...........................................................................................~* BROKEN HOME
.........................................................................................................................Rhapsody~*
When Bulma finally got around to dressing herself in her favorite red bathing suit, a white tube top, a denim skirt, and a silver studded belly-button ring, Trunks had decided that he was going to fool around on the beach, too, so she was forced to spend an extra hour arguing with him about what swim shorts to wear. She had packed a bag of their beach things and was almost out the door when Vejita stopped her and Trunks in mid-step.
"Where are you going today, woman?" He had apparently just come from an intense training session, because he was shirtless and just a little bit sweaty. Bulma felt her heart skip a beat unexpectedly and ran a hand through her loose hair to cover up the little 'glitch' in her thoughts.
"Trunks was telling me an interesting uh, STORY, and I have to go set the record straight with the storytellers," she explained, shifting Trunks over to her other hip.
"Hn," Vejita acknowledged with a scowl. "So you're going to see the old perv and his ridiculous posse of weak human idiots. Wait for a few minutes, I would very much like to witness this for myself." Without waiting for her reply, he turned and made his way up to their room leisurely.
"That man," Bulma growled under her breath, a trait acquired by spending so much time with Vejita. "He can never do what's best for ME, can he?"
Trunks pouted and pulled at the ties of Bulma's bathing suit with his little hands.. "Mommy, I wanna go SWIMMING!"
"We're GOING!" Bulma replied, setting him down to relieve the pressure on her hip. "We have to wait for your damned father, so hold on a minute." She proceeded to examine her red nails and decided that it was time to schedule an appointment with her manicurist. Soon.
Vejita came back down the stairs a few minutes later dressed in his swim shorts and a casual tank top with a beach towel slung over his shoulder. "Tell me what they said."
Bulma winced a bit. "Well, uh, they were talking about..."
Trunks giggled and pulled on Vejita's shorts, eager to run his mouth. "I know! I know!"
"Then tell me, boy, for Kami's sake," Vejita demanded. "And stop that or else I'll give you another hole to breath out of."
Trunks was not distressed at this empty threat. "Well, Uncle Yamcha told Uncle Krillen that you've got Mommy whipped into shape--" Vejita shot an amused look at Bulma, who's face was beginning to grow increasingly red in anger. "so that you can keep on getting 'some', whatever that means, and--"
"That ignorant, jealous ass..." Bulma murmured.
Trunks stuck his little tongue out at her interupption and continued as they exited the house. "And then Uncle Krillen told the others that it wouldn't take much 'cause Mommy was always a pretty darned horny girl. I don't know what that means either, though." He shrugged apologetically and hopped into the aircar that Bulma had released from a capsule. "Why is Mommy so mad?"
Vejita chuckled at Bulma's enraged expression, though he wouldn't mind giving Yamcha and Krillen a good shake or two (or three, or four...) for their comments himself. "She's mad because she knows that what they said is true." He smoothly dodged and caught the set of car keys that was thrown at his head. "I think that I should drive this time around..."
"Fine," Bulma snapped, crossing her arms in frustration. "But step on it, I want to work on my tan before it gets dark."
When the three arrived at Master Roshi's tropical island, all three of Trunks' gossipy 'uncles' were present. They were engaged in a game of sand volleyball and hardly noticed them land the aircar on the other side of the island. Trunks jumped out of the car and sprinted (Vejita hadn't deemed him strong enough to fly quite yet) across the island to meet Yamcha, Master Roshi, and Krillen, who were more than a little surprised to observe the small half-Saiyan do a nosedive into the surf without so much as a hello. Bulma and Vejita took their time crossing the small island, so the three went back to their game of volleyball.
"What are you planning to do?" Vejita asked as they made their way around the island.
"Does it matter?" Bulma said. "I could probably beat the shit out of all three of them, or you could always do it for me."
"It would be my pleasure." Vejita smirked slowly. "But Yamcha would probably bawl like a little girl, and that would be too painful to risk."
"True," Bulma agreed, weaving through the dense grove of palm trees that made up most of that side of the island
They emerged from the group of trees and the three humans stopped their game of volleyball to wait for them.
Master Roshi grinned, a sure sign of trouble. "Well, you two young 'uns sure took long enough to get here. Don't tell me that somebody's been losing their innocence on MY island!"
