Hey, new chapter! Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 8: Relationship Trouble

Time seemed to keep going as usual. There were no more disturbances for the rest of the winter and everything just carried on as normal. Christmas came and went without any issues and everyone had a nice time. The same thing happened for this Christmas that happened almost every year. Gohan, Videl, Noca and Pan all went to Capsule Corp. to spend the time as part of a bigger group and everyone enjoyed themselves.

This then led on into the New Year celebrations, which of course was also spent at Capsule Corp. Not everything happened as usual though. Trunks had decided to use this time to do something very important to him. He proposed to Marron. She, of course, said yes and everyone was happy that there would soon be another wedding to organise. Bulma as definitely the happiest with this news as her first born was finally getting married. All she kept doing now was telling him it was time to have children. Trunks wasn't ready for that right now.

As they all entered the New Year, Age 795, the next event to come up was Pan's birthday. It was obviously a fairly big birthday so they did decide to have a party, but it was only a family and friends party. It went well, everyone had fun and no problems occurred. Soon after, Valentines day passed with Pan and Noca spending the evening out together. Afterwards was Rei's second birthday so there was a little party for the little man, and he received lots of gifts.

Now we're going to delve into the lives of our characters a bit more.

Thursday 26th February Age 795

The group were sitting in the school cafeteria, just eating their lunches and chatting as usual. What else would they be doing? Bra decided to bring up a new topic, just to see how her friends would react to this suggestion. She had an idea of what their responses would be, but that wouldn't deter her from putting it out there.

"So, there's a party coming up," Bra started, only to be immediately interrupted by a very audible sigh from the Raven-Haired girl to her left. Pan put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.

"Don't just pass it off straight away," Bra continued, putting a hand on her friend's back, "It could be fun?"

"It hardly ever is," Noca replied, agreeing with Pan's stance on the matter.

"Come on, it's gonna be a house party, their parents are out of town," Bra continued, hoping this would help change their minds.

"Oh wow, why didn't you say so?" Noca questioned, sarcastically. Bra narrowed her eyes and sent the boy a playful glare. Noca smirked as he returned to sandwich.

"Come on, guys," Bra groaned, "I wanna go, but I want you guys there."

"Who told you about the party," Pan asked.

"It was Kareshi, at least he's talking to me about something…I just wish he'd spend more time with me," Bra trailed off, but Pan understood that things hadn't been great recently. "It's been a few weeks since we last went out together…it's really weird."

"Don't worry, Bra," Pan responded. It was her turn to put her hand on Bra's back. "We'll go to this party with you if you really want us to."

Noca groaned, but put on a fake sulking face. Pan turned to him and smirked. The other two girls and Dom said they would be up for going as well.

"When is it?" Dom asked, just trying to get into the conversation.

"It's this weekend, Saturday night, everyone ok with that?"

Everyone agreed that Saturday was a good day for them. No one had anything planned so they were all free to go to this party, even if some of them weren't really enthusiastic about doing so.

Saturday 28th February Age 794

The weekend came around and everyone was on their way to this house-party. The whole group, minus Bra, met close to the party and walked there together. Bra was already there with Kareshi so they would be meeting the couple later. When they finally arrived at the street where the party was held, it was a shock to see that it was a fairly rich area. The party was actually being held in a fairly large house so there were a lot of guests. Maybe even people that the host didn't even know were showing up, but nobody seemed to care. That usually led to dangerous things, but hopefully none of that would occur this night.

When they enter the building they can see that alcohol is being served, but the teens are a bit concerned as to whether or not they should accept any of it. They are still underage, after all. Their parents would object. Once the group got their first drinks (nothing Alcohol) they then met up with Bra and Kareshi. Noca can tell that Kareshi is drinking alcohol. He can smell it without being next to the other teen. Noca knows it isn't his place to say what Kareshi should or shouldn't be drinking, but it when it was offered to him, Noca rejected it.

Bra dragged the other girls to go and dance with them and have some fun, while Kareshi used this time to talk with the two guys. They hadn't hung out together in a while so there was a fair bit to catch up on. Noca decided to use this time to ask about what was actually going on between he and Bra recently. It seemed like something that definitely needed to be spoken about.

