Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters
Okay, so I'm posting this a day early just because tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I can't promise it would be updated. Anyways, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. I hope you enjoy.
Rennysusanto: Lol, thanks for the review.
nancy103: Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it. Don't worry so much about Yamcha. You'll see in the future what's really going on with both him and Vegeta.
Guest: Yup, you can be sure that there is a lot to say.
LVR4Trunks-n-Vegeta: Thanks to being many chapters ahead, I can already tell you that Yamcha won't always be as bad as last chapter. I'm glad you like how I'm writing Vegeta in this. Thanks for the review.
Vegeta's alarm rang out in his room and he jolted awake. He nearly slammed his hand on the clock before getting out of bed, stretching out his arms and yawning as he walked over to his closet. He pulled out a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants and quickly changed. Then he left his room behind and went to the living room to find Bulma. Surprisingly, she was already awake.
"You're up early," Vegeta mused.
Bulma jolted her head up from her notes and smiled while nodding. She wrote down, "I'm used to it," on her board and then motioned for her to come sit near her. He obliged and she placed the notepads she had been using the day before on his lap. He began reading them and was surprised at how detailed she was being.
"My name is Bulma, as you know, and I am twenty-three years old. My birthday is in a month. I worked as an engineer and the vice-president of my father's company. The accident was not my father's fault like the news keeps saying. We told our workers not to run any tests on the weapon until either my dad or myself looked at it. They waited until his day off while I was on lunch break with my parents. I need you to call my friend, Chi Chi, and tell her what's going on, because she'll have to act as company head until I can get my voice back, and she will also have to help me discuss my parents' will with the lawyers. They made me the executor and things have to be done with the company, and for the families of our workers that…"
Bulma had stopped writing there which is probably why he found the pad on her the night before. She had fallen asleep writing that, maybe even getting emotional. Well, she seemed to be holding together well this morning, though Vegeta wondered if she was just putting on a happy face for him since he was her host. "What's this Chi Chi woman's number?" he asked her. Bulma flipped the page over and pointed to her friend's number that she had written down with a few other numbers. "Alright, what would you like me to say?"
Bulma frowned and then looked away. She knew he was going to have to explain to Chi Chi what had happened and she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear someone else saying that her parents were gone. It was bad enough it was all over the news and that she had to accept it and try to save the company's name, but she didn't think she could handle hearing it and have her friend wanting to talk to her when she couldn't even respond. She flipped a few pages in another notebook to show Vegeta what she wanted him to tell her friend.
Vegeta took the notebook from her and looked down at what he needed to say. Of course it wouldn't be as eloquent as Bulma wrote it, but he got the gist of what he needed to convey to her friend. He took out his cell phone and dialed the number. It rang a few times before a woman picked up.
"Hello, Chi Chi Ox speaking," her voice rang. "Who is this?"
"Listen," Vegeta started, "there was a fire at your friend, Bulma's, house. Right now she's with me at my apartment. I'll send you an address later."
There was silence for a moment before the woman growled, "Put…my friend…on the phone…now."
"I can't," Vegeta admitted. "The smoke damaged her vocal cords and she can't talk. She needs you to get back as soon as possible. The company's name is being dragged through the mud right now because some of those workers are trying to cover their own asses. She needs you to run a press conference and manage the company with her for a while until she can speak for herself."
"Why aren't her parents taking care of things?" Chi Chi asked. "And who exactly are you?"
"My name is Vegeta Kurobushi," he answered. "I'm the firefighter that got her out of the house. As for your other question…they can't. I'd rather not say the reason."
"Bulma is with you, isn't she?" the woman questioned with worry. "Her parents didn't make it, did they?"
"Yes and no," Vegeta answered blandly. "Anyways, I'll text you my address. When you get back in town, let me know."
"Right," Chi Chi breathed out still trying to process the news. She didn't get the chance to say anything else before Vegeta hung up the phone and texted the address to her. He looked over to Bulma who seemed to be writing down more information, probably what she needed to discuss with her friend.
He placed his phone on the coffee table before sitting on the couch next to Bulma. He grabbed her wrist to stop her from writing causing her to look at him in confusion. "My friends and guardian want to take me out sometime this week for my birthday," he told her. "Would you be interested in coming?"
Bulma's eyes lit up and she smiled and nodded. "When is your birthday?" she wrote.
"Two days ago," Vegeta admitted with reluctance. He saw Bulma frown at him and looked away to the television screen, picking up the remote to turn on the news. She tugged on his shoulder and looked at him with a stern expression. He didn't know why she was looking at him with those interrogating eyes, but he could not tear his away from hers. It was like all time stopped in his mind before she placed her board in his lap.
"Happy Birthday," it said, "and thank you for giving up your day for me."
"Heh," Vegeta laughed slightly, "you make it sound like I planned on celebrating." She was about to erase her messages and write more questions, but Vegeta placed his hands over hers. "This discussion is over." And then he stood up and walked away to begin getting ready for work and left Bulma alone on the couch with more questions about the kind stranger who let her into his life.
