Behind
Closed Doors
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This is a DBZ fic, but it takes place in an A/U where most of the Z
warriors are in high school. This is not a fic about their adventures there
either, but it takes place during that time of their lives. Some of the
characters may be OOC but IC for the situations that I have evilly dumped them
in.
Rated: PG13/R, due to violent child abuse and
graphic violence
Disclaimer: I don't own diddly-sqwat, godditt?
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Raucous noise coming from the classroom was the first thing that should
have warned any visitors that they shouldn't go into that classroom. The second
was the up-turned tables and chairs inside it.
A pretty girl with aqua hair, big blue eyes, an almost perfect figure and
a look of amused intelligence leaned into a larger, dark haired boy. He had
black hair, flat and unruly, dark mischievous looking eyes, a big grin and a
crossed scar marring stunning good looks, at the same time lending him a
buccaneering air which he pulled off very well. From the way he wrapped a brawny
arm around the girl's shoulders, causing her to sigh happily and lean her head
on his arm, you could tell that they were a couple.
A smaller boy with his head shaved laughed loudly, shouting encouragement
to his best friend from time to time. He had an even wider grin on him than the
other boy, and he also had an open and honest look about him. He was less well
built than the scarred kid, but he wasn't fat. He had a tattoo of six dots
adorning his forehead, the sign of his religion.
The objects of the words of encouragement and amused looks were another
black haired boy, yelling apologies over his shoulder while simultaneously
jumping furniture, and another girl pursuing him with an unpleasantly thick
textbook. The boys black hair sprung up in every which way, more unruly than the
first boys. He, too, had dark eyes, which were normally laughing and widely
innocent, but had a panicked gleam in them now. The source of the tall, muscled
man's apparent terror was a vicious looking woman with glossy black hair,
brandishing aforementioned textbook with ease. Her brown eyes glittered with
poorly suppressed anger.
"Goku! Get back here now!!!" she
screamed.
"Chichi, I'm sorry, I didn't know those cookies were for oomph"
Goku, trying to apologise, tripped over a table. Chichi disappeared behind it
followed by a 'whumph' noise.
"Goku? Are you okay?" The bald kid, Krillin, cautiously approached the
now silent table. Chichi popped up, reasonably calm now, and walked away,
dusting her hands. Looking behind the table, Krillin saw Goku rubbing his head
ruefully, but grinning. Seeing his friend's quizzical expression, Goku
explained. "Good cookies."
Krillin sighed, shaking his head, and then looked over to where Bulma and
Yamcha, the girl and the guy, were kissing.
He grinned and yelled, "Hey! You two! Get a room.
They
either didn't hear him, or ignored him, as the battle of the tongues raged
on.
Chichi took a seat, just as their teacher came in.
"Ah. The bell has gone and as usual Miss Chichi is the only one sitting
down."
As
Chichi grinned smugly the others picked up their seats and sat down. Their
teacher, Mr. Zarbon, began to do the register. As he got to the last name, he
stopped and looked up.
"Vegeta?"
The
seat in the back right corner was, as usual, empty. Zarbon began to mark the
missing student absent when the door slammed backwards and bounced off the wall
into the outstretched palm of the previously absent
student.
"Sorry I'm late." He muttered as he stalked to his seat at the back of
the class.
"Vegeta, can you please refrain from kicking the doors open. And would
Miss Bulma kindly detach herself from the person sitting next to her? Thank
you."
The recently entered Vegeta leaned back on his chair and again muttered.
"Yeah, whatever."
Bulma, who had taken the 'frightening' opportunity for close bodily
contact with her boyfriend sat back down in her seat.
The new kid was short, but was still taller than Krillin. He had a flame
of red-black upswept hair and an almost permanent scowl, as well as tormented
black eyes that seemed to bite through you. He was silent, moody and when he did
talk he was always angry. He was always late to school, but he did normally get
there.
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As the day went on, and Zarbon attempted to teach, the students all did
the work to the best of their ability, unless they decided that they couldn't be
bothered.
Soon, the bell went for lunch, and everyone had to go outside onto the
playground, as the school operated a 'closed school'
policy.
The whole class normally hung out together, with the exception of Vegeta,
who hung out with some of the older boys. Although he was at least a year or two
younger than they were, they followed him like sheep. It was something about the
way he wouldn't hesitate to beat someone till they were unconscious, simply
because they irritated him. One of them was actually Goku's bigger brother
Radditz; a brawny individual with masses and masses of long black hair that
spiked it's way down to his knees, and a stern and commanding face. Nappa was
another, a hulking giant of a guy, who was old enough to drive, but stupid
enough to actually believe that money grew on trees like leaves, because they
were both green. They were second to Vegeta, put there by self-appointment and
used by Vegeta, who really couldn't care less. They, in turn, bullied and beat
on the other kids, except, for some reason, those in Vegeta's own
class.
Bulma and Yamcha took advantage of these breaks for longer snogging
sessions, each so enwrapped in each other that they would forget to eat. Chichi
went all puppy-eyed when she saw the love that burned between them, and then
instantly berated Goku for not kissing her all day, as they did. Goku would
smile sweetly, kiss her cheek and remind her that they were both so secure with
each other that they didn't need to kiss each other to show their love. They
could feel it emanate from each other.
Unfortunately, just as Chichi was getting ready to kiss Goku to death, he
turned around and began eating his lunch, leaving her to scowl at the back of
his head.
Krillin tried to get at least some sort of date from the girl he fancied
at the moment... a red headed bombshell... but he was having no luck so far. He
sat and told all of his girl trouble to his best friend
instead.
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As soon as it had started, the bell went signalling a return to class.
After the day had finished, the gang split up. Yamcha walked Bulma home,
promising to meet up at Goku's house later, Krillin walked away with Goku and
Chichi linking arms in front of him, all going to Goku's house to meet up and go
out later.
