Unwanted: Bulma's Son

Unwanted


Chapter 15 - Bulma's Son


"Where exactly are we going?" Bulma finally demanded after what felt like hours of travel. She had Trunks tucked neatly in her lap. He had fallen asleep some time ago, his crying having exhausted him.


"Home, of course," Nexus lifted his eyelids. He had been out more than a half a day setting his newest pursuit at victory afoot. Though he would like nothing more than to catch a few moments of sleep, he had learned better the last time he was in a carriage with the dangerous woman; she could not be trusted. "How long has it been, hm? Two years since you have seen your mother? She will be most pleased to have you back, along with her grandson."


Bulma's grip unconsciously tightened on her son. Lowering her eyes, she hissed under her breath, "Of all the ways my own mother could have betrayed me, this was truly the most vindictive." Seripa was one of only three people Bulma had told of her pregnancy, and only her pregnancy. She had kept the identity of Trunks' father a secret from all parties. Logic told her, the less who knew, the less who would find out. Seripa had seemed understanding. In fact, she helped cover for Bulma during her extended absence while she was too far along to hide her condition anymore. Her mother had been an incredible support system for her. It destroyed her to learn that her mother had finally failed in that support so many years later.


"Actually, I would call it genius. Your affair seven years ago has turned out to be the perfect means to end this war. You should be excited that your mother has been gracious enough to pull you over to the winning side." Bulma did not turn back to him. There was no point in wasting her breath disagreeing with the monster. He would never be able to process an honorable thought in his utterly corrupt mind. "But I am curious," he leaned forward slightly, "your mother was unaware of the identity of the man who managed to knock you up. I, like her, immediately assumed it was your childhood love, Kakarrot. However, we could not understand why you gave the boy up. He would have been the heir to the Tomabatsu throne, with royal blood from the lineage of the Vegetabatsu pulsing through his veins; that is not the type of child one neglects. So, it only makes sense that you whored yourself off to an unimportant lover, perhaps a palace guard or a foot soldier, maybe even a servant. Oh, do share. I am just quaking with curiosity."


Though his final request was made with heavy sarcasm, Bulma felt certain he would not rest until his sick inquisitiveness was satisfied. But she would not allow herself to be frightened. If anything she was relieved. If Nexus had any idea that the child sitting before him was the heir not only to the Tomabatsu throne, but to that of the Vegetabatsu as well, her worst nightmare would come true.


No decision she had ever made in all her life could compare to the trauma of deciding to relinquish the rearing of her child to two of her childhood friends. Juuhachigou and Krillin had been married just five years when Juuhachigou confided in Bulma that she was unable to bear children. When Bulma learned she had conceived, the most logical course of action was to hide away with her elder friends until she gave birth, and then leave him in their care while she tried to put her life back into some unity. After all, at the time, she was still a mere child herself.


Her decision had been made after much soul searching. As angered as she was by how her son was conceived, when settling on how to handle his future she tried to put her personal feelings aside. The thought of telling Vegeta and agreeing to his promise of marriage may have been the simplest fix to a complicated situation, but she did not believe it would have been a successful one in the long run.


The war was still ongoing. The birth of any child that would unite the Vegeta and Tomabatsu would place a deadly bull's-eye on the poor soul's head. And then there was his inadequate parentage to consider. Vegeta had been so consumed by the war he likely would have only seen the boy twice before his fourth birthday. And Bulma, while her heart was in the right place and she would have made every effort to be a good mother, she was simply too young, too inexperienced, too unprepared to raise the boy alone. And when the time came for a conclusion to be reached, she realized the child deserved better than to be raised in the middle of a war with an absentee father and a child of a mother.


So Bulma pleaded with her friends. She told them of her situation, and asked them to be the parents she could not provide Trunks with. They had been thrilled by the prospect of having a child of their own to raise, but sympathetic to the emotional cost it would cause Bulma the day she parted from a child she had carried in her womb for nine long months.


After she recuperated from a delivery that saw the sun rise and set, Bulma had stayed for the following month, nursing the child before the day came when her extended absence would have aroused suspicion. As much as she had grown to love her son, as much as she desperately wished to stay with him, for his protection she left.


