monster prince of Saiyan's himself not long ago? But then again... What would *my* father think if he knew I've become a mentor and friend to our mortal enemy's son, and have consciously even saved that mortal enemy on more than one occasion? Shrugging away the bleak thoughts Piccolo took a few moments to observe his surrounding peoples. The big-mouthed woman was busy blasting her father away with the details of her horrifying experience on Namek, as well as going on about how she was going to take a hot shower the minute she got home. While scattered about were Piccolo's fellow Nameks, chatting with each other or peering out the air-bus' windows, curiously inspecting Earth's alien flora. Piccolo smirked. It must be a strange change for them, witnessing a total reversal of their home planet's blue grass and green skies. And then there was Vegita... The Saiyajin was still-as-stone, barely even blinking and the Demon King could not help but wonder what thoughts were running through his twisted mind. Would he take up Bulma's offer and stay? Would he make another attempt at gathering the Dragon Balls? Or try and take over the planet? Or would he stay awhile until Son was revived just so he could extract his ‘revenge.' For some reason, Piccolo placed his bet on that last possibility. Still, after he was revived, would the other Saiyan still even care to fight Vegita? Probably. Would his wife stand for it? Probably not. He could see that no matter how happy she may be to see him again, Chichi was at the end of her rope. Although she hid it, he could see that she was completely stressed out from the past year and half. If Son was going to go out and start battling right as soon as he got back from *this* interesting little trip, he'd have to get by his shrew of a wife first. That'd be interesting to see, Piccolo laughed in his head. Their first face-off in six years. But the Namek's thoughts were cut off short when Dr. Briefs announced that they had arrived. ****** "Home at last!" Bulma whooped and cheered as the air bus landed, and she wasted no time in running outside to greet her mother. "Ah Bulma-chan!" Mrs. Briefs embraced her daughter with the same bubbly expression she always carried with her. "It's good to have you home dear–oh! And I see you've brought along some friends," she added upon witnessing the countless Nameks emptying the vehicle. "My Bulma-chan, you sure meet some strange people," her mother giggled. As the humans came forth after though, she grew even more intrigued. Approaching Gohan first, she placed a hand on his head and teased his hair slightly with a dainty finger. "Why Gohan-chan! You're growing up so fast! I can already see you're looking more and more like your father with each day. What a handsome boy!" Her words brought forth such a blush on the kid's face, his mother and Arale gave him strange looks. Then Mrs. Briefs noticed Vegita trailing behind them. Smiling a bit too sweetly she almost skipped towards him and brought her face dangerously near his. "And you are...?" Vegita's eyes widened at the strange blonde woman's boldness and he took a careful step back. "Just who do you think you are woman?" A bit annoyed with her mother's flirtatious nature, Bulma stepped in. "His name is Vegita." "Vegita," her mother sang. "Now isn't that a lovely name!" Seeing the anger in his eyes, Bulma quickly explained the fighter's case. "He's one of the Saiyans that originally came to destroy Chikyu, but he's on our side now." Vegita glared so fiercely at Bulma that she backed away from him out of fear for herself. "Now just WHAT makes you think I'm on your side now?" he spat viciously, "I take no sides! I'm just going to stick around until Kakarotto is wished back and then, who knows!" "Well then Vegita-chan," Mrs. Briefs said in her usual tone, not affected whatsoever by his little outburst, "it seems then that you'll be staying with us for a little bit, no?" Happily she hooked her arms around one of his and giggled again. Vegita flinched as she clung to him like glue. "Just... just who do you think I am?" he stammered. Bulma, now fearing for her mother's safety, was about to step in again and pry her off Vegita's arm when her father finally appeared, carrying something in his arms. "Oh!" Forgetting the unnerved prince for the moment, Mrs. Briefs released his arm to approach her husband. "Hello dear, and what's this you have in your arms? A boy!? Why he's adorable!" Before Briefs could even say a word, his wife had already snatched up the kid and rocked him in her arms giddily as she touched his fine-gold hair. Scratching his head, Dr. Briefs quickly gave up on his wife and turned to his more level-headed