CHAPTER 15- A Mission
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z.
Thanks to all the people who like this fic for the good reviews, to those that don't TANT PIS.
'Another day, another cross on the calendar' Thought Bulma, as she ticked off another box and dully noted that they had reached the 93 day mark. She had really stopped caring about the numbers on her calendar since she found out that even when she ticked off the last box, she would still have to wait however long it took her friends to find the namekian dragon balls before she could go home 'and Kami only knows how long that'll take them without my help' she sighed and reminded herself once again that she had to remind Kami where exactly he could find her dragon radar.
She looked out of the window, hoping to see something that would interest her, but there was nothing. She felt herself growing roots, she would be stuck here forever in some kind of catatonic fit if she didn't get out of the quaint little cottage now. She needed a mission for the day, something to occupy her mind. It didn't take her long to think of one.
"Vegeta! I'm going for a walk! Cook your own breakfast!" she called to the still sleeping form on the couch. She saw him stir and then ran, knowing what his reaction would be when he realized exactly what she had said.
Once out of the house she pondered her self-inflicted mission for the day. She had decided to track down Bardock and find out exactly why he had been avoiding her. She inwardly hoped that he wasn't too easy to find, or she might have to think of something else to amuse herself with.
Vegeta had become accustomed to having a lie in since he had stopped sparring with Bardock. It had not been his choice to do so but, much to Vegeta's distaste, Bardock obviously found it painful to be around the woman under the circumstances and had asked to be permanently excused from such training sessions. Vegeta thought he was mad, no saiya jin had ever passed up the opportunity to train with royalty before, not even for fear of death. He spent his days getting up late, eating whatever breakfast the woman had cooked for him and then mercilessly beating one of the other saiya jin which he had had temporarily returned to their physical body. This was not exactly satisfying though, as most of them would have been evenly matched with Radditz, some may have been able to stand up to Nappa for a few hours before loosing out, but still, none where any kind of match for him, he was almost a legendary super saiya jin, after all.
He rolled over onto his back and thought briefly about what the woman had said a few minutes ago, trying to figure out what she had been trying to communicate to him through his haze of dream filled sleep. He had many recurring dreams at this time. Some inevitable ones about completing the transformation he had started before he died and then, of course, there were many about ripping, tearing, blasting, burning, pummeling or gouging out various parts of Frieza's body, but then there were the ones that he couldn't accept that he had, the ones about 'her'. In his waking hours it was impossible to determine how he felt, trying to filter out one clear, strong emotion through the thick blanket of boredom, and the apathy for everything and everyone that came with it, but in these dreams he felt things which he understood only through a faint instinct, things which he didn't think he was capable of, things which he would never express to anyone but her in this life or his impending next life. These things would have to wait; right now he had better things to concentrate on.
He sat up with a start as he realized what she had said to him
"Cook?? DAMN HER!!!" he growled as he lifted himself out of bed and went for a shower, all the time plotting his revenge.
Meanwhile, Bulma continued her search.
'He shouldn't be too hard to spot, after all he is a large man in full armor amongst a bunch of fluffy clouds.' She thought as she wandered past the lake where clouds rowed boats, fished and picnicked. She could only wonder how clouds could enjoy a picnic without the ability to eat, or fishing when there were obviously no fish in the blood red lake.
Suddenly she heard male laughter coming from over a hill to her left.
She narrowed her eyes
'Saiya jin' she thought to herself. Although she liked Bardock a lot and suspected that she may have feelings for Vegeta, she couldn't help but feel nothing but contempt for the rest of the members of their race that she had come across (Goku, to her mind, didn't count).
'Rude, arrogant, sexist, dumb, ignorant, violent, barbaric' the list of their bad traits seemed to stretch on indefinitely. 'But they're my best shot at finding Bardock today' she thought as she wearily climbed the small hill, bracing herself for whatever insults lay ahead.
As they came into view, she could see they were making full use of their restored bodies while they could by holding some form of wrestling contest. They all sat in a ring while two saiya jin in the middle battled it out, seemingly followed the 'anything goes' style of wrestling. She cringed as one of the combatants got the other in a headlock and then promptly bit down firmly on said other's scalp, drawing blood. She looked around the circle but found no Bardock.
'Darn, now I'll have to actually speak to these morons' she thought.
"Hey you!" she shouted, having mustered all the courage she held.