In the next six months she returned for two days in every seven, supplying fresh and stored nourishment for her son. But then the time finally came when he no longer needed her continual presence, and Krillin and Juuhachigou advised her that she had to begin to wean her visits. When the moment came that Bulma realized she had to part from her son, she had second thoughts. She wanted desperately to keep him with her, to take him back to her home and raise him herself. But she forced herself to make the decision that was in her son's best interest. And after holding him one last time, she parted from the innocent child.


For the last five plus years, Bulma managed one weekend every other month to sneak off and see her child. Though she had wished for more time with him, she never dared chance it, especially after marrying Vegeta. It had taken her an entire month of nonstop badgering before she properly had encouraged her husband to allow her those two days in sixty to spend time out from under his close watch. Though a guard was always ordered to follow, she had more than enough jewels to barter for his looking the other way as she disappeared in peace. Several times she had even melted down to coin form the gold of her duplicate wedding bands as payment for her guard's disappearing act. It was always interesting to see the look upon her husband's face when she returned with her excuses for the ring's absence.


In some moments of weakness, Bulma considered the possibility of telling Vegeta of Trunks' existence. As the months passed, she had been privileged to observe a changed man. Vegeta was no longer the person he was the night Trunks was conceived, and the more Bulma began to see that, the more guilt she felt in keeping the truth from him. But then reason always won. The war was not yet over. Nexus was still at large, thus placing Trunks in imminent danger should the knowledge of his life be made public.


Plus, Trunks was happy. He had two loving parents, the only parents he had ever known. How could she suddenly interrupt his life? Take him away from Juuhachigou and Krillin? She could not. And more than that, she could not trust Vegeta. If he knew he had a son, he would not only alert the public, but the boy himself of a secret she had fought so hard to keep sacred. She could not allow that to happen.


After debating how she could incorporate herself into her son's life without causing him any confusion, Bulma decided to present herself as his aunt. Thus, he never questioned her minimal, yet continual presence in his life. He looked upon her as a flesh and blood relation, a member of his family who loved him with all her heart. It was as close to the truth as she could safely ask for.


Not relenting in the least her protection, Bulma offered an unspecific answer, that she hoped would be enough to squelch her captor's further questioning, "A soldier. He died during the war." The less specific, the better she felt about her answer. Looking forlorn, as if she was recollecting the man, Bulma stroked her fingers through her son's hair. Placing a kiss upon his forehead, she continued rubbing his back, hoping the small gesture was giving him some comfort.


"Does Vegeta know?" The question sent a chill down Bulma's spine. No, he could not know! But before Bulma could choke out a response, Nexus continued, "I just have to wonder how your dear husband would react to knowing his virtuous wife is not quite so virtuous." The fool laughed at his own joke and Bulma took a moment to relax. Of course he did not know. She had to remain calm, keep her senses straight.


"You know, that annulment Vegeta wrote up was quite fascinating to read," more mindless banter Nexus was spewing. Bulma wanted to smack the arrogant smirk off his slimy face as he leaned back casually against his seat in the carriage, as if he had not just murdered in cold blood and taken a child and woman as his hostages. "Apparently you have grounds for the separation since the two of you never consummated the union." Bulma felt her eyes fall shut in shame. That was no longer true, which meant short of lying they would now have to divorce. What had they been thinking last night? "Not that I blame you, quite a horror it must have been to marry the little troll. But what I found curious was that if you were not sleeping with him, and as my spies told me, you were raising regular hell in his life, why would he insist upon such a grand financial settlement for you?"


"What?" Bulma blinked, forgetting all troubles as the bizarre admittance was made. The thought of Vegeta setting monies aside for her seemed, well, odd. She had never asked him for anything and on more than one occasion he had reveled in the thought of booting his inevitably impoverished wife. After all, once she severed ties with her mother, she lost access to all of her inheritance left by her father.


"Well, I suppose it must have been a part of your marriage arrangement," Nexus continued his musings, "But twenty million dorus and an estate on the northern boundaries seemed a bit excessive. You must have bargained with him when he was in the most desperate of straights for such an amount." Bulma's eyes immediately fell to the floor, so much? She had not even thought of his leaving her a financial settlement. He had given her a home and protection for two years; she had not wanted more from him, certainly not such an excessive amount. Why had he been so generous? "Then again," Nexus seemed to be lacking any inner monologue, "it also allotted for your around the clock protection and that you be allowed to retain the title of Princess should all peoples of Vegeta-sei reunite, as if that would ever happen!"


