Disclaimer: DBZ: not mine. Characters: not mine. Money: mine! I now have six dollars if you wish to sue me! Gohan: do I have to say? I wish… yummy… I own absolutely nothing. I don't even have a sandwich beside me as I write! Why must this world be so cruel???
The doorknob seemed to take an eternity to finish its full rotation. Tamori shifted slightly in her chair and did a silent prayer that Vegeta wasn't at the door. For a moment, it seemed as if her prayer had been answered when the secretary had walked in the room. The secretary walked up to his desk and spoke to him silently.
"Let him in," he said, waving his hand. Oh no! Vegeta's here! What am I going to do? Other than die, of course…she started to panic. She put her face in her hands and looked down at the ground, wishing she could just melt into the floor and hoping the science department would all of a sudden burn down and create a distraction or something so she would have a way out of this place. Then door opened slowly again and this time, Tamori saw a pair of black sneakers and a pair of baggy blue jeans. That's not Vegeta! I am so lucky! She looked up at the man calmly, almost smiling.
What she saw almost made her pee her pants. It was Vegeta. And he was giving her one of the dirtiest looks she had ever seen on a face other than her own. Her almost smile disappeared, and she began to turn a dark shade of red from fear.
Vegeta glared down at her. He smirked when he saw her terrified expression. Good. She should be afraid. Interrupting my training and forcing me to come down to this damn school wearing these dumb clothes Bulma forced me to wear, saying training clothes weren't appropriate for this. I didn't even want to come! She'd better be ready to be in a world of pain because I am pissed.
For the first time since he walked in, Vegeta really looked at her. He noticed a scratch on the left side of her face, a shorter one on her neck, her hair was messier than what she had left the house with, and her shirt hung slightly off of her shoulder. From the looks of it, she had gotten into a fight. A fight? One damn little fight and he had to stop his training and rush down here like the girl's life was in danger? He then noticed another girl in the room. She fought that little brat? At least she could fight someone worthwhile! He saw the girl had a black left eye forming and her right cheekbone would be bruised. She held a tissue to her nose and took it away to see if it was still bleeding and it still bled lightly. Her shirt was torn slightly and her hair messed up badly. At least Tamori won…but she'd better have won against this brat!
Ayumi looked at Tamori and saw her horrified expression. She almost felt sorry for her, but then she remembered the situation Tamori had gotten her into. She saw the man who came to get her, apparently her father, but Ayumi was confused. They don't really look that much alike, plus, what could this little guy possibly do to her? Tamori is such a loser for being afraid of that shrimp. He's not that small, but still, my father's much more intimidating. Or so she thought. Tamori's father or whoever the hell that shrimp was to her looks like a total wimp compared to my father. She's lucky. Then Ayumi caught Vegeta's eyes. She shuddered. Nothing about that man was gentle, she realized. He looked angry and tough and intimidating. Then she thought. Look at the size of that loser! No way could he be any worse than my dad. Tamori's just a wimp.
Vegeta turned away from Ayumi and was forced to talk to the principal. "Well, sir, as I'm sure you already know, I've brought you here to talk to you about your daughter," he began.
"She is not my daughter," Vegeta said.
"I realize that you are ashamed of her, as you should be, and as she should be as well," he said, thinking that he understood. Vegeta went to say something else, but was interrupted by Mr. Arai. "Fighting, especially on the first day of school, will not be tolerated. I didn't expect this out of Tamori, especially because of what I heard about her from Bulma, and the fact that she is a high honors student. This is not something that I would ever expect out of an honors student. Now, I brought you here to talk about her punishment," he said, folding his hands.
"I think she should be beaten," Vegeta said simply. Ayumi looked up, confused and surprised. She glanced at Tamori who was turning an odd shade of purple almost. She looked like she was about to die from fear.
Mr. Arai laughed, thinking that Vegeta was joking. "No, we usually don't do that on the first offense. This time, we will let her off with only a day's suspension, beginning tomorrow, and a 10-day probation from all extracurricular activities, since apparently this fight wasn't entirely her fault. Do you have any questions?" he asked, writing on a white slip of paper and then a small yellow sheet of paper.
