Not Enough

Their relationship ended like a fire slowly dying out. It fizzled out and all that was left was smothering smoke. Her heart ached, much like when he had died. She was mourning the end of a chapter. Bulma had loved him so very much, but she knew in her heart of hearts, that they weren't meant for happily ever after. Every day felt same. Things were stale and stagnant. She went to his apartment to talk with him.

"Nothing's wrong, but we need to talk." Bulma tried to keep her voice even. She didn't want to worry him even more with her visit. Yamcha's voice on the other end of the call wasn't so calm.

"Come on babe, at least tell me what's going on."

"We'll talk when I get there." She didn't say good bye before hanging up. Her heart was pounding painfully against her chest. This was the right thing to do, even if it felt so wrong. The drive there was too short and she found herself walking up the stairs to his apartment.

The air was too hot. Sweat trickled down her neck. Her stomach clenched as she hesitated knocking on the door. Bulma took a large breath and lightly rapped her knuckles against the wood. The thought ran through her mind to simply run and hide. Surely she could wait for a better time? Was there a better time?

The door swung open and Yamcha's familiar and handsome face appeared. He smiled and ushered her in. The smell of lemon scented cleaner lightly hung in the air. The baseball player had rapidly cleaned up what he could before his girlfriend showed up. He went to the kitchen to make refreshments.

"You want anything babe?"

She sat at his table and shook her head. "No, I'm not staying long."

Yamcha set the cups he grabbed on the counter, abandoning them without another thought. The sound of a chair scraping across the floor screeched slightly. His worried eyes met her distracted ones. Reaching for her hand, his calloused fingers rubbed the back of her hand.

"What's wrong, B? You've been acting weird lately." Hoping she hadn't taken any stock from the most recent gossip magazines, he wondered if she thought he really went on a date with some rising starlet. She gently tugged her hand away.

"I love you Yamcha…" Her eyes moved to stare at the scratches on the table.

"I love yo…" Yamcha tried to return the same sentiment.

"But I don't think love is enough to keep this going." The scratches in the table became blurry as tears started welling up in her eyes. Her stomach clenched and she felt like vomiting.

Yamcha grabbed her hand again. "What do you mean? Bulma, I love you. We can be happy together." She watched as his face turned pale. Unable to defy gravity, fat tears started to fall.

"I think there was a reason we were content with never getting married." The small voice coming out wasn't the strong Bulma he knew.

"Is that what this is about? If you wanted to get married, you should have told me." She still couldn't look him in the eye. The desperation in his voice made her feel even worse.

"It's not about that."

"Then what is it about?" He pulled her into his embrace. If he let go, he was worried she would be gone forever.

"We never gave it a second thought; don't you think that's odd?"

"We've both always been so busy. The timing had always been off." He countered.

"I don't want to be satisfied like this, do you? It's not fair for either one of us to settle." She saw in his eyes that her words stung like a slap in the face. Bulma watched as he bit the inside of his cheek. It took all his willpower not to break down. They were childhood sweethearts, each other's firsts for many different things. He didn't want things to end.

"Bulma, please…"

"I have to do this now or I never will. I love you so much Yamcha. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do. Somewhere along the line that love changed into something else. It would kill me to think that I was holding you back from finding a girl that loves you like you love me." The scientist's voice quivered. Keep it together, she mentally chided herself.

She didn't want to entertain the idea of him finding someone else. Being happy and in love with someone else. It made her heart break even further.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yamcha's voice was thick and tight. He couldn't say too much before he started having tears of his own.

Of course she didn't want to do it. Ending things once and for all was the right thing to do. She couldn't spend the rest of her life stringing him along with him unaware of her true feelings.

"Yes, I'm sure." That statement was the final nail in the coffin. She didn't feel like she had the right to feel so heartbroken when she was crushing him. Her voice broke. "I have to leave."

High heels clicked quickly across the floor as she left the apartment for the last time. Bulma didn't hear the cry of anguish as she slammed the door.

In the car driving home, she allowed herself to ugly cry. She felt like there was a black hole in her chest and every positive emotion was sucked in. When she reached her home, she sat in her car and stared at nothing as she was lost in her thoughts.

Ending things was the right thing to do, but she felt as if she took her own heart and destroyed it. She put her forehead to the steering wheel and whispered aloud. "I'm so sorry." She didn't know if she was apologizing to herself for causing this deep grief or to Yamcha, who was blindsided by the whole thing. She wiped her mascara streaked face with the palms of her hands and sighed. Their chapter together ended, but there were more pages to be written. Day by day the hurt would go away until she would feel like herself again, but for now she allowed herself to keenly feel all the pain and hurt. Bulma mourned the relationship that was simply not meant to be.

A/N: I realize that both characters seem OOC, but I think in this situation, many of us would be considered OOC :) Hope you enjoyed.