Untamed: Out of Obligation

"I should have allowed Mutenroshi to come with us, instead," Bulma mumbled furiously as she slipped quickly into into a plain, pearl-white pair of cotton panties, with a matching bra before searching for the rest of her clothes in a small closet at the wall. "At least he would be of some use and couldn´t transform into sponges, bath towels, or undergarments."

As if all the danger and concern they had been through weren´t enough, she also had this nuisance to worry about. The beautiful scientist couldn´t even pee once without the feeling that the little pervert was hidden somewhere, peeking in on her. It would be a wonder if when they went back to Earth she wouldn´t be all filled with wrinkles and gray hairs.

"I should have allowed him to bring his damn porn magazines. At least he would have other girls to ogle about;even if not as pretty as me. But here out on space, I´m the only human woman around, with hair and two breasts," she concluded proudly as she finished pulling on the black spandexes that had become her uniform since the trip had started. Save for a few orange, baggy vests to wear over them--and undergarments of course --she hadn´t brought anything else to wear. Rather she had been thinking they´d would spend most of time in spacesuits. Sighing, she pulled a vest from the closet and slammed shut its door with a push.

It was all Chichi´s fault, with her stupid idea of a baby-sitter. Ha! Oolong wasn´t even able to take care of himself, let alone of a kid that was far much smarter and stronger than he was. Only Gohan´s mother didn´t see things that way. Bulma wondered if all normal mothers were so paranoid about their kids (her own mother couldn´t be exactly classified as model, so Bulma didn´t exactly have a standard to define what normal was). Fortunately, she´d planned to never have children.

Unbidden, the memories of her last visit to the hospital where Goku and Yamcha had been committed floated back into her mind. All she wanted there was a nice conversation with to Goku, hoping that his optimism and comprehension swept her fears away. Unfortunately Chichi had found her presence the perfect opportunity to read for her a "small" list of recommendations about Gohan´s needs and duties. Actually, she had planned that lecture for Oolong, but the reluctant baby-sitter was nowhere to be found robably hidden somewhere and turned into something microscopic.

101; He must eat vegetables every day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Usually at breakfast I mix them in our miso-shiru. It would be good if you could do the same, so he won´t miss it. 102, He has to go to bed ALWAYS at 8:00 P.M, after having brushed his teeth. 103 ; He never can be allowed to talk to strangers."

"But Chichi..." Goku said from the mechanical cocoon in which he had been enclosed to be kept from moving. "Everybody they'll meet in this trip will be a stranger, so Gohan won´t have anybody to talk but Bulma, Krillin and Oolong! People in other planets will think he´s mute or rude."

Chichi carried on as she hadn´t heard him, "...I hope I haven´t forgotten anything. Ah, here's the list of the books he must study during the trip, so he won't be too late when you'll come back to Earth." She unrolled another piece of paper, slightly longer than the recommendations list.

"No fairy tales or bed time books? Or toys? We're plenty of space in the ship," Bulma asked sarcastically, but once again Chichi didn´t respond. It wasn´t clear if the young mother was truly absorbed at in the list or if she was deliberately ignoring any opinion different from hers about how Gohan supposed to be raised. Her frown deepened as she scanned the two long paper sheets for the millionth time. If she forgot to add anything to them, the results could be tragic.



A deep sigh came from Goku´s side of the room.

"I wish I could go with you, Bulma," he said quietly.

Chichi tilted her head back and gave him a crossed look, for the first time acknowledging his presence since she had entered the room.

"Me, too," she snapped harshly. "So Gohan wouldn't have to sacrifice himself once again to fix the troubles caused by you." she growled out before turning her attention to Bulma again, but the young scientist noticed a hurt look flashing on into Goku's eyes. She could understand how difficult it was for Chichi to be separated from her only child again after that long, agonizing year wondering if the poor boy was dead or alive. However, her friend could be more sensitive. How dared she to talk about sacrifice when Goku had given on his own life to save their son and had almost been killed a million of times for the sake of the others?