To her surprise, they all turned around to face her, though the look in their eyes was entirely unimpressed.
"Yeah you guys!" she faltered for a second under their many scrutinizing gazes "Has anyone seen Bardock??" she gulped as they all swapped confused glances.
Finally one stepped forward, taking great joy in towering above her he replied
"You are the princes woman aren't you?" he ground out
Bulma was taken aback and slightly abashed
"NO I AM NOT!" she whined, "Besides, what's that got to do with anything??"
"You should not be seeking the company of other men without his permission" came his reply, causing an uproar of coarse laughter to rise from the gathered saiya jin.
Bulma rolled her eyes at this typical sexist joke
"Whatever, you've had your fun now answer the question!" her mouth was braver than her legs, obviously, as the latter began to tremble whilst waiting for a reaction to her words.
The saiya jin laughed at her pitiful come back, but replied despite himself
"You will find him in the woodlands" he growled
Bulma blinked 'that was relatively easy' she thought as she nodded and turned to leave, knowing enough about saiya jin by now to know that she shouldn't bother thanking him.
She set off toward the woodlands and Bardock, wondering how exactly she should weedle the answers out of him.
Vegeta meanwhile had forgotten about revenge during cooking breakfast and had begun to ponder where exactly the little female had gotten to. Since her sudden breakdown a few months ago Vegeta had taken it upon him self to learn a few basic cooking skills, incase of such emergencies, and had managed to whip him self up about forty sandwiches and a few bowls of soup from a can, he knew his limits. He began to wonder if she had gone quite mad again, and whether it would be wise to go and find her before Bardock did. He quickly curbed his 'pathetic' jealousy though and became quite certain that she had gone to harass Yama for something and that he should not let his imagination run away with him or allow him self to lose composure.
In the woodlands, Bulma had finally come across a clearing in which Bardock sat, meditating. She wondered to herself whether it was wise to interrupt. She had heard that if a person was deep enough into meditation and then got suddenly snapped out, they could have a heart attack. She then remembered why she had come here and got angry enough so that she didn't care.
"Hey you!" she shouted accusingly, but Bardock didn't move a muscle "Bardock??" she questioned a little more lightly "WAKE UP MONKEY BOY!!" she roared, still to no response.
Bardock mean while had been completely conscious of her presence ever since she entered the clearing, he just didn't want to be bothered with a confrontation right now, and so continued to fain a deep meditative state. That is until Bulma tried one of the oldest tricks she could think of
"I know you're awake in there Bardock, so stop kidding around ok?" she said, and in her own mind sounded doubtful but Bardock was entirely convinced that somehow she had seen through him. He opened his eyes and looked up at her angry face.
"Hello stranger" she hissed.
"Hello" he said softly, staring at the floor and waiting for the barrage of curses to begin
"You've been avoiding me, why?" she cut straight to the point, too tired from the day's hunting to bother with the art of keeping him in suspense.
"I cannot tell you" he replied
"Oh really? What or may I say whom is stopping you?" she knew Vegeta was involved in this somewhere.
"No one, it was my own choice" he still stared at the floor
"Yeah right! I know Vegeta is behind this, Bardock, so you might as well tell me what he said…"
"Fine!" Bardock interrupted, annoyed suddenly "the prince pointed out a few things to me which may have altered my view on certain situations, but he did not forbid me from seeing you, I forbade myself."
Bulma was confused
"Why would you chose to do that?" she blinked
"What is the point in having a friend for a few months only to revert to a state of total misery once they are gone? I am saving myself pain. Its ok for you, when you leave you go back to your family and friends and to your life, I will go back to hanging in senseless limbo alone" he looked away, ashamed at his outburst and not wanting her to see his face.
Bulma felt an overwhelming sadness for her friend.
"Well, I think that one day Yama will send you to heaven Bardock, and I know I'll be going there when my life is over, I mean, how many times does a person have to save the world before they become a saint?" she realized she was getting off track, cleared her throat and continued "so what I'm saying is that, perhaps you were sent to limbo so you could keep me company, and when I leave, you'll go to heaven and then I'll see you there again eventually, so its not like we won't be friends any more, just apart for a few decades" she finished and watched his face carefully for a response. Eventually he looked up at her and replied
"That was sentimental nonsense and only the weak would believe such a thing" but his face was grateful, and Bulma had refound her friend.