"Did you talk to him?"
Nappa sighed when Rodney came to him. Yes, he had spoken with Vegeta, but Rodney didn't need to know what was discussed. He would only go to Vegeta and lecture him harder and longer. "The boy is fine," he settled for. "We already discussed everything."
"So his drinking?" Rodney pressed.
Nappa scoffed and crossed his arms. "Yamcha blew it way out of proportion," Nappa informed him. "Don't worry about Vegeta. If it actually does become a problem, I will handle it."
"Will you?" Rodney questioned with accusation in his voice.
Nappa glared at the man. "Is there a reason I wouldn't?" he asked. "I am his guardian, aren't I?"
"Because we all know you've done such a good job with that."
And there it was, the reason Rodney seemed to poke and prod into Vegeta's life. He had always argued with Nappa when Vegeta was a child about what he should do. Rodney always told Nappa to quit the precinct and leave the city, getting Vegeta involved in a school somewhere out of the city for a better education. That wasn't a feasible solution and Nappa remained in the precinct, getting Vegeta involved after he graduated high school. It was what Vegeta had wanted, to follow in the footsteps of his father, and Nappa wanted to give him that. Rodney never seemed to approve of Vegeta working there and being so close to the action, but Nappa saw no problem with it. His job was to protect and care for Vegeta, and it was easy to do especially when they worked together.
"I have," Nappa stated forcefully. "And that is why I am making sure that he is okay. Vegeta and his wife left him in my care, not yours, Rodney."
"That was a mistake on their part," Rodney replied.
Says you, Nappa thought quietly. "We're done here," Nappa said before leaving the man's office, not allowing another word to be spoken.
He found Raditz chatting with one of the female volunteers, both getting some coffee to wake themselves up in the early morning. Kakarot was watching the morning news with a serious expression. Hopefully Vegeta would be on time that day.
As soon as he thought that, Vegeta strode in looking ready to work. Nappa smirked slightly, happy to see him. He looked alert and fairly calm, and that was a relief to him.
"Morning, kid," he greeted.
Vegeta snorted slightly at being called a "kid," but he never minded the nickname as long as it came from Nappa. "Morning," he replied. "What's going on? You look more flustered than usual."
Nappa was surprised that Vegeta knew something had happened. "Eh, it's nothing to worry about, kid," he assured him. "Just an early morning. How was your night?"
"Decent," Vegeta answered. "Did you make plans with the guys yet?"
"Nah, not yet," Nappa answered. "We all pretty much just got here, and as you can see Raditz is indisposed."
Vegeta looked over at the coffee station and chuckled when he saw his friend talking to a girl. "Yes, we'll be waiting a while until he runs out of pickup lines," he joked.
"Hey," Nappa said laughing, "be nice. She's actually the only girl he's been actively pursuing."
"Yeah, yeah," Vegeta agreed with humor in his voice. "Well, better him than me."
Before Nappa could ask Vegeta what he meant by his statement, the youth decided to join Kakarot in watching the news. Neither of the boys said anything, but it was nice to see the hanging out in some way. Nappa couldn't help the ghost of a smile that appeared on his face. They seriously needed to work on getting Vegeta out more to be more social. It was something he definitely needed.
Yamcha was watching Vegeta with disgust as he joked around with the younger firefighter. He acted so cool and tough around his so-called "friends" but they obviously didn't know the type of guy he was. He was an entitled child in Yamcha's mind, but he had to take a step back from revealing who he thought Vegeta was. If he wasn't careful, Vegeta would take him down with him. The spineless voice in his mind wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Still, he could make Vegeta's life miserable without revealing who he was. Antagonizing the guy didn't seem like a good idea when he was sober, but getting him into trouble at the bar would be amazing. If his pattern held up, he'd be there tonight drinking himself into a stupor. That would be when Yamcha made his move. Maybe with an audience, he could finally get Vegeta off his high horse. Then maybe he wouldn't be looking at him like he was morally superior. He was just as lowly as he was, and he would make sure his little crew saw it.
"So how is Bulma?" Kakarot asked when Vegeta sat down next to him.
The flame-haired youth crossed his arms and leaned back into the couch. "I would say fine, but honestly she must be raging inside and she doesn't even have an outlet," he explained. "She can't talk or yell or scream like I did when I lost my parents. She has to even be careful about crying because the doctor said she can't make a sound until she's healed. It must be hell for her, not being able to do this all herself."
Kakarot frowned, but he quickly smiled and tried to assure his friend. "But she has you right now, right?" he reminded him. "You can help her get through it. You did."
Vegeta wanted to tell his friend that that wasn't entirely accurate, but he didn't have the heart. If Raditz hadn't spilled to him, he wouldn't either. Kakarot didn't need to know about the supposed problems he had. It wasn't horrible since he could control how much he drank and when he wanted it. Still, he wanted it a lot more than he should, although he was surprised that he really hadn't needed it the last couple of days. Maybe tonight he'd head to the bar for his usual before returning home.
