In Dreams: Prologue

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z. Akira Toriyama does. I am just a broke University student, currently too broke is own television. So please do not sue!

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

Bulma couldn't have been happier to get home, to just relax and forget the last year of her life. It wasn't until she got home that she saw several cars in the driveway that the idea of relaxing had gone out the window. She groaned out loud. Her father noticed this and turned around to give her a sympathetic smile, letting her know that he thought it was too soon for a party too. Mr. Brief's took the time to help his daughter out of the car. He also picked up her traveling bag and slung it over his shoulder.

 

"Its alright dad, I can take my own bag," she assured him, trying to reach for the bag. He shook his head, and held onto the bag tightly, telling his daughter that he was going to do this, whether she liked it or not. She sighed, and stopped her fighting, knowing that her dear father had won this round. "Alright, lets just get inside and get this 'welcome home party' over with."

 

"Who says there was a party for you?" her mother questioned. "You told her didn't you?!" She pointed at her husband, a dark glare was sent his way.

 

Bulma chuckled. "There's enough cars in the driveway, that's how I know. Not because dad told me."

 

Her mother paused for a moment, and glanced around at all the cars that were in the driveway. "Oh dear, I should have given them some capsules to hide their cars in."

 

Bulma couldn't help but smile at her mother. Bulma knew her mother Bunny wasn't the most intelligent woman in the world, but it was a charm that her father and herself liked a lot about her. It almost came across as innocent and child like. A trait that always made Bulma feel connected to her mother when she was younger. "Oh well, its fine mom. Lets just get this party over with." She smiled, and turned to enter the house. She took in a deep breath, and opened the door and stepped inside.

 

"Welcome home Bulma!" a crowd cried. The lights in her living room had turned on as soon as she opened the door. She wasn't surprised by the surprise, but the amount of people did surprise her. They must have all car pooled together, because there was all her co-workers and all her friends standing there, smiling at her as she entered. She immediately felt a rush overcome her, and she felt faint. She nearly did faint, but her father caught her, and sent her a proud smile. She felt a warm tingle in her stomach at the sight of all her friends who had stuck by her throughout her cancer treatments. All of them were looking at her proudly. It was a lot for her to take in. There was so much love in the air, that she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Not that it wasn't welcomed, because it was.

 

She balanced herself and hurried over to greet the crowd. First she met a few co-workers who gave her into a warm embrace and passed along a few words to express their relief of her recovery. She sent them a few smiles before she finally made it to her two best friends.

 

"Its so good to see you two again," she grinned as she embraced the female first.

 

"Chi Chi and I missed you like crazy!" the young man commented. Bulma released Chi Chi and turned to him, and gave him a warm hug as well. "Are you feeling okay?" he questioned.

 

"Of course I am Goku," she assured her friend. "Just a little tired. Nothing a little rest couldn't fix. I need to be in top shape for your wedding next week!"

 

"Oh...about the wedding," Goku started, but slowed to a pause a moment later.

 

"We moved the date back," Chi Chi stated, finishing for her fiancée.

 

"W-why? Are you two fighting?" Bulma gasped.

 

"We moved the date back because of you actually," Chi Chi stated. Bulma's mouth hung open, and she found herself having the hardest time trying to find the correct words to say. Chi Chi continued. "We couldn't get married without our best friend present, and your parents were sure you'd be in the hospital for a few more weeks."

 

"You guys didn't need to do that," she cried, reaching for them both, pulling them into a warm embrace. Goku became excited at seeing his friend act just like she use to, and brought her up into his arms, lifting her up into a much tighter embrace. Bulma cried out, surprised by this, especially when he spun her around. She had missed this form of affection from her good friend.

 

“We did. Your our best friend. We wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for you,” Chi Chi smiled. “It would be wrong if you weren’t there for our wedding.”

 

“I want to always be there for you,” Bulma returned Chi Chi’s warm smile.