Nappa had detention and stayed behind, while Radditz hung out with his
latest flame before walking home, stopping off at the shop on his way. Vegeta
also trudged his way home, keeping a quick steady pace. He didn't want to be
late again.
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Krillin sat on Goku's bed, talking about where they were all going to go
that night. Chichi sat on Goku's lap, Goku wrapping his arms around her
possessively and occasionally kissing the side of her neck. They had just
decided to go see the latest movie, when the house shook as a door slammed and
heavy footsteps thundered up the stairs.
They looked up and Radditz burst into the room, looking
around.
"Have you seen my wallet anywhere?" he asked Goku.
Goku
also looked around, then rummaged in a shoebox on top of his dresser, dislodging
Chichi from his lap.
"I think I put it in here after you lent it to me..." He
mumbled.
Radditz tapped his foot on the ground and looked at his
watch.
"Can you have to hurry up? I told Candy I'd meet her five minutes ago and
then I have to go meet up with Vegeta."
Krillin raised an eyebrow. "Why are you meeting up with
him?"
Radditz scowled. "I have to be there. We're going to fight some rival
gang."
Krillin raised both eyebrows. "You have a gang???"
"Yeeeees." Radditz drawled as if to a very dumb child. "We have a gang.
And we have to show this other gang that we can keep our
territory."
Before Krillin could ask anything else, Goku threw Radditz his wallet.
"Here ya go."
Radditz grabbed it and leapt down stairs, before banging the door
shut.
"What was all that about?" Krillin asked. "What
gang?"
Goku sighed and sat back down with Chichi. "Radditz hangs out with Vegeta
and Nappa and that lot. They, apparently, have some kind of gang, and they,
well, rule a little bit of the town.
I think there's is the block near the cinema. Anyway, they just get into trouble
and generally create a bit of noise down there."
"Isn't that dangerous? Aren't your parents worried?" Chichi
questioned.
Goku
smiled and kissed her hand. "The only thing they do is get into fights, and then
they only get punched a bit. My mum and dad are kinda angry with Radditz about
it all, but they decided that as long as he still get's his grades-and he does
for some reason- he can do what he wants, as long as it isn't
illegal."
"Have you ever gone with him?"
Goku
laughed. "No. Don't worry. I don't want to mix with that lot. Radditz only does
it for the power. That and he's scared of Vegeta."
"Is that Vegeta as in our
Vegeta at school?" Krillin asked.
Goku shrugged. "I guess."
"But he's about half the size of Radditz. Why do they follow him around
like that?"
Chichi sighed. "Are you only just asking that now? He always follows Vegeta
around."
"Yeah. I never really took any notice of it before. Why does
he?"
Goku fielded this one. "Apparently Vegeta went ape on some poor kid at
school and knocked him out because this kid called him a coward. Even though
this kid was twice his build. I don't know how he managed it, but Radditz is
scared of him, and so is that big guy in the upper class. What's his name?
Nappa. So they can control everyone, and only have to listen to Vegeta. Most
people are scared of him"
"Okay," Krillin said slowly. "Then how come I haven't heard about this
before now?"
"Vegeta doesn't want anyone in his class to get roughed up. It causes too
much trouble. Even though there are lots of kids getting beaten up out on the
playground, as long as no one is brave enough or dumb enough to point the finger
at him, he stays out of the heat. He figures that if someone in his class gets
beat up, they'll know it was him and have no problems telling as they know him
better."
Before anything else could be said, the doorbell rang. "That'll be Bulma
and Yamcha."
"Let's go. The picture starts in about half an
hour."
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They walked home chatting in the cold darkness and laughing over the
movie. It had been a good funny one and they all felt that it didn't deserve the
poor rating it had gotten. Just as they turned the corner, they realised that
they were lost.
"How did we get here? Where is
here?" Bulma wailed.
"That's not gonna be you're biggest worry soon, babe." a gritty voice
came from the corner. They all gasped, and Yamcha and Goku stood protectively in
front of their respective girlfriends. Krillin, shivering in fear, also stood at
the front, bravely protecting the girls. Just as soon as a shadowy looking
figure stepped forward with a knuckle-duster, a foot came flying out of nowhere
and hit him in the head, knocking him down to the ground where he lay without
moving.
"Baka!" a scornful voice
hissed.
The little group looked shocked as none other than the short Vegeta
stepped away from the body, belatedly followed by Nappa and
Radditz.
"Vegeta." Nappa panted. "Is he...?"
Vegeta rounded on the big guy. "You idiot! You were supposed to put him out
of action." He hissed, glaring balefully at the cowering
giant.
"Goku?" Radditz queried. "What are you doing here?"
"Radditz? We-we went to see a movie and then-" Goku waved his hands
around vaguely to indicate the situation.
Vegeta grinned at Nappa, a chilling expression, and then he kicked him in
the shin. The giant went down, clutching his leg in agony. Vegeta
snickered.
"Hey, you big bully!"
Vegeta
turned around slowly, glowering. Bulma stood there, hands on hips, eyes alight,
Yamcha tugging desperately on her waist for her to come
back.
"There was no need for that."
Vegeta leaned against the wall, hugging himself tightly and smirked.
"What are you going to do about it? We're not at school
anymore."
Bulma 'eeped' and hid behind Yamcha, who looked relieved. Vegeta looked
down at his watch and went slightly pale. "I'm gonna be late." He
murmured.
"Radditz, make sure that Nappa doesn't get himself killed trying to get
home. I'll see you tomorrow."
Without a word to the others, he turned round and was
gone.
Goku
held onto the shivering Chichi, Krillin collapsed, relieved, and Yamcha
comforted Bulma.
Radditz nodded to Nappa then turned to the gang. "Come on then." he said
to them. "I'd better get you home, or dad'll have my
head."
