Hello to those of you who are reading this! The 100 themes challenge is not one linear story, but more of a collection of 100 drabbles/oneshots using a variety of characters. I should probably warn you now that I'm not promising frequent updates (I'll only post on the occasion that I've written one). This is mainly a way for me to get my creative juices flowing because I'm in the process of writing a full story that I hope to eventually publish on this account.

Anyway, I'm also kind of cheating a little bit with this challenge. I'm going to do it a little out of order from the list that I'm using. According to that list, number 1 is "Introduction," but I wanted to start with "love". I figure that it really doesn't matter the order because it isn't linear anyway.

With that said and done, please enjoy! Also, feel free to follow/favorite/review! :)

Theme #18: Love

(The Briefs' house, before the Majin Buu saga.)

People say the phrase, "I love you," in many different ways. Some people aren't as straightforward as others may be. They often profess their love in the actions they do or the little things they say. "This made me think of you," "Wear this tie instead," or even "Watch your step," are just a few of the ways some people can do this.

To a man raised not only as one of the elite Saiyan warriors, but also as a Saiyan prince, love seemed to be somewhat of a foreign concept. Bulma had taken him to plenty of ridiculous, as they are often called, "chick flicks," but the characters on the screen never seem to really convey to Vegeta what true love was.

Yet here it was, a simple Saturday afternoon, and the woman (whom he supposedly "loved") was talking on the telephone once again. He never really understood why, but Earth women seemed to enjoy long conversations using these telecommunication devices. On planet Vegeta, women (just like the men) only used the scouters' communicators for work related conversation.

"Sounds like a plan! Goodbye!" Bulma said, finally hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Vegeta asked quickly.

She smiled. "I didn't realize you were still there, Vegeta! Anyway, that was Chi-Chi. I was just calling her because I thought it had been way too long since we've seen their family! I invited them over for the afternoon, but Chi-Chi said she was too busy with the housework as always. However, Gohan and Goten were thrilled to hear this, and they will be coming over."

"The sons of Kakarot, in my house?!" he exclaimed.

She rolled her eyes at him. "First of all, this isn't your house! It isn't even mine; it's my parent's! Second of all, grow up! They're really nice kids and-"

"Mom! Mom!" the young Trunks yelled as he ran into the room his parents were conversing in. "Did you say that Gohan and Goten are coming over?!"

The blue-haired woman placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, so you can hear me casually mention that, but you can't hear me yell at you for leaving your dirty laundry on the bathroom floor?"

Trunks shuffled his feet and looked at the ground. "Well, I... You know, I just remembered I need to, uh, go do something upstairs!"

Bulma looked at Vegeta and placed her hands on her hips. "He certainly is your son. Especially when it comes to not picking up the laundry left on the bathroom floor."

"Since when is it my responsibility?!"

"They are your clothes, you know!"

"Is an Earth woman's job not to look after the men? I think cleaning up my messes is included in that description!"

"You've got that all wrong, I'm afraid! My job is not to clean up after you!" She let out a huff of air. "In any case, I expect you to be on your best behavior when the boys come over, okay?"

Vegeta bore some of his teeth angrily. "I'm not a child! You don't need to 'correct my behavior'! I am perfectly capable of being a responsible adult!"

"Really? Because that's not what the laundry on the floor is telling me!" she spat back.

Vegeta sighed and gave in, his tone softening. "Do you want me to pick it up now?"

"Yes please!" Bulma cheerfully said, calming down too.

Not too long after the argument was over, Vegeta finally made an effort to pick up his laundry. After he had finished doing so, he went upstairs to find that Trunks had just finished the same task.

He was going to make an offer to his son. "Trunks, how would you like to train with me in the front yard for a short time. This will only be until Kakarot's sons arrive, but it will give the both of us something to do in the mean time."

Trunks's face brightened. "Really? Oh boy! I'm so excited! I love training with you, Dad!"

Vegeta was struck by the use of that word. Love. Here it was in a different context than the typical, "I love you," yet it seemed to still have a strong positive connotation to it. Here, it seemed to mean "to like a lot." Perhaps that was what it meant when a human loved somebody. They "liked them a lot"?

He shrugged it off, and the two walked outside on the Briefs' property. "What would you like to start with today? Sit-ups? Push-ups? Running laps around the house?"

Trunks was surprised that his dad was actually letting him make this choice. Usually it was his father that decided the order of doing things. "Can we do a few laps around the house first?"

He nodded. "That sounds fine. Try to keep up if you can!" Then he took off, waiting for his son to make some sort of brash comment in return.

As if on cue, Trunks shouted, "I bet that I'll be right next to you the whole time, or maybe I'll even be ahead!" He took off right after he said that.

Nine out of the ten laps through, Vegeta nearly ran Bulma over as she was coming outside. However, he saw her in just enough time to come to enough of a stop and only lightly bump into her. She still fell over though and wasn't too happy about it either.

"Watch it, Vegeta!" she shouted at him as she stood up.