More laughter slowly dissipated from Bulma's hearing as she attempted to process the new information. This had not been an annulment written in haste to end a marriage; it was meticulously thought out, and by the sound of it, geared to offer her every benefit imaginable. Why would Vegeta have stipulated she acquire so much?


Bulma's stomach knotted even more tightly. A vision of the night she had spent with her husband came to mind. "Nothing I can have..." Her heart skipped a beat. Is it possible? Do lavish gestures like this not equate more than simple passion? Was it possible that he truly cared for her? Is that why he wanted her to have every luxury?


The carriage shook and before Bulma could even consider an answer to her questions, she had her arms around her son, holding him tightly as she tried to steady them. "What's happening?" The shaking became more violent; it felt as if they were driving over sharp, thick rocks.


Nexus, appearing just as startled as Bulma, braced his arms on both sides of the carriage. "Driver!" he screamed as he pounded on the carriage wall behind him, "Stop this nauseating movement now!"


But the driver did not or could not stop, because the shaking became worse. A sound similar to wood snapping echoed and everything went dark.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"I hope your assignation was enjoyable," Vegeta bit into a meaty chicken leg as he looked across the table at his brother, "You barely stayed a full day." The king dropped the leg and leaned back. Grasping his goblet, he swallowed the rest of his wine.


"Actually, I ended up leaving last night instead of this morning to see them. It occurred to me that under the circumstances my presence is best here, so I decided to stay only long enough to explain all that had happened in my absence. Chi-Chi and her father were greatly sympathetic."


"Is that so?" Vegeta's lips twitched with shrewd amusement, "Was the little lass jealous you are currently living with another woman?"


"It will never cease to amaze me how you can make something so innocent sound so vile," Kakarrot lowered his head as he continued feasting.


"Innocent, you say?" Vegeta did not look up at his brother as he made the query. He simply gazed at the rim of his cup, circling it with his middle finger as he added, "Interesting choice of words, brother."


Kakarrot's eyes lifted, as he released the wing he had been chomping into. He sat back in his chair, wiping his hands clean. He took a swig of his wine and then asked, "What are you implying?"


For some time, Vegeta did not answer; he simply continued focusing on his cup before he looked up through his eyelashes, "I was simply wondering how you could call sleeping with one woman while being engaged to another innocent."


Kakarrot was on his feet faster than Vegeta could lift his eyelids to follow him, "You had me tailed."


Returning his cup to the table, Vegeta willingly admitted, "After a rather tumultuous night, I decided to take a stroll around the castle grounds. On my journey I caught you setting off in the dead of night. I thought it a bit odd considering you had said you would wait until tomorrow, but then I recalled how on more than one occasion you were quite adamant about Bulma not meeting this woman who saved your life. I was curious, so I sent a scout to follow you. Imagine my surprise when he returned this afternoon to inform me that he saw you enter a small cottage and the moment you stepped inside you pressed your lips to another woman's in a manner-as he described it-that was quite passionate."


"Vegeta-" Kakarrot attempted to explain, his brother would listen to none of it.


"Another woman," Vegeta repeated, his fists clenching upon the table. The hypocrisy of his anger was completely lost upon him, "Who apparently resides in a cottage less than a mile from the waterfall you and Bulma took a dive over. That cottage is on Nexus' territory, Kakarrot. Not only are you lying to a woman you claim to love, but your mistress is a part of the Nappabatsu, our fucking enemies! Those who stole our heritage for ten years, those who killed our father and the father of a woman you once claimed to love! You are giving up the rightful heir to a territory that supported our father in his greatest hour of need for a descendent of a fucking traitor?!" The blow knocked the wind right out of the king, sending him tumbling to the floor.


Kakarrot followed his casualty to the ground. Fists flew. Vegeta savored it; he had much pent up rage between the fiasco with his wife the night before and her subsequent disappearance-again. Learning of his brother's scandalous affair was the final push over the edge. If felt damn good to punch something.