Kareshi was busy talking about himself when Noca decided to interject and get his question in there.

"So why have you and Bra been distant?" Noca asked, putting it straight out there. Kareshi fell silent for a second and cleared his throat.

"It's nothing, I just thought we needed a bit of space…it's all ok now though," Kareshi mentioned. Noca raised and eyebrow and didn't want to just accept that.

"What do you mean space, why would you want to distance yourself from her, what does that accomplish?" Noca questioned, kind of putting Kareshi on the spot and causing him to stumble over his words a little.

"I…well…it's just that I felt we…we needed to…I don't know, it just kinda happened," Kareshi responded, getting fairly annoyed, but tried not to show it. "It's ok now though, in fact, I think our relationship is starting to progress."

"Progress? How?" Noca questioned further. He looked to Dom who shrugged his shoulders and then they looked back to Kareshi.

"You know, progress…as in the next step," Kareshi suggested what he meant, but Noca didn't really get it right away. Dom started to get an idea, but just sighed and looked away, not really wanting to be a part of this conversation. He definitely found it fairly awkward. "Really Noca, you don't understand?"

Noca looked over to Dom and smirked back to Kareshi.

"You seem to forget I was raised in the mountains. Just because I'm in a relationship you think I understand every single aspect of being in one?" Noca mentioned, getting slightly amused by this conversation now.

"You and Pan must've reached that stage?" Kareshi said in a questioning tone. Noca shrugged his shoulders. The thing is, Noca did understand what Kareshi was talking about, but he wanted to heat the words come from his mouth. Dom couldn't tell that Noca knew what was going on, but he still didn't say anything.

Noca keeps his eyes on Kareshi now, not averting his gaze as Kareshi continued to dig himself a deeper hole. Dom still makes sure to stay back.

"Look, I'm sure Dom will explain it all to you," Kareshi says, putting a hand on the Saiyan Teen's shoulder, "But me and Bra are at a great stage in our relationship and lets just say I think tonight is that night."

Noca raised an eyebrow as Kareshi patted him on the back and walked off to talk to another one of his friends. As Kareshi continued away, Dom moved over to Noca and started to talk a bit quieter.

"Please tell me you understood what he was talking about?" Dom questioned. Noca looked at his friend and nodded without saying anything. He crossed his arms and stood looking blankly ahead. "What are we going to do?"

Noca looked to Dom with a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Noca. He was talking about having Sex with Bra…tonight!" Dom was certainly getting riled up about this. Maybe it was the way that Kareshi had talked about it, or maybe it was down to Dom's true feelings, but Noca couldn't read it right now.

"Bra is smart, if she thinks she's not ready…she'll say no," Noca assured Dom, but he slowly started to clench his fist. He definitely felt protective over the Blue-Haired girl, his family. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but he also held trust in her judgement. Noca looks over to Bra and the other girls and can see that a random guy is flirting with them, well…more with Pan.

Noca turns and starts to walk towards them. He can see that the guy is trying to get his arm around Pan and she is using her best efforts to avoid him, clearly rejecting his advances. He is clearly drunk, but Noca still wants to put him in his place.

Pan can feel Noca's energy flaring a little bit and his anger is definitely at a different level. She can feel him approaching as well and knows she should deal with the situation as soon as possible rather than let Noca do anything. She pushes the boy away, knocking him to the floor and tells him she has a boyfriend. Noca stops, knowing the situation is solved and tilts his head to the right. Pan turns to face her boyfriend and pokes her tongue out at him in a playful manner. Noca smirks and turns back to return to Dom's side.

The night went on and everyone continued to enjoy the party, but it was starting to get a bit late. Kareshi decided that now was the time to attempt his move. He managed to get Bra away from her friends and they moved to the side to talk. He had to build up his confidence with this, but he was definitely adamant that things would go his way.

"So, I think you should come over to mine tonight," Kareshi suggests to his girlfriend. Bra is a bit surprised by the suggestion at first, but she does ponder it for a second.

