Chapter 22
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Four weeks had passed since Ume had 'crash landed' on Earth and had been taken to the Capsule Corp building. Life, for him, became something it had never been before: regular and predictable. He awoke in the morning, he dressed, he trained, he ate, he trained more, he ate, and his evening was normally spent with the children, or visiting Mia or Goten in the hospital. He wasn't sure if 'trained' would be the right word. As much as he was being taught, he was also being measured. Every step he took was documented, and he was certain that his attempts to establish trust with Sekkai had not worked. The woman was still instinctively suspicious of him, something he also suspected of Vegeta. The difference was that Sekkai seemed to always be predicting a betrayal, and Vegeta was simply indifferent. Ume supposed it was because Sekkai was threatened by his advancement, and Vegeta was not. Ume was being much more careful about showing them exactly how quickly his enhanced body could actually learn. He only needed to try a move once or twice before he figured out the move's nuances; however he knew that if he learned too quickly they would suspect that he wasn't what he said he was. He was aware that he hadn't actually lied about his enhancements, and if he was discovered he'd have to act just as shocked and outraged. He kept the need for the advantage in battle at the forefront of his mind when he was training. Ume and Vegeta always had a training session in the mornings. There was great variation in daily activities: sometimes it was just physical sparring, sometimes it was practicing speed, agility and precision using Ki, sometimes it was in the gravity chamber, and sometimes it was a full-out brawl which left Ume gasping for breath and his body littered with bruises. Vegeta was never overly friendly to him - it was almost as if Vegeta barely tolerated him - yet expected Ume to be constantly pushing himself. After every session, Vegeta and Tomma would discuss how Ume had progressed. Part of the measurement. The afternoon sessions were usually with someone other than Vegeta. The first week was spent on studying movement and then general sparring. Gohan had taken half-days at work the second week to teach Ume his family's signature move: the Kamehameha. The third week, Vegeta integrated learning the Big Bang attack into their normal training sessions. The past week, Trunks had been teaching him Mia's Kayameh technique. This upcoming week, he was supposed to continue working with Trunks and teach him the Sumiyaka maneuver. Ume had a list of excuses a mile long for not actually doing it, but Sekkai's accusing glares made him decide to use a different strategy. Ume had worked out how to give Trunks convoluted instructions on how to perform the move - Ume figured if Trunks figured it out in spite of that, then he deserved to know the move. Ume was impressed with the way Trunks' attitude towards him had changed. The day after Trunks punched Mia in the face and started a fight, ending with Vegeta putting both Mia and Goten into the hospital, Ume had figured it out. He had a suspicion of course, and when he had put on his scouter that day, there was another report waiting from Ix'bet. Not only did it give him information files on each warrior, but also a personal note from Ix'bet with the same suspicion. Ume had confirmed it for certain when Trunks was teaching him the Kayameh. The lessons had started off gruffly. Trunks was overly abrasive towards Ume, barking out short orders and descriptions while Ume pretended to struggle to control the stolen energy. The boy had put up with it for the first two days before he simply became irritated. It was then that Ume decided to do something about it. He was aware it could make Trunks dislike him so much that the lessons would stop, or Trunks' attitude would change to something more pleasant. It was a simple few statements. They had been working having Ume gather Ki blasts in the sky. Trunks was firing off blasts, and Ume was pulling them towards him to add them to a smallish ball of energy. "I am confused about something. I was hoping you could clarify for me," Ume had stated. Trunks grunted in agreement. "Before I came, I was told about all the Saiyans that came to Talis," Ume explained, drawing one of Trunks' energy blasts closer to him. "They told me about what happened when you found my biological mother." Trunks' eyebrows had furrowed, but he stayed silent. "I've thought about the first day I met everyone. Proper assumption would lead me to believe that since you are her mate, that you are my biological father. But..." Ume trailed a second, "Vegeta did not react the way I assumed he would have if I was. You did not react the way I assumed you would have." Ume gathered another ball of Ki from the sky, staying silent for a moment. "You're not my biological father, are you?" Trunks was silent for a moment, firing one last blast into the air before dropping his arms to look at the boy. "No. I'm not." Ume purposefully let the medium-sized ball of Ki become unstable in his hands and acted as if he was struggling to contain it. After a couple moments, he stabilized the ball again, and controlled its dissipation. Ume sigh a bit, shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. The two looked at each for a moment. "I'm not looking