Memory and Desire, Stirring is a Dragon Ball fanfic by KDblack. Can be read here
note on Archive of Our Own. It can also be listened to as a podfic here.
This fic focuses on Bulma's experiences with all of the Saiyans she's met throughout her life. Starting with Goku as a child, it progresses mostly chronologically as she meets each Saiyan or half-Saiyan and learns more about their species.
Memory and Desire, Stirring provides examples of:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Bulma is attracted to Vegeta despite his dark past and the fact that he frequently scares her on purpose.
- Baby Language: As a newborn, Trunks is seen attempting to speak and appears to understand spoken language at least somewhat. This is likely due to the Saiyan half of his genetics.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Despite being Human Aliens, the Saiyans have some strange biological traits. Their hair is very different from that of a human: it's warm, stiff, and more similar to quills. They don't like having their hair touched and it's implied they have some tactile sense from it. The full-blooded Saiyans had tails as children (it's not mentioned whether they have them as adults or not). All of the Saiyans also have fangs.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Subverted. While the Saiyans' black eyes creep people out and look threatening, they are no more or less likely to be evil than humans.
- Blood Knight: The Saiyans are a species who love fighting, sometimes above all else. Broly is seen as a mutant since he doesn't get the same enjoyment out of it.
- Clingy Child: Goten wraps himself extremely tightly around the slightly older Trunks when he's told he has to go home. Trunks lets it happen.
- Human Aliens: The biology of Saiyans in this story is different from their canon version, however they remain mostly human-like in appearance. Their inhuman eyes and physique, as well as having hair that is similar to quills, are the main differences from canon.
- Important Haircut: During his early teen years, Gohan asks Bulma to cut his hair for him. From then on, he only has his hair short even though haircuts are uncomfortable or possibly painful for Saiyans, symbolizing his rejection of his Saiyan heritage.
- Lack of Empathy: Bulma determines after years of study that as a species, Saiyans have little to no empathy. The only possible exceptions to this seem to be Broly and Trunks, but even then they show less empathy than the average human.
- My Secret Pregnancy: Bulma kept her pregnancy a secret from Vegeta since she knew they would end up angry with each other because of it. Even once it was obvious that Vegeta knew, she continued to refuse to speak with him about it.
- Only Friend: Trunks' only friend is Goten. On the other hand, Goten is implied to have more friends, although Trunks is his best friend.
- Prehensile Tail: As a child, Goku used his tail to carry things.
- Reluctant Warrior: Broly doesn't like fighting because the way his body responds to it is not normal for Saiyans. While most Saiyans enjoy fighting and think it feels good, it doesn't for Broly unless he gets angry. Then the feeling becomes overwhelming to the point that he can't control himself.
- Self-Surgery: Bulma had to provide directions during her C-section due to her being the only person there with any knowledge of Saiyan biology.
- Tears of Joy: At the end of the fic, Broly nearly cries with happiness upon finding out he isn't the only Saiyan who gets consumed by anger when he fights after previously being told he was.
- Uncanny Valley: In-Universe. Vegeta's appearance is considered unsettling, due to him looking less realistically human than the other Saiyans. His bulky physique, despite his short height, makes him look disproportionate, especially compared to Goku. His and Goku's eyes also creep people out due to looking soulless and predatory.
- Wacky Cravings: Bulma has cravings for raw meat. This is what provokes her to get a medical exam, which reveals her pregnancy.
- Womb Horror: The third trimester of Bulma's pregnancy has some horrifying complications related to Trunks being half-Saiyan. At one point, he's seen ripping off his tail on an ultrasound. He's also more developed than a newborn baby should be before he's even born. Eventually, Bulma has to have an emergency C-section since Trunks grew too big, during which he bites the doctor performing the surgery six times.