“Now,” Bulma began talking, and Juuhachi-gou folded her arms lightly across her chest, listening. “Clothing is going to be very important here. As you could probably tell, it’s quite cold outside. I had special snowsuits designed, made to allow stretch and movement, as well as complete warmth.” She paused for a moment, resting her hand near the button that opened the closet she had led them all to. “And perhaps most importantly, camouflage.”

She lightly pushed the button and the closet door moved aside, revealing a long line of identical, snow-white uniforms. Reaching in, she pulled one out, and showed the rest of the group with a smile on her face. Juuhachi-gou turned up her nose at it, rolling her blue eyes. It was simple enough, looking fairly like Vejiita’s usual uniform, only it was a clean, thick white, and covered more skin, with a hood attached at the back. The armor was gleaming and strong, small breastplates for females and larger for the males. Along the armor were several small buttons, which Bulma explained were heating mechanisms, which heated various parts of the body. The boots and gloves were large, made of strong but light material of the armor, and also had the same heating buttons. Everything from head to toe was pure white and seamless, looking as though you could slip into the shadows of the snow and become invisible instantly, hiding amid the snowflakes and ice. They looked as though they had been engineered very carefully, and they would be warm and functional for the group, but Juuhachi-gou still thought they were ugly.

Bulma had put them into action the second they landed the ship, leading them all into the room with the winter attire that she had engineered for the mission. Juuhachi-gou was used to a more patient, thoughtful approach to situations, and the abruptness of the mission was beginning to bother her a little. It seems as though they were not prepared enough, that they hadn’t thought things through. It was true, they had the best fighters in the universe on their side, but if they weren’t prepared, things were going to get rough. It was Bulma who had stressed preparation and organization in the beginning, but it was also Bulma who told them to be ready to travel to a foreign planet in just two days. Whatever preparation and organization they had, it was rushed and careless. She didn’t voice her opinion of course, because she knew that she was already an outsider here. Without her connection to Kuririn, she was just another enemy in disguise, a bloodthirsty villain waiting to attack.

She glared at him suddenly and sharply, as if the pain of his remark before had just bit her again, stabbing her heart clear through. She had trusted him, given him her life and yet, through all of this time, she was still ‘just a machine’. It made her want to break something, scream so loudly that all the windows in the ship could shatter, fall to a million pieces on the cold tile floors. All this time she had thought that things were different, that she might even be accepted….but in the end, it was still the same. She was still jinzouningen, and they still did not trust her.

Well that’s just fine. Juuhachi-gou thought, whipping her head away from Kuririn and snatching a uniform out of Bulma’s extended hands. I don’t need them anyway. I’m strong, I’m beautiful, I’m in perfect control of my body and mind. And I still have my family too; that’s all that I need in life. She turned her gaze to her brother and her daughter, who were standing side by side, staring at the uniforms in disgust.

They obviously weren’t the only ones that didn’t find the uniforms very appealing.

“Great. We’re going to look like snowy-white Vejiita clones.” Tayhei muttered, turning the armor over in her hands.

Vejiita’s reaction was an instant, deadly glare aimed in her direction.

Trunks snorted. “What did you expect, Tayhei?” He stared her up and down, looking at her outfit, which consisted of what Juuhachi-gou thought was a very attractive dress and heels. “Tiny white dresses and spiked heels?”

“Shut up, Trunks, before I shove this spiked heel up your ass.” She smiled sweetly at him and batted her long eyelashes in innocence.

Juuhachi-gou’s face showed a hint of a smile. Part of her wished that her little Marron could have that kind of spunk. However, there was something irresistible about her daughter, something so pure and sweet that Juuhachi-gou found it hard to believe it sometimes. She watched her for a moment, as the little girl fitted a glove on her hand, testing it for give and release, balling her fists. Small strands of light blond hair fell into her eyes, glowing against her pale skin like pieces of sunshine from the winter sky, and her eyes danced in merriment, laughing at something with Juunana-gou. Marron was everything pure and loving about Kuririn, and everything beautiful and strong of her mother. When she finally did come out of her shell, when she finally grew up and became a real woman, Marron would be an absolutely wonderful person. And though Juuhachi-gou was hesitant about sharing her feelings with anyone else, she loved her daughter, and had no problem showing it. The two of them were friends, confidants, and each other’s greatest support.

And she had thought, thought with every part of her, that Kuririn supported her as well. Even when all of his friends were ready to kill her, even when the fate of the world was at stake, he still believed in her. He saved her life, really, held it for a moment in his shaking hands, ready to push the button that would end her life. Instead, he threw the control to the ground and smashed it, out of love, out of respect. That gesture in itself would have been enough to make Juuhachi-gou see the caring person that lie under that bald head and short stature. Theirs had been a weird relationship, complicated at best. There weren’t many fights or financial strains like any normal marriage, but there was a strain of affection. Juuhachi-gou cared about him, she knew she did, but at the same time, she was too hesitant to show it. At any moment, she thought, he could turn on her. And though she never dreamed of it actually happening, it had. He had betrayed her more than he could ever imagine with just one simple sentence.