daughter. "So Bulma, you still haven't explained who that is." "That's because we're not sure who it is," she replied, sighing. "The Namekseijin asked us to take care of him, since none of their special healing powers seemed to work. My guess is that one of his wounds, most probably this one," she indicated a rather nasty looking gash on his left arm which was swollen slightly an ugly greenish color, "got infected at one point and was not treated soon enough, before it had reached the state it's in now." Her father nodded in agreement. "Well, we'll see what the doctors in our medical department can do about this." He gave Bulma a comforting look, hoping to ease her concern. "Bulma-san?" Bulma turned to meet Chichi's address. "Many thanks for all you've done, but I think I'd best get these two home soon." She indicated the two children beneath her who could barely contain their rampant desire to play. "Hai, ja matte ne Chichi-san." "Eh," she nodded in reply before turning to her younglings. "Coming?" "Uh-huh," the two grinned, before Gohan added, "just give me one more minute." The two girls waited as he quickly dashed to his mentor, who was leaning back casually against the air-bus, watching the going-ons as usual. "Piccolo-san?" Gohan said quietly, not wanting to annoy his teacher. "Beat it kid, go home. I won't be far behind." He gave a smirk for inspiration and Gohan laughed happily before bowing deeply and returning to his mom and friend. ****** The Nameks had all been rallied up and were comfortably settled in by the end of the day, even Vegita would be staying in a guest room in the Briefs family's personal quarters. After many hours of relaxation and cleaning herself up, Bulma joined her father in the Capsule building's hospital district to check up on the new patient. "So how is he?" Bulma asked as Briefs examined the test papers. One of the two doctors turned to answer her question, while the other continued tending the patient's wound. "Well, it's not as serious as you feared," the doctor addressing Bulma assured. "You were right, the wound *was* infected with some kind of poison which is still trying to be identified by our researchers, but luckily its affects were quite mild, not causing any *fatal* harm and resulting in the slight discolored swelling you see here." He pointed out the now fading green mark on the child's arm. Bulma nodded in relief and sighed. "So he's going to be alright then." "Yes. We've already managed to remove just about all the poison and are cleaning up the wound right now. We'll then have to bandage it up and let it heal on its own for the next week or two. Then he'll be as good as new." Listening to their exchange, Dr. Briefs was just about to say something when the second doctor called out to them. "He's waking up!" "What?" Shocked, the first Doctor moved up to join the second. "But that's impossible! No one has been known to recover from such a large dosage of infectious poison, even when un-lethal." But the slight movement in appendages and faint sound of groaning proved otherwise; the child was waking. Excited now, the others moved up to join the second doctor and surrounded the examination table in silence. Bulma let her gaze fall downward as the child below writhed in apparent discomfort. Peering down gently she thought she saw the faint hint of an eye twitch and then slowly half-open. She soon found herself staring into one of the greenest eyes she'd ever seen in her life. "Dare...?" came a small voice. "Amazing....." one of the doctors breathed. A second green eye soon followed the first and pried itself half open. The child looked up at Bulma and repeated itself in a whisper. "Dare da?" Bulma's heart nearly melted as she stared into the green eyes. He was scared, she could feel it in his voice. Frightened. Disorientated. The poor thing was confused and Bulma couldn't exactly blame him. One minute you're in the middle of Namekian wilderness, probably struggling to stay alive, the next you're in a small white room surrounded by people you've never seen in your life and everything in-between is a blur. But still, along with the confusion, she could also detect hope in his voice. Most likely hope that the people before him were here to help, and with that hope came forever a small glow of youthful optimistic energy. They couldn't let him down. She couldn't bear to let him down. Leaning over the table, she brought her face near his and gently brushed a slender finger over the child's forehead. "You're going to be okay kid." she assured gently, locking her blue eyes with his green ones. "I promise." The fear in his eyes subsided at Bulma's gentle cooing and caresses. He thanked her with a