"No," Vegeta said, annoyed. Mr. Arai handed him the slip of paper and a small yellow sheet of paper.
"Good, then. Will you please sign here, and Tamori right here?" he asked, pointing to the white slip of paper. There were two different papers attached to it underneath. Vegeta signed and handed it to Tamori. She took it gingerly and singed slowly, trying to remember her last name. "Thank you," he said, detaching one of the lower sheets and handing Vegeta a pink sheet of paper. "This copy is for you," he said. "This yellow is for the office, and the white is for the district," he said. "Now sign here, please," he said, pointing to the yellow sheet of paper. This one was releasing Tamori from school. Vegeta impatiently signed his name. "Okay, if you have no more questions, you may leave now," Mr. Arai said, holding out his hand to shake Vegeta's. Vegeta was about to walk away, but remembered what Bulma said about being rude and shook his hand lightly. He turned to walk away, grabbed Tamori's arm and practically dragged her out of the room.
When Mr. Arai wasn't looking, Ayumi stuck her tongue out and Tamori flipped her off, still being dragged away by Vegeta. They walked out to the parking lot. Tamori looked around. "Where's your car?" she asked.
"Dumb question," he said rudely, not looking at her. "We're flying," he said. They walked for a while in silence then took off behind a closed building. Vegeta held onto Tamori by the back of her shirt, carrying her like a rag doll. They went above the clouds and flew so quickly that Tamori had to shield her eyes from the powerful winds they passed. They then came to an abrupt stop and Tamori opened her eyes and saw Capsule Corp. She landed with a thud on the grass when Vegeta let go of her. He began to walk away as Tamori sat on the ground and watched him walk to the door. "Hurry up and get inside," he said angrily, not turning to look at her. Tamori scrambled to her feet and was on his heels immediately, following him inside.
They walked inside and Tamori closed the door behind her. They stood in silence for a few seconds. "Um, Vegeta, am I in trouble?" Tamori asked to Vegeta's back.
"Any more dumb questions?" he asked, turning around to face her. He was fuming.
"Uh…" Tamori said, fumbling for words.
"No, don't even answer me. I don't want to hear it," Vegeta said. He disappeared and reappeared again right in front of Tamori's face. She instinctively took a step backwards, backing right into the wall. He grabbed the front of her shirt and pushed her into the wall hard. "Of course you're in trouble, brat. What the hell were you thinking? Getting into a fight on the first day? Especially on a day that Bulma was busy so I had to come and get you?" he hissed into her face.
Tamori winced. I didn't think I'd be in this much trouble. "But… I won," she said, instinctively clasping her hand around the one that held her shirt, trying to get free.
"Idiot!" he yelled in Tamori's face. She winced from the volume of his voice. "That's not the point! Although if you had lost, you would be in even more trouble! You will regret this, brat. I don't care that you got into a fight, but Bulma does, so you have to pay because I had to take care of it and trust me, you don't want to see me angry," he sneered.
"Are you angry now?" Tamori asked meekly.
"Another dumb question!" Vegeta said. He pushed her again, but not as hard this time. "Of course I am! Now let me explain this to you right now while this fight is still fresh in your mind. Remember when you wanted so badly for me to train you?" Tamori nodded. "Well do you want to know why I wouldn't, and still won't?" she nodded again. "Because of this exact thing. I knew that you would misuse your training and do something stupid like this," he said, pushing her into the wall more.
"But she started it," Tamori insisted. "I was just protecting myself," she said.
"No, you weren't!" Vegeta yelled.
"You don't know! You weren't there!" Tamori yelled back.
"Don't take that tone with me!" Vegeta yelled angrily. "Was she threatening your life?" Tamori shook her head. "Was there more than just one of her?" She shook her head again. "Then you had no reason to fight her at school," he concluded.
"But…" Tamori began.
