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~Just when I think on my own
When I've broken every door
The ghosts of my life
Are louder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came true
The ghosts of my life
They bring up memories
All my time, all my tears
-Ghosts, Tenth Planet ~
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'Old Vegeta' thought.
'Present day Vegeta' thought.
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What We Knew
Chapter Three: Confusion, Kage
"This is so unrealistic..."
Bulma sighed, setting her book aside. She only had a few more pages to read, but she could already guess the ending. The guy and the girl were going to end up in each other's arms, alone, in love, and live happily ever after. In reality, Bulma believe there was no such thing as a perfect ending. And with her present marital life, it was never.
Mrs. Briefs entered the room once more, a tray in hand. She set it on the stand by her daughter's bed- it was decorated with a sandwich and some lemonade. "Hubby doesn't think you should eat a lot in your present condition," Mrs. Briefs apologized as she sat down on the bed next to her daughter. "Something about the medicines your taking, but I fixed you a snack!" And then her face lit up with that smile of hers.
Bulma grinned, and proceeded to attack the sandwich mercilessly. "Hnn, thanks Mom!"
Mrs. Briefs beamed. "Oh, don't thank me! Your poor father was so worried about you-" and then, her thoughts drifting as they usually did, Mrs. Briefs changed the subject, "-I wonder where that handsome guest of ours went to?"
Bulma snorted as she downed her lemonade. "Still off training, probably," she replied.
"Oh!" Mrs. Briefs giggled. "Well, he'd better get in when dinner is ready! I would hate for his food to get cold waiting on him!"
Bulma couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was nearing afternoon, and if she knew Vegeta, he'd be out training until he couldn't see the nose in front of him. He was obsessed!
Imagine Bulma's surprise when she heard the faint opening an closing of their front door and a familiar snort from the living room.
"Oh! That must be him," Mrs. Briefs giggled. "Let me go fix his plate. I'll see you in just a little bit, dear! Anything else you need?"
Bulma blinked, then settled under her covers again. "No, but thanks." She smiled warmly.
"Okay!" Mrs. Briefs rose from the bed and exited the room to give her daughter more personal time.
-_-_-_-
Mr. Briefs definitely felt more tension in the air than usual when Vegeta stormed into Capsule Corp. And Mr. Briefs found it even more unusual and unsettling when the disgruntled and rather peeved looking saiyajin prince stormed right over to him while the scientist was lounging in his recliner reading the daily newspaper.
"Human," Vegeta sneered, his lips curled in an almost feral snarl, "I want you to tell me everything you know about that confounded machine that exploded!"
Mr. Briefs cringed slightly at the saiyajin's harsh tone, but wasn't about to give in so easily. "Why?" Mr. Briefs asked, almost casually.
Vegeta's harsh exterior slowly melted, revealing a non-too-happy and dangerous calm that flooded him. "Because," he snarled, "If you do not...something unsettling might happen."
Mr. Briefs noted the anger and desperation filled tone in Vegeta's voice from the first word he had spoken. Just a little more curious and a bit more brave, Mr. Briefs blinked then nodded.
"Of course," the scientist blabbered while pushing up his glasses farther onto his nose, "I was merely wondering. Would you like to come to Lab 2 and look at some of the blueprints..?"
Vegeta's face was etched in stone. "Yes," he replied.
Mrs. Briefs chose that moment to enter the living room, empty tray in hand. "Hello, sweetie!" she giggled, waving to her husband.
Mr. Briefs coughed some and waved, reluctantly, back. Vegeta flinched slightly- he would never get used to that confounded blonde-haired human!
Mrs. Briefs entered the kitchen, the sound of rattling dishes following. "I'm making dinner, it'll be ready in a minute or so! Are you two boys going to be doing anything until then?"
Vegeta looked to Mr. Briefs, who sighed in defeat.
"Yes, honey," Mr. Briefs called out to his wife. "I'm taking Vegeta down to Lab 2 to look at some blueprints. Just call us up when the food's ready, okay?"
"Okay!" Mrs. Briefs chirped.
Vegeta sent a rigid glance to Mr. Briefs. "Let's go," he rasped. His stomach was already making it's familiar growling noise.
-_-_-_-
"This should be it- no, no, that's the blueprints to the toaster..."
Vegeta watched, rather impatiently, as Mr. Briefs rummaged through a desk of drawers, in which each drawer contained different blueprints to various projects he had begun, finished, or had never started on. There must have been hundreds of the documents, either collecting dust or shining with the newness of it being a latest idea.
"Hurry up," Vegeta ordered gruffly. The small closet located in Lab 2 was not helping out his sensitive nose with all this dust.
Ki blast him. That should do it, came the sinister voice in the prince's head.
That would accomplish nothing, Vegeta retorted.
*Snort* Well, why are you looking for blueprints anyway? Curiosity killed the damned cat, you know.
Looking for a way to rid myself of you, came Vegeta's icy reply.