small smile before allowing his eyes to close again. It suddenly struck Bulma there, that he was more than ‘adorable', he was downright ‘good-looking'. Was she actually blushing? Pulling away, she turned to face her father who was standing beside her. "He's going to be okay. I think I can guarantee that now." She regarded the doctors appreciatively, who bowed in her welcome. "By the way..." one of them spoke, the second. "If you don't mind our asking, who is this child? That infection on his arm wasn't anything ordinary as we could tell." Dr. Briefs spoke for his daughter. "This child was found on the Namek expedition as far as we can tell, and in the same condition it was when we delivered it to you." "The Namek expedition?" The doctors both looked nervously at each other. "He's not an alien though, which is quite obvious," Bulma spoke in his defense. "Just look at him!" "Bulma-chan..." her father reasoned, "the Saiyajin appeared to be human too, at a first glance, but then those tails did become noticeable after awhile..." "But this kid doesn't have a tail!" Bulma pointed out, "and nothing looks out of the ordinary from what I see." "That's just if you observe around the strange clothing though. Who knows what may be in store beneath them." "Well we can't just take off his clothes to inspect for anything that may seem an anomaly to us." Bulma rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he'd be willing to answer our questions just as soon as he's rested." "And just why *was* this kid by himself to begin with? He doesn't look old enough to be on his own on a dangerous planet like Namek." "Oh Papa, he looks to be at least fourteen or fifteen, and remember back when I was sixteen? I went off alone with Son-kun to find the Dragon Balls, and he himself was only eleven at the time!" "Bulma-chan it's not just around the world this time. This kid was by himself on an alien planet. Just how did he manage to get all the way there to begin with?" Tiring of this argument, Bulma shrugged off the questions and retorted, "It'll all be answered in due time Papa. For now, I'm going to bring him to our residential area where he can sleep more comfortably. O-Kay?!" Judging by the tone of her voice, Briefs knew his daughter was telling him what she was going to do, not asking for permission. Sighing, he nodded his unneeded consent and watched as his daughter happily signaled for an escort to carry the child away. ****** Chichi beamed as she watched her child cheer in glee at being home again. Gohan ran from room to room, basking in the nostalgia of being back in a home he'd missed for over a year and grinning, Arale trailed close behind as he bolted upstairs to see his room. "Kapipiii!" "Gachan," Chichi greeted as the winged being came to welcome her home. "Kipa ka?" "Hai, Gohan-chan's back, but Gokou-san..." She felt a sudden wave of sorrow as it suddenly hit her that he wouldn't be back for awhile still. "We, we'll wish him back soon." "Papi..." Gachan nodded a bit sadly, but in understanding. Setting herself on one of Chichi's shoulder's she gave the woman's head a small hug for courage, and Chichi could not help but giggle. ****** "Wai!!" Gohan marveled upon finally seeing his bedroom again. "Nothing has changed! It's just how I remembered it! Ureshii wa!!" "Mochiron shinyuu-chan," Arale piped. "Why wouldn't it be?" Gohan forgot her question for the moment, a bit startled by the first thing she'd said. "I'm your friend?" All this time Gohan spent around Piccolo had caused him to get used to considering the Namek a friend while not openly shown any signs of mutual affection in return. Now that he *was* getting it, it all seemed so alien to him. Arale looked at him strangely, "Of course you are. Why wouldn't you be?" A bit embarrassed after realizing what he'd said, Gohan quickly said with a chuckle, "Well I suppose I *could* take time out of my schedule to hang out with you a bit." His joke succeeded in getting Arale's attention and rolling her eyes she replied, "Oh yeah Mr. Cool, please teach me your ways, and maybe when you're done studying math you'll want to come out and play with me and Gachan?" With that she turned on her heel and began to exit the room with her nose high in the air. "Oh you can't turn your back on me that easily little girl." With that, Gohan tackled her playfully, and laughing the two wrestled on the floor up until Chichi came up to scold them. ****** "Ha-ha-ha! Your mom can be pretty cool, when she wants to," Arale said between bites of her beef-buns. "Uh-huh," Gohan muffled, his mouth already full of food. Chichi had allowed the two to eat their dinners outside on the porch that night, and they were