"Well, I don't have to be home tomorrow, but…" Bra started, still thinking about whether or not it really was a good idea.

"My parents aren't there," Kareshi quickly added, hoping that would help cement Bra's decision on the matter. Bra continued to ponder it, but she wasn't sure what was the best option. She knew she wanted to spend some more time with Kareshi, but this ask seemed to come out of nowhere and confused the Blue-Haired teen, just a little.

"I guess it is closer, and I am a little tipsy…" Bra said, leaning towards saying yes. Kareshi seemed to have a pleased smile forming on his face and Bra knew she couldn't take that hope away now. "Ok, I guess it should cool."

"Awesome," Kareshi said, clearly feeling happy with this news, "Do you wanna get outta here now, then?"

Bra wasn't sure why Kareshi suddenly wanted to rush out now, but Bra couldn't lie that she wouldn't mind leaving now. She agrees to it and then the two of them go off to tell the rest of their friends that they're leaving. The others don't mind, although Noca and Dom send each other questioning looks, quickly. They decide not to worry about it.

The couple leave and head off fairly quickly. Bra didn't understand the speed, but didn't question it. They soon arrived back at Kareshi's house and immediately went up to his room. Bra dropped down onto his bed and lay back, feeling pretty tired. Kareshi sits down beside her and places a hand on her leg. When she lay down her skirt had move up a little so Kareshi had a slight view of her underwear and he started to get a little excited, if you know what I mean.

He started to run his hand up and down her leg, not making his move completely obvious just yet. Bra liked the feeling of his hand on her leg. Kareshi started to be very gentle and soft meaning that it would start to tickle Bra a bit. She definitely reacted to the tingle and moved her leg a little.

"You should probably take your clothes off before going to bed," Kareshi suggested, Bra was a little surprised at the way Kareshi said it and suddenly she was very aware of what was going on. She sat up a little and smiled a Kareshi, but she still wasn't sure about everything. Bra just lays back turning away and not listening. Kareshi moves up alongside her and lays behind her. He places a hand on her side and slowly starts to move it up and around.

He slowly starts to move it around to the front and gets very close to her breasts. He slows it down, but doesn't stop. Bra opens her eyes and quickly turns.

"What are you doing?" She asks. Kareshi pulls his hand away.

"Come on, we should mess around a little," Kareshi suggests as he moves in closer to her and starts kissing her. She doesn't deny him that as they have kissed loads of times. Kareshi then puts his right hand between her legs and starts to move it up. She moves her hand down and grabs his wrist.

"Wait, stop," Bra said, not sure if this is the right thing to happen. Kareshi was very disappointed by Bra's reaction.

"We've been together for a long time now…we're both ready for this," He told her as he continued to kiss her. Bra pushes him back and looks into his eyes.

"But I'm not ready…" Bra muttered. Kareshi takes a breath.

"But we're old enough…" He tells her as he pushes in again and continues to kiss her, but Bra is starting to feel beyond incredibly uncomfortable. She pushes back and gets Kareshi off of her.

"No, we should wait a bit longer," Bra tells him. Clearly not wanting to do this. "I'm really not ready for this."

Bra got up and moved to the edge of the bed. She sits at the edge for a second and takes a deep breath. She then stands up and moves to the doorway, wanting to leave. Kareshi quickly gets up and rushes over. He grabs her arm and turns her around.

"I want this," He tells her, staring into her eyes. Bra starts to get a little worried and feels that Kareshi has a very tough grip on her wrist. The teen sucks it up and then puts on a very serious face.

"Let go of me. I'm not ready, accept that." Bra tells him, sternly. Kareshi realises what he did, lets go and steps back. Bra walks out, not saying another word to Kareshi. She makes her way up the road a little and then calls Pan.

Once she asked Pan to come and pick her up, she sat down at the end of the road and started to think over what had happened, trying her best not to react to it all.

Pan didn't take long to show up. She wasn't alone either. The Saiyan girl had brought Noca and Dom along with her, although Dom had to be carried by Noca. Bra was the one with all the Capsules so Dom didn't have a means of transport. The teens all met with Bra and asked what had happened and why she wanted to be escorted home all of a sudden.