"I'd happily change places with you, Goku, if I could, she said, earning a smile from her injured friend.



Chichi spun her head around to face the older woman, her eyes softening instantaneously.



"We know that, Bulma," she said reassuringly. "Both you and Puar have been through a hell because of Yamcha. Nobody deserves that. I know how hard and how painful it must for you to be separated from him for so long, without even knowing if he´ll still be alive when you´ll come back to Earth..." 

Bulma paled visibly, lamenting that the Ox King wasn´t there to shut the mouth of his stupid daughter; well, at least to try any way. Yet they were alone, the three in that room. Although Goku noticed her distressed look and opened his mouth to ask his wife to stop, Chichi carried on, completely unaware of the discomfort she had created. 

"But, even though you´re so busy with the preparations for the trip, I think you should save more time to spend with Yamcha, even if he´s still unconscious. After all, you´re going to marry someday. Look at me, for example! God knows how hard is to be Goku´s wife. But I never neglect my wifely duties, as hard as they can be," she let out a long-suffering sigh, her eyes closing proudly at her self-sacrifice. 

She opened them again just to meet Bulma´s own blue orbs throwing sparkles of pure anger. Her body trembled visibly, while both her teeth and fists were clenched tight in a vain attempt to hold back her increasing rage. Chichi´s eyebrows lifted in surprise, but before she could say anything, Bulma widened out her own mouth in a grimace that make her teeth look like a beast´s. 

"You´re hardly anyone to teach others how to be a good wife!"she roared. "At least I never jumped over Yamcha´s injuried body at the battlefield, or blamed him for things that were completely out of his hands!" 

With that, she turned on her heels and darted out of the room, before the wide-mouthed Ox Princess could react. Mainly, before the couple could see the tears in Bulma´s eyes. The same tears that now threatened to spill just did so at that exact moment, as she stared at her own distress in the mirror.

"Damn it! from all the things why did I have to remember this, specifically?"

As horrible as it sounded, Bulma frequently thought that it would have been far much better if Yamcha had died. At least he would have joined Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu in heaven to train and improve his fighting techniques, which never had been that good to start with. He would never be in a coma in a hospital, only to regain consciousness just to be kept under the sedation of drugs. So much so that the pain wouldn´t make him crazy, even putting him at risk of becoming a junkie. Most importantly, the ones who loved him would be of course grieving, but wouldn’t go through the agony of watching him in such a horrible situation while remembering how he used to be. 

"Yamcha... you were so beautiful...


By the time when the ship was finally ready to go , Chichi had 'forgiven' Bulma´s outburst, by associating it to the tension and stress her poor friend was dealing with. The young housewife hadn´t any way of knowing that her comments had touched a secret wound in Bulma´s insides; a wound hidden deeply but kept open and throbbing with guilt. The young scientist never had worried too much about whatever people thought about her, but this was very different. She wondered if the rest of her friends thought the same as Chichi _ that she had been neglecting Yamcha. It hadn´t been completely an excuse, she really had been busy restoring Kamisama´s ship and acknowledging the preparations for the trip. But, the main reason of her visits to Yamcha being so few was that it was a torture to enter his room to see him covered with tubes and bandages like a Frankenstein´s creature. Also how difficult it was to see Puar´s loyal, scrawny form hovering around the bed, a shadow of his cheerful former self. His devotion to Yamcha had touched and worried them all, but was also somehow unnerving for Bulma. There were moments where she felt like chocking the little cat, for whenever he looked at her she felt like he was censoring her for not being so dedicated to Yamcha. For not standing there the whole time and forget to eat and sleep, at the point that Bulma and Chichi had to fight to shove some food into Puar´s throat, or he would have starved. He was a constant reminder of her secret guilt. And yet, she couldn´t help but feeling the way she did.

Karin had reassured them that Yamcha´s face would be perfect again as soon as he ate the senzu bean. However, as much as Bulma wished to believe that, inwardly she was as pessimist as Oolong, despite her optimistic façade. It was all well and good that a magic bean could make wounds stop bleeding and broken bones, but could it also restore torn flesh and skin?