"No. Be quiet and listen to me. If you had a problem with this girl, take it off campus and settle this problem. Don't fight in class where you're liable to get suspended, unless your life is threatened, which it obviously wasn't. You need to know when to and when not to fight. Plus, you obviously beat this girl up, which makes you look like the one who should be punished. You were lucky this time to not get in too much trouble, but next time, you won't be so lucky," Vegeta said.
Tamori was silent this time, thinking about what Vegeta had said. He released her and she fixed her shirt. "Go to your room and stay there until Bulma gets back. She will be here later to talk to you," Vegeta said, turning to leave. "I'll be in the gravity room if you absolutely need me," he said. Tamori nodded and walked up the stairs to her room.
She closed the door and lied down on her bed. She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. 'Busted' she thought. She wondered how Trunks and every one else would react when they heard. They probably wouldn't care that much. The only reason Vegeta was angry, it seemed was because his training was interrupted. Bulma might be angry because she got into a fight on the first day, but that was about it. Bulma couldn't be that mad, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile
Gohan waited outside of Tamori's classroom. While many other students came out, he didn't see Tamori. Maybe he was at the wrong classroom or maybe she was already on her way to her next class. He shrugged and turned around to be on his way to class. After class, he once again glanced around for Tamori, but saw no sign of her. He went to his next class. He left that class and looked around for Tamori again, but then decided that she must be outside waiting for him where she told Trunks she'd meet him. Again, there was no sign of her. But he did see Joey, Goten and Trunks sitting at a table in the shade talking. Gohan sat down at the table and was about to ask if they had seen her when a girl walked up to the table and sat down.
"Hey Trunks, did you hear about the fight in 9th grade Bio this morning?" she asked brightly, completely ignoring both Goten and Gohan. Trunks nodded.
"I didn't," Gohan said. "Were you there?" he asked, butting in.
It seemed as if the girl just noticed he was there. "We have the same class together. That girl was so cool," she said.
"Which one?" Gohan asked.
"The girl who won, duh," the girl said.
"Who fought? Who won?" Gohan asked, concerned, just realizing that Tamori was in that class.
"Um Ayumi and that new girl. The new girl won. She beat Ayumi up. Soichiro and Deim had to step in to stop them. I heard they both got sent home with their fathers and suspended," the girl explained.
"What new girl? What does she look like?" Gohan asked. If it was Tamori, she was stupid for getting into a fight on the first day.
"I don't remember what she looked like, really, but I think I saw you walking with her to class this morning, come to think of it," she said, thinking.
"Tamori?" he asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yeah, I think that was her name," she said. Another girl walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey, what are you doing over here, Nohoko?" the new girl asked the girl sitting at the table. "Everyone's over there…" she said, about to point when she noticed Trunks. "Oh, hi, Trunks. But if you want to stay here, I'll stay here with you," she said.
"Actually, she was just about to leave. I was just asking her about the fight this morning, so we'll see you guys later," Gohan said, rushing them away. Now was not the time to have two girls swooning over Trunks.
"Oh," they both said. "Bye Trunks," they said unison, walking away and giggling to themselves.
"Trunks, how did you know about the fight before I did, and why didn't you tell me?" Gohan asked, turning to Trunks.
"Word travels fast among girls," Goten commented. "We knew too," he added, gesturing to Joey.
"So? You guys aren't girls. What does that have to do with anything?" Gohan asked, looking at his brother strangely.
"What can I say? The ladies like us," Goten said, smiling. "We didn't tell you because we didn't know it was Tamori, plus, we didn't even see you until now," he explained, shrugging.
Gohan rolled his eyes at Goten's first comment. "Okay," Gohan said. "What was she thinking?" he asked no one in particular, repeating the unanswered question asked many times that day. "I hope she's okay," he added.
Meanwhile
Tamori rested somewhat peacefully in her bed. She opened her eyes and glanced around the room. Her stomach growled. She was starving. She opened her door slowly and looked out into the hallway. Safe. She tiptoed down the hallway and down the stairs so Vegeta wouldn't know she had snuck out. She made her way to the kitchen and thought she was home free until she saw Vegeta leaning into the refrigerator, rummaging through its contents. 'Shit!' she thought to herself. She turned away and tried to sneak away silently.
