Dragon Ball: Shattered Memories vol 1

Chapter 3: new challenges

(note from the writer: hey everyone, sorry that this chapter is much shorter but while writing this and other chapters in the main story i had a seizure from not taking care of myself so i made a promise that if my chapters are less than 1,000 words that its okay and i worked myself enough, sorry if i have disappointed people with this chapter)

eventually shima tired herself out playing with her toy and so began the challenge of caring for shima mostly alone, every step frieza took seemed like it would awaken her and he definitely didn't want the task of trying to get her back to sleep, after all frieza wasn't a person one would ever consider soothing. of course bardock found this all amusing but kept a stoic look about his face

for once, frieza was almost doubting himself, not about the future he had in store for her but more about the intricacies of her care. after all she would be on the main ship nearly full time within the next 5 years, she would still be a small child with more needs than average for a saiyan and even possibly a vastly different personality. and her vision, that could deteriorate over time if it wasn't already bad enough. he let out a long sigh and looked at her so tiny and completely helpless

'no, she's still far more worth the trouble, especially with the potential of a different personality... chances are, i won't have to rely on fear for her to do my bidding' frieza thought "it will take time to bear fruit but with how... almost attached she seems even now... i think the only hard part will be this stage of her existence' he wondered deeply about her behavior, how she was soothed by his presence and in turn how he wasn't annoyed by her antics

2 hours now pass and shima begins to awaken making tiny upset sounds, already frieza had been prepared and handed her a fresh warm bottle before she even started crying. he knew after all that at this stage all she would do is eat, play, and sleep. frieza didn't set her down not even for an instant for these whole two hours as if something compelled him to keep her close. 

this whole time however bardock was still watching just in case but all was going just fine, this surprised him quite a bit especially with how close his daughter was being held by the tyrant. his expectation was for frieza to be doing the bare minimum of care and have set her down a long time ago but that wasn't the case

now with a full belly shima's energy was replenished, she started to wiggle around more and play around with with her tail, but even at this age she was smart enough to not fully grab or squeeze her own hypersensitive tail

"oh, you want to play? let's see what we can do about that" frieza said to the tiny saiyan before finding one of her rattles and setting her down to see what she would do. immediately though shima was gesturing to be picked up again, making little grabby hands up at frieza

"u-uh... pu" she managed to mutter out these may not have been her first words but it seemed just as important to bardock

"d-... did you just say up?? " he asked his daughter but she still wasn't exactly cognitive enough to formulate a decent response and just looked at her father weird before making grabby hands again

"oh my... clingy isn't she?" frieza actually let out a genuine chuckle at this before scooping her back up with his tail to place her in his arms once again assuming she was just like that... until her father muttered

"strange... she's usually only clingy with her mom"