If they didn´t... Plastic Surgery wasn´t well developed enough on Earth yet, even the best doctors in the world wouldn´t be able to restore such a destroyed face in a perfect way. With luck, it would become, at leas, functional, one might say. He would be able to eat without tubes and talk. Perhaps even the vision in his right eye could be restored. Yet, he would need physiotherapy and specially, a place to stay, where he could receive as much love and care as he could. And he would need her, Bulma.

As much as the rest of his friends took on, the main responsibilities would rest on her shoulders. They were already doing so, in fact; it was the Capsule Corp. that was paying all the treatment given to Yamcha (Ox King was paying Goku´s ). This was a duty that Bulma would embrace with all her heart, without any shadow of a doubt. Although she no longer saw Yamcha as her boyfriend, she´d always care about him, just like she cared about Goku. This was the major problem. It didn´t matter that they had split up before the fight with the Saiyans, because according to everyone she was still commited to Yamcha. And now that he was in such a terrible situation, everybody certainly expected that she would officialized their union to him once for all, as soon as he would recover. Ultimately making certain that she married him.

It´s so easy to judge someone when you´re not in their shoes! Kindness and generosity were supposed to be things given spontaneously, not out of obligation. If you sacrificed yourself for someone, you´re automatically a saint, a wonderful person. Unfortunately it never occurs to anybody that, sometimes you haven´t another choice, because if you don´t play Miss Selfless, then you´ll automatically be considered a selfish, inhuman, complete monster! People´s minds always worked between 8 and 80. That would undoubtedly be what would happen to her, Bulma-- if she broke up with Yamcha or fell for another man now.


"I really shouldn´t think of that. Must have faith. If senzu beans won´t work, the dragonballs will do the trick it. We´ll have them back on Earth when the Namekians resuscitate Piccolo, they promised us that. Ooh! I should have asked them to heal Yamcha, too."

Bulma blinked quickly, as if she feared that her image in on the mirror was replaced by the face present on her nightmares: the hole in the right cheek exposing white teeth and red gum, in deep contrast to the destroyed skin of the borders. She closed her eyes and looked again, to see her own, anxious face. Damn it!

Very recently, it had started plaguing her dreams again, after so long. Probably because of so many empty days without no any searching at all. All the danger and distress they had went through at their former quest for the black star dragon balls, and the planet Namek before that, had at least served as a distraction from her personal problems. Yet now, despite the crew´s attempts to keep in good humor, the tension could be occasionally noticed in their eyes. Gohan could sometimes be heard whining for his mom, dad or Mr. Piccolo when he slept, and Oolong had started stalking Bulma, no longer caring if he would be spanked or not. And she...she was gradually growing crazy! Everybody couldn´t wait to see the mission finished and come back to Earth at once.

"And yet, despite wishing that as much as the others, I catch myself dreading the moment we´ll come back to Earth" she thought, looking tensely at the mirror again.

A fist beating on the door brought her back to reality. Bulma took a deep, calming breath before opening it.


"Have you already finished the cleaning you were supposed to do?" she practically barked, even before even looking who was waiting outside, as if Bulma feared that the person out there had heard her musings.

The messenger, who happened to be Gohan, took a cautious step back.

"Uh, yes..." he said tentatively, like wondering what he had done wrong now. "Krillin told me to call you," his timid expression was quickly replaced by an enthusiatic smile. "We found something you must see!"

"And what is it... oof!" Bulma gasped as Gohan took seized her hand and hurried back to the bridge. She was forced to bend over because of his shorter size, as she stumbled to match his pace. In a few moments, they had traversed crossed the short hallway that led to the control room. At the sound of their steps, Krillin quickly turned at to them, his face beaming as much as Gohan´s, as he clutched the dragon radar in his hands.

"WE FOUND IT!!!" he yelled with an enthusiasm that matched Gohan´s, as he practically scampered towards them. "We found the last black star dragonballs, Bulma!"