now enjoying a nice view of the sunset while they delved into their meat buns and pies. "So..." Gohan asked after swallowing his mouthful and washing it down with some soyamilk, "how much longer will you be staying with us?" "Well, Hakase and Sensei have been in the hospital for quite awhile now. The hospital hakases say that Sensei will be out in a week, and Hakase in two weeks. So I guess by then." "But where will you guys go? Your hometown was destroyed wasn't it?" At that, Arale fell silent and stared at her food saying nothing. Remembering that it was still a difficult subject to deal with, Gohan patted her shoulder encouragingly. "Well... I guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said after moment and then nothing more. Gohan did not pursue the subject anymore. ****** Meditating quietly beneath a large Oak tree, Piccolo's keen senses alerted him the second Gohan flew within seeing range. Opening his eyes, the Namek readied to greet his pupil, and when the boy landed a few feet before him, he could barely hold back a small smile from reaching his face. "What brings you here Gohan?" "Piccolo-san!" Gohan trilled happily. Taking a seat in front of his master, Gohan hooked his arms around his knees as he breathed in the chilly air. Piccolo raised an eye, sensing something was troubling the boy. "Doushita?" "Hmm?" Gohan looked up then back down at the ground before him. "Oh, I guess I'm just wondering about my dad and stuff. Just how long will it be before he'll be wished back?" Piccolo clucked at the boy's concern and closed his eyes. "That needn't be your worry kid, in a few days we'll all be heading back to Capsule Corp to speak with the new elder, Moori. The new Namek Balls should be ready by then so you'll all be able to make your wishes." "Honto?!" Gohan brightened up considerably and gave his mentor an admiring look. He always seemed to know exactly the *right* things to say, Gohan was in a better mood already. Now if only there was something he could do for Arale... "By the way..." the Namek added, as though reading the boy's thoughts. "Who is that little girl with the giant glasses that was with your mom before?" "Oh," Gohan had forgotten Piccolo had still been dead when they first met Arale. "She's a friend we met before, back when Vegita and Nappa were trying to kill her. Arale also knew Otousan back when he was a kid. Somehow." "Is that so..." Piccolo took a moment to think. "Her village was also destroyed by Vegita," Gohan continued. "I wish we could use one of Porunga's wishes to revive her people." "No chance kid, Porunga can only revive one person at a time. Shenlong won't be able to be called upon for another year and by then all the villagers' souls will be settled into Heaven." "I suppose you're right..." Piccolo didn't like the fact that he was feeling sorry for the boy and to an extent, even his new purple-haired playmate. Sighing he looked down at Gohan and tried to sound hopeful. "Don't worry, we'll think of something." "Hai..." Gohan nodded in response. ****** Hmm... not too shabby... Vegita thought as he inspected his room. Bulma's parents had given him the guest room Yamcha used to sleep in whenever he stayed over at Capsule Corp, back when he was alive. The prince of Saiyans had been deeply insulted at first to be given the former room of a man he once had killed, but he had to admit that guest room or not, it was still pretty damn nice. No where near as nice as the royal chambers I used to reside in as a child, but still better than the filthy outdoors I've been sleeping in for the past 20 or so years. Flopping himself onto the bed, Vegita pondered what Mrs. Briefs had told him when he asked if there was some place he could train in preparation for Kakarotto's resurrection. "There's a special room that Bulma-chan's Papa originally made for Gokou-chan that can increase the gravity. We installed one in the ship he was using to get to Namek, but I'm sure you'll find the one we have here just as useful. First try to get some rest Vegita-chan." This is what she had said. We'll see... thought Vegita as he drifted into sleep. ****** Bulma let the cloth rag run a few seconds under the cool tap water before screwing back the handles and wringing it out over the sink. Walking back to her bed, she carefully dabbed the unconscious child's forehead and inspected for any signs of his waking. Compared to her queen-sized bed, he looked much smaller than he really was. Bulma herself probably looked that small when she slept alone in it and just didn't see herself all this time. She chuckled slightly and let the damp cloth sit on his forehead while she kneeled over her bed. Sitting her head in her