"You guessed it-- we were engaged in a bit of hot sex on your kitchen table," Bulma retorted, shooting him a dirty look. "Actually, I came over on account of something my son said to me this morning."
Yamcha and Krillen exchanged worried glances and seemed to shrink back behind Master Roshi a little bit. Vejita noticed and smirked maliciously, itching to open his mouth and threaten somebody.
"Oh?" Roshi acknowledged, looking more than little uncomfortable in the presence of both Bulma and Vejita. "And what did the little rascal say?"
"A lot of things," Bulma responded vaguely, enjoying having the upper hand in the conversation so early on.
Vejita, however, was eager to get to the point. He rushed over to Master Roshi before anyone noticed and gripped his throat, lifting him about a foot off of the ground so that he could look the old man directly in the eyes. "You know what you said, you fucking moron!"
Bulma rolled her eyes at his predictable hot temper, but let him to take over. It was good to allow him to get his anger out sometimes, and this was the most harmless and helpful way she could think of. Besides, an angry Super-Saiyan was almost always more intimidating than, well, HER.
"Fine!" Master Roshi squealed hoarsely, struggling to free himself from Vejita's iron grip. "I'll admit it! I did say it, I said it ALL! But I wasn't alone! Those two bastards were talking, too!"
Vejita smirked and dropped him back onto the warm sand. "Do you two have anything else to add?"
Krillen wasn't about to risk himself. "I admit it! Bulma, you aren't a slut, you're-- you're... a goddess! A living, breathing GODDESS!"
Bulma had to smile at that. "You know, I was under that impression myself..."
Yamcha crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'm sticking to everything that I said before, and Vejita can't beat a lie out of ME."
"Oh, really?" Vejita challenged, taking a step towards the weaker human. "We'll have to see about that--"
Bulma stopped him with a hand on his arm. "We don't need any fighting at the moment." Yamcha offered a somewhat flirtaceous smile at her, and she frowned in return. "Besides, if anybody's going to attack him, its going to be me."
"Why can't we all just...get along?" Krillen suggested bashfully. "We could you know, start a game of volleyball or something." At the doubtful look on Vejita's face, his cheeks reddened and he looked down at his sandaled feet. "Or not."
"No thanks." Bulma smiled apologetically and walked over to where Trunks was splashing around happily. Checking to make sure that the sand was smooth, she positioned herself on her stomach and sighed, enjoying the feeling of the warm afternoon sun on her somewhat less-than-tan back. "Stay close to shore, Trunks."
Vejita, who had grudgingly decided to participate in a game of volleyball, noticed Yamcha watching Bulma intensely and chucked the heavy ball at his head. "Watch it, weakling."
"Ass," Yamcha muttered under his breath as he turned his attention back to the game. "Alright you bastard, lets see who's gonna dominate THIS game..." He tossed the ball up and served it straight at Vejita, who had time to roll his eyes and yawn before hitting it back without any trouble.
"Now come on, boys," Master Roshi scolded teasingly. "The girl isn't even paying attention to the game, so there's no need to show off."
"I'm not showing off!" Yamcha protested, throwing up his hands. "Its not my fault that Vejita's being an asshole about it!"
One of Bulma's eyes opened lazily, taking in the scene, and then closed again. "Get off your high horse, Yamcha. I'm not your girl anymore, and its more than likely that I never will again."
Vejita grinned smugly and shrugged. "Well that sucks."
Yamcha went red in the face and threw the ball into the net in a fit of anger. "This is stupid! I'm going into the house!"
"Oh, come on Yamcha!" Vejita called after him sarcastically. "The game just won't be the same without you!"
Yamcha gave him the finger before disappearing into the house and slamming the door behind him.
"Aw, shit," Roshi exclaimed. "That means that we've lost-- again!"
"Tough luck, old man," Vejita retorted. Instead of starting another game, he crossed the sand over to where Bulma was lounging. She had switched sides and was now lying on her back with her hands folded behind her head for support. Vejita checked the position of the sun and blocked its rays from reaching her skin, pretending to be watching Trunks play in the water.
"Not funny," Bulma snapped, not bothering to open her eyes and look up at him. "Get out of the way, or else we'll be here that much longer. My tan has to be even."
Vejita shuddered at the thought of spending ALL DAY with the people he hated most and moved to the side, allowing the sun to shine on Bulma again. "Don't you think that you're tan enough, woman? Red isn't exactly your shade, if you know what I mean."