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The next day at school went as normal. Bulma and Yamcha were still
kissing in the corner, and Krillin was playing Gin with Goku and Chichi. Zarbon
came in and they all sat down. Then, also as usual, Vegeta appeared late
again.
As he entered and sat down everyone noticed that he had a livid bruise
across his jaw, and a fresh but not bleeding cut above his left eye. Zarbon
looked at him.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"I got into a fight last night. Nothing big." he
replied.
"Well, although I don't approve of fighting, it didn't happen on school
grounds so I can't do anything. But if I catch you fighting here, I have to call
your dad, okay?"
Vegeta stiffened slightly. A flash of fear passed through his ebony eyes.
"Yessir." he said quietly.
"Okay then."
Class
continued as normal, but Bulma, being the most perceptive one, and having seen
Vegeta's face close up, remembered that he hadn't looked like that last night
after the fight. Vegeta was lying.
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Later, at break, Bulma told the rest of the gang.
"You know last night, when I told that bully to stop kicking Nappa? Well,
I got a pretty good look at his face, and I didn't see a bruise, or a
cut."
"Yeah," said Krillin. "And he said he had to go home straight
away."
Chichi interrupted. "Why do we even care?" she asked. "It's not as if
we're his best friends."
"Yeah," Yamcha said. "But Chichi, if Bulma thinks there's something wrong
here there probably is. And everything we know makes this whole thing seem very
suspicious to me."
"Besides Chi, if it was someone else in trouble, wouldn't you want to
help?" this was Goku.
"I suppose," Chichi admitted. "Not even that miserable louse deserves to
get beat up like that. Especially if he won't say how."
"And he's a pretty shy guy if you know him."
"Radditz?"
Radditz had come up from behind them and startled them. "What do you know
about it?"
Radditz frowned. "Yesterday Vegeta should have got home safely. His house
in the middle of our territory, and he could handle himself if anyone tried to
ambush him."
"Do you think he could've fallen and doesn't want to tell anyone?"
Krillin asked.
"Maybe, he is a really proud guy." Radditz said. "But then, it doesn't
seem likely. He's not really the falling over type."
Before
the conversation could be carried on, a chant reached their
ears.
"Fight, fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...."
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"Please don't."
"I'm sorry Vegeta, but I told you, anymore fighting and I'll have to call
your parents."
"Please, Mr. Zarbon, please
don't call him. Please? You can give me detention
instead."
Zarbon looked down at the begging boy. "I'm sorry Vegeta, but detention
doesn't seem to work. Now we'll just have a chat to your
parents."
"You can't." Vegeta blurted out. "My-my dad won't come. He hates
parent-teacher stuff."
"Well, then we'll talk over the phone. Don't worry. I'm sure we can get
to the root of this problem."
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Vegeta caught up with Radditz as he was walking home with Goku and
Chichi.
"Radditz!"
"Oh, hey Vegeta. What's up?"
"Ummm, I wanted to know if I could stay at yours for a bit? Zarbon called
my dad about the fight, and he's not going to be happy with me. It's too cold to
stay outside and I'd rather go home than stay at Nappa's."
Radditz looked a little surprised at the desperation in Vegeta's voice,
the look in his eyes that said 'you are my last hope'. Vegeta wasn't pleading,
but he knew him well enough to tell when he wasn't joking
around.
"Well, mum and dad aren't gonna be around. I suppose you can
stay."
"Thanks." Vegeta said, another surprise. "I owe you
one."
Goku was surprised when Radditz told them that Vegeta was going to be
staying at theirs for a bit, but he accepted it. Chichi stayed away from Vegeta
and left all the talking to Goku and Radditz.
"So Vegeta," Goku started. "How's your face. Does it
hurt?"
Vegeta looked cagey. "It's alright." he said, unconsciously lifting a
hand to trace his bruised jawbone.
"How did you get that?"
"I told you, I got into a fight." Vegeta growled.
"When was that though? You seemed fine when we saw you last
night."
Vegeta's hands clenched into fists. "It doesn't matter." he hissed,
apparently trying to control his temper.
Radditz rescued Goku. "So why did you hit that guy
today?"
Vegeta relaxed slightly. "He said that I was getting slow, and that if I
could get hit like this on my own turf, he shouldn't have a problem taking it
from me. I had to show him he was wrong." He grinned at his, and Chichi felt
scared. How could someone actually feel glad at having hurt someone else? Vegeta
looked positively feral.
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When they got home, Goku and Chichi went to his room, and Vegeta followed
Radditz to his. They played video games until late into the night. Chichi was
staying over, and was wondering when Vegeta would have to go home so that she
could cuddle with Goku, who seemed reluctant to do that with Vegeta
here.
The phone rang, so Goku hopped down and answered
it.
"Hello?"
The voice at the other end could only be described as
slimy.
"Hi. Is Vegeta there?"
"Umm, yeah. Are you his dad?"
The voice snickered. "Yes I am. Can I talk to him?"
"Sure thing." Goku leaned away from the phone and yelled. "VEGETA!!!
PHONE!!!" Then he turned back to the phone.
"Don't be too hard on him for fighting, he was just defending his
honour."
The voice at the other end grew hard. "Oh, don't worry. I won't be too hard on him."
Vegeta reached the phone, giving a questioning look to Goku as he took
it. *Your dad* Goku mouthed, and then
watched interested as the colour drained from Vegeta's face, making the livid
blue and purple bruise stand out even more.
"Dad." He said.
Goku listened but couldn't hear anything.
"Yeah, I know, but... Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I
will."
He flinched slightly.
"Alright then. Yeah I will. Okay."
He put the phone down and then turned to Goku.
"I have to go. Thanks for... you know."
"That's okay." Said Goku, serious. "Are you alright getting
home?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll walk. It's not far."
"If your sure." said Goku.
