Girls' Day Out

Part Two

A Dragonball Z fanfic

By Hana Noir

(Author's Note: Something screwy is going on. The first part of this story is up on ff.net, but when I go to edit/upload chapters, the first chapter of the fic doesn't show up. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, minna… I didn't want to remove part one and lose the few reviews it did have! ^_^ I'm such a greedy lil' thing.)

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Kyrie sighed as she watched the line inch forward. Why was it that EVERY SINGLE TIME she came to the bank, they were busy? And why was it that they had stations for SIX tellers and only TWO were staffed?? It was some sort of Murphy's Law conspiracy…

Bulma was barking orders into the cell phone in her ear, chewing out the distributor who had called her with excuses about a delayed shipment. Kyrie had to admit that she was a bit…impressed by Bulma's colorful vocabulary. Lunch was reading over a booklet the doctor had given her about prenatal development, eyes wide with amazement.

The elderly woman at the head of the line finished her business and stepped aside. The line snailed forward. Kyrie sighed again. For lack of anything better to do, she watched the old woman's progress across the bank lobby. It was only slightly more exciting that watching paint dry, she figured, but what else could she do?

The woman had almost reached the wide glass door when they flew open, knocking her on her backside. Irate, the old woman screamed, drawing the attention of every person in the building. She quickly became quiet, however at the sight of six burly men with machine guns trained on her. The biggest seemed to be the spokesman of the group. "Everyone stays quiet, everyone stays alive. All we want is the money.

They fanned out across the lobby, herding the bank patrons into a tight knot in the middle of the floor. Two remained behind to guard the customers, while two headed for the tellers. The last two disappeared in the direction of the vault.

Bulma snapped her phone shut, grasping Lunch's hand tightly when the dark haired woman grabbed at her. "It's okay," she whispered, trying to contain her own fears at the same time. Kyrie watched closely as the masked bandits began to rob the tellers, stuffing the money into bags they had brought in. Bulma's free hand crept to her waist, pressing a innocuous stud on the buckle of her belt.

"What's that?" Kyrie asked softly, having noticed the surreptitious gesture.

"Personal alarm," Bulma answered, watching the robbers as several of them approached the crowd of terrified people. "It alerts my security team, and let's them track me."

"I'm sure you know the drill," one of them said in a rough, dry voice. "Place all of your valuables in the bag. No heroics and no one gets hurt." Bulma snorted wryly and the man leveled his gun at her. Kyrie quickly stepped in front of her. After all, she had to need to fear a mere gun. One of the first things Piccolo had taught her upon her return was how to use her ki to deflect such objects. "Get down on the floor," he yelled, waving the gun again.

Kyrie saw the other robbers coming back into the lobby, their bags full and she nudged Bulma. "Stay with Lunch and keep your eyes covered," she whispered, edging toward the chairs near the window before Bulma could think to ask any questions. Once she was far enough away, she increased her ki and put on a burst of speed, seeming to materialize before the doors. She let out an ear piercing whistle, causing the gang and most of the people in the building to look in her direction.

Bringing her hands up before her face, she shouted, "SOLAR FLARE!!" A white hot blaze of light filled the building, blinding everyone who had looked. Kyrie moved quickly, snatching guns from hands and delivering quick chops to the backs of their necks. She counted quickly, making sure that she had caught them all before zipping back over to the moaning, complaining would-be victims and joining them.

The Satan City Police Department were astonished when they burst though the door to find all of the bank robbers on the floor, unconscious, their guns neatly piled behind the counter. They began questioning the witnesses, all of whom seemed conflicted on what had happened. Some swore up and down that there had been an explosion, while one old woman declared that they had been saved by an angel, who had struck down the wicked with the glory of God.

Kyrie, Bulma and Lunch gave statements, saying they hadn't seen anything unusual and they had no idea what had happened. When the police had left, Kyrie managed to catch the bank's vice-president, asking if there was some way she could please get to her safe deposit box sometime today. He looked annoyed, asking for her name.

"Kyrie," she said. "Kyrie Richards." His manner changed immediately and he insisted on escorting her personally. Bulma quirked an eyebrow at Kyrie, who smiled and shrugged. Once she had her box in hand, she opened it with a numerical code, and pulled out ID cards, credit cards and a checkbook. She tucked these all securely in the pockets of her jeans, and the three women left the bank.

"Who would have thought!" Lunch exclaimed. "Wait 'til Tien finds out that we were in a bank robbery!"

Kyrie rolled her eyes as they got into Bulma's sporty little red car. She could almost hear Piccolo's acidic comments now: You can't go anywhere without getting into some kind of trouble, can you?? Bulma's cell phone shrilled, catching her attention.