Bulma's eyes snapped open as she sat up in panic. "I've got SUNBURN?!" she exclaimed, examining every available inch of her body.
"No," Vejita responded coolly, brushing some sand off of himself. "I'm sick of hanging around here. Get up, we're going home."
Bulma crossed her arms. "I don't think so! This is relaxing."
"Don't make me--" Vejita's empty threat was cut short by Goku's sudden arrival. The happy-go-lucky man was dressed in impossibly bright orange board shorts and a shirt with a hideous Hawaiian print. Vejita actually winced upon seeing the outfit. Bulma smiled happily and rushed over to embrace her good friend.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, adjusting her bathing suit absently, causing Master Roshi to edge just a little bit closer for a better view of her back end.
"I felt all of you guys' ki's gathered here, so I figured that either something was wrong, or there was some sort of party going on," Goku explained with his friendly smile and a casual arm around Bulma's waist. Vejita noticed and crossed his arms, containing his anger. Every once and a while the edge of his mouth twitched, giving his state of mind away. Goku carefully removed his arm. "You guys don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not, man," Krillen assured him. "Now this game can really get started."
"I don't think so," Vejita corrected him, speaking for the first time. "This is a perfect place to spar. There aren't any innocent bystanders to distract Kakkarott from fighting."
"Oh goody!" Goku exclaimed, causing Bulma to hide a laugh behind her hand. "Sorry Krillen-- you know me, always looking for a chance to fight." All of a sudden his face lit up. Vejita groaned. Nothing good ever came from Goku's ideas, at least not in his opinion. "Why don't you join us? I'm sure that we'll all get something out of it."
"Only if we're counting coup," Vejita retorted. "I refuse to spar with such a pathetic, squirmy little weakling. It would be an insult to both of us." Taking a second look at Goku's ridiculous beach outfit, he reconsidered. "Well, to me anyway."
Bulma slapped him on one of his biceps. "Don't be an ass!" She then touched his muscle again and raised her eyebrows. "Actually, Krillen, he might be right." The inflation of Vejita's ego went up almost visibly.
"I understand," Krillen said, shuddering at the remembrance of Vejita's Super-Saiyan transformation. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea in the first place..."
"And you're surprised?" Vejita snorted. "It was Kakkarott's idea, what did you expect?"
Just then Yamcha came out of the house, his expression thankfully a bit lighter. "What's he doing here?"
"Me and Vejita are going to spar," Goku informed him. "You're welcome to join us, too."
Yamcha shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I think that I'd prefer to keep all of my limbs today."
Vejita smirked. "Damn, there goes all of MY fun. Come on Kakkarott, lets get this over with." Without saying good-bye, he was gone in a flash of blinding yellow light, quickly followed by Goku, who offered an apologetic smile to the remaining humans.
Yamcha watched them fly out of sight, then approached Bulma cautiously. "Hey, why don't we take a walk?"
Bulma narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What for?"
"Don't worry," Yamcha assured her with a knowing smile. "I just want to talk to you. And now that Vejita's out of the way, I think that we can do that safely. You know, without me getting beat into a bloody pulp."
Bulma had to smile at that. "You don't have to be so defensive around him all of the time, Yamcha. That's what makes him so edgy, you know."
"I was under the impression that he was ALWAYS like that," Yamcha commented, leading her along the beach. "He hasn't been exactly civil to anyone ever since he landed on Earth. Well, with the exception of you." His eyes drifted over to where Trunks was making a sand castle, whistling something contentedly. "Or at least, I hope has been civil to you."
Bulma glanced out over the ocean thoughtfully, but did not immediately answer. Yamcha frowned in concern and tried to get her to look him in the eyes. He was unsuccessful-- Bulma didn't even notice.
"Hey," he said, waving a hand in front of her face. "Is he decent towards you?"
Bulma's eyes were hard and difficult to read. "Why do you care? Its really none of your business. We're through, remember?"
"Yeah," Yamcha acknowledged. "But I would still like to be friends, despite well...him."
"Thank you for your concern," Bulma answered softly. "But I don't need your sympathy."
"Ouch," Yamcha snapped. "I'm sorry if my concern bothers you, Your Highness. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you start going around claiming to be the 'almight PrincESS of all Saiyans' now."
Bulma snorted. "That's not likely to happen anytime soon, I assure you."
