Goku found that she could no-longer support her own weight, and so she thankfully leaned into Vegeta's 'embrace'. Her arms grasped onto him tightly for fear of losing even more. ChiChi would never forgive her, and she wasn't allowed to see Gohan anymore. Sure, it might be awkward that she was a woman now, but that didn't mean she didn't want to be with ChiChi. They could make it work, right? Wait… no… ChiChi had just dumped her for good, or so she thought.
What she really needed was a friend, a very close friend at her side, and all she had was Vegeta, a mere acquaintance that cared nothing about her or what she was feeling at the moment. She felt so awfully numb, as if the world around her was gone. She felt like she was lifeless in a void of nothingness where time had stopped. She didn't want to return to the real world. The only connection she could feel was the warmth of her body pressing against Vegeta's. She didn't care that its owner was Vegeta, all that she knew, was that it was comforting. It felt good.
Vegeta stood there with his arms wrapped awkwardly around Goku. He had no idea at all what was going on or what to do. Goku was just grabbing onto him in a tight hug, unaware of anything else around her. Was it that she wanted sympathy? Did she just have a total breakdown? Why wasn't she responding to him?
Goku's tears were beginning to seep through Vegeta's tank top. He frowned and thought, 'I suppose I could leave her here. She has to snap out of her sulking eventually. Damn-it all! If I leave her the blue-haired woman will find out and will be an even bigger pain in my ass! I'll take her to Capsule Corp. and then she'll be someone else's problem!'
"Alright, Kakarrot. Enough with the water-works already! We're leaving now!" Vegeta announced.
His announcement didn't elicit a response. Vegeta raised an eyebrow at the emotionally wounded Saiyan. 'These Earthlings sure have made you a pathetic weakling…' "Hn."
Vegeta heave-hoed Goku head-first over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and took off into the sky—his destination, Capsule Corporation.
The sudden torrent of wind against Goku's body didn't surprise her. She was used to the feeling of flying at fast speeds in mid-air. She'd been doing it for so long. Though, it felt alien to be carried by someone else into the sky. Her instincts told her to be on guard, but she ignored them. She needed someone to lean on. She didn't move from her position, only shivered due to the chill that the wind brought.
On Vegeta's end, a disturbing thought suddenly crossed his mind: 'Bulma is Kakarrot's close friend. She's no doubt going to take her in for Kami knows how long. She's going to drive me insane!'
Another random thought soon popped up in his head. 'Is this Kakarrot different? Kakarrot has always been emotional like the Earthlings, but he would never allow a mere woman to cause him to break down like this, would he? That wish must have effected more than Kakarrot's appearance.'
Vegeta's entrance into Capsule Corp. didn't go unnoticed by Bulma. In fact, she practically sniffed out something was off the minute he opened the door and entered.
"Hey, Vege—" she stopped mid-sentence, noticing he was carrying something rather large. "Um… what's that in your arms?"
Bulma took a better look look and realized that it was a woman. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Vegeta? You can't just snatch up a girl off the streets!"
Vegeta raised an eyebrow at Bulma. "I didn't just snatch her off the streets," he argued.
"Then what are you doing with her?"
"That's a good question," Vegeta replied with a slight smirk. "Here. Take her," he said, unexpectedly shoving Goku into Bulma's arms, and stalking away before he had a chance to suffer the repercussions of his actions.
The resultant weight of Goku was too much for Bulma to bear and it caused her to lose her balance and fall flat on her back with the girl splayed on top of her.
The fall and Bulma's resultant loud cry of "OOOF!" cured Goku of her space-case situation immediately. She became wide eyed and she stumbled her way off of Bulma immediately, all the while apologizing profusely: "I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?! Oh I'm sorry, Bulma, I didn't mean to!" Apologizing at this point came all too easily.
Bulma also got up off of the floor, wiping dust molecules off of her clothing as she did so.
'How does this girl know my name?' she pondered silently.
Bulma examined the young woman intently. She had long, spiky, and unruly raven-colored hair. She bore deep onyx eyes. Her long eyelashes were sticking together from the damp liquid that had been tumbling over them constantly.
The girl's creamy-colored complexion was disturbed by flushed red cheeks, and her face was a bit swollen. As Bulma began to speak, tears still rolled down the young woman's face. Bulma could tell that the poor girl had been crying for quite awhile now, but she still for the life of her could not recognize her.