for you to be my father - I have one already." Ume stated. "All I want is for you to treat me the way I treat you." Trunks had considered a moment, looking down while he thought. A smile cracked on his face, and the lesson continued. Since then, Trunks had been much more willing to engage with Ume. When they trained, Trunks often asked him about his life before coming to Earth. Ume had told him all he could without endangering himself or Ix'bet and Yu'tai, or the location of Refuge. His mother was another story. A couple times a week he would steal away to see her, yet for the first two and a half weeks, she refused to let him come in the room. After the first couple rejections, he had simply used his scouter to find her from outside, and spent an hour floating beside the window. He knew she couldn't see him, but knew he was there. It was his way of telling her that he still wished to know her, even with her refusal. Eventually, she had a nurse open the window, and after the nurse had left she told him he could come in. Ume wasn't sure of the real reason why she had rejected him originally: if it was some sort of loyalty to Trunks, or because she didn't enjoy being seen in such a vulnerable state. She was a mess of tubes, plaster, and gauze. He suspected the latter, as she had allowed him in the room before he and Trunks had come to understand each other a bit better. Ume also wasn't sure if she just didn't want to speak, or if it was painful for her, as they mostly just sat together in silence, often with Ume actively holding one of her hands. It was only in the last week he had started to visit Goten. Unlike Mia, Goten seemed to have much higher spirits. After a couple awkward moments, Goten had stirred the conversation towards Ume's training. Before they knew it, Ume was telling him about all the things he was learning - big and small. Ume was unsure if it was because Goten, on the whole, was a likeable creature, or if there was some sort of biological bond since the half-Saiyan was his father. Ume's greatest joy was working with the children. He observed, or even sparred with Nashi, Vegeta, Kinomi and Goten's son, Goden. While Pan often stopped by, she more or less assisted in training the younger kids. Nashi was in an awkward stage between child and teenager, and the others were definitely still children. Ume had been surprised when Serori had finally convinced Sekkai that he wasn't going to harm them. Like Sekkai, he found himself feeling quite protective of the younger Saiyans. He would spend the latter half of his afternoon with the little ones. They found it immensely fun to all attack him at once. Sekkai had turned it into a game for them, to teach them how to fight together. It was interesting to watch them go from a disorganized group to a team. Ume had proved to be a good tool for Sekkai when training them, as he was new and had a completely different style of fighting. He was much more defensive than she would have expected. Ume was quite gentle with them when they sparred, as he didn't want hurt them. He remembered how brutal his own training had been, and had no desire to do the same to these children. He would spend his mealtimes with them as well, and would take some evenings to observe and play with them. It was odd for him. As much as he loved spending time with the children, and as much as they loved the attention he lavished on them, he couldn't shake the resentment that was growing in him. He felt as if he had been cheated out of this, out of a happy, joyful childhood, and he was unsure of who to blame. If he blamed the Talisians for taking him, he was reminded that he may not have even been born, as he was an unwanted bastard child. If he blamed Serori and Tomma for attacking Talis, which spurred Ix'bet to take him as revenge, he remembered that if they hadn't been on Talis, then he probably would not have been conceived. When he started to feel this way, he went flying. He asked for permission in the first three weeks, but with no indication that he would do anything hostile, it was agreed that he could go as long as someone monitored his Ki from a distance. Every night before he slept, he had asked Bra to supervise him, as she was closest to his apartment. She had seemed more than happy to oblige. This was also partly because he knew that Bra was the least trained of all the Saiyans - if he needed to meet with Ix'bet, she would only be concentrating on him, not others around him. As the fifth week started, Ume was thankful he had made the decisions he had. He had purposefully stalled on learning how to sense others using Ki, so he could keep his scouter on. He was supposed to be starting his training with Serori and Tomma this week. However, there was an urgent message waiting for him on his scouter that morning. He clicked the side button, and new orders from Refuge had popped up on the screen. He blinked and then inhaled sharply, exhaling soft 'no's as he kept reading his official orders. This is not what he expected. He didn't want to do this. They wanted him to take the children to Ix'bet and Yu'tai to have them sent to Refuge. They felt that the children could be more easily manipulated and controlled. For the first time since they landed, he sent a message out of his scouter. It was a demand to meet Ix'bet that night. They needed to talk. |
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