“-Oko?  Naoko?”
    She blinked furiously.  Where was she?  What had happened?  Who’s voice was that?  She tried to sit up.  She couldn’t.  None of her muscles would move when she willed them to.  She closed her eyes again, trying to regain her strength.
    “She’s coming to,” another voice said.
    “Naoko?”  the first repeated.
    Tales.  That’s who it was.  Tales? Why was Tales there?  She thought long and hard about this one until her head began to ache.  He was there…She couldn’t remember.  He was just there.  She slowly tried to move her hand.  Start small, she told herself.  Her fingers flexed.  She was ready to jump into the air in excitement, but she couldn’t, so she didn’t.  She settled for opening her eyes again.
    They slowly came into focus.  “See, there, what’d I tell you?” said the second voice.  She didn’t recognize this one.
She tried to use her mouth to form words.  “Water,” she managed to croak.  She felt someone prop her up.  She tried to turn her head, succeeded and saw it was Tales.  He smiled wryly when he saw her looking at him and handed her a glass of water.  To her surprise, her hands worked enough to take it from him and hold it without spilling.  She brought it to her lips and drank, soothing her parched throat.  She lowered the glass and Tales took it, setting it on the bedside table.
    Naoko looked around.  She was in a white room, like one in a hospital.  A pretty, blue-haired woman sat at a computer a few feet away, typing furiously.      Vegeta was asleep in a large, fuzzy red chair and Tales was in a similar chair next to her bed.
    “What happened?” she asked, looking at him.
    He looked down nervously and rubbed his arm.  “Well…I’ll admit...I wasn’t thinking very much…and I told you not to-don’t forget that, but, you just barged right in and…”  Tales trailed off.
    Naoko stared at him.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.
    “Well, what I mean to say is…uh-well, I heard this voice, right?  Singing.  Well, I thought I recognized it, so I flew down and followed it to this big temple.  Well, Oniko was there.  She-“
    “Oniko?!” Naoko’s eyes flared.
    Tales nodded slowly.  “Yes.  I guess it never really occurred to me before that you two were related, but she told me and then, she was about to kill me and Vegeta.  And you barged in.  I had it handled, really, but you wouldn’t listen and-“  He stopped.  His speech slowed from the heartbeat pace it had been.  “You took the full brunt of the blast, Naoko.”  She looked closely at him and thought she maybe saw a tear well up in one eye.  “Even though you didn’t listen, I take full responsibility for it.  I could’ve stopped it, but I thought you could handle it.  So, when she left, I brought you here, to the nearest town.  You’ve been out for a little over a week.”
    Naoko looked down, not knowing what to say.  She tried several times, but each time, her throat seized up when she got to the second word.  “Thank you,” she finally managed after a few minutes of struggling.
    He waved his hand dismissively.  “Don’t worry about it.”
    “No, honestly.  Thanks.”  She touched his hand and he hurriedly recoiled.  Naoko looked down.
    “Hey, Naoko, you don’t need to spend anymore time in here.  In fact, if I were you, I’d get up and moving pretty soon.”
    Naoko and Tales’ attention was averted by the woman, who had just left her computer.  She had shoulder length blue hair and blue eyes and was looking over a few charts.
    “Yeah, of course.”  Tales stood up and reached out to help her.  Naoko took his hand and he pulled her up.  “Naoko, this is Bulma.  Owner of Capsule Corp.  She’s a total genius.  In fact, it’s only because of her that both of us survived with the injuries we got.”
    Bulma grinned.  “Oh, don’t embarrass me.  Although, you are right.  I am a genius!”
    Naoko and Tales face faulted and Naoko extended her hand.  Bulma took it, they shook briefly and all three looked over when Vegeta yawned.  Naoko dropped Bulma’s hand and went to crouch next to the chair he was lying in.  He blearily opened his eyes and looked up.  “Mommy?”  He blinked a few times.  “Mommy!”  Vegeta leapt at Naoko and she fell back, laughing.  “Mommy, you’re all better!”
    They hugged each other, Naoko still laughing.  Tales hesitated behind him, but Bulma pushed him, giving him an encouraging smile and he stepped forward, sitting down next to them.   “You guys ready to go?  Because we have to leave soon,” Tales added when Naoko sent him a sour look.
    She sighed and stood up, holding Vegeta.  “I guess you’re right.  We have to go.”
    “Hey, before you go, I want to show you something,” Bulma said.  She beckoned.  Naoko and Tales looked at each other and followed.

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