Hnn, well that's not going to happen. I am you, anyway. Here I am, I wake up, and I'm some sniveling bastard. I'm still trying to figure out what the HELL happened to cause me to...to live with HUMANS on earth!
Vegeta chose not to comment to the aggressive voice, creating a mental block between the two of them. Still, he could hear curses and ramblings of the distant, and yet familiar voice on the other side of the mental wall.
Vegeta was having a hard time believing that the other voice in his head belonged to him as well. It reminded him of that human syndrome called schizophrenia. Needless to say and yet simpler to relate to, Vegeta was suffering from confusion. And this, of course (knowing that he did not know something) made him angry.
The voice seemed to accept the fact that it and Vegeta were the same person. And this left Vegeta feeling even more unsettled.
Getting an idea as the saiyajin prince blandly watched Mr. Briefs dig about through unsorted papers, Vegeta brought down the mental wall. Your name is Kage*.
The other voice was not hesitant in a reply. What the hell are you talking about?
I refuse to refer to you as myself, so you are Kage.
Can't take the truth. I don't care what you call me, because it doesn't deny the fact that I am you.
Vegeta responded with a curt revival of the mental wall. Let that blasted personality think what it wanted. He wasn't letting anyone, or anything, get in his way!
On all fours, digging through a box of various blueprints, Mr. Briefs called out- "I've found it!"
-_-_-_-
Cautiously taking one step at a time, Bulma inched into the kitchen. The aroma of nearby food was causing her stomach to curl in anticipation.
Peeking in the living room to see if it was empty, Bulma scanned her placid furniture and slipped through the doorway. Drawing her red robe tightly around herself, Bulma sniffed the air and practically drooled. Forget medicine, she was fine and she was hungry!
Bulma's spy escapade was shattered as Mrs. Briefs walked out of the kitchen, where she had been concealed. She was humming and setting up the table, and didn't seem to mind that her daughter was standing there like a zombie.
"Hello, sweetie!" Mrs. Briefs called out merrily. "I just set the table, your father and that handsome young man should be back any second!" She waved dismissively. "You know how boys are! Why don't you go ahead and take a seat while I fix the tea?"
Bulma closed her gaping mouth, her heart fluttering at the thought of dinner. Mentally she thanked her mom, and for the fact she could always blame her mother if her dad got angry. And she knew her dad could never be angry at her mom.
So, the blue-haired woman adorned with her pajama-wear and red robe slipped into the nearest seat. Inadvertently, her thoughts wondered to what exactly Mr. Briefs and Vegeta were up to. And how she sort of missed her and Vegeta's verbal sparring matches...
-_-_-_-
Scientific analogies, phrases, concepts and labels skipped through Vegeta's mind as Mr. Briefs hastily explained the purpose and working system of the Freezer.
"And this component here- it send electrical pulses to the Z-negative target here, under the fiber-optic-"
Vegeta interrupted Mr. Briefs with a snort. "Don't prattle in your scientific know-how! All I want to know is- can this contraption warp the mind in such a way that the one it is aimed at can suffer...imbalanced mental difficulties?"
Mr. Briefs stopped, laying the blueprint of the Freezer onto the desk in front of him. "I'm not quite sure, you see...the Freezer was never really tested. It had only just been created!"
Bulma's words from before the Freezer had gone off came back to Vegeta. With a scowl, he brushed her words away. "So, in all of your intelligence...you do not know?"
Mr. Briefs pushed his glasses farther onto his nose, as they were slipping with the sweat trickling down his face. "It's a possibility," the scientist replied haltingly. "But why are you so concerned?" Mr. Briefs rolled up the blueprint and turned to face Vegeta, curiosity in his eyes. "You're not suffering from some sort of...problem, are you?"
Vegeta snorted again. He cannot find out about my condition...I will handle this myself, I NEED no human assistance! "Hardly," the prince barked. Without further explanation he turned on his heel, his nose already picking up the scent of food. "Don't flatter yourself any further."
Mr. Briefs blinked, sighed, then turned off the desk light and followed Vegeta out of the lab. He would have been greatly surprised, though, if he could hear what Vegeta heard in his mind- the sniggering of Kage, which only added to the already-present anger and konmei**.
-_-_-_-
Mrs. Briefs had just finished setting the table when Vegeta entered, a disgruntled Mr. Briefs following. She giggled and clasped her hands together. "Hiya, honey! You arrived just on time! Oh, and Bulma-dear has joined us, too!"
Bulma shrank back slightly in her chair as her father's sharp gaze was directed at her. Uh-oh, here comes the guilt... she thought.
But Mr. Briefs' frown etched itself into a smile. "I should have known nothing could keep my little girl down!" he beamed as he brushed her playfully on the head with a hand.
Bulma smiled in relief as she waved away her dad. "Oh come of it!" she laughed. It was then her attention was turned to Vegeta, who had taken his usual spot in the far corner.
"You're awake," was all he said.
Bulma couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Of course," she replied, chipper.
Baka onna.
"Baka onna," Vegeta grumped in reply.
*shadow/shade/other side
**confusion