"You were staying with Kareshi tonight, what happened? Why'd you change your mind?" Pan asked her friend, feeling fairly worried about it. Bra didn't respond the way any of them were expecting.

"Can I just go home…I don't wanna talk about it," Bra muttered to them. She gave Pan the Capsule-Jet and they all boarded. Pan continued to ask if Bra was ok while Dom and Noca sat in the Driver and front-passenger seat respectively. Bra continued to tell Pan that she didn't want to talk about anything and looked out of the window, in silence.

They dropped Bra off and she said a weak goodbye and rushed in. She even forgot to take her jet back, but that helped because Dom was meant to be staying with Noca and Pan that night so he was able to fly it back to their house. When Bra got back into the Compound she immediately rushed up to her room, ignored her mother and went straight to bed.

Meanwhile, on the way back to the Moori Forest, Pan was still extremely worried about Bra and kept wondering what had happened.

"I just don't get it…" Pan muttered.

"I have to admit, it was strange," Dom replied, also concerned. Noca was the only one sat in silence as he continued to contemplate things. He believed he knew what the problem was, but he didn't want to let Pan know, at least not yet. The only problem with Noca keeping things to himself, Pan could sense the confliction in his mind and that only worried her more.

As the night goes on, Pan goes to bed in her own room while Noca and Dom head to his room, but don't go to sleep straight away. Noca closes his door behind them and turns to Dom.

"I think I know what was wrong with Bra," Noca lets his friend know. Dom thinks he has an idea as well, but doesn't say. "It has to do with what Kareshi said…he may have spooked."

"Shall we talk to him, in school or something?" Dom asked. Noca looked over to him and then to the ground before slowly shaking his head.

"I don't know…"

Wednesday 11th March Age 795

Almost two weeks had passed since that party and the events that surrounded it, but Bra was still no closer to revealing what had happened that night. The girls had stopped prying and let the girl get on with it. It didn't seem to be a concern of Bra's either, but there was something on her mind that she just had to mention to her friends.

"I haven't heard from Kareshi in about a week…" Bra brought up in conversation at Lunch. The other girls were all confused because they hadn't heard anything about their relationship difficulties in a while. "I've seen him once since that party…and he won't reply to my messages that often."

"I guess he's busy, but it is strange," Holline mentioned, but Bra shrugged her shoulders.

"I really feel…insecure, angry and…" Bra stopped and looked away, not wanting her friends to see her face for this, "Scared."

The girls didn't know what to say about that and let Bra take her time with what she had to say.

"I feel really in the dark about what's going on in his life," Bra continues, but this time the girls believe they have a suggestion. It may not be the solution, but it could help.

"You could always go and see him, show up at his house or something?" Kiera suggested. The other two girls agreed with her and Bra contemplated it, but she didn't have a definitive answer.

After school, Bra did decide to go visit her absent Boyfriend. She makes sure to just show up at his house around a time that she knows he will be there, and doesn't inform him that she's on her way. She stepped up to his door and stalled before knocking. She wasn't sure she wanted to have this confrontation, but she needed to know what was happening and this was the only way it could happen.

She did eventually knock and Kareshi was the one to come to the door.

"Oh…Bra," He clearly wasn't happy to see her, but he wasn't upset either. He was more surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see what was going with you, haven't spoken in a week," Bra explained. She let off a half-smile and he invited her in. No one was home this time either.

"Uh, do you want a drink?" Kareshi asked, treating Bra like an ordinary guest rather than his girlfriend. This was a little confusing, but she passed on the drink. "I'm sorry I haven't spoken much…I've been busy with the team and…my new job."

"You have a job?" Bra questioned.

"Yeah…" Kareshi answered, half-heartedly.

"You didn't tell me you had a job?" Bra said, clearly not understanding why he would keep anything from her.

"It just slipped my mind," Kareshi answered, even though he didn't seem at all convinced with his own response. Bra stood up and glared at him.

"How does it just slip your mind, what are you hiding from me?" Bra asked, but she was getting rather annoyed now. Kareshi didn't like that tone and stepped towards her.