"Yeah."
"Well then, night."
"Night."
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Vegeta wasn't in school at all the next day. Goku had told the guys what
had happened, and about the phone-call. They were still puzzled. Bulma was
annoyed as she had been assigned as his partner in English, and he wasn't there
to help.
She hoped that he would be in tomorrow,
because if she didn't get a good grade here, she would fail English.
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The day after that, Vegeta came into school. He had the two-day old
bruise, now a paler colour still across his cheek, and the healing cut, but he
also sported a black eye, a bruise on the other cheek, and a larger ugly gash
that cut across the bruised eye and ran up into his hairline. He limped to his
seat and sat down painfully.
"Fell over." he said, in reply to Zarbon's questioning
glance.
Bulma and Yamcha were also having problems. She had caught him with
another girl the other day, and after questioning her, had discovered that she
thought she was his only girlfriend.
They had had a fight and were now sitting away from each
other.
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In the playground, Vegeta sat against a wall on his own, after having
sent his two 'bodyguards' away. He drew his legs up close to his body, rested
his crossed arms on them and held his head. He sighed into them and sat there,
trying to forget where he was, who he was.
He was doing a good job of it, because Bulma had yelled and screamed to
get his attention, and eventually resorted to actually touching the bully. She was surprised at
his reaction. He flinched and leaned away from her hand, uncurling from the ball
that he was in, and his heart rate accelerated. He looked up, eyes wide, before
he saw who it was and got control of his face again, shutting himself off into
his usual scowl.
"What the HFIL do you want?" he snapped at her.
"Are you alright?" Bulma, concerned, ignored his
tone.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
She scanned his face, seeing closer the swollen black eye, the
angry-looking livid bruise that spanned the other jaw bone and the long cut
which, she saw from the blood matted hair, went some way up into his
hairline.
"Why didn't you wash that out?" she queried.
"None of your business." He growled, standing up.
*Note to self: Blue hair is taller
than me. *
Bulma put her hands on her hips, angry.
"Well excuuuuu-se me for caring buddy, but we have to do this English
assignment, and I would rather do it with a partner who isn't
concussed."
He looked at her confused. "How did you know that?"
"Know what?"
"That I had a concussion. Who you been talking to?" he unconsciously put
a hand to his head.
"Is that where you were yesterday then? In hospital?" Bulma's anger was
gone in her curiosity.
"WHO SAID I WAS IN HOSPITAL?!?!?!"
Vegeta was getting agitated.
Radditz and Nappa came up to her, having noticed this little facedown.
Radditz reached her first.
"Is she bothering you Vegeta?" he asked.
"HFIL, YES." He yelled.
"Come on, Bulma." Radditz took her arm. "Leave him alone, he's in a bit of a mood
today."
he whispered in her ear.
Bulma looked back to see Vegeta cussing up at Nappa, who stood there
looking sheepish.
"I just wanted to know how he was." she complained. "He didn't need to
blow up at me like that. We have to do English together."
"It's alright." he reassured her. "I'll ask him to be nice to you for
English."
The bell went.
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"For the benefit of those of us who weren't here yesterday." Zarbon
looked meaningfully at Vegeta, who just snorted and looked away. "I'll
re-explain your English assignment. You have to write a detailed report of one
family member from your other partner's family. It can be anyone as long as
they're direct relatives. This means fathers, mothers, step-fathers/mothers,
siblings, aunts, uncles, and first cousins. Grandparents as well. Now, are there
any questions? Yamcha?"
"How do we get the information we need?"
"Well, opinions from other family members are welcome. Your partner's
opinion is important; they must also provide you with the right amount of info.
Anything the person you are writing about says to you can be included, but I
don't want any interviews. Okay? Any
more questions?"
Bulma had her hand up. "Will we have to go to each other's
houses?"
"You have to meet the person, yes. Vegeta?"
"I'm not doing it."
Zarbon looked at him. "It's not a multiple choice task Vegeta. You have
to do this, it's a large part of your exam grade."
"Well, then I'll fail it."
"Oh no you don't." that was Bulma.
"Look mister, this may not be a big deal to you, but I have expectations.
I have to get a decent grade in this, and if I don't, I'll blame you for the
rest of your life."
"She's right Vegeta." Zarbon told him.
"There is no way she's doing a paper on my 'guardian' okay???" Vegeta
stood up and yelled.
The whole class went silent.
"Look," Zarbon sighed. "If you want, she can do one on your real dad. Would that be
better?"
Vegeta looked round, at all the other students, at Zarbon and at Bulma.
She looked pleadingly at him and mouthed, *pleeease?*
He made a decision.
"I 'spose." he muttered.
"Good."
As they went back to their work Vegeta felt a great sense of misery. * I really wish I didn't have to do this*
he thought, and then looked
across at his partner, who was busily scribbling notes.
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As the days went on, Vegeta hung around at Bulma's house. He was writing
his paper on her dad, who wasn't the most exciting of people, but who was one of
the world's greatest geniuses, having invented the revolutionary and space
saving capsule. The doctor had biographies all over the Internet, and they were
allowed to use any articles about any of the members of family they were writing
about. This might even be Vegeta's first 'A', especially as Bulma kept
pressuring him to hurry up and finish it.
He had been spending a lot of time at her place, talking to her mother
and some of the employees to find out the real deal about Dr. Briefs. Some of
the information that he found on the 'Net wasn't accurate, but he knew he could
rely on the opinions of the others and his essay was soon near
completion.
While he had had to associate with Bulma he had gotten to know her a bit
better, and she him. He found her to be flighty and sometimes superficial, while
at the same time she was fiery-tempered, determined and almost always up for a
laugh. She had inherited her father's brains, and while Vegeta didn't want to
admit attraction to her, he did have to say that she was a really beautiful
girl. Although she did have a mouth on her.
