--Yamucha--

It was merely a gut feeling that has led me all the way up here. I wasn't actually expecting to find anyone. But when I started asking myself "Of all the places on Earth, where would Goku go off to if he wanted to hide- if indeed he were hiding?", the only answer that kept turning up in my mind was the little brick house on the mountaintop. Not that many people know about it, except maybe Kame Sennin, Bulma and I. So it's not exactly the most secret retreat one could think of, but it's the place where he spent the first years of his life, tucked away from the rest of the world, like a pearl of unstained innocence.

---Year 790, July 7th, Old Son Gohan's cabin

The huge, still squirming fish nearly slips from Goku's hands as he stares at me, dumbfounded.

"Ya...Yamucha," he manages to say, his voice uneven.

Well, if that's not guilt I sense, I sure don't know what it is.

"Hello Goku, having a little vacation on our own, aren't we?"

"Huh...hai..."

I gently push him aside, and walk through the doorway. "Come on, you're a terrible liar. So what's up with__"

Shock prevents me from finishing my sentence.

Lying asleep on the small futon is Bulma.

I turn back to Goku, an unspoken inquiry parting my lips. So aliens come to mess up our world, and you, Goku, become a homewrecker? Something definitely doesn't click here.

But the Saiyajin vigorously shakes his head in denial. "It's not what you think," he whispers in a rough, urgent tone."It's not what you think it is."

In the semi darkness of the room, his eyes beseech mine, and for the first time I notice the dusky shadows etched under those eyes, I take in his haggard, weary look, and the strange bruises on his arms and face.

My hand involuntarily shoots up, gripping his shoulder, as I step closer to him.

Innocence...defiled is what I see.

"Dende, what the hell happened to you? Where did you get these? " I ask, pointing at one ugly, purplish bruise on the side of his jaw. "Why didn't you treat them with a senzu bean?" My voice raises to a shrill, almost to the point of hysteria.

"I've tried," he responds softly. "They won't heal."

"Nani?!?"

Someone lightly nudges my arm. It's Bulma.

"Go to sleep now," she tells Goku.

"But..." he starts to protest.

"Don't worry. There won't be any bad dreams. I promise."

Like a child he obeys her. She makes him lie down on the futon, and as she kneels by his side, she passes her right hand over his face, once, with infinite tenderness. The next thing I see is that he's fast asleep, curled up into a ball.

Where did Bulma ever learn hypnosis? I'm so stunned I forget to ask.

"Can you believe it?" She said with a wan smile. "He hasn't sleept for a month."

"Why?"

"He's having horrible nightmares. They're scaring him shitless."

My mind tries to register the information. Could Goku and scared even belong in the same sentence?

Then it hits me. "It's all connected, isn't it?" I venture.

She looks at me.

"I mean, the attack at West Cap. Mart, babies dying all over the country, this...how are they called again? Nashr'tali Caste? And the bruises that won't heal? They did this to him, didn't they?"

A dark flash passes in her eyes. She nods, slowly.

"Then why do this? Why are you running away? There's people back home who are willing to lay their life on the line for the two of you, me being one of them! And Vejita...damn the arrogant little bastard, there's nothing he wouldn't do for you! Right now he's turning the world upside down to find you!"

Bulma's mouth almost curves up in a sad smile. "DB senshi stick together. I know, I know. But it's not that simple anymore."

Frustration grips me by the throat. Questions pour out of my mouth quicker than I can stop to think about them.

"Then it would greatly help if you could explain everything to me. What is so different about our enemies this time? What's with the "You're in danger so please don't come after me" business??"

"It's the only way I found to keep Vejita temporarily away from me..."

"Oh, and for once I'm siding with him against your idea, which I don't find smart at all!"

Bulma's eyes dangerously narrow, and something in her countenance makes me take a step back. "Don't you do this, Yamucha. Don't tell him where I am! I'm dead serious about this."

"Why? You think he can't protect you?"

"Yamucha," she begins, "I'm not the one in need of protection right now. He is."

Damn you Bulma. What happened to the blabbermouth is used to know? Now is not the time to talk in riddles.

"Okay, let's start over. I swear on Pouaru's life I won't tell. I'm gonna ask you a simple question, and you're gonna give me one plain, straight answer. Since you seem to know something about them, do you have any idea what they really want, aside from the satisfaction of causing random, senseless destruction?"

"Yes."

"Yes..?" I prompt her.

"Me. They want me."