"Bulma speaking." She paused while the caller spoke. "Oh, so sorry, Shinji-san. I forgot to call you back. No, no, I'm fine, the police handled it. Me? Of course not. I didn't have anything to do with it. Right, sure. Yeah. Bye." She hung up and stuck the little phone in her jacket pocket. She glanced over at her companions. "My security chief. He's such a worrier."

"Isn't that part of his job?" Lunch asked, grinning. "Good think he didn't know you about six or seven years ago."

"That's no lie," Bulma said, rolling her eyes. "He'd have heart failure at some of the scrapes I've been in." She drove smoothly in and out of the increasingly heavy traffic, making for the large shopping center that was the hub of the community. The parking lot was packed, and rather than drive for hours in search of a parking space, Bulma pulled up to the entrance and encapsulated the car. The three women entered the huge shopping complex, ignoring the prominently displayed, life sized portrait of Mr. Satan that was waiting to greet shoppers as they entered.

"Jerk," Bulma muttered as they passed the gaudy picture. They had gone only a few more steps when Lunch let out a sigh of pure bliss.

"Oh, just look!" she exclaimed, pointing to a window display across the food court. The sign frosted onto the glass declared Baby World. In the window were tiny clothes, various toys and every sort of device a parent could wish for. "Aren't those just the cutest things you've ever seen?!?" Bulma and Kyrie exchanged a wry grin and they all headed into the store to browse.

As they entered the store, alarms began to whoop, startling all three of them. Kyrie dropped into a defensive crouch to protect her companions, then quickly straightened when the manager and both clerks rushed toward them, beaming brightly.

"Congratulations!!" the store manager said, shaking their hands. "One of you is our one-millionth customer!!" She looked at the group. "Which was it?" she asked, glancing from face to face.

"Was there a contest?" Bulma asked, slightly amused.

"Not a contest, per se," the blonde woman answered, grinning. "But our one-millionth customer wins a dream nursery and three years worth of baby clothes."

"Lunch!" they both said, pushing the stammering woman forward, grinning in delight. The manager took Lunch aside to get information from her, while Kyrie winked at Bulma. The day was looking up.

"I just had an idea," Bulma said, while Lunch was busy. "Why don't you and Lunch spend the night at Capsule Corp? We'll bring some dinner home and then we can talk. Lunch goes to bed with the chickens," she added, grimacing at the idea. "Then tomorrow, we'll have a cookout! I'm sure Lunch will like the idea. Besides, it'd be nice to get everyone together." Kyrie merely nodded. She had no idea if Piccolo would even show up for something like that, but it was worth trying. Besides, she'd never gone to anything like a cookout before and it sounded kind of fun.

Lunch rejoined them several minutes later, her face flushed with excitement. "This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "All I have to do is come back and pick out what I want for the nursery once we know if it's a boy or a girl! And pick out clothes too!" She waved at the smiling manager and they began to stroll around the store. Bulma proved to be quite knowledgeable on baby furniture and the various brand names on the market.

"We're not boring you, are we, Kyrie?" Lunch asked anxiously when she noticed her friend lagging a bit behind.

Kyrie blinked in surprise. "Oh, no, not at all," she protested, trying to set Lunch at ease. "I've just never given the idea of babies much thought, that's all." Bulma grinned wryly, remembering how ignorant Kyrie had been when confronted with a baby.

"You don't want children?" Lunch asked curiously. She really liked Kyrie, but she knew next to nothing about her. She never talked about herself, but rather spent most of her time listening to whoever was around. Lunch wondered if she was perhaps shy. She would have been surprised to learn that Kyrie spent most of her time listening and watching to see how the people around her dealt with the current situation. Kyrie was aware of her lack of social skills and observation was as good a way of learning as any other.

She tilted her head, smiling wryly, remembering a certain conversation with Piccolo. "Not at this time. Honestly, I don't know if I ever will." She noticed the slightly shocked looks on Bulma and Lunch's faces. "I like children," Kyrie said quickly, not wanting them to get the wrong idea. "I just don't think I'll ever be a good parent."

Bulma grinned. "No-one ever does, Kyrie. You just figure it out as you go along." They left the baby store and headed back out into the mall.

"And now," Bulma said, her grin turning . "Clothes." Kyrie wondered what she was getting into when Bulma grabbed her arm and marched her into a trendy little boutique with stylishly dressed mannequins posed in the display window. Well, she thought with as much humor as she could muster, this should be an interesting experience…