"I thought I told you to stay in your room until Bulma got back," Vegeta said, sounding annoyed, but still undistracted from his quest for food. "What are you doing down here?" he asked her.
Tamori tried to come up with a good excuse, but nothing came to her. Bathroom? No, that was a dumb excuse; there was one in her room. Hungry? No, he would make her starve. She was scared to be by herself? Bullshit lies. Think, think! Oh well, best be honest. "I was hungry, so I thought I'd come and eat and then go upstairs, but I guess I'll just go now, so uh…bye…" Tamori said, walking away.
"Stay here, we'll eat together," Vegeta said nicer than before, still rummaging through the refrigerator.
"Um…ok…" Tamori said, taking a seat at the table. She couldn't help but wondering what caused this sudden surge of niceness.
Vegeta finally began to emerge from the door, apparently holding a lot of food. WHACK Vegeta hit the back of his head on the top of the refrigerator as he backed out. "Shit!" he said. Tamori held back her laughter. She had gotten used to it. Vegeta often hit his head in there if he wasn't careful. Vegeta heard Tamori make a little sound like she was holding back laughter. "Shut up," he said, looking at her.
Tamori cleared her throat, straightened, and pretended to frown. Vegeta and Tamori ate in silence. When Tamori finished, she stood up. "I'm going to my room now," she said, about to leave.
Vegeta looked up at her with food in his mouth. He swallowed it. "Hold it," he said. Tamori turned. "You're cleaning up," he said, gesturing to the dirty dishes.
"What? Why?" Tamori said, whining.
"Did you already forget what happened not four hours ago?" Vegeta said impatiently. Tamori remembered and walked to the kitchen, mumbling curses and profanities. "I heard that," Vegeta said. Silence. Vegeta smirked. "I'll be in the gravity room again. That kitchen had better be clean before Bulma arrives. She'll be here shortly," he said over his shoulder as he walked away. He once again heard mumbled curses and profanities as he walked away. He smirked.
Tamori didn't really mind doing the dishes so much; she just hated being forced to do it. There was a dishwasher anyway, so there wasn't much she had to do. Vegeta wasn't very good at nonviolent punishments, obviously, so she really had nothing to worry about. She finished in about 15 minutes and went up to her room again and lied down on the bed and turned on the television. Nothing really good was on during school hours. Soap operas, advertisements, infomercials, and children's cartoons.
About two hours later, someone was knocking on the door. She clicked the television off. "Yes?" she said sweetly. The door opened. "Yes doesn't mean 'come in', genius," she said rudely.
"Well sorry," Trunks said, standing at the door with Joey, Goten and Gohan.
"Oh, hi you guys. How are you?" Tamori asked.
"A lot better than I heard you were. I hear you got in a fight. I also heard you won. Vegeta must have been happy about that," Gohan said.
"Actually, he wasn't too happy. He was really mad actually," Tamori said.
"Huh? That's kind of weird. Dad's always happy when I beat Goten," Trunks said.
Goten elbowed Trunks in the ribs. "Hey it's not like you beat me that often," Goten said. Trunks rolled his eyes.
"So, I assume you guys want me to tell you what happened?" Tamori asked. The boys nodded and sat in various places around the room. Trunks sat next to Tamori on her bed, Gohan pulled up a chair, Goten sat on her desk, and Joey on the floor. Tamori went on to tell about everything that happened that day. The whole story, with questions from the boys, took about 30 minutes. "So that's what happened today," Tamori finished. The boys were astonished. Before they got to say anything, they were interrupted by a woman's voice.
"Is that so?" Bulma said, irritated. " I heard everything, so that saves me some time. Boys, I would appreciate it if you would leave so I can talk to Tamori," she said, her arms crossed. When they didn't move, she glared at them. "Now," she commanded.
They all stood up quickly. "Say you're sorry, be quiet, and nod a lot," Trunks whispered to Tamori as he got up.