Bulma found Vegeta to be a quiet guy, shy like Radditz had said. This
came as a surprise to her at first, but she eventually got used to the way that
he would avoid
talking
to anyone unless he absolutely had to. He was extremely proud and strong-willed.
He liked to bate her to arguments, so she found that he had a wit almost as
quick as her own, and while he was abrasive and arrogant, she saw something
inside him that resembled vulnerability. He hid it well under a facade of
bravado, but it was there, present but deeply buried. She wondered why someone
as intimidating as Vegeta would feel vulnerable, but then, he was only human and
everyone had some weaknesses.
The problems started when it was time for Bulma to begin her essay on
Vegeta's dad. They had arranged to meet up in front of the school. Vegeta didn't
turn up. She cornered him at school the day after and forced him to tell her
about his dad so she could start her essay. He took her to the
graveyard.
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They looked down at the ordinary grey gravestone, half covered with ivy
and vines, and choked at the bottom with long grass.
'Here rests Vegeta, brave protector and
loved father and brother.'
Bulma looked solemnly at Vegeta who was lost in his own thoughts. They
wandered over to sit on the bench near the path and she waited until he was
ready to start talking. He began, looking off into the distance, to a place only
in his head.
Vegeta's dad had been left to raise the baby after his wife died a few
days after he was born. Vegeta didn't know why she had died, he had never been
told. His dad was an important person high in the chain of command in the army.
He was away for long periods of time, so Vegeta would stay on his own at home
where his uncle would occasionally look in on him. His dad was a proud man,
arrogant as Vegeta was now, and he didn't like to see any weaknesses in his son.
Vegeta, as a result, had grown quickly into a very mature child for his age. He
had learned self-defence from his dad, who was also very fit, mentally and
physically, and who had very few close friends, mainly in the army-base where he
worked. He was ambitious, dedicated and tactically brilliant. Vegeta had been
six when his dad had been shot by an angry soldier while at work. It was a freak
incident, but it left a very angry little boy behind.
"I was left in the care of my uncle. And that's really all I can tell
you."
Bulma, who had been taking notes, looked up.
"Isn't there anything else you can give me Vegeta?" She begged. "This
isn't going to be a very good essay, and I'll get a bad
mark."
Vegeta was half-tempted to tell her to mind her own business, but then
she had helped him with his assignment as much as possible, so he supposed he
could do this for her. She was hoping for a good grade here after all. And she
hadn't been as snappy as she appeared.
He sighed.
"I s'pose there's a few other things I could show you." he said. "But
they're at my place."
"Oh thank you!" Bulma cried, spontaneously hugging him round the neck. Or
trying to at least.
Vegeta saw her leap at him, and automatically put up an elbow to block,
leaning back as he did. Bulma hit his arm and went down
sharply.
"What was that for?" she asked, ruefully rubbing her
butt.
"Sorry, force of habit." Vegeta explained. He helped her
up.
They stood there, her hands in his, looking at each other. The world
around them seemed to stop, the sky was lit in bold pinks and reds backed by
delicate and deep violet. They stepped closer...
Vegeta froze and pulled away. "We'd better get going." he said. "We can't
be late."
Bulma, confused, picked up her notes and followed him out of the
cemetery.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They walked through the rapidly darkening alleys until they came to a
house that looked the same as any of the other houses on the block. Vegeta
seemed nervous, glancing at his watch every now and then and fidgeting in a way
that was quite unlike him.
Bulma looked at him quizzically and put her hand on his
arm.
"Are you okay?"
He jumped and turned to her.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I'll just go get the stuff,
okay?"
He jumped inside and left her standing on the step, moving from foot to
foot, clutching her notes to her. She'd better start walking back quick, or
she'd have to call home, and she really didn't want to drag her parents out. She
heard murmuring voices on the other side of the door, one of them was Vegeta's
and one she didn't recognise. Probably his uncle. She waited,
listening.
The deeper voice sounded muggy and angry. It was harsher and louder than
the lighter voice of Vegeta, who sounded apologetic and stammering. She heard
some kind of heavy noise and then there was a stretch of silence before some
more angry muttering.
She heard footsteps and the door swung open. Vegeta looked out and handed
her a box. His nose was bleeding and his lip was cut.
"You can look through these." he said. "'Night."
He began to close the door and Bulma put her hand
out.
"Wait. What happened?"
"Oh." he said, touching his lip. "The box was on a high shelf and it fell
on me. Bye"
Bulma was faced with a shut door and a sense that something wasn't right
here at all. However, she couldn't do anything just because things looked
suspicious. She sighed, turned and walked home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When she got home, Bulma opened the metal box and looked at a large
amount of letters with some clippings and things.
There were a few old medals that she looked at, noted down, and then
carried on looking. She read the letters, all of them from Vegeta's dad to his
son. They were mainly about how his day went, asking things about school and
life at home, telling Vegeta to be strong and wait for him to come home. They
ended saying how much his dad missed him and that he'd be back soon. There were
some rough letters from Vegeta to his dad, some photographs and then some
newspaper clippings. There were a couple that had only a small box in them,
ringed with a red pen, about a new award won, and other such achievements, but
they were mostly about the death of Vegeta by some freak accident, obituaries
and details of why it happened. Bulma got as much information as possible,
wanting to edit it as much as she could so that all the emphasis wasn't on
Vegeta's dad's death, and was just closing the box when something else caught
her eye.
It was a small notebook, slim and blue like the ones they gave out at
school to list spellings in. She opened it and read the first page, written in
block handwriting that had the edge of childishness in it, spattered with
spelling mistakes.
'Ths Is Vegetas DaIry. HANdS OF OR ELS!!!'
It
was underlined several times in red ink.
She grinned at the childishness of it, unexpected in a kid like Vegeta.
