“How long will you be gone? I don’t mind that you’re going, but if you’re going to be gone longer than a year I might need to find a new friend. I do need to keep my conversation skills up after all….”

Mirai Bulma and ChiChi strolled through the new city streets casually. It was late evening and the sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, turning the edges of the mountains red and pink. Most of the people in the city had already retired into their homes and there were lights burning brightly in almost all of the windows as they prepared for nighttime. It wasn’t unusual for them to take walks such as these; they both needed the exercise and it when the weather was so beautiful it was almost a crime to not be outside.

The two of them had not spent much time together lately, because Bulma had been so busy trying to get things moving with all of the city projects. Also, with ChiChi living at a distance, it was hard to keep in constant contact. When they first moved up from the Underground City, Bulma tried to convince her to live with her and Trunks at Capsule Corporation, but she refused. The Son house had been untouched the horror of the jinzouningen, and ChiChi felt it was only right that she move back in again. She knew it had been hard for her friend to move back into a house with so many memories, but she admired her for doing so. She had even sent one of her city crews out to help her clean up the house and restore it to its former glory.

“I won’t be that long, ChiChi.” Bulma laughed. “Just long enough to say hello and get to know everyone.”

She paused, biting her lip. She had another agenda as well, though she wasn’t sure if she should tell her friend or not. Besides going to back speak to the friendly jinzouningen of the past timeline, she had a personal reason as well --- something that she had been thinking of for a very long time, in fact.

“Vejiita will be there.” She said hesitantly. “I can’t decide whether it will be nice to see him or not. On one hand, it would be incredibly painful to see him again and have all the memories come flooding back. But on the other….I always said that I would give anything to see his face again, to be able to touch him again….”

ChiChi gave her a look.

Bulma’s ocean blue eyes grew distant at the thought of him, remembering what it was like to be held in his strong arms. They might have had their problems, but when they physically touched each other, it always seemed as if their souls were one. No matter how angry she was with him, just the slightest brush of his fingertips was enough to completely melt her into a puddle on the floor. It was times like that, when the two of them were close and she could see deep into his eyes that she knew she was in love. And even though he was still harsh and cold, at times like that she thought perhaps he loved her as well. And because she craved his love like one craves air, she needed his touch. Their relationship had been mostly physical because of this, which was something that she wasn’t too entirely proud of.

“It would be so nice to just have him hold me again.” She said softly, wistfully.

ChiChi abruptly stopped walking and put her hands on her hips in a huff. Bulma stopped walking as well, a little shocked at her friend’s outburst. ChiChi stared her down with stern eyes. Bulma knew what she was thinking, and she was already preparing her defense. Her friend was going to tell her that a romance with her and the Vejiita from the past was simply out of the question.

“You listen to me, Bulma Briefs.” ChiChi scolded. “That Vejiita is not yours. He belongs to another Bulma. And if you try to take him away from her, I will honestly slap you when you come back.”

The angry tone of her voice was enough to shake Bulma up. She had a point, Bulma had to admit that, but she was being unreasonable as usual. She put her hands on her hips as well and faced her friend challengingly. They were inches away from each other, angry flaring up on both sides like flames.

“If you went back to the past and found Gokuu again, you’d certainly want to be with him.” Bulma accused.

“No! I wouldn’t.” ChiChi snapped, and the force of it made Bulma flinch. “The Gokuu of that timeline would belong to someone else. Who am I to take away the happiness of someone else? I would never want to deny someone of Gokuu’s love --- never. Just knowing that the other ChiChi is happy and safe with her husband would be enough for me.”

She looked down, relaxed her hands and spoke a little softer. “Besides….My Gokuu was the only man I will ever love. No one could ever replace him, not even a Gokuu from another timeline.”

Bulma relaxed as well, then took a seat on the sidewalk bench, resting her elbows on her knees and cupping her chin. ChiChi was right. The more she thought about it, the more ashamed she felt. Just because her life here in the future world was unhappy and lonely did not give her the right to take happiness away from someone else. It was just plain selfish of her to think of something like that. No matter how hard it would be for her, she simply couldn’t allow herself to fall for Vejiita again. Not when it would affect someone else’s life so much. But she still couldn’t stop thinking about it. This was her last chance to have Vejiita in her life again and she had to cut herself off from it. The mere thought of that frightened her. Conflicting emotions crashed all around in her heart and she suddenly felt very, very lost.