crossed arms she began to ponder what her father had said about the possibility of the child not being from this planet. Was it possible? Of course, anything was really. But what should it matter? There were already two alien races residing in her building, what harm could a third one bring? That brought to Bulma's attention the matter of Vegita. Just how *was* he coping so far? She had been a bit miffed when she heard he would be sleeping in her dead boyfriend's room, but finally agreed that it was the ideal place for him to be. They certainly weren't going to put him together with the Nameks, but she still strongly believed that he wouldn't cause them any real harm. Even though he *could* be quite scary at times--" "Ungghh...." A moan suddenly filled the air, shocking Bulma out of her thoughts. Standing up she looked to see once again, movement in the child's body. "Daijoubu desu ka? Are you okay kid?" Bulma asked in her least-menacing tone. The child stirred a minute before its eyes fluttered open again. Bulma held her breath again as enchanting green eyes lit up its face. Turning its head to face her, the child spoke. "You... You saved me?" Bulma smile, relieved that his fear was totally gone. "Eh, well... Technically that thanks should go to the Namekseijin. They found you, but we took care of you from then on." "From what on?" "From the time they arrived on Chikyu" Bulma chuckled. "Doko?" "Uh... you don't know where Chikyu is?" The kid replied with a blank stare. Bulma sighed, Papa had been right; this child was an alien. But even the Nameks had thought he was one of them. "I'll explain it in a second er... What's your name by the way?" As though he didn't hear her, the kid turned his head over both sides to check if any else was in the room. He then began curling and uncurling his fingers slowly, gradually getting used to the feel of moving again after such a long time. As he struggled to sit up, Bulma moved forward to aid him, slipping her hand behind his back and pulling him up. "A... Arigato." Bulma just smiled cutely. After getting a bit used to being able to move again, the child looked around him, inspecting his surroundings. Bulma wondered for a moment if the modern earthling room was much different from the ones of his homeworld. "By the way..." he added after a minute of not speaking, "my name is Marld–... Marl." "Marl?" Bulma asked, the name barely rolling off her tongue. "That's a weird name." "Well what's yours?" Marl asked, slightly offended. "Bulma." The blonde-haired one raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh okay, your point is made," Bulma gave in, "no need to make faces." Her mouth spread into a grin and she laughed at the scene that had just occurred, earning another raised eyebrow from her confused guest. "I guess Marl isn't so weird when you put it that way. But it's still kind of hard to pronounce. Do you mind if I call you Maru? Just as a nickname." Marl considered it a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I actually like it." "Okay then, Maru-kun." He looked at her a bit strangely a moment before breaking into his first genuine smile. "Ah, so you're one of the planets who use suffixes, huh? Okay then... Bulma-san." Bulma soon found herself blushing again, as his attractiveness stood out even more through his vivacity. Forcing herself to push the silly thought away, she went back to asking questions. "Would you like me to explain now how you got here?" He simply nodded in return. "Okay..." Bulma took in a deep breath, and began her story. ****** "--And that brings us to where we are now." Bulma finished her tale with Marl sitting at the edge of the bed, his mouth hanging open in astonishment. Patiently, she waited to see what his reaction would be. "Wow..." he breathed after minutes of taking it all in. "You guys had one pretty wild adventure!" "You don't know the half of it kid," laughed Bulma, "this is only ONE of our stories. Just wait until you hear the others..." The youth looked up at her, starry-eyed. "Oh wow. Cool!" He formed fists in excitement and broke into a wide grin. "I LOVE going on cool adventures like that, and I always wanted to be strong like the friends you've just told me about. Strong like my dad. A lot of people say I look like him actually." Bulma considered the thought a minute of a larger, fully-matured version of the boy before her. It didn't displease her to say the least and she suddenly smacked herself in the face upon realizing what she was thinking. Just what the hell is wrong with me? I can't seem to help these dirty little thoughts I've been having lately... First Son-kun, next this kid and, and even Vegita sometimes! Who next? But