And now they were out on their own, her and Marron. Marron’s eyes came up, meeting her mother’s, and she smiled happily, rolling her eyes at the uniforms. Juuhachi-gou smiled back, and felt a rush of love for her daughter, longing for the times that they had all spent together as a family; mother, father, and daughter together.

She turned to look at her husband again, his face sad and lonely, his once happy eyes gone dull, and realized that it wasn’t the good times that she was longing for --- it was Kuririn.

Kuririn watched as she came into the conference room, looking as beautiful as ever. Her light short hair fell just above her ears perfectly, and highlighted by the white of the uniform she was wearing, it shone under the bright lights. It hugged her curves fabulously, and every single muscle and indentation showed through as though it had been painted right onto her fair skin. As she moved, the uniform moved with her, and more muscles showed through, appearing in places that he didn’t even think muscles existed, proving that a great power was living within the most perfect body that had ever been seen. With silent ease, she sat down in one of the chairs and folded her delicate, gloved hands in her lap. She looked long and lovely, straight and calm, as she sat, strength and confidence radiating from her ice blue eyes. His breath caught in his throat, taken aback by how beautiful she looked, and blinked several times, trying to calm his heartbeat.

The uniform hadn’t done himself any justice really, just made him look a shade paler. Compared to the other male companions on the trip, he didn’t look that impressive. Vejiita’s backside alone was better looking than all of Kuririn put together. They were walking around the room, testing out the stretch and strength of the uniforms, kicking and punching air as they waited for the rest of the group to come into the room. The muscles were outrageously huge, bulging through the tight material of the uniforms. Kuririn felt sudden jealously at the fact that they were so tall and physically perfect. The two full Saiya-jins stood side by side for a moment, looking very similar in their identical uniforms and jet-black hair. Gokuu smiled down at Vejiita stretched out his arm, grasping his fist quickly and tightly in a motion so quick that even Kuririn had trouble following it.

“Sugoi!” Gokuu exclaimed. “Bulma-san did an excellent job.”

At that moment, Bulma herself wandered into the room, followed closely behind by Tayhei. Most of the male eyebrows shot up in interest at this, noting the extreme curves and long legs of both. Bulma was getting older of course, but there were still certain parts of her that looked good enough eat, and Tayhei was just an extremely beautiful young girl that happened to have a figure that could make a grown man cry. Of course, all the women with them were beautiful. Juuhachi-gou, Bulma, Tayhei, Videl --- they all sat side by side like a display of models, trophies of the strongest men in the universe. Bulma and Tayhei were carrying a large board with several charts and papers tacked to it. Kuririn couldn’t be sure, but it looked almost like a map of some sort.

Marron walked in then, looking very uncertain and self-conscious, the last person to enter the room. She sat down next to her mother quickly, and bit her lip as she looked around the room, trying to cover as much of herself as possible. Her pigtails curled harmlessly over her smooth shoulders, the same shade as her mother’s thick hair, glinting under the bright lights of the conference room. Kuririn frowned as he looked at her. All he could see was a little girl trapped inside a teenager’s body. She didn’t belong here, and deep in his heart Kuririn knew there was going to be trouble. The thought of it almost made him sick to his stomach, thinking of Marron being hurt, or worse. Marron wasn’t like her mother. He had never worried about Juuhachi-gou, knew that she could hold her own against any enemy. It was almost as if he wife didn’t feel any pain whatsoever, couldn’t taste the blood from a kick to the jaw, couldn’t feel her stomach give under the power of an undercut. She was strong as steel, cold as ice, and unfeeling.

He rose his eyes to look at Juuhachi-gou again, saw her staring down at her hands, still and silent. As if she felt him staring, she looked up suddenly, and even Kuririn was surprised to see the pain in her eyes.

“All right, everyone.” Bulma called attention, brandishing a pointer stick that was aimed at the board her and Tayhei had brought into the room. The lights were all dimmed except for the light around the board, which was somehow light up as she began talking. “I have somewhat of a plan put together. Tayhei took the time to record some of the thermal readings which indicate body heat and print those out.” She pointed to the center of the board, where a map was tacked up. “Here. As you can plainly see, all of the body heat and energy is gathered into one spot, about thirty miles from here. We’re estimating around five thousand beings, maybe more, all centered in this one location, which we’re assuming is some sort of a city. Now, I’m using words like estimate and assume because there’s no way of knowing for sure. The thermological readings depict that the area is much, much warmer than the rest of the planet. At temperatures of ninety degrees and higher, the graph takes on a green color, which you can plainly see here. The many green dots are representing that of many lifeforms.”