She read through it, thought there was nothing really interesting there. Just
what he'd done that day, that he missed his dad, what he'd had for dinner. The
things he had learned at school. Funnily enough there was nothing really in
there about any fights he had gotten into. She thought he may have just left
them out, but they were mentioned if they had occurred. Some he had started,
some he hadn't, but there were only a few noted.
As she read on, she got to a point where the entries petered out. Then,
after about three weeks they started up again. She noticed that this was about
the time that Vegeta's dad had died. His writing had now become more precise and
the spelling and grammar had noticeably improved. He wrote about how he hated
the man that had shot his dad, how he wished all kinds of things on him to make
him suffer. There were the kinds of things in there that Bulma didn't like to
think about coming from a kid. They were graphically violent and detailed. Then
came a shock, all the more worse because it verified her
suspicions.
'I wish I was still living with my
dad. I hate living with my uncle; he's too strict and too cold. He scares me.
I'm too scared to tell anyone this, but I have to write it down to get it out
somehow.
He has threatened to beat me to death with the broomstick if I tell
anyone else, or if this gets out. I believe him.
I came back at 10.30 last night, half an hour over curfew. He punched me
hard for that, and later, when he got tired of kicking me, he got the belt out.
It's wide and black and has a heavy silver buckle.
I have a black eye, split lip and I can't lie on my back. I didn't want
to bleed on the floor. The belt buckle caught me in the mouth, so that hurts.
And I think he bruised a rib. I'm one big walking bruise. And I can't do
anything about it. I'm scared that one day he'll put me in
hospital.
I don't know what to do.'
There were more entries like this one, all bleak, cataloguing injuries
and detailing problems at school. Some of the entries were death threats to his
uncle, some were suicide notes that he had been considering an option before he
had remembered his father had told him to never give up. Some of the pages were
carefully spotted with blood, boxed off with its origin written next to
it.
She read the entry where Vegeta had knocked out the kid at
school.
'I had another fight today. It was a bad
one. Some kid twice my size called me a coward for one reason or the other and I
saw red. Literally. I was that mad. Here I am, being beaten by someone twice my
height just for being in the way, and there's this kid telling me I'm a coward.
For what? Taking those hits like a man, instead of a boy? I lost it. I just went
for him.
I don't think he was expecting it, and neither was I. I've been
practicing karate at school, partly to get away from home for a while, partly
for protection. I kicked him in the head and he went down, unconscious. And the
next thing I know, all the big kids wanna hang out with me.
I could use this. I get all the flak at home, why shouldn't I take
advantage of this sudden power that I'm getting? One time where I can be in
control I think. As well as the admiration (yeah right) of the older guys at
school.
I got a broken arm from that fight. I got it by falling out of a tree
(transl: my dear uncle hit me with a baseball
bat.)
It's the third time I've been to the hospital in two months I think. He's
been the cause every time, and still no one has noticed. That can be my only
hope. I can't tell anyone.'
The loneliness and pain in the writings was almost unbearable for Bulma's
soft heart, but as bad as this was, it soon got worse. The entry a few weeks
after was scribbled hurriedly, and the paper was blotched with what were
surmisably tearstains.
'Oh Kami. And I thought things couldn't get
worse. He's started drinking.
His judgement gets impaired when he's drinking, believe me. Oh Kami. He
broke my leg today. He just did it with his hands, just snapped it the wrong way
at the kneecap. I wish I were a horse, so that someone would put me down. It
Kills.
I passed out when he did it, I keep fading out even now. I think I even
threw up.
He'll probably take me to the hospital tomorrow, he doesn't want anyone
getting suspicious, or missing me. I must have at least three broken ribs and I
think my nose is broken.
Kami, kami, kami. Doesn't exist. There's no such person, I know, I've
tried to beg him to make my uncle stop. I wish he'd just let my uncle kill me
one of these days.'
The last entry in the journal appeared to have been written a few years
after that one.
'I just re-found this thing. I think the
first part is fiction, it certainly reads like it. That all seems so far away.
I'll never get away from him now, I've tried. He reports me to the police as a
missing person, I get found and then sent back to
him.
This is the last time I'm gonna write in this thing anyway. There's no
point in it.
There's no point in anything.'
With that the diary ended.
Bulma felt sick. She remembered the last few days, things that had
happened, things Vegeta had said and it all clicked. His anxiety over being home
late, his reluctance to go home, his skittishness at physical contact. The
poorly explained sudden injuries now became understandable. She recalled the
time when he hadn't come into school the day after saving them from the would-be
mugger, how he had limped afterwards. And when he had given her the box and
blamed his bloody features on an accident... she realised that the thump she had
heard had been his body hitting the floor. Why hadn't she realised then
?!?!
It had been so obvious, it had always been obvious, but still nobody had
ever noticed that the school bully was being bullied. Bulma thought long and
hard and realised what she had to do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day at school, Bulma worried. Vegeta hadn't shown up. Her
friends had noticed her distraction.
"Are you okay Bulma?"
She looked up from her essay to see Krillin in front of her, looking
concerned.
Chichi and Goku sat down next to her.
"Yeah Bulma, you've been really quiet lately."
"You'll find out in English." She replied cryptically. "Hey
Yamcha."
After the argument they had had, they got back together after Yamcha had
begged and apologised, plying Bulma with flowers until she gave
way.
"Hi Bulma." He bent over, kissed her hand and sat down. "Is that your
English essay? Is that's what's kept you so pre-occupied lately? What's the
matter; does that bad boy have some skeletons in the closet? Dirty
secrets?"
Bulma felt annoyed as he teased her. *I wish you could know* she
thought.
"You'll have to find out with everyone else
Yamcha."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The English essays were about to be read. Bulma had despaired on Vegeta
ever showing up when the door was shoved open and he entered, quietly for once.