He was about to take off running again, but he decided to stay behind and have a word with his woman. "It's not my fault you interrupted my exercise!"

She crossed her arms and made a face. "I just wanted to watch you and Trunks train before the boys arrive!"

"You have no need to get involved in our training sessions," he told her. "Just leave before you get in the way again!"

"No!" she told him. "No one bosses me around except for me! I enjoy watching the two of you train, and so I will stay!"

He shook his head but didn't want to argue anymore. "Whatever. Just don't blame me if you get hurt. That's all."

Bulma wondered if this was Vegeta's vague, yet rather rude, way of expressing his concern for her. The Saiyan man never seemed to be too expressive when it came to his emotions, aside from anger and hatred, so when he curtly made statements like this, it appeared that he was genuinely making an effort to show his care.

"Haha!" Trunks yelled as he ran up to his parents. "I beat you, Dad! While you were talking to Mom, I ran ahead and so I beat you! Take that!"

Vegeta turned to his son. "That doesn't really count because I was talking to your mother. If I had actually done my best, you would have eaten so much of my dust, you probably would have choked!"

"Aw man!" Trunks exclaimed. "You never let me win anything!"

"If I simply just 'let you win,' do you think that would help you get any stronger?"

"No..."

"Correct! Now let's begin the second round of our warm-ups."

Trunks suddenly grabbed his crotch. "Actually...I, uh, really need to pee first!"

"So what are you doing standing around here for?!" Vegeta yelled. "Go to one of those bushes over there!"

Bulma was flabbergasted, but Trunks ran off anyway. "What are you doing teaching our son that it's okay to pee on the property?! He's going to turn out as obnoxious and naive as Goku was if he doesn't have any good influences in his life!"

A familiar-looking yellow nimbus cloud swooped down from the sky and on to the Briefs' property. Goten and Gohan hopped off of the cloud and strolled over to where the adults were talking.

"Hey guys!" Gohan gave a friendly greeting, then his face scrunched up in confusion. "Is that Trunks peeing in the bushes over there...?"

Vegeta snorted. "Apparently that's not okay." He ignored the funny look from Gohan. "I thought it was more acceptable than going to the edge of the property and peeing in the street though!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "One day we'll figure out how things work around here. In the mean time, I was just saying how Trunks needed some good influences, and I think that you, Gohan, are the perfect role-model."

Vegeta a rolled his eyes at that last statement, and added under his breath so no one could hear, "That makes sense. Have the son of Kakarot influence our child to not become like Kakarot."

Trunks happened to return from his bathroom trip in time to hear the latter half of his mom's words. Not so quietly, he whispered, "But Mom, Gohan's a nerd!" Then he noticed his best friend standing next to him. "Goten! You'll be a good influence, right?"

"Yep!" Goten agreed. "I'll make sure you don't get into any trouble next time when you're peeing in the bushes!"

Bulma facepalmed, but Gohan just laughed and said, "They certainly make an interesting duo! Just imagine them combined into one being!"

Gesturing for Vegeta and Gohan to follow her to the lawn chairs, she walked across the yard as the two children began to run around. "I'd rather not, actually." She smiled at the teenage Saiyan. "So Gohan, you seem to get taller and more handsome every time I see you!"

He gave an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "You really think so?"

"Definitely!" she remarked.

"Why are you telling the boy such ridiculous things!" Vegeta suddenly outburst.

She furrowed her brows. "Is it illegal to give the young man a compliment? Geez! You are too uptight sometimes!"

"It just sounded like a little too much flattery," he tried to justify. "That's all."

Bulma shook her head and silently asked how she ended up with such a man. "Are you trying to imply that I was being a creep and was flirting with the boy?! I would never do that! You are such a jealous man!"

"I am not jealous!"

"Really? Then what was that last episode about?"

"I don't like it when you give your attention to...other guys!"

"That's called being jealous, Vegeta! That's definitely jealousy! He's practically a kid, and you're a full-grown man! I'm completely devoted to you, so what more do you need me to say?" She let out a large breath. "You are one moronic, thick-headed piece of muscle sometimes, I swear!"

Bulma cleared her throat then turn back to Gohan. "Sorry about that. Anyway, do you have anything exciting happening in your life?"

He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "Actually, wait! I am going to be going to public high school this next school year! It's not exactly what I was planning on doing with my time, but I'm kind of being forced too..."

"Ooh! High school!" Bulma cheered, getting suddenly excited. "I'm sure you'll love it! You'll probably meet lots of pretty young girls who take an interest in you too, so don't be afraid to ask some of them out!" She got a dreamy look in her eyes. "I always thought that I would meet the perfect man in my schooling days and then marry him!"

"Really?" Gohan asked. "I'm pretty sure most of us thought that you were going to marry Yamcha!"

"Myself included," Vegeta even added.

She didn't seem to like the sound of that. "I had those fantasies before I met Yamcha!" In a lower tone, she then continued. "And I knew that I was never marrying that guy because he was not husband-material."

