After getting off the phone with Yamcha, Kaki sat on the floor with her legs crossed, idly running her thumb over the decorative ridges on her cell phone. The drone of lonesome silence began to wash over her ears like the crashing waves of an ocean, and when it became unbearable, she got up, shut off the gravity settings, and left.

She couldn't sleep when she got to bed. Not when she took a warm shower; not when she tried to drink warm tea; not when she got into clothes for sleep; not even when she got under the covers and turned off the light. She was restless, tossing and turning in a fruitless effort to find sleep. Frustrated and exhausted, she ultimately settles on her back and stares into the darkness, clutching her hands at her stomach. As her vision began to swirl, so did her mind. It would wander and open parts of her memory she tried so desperately to keep closed for her own sanity. She hated nights like these, because nothing she tried would put her at ease. She eventually forces her eyes shut, but there is no rest.

Eventually morning came. When the light spilling into her room became too bright to ignore, Kaki got up again. Her mind was mush as she went through the motions of getting cleaned up and putting on appropriate clothing with shoes. It was like floating through dense fog as she trudged to the kitchen, and silently looked for something to eat. She eventually settled on eating a banana from the fruit bowl. She stands there, peeled banana in hand, and barely noticing when Bulma walks in.

"Oh." Bulma pauses at the threshold, before beginning again to cross the room to the refrigerator. "Hey, Kaki."

Kaki's gaze becomes more present, and she gulps down a bite. "Good afternoon, Ms. Briefs."

Bulma chuckles a little as she gathers a bundle of spinach greens and some frozen fruit from the freezer. "It's Bulma. There's no need for you to be so formal with me all the time."

"Oh. Sorry," Kaki mumbles, rubbing at her eyes a little. She definitely remembers Bulma telling her so a couple days ago, but it had slipped her mind right then. "I'm just tired today, I suppose."

"Didn't sleep well? Eh. I do that a lot, too."

Kaki watches curiously as Bulma washes the spinach and sets them out on the counter beside a little appliance she forgot the name of. Bulma doubles back to get a carton from the fridge, before beginning to put the ingredients inside the glass cup. Kaki doesn't see exactly what she does, but there's a loud whirring noise, and Bulma eventually removes the cup from the appliance and sets out a cup for herself.

"What do you have there?" Kaki asks, watching Bulma pour a green concoction into the glass.

"Oh! It's a, uh, a smoothie," Bulma says.

Kaki nods, finally finishing her banana. "A smoothie."

"What, you haven't had a smoothie yet?"

"Well, I-" Kaki blinks, before shaking her head. "...No."

Bulma laughs a little. "Get over here, then, there's enough for two."

Kaki, after throwing away the banana peel, steps over to stand beside Bulma, who now has a second glass pours the rest of the smoothie into a second glass. She then slides it over to Kaki, who takes it and stares at it a moment, before lifting it and sniffing it a little. She glances at Bulma apprehensively, not yet doing anything.

"It's okay, I used the almond milk," Bulma assures her.

Looking a little less concerned, Kaki takes a sip of the smoothie. It was rather sweet, despite the spinach she saw Bulma put into it, with a citrus flavor that was accompanied by the distinct taste of banana. Kaki blinks a little in pleasant surprise and then glances at Bulma, who only stares at her with a small smile, waiting for her reaction. After a beat, Kaki takes a larger drink from the glass, which makes Bulma snort.

"Pretty good, huh?"

Kaki nods while gulping. "Yes."

"See?" Bulma makes a gesture, then crosses her arms. "And people say I'm bad in the kitchen."

"Do they?"

"Yeah! Just because I burned a duck 'cause I forgot about it in the oven. And then when I put a plastic plate on a lit burner. And then when…" Bulma stops, frowning a little, before breaking into a grin. "Okay, maybe I am pretty bad in the kitchen."

Kaki quirks a brow from behind her glass. "Perhaps 'safety hazard' would be more apt."

"Wh- Hey now," Bulma says, setting her now finished smoothie glass on the counter with a cocked brow. "I'd like to see you try to cook something like duck!"

"I've learned a thing or two from Mrs. Briefs, you know," Kaki replies a little smugly. "If you are looking for a challenge."

"Agh! Geez. Shown up by the alien who's only been here three months," Bulma says with a playful frown, before laughing. "Go figure!"

Kaki chuckles at that, shaking her head a little as she takes another gulp of the smoothie. She realizes now that, after having something more substantial to eat, she actually feels a lot better despite her sleep deprivation. She blinks a little, her eyes burning only a bit now, and then drinks the final bit of the smoothie. She stands for a moment, before wordlessly taking Bulma's glass in her free hand and taking both glasses to the sink to wash them.

"You are on your lunch break, I'm assuming," Kaki says, turning on the sink to start by rinsing the glasses.

"Yeah. I'm not that hungry though, so I thought I'd just have that and relax the rest of the time," Bulma explains, stretching her arms above her head. She brings them back down and leans against the counter, watching Kaki at the sink. "You know, my mom told me she heard you up last night, talking in the gravity room."

Kaki pauses, soapy sponge in hand. Then she continues. "Did she?"