"Enough!" Kakarrot was the first to call a halt to their skirmish, collapsing next to his brother. Both men took a moment to catch their breaths. "I won't have you insulting her again."


Vegeta scoffed, "Noble words, but where is your devotion for the first woman you pledged yourself to?"


A slow frown fell across Kakarrot's lips as he shook his head, "Radditz is right. You do not want to part with Bulma."


"Radditz is a fucking idiot," Vegeta responded vulgarly as he rose to his feet. "Besides, this has nothing to do with me."


"I disagree," Kakarrot followed. "I think it has everything to do with you. But then again, everything in your life usually does." The comment afforded him a dirty look. "Look, Vegeta, I will admit I kissed another woman last night. I did not plan it, I did not mean for it to happen, but I swear it went no further than that. I am devoted to Bulma. I want to marry her. Last night with Chi-it did not mean anything."


"Even if I believed you, I will not forgive this woman's heritage," Vegeta declared.


"But I have," Kakarrot disagreed emphatically. "Look, Chi-Chi's only crime was being born on the wrong side of a boundary our father helped draw." When his brother appeared unmoved, Kakarrot altered his approach. "You want to use this to convince Bulma to reject me, don't you? That is where you are going with this, is it not? You want to push her away from me so she will stay with you."


Vegeta snorted in rebuttal. "My wife and I are finished. I do not give a shit whether or not she wants to pursue you or still holds you in her heart. As far as I am concerned you both can take another flying leap together. And have your conspirator of a mistress join you, because if she doesn't, she will when I eliminate every last one of those who support Nexus."


"You don't mean that," Kakarrot interjected accusingly, "you gave up killing innocents."


"And now I am giving up giving up killing innocents. See how easily I can be moved?" Damn easily now that he and Bulma were officially over. His debt to her was repaid. He gave her more than two years of protection; he owed her nothing else.


"What happened between you two?" the younger sibling frowned as he crossed his arms. "What happened in the one day that I was gone to turn you into this?"


Rising from his seat in a huff, Vegeta tossed his cape over his shoulder and headed toward the exit. "I awoke from a lust induced coma," he threw the comment out emotionlessly. He felt emotionless ever since last night. Vegeta had spent too long obsessed with his wife. He had a war to plan, a kingdom to overthrow. Better the blue-eyed distraction was removed from his life.


"Vegeta? Vegeta, where are you going?" Kakarrot looked over his shoulder to try and figure out what had suddenly caused his brother to scatter.


"To fight a war I should have finished two years ago," Vegeta admitted darkly as he headed down the hall. To hell with his traitorous brother, to hell with his wife who wished to scorn him for the rest of his miserable existence. As far as the king was concerned they could all go to hell while he began plotting to send Nexus after them.


Turning the corner, Vegeta stopped dead in his tracks as he quite literally bumped into one of his subjects. "Radditz!?" Vegeta's eyes scanned down to the strange cargo the warrior was holding. "Why do you have a child in your arms?" a small child, perhaps somewhere around the age of five or six with rather tanned skin and lavender hair. The boy had several bruises and scratches on his body, and had it not been for the soft sound of his snoring, Vegeta would have thought the boy unconscious rather than asleep.


"If you walk with me as I continue towards the medical ward, I will explain," Radditz sidestepped his king and continued in the direction Vegeta had just come from. Not a moment later, Kakarrot collided with the trio and repeated the same question Vegeta just had.


"If you would also kindly keep your voice down," Radditz advised just before they entered the ward. Heading straight for Vegeta's private wing, Radditz barked out a few orders to the staff before finding a comfortable bed to place the child on.


For the next few minutes, medical personnel came in, and Vegeta and Kakarrot stood silently thunderstruck as the boy was treated. It was only after the child's injuries were attended to and the staff had all vacated the private room that Vegeta demanded, "Why did you bring some poor urchin into my private medical facility and have my staff waste their time with him while you should be worrying about more important things-like my war?!"


The young boy's eyes flinched at the sound of Vegeta's harsh voice, but then he turned over onto his side and seemed to fall back into a comforting sleep. As soon as the child settled, Radditz solemnly admitted, "He is no urchin, Vegeta." Clearing his throat, the elder man softened his tone as he relayed the astonishing news he had come to conclude, "He's Bulma's son."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~