He apologised to Zarbon, shocking the man, and then sat down at his seat. Bulma
noticed that he favoured his left side and that the cut lip had been joined by
nasty looking bruises around his throat. He explained it away as the result of
another fight.
After everyone's essays, it was Bulma's turn to read hers. She went to
the front of the class. Everyone leaned forward, attentive and anxious to hear
about the father of the school tyrant.
||My essay is on Vegeta's dad,
who was also named Vegeta. He was a proud man who believed in strength of
character and who raised a fighter, not a quitter. He managed to do this on his
own, after the death of his wife.
He was a soldier who had little time to spend with his son, but who still
showed his love towards him by means of letters.||
Vegeta
blushed and squirmed in his seat.
||I couldn't form my own opinion
of this elusive man, as he was tragically killed some years
back.||
Some
of the more sympathetic students and those who had also lost parents shot him
looks of pity, which only annoyed him. Bulma continued.
||Vegeta has instead been living
with his uncle, from whom I could get no information
except...||
She
paused, aware that she was teetering on an invisible line between following
Vegeta's wishes and doing what was right. She crossed the boundary in a firm,
clear and angry voice.
||Vegeta's uncle is a child
beater.||
There.
She had said it. There was a collective gasp and some people turned to stare at
Vegeta, who had gone white.
||I know that in most of our
lives, everyone has been smacked once or twice for being naughty, but this 'man'
uses baseball bats, belts and has put his own nephew in hospital on more than
one occasion. He has threatened the boy with death if he tells anyone, and the
only proof you need is sitting right there.||
She
pointed at Vegeta still frozen in his seat.
||He is being abused, it's as
clear as the bruises round his throat, and regardless of my essay mark, I have
decided that enough people have ignored this torture for long
enough.||
Vegeta
finally snapped out of his catatonic trance.
"You can't do this!" He screamed at
her.
"Everybody..." Zarbon started, hands up to appease.
"SHUT UP!!!" Vegeta yelled back at him. It seemed that he had finally
cracked. He whirled on Bulma. "You stupid idiot. Do you have ANY idea what
you've done?" he got up and ran out of the classroom.
Bulma was going to follow him when Zarbon stopped her, looking her right
in the eye.
"What's going on?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vegeta ran home, wrenched the front door open, dashed up the stairs and
began to pack. He had to get out of here and fast. That blue-haired baka had
absolutely no right to...
He froze. He heard the creak of a foot on the
stairs.
*Kuso. Kuso, kuso, kuso. It was
Thursday, wasn't it? He went out till late, didn't
he?*
"BRAT!!! WHERE THE HFIL ARE
YOU?"
It
was Friday.
Vegeta
felt the usual sick fear in his stomach intensify. His uncle was
furious.
"Did you know I got a phone call
just now? YOU TOLD SOMEONE DIDN'T YOU?"
Vegeta
whimpered. The door flew open and the handle embedded itself into the wall.
There stood his uncle, red eyed, blond haired, three times taller than Vegeta,
ten times stronger and looking like the devil himself.
"Now I'm gonna go to JAIL because
of you, you little RAT."
He gripped Vegeta's arm tightly, wrenching muscles and bruising flesh as
he dragged him over and grabbed his collar.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry, I'm sorry."
Vegeta repeated like a mantra, in a tiny little voice.
"I don't care." His uncle hissed,
shaking him viciously like a terrier with a rat. "But you're gonna suffer for telling on
me."
Vegeta
heard someone screaming as he was flung face-first into the solid wooden
bedpost, and realised that it was him as he blacked out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulma had explained everything to Zarbon and had shown him Vegeta's
heartbreaking diary. She hadn't waited to see him phone Frieza, but had bolted
as soon as the bell went, running towards Vegeta's house.
She was struck with a feeling of foreboding and ran
faster
Goku realised where she must have gone and called
Radditz.
"Radditz, we don't have time so just accept what I say. Bulma found out
that Vegeta was being physically abused by his uncle, told the class, Vegeta ran
off and she followed him. You know where he lives, can you go and make sure
they're okay?"
Radditz was shocked to hear that all of his friend's- and Vegeta was his
friend- injuries had been caused by Vegeta's own uncle, but he had seen the
damage done more than once and sprinted away, taking the shortcut to Vegeta's
house.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vegeta wearily came to after his uncle kicked him bodily down the stairs.
He didn't have the breath left to scream any more, so he whined deep in his
throat like a wounded animal instead. He began dragging himself upright, but a
new pain in his hip stopped him. He looked up just in time to catch a foot below
his chin, which made his mouth snap shut, biting his tongue and landing him on
his back a few steps away.
He lay there, dizzy, as his uncle began smashing furniture. He looked out
the window and glimpsed Radditz's shocked, pale face looking horrified at him.
He grinned a bloody grin and then a scream found it's way out of his tortured
throat as Frieza savagely broke his shin with a chair leg.
The pain overwhelmed him and he blacked out again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radditz, having known a shortcut to Vegeta's house, arrived there before
Bulma. He soon wished he hadn't arrived at all after peering through the window
and seeing a broken and bleeding Vegeta grin at him before screaming and passing
out as his uncle broke his leg with a piece of wood. The crack of bone breaking
was audible even from there.
Radditz fled, shaking and shivering, to find help and bumped into Zarbon
near the school.
"Come on!" He panted, tugging at Zarbon's sleeve. "Vegeta's uncle's gonna
kill 'im!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulma had had to go through the graveyard to get to Vegeta's house, as
she only knew the way from there. As a result, she arrived a few minutes after
Radditz had. She heard the crack of bone, Vegeta's scream, his uncle cursing and
ran into the kitchen through the unlocked back door.
She skidded to a halt at the scene in front of her, before throwing up
her hands and screaming, "Oh Kami, stop! He's had enough, please, just
STOP!!!"