“You’re right.” She finally sighed. “I just can’t help but think about what it would be like to be with him again. If that makes me a bad person, then I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. I loved him.”

Next to her on the bench, her friend reached out and took her hand gently. She looked up into ChiChi’s dark, gentle eyes and found sanctuary; a friendship that she would always, always be able to count on. The two of them had been through everything together: the antics of their husbands, the raising of their children, the deaths of friends and family, and most of all, the terror and pain of the jinzouningen. They fought like sisters, they laughed like friends, and they shared everything from recipes to their deepest, darkest secrets.

“It doesn’t make you a bad person.” ChiChi told her wisely. “You were in love; you’re still in love. Just remember, whatever actions you take in the past timeline are going to affect more than just our world. You’d be changing their world as well.”

She patted her hand gently. “And we all know what it’s like to live in a world without love.”

It was true. Every single person in the future timeline had experienced some kind of pain in one way or another. Some stories were worse than others, but they had all gone through it. They had all faced the jinzouningen in some way. In her own case, it meant losing almost everyone she had ever cared about. All of the hopes and dreams she once had for her future had been lost somewhere in the rubble of all of those destroyed cities and ruined landscapes. They had survived of course, had done all they could to keep themselves alive and hopeful. But their world was still badly scarred. A world without love was an apt title, for in this cruel place, there would always be reminders of what was lost.

Things were improving, though. Now that the jinzouningen were gone for good, they could begin to live normal lives again, as normal as they could possibly be in a world that had been destroyed. As soon as the Underground City had been opened up, a renewed sense of hope had struck the remaining people of Earth. They no longer had to hide and they no longer had to fear. They could rebuild their cities and their homes. But they could never get back what they had lost on the inside. Their hopes had been crushed, their loved ones had been destroyed. There was no turning back and fixing what had happened. It would always be this way.

“It’s not fair.” Bulma said suddenly defeated. “Why couldn’t our world be the same as the past timeline’s world?”

ChiChi smiled at her softly. “It would have been, if it weren’t for you. But not in the way you speak of. The other world would be in just as much pain as this one if you had not stepped in.”

“My intention was never to save the other world.” She said bitterly, fighting back her tears. “I wanted to save ours. It just didn’t end up working out that way.”

“The fate of this world had already been decided. There was nothing we could have done to change that, Bulma. But you did manage to change the course of another world, and I always take comfort in knowing that there is a world out there where people did not have to fight for their lives and lost all of the people that they loved. You saved all of their lives. Whether you meant to or not doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that you made a difference.”

Bulma nodded sadly. “I guess I’m just scared. I’m scared of what I’ll find when I get there. Their world is so different from ours.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be scared.” ChiChi replied bravely. “I would feel honored. You get to take a glimpse of what the perfect life would be. And even if you can’t stay there or take it back with you, you’ll always have that glimpse. Take comfort in knowing that you can always escape to that world in your dreams. Dreams are all we have these days anyway.”

Bulma looked up into the sky, now completely dark and scattered with a light dusting of stars. In the distance crickets were chirping persistently, the only sound for miles. Though all seemed peaceful and calm here on this city bench, she knew that beyond the rebuilt city’s borders, there was nothing but destruction. ChiChi was right. Their world had been massacred, but they still had the one thing that the jinzouningen could never steal away from them: their dreams.

As soon as the morning sun lit the sky, Mirai Trunks was awake and at work. Briefly before he went downstairs, he checked in on his mother, who had come in late last night after a walk with ChiChi. She was still sleeping soundly in her bed, so he decided to shut the door and be as quiet as possible so as not to wake her up. He felt bad enough already that his mother worked as hard as she did trying to rebuild all of the cities. She never seemed to get enough rest, and although she was young for her age, she still needed it. More often than not, she passed out in her workshop or on the couch in the living room, so it was good for her to spend the morning comfortable in her bed.