"That's because that bastard won't marry you," Yamcha accused, kicking at the sand angrily. "It makes me happy to see YOU happy, but this is getting ridiculous. How long are you two going to put it off? I mean, you have a CHILD, Bulma."
"We don't NEED silly titles and documents saying that we're together," Bulma responded defensively.
"Well, I suppose you're right," Yamcha said doubtfully. "Its amazing even to see Vejita acknowledging the fact that he might care about you. But still, Bulma, both he and I know that it would make you happy. I think that he should be willing to do anything and everything it takes to keep you content. Damn his pride."
Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Thats a lot coming from the man who practically destroyed my life. The only reason that we even got together in the first place was our breaking up."
Yamcha considered this for the first time. "I guess that's true." He glanced over at Bulma, who, in his opinion, only seemed to be growing more beautiful as she matured, and shook his head. "You know, after we broke up, I seriously considered asking you back out again. I have to admit that I still regret it, when I'm alone in my bed at night and I know that, well, I ASSUME that, you're with HIM."
She grinned. "Hey, you did ask me out again, remember? That definitely made MY Christmas."
"It was impulse, I swear!"
"That's why you had time to pick out a cute little promise ring?" Bulma retorted lightly. "I was so angry at you."
"I can't blame you," Yamcha agreed, a bit embarrassed now that he looked back on that time. "Especially considering the fact that you were PREGNANT that whole time... I'll be that Vejita was pissed."
Bulma laughed. "Yeah, he was. It could have been worse, though-- much worse."
"Has he ever taken his anger out on you?!" Yamcha demanded.
"No, of course not," Bulma exclaimed. "He has too much pride in how much of an honorable Saiyan he is to do something like that. But you've seen him lose his temper before-- it isn't pretty."
Yamcha shook his head. "I've been on the receiving end of his wrath quite a few times. Believe me, I know what you mean."
Bulma smiled up at him, causing his heart to melt just like it used to. It hurt him to realize that she was Vejita's now, he admitted to himself. "Thank you for your thoughts... Our relationship hasn't been too great for the longest time."
Yamcha grinned with friendly pleasure. "Yeah, it hasn't, has it?"
Bulma, in a spurt of courageousness, looked him in the eye seriously. "Friends?" she asked, stopping and holding out her hand.
Yamcha considered for a moment, looked off in the direction Vejita and Goku had flown, and shook her hand. His smile was friendly and warm. "Friends," he agreed.
Bulma returned his smile and continued walking, allowing the cool water to lap at her feet gently.
______________________________________________________________
(A/N): See, I haven't abandoned this fic completely! Sorry about the slow update, I've been very busy lately, and I've actually planned out the rest of this fic and "Pitch Black", so things will be moving along faster from now on. Expect an update on Monday or Tuesday. Sound good? Great. Please remember to REVIEW!!
HawaiianBabay@aol.com
AIM Hawaiian Babay
Rhapsody~*
______________________________________________________________
.........................................................................................................................Rhapsody~*
When Bulma finally got around to dressing herself in her favorite red bathing suit, a white tube top, a denim skirt, and a silver studded belly-button ring, Trunks had decided that he was going to fool around on the beach, too, so she was forced to spend an extra hour arguing with him about what swim shorts to wear. She had packed a bag of their beach things and was almost out the door when Vejita stopped her and Trunks in mid-step.
"Where are you going today, woman?" He had apparently just come from an intense training session, because he was shirtless and just a little bit sweaty. Bulma felt her heart skip a beat unexpectedly and ran a hand through her loose hair to cover up the little 'glitch' in her thoughts.
"Trunks was telling me an interesting uh, STORY, and I have to go set the record straight with the storytellers," she explained, shifting Trunks over to her other hip.
"Hn," Vejita acknowledged with a scowl. "So you're going to see the old perv and his ridiculous posse of weak human idiots. Wait for a few minutes, I would very much like to witness this for myself." Without waiting for her reply, he turned and made his way up to their room leisurely.
"That man," Bulma growled under her breath, a trait acquired by spending so much time with Vejita. "He can never do what's best for ME, can he?"
Trunks pouted and pulled at the ties of Bulma's bathing suit with his little hands.. "Mommy, I wanna go SWIMMING!"
"We're GOING!" Bulma replied, setting him down to relieve the pressure on her hip. "We have to wait for your damned father, so hold on a minute." She proceeded to examine her red nails and decided that it was time to schedule an appointment with her manicurist. Soon.
Vejita came back down the stairs a few minutes later dressed in his swim shorts and a casual tank top with a beach towel slung over his shoulder. "Tell me what they said."
Bulma winced a bit. "Well, uh, they were talking about..."
Trunks giggled and pulled on Vejita's shorts, eager to run his mouth. "I know! I know!"
"Then tell me, boy, for Kami's sake," Vejita demanded. "And stop that or else I'll give you another hole to breath out of."
Trunks was not distressed at this empty threat. "Well, Uncle Yamcha told Uncle Krillen that you've got Mommy whipped into shape--" Vejita shot an amused look at Bulma, who's face was beginning to grow increasingly red in anger. "so that you can keep on getting 'some', whatever that means, and--"
"That ignorant, jealous ass..." Bulma murmured.
Trunks stuck his little tongue out at her interupption and continued as they exited the house. "And then Uncle Krillen told the others that it wouldn't take much 'cause Mommy was always a pretty darned horny girl. I don't know what that means either, though." He shrugged apologetically and hopped into the aircar that Bulma had released from a capsule. "Why is Mommy so mad?"
Vejita chuckled at Bulma's enraged expression, though he wouldn't mind giving Yamcha and Krillen a good shake or two (or three, or four...) for their comments himself. "She's mad because she knows that what they said is true." He smoothly dodged and caught the set of car keys that was thrown at his head. "I think that I should drive this time around..."
"Fine," Bulma snapped, crossing her arms in frustration. "But step on it, I want to work on my tan before it gets dark."
When the three arrived at Master Roshi's tropical island, all three of Trunks' gossipy 'uncles' were present. They were engaged in a game of sand volleyball and hardly noticed them land the aircar on the other side of the island. Trunks jumped out of the car and sprinted (Vejita hadn't deemed him strong enough to fly quite yet) across the island to meet Yamcha, Master Roshi, and Krillen, who were more than a little surprised to observe the small half-Saiyan do a nosedive into the surf without so much as a hello. Bulma and Vejita took their time crossing the small island, so the three went back to their game of volleyball.
"What are you planning to do?" Vejita asked as they made their way around the island.
"Does it matter?" Bulma said. "I could probably beat the shit out of all three of them, or you could always do it for me."
"It would be my pleasure." Vejita smirked slowly. "But Yamcha would probably bawl like a little girl, and that would be too painful to risk."
"True," Bulma agreed, weaving through the dense grove of palm trees that made up most of that side of the island
They emerged from the group of trees and the three humans stopped their game of volleyball to wait for them.
Master Roshi grinned, a sure sign of trouble. "Well, you two young 'uns sure took long enough to get here. Don't tell me that somebody's been losing their innocence on MY island!"
"You guessed it-- we were engaged in a bit of hot sex on your kitchen table," Bulma retorted, shooting him a dirty look. "Actually, I came over on account of something my son said to me this morning."
Yamcha and Krillen exchanged worried glances and seemed to shrink back behind Master Roshi a little bit. Vejita noticed and smirked maliciously, itching to open his mouth and threaten somebody.
"Oh?" Roshi acknowledged, looking more than little uncomfortable in the presence of both Bulma and Vejita. "And what did the little rascal say?"
"A lot of things," Bulma responded vaguely, enjoying having the upper hand in the conversation so early on.
Vejita, however, was eager to get to the point. He rushed over to Master Roshi before anyone noticed and gripped his throat, lifting him about a foot off of the ground so that he could look the old man directly in the eyes. "You know what you said, you fucking moron!"
Bulma rolled her eyes at his predictable hot temper, but let him to take over. It was good to allow him to get his anger out sometimes, and this was the most harmless and helpful way she could think of. Besides, an angry Super-Saiyan was almost always more intimidating than, well, HER.
"Fine!" Master Roshi squealed hoarsely, struggling to free himself from Vejita's iron grip. "I'll admit it! I did say it, I said it ALL! But I wasn't alone! Those two bastards were talking, too!"
Vejita smirked and dropped him back onto the warm sand. "Do you two have anything else to add?"
Krillen wasn't about to risk himself. "I admit it! Bulma, you aren't a slut, you're-- you're... a goddess! A living, breathing GODDESS!"
Bulma had to smile at that. "You know, I was under that impression myself..."
Yamcha crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'm sticking to everything that I said before, and Vejita can't beat a lie out of ME."
"Oh, really?" Vejita challenged, taking a step towards the weaker human. "We'll have to see about that--"
Bulma stopped him with a hand on his arm. "We don't need any fighting at the moment." Yamcha offered a somewhat flirtaceous smile at her, and she frowned in return. "Besides, if anybody's going to attack him, its going to be me."
"Why can't we all just...get along?" Krillen suggested bashfully. "We could you know, start a game of volleyball or something." At the doubtful look on Vejita's face, his cheeks reddened and he looked down at his sandaled feet. "Or not."
"No thanks." Bulma smiled apologetically and walked over to where Trunks was splashing around happily. Checking to make sure that the sand was smooth, she positioned herself on her stomach and sighed, enjoying the feeling of the warm afternoon sun on her somewhat less-than-tan back. "Stay close to shore, Trunks."
Vejita, who had grudgingly decided to participate in a game of volleyball, noticed Yamcha watching Bulma intensely and chucked the heavy ball at his head. "Watch it, weakling."
"Ass," Yamcha muttered under his breath as he turned his attention back to the game. "Alright you bastard, lets see who's gonna dominate THIS game..." He tossed the ball up and served it straight at Vejita, who had time to roll his eyes and yawn before hitting it back without any trouble.
"Now come on, boys," Master Roshi scolded teasingly. "The girl isn't even paying attention to the game, so there's no need to show off."
"I'm not showing off!" Yamcha protested, throwing up his hands. "Its not my fault that Vejita's being an asshole about it!"
One of Bulma's eyes opened lazily, taking in the scene, and then closed again. "Get off your high horse, Yamcha. I'm not your girl anymore, and its more than likely that I never will again."
Vejita grinned smugly and shrugged. "Well that sucks."
Yamcha went red in the face and threw the ball into the net in a fit of anger. "This is stupid! I'm going into the house!"
"Oh, come on Yamcha!" Vejita called after him sarcastically. "The game just won't be the same without you!"
Yamcha gave him the finger before disappearing into the house and slamming the door behind him.
"Aw, shit," Roshi exclaimed. "That means that we've lost-- again!"
"Tough luck, old man," Vejita retorted. Instead of starting another game, he crossed the sand over to where Bulma was lounging. She had switched sides and was now lying on her back with her hands folded behind her head for support. Vejita checked the position of the sun and blocked its rays from reaching her skin, pretending to be watching Trunks play in the water.
"Not funny," Bulma snapped, not bothering to open her eyes and look up at him. "Get out of the way, or else we'll be here that much longer. My tan has to be even."
Vejita shuddered at the thought of spending ALL DAY with the people he hated most and moved to the side, allowing the sun to shine on Bulma again. "Don't you think that you're tan enough, woman? Red isn't exactly your shade, if you know what I mean."
Bulma's eyes snapped open as she sat up in panic. "I've got SUNBURN?!" she exclaimed, examining every available inch of her body.
"No," Vejita responded coolly, brushing some sand off of himself. "I'm sick of hanging around here. Get up, we're going home."
Bulma crossed her arms. "I don't think so! This is relaxing."
"Don't make me--" Vejita's empty threat was cut short by Goku's sudden arrival. The happy-go-lucky man was dressed in impossibly bright orange board shorts and a shirt with a hideous Hawaiian print. Vejita actually winced upon seeing the outfit. Bulma smiled happily and rushed over to embrace her good friend.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, adjusting her bathing suit absently, causing Master Roshi to edge just a little bit closer for a better view of her back end.
"I felt all of you guys' ki's gathered here, so I figured that either something was wrong, or there was some sort of party going on," Goku explained with his friendly smile and a casual arm around Bulma's waist. Vejita noticed and crossed his arms, containing his anger. Every once and a while the edge of his mouth twitched, giving his state of mind away. Goku carefully removed his arm. "You guys don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not, man," Krillen assured him. "Now this game can really get started."
"I don't think so," Vejita corrected him, speaking for the first time. "This is a perfect place to spar. There aren't any innocent bystanders to distract Kakkarott from fighting."
"Oh goody!" Goku exclaimed, causing Bulma to hide a laugh behind her hand. "Sorry Krillen-- you know me, always looking for a chance to fight