"Hey you two," Raditz said coming over to them. He set his mug down on the table and kicked back. "So, Nappa said Vegeta agreed to have us celebrate his birthday. I guess we should head somewhere tonight."
Damn, Vegeta thought. There goes my plans. He could have sworn that Raditz and Nappa were conspiring against him. "Should we?" Vegeta retorted. "And where do you think we should go?"
Raditz shrugged. "Anywhere you want to go?"
Vegeta glared at Raditz because he knew where he wanted to go. He could see it in his eyes. Before he could answer, Kakarot said something that ended up saving him. "Hey, let's try that new buffet on South Street. It's pretty cheap since it's the opening and it's all-you-can-eat."
Vegeta answered with a shrug and said, "I'm game. Bulma will come with us."
"Well of course," Kakarot replied. "You didn't think we'd leave her out, did you? She's your friend now."
Vegeta opened his mouth to say that wasn't true, but thought against it. "Yes, Kakarot, she is."
Bulma felt relieved now that Chi Chi knew her plight. Before Vegeta had left, her concerned friend had texted him and told him she was getting on the next available flight back to the states. Then, her friend declared, she would be staying with her. Vegeta accepted, but Bulma didn't know if she wanted to leave. If she was with Chi Chi, she would be surrounded by reminders. The most she wanted was to be able to gain access to her account to go buy some personal items and clothes and get a new license. Chi Chi needed to help her with that.
But did Bulma really want to leave Vegeta's apartment? Would he be upset if she asked to stay? She hoped he wouldn't be. It was a big favor to ask a guy she met only days ago, but she just couldn't stay in a house that resembled her own that held so many memories of hers and Chi Chi's parents. She definitely didn't want to deal with Chi Chi's father who would no doubt be hovering over her every second. Bulma wanted to mourn and cope her own way, and right now that was avoiding memories until she could come to terms with the fact that her parents were gone. She just hoped that when that did happen, she wouldn't have a colossal breakdown. Neither her friend nor Vegeta needed that.
She found herself cleaning up Vegeta's apartment, not that it wasn't clean already. She just happened to notice dust and that there were a few dishes in the sick from breakfast. Vegeta had left right after they ate to avoid the same problems he ran into the day before. So washing the dishes and drying them was what she settled on doing to pass the time. It made her wonder why he had a drain board if he never left the dishes to dry. She chuckled at his strange idiosyncrasies. She couldn't be one to judge. She always lived in a messy room, and her father's server bots were the ones to take care of everything unless her mother beat them to it.
Bulma found herself smiling, but then frowned because she knew she would no longer see her mother racing the robots to the sink or oven. Her dad would never make a repair when her mother "accidentally" spilled water into the circuitry. Most likely, she would never even own a server bot again. It was bad enough capsules would always be present because almost everything came in capsules or stored in them now. There would definitely be no more weaponry and, if her scientists had a problem with that, they could find employment elsewhere. They already went against their contracts by disobeying the president and head scientist of the company.
Bulma didn't want to blame her employees for the fire, but the truth was she couldn't deny it. Thankfully Chi Chi would be there the next day and she could call for the press conference. All Bulma wanted was for the rumors about her father's incompetency to stop. It was their fault he lost his life. It was their fault that her family died and she had no home. They were just lucky that she wasn't pressing charges or firing them right away. Some of the workers would remain employed provided they agree to never invent, build, or test weapons ever again. Capsule Corp. would be strictly home management. The most she would do was finish the design for a gravity chamber her and her father had been working on for training astronauts. With the space program being underfunded, though, that would probably never happen. It didn't matter to her. She would just continue to work on the home improvement front.
The television was starting to be her least favorite thing in the house. She would try to watch TV, but then it would skip to some news about Capsule Corp. Weren't there any other disasters they could talk about? Bulma felt that they should be more sympathetic and not trash her father on TV while she could be watching somewhere else. Surely people weren't this obsessed with her father's company. Sure, they would want to know the new management, but the news crew made it clear that they knew she had been treated at the hospital and the doctor told them she had left with a friend to recover for a while. Wouldn't they stop at that point? It wasn't worth it to be a celebrity.
She really wished she could yell at the TV and say that it was all lies, that her father wasn't responsible for the death of twelve people and the injuries of dozens more. It was a wonder she hadn't flipped out already. If it wasn't doctor's orders, she'd be down there holding a press conference that day and refuting the workers' lies. She didn't blame them for wanting to save their careers, but when it came out that they were trying to place blame on a man who couldn't even defend himself their careers would be over immediately.
Bulma didn't want to screw over her employees, but because they had lied it would happen. She was thinking too far ahead, though. Really, she was just in the mood to nap. The doctor had told her to get plenty of rest, anyway. Having finished the dishes, she decided a short nap would be welcome and headed to her temporary room. She would have to ask Vegeta when he came home what he thought about her staying. For some reason, she didn't seem worried that he would deny her request.