"What's your name?" Bulma asked softly, smiling at her encouragingly.
Goku blinked at Bulma in disbelief for a moment. She'd forgotten about the massive change for a split-second. "Bulma, it's me… Goku."
Bulma's eyebrows creased together. "You're not…" 'Is this some sort of joke?' She examined the girl with a doubtful expression, but after a moment her brain began to piece together two-and-two. The hair color and unruly nature, the eye color, the skin pigment, and then there was the undeniable fact that the girl had a tail that had somehow eluded her notice at first glance. "Oh Kami!" Bulma suddenly exclaimed. "What did Vegeta do to you?"
Goku rubbed away at her wet eyes and cheeks. She didn't want Bulma to see her like this! "It was an accident," she explained. "He was trying to make a wish, and I…"
Bulma frowned. She suddenly cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Vegeta!" at the top of her lungs.
Goku waved her hands in front of Bulma like white flags of peace. "Please, don't be mad at him! It was an accident! He didn't mean to!"
At any rate, it didn't matter at the moment. Vegeta was doing what he did best—ignoring her. Bulma withdrew her thoughts from reaming the prince, and turned her attention to her uncharacteristically somber friend.
"Why were you crying?" she immediately asked.
Goku struggled to control her emotions. She wasn't about to let herself break down again. "ChiChi wants nothing to do with me anymore. She said I'm a terrible father, and that she doesn't want me to see Gohan anymore!"
The thought of never seeing her son again brought back the tears.
Bulma hugged Goku and rubbed her back comfortingly. "Don't let this bother you so much! ChiChi was upset. I'm sure she didn't really mean the things that she said, and besides, she can't keep you from Gohan. He's just as much your son as he is hers. Until ChiChi cools off and realizes her mistake, you're more than welcome to stay with us."
Goku wiped away the tears again. She wasn't the best at talking about stuff like this, but Bulma always knew what to say to make her feel better. "Thank-you, Bulma!"
Bulma ruffled Goku's hair like she used to when they were kids. "No problem! Any time! Now, let me show you where you can crash."
Bulma's mind lingered on the fact that she had told Goku that she could stay with 'us'. She was referring to her and Vegeta as if they were a couple or something. Or at least that's how it sounded to her. She blushed slightly at the thought of it, and she hoped that Goku hadn't noticed her flub in wording.
'Who am I kidding, this is Goku, of course she wouldn't notice!' Bulma thought.
When they reached the spare room, Bulma reiterated that Goku was welcome to stay as long as she liked. "I ordered in some pizza. You wanna come down and have a bite?" she asked.
The offering didn't elicit the kind of typical ravenous Goku response she was expecting, and quite frankly, it worried her.
"I got meat lovers," she said in her most persuasive tone.
Goku smiled faintly. "No thanks, Bulma. For once, I'm not really hungry. I think I'm just gonna lie down and think a little bit."
"Okay, Goku, I can take a hint," Bulma teased. "I'll leave you alone." Before closing the door behind her, she added, "Just remember that these things will work themselves out. It's not the end of the world. Trust me, I've been through a 'few' break-ups myself."
***
It was a good thing Goku didn't want any pizza, because by the time Bulma had reached the kitchen, Vegeta had already eaten the majority of it.
Bulma's eye twitched in annoyance. "I'm hungry too, your highness!"
Vegeta kicked his feet up on the kitchen table and tapped the box open with the tip of his boot. "I left you some."
"One slice…" Bulma muttered in disbelief. "You're a peach," she added sarcastically.
"Where's Kakarrot?" Vegeta asked.
Bulma nearly choked on a melted piece of cheese. "Gasp! Do you actually care?" she mocked.
Vegeta scoffed and left the room without saying another word.
Bulma sighed exasperatedly. "Why do I fall for the jackasses?"
***
Goku lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, and watching the fan attached to it circle continuously. She had been mulling over what had happened that day. Just how long could she put up with being in this different body?
The physical changes weren't the only things that were bothering her. Her emotions were all screwy. She had virtually no control over them and it left her reeling—as if she couldn't tell up from down. It felt like she was missing something—like a piece of her had been taken away when the wish was made. She couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but it left her feeling hollow inside.