"I don't have to tell you everything that goes on in my life, why do you care so much? Just let me get on with it," Kareshi was clearly being over-defensive. Bra stepped back and really didn't like the tone he took with her. Both seemed disgusted with each other right now. "I have my own question for you, will you ever be ready to sleep with me?"

Bra stopped in her tracks and slowly looked over to her boyfriend. She didn't hold an angered expression this time, but more of a contemplating one.

"I will…someday," She answered as she slowly walked off to look out of the window. Kareshi took a deep breath and looked pretty riled up. He stepped up to her again.

"I can't just wait for someday…I'm ready for this and…and you just deny me," Kareshi explained, sounding rather rattled. Bra turned around and stood up to him.

"There's more to a relationship than that," She says, right into his face. Kareshi is visibly angered by this and grabs her by her arms.

"I'm ready for this…and I want it…" He growls at her, his face very close to hers. She tries to back away and gets rather scared of Kareshi's reaction to her. She pushes off of him and pushes him back, but that only serves to rile him up some more. He moves up to her again and pushes her, but she falls to the floor and hits against the wall. As soon as he sees Bra in pain, Kareshi does stop and steps back seeing that he has done something wrong.

Bra gets back up and rushes out, not saying another word to Kareshi. She makes her way up the street and stops around the corner. She takes a couple of breaths to calm herself and then gets her jet out to go home. She feels tears coming to her eyes, but tries to shake them off.

Thursday 19th March Age 795

In the time that passed, Bra hadn't spoken to Kareshi at all, and he hadn't even made the effort to reach out or even apologise for the way he had acted. Bra was very upset and angry, but felt like she had nothing to say to him. Deep down she wanted him to come and apologise to her, but there was a small part of her that wished she would never see him again. It was a very weird one for her.

When she was in school with friends she decided to ask Noca and Dom some questions to see if they knew anything. She approached them at lunch. This time they were outside, the weather was starting to pick-up. The group were all sitting at a bench together.

"Have either of you spoken to Kareshi recently, or seen him?" Bra asked, not wanting to dance around the topic and find a subtle way to bring it up. She needed to know.

"We don't really see him much anymore," Noca started.

"He does ask to meet up sometimes, but we're usually busy," Dom finished. Bra turned to face her lunch and started to think. Even the boys hadn't seen him and that was starting to worry her. Was he avoiding them? Had something happened? "Why haven't you been seeing him?"

Dom had asked a very valid and reasonable question, but Bra wasn't ready to answer and instead of saying something like she didn't know, she snapped at the boy.

"I just haven't, why, is that a problem with you?"

Dom was taken aback by that and seemed rather shocked. He immediately retreated himself and muttered a weak "Sorry."

Bra knew she shouldn't have acted like that, but she couldn't help it. Something was seriously wrong and she just wanted everything to be back to normal.

"He did say something about a party…this Friday I think?" Noca told his Blue-Haired cousin. He could tell that something was wrong, and he wanted to know, but when Bra was ready to tell them he was sure she would.

"Where is the party?" Bra asked, clearly eager to see him and find out why he had been avoiding her and everyone else for that matter. Noca gave her the address and told her that he was a hundred percent sure that Kareshi would be there. Bra was thankful for Noca's help. Now she just needed to strum up the courage to walk into that party and find Kareshi. She wanted this to be settled and it had to be now.

Friday 20th March Age 795

Bra found the address with relative ease, but she still wasn't feeling confident. She hadn't bothered to dress-up for the party and just wore something casual. After-all, she wasn't there to party. She was there to sort out her relationship. She walked in, no one stopping her and she immediately started to scour the area for her boyfriend or any of his team-mates. She wasn't doing too well, until one of them approached her.

"Hey," yelled Kareshi's friend James as he stumbled over to the teen. He was clearly drunk. "What're you doin' here?"

Bra looked at him and she immediately put on her most serious face. She was Vegeta's daughter after-all, she could probably be very menacing when she needed to be.