"Hey, wait a minute. We still have four dragonballs to search for, remember?" she said a little sceptically as the monk handed her the radar. Suspiciously, Bulma frowned at her small invention, only to wide her eyes almost instantaneously.

"It´s... it´s not possible!" she gasped, staring at the arrow that signaled no. 3 at the screen. Then she noticed something else.

"There´s another dragonball, here,” she pointed at a signal no. 1, at the extreme point where the no. four was on the grade of the device. "It´s far away from the other three, but all the spheres are in the same planet, no doubt about it."

"Reduce the scale," Krillin said, now in a much calmer tone.

When Bulma did that, the dragon ball coordinates indicated a small, lone planet in front of them. It was an unknown system, with a sun slightly bluish and much farther from its planets than Sun was from Earth _far enough to make life possible under the stronger radiation.

They stared at the planet through the screen of the control panel.

"I never heard of this planet before. It simply doesn´t appear in any of the maps," Bulma said, after a few moments fumbling with the pile of maps they had won on other planets or that she had drawn herself during the trip. "And nobody among all the people we met in our journey ever mentioned it."

"I still think it looks too good to be true," Oolong finally mumbled from his spot. "Remember those two pink aliens we found that pretended to be Namekians to steal our ship? Maybe it´s another bandit trying to trick us."

"That would be too much of a coincidence," Krillin stated. "Those aliens were telepathic, and were trapped in that vortex. There´s no such vortex around here like that now."

"But Oolong has a point," Bulma reasoned. "I´m not saying that it really might be aliens like those guys, or if it´s another trap for us, but someone else might be collecting the dragonballs. Remember that not everyone knows that the Namekians survived to the cataclysm of Namek and moved to another planet. We´d never had found them, if it wasn´t for Kaioh´s help."

At her words, everybody sobered up and started exchanging worried glances among themselves.

"People might think they´re extinct and thus think that the normal dragon balls are no more. That´s probably why they want the black star dragonballs, too. They´re legendary throughout the universe," Gohan added, his worried eyes darting to every one of his friends. "Turles, for example! He could be collecting them, since he couldn´t get the Earth ones because Piccolo-san was murdered," his voice trembled slightly at the last word.

The name of the creature responsible for their trip sent a shiver into everyone´s spines. Oolong looked particulary sick, even he never had been anywhere near the battlefield at that terrible day. How could someone look so much like their friend Goku, who all they loved and trusted, and be so horribly evil and twisted inside?

Finally, Krillin slowly held his head up, a slow, determined expression appearing on his face as he started to talk.



"But if we don´t go, we´ll never know. Maybe it´s a trick, as Oolong said, and a waste of time. But what if it´s not? The Earth might be doomed just because we didn´t try?"



Bulma and Gohan nodded in silence at him, the same determined look appearing in their eyes, too. In silence, the bald monk stretched his arm out and offered his hand to them. The first one to put a hand over his was Gohan, then Bulma, and finally Oolong, after receiving a few glares at his hesitation. 

"To the unknown planet!" exclaimed Gohan. 

"May that be the end of our journey!" Krillin added. 

"But not the end of our lives," Oolong finished with a gulp. 

Pulling her hand back, Bulma straightened up and put both hands on her hips in a commanding stance. 

"All right, let´s stop blabbering and go to your assigned seats. I´m going to tell the computer to land, so it´s better you guys sit tight or you´ll be flattened like pancakes against the floor!"


She hadn´t yet finished her phrase and everybody was already strapping their seatbelts, with an ease brought from the practice of so many abrupt landings and taking offs of their female pilot. As Bulma herself settled cosily into her own seat and punch the keys to input the coordinates into the computer, she felt a small chill arise into her stomach, very different from the natural feeling caused by the velocity of the ship going down.

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Meanwhile, somewhere at the jungle...

"Ugly, isn´t he?" asked a high-pitched voice in a scornful tone.