Gohan looked over from Vegeta back to Bulma then back to Vegeta. He wondered if she realized who the man seated next to her even was. He had always questioned their relationship actually, wondering how it came to be. And even though they say opposites attract, he didn't find it too unusual that the two most hot-headed of the group found their way to each other. It also helped that he was living in her house.

Bulma's attention went back to the original conversation. "How's your mom doing? I just talked to her on the phone and she said she's been fine, but how has she really been doing?"

"Are you talking about with Dad being gone?" Gohan asked. He sighed. "It's actually been pretty okay. Grandpa has stayed with us to help out, so that's been nice. But yeah, it really has been 'fine'. I guess we're all adjusted to it now though, after several years have gone by."

Vegeta cleared his throat. "Kakarot-"

"I don't know what you're going to say," Bulma interrupted, "but I do not want to hear it anymore! Why couldn't this stupidly rivalry between you two have just died with him?"

He smirked at her. "I was actually going to say that Kakarot would be disappointed with how his son has slacked off with his training."

Gohan shrunk in his seat. "Well...things have been peaceful, and I've been studying and helping Mom out and stuff. It's not that big of a deal. I would like to think that my father appreciates my willingness to be a productive member of society."

"Lame!" Trunks teased on cue as he chased Goten around the yard and heard that last part of the grown-ups conversation.

"Those boys are getting out of control!" the blue-haired mother commented. "I think I just need a break though..."

Gohan saw the stressed out woman and the opportunity to help that came with her. "I can watch the two little rascals for you! I'm sure your parents are busy with other things, and you guys need a break, so I'll do it! You can go out on a date or something!"

Bulma stood up and looked at Vegeta who had his arms crossed. "What do you think? Gohan is a pretty responsible young man. I could go for a movie."

He stood up and looked at his woman with a strange expression on his face. "You really think Gohan is that capable?"

She nodded. "Definitely. I mean, think about it. He has the strength of a Saiyan like you, and a brilliant mind like mine, although not quite all the other traits of a genius such as myself. If anyone can handle it, it's gotta be Gohan." She turned to the young man. "We'll even pay you."

He laughed at her offer. "No thanks! I'm more than happy to just do this out of the kindness of my heart!"

Bulma looked at Vegeta. "What do you say? A movie? A coffee? Shopping? Something else?"

"Fine. A movie sounds nice," he answered. "But I refuse to sit through another lovey-dovey chick flick! I want something with lots of violence and action! Like that movie about the guy who has to take on an entire army and an evil overlord just to defend his planet!"

She rolled her eyes. "That doesn't sound familiar at all... But do you think I should wear this dress or something else?"

"You look like the daughter of a rich, corporation-owning man in that."

"I am the daughter of a rich, corporation-owning man!"

"I know. I'm just saying that it suits you. Don't change it." He rolled his eyes. "I guess this means that I might have to change too?"

Bulma nodded quickly. "I know you didn't train for all that long, but I still do not want to be seen in public with a man in sweaty, stinky training gear."

He sighed. "What should I wear?"

"Hmm..." she thought about it. "Some dark jeans and one of your button-downs should work nicely. That way you're not too dressy, but you still look like you have some class." She took another second. "Actually, wear your forest green button-down. It makes your biceps look nice."

Just as Vegeta was about to trot off to change, Bulma called after him. "Vegeta! Wait! ...Are you going to hold my hand during the scary parts of the movie? And let me rest my head on your shoulder?"

"Earthlings and their stupid customs," he muttered. "Well, your hair does smell like strawberries, so I can allow it this once..."

She cheered and hugged him, even though he didn't appear to be too receptive. She looked behind her and realized that Gohan was not with them anymore, but that he was already with the younger children. "I love you, Vegeta."

That word. That phrase. He never knew just what to do when she said that, which frankly wasn't all that often. "I- I have feelings of appreciation for you too, Bulma." It didn't quite fit what he was trying to say, but it seemed to get the point across.

The two said goodbye to the children and Gohan, who even though he was playing with the kids, overheard their small conversation. Bulma thanked him once more and then they went inside so that Vegeta could change.

"Did our dad and Mom argue like Trunks's do?" Goten stopped his playing to ask his brother.

Gohan smiled. "Well, not quite in the same way. Our mother yelled at Dad a lot, but Dad was just doing what he did best. He was being himself. Our parents loved each other very much though."

Trunks made some sort of snorting sound. "My parents don't. Dad has never even said 'I love you' once."

The eldest of the boys shook his head. "Your parents are a very happy couple, and you're wrong about the 'I love you' thing. Your dad has said it plenty of times, and your mom too actually. You just weren't listening hard enough."

And that concludes the first theme that I've written. I've been watching the Team Four Star DBZ abridged series over again (this time with my brother), and I just find it so funny! I threw in a reference to the very first episode, so if you spotted it, kudos!

-TOW

P.S. Even though this isn't a full-blown story, reviews/follows/favorites are all still appreciated!