Bulma shut the door behind them. "Are you stupid? What's wrong with you? This is not something I would expect out of you," Bulma began.
"But she started it!" Tamori insisted.
"Be quiet when I'm talking to you. I don't care who started it. The point is that you fought and you got in trouble. What the heck were you thinking?" Bulma asked.
Tamori stayed silent, not sure whether to answer or not since Bulma had told her to be quiet. "Are you listening? Answer me when I'm talking to you," Bulma said impatiently.
"But you said…" Tamori began.
"Be quiet. I didn't ask you what I said. This is very irresponsible of you. I am so ashamed of you," Bulma continued. Tamori was confused. One minute Bulma wanted her to speak, the next, she told her to be quiet (You know parents do this to you when they're angry!!!). Whatever. "I can't believe you would do something so stupid!" Bulma went on and on, telling her how wrong and stupid fighting at school was.
"I'm sorry," Tamori mumbled, remembering Trunks' advice.
Bulma sighed. "Tamori, I really am ashamed of you. This is something that some idiot off the street would do, not something that you would do. Really, Tamori, I hope that this never happens again," Bulma said.
Tamori looked up at her. "Why? Isn't that who I am?" Tamori asked.
"What?' Bulma said, surprised.
"Some idiot off the street? You took me into your home basically off the street, and I'm such an idiot for fighting in school. Why isn't this something I would do? That's who I am," Tamori said, angry with herself for upsetting Bulma like this.
"No, Tamori. You're not stupid. We didn't meet you in the street, remember? It was in the woods," she said, half-smiling. "Listen, Tamori. You're not an idiot. You just did something stupid. We all do dumb things at one point or another. If I went on to tell you about all the stupid things I did to make my parents angry, we'd be here all night. Tamori, what ever you do, I will be proud of you, and you will never be an idiot in my eyes. You are one of the smartest girls I know. You just did something stupid, and that's okay. As long as you don't let it happen again, okay?" Bulma said.
"Yeah," Tamori said.
"Well, with that said, I'm going to go downstairs and start dinner. I'll let you know when it's ready, okay?" Bulma said, ready to leave.
"Okay, but could you send Trunks back up here so I can talk to him?" Tamori asked. Bulma looked at her for a second.
"Well, I suppose. I'll send the rest of the boys up here too if that's okay. I'm sure they're still here," Bulma said.
"Okay," Tamori said. Bulma left, and a few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said. Trunks, Gohan, Goten, and Joey came in. Gohan was holding a stack of books and Joey some papers. "What's all of that?" Tamori asked.
"These are all of your textbooks," Gohan said, setting them on the desk. "We got them during fifth period today. You would know if you were there… Anyway, I brought them for you so you would have them," Gohan said.
"Thank you, Gohan. Those are some pretty big books," she said, getting up to look at them. The biggest one had to be over 1000 pages.
"And this is your homework, and some papers you have to fill out. You know, questionnaires, classroom rules, school rules and such. Some rules you have already violated, I might add. Not in your seat when the bell rings, talking loudly, and… oooh… dare I say, fighting? Uh oh…" Joey said, reading over a list. He smiled.
Tamori threw a pillow at him. "Shut up," Tamori said, laughing. She took the papers and glanced over them and then set them on her desk. "I'll get to those later," she said.
They talked and laughed for about half an hour more until they heard Bulma yell that dinner was ready. Everyone was silent for a second, looked at each other, and then it was a mad dash for the table. Tamori made it out the door first, but was nearly trampled as the Saiyans tried to rush by her. She held her arms out so no one could pass as she sprinted down the hall. She practically flew down the stairs as Gohan, Goten, and Trunks rushed by her. They all sat down quickly at the table and Bulma laughed. Goten and Joey sat on separate ends and Tamori sat between Gohan and Trunks.
They all ate pretty much in silence since they were all starving, plus they hadn't much to talk about. After dinner, Gohan and Goten headed home after saying their good-byes. "Finally," Vegeta said. "Those idiots were giving me a headache," Vegeta said, rubbing his temples.
