I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters.

A penny for your thoughts

It happened again like it always does. She often wondered to herself why she thought things would be different this time. It never was. It would always be the same like clockwork. The moments of peace, happiness and contentment would be just that… A moment. Then once again it would be filled with harsh words, violence, suppressed feelings and unvoiced thoughts.

The hurt festered like an infected sore and escalated in its intensity of pain. Then the next day came and like always the night of pain and hurt was nothing but an illusion witnessed only by moon and stars. The next day would be pretense of happiness and the image of a perfectly normal family which would be portrayed to the rest of the world. In the eyes of the offender and the offended the night was nothing but a bad dream; like all dreams meant to be forgotten.

She however could not forget. The pain never goes away no matter what was said or done to try and treat it. It always came back and like a leech it slowly sucked at her ability to persevere. After the night of pain she fled to her sanctuary to lick her wounds like a wounded dog. She knew however that the next day everyone would pretend like nothing happened, like they always do.

She sat there curled up into a ball trying to force her tears not to fall. It was a sign of her weakness that the same ugliness still affected her up to this day. She often berated herself for being so weak and still crying over the same words and harsh treatment from when she was just but a girl.

Yes she was not perfect nor did she claim to be yet she was blamed for things often beyond her control and things that she had not done. She was tired of being called stupid, useless and ugly and even though she knew she was not, the words made her doubt herself. She did not deserve the punishment that was rained down upon her.

She looked to the sky seeking retribution and praying that her offender could feel just but a drop of how she was feeling at that very moment. She controlled her breathing, taking deep breaths and trying to force herself not to cry. For a moment she succeeds and in that moment she promises herself to remain passive regardless of whether her actions would bring about more hurt.

She focused on her surroundings, the cool night air and the gentle breeze. It was so easy to forget her inner turmoil when she immersed herself into beauty and serenity of nature. In those moments she would allow herself to forget her hurt and enjoy nature. It seemed to now be the only thing she would enjoy.

With her tears gone and her breathing controlled she dared to enter the house to flee to her sanctuary. Her facade of indifference however breaks the moment she sees her offender. Try as she might she cannot stem the hurt from making an appearance as tears nor can she control her ragged breathing.

Hateful words and words about how she really felt were on the tip of her tongue waiting eagerly to be spew out but like always she bit her tongue and slowly made her way to her sanctuary not wanting to give another opportunity for her offender to hurt her and tear her down.

She knew for a fact that she had words that could hurt her offender and make the offender feel the same hurt that she was currently feeling. She longed at these moments to do so but always held back. She knew that her offender knew of pain and hurt. Her offender had no filter to her words or thoughts in anger and thus it was released like poison in the air, slowly but surely destroying its surroundings.

As much as she wanted to she could not cause her offender pain. Her offender had suffered enough and the hurt and pain was a result of the offender releasing anger and stress that the offender had felt during his entire lifetime.

However she could not continue to deal with the repeated hurt and pain induced on her by her offender. She was no masochist despite her feeling like one. She slowly began to reach her breaking point tethering on the edge of insanity. She wanted to scream and cry her heart out. In rare moments of insanity she thought breaking everything she saw, of punching things, and feeling physical hurt. She wanted her own blood to flow and to feel the hurt of her injury rather than the emotional and mental hurt she endured.

She sat in her room listening to the voice of her offender talking in a normal, slightly happy tone. Her anger hurt and pain increased like a tsunami picking up speed before destroying all in its path. She closed her eyes willing herself to endure it. After all, for her offender it was a release of stress and anger.

Her offender always told her not to take anything said in these moments seriously, but she could not stop herself from feeling. The offender also said that the words spoken should have no meaning to her, yet she could not help but hear hateful tone of resentment. These words were more than words spoken out of anger.

She sat quietly in her room trying to mend her scarf. It seemed to be the only evidence of the fight that would not be talked of and be forgotten like a dream. To her however it was a sign of a relationship that even if mended would never be the same again. After all she had a limit to how much she could endure and continue pretend that nothing happened.

Despite all the tearing down her will remained strong and her inner fire to succeed no matter how small it may be reduced to would always remain. She would make her own her life and be genuinely happy and content with it. She made a vow to herself to never treat any person the way her offender treated her. She was better and she would prove it.

The days grew closer in which she would make something of herself and come out from underneath the shadow of her offender. No longer would she allow herself to dwell on her pain, hurt, anger and resentment on her offender. She had her entire life ahead of her in which she could escape the pain and find true happiness and contentment in her life without the pretense.

For any of you guys wondering who the offender is. It was Bulma's father. I in no way find abuse what ever kind it may be acceptable. This is fiction people but I apologize if it comes across as offensive to some readers that nothing was done to stop it. With that said please review.