There was silence in the kitchen except for Vegeta's moans of pain. He
half-fell, half-sat down the bottom of the wall. Blood ran to his chin from a
large crack in his forehead, his face was a gory mask of blood, his leg was
incorrectly bent at the knee and ankle, his arm hung loosely and he was covered
in his own blood. There was also a large smear of blood down the wall that
looked as if it had been caused by the back of his head. He looked unconscious
and worryingly pale, his blood soaking his clothes.
His uncle turned to her, hair dishevelled, eyes wild, shirt
blood-spattered. He held a chair leg above his head, which was subsequently
thrown carelessly into a wall and stuck there shuddering.
"Get out of my house." He
bellowed and backhanded the blue-haired teen across her cheek, sending her
falling a few metres back, dazed.
"Your as worthless a piece of filth as he
is." he hissed at her.
She gasped and scuttled back against the wall, trying to escape him. Now
she knew how Vegeta must have felt. Trapped.
Frieza growled inhumanly at her and raised a hand to hit her again. He
jerked suddenly, before falling forward, almost on top of her, and crashing to
the ground hard. Bulma looked up, startled to see that her rescuer was a very
faint looking Vegeta. He swayed where he stood and pitched over onto his hands
and knees when she reached out to support him. He knelt there and vomited blood
onto the floor, glistening and crimson, his life on the
floor.
Bulma almost threw up herself at the sight, and then Vegeta turned away,
sobbing piteously for a few minutes before finally collapsing, exposing another
large smash in the back of his head.
Bulma felt dizzy at the sight of all the blood. She gulped air,
desperately trying not to be sick. Bulma didn't move. Neither did Vegeta. Bulma
looked at the blood that had spilled onto the floor, looked at the huge gashes
on the still, pale body and realised that he was dead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Zarbon and Radditz neared Vegeta's house, the longhaired teen felt a
pang of protective anxiety. He had subconsciously begun to look upon Vegeta as
another younger brother, and to find out that all those nasty accidents were the
results of vicious beatings made him feel like he had failed as a friend and a
role model.
He worried about Vegeta's welfare. The mangled and bloody body that had
once been his best friend didn't look as if could have resisted any more blows
from that long piece of heavy wood. Kami! How had that man ever been allowed to
look after a child?
As soon as they reached the house they heard quiet weeping. Radditz worry
increased, as he knew that Vegeta never liked to cry. They opened the door
cautiously, and a hysterical Bulma flung herself at Radditz, who caught her
reflexively.
"He killed him, he's dead, he's dead. Oh Radditz." He heard through her
anguished sobs. His blood froze when he heard this. Vegeta couldn't be dead. No!
He held the sobbing girl tightly and tried to hold back his own
tears.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zarbon left his traumatised student in the capable hands of the elder
Radditz and cautiously entered the house, not knowing what he would find. He
spotted the flecks of fresh blood on the wall first, and then he saw the wrecked
furniture, one chair of which was missing a leg. He found this lying on the
floor near the unconscious but alive form of whom he assumed to be Vegeta's
tyrannical Uncle Frieza.
Apart from a bump on his head, assumedly caused by the errant chair leg,
and his unaware state, he was fine. He found himself regretting this and also
resisting the urge to kick a few ribs when he discovered his most troubled
student facedown in his own blood.
He turned the body over gently and grimaced at the amount of blood that
spilt down his face. It slicked his chin red as well, showing that he had some
internal bleeding.
He wondered how he could have let this sort of thing go on without
noticing it at once. All the bruises and cuts and black eyes... he shook his
head. That was all in the past.
Zarbon gently checked for a pulse then sighed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radditz continued to hold the girl until her tears slowed, and then he
brought out a hanky for her to wipe her face with. As she did so, he caught her
chin and tilted her face up.
"What happened?" he asked, instantly angry.
A large hand-shaped red mark spread across her face under her eye. She
sniffled.
"Vegeta's uncle hit me."
Before Radditz could get the full story, he heard Zarbon call him from
inside the house, sounding slightly panicked.
"Radditz? Call the police and an ambulance,
please."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bulma had spent a few hours at the police station, explaining what she
had seen, how she was involved and giving them the contents of the biscuit tin
Vegeta had given her. She then went home and slept for at least twelve hours.
The recent excitement had exhausted her and her face ached where Frieza had
slapped her. She thought of Vegeta, pale and blood covered, and the ambulance
men's grim faces, and cried herself to sleep.
She went to the hospital a few hours after she woke up, only to find
Zarbon of all people, sitting in a chair next to the bed Vegeta lay in. The
doctors had stopped the internal bleeding with a senzu solution and had fixed
his breaks, but they couldn't cure him totally until he regained consciousness
enough to eat a more solid senzu bean.
He slept in a coma, looking pale as if all of his blood had been drained
away, and the multiple bruises flared like banners on his body. The doctors had
said that he was one of the worst cases of child-abuse that they had seen in at
least two years.
Zarbon smiled weakly at her as she entered the
doorway.
"The doctor's say he'll be okay and that he's stable for now, but they
can't wake him up. He'll have to do that on his own and only if he wants to.
Talking to him might speed the process though. They've put his uncle in prison
and they said that they'd have to place him in a home once he gets through
this."
Bulma was surprised to see Zarbon stroke a hand through Vegeta's upright
spiky hair.
"Poor kid." He muttered. "And all this time we never knew. He never told
anybody." He sounded regretful. "Radditz is here by the way. He's getting a
coffee now. He seems to be beating himself up over it, as if he was
responsible."
This didn't shock Bulma. She knew that Radditz was fiercely protective
over his brother Goku, and now that he had 'adopted' Vegeta, it made sense for
him to feel the same way over this boy too.
As Bulma looked over the deeply unconscious boy, she felt glad that his
uncle would never be able to terrorise him again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
END
PART ONE
BEGIN
INTERLUDE