 

“And that’s exactly what we are celebrating here tonight. The fact that you will always be here,” Goku expressed. Bulma felt her insides arms at her friends speech. It was rare that her friend would say such touching words. His thoughts were usually elsewhere, not on speeches that were meant to warm the heart. He usually found other ways to do that. Such as when he gave her his very affectionate hugs, and the occasional kiss on the cheek.

 

 

8 8 8

 

 

Bulma examined her bare chest in the mirror. It was bare alright. She was topless and her bandages gone for the moment, but she was not exposed. There was nothing to be exposed. She found herself feeling naked without her breasts. She wishes that the cancer hadn’t been in her breasts. Why couldn’t she have a tumor in her brain? Vaginal cancer? Yeah, Vaginal cancer. She could have done without that. She didn’t think that she'd be a mother. So what would she need those organs for really? She could have always adopted.

 

She sighed deeply as she listened to herself. No, that wouldn’t have been right either. She would still feel the same way. ‘What are you doing to yourself Bulma?’

 

There was a quiet knock on her door, and her mother peeked her head inside the door. “Oh Bulma, do you need help redressing your bandages?” Bulma’s eyes met her mothers. She smiled and nodded, motioning for her mother to join her. Her mother smiled and joined her at her vanity table. Her mother took some of the bandages and began to help her daughter. Bandaging herself back up, and then wrapped it up to protect it from coming off while she slept. She thanked her mother as she pulled on a night shirt and turned off the light on the vanity table. “Have a good rest dear,” Bunny wished Bulma.

 

“Thanks mom,” Bulma smiled at her mother as she went to her bed. She laid down under the cool covers. She shivered as the cold sheets hit her skin, chilling her to the bone, but she relaxed none the less. Bunny went to her side, and tucked the blankets around her. She leaned down and kissed her daughter on the forehead, before she left her daughter for the night. Turning the light off, Bulma was left in the darkness. Her body relaxed and she felt herself drift off to sleep.

 

 

8 8 8

 

 

Bulma sat up in bed the next day. Her eyes were searching through the darkness, but found their way to her alarm clock. She let her eyes focus for a moment, her eyes looking for the time. 7:06AM. She groaned. She wanted to go back to sleep. She knew there was no point however. Once she was awake, she was awake. There would be no going back to sleep. Not until later in the afternoon anyway. It was a curse, that Bulma rather disliked. There was no sense in complaining about it now. She had been doing so for the last twenty-four years. She was barely down the stairs when she smelt eggs cooking in the kitchen. She grinned. At least she had some timing, since her mother was already up cooking breakfast for Mr. Brief's before he left for work. She knew there had to have been a reason for her waking up so early. This was her chance to get back to work. She was itching to get back to working on the projects she had been in the middle of before she was hospitalized.

 

“Good morning,” she greeted as she entered the kitchen.

 

“Good morning,” her mother send her the famous Bunny smile that Bulma had grown up seeing every day of her life. “How did you sleep?”

 

“Well I slept, I didn't wake up or anything,” she explained. “I wish it would have been for longer, but I'll take a nap later if I need to. Had a strange dream though.”

 

“Probably a side effect of the pain killers the doctor gave you,” her father said as he looked over from the morning paper to his daughter.

 

“Your right, drugs sometimes have side effects like this,” she replied. “Anyway. I'd like some breakfast with lots of juice. I'm ready to get to work again.” Both her parents stopped to look at her seriously, her father sternly. She stared, confused as to why they were staring at her like they were. “What?”

 

“You aren't aloud to go back to work for at least a month Bulma. Your cancer screens maybe came back clear, but your body is still recovering,” her father lectured. “And even if that wasn't an issue, you can't be doing any heavy work while your on painkillers.”

 

“But dad-”

 

“No buts Bulma Brief's,” Bunny stepped in. “You have a lot of recovering to do.”