He grabbed his sword and descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, taking a moment to open up the curtains and let in the morning sunshine. Setting his sword down on the table, he turned to the refrigerator and began building his breakfast. His Saiya-jin appetite had decreased over the years, mostly due to food shortages, but every once and awhile it flamed up. This was one of those times. He piled food item after food item onto the counter, still feeling as though he weren’t going to get enough. Remembering his mother, he set aside a box of pancake batter, intent on making her pancakes for when she woke up.

He was busy making a pot of coffee, grinding the fragrant beans when the kitchen door opened. He looked up of the haze of steam from the bacon and sausage and found Engin standing in the doorway. He was dressed in black as usual and had a smirk on his handsome face as he knocked on the doorframe.

Trunks regarded him with annoyance. He didn’t know why, but Engin had always seemed as though he were desperately trying to make his life miserable. He had never liked him, had never cared for his smooth good looks and his icy smile. He was too perfect, too polished. As Engin ran a hand through his light blond spikes and strolled leisurely into the kitchen, Trunks fought off an impulse to grab the coffee pot off the counter and beat him with it.

“What are you doing here?” Trunks asked harshly, and he abandoned the coffee pot for fear of actually going through with his plan.

Engin ran his fingers along the counter top idly. “I heard a rumor that you and your lovely mother were taking a trip somewhere.”

“Hai. We are.” He confirmed shortly. He picked up a spatula and began flipping the eggs that he had been cooking on the stovetop. He really didn’t have time for this today. He and Bulma were set to leave sometime within the next few days and there were many things that he still needed to accomplish before then. There were several city projects that he needed to get started and people that he needed to talk to about taking care of the house while they were away. There was packing of course, and compiling a group of pictures to take with them to the past, and he always wanted to give the time machine a good scrub before their takeoff.

Also, if he didn’t eat breakfast soon, he just might have to start killing people.

Engin was oblivious to this, still looking about the kitchen as if he were searching for clues. “And where might you be going?”

“It’s none of your damn business, Engin.” Trunks growled, intensely annoyed with him. One of his egg yokes broke and he cursed him silently for causing him to ruin a perfectly good piece of food. He looked up at him with a murderous glare and flung the ruined egg into the garbage with his spatula.

Engin held up his hands in surrender, laughter in his voice. “There’s no need to be hostile. I was simply asking an innocent question.”

Trunks snorted and set about to cooking again. “I don’t care. It’s none of your business.”

Engin moved to the table and touched the sword that lay there harmlessly. With awkward hands, he unsheathed it and held it out before him, admiring his reflection in the steel blade. He shot Trunks another smirk. “Don’t tell me you’re still angry about that whole Tayhei thing?”

Trunks froze. He didn’t move, couldn’t move. Having him mention her name so casually was just as painful as if he had picked up the sword and stabbed him in the chest with it. Summing it up into ‘that whole Tayhei thing’ was simply disrespectful. Especially since even Engin’s life had been touched by her gentle nature. He was as angry right then as he would have been if Tayhei were in the kitchen with them, munching on a mound of pancakes. Engin just plain had no respect for him, so little respect that he would dare say something so rude in his own home. It made Trunks simmer with anger as he jabbed at pieces of bacon with his spatula.

“Can you really blame me for trying?” Engin continued, not noticing that his companion was turning almost red with fury. A wistful look appeared on his handsome face and he sighed. “She had the nicest ass---”

In less than a second, Trunks was at his throat, aiming the greasy spatula up under his chin. The sword fell from Engin’s hands and clattered to the kitchen floor as he looked at Trunks with wide brown eyes.

“If I were you,” Trunks began rather calmly. “I wouldn’t elaborate on that subject. I'm in a really bad mood right now and I have no qualms about killing you.”

Engin regained his composure quickly and met Trunks’s angry stare with one of his trademark smooth smirks. “Kill me with what? Your magical spatula?”

“If I could kill the jinzouningen, I could surely kill you.” Trunks argued, his blue eyes narrowed and dead serious.

“And mess up your pretty purple hair??”

With a sigh, Trunks released his hands from Engin’s neck and shoved him rather violently towards the door. “Get the hell out of my house.”

Chapter 8
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