deep down, Bulma knew just what the problem was: She missed Yamcha. It'd been quite a while since she'd been with a man, she had just been too busy to realize it until now. And all this time she'd been surrounded by men... Heck she even had two new, single guests in her home right this minute! True, one of them was a minor and the other a ruthless killing machine, both aliens, but that didn't prevent naughty thoughts from entering her mind now and then. But as much as she may have secretly wanted it, now was not the time for smut. It was Yamcha whom she loved and there was still much to do. And, if all things went accordingly, Yamcha would be back in a few days anyway, so... "So..." she began, trying to stray her mind away from their previous thoughts, "what planet are you from? I mean, I was really quite sure you were human like us. Even more so than Saiyajin since you don't have a tail. Um, you *don't* have a tail do you?" Surprised by the question, Marl quickly shook his head. "No way! Uh-uh! I don't have anything weird growing on me either, it's all er... Well pretty much the flesh you can see on me underneath these clothes, I can assure you. My people seem to look a lot like yours, with maybe some different clothes." He gestured towards the Earth-style clothes Bulma wore, and then back to his own turquoise tunic which seemed to resemble a martial artist's karate gi, green undershirt and baggy cream-white pants. While the concepts weren't that different from earth clothing, the styles certainly were. Bulma didn't think she had ever seen a guy walking casually down the street in a battle tunic like that. Orange training suits on the other hand... "Where I come from is called Mattasei," Marl continued, "I can't really say much if it's like your planet or not since I haven't really seen anything yet. But I can already tell you now, our rooms don't look much like these ones. They're either really fancy or really common." Bulma contemplated a moment. "Planet Matta you say? Fascinating... Are you guys aware of other planets in your galaxy? I mean, we on Earth were pretty much ignorant until a little while ago, while the Saiyajin on the other hand collaborated with this Freeza guy--" "Yeah, we are aware of other planets but, um... Don't really meddle in their affairs. The whole place is totally isolated; no ones allowed to leave or get in unless you're special authority..... Well at least that's how things were the last time I was there..." he trailed. Bulma noticed the slight hint of homesickness in his voice. "Maru-kun, just how old are you?" "Seventy-three years." Bulma stared motionless a moment before doing a double take. "WHAT?!" Scratching his head, Marl took a short time to figure things out. "Hmm... Oh yeah I got it! I kinda forgot that sometimes this special aging doesn't count for all planet," he chuckled nervously. "Well you see the people on my planet have really long life-spans, so we age really slowly. Living about seventy-three years means I'm about 14 of my planet's full seasons old. Which is about 14 physical years on your planet. For every 5 years we live, we only physically and mentally age 1. Do you understand what I mean." Luckily, Bulma always had a knack for picking up on things quickly. "I believe I do... So judging by my looks, you would've probably assumed I was, what? Between 145 and 150 years old?" Marl nodded his head in confirmation and Bulma had to shake her head in disbelief. Still she continued. "Although *technically* since I've only been living about 29 years, that would make me 5, almost 6 of your planet's ‘full seasons'?" "That's right, you'd still be considered a child." Bulma shook her head again, finding it all incredible to believe. "Amazing! Just amazing!" she raved. "Well it isn't *that* unusual," Marl defended. "Lots of other planets are subject to the same kind of aging. Like the Saiyajin you were telling me about before, and I can assure you that guy Freeza would probably live even LONGER. It all depends on the strength of the race." "I see," Bulma replied, fully beginning to understand and noted that Earthlings must be a REALLY weak planet to have such small life spans in comparison. "But tell me, if you're only fourteen er, full seasons old, then what were you doing all alone on planet Namek." Marl fell silent a minute and stared at the brown boots on his feet. Bulma was just about to apologize and dismiss the subject when he spoke up. "I left planet at ten seasons, to try and look for something on Namek. I know it may seem silly, well my dad thought it was at least, but I felt this heirloom that was left behind there was important to my family's heritage! I thought we should've