Bulma hit him in the back of the head. "Shut up, Vegeta. They're not stupid," Bulma said.
"They take after their idiot father," Vegeta retorted.
"Look who's talking…Mr. Prince of stupid and conceited himself," Tamori mumbled.
"I don't think anyone asked you, simpleton," Vegeta said.
"Woo hoo… a nine letter word…I'm scared now, you've been reading the dictionary, haven't you, Mr. Intellectual asinine nincompoop?" Tamori said sarcastically. Trunks laughed.
"Shut up! I don't read the dictionary! Quit insulting me before I hurt you," Vegeta threatened.
"What? Are you angry because those words are too big for you? Maybe you should read a dictionary. Oh wait, that's right, you can't read. Let me use a word more your size and intelligence. Wait… that was too big a word for you, too, huh? Here's a word you should be able to understand: 'me'. How's that, smart guy?" Tamori asked. Trunks and Joey laughed.
"Why you little…" Vegeta began.
"Brat? Child? What?" Tamori said, laughing. "Cat got your tongue?" she taunted. Tamori loved to taunt Vegeta, as dangerous as it was.
"I'll kill you…" Vegeta began.
"Vegeta, you lay one finger on her and you're sleeping on the couch for a month!" Bulma said.
Vegeta growled. Tamori smiled. "I'll be in the gravity room," Vegeta said. "I'll remember this," he said as he walked by Tamori.
"Okay," she said, not really caring.
"Tamori, I don't know why you always have to insult Vegeta like that. One day you're going to do that and I won't be here to threaten him into not killing you," Bulma said, shrugging.
"Because. Vegeta is such an easy target, and nothing is funnier than seeing Vegeta angry," Tamori said.
Bulma laughed. "I'm sure you're right," Bulma said, smiling. "But keep that in mind. Someone, meaning you, could get hurt," she added.
"Of course," Tamori said. "I'll be careful," she said semi- honestly.
"Okay, Tamori. Why don't you guys go find something else to do? I'll finish cleaning up by myself," Bulma said, shooing them away.
"Okay," Trunks said. "Come on, let's go play video games in my room. Last one there's a rotten egg!" Trunks said, already starting toward the stairs.
"Oh that is SO third grade!" Tamori yelled, taking off after him and shoving him out of the way as she caught up. She laughed as she sprinted up the stairs in the lead. Trunks caught up with her and turned and made faces as he passed her. "Stupid," she said. She stuck her foot out and tripped him. He fell down a few steps and Tamori laughed harder. Joey and Bulma just watched them. Joey shook his head and simply walked up after them. Trunks ended up winning because he was obviously faster, even though Tamori took so many cheap shots at him.
Trunks grabbed one of the controllers and offered Tamori one, but she declined. "I'll just watch," she said. Joey finally walked in. Trunks tossed the controller to him. "Rotten egg," Tamori said.
"Shut up," Joey answered. "I don't care," he said. Trunks and Joey played and Tamori just watched. She didn't really find most video games that interesting anyway.About an hour later, Tamori decided to go to her own room. She showered and got ready for bed. She lied down on top of her sheets and stared at the roof, thinking and kind of zoning out. She then wondered why she didn't even seem to be in that much trouble for fighting at school. She assumed that it was because this was a fighting family anyway, and they didn't really look down on fighting anyway. She was lucky. If this were her old home, she would be so dead.
For the first time in weeks, she found herself thinking about 'the old days'. She thought about her friends and wondered how they were doing. Then she thought about her old boyfriend. She frowned. What if he was with someone else now? No way could any girl think she could come between us. Then she remembered where she was. As well as anyone in that world was concerned, I'm dead or never even existed. She sighed. No more looking back, she told herself.
So she found herself looking forward, wondering what the days ahead would bring…
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, review. If you didn't, review anyway! Later! BTW, this chapter took 381 minutes to write, (plus some extra time I didn't keep track of after I transferred computers) edit spell check, etc. so…review!!!