Gokuu yawned. Goten was already asleep and drooling on Trunks’s shoulder. Vejiita just looked irritated.

“Just in case some of you have forgotten, I also placed the listing of teams on the board.” Bulma continued, pointing to the upper right hand corner. She eyed Kuririn sharply. “And there will be absolutely no changes at this point. I don’t want any kind of confusion about who’s going with who or what someone’s job is. I don’t care if you don’t like your teammates, I don’t care if you’re unhappy about your job, you’re going to have to stick with it.”

She tapped her gloved finger on the list again. “Gokuu, Yamucha, Gohan, Videl. Then Vejiita, Myself, the Jinzouningen, and Kuririn. And the rest of you will stay here and Tayhei will fix the ship.”

“Fine. Let’s get on with it.” Vejiita said, glaring at her. “We’re wasting time!”

Goten snorted and shook himself awake, startled at the change of voice and tone.

Juunana-gou smirked at the Saiya-jin prince, folding his arms. “Aw, Vejiita. I know you want to be alone with me, but be patient.”

“Shut up, kisama.” Vejiita snapped back. “I’m in no hurry to be with you. We’re wasting our time standing around here. They probably already know that we’ve landed. It’s just a matter of minutes before we’re attacked. We’re out in the middle of the land, in plain sight for any to see, and you’re talking as if we have hours to stay and talk about what we’re going to do. We don’t have time for this. Let’s just go and get it over with.”

Gokuu stood up from his seat. “Vejiita’s right. I think we should go now.”

Bulma aimed her pointer at him and struck him right in the chest. “Sit. Down.” She said between clenched teeth. Gokuu raised his eyebrows in surprise and slowly sat back down in his chair, staring at Bulma’s pointer warily. Bulma glared at him. “What did I tell you earlier?! The whole mission depends on organization. If you want ChiChi to get back safe, you’re going to have to plan things out. I don’t care what you cocky sons of bit---”

Gohan raised a hand to stop her. “Okay, okay, calm down Bulma-san. There has to be some sort of a compromise to work out. We come up with a simple, organized plan, and leave the ship as quickly as possible. Vejiita’s right. The Saiya-jins are probably already aware that we’re here. If we wait any longer than necessary, they will attack, and when they do, it’s going to place Marron in danger. It would be wise if we could leave the ship right away and draw the enemies away from the ship and keep the girls safe. At the same time though, we need a plan. Bulma is completely right. We cannot go rushing into battle without any idea of what we’re doing. Okaasan’s life is at stake, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Perhaps we could set out away from the ship to draw the enemies away from it, and think of a plan when we’re at the borders of the city.” Juuhachi-gou suggested. “That would give us a better idea of how the city is set up, where our enemies are, and how to infiltrate their defenses.”

Bulma crossed her arms in exasperation. “Do any of you understand how dangerous that is? I really don’t think you do! We don’t know what’s out there! We don’t know if there’s going to be time to create a plan while we’re out there! You have no idea what we’re getting into.”

“I can take care of myself, Woman.” Vejiita snapped.

Her eyes flashed angrily. “This isn’t about you, Vejiita. It’s about getting ChiChi home safely.” She pointed a finger at him and stared angrily and deeply into his eyes. “That’s what this mission is about, and if we don’t complete at least that much, then we fail. And the consequence for failing this time isn’t easy --- it’s death. I don’t think any of you understand how close death is. I feel like it’s right on our heels, like it’s just debating which one of us it’s going pick. It’s just too dangerous to rush into this.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, looking down.

Bulma’s face fell in a frown. “No agrees with me?” She asked in a quiet voice.

“I think Juuhachi-gou had a good idea, Bulma.” Yamucha said gently. “It’s smart to plan things out, but we need to act now, also. It’s important for us to take danger away from the ship.”

“We’ll be okay, Bulma-san.” Gokuu added. “We’ve never lost before.”

She looked down for a moment, her face grim. “There’s a first time for everything.”

Even as the words passed through her lips, everyone felt in their hearts what she was saying. They had been through many battles, had fought the most difficult opponents. And yet, there would be a time when they would fall, when their strength would no longer be sufficient. Whether it be now, or years from now, it was inevitable.

The ship was silent again, and it was Gohan that finally spoke up, standing and striding confidently towards the door. He turned to look at the rest of the group, his eyes intense and full of urgency. “Let’s set out, people. Okaasan’s out there waiting for us.”

Chapter 49
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