all gone to get it back but they said it wasn't worth the risk." Bulma felt like asking who ‘they' were but kept quiet. "So, I left. I stole a one-man ship and managed to escape the planet. I found my way to Namek, where my ancestors had been marooned at one point in their life and retrieved what I came to get." With that, he reached inside his tunic and pulled something out. A necklace. One of the most beautiful necklaces Bulma had ever seen. The stone was a spheric prism, glowing a lovely bluish and sparkling like an ocean in the sunlight. It was gold-brimmed and the chain which held it was solid gold too. Hesitantly, Bulma reached out to touch it after checking for consent from Marl. When he nodded for her to go on, she touched it lightly with a finger and gasped as a small glow emanated from the rock to her hand. Bringing her hand close to her face, she observed it with quiet awe. Her hand was surrounded by a gentle whitish-blue aura! It felt tingly, surreal and utterly delightful. She sighed as a fresh feeling filled her body and breathed it out slowly. After a few minutes the glow had disappeared and Bulma found herself wondering what had just happened. Turning her attention back to Marl, she found the kid with smug-looking grin on his face, and she flushed in embarrassment at her actions. "Pretty cool, huh?" Marl asked, as though he had been expecting what happened. "Yeah..." Bulma breathed. The jewel was simply incredible! The high she had received was unequal to almost anything she had ever experienced. *Almost*... But where would such a jewel come from? She'd have to learn more about this Mattasei, but all in due time of course. "Anyways..." Bulma continued, changing the subject. "You must be tired from all these questions. Would you like me to leave you to get some more rest?" "Well actually I'm not that tired," Marl admitted. "I am a bit hungry however." Food, of course! Bulma couldn't believe it still hadn't occurred to her that he might be hungry. "Okay then you can just wait up here while I go down to make you something myself. Er... I'm not sure what kind of food your planet has exactly... How does soup sound?" "Soup's good." Relieved, Bulma was glad Mattaseijin weren't anything like Saiyajin. So much more... ‘civilized' they seemed, when using Marl as a prime example. "Okay Maru-kun, just wait here. I'll be back." ****** Vegita turned around fiercely as he heard the woman approach him from behind. "What do you want?" he snarled as he clutched the fruits and meats he had ransacked from the refrigerator, close to him. "Nothing. But you know, since you are in *my* home, in *my* kitchen, stealing *my* food, I think you had better start being a bit more polite with me from now on." Bulma crossed her arms angrily as Vegita seemed to ignore her words, hugging the overload of food protectively and growling whenever she tried to take a step forward. Sighing, Bulma tried reasoning with him. "Listen, I know my way better around this kitchen than you do, and you obviously aren't going to eat that meat raw." He raised an eye at her and when it dawned on her what he was implying she shuddered in disgust. "Well, I'm sure you'd *rather* eat it cooked at least," she tried instead and luckily for her, the idea seemed to appeal to the Saiyajin. He dumped the pile of food on a counter and took a step back, pointing a finger her way. "Alright woman, I'll agree to this. Now COOK." "My aren't we touchy," Bulma joked. "I'm hungry," was all he grumbled in return. "I can understand that..." Bulma said as she began pulling out pots, pans and other various cooking utensils. A sudden wicked thought crossed her mind. "But remember what I said before; you try and seduce me once and you'll be sleeping on the couch!" She concluded her statement with a high-pitched cocky laugh which sent Vegita into a nervous twitch. Reddening in embarrassment he turned away crossing his arms. What a vulgar woman...! He thought angrily. Just what is her problem anyway? He stomped off into the sitting room, still red and Bulma couldn't help the surges of laughter which were filling her body. After a few minutes and she had managed to calm herself down, she set back to preparing the food, with what little knowledge she had. To her surprise though, she found herself in a much more high-spirited mood than she had been before. It had been quite awhile since she had laughed that hard. Grinning, Bulma knew having Vegita around was going to be lots more fun than she would have ever believed. After a few minutes of trying to figure out how the stove worked, Bulma gave up and signaled for the servant robots to come prepare the food for her. ***End of Chapter 5***