 

“Can I at least work on tiny projects in the lab here?” she complained, sitting back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest, feeling awkward without her mounds to be in the way. Both her parents looked at the other and nodded, before her father looked at her and gave her the go ahead. She grinned, happy to know she had won at least that battle. She normally would have fought her father on the issue of work, but she knew they were just worried about her. What she had just gone though was no walk in the park.

 

“So tell us dear, what was your dream about?” her mother asked, referring back to a comment she had made a few minutes earlier. “You weren't dreaming about man-eating-salad again were you?”

 

“Mom! I had that dream over ten years ago! Drop it already!” Bulma cried. “And no it wasn't. Just this figure wearing a black cloak is all. The dream barely lasted ten seconds.”

 

“Oh sounds romantic,” her mother cheered, getting a very giddy look on her face. Bulma stared at her mother, not sure if her mother had taken something or not.

 

“How?”

 

“Mysterious tall dark stranger is why,” her mother started to go off in a rambling all her own. Bulma drew her attention away from her mother, who she knew was going to be like this for the next few hours to come.

 

“He wasn't tall,” Bulma mumbled to herself, knowing that her mother was too excited to even take the time to listen to Bulma side note. “Actually, they were kind of short.”

 

 

8 8 8

 

 

'Need a nap,' Bulma moaned in her head. She was so tired. So, very, very tired. It was late afternoon, and just as she had predicted, she would need a nap. She wasn't going to go to bed like she had said she would earlier that morning though. No, she was in the middle of something very important now. She was trying to redesign the capsules her father had created, so they would hold more at once. When she was done they would hopefully hold a few houses, and half a dozen cars. With her current state of mind, her eyes were having a hard time focusing on one spot at a time. And she was having an even harder time trying to keep them open. Then, they closed, and they did not open.

 

Bulma wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, but she did realize the moment she was in a dream. She was in a world that she had seen so much many times in her dreams before. A large garden, with yellow flowers everywhere. She stopped in the middle, and took a glance around, studying her surroundings. Her gaze stopped on something that did not seem to fit. Her eyes focused, and she realized that it was the cloaked figure she had seen for only a few moments in her dream that morning. They were standing up very straight, but they were not very tall, just like that morning. She watched him as the cloak moved a little in the breeze, but still it revealed nothing. The cloak was a cape that covered the entire body. She could see nothing but the shape of the cloak. Even the hood covered everything. She could not see anything at all.

 

The figured moved slowly toward her, even steps at a time. She was frozen, unsure what to make of the figure that was coming toward her. It was just a dream, she was sure of that, so she didn't think she had any reason to be worried. Then the figure came closer to her, and stood directly in front of her. Her pulse quickened, her eyes widening, her mind racing to what her mother had said earlier. Was what her mother said about her dream being romantic, now actually turning romantic because her mother had put the idea in her head. That idea left her mind when she felt her whole body freeze in its place. It wasn't like a normal, nervous kind of frozen. She literally felt glued in place. That couldn't have been good.

 

The figure took hold of her on either side of her shoulders. She knew he had done this because she could see it, but she didn't feel it. She was numb all over. She was actually feeling frightened now. She didn't like this feeling at all. She liked it even less when the figure tilted their head from one side, and brought themselves closer to her. If she could move she should have slapped them silly, but her whole body continued to be frozen. The feeling didn't change even as they pressed their lips to hers. She expected it to be forcefully kissed, but like her, they did not move their lips. In fact they weren't even pressed to her lips in a kissing fashion. Rather, they were holding her lips open so they were being held apart. She tried to close them, but now even her face was just as frozen as her body. She did feel a pain that started in her chest however. A deep throbbing pain that did not cease, and only grew as it began to travel up her throat. As it neared her face, she then began to feel a very strange sucking sensation coming from their own mouth. As the pain came to her lips, the sucking vacuum like sensation came to a haul. However; the pain did not go away. In fact, she felt very ill, and weak. So weak, she could no longer hold up her body and it began to drop down to the ground. She did not feel a thing as her world went black before she touched the ground.