"Yeah. She also said it sounded like you were talking to someone."

"I was," Kaki says, and then further clarifies, "Um, with Yamcha."

"Oh. Okay." After a beat, Bulma smirks. "Putting that phone to good use, eh?"

"I-I guess you could say that," Kaki says, aware of Bulma's teasing tone.

Bulma giggles a little at that. "Aw, that's so cute! You and Yamcha staying up late to talk on the phone, just like teenagers."

"I-! Hah. I mean, it just-" Kaki sighs, at a loss for words. "It has been a little while since we last talked, you know?"

"It's cool, I understand!" Bulma reassures her, before playfully adding, "I mean, we also did that a lot when we first started dating-"

Kaki stumbles in her motion of putting the second washed cup on the drying rack, causing a bit of a ruckus, which makes Bulma giggle a little more. Kaki quickly dries her hands and turns away from the sink, feeling her ears burn hot in embarrassment.

"Oh no, you're tomato red!" Bulma says between laughs, covering her grin with a hand. "I was just teasing you."

"I know," Kaki tells her, feeling a smile begin to tug at one side of her mouth. She rubs the back of her neck nervously. "You and Yamcha… used to be together?"

"Yeah," Bulma confirms with a nonchalant nod. "We met way back when we were teenagers. It was kinda like a, uh, love-at-first-sight thing. But, y'know. We were both really young, and we were each other's first. Statistically, it usually doesn't work out the first time around. Not like in the movies."

Kaki looks down, her chest aching in understanding. "It doesn't."

"I mean, it's like- It lasted a while. But then a lot of shit happened, and we eventually decided it was best if we were just friends." Bulma waves a hand dismissively. "It's okay though, we've been over it for a long time. We're better friends than we ever were as lovers, anyway."

"I see," Kaki says, nodding. Her face shifts suddenly to thought, and then she deflates a little, looking uncertain. She chews the inside of her bottom lip, conflicted about what she wants to ask. She gulps a little, and decides to bite the bullet. "You know him better than I do. I-Is Yamcha… that nice to everyone?"

Bulma nods, a smile of fondness spreading across her lips. "Yeah. He's a great guy like that." Then Bulma notices the defeated look on Kaki's face. Her smile turns knowing and lopsided, and she eventually gives Kaki a shrug. "But, you know… He tends to bend further backwards for the people he likes most."

Kaki stares at Bulma for a moment, her expression relaxing slightly in surprise. Then she crosses her arms, and her ankles, her gaze drifting down to the tiles on the floor. Her mind fluttered, images of that sunny afternoon in the garden and sharing stifled grins in the evening flashing from her memory. She particularly recalled her talk with Yamcha the night before, and what he told her just before she hung up. You've got a nice laugh, y'know, he said. Just thinking of his words made her stomach flip, but in an oddly good way. It had been a while, she realizes, since she felt anything like that. And she wasn't sure if it was a good thing just yet.

"What's up?" Bulma says, sounding slightly concerned.

Kaki shakes her head. "Nothing. I was just- It's nothing."

"Well, I gotta go. I've got paperwork to do. Blegh," Bulma says, rolling her eyes a little.

"Oh. Okay," Kaki says. "I hope you have a good rest of your day, then."

Bulma returns the phrase in kind and turns on her heel. But before she completely leaves the kitchen, she glances at Kaki from over her shoulder. "Hey, maybe you should take a day. I know you don't really have anything better to do, but you've been working yourself to death in the gravity room. Relax or something."

Kaki is once again suddenly aware of how much her eyes burn. She idly rubs at her blind eye, trying to relieve the tiredness if just for a moment. "I… I think I will. Thank you, Bulma."

Then she is left alone in the kitchen, feeling drained, and the silence beginning to drone in her ears again. Kaki rubs at her eyes for a couple of moments again before deciding to go back to her room, maybe to sleep. Hopefully. She plods back to her room, finally feeling the effects of not sleeping wash over her. When she's inside she gently kicks off her shoes and blinks tiredly, and then begins to step toward her bed.

She halts before the mirror that hangs above the dresser, catching something familiar and paralyzing from the corner of her eye. She knew exactly who it was that stared back at her from behind her reflection. She knew it wasn't real, that he wasn't real, because he was dead, and she knew he was dead because she saw him. But that didn't make her visions any less terrifying, even after the first few times this same thing had happened. With her throat tight and her heart racing, she turns her head a little, and winces back at the sight of piercing gold eyes and a malicious smirk flashing at her. Then, when she opens her eyes again, he's gone just as soon as she'd seen him.

On the dresser sat a familiar box, with it's decorative ribbon placed neatly beside it. She reaches for it and removes the top. Inside were the cactus candies that she'd gotten from Yamcha two weeks back, the contents of which were already half gone. She stares at them for a long moment, and slowly takes one in her fingers.

Her gaze rises to her reflection in the mirror. She looked just as tired as she felt.

She puts the candy in her mouth and chews.

author's note:

i thought that since this is a kaki-centric chapter, i would share some art i did of kaki while i was writing this chapter! it's in the link below, just replace dot with an actual period and remove the spaces (: thanks for reading!

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