"Where's Kareshi?" Bra asked, not bothering to acknowledge his question. James looked around to try and find him, but just shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no idea…he wandered off a bit ago…" James answered. Bra sighed and sent a weak, fake smile back at James as she walked off. She had no idea what she was meant to do. This was going to prove to be a difficult task. She kept looking around and that was making her really annoyed. That was when it hit her. She was a Saiyan. Bra may not have the best abilities, but they were still there inside her. She would be able to use her senses to find him.

The girl closed her eyes and stood still. She tried to focus everything that she could and drowned out the sound of the party. There was a small blip on the radar in her mind and it was easily recognisable. It was familiar. It was Kareshi. She opened her eyes and followed that little strand of energy that she caught. The strangest thing about Kareshi's minimal energy, was that it was being used for something. She couldn't tell what, but he was definitely exerting some of it. Something in her instincts told her to move much quicker. So she did.

She found herself leaving the main party area and going through the halls. There were still people out there, drinking, dancing, chatting, but Bra had something more important to do. She walked past them all and found herself heading to the stairs. She still wasn't sure why she had been brought here and where this tiny bit of energy was taking her, but that didn't mean she would stop.

Bra rushed up the stairs and then along the hallway before coming to a halt at a door that was slightly ajar. She didn't know what would be awaiting her behind this wooden door, but something told her it wasn't going to be good. She can hear some slight noises of rustling coming from the room and the sounds of people. Bra's worst fear about tonight was starting to come through and she started to clench her fist. The tears were already starting to form in her eyes.

Slowly, she reached for the metal door-handle, her hand not touching it but instead hovering over. She wasn't sure this was what she really wanted. She started to feel choked up and accidently let out a little sob, but that was apparently enough noise to alert the occupants of the room.

"Who's there? Give us some privacy!" A male voice came from inside the room and Bra instantly recognised it and that only confirmed her worst fears. She burst into the room and glare right at the two occupants of the bed. Tears already starting to stream down her face, but Bra was enraged.

"So this is why you won't talk to me…" She stated, clenching both fists and breathing heavily. The girl underneath Kareshi pushed out and sat up in the bed. She looked over at Bra and then back at Kareshi.

"Who is she?" The girl asked Kareshi. The boy was lost for words. He didn't expect Bra to come along and he had no response to this situation. Luckily, Bra was ready.

"I'm Bra, Kareshi's girlfriend," She said, straightforward, glaring at the girl and then back at Kareshi. The girl seemed shocked with this new information.

"You're Bra Brief?" The girl questioned, but then turned to Kareshi, "You have a girlfriend?"

Kareshi was silent, opened-mouthed and he felt extremely defeated. The girl got out of the bed, grabbed her clothes and now she looked angry as well.

"I can't believe you," She started, "We've been having sex for a week now and you had a girlfriend the whole time!"

Bra put her hand up to her mouth when she heard what the girl had said and now she was letting the tears fall again. The girl looked over, as did Kareshi.

"You were having sex with her for a week?" Bra questioned. Kareshi finally found his voice and with it, some confidence.

"Well you wouldn't…I needed to find someone that would," The boy said, but that was not something that would help his case. Bra stepped back, eyes still fixed on Kareshi. The girl turned to Bra, even she looked upset now, but it was most probably from embarrassment. She started apologising to Bra as the Blue-Haired girl slowly backed out of the room before rushing back down the stairs and out into the street. There was no holding back those tears anymore as she sprinted up the road, stopping for no one.

Eventually, Bra stopped where there were no people and dropped to her knees. She didn't care that she would get her jeans dirty, or hurt herself. She was far too upset. She couldn't stop crying now and let out a scream of agony as she let her emotions get the better of her. It took her a few minutes to calm herself down, but then quickly boarded her Capsule-Jet and rushed back home.

Once there, she immediately went to her bedroom and shut herself away. She made sure to avoid both her Mother and Father, not wanting to speak with anyone at this moment in time. Bra locked herself in the room, dropped down on her bed and let more and more tears flow.

That had been a terrible experience for Bra and she wasn't sure how much time would be needed to get past it.

So, interesting little story I'm doing, or not? Let me know. This is something I've been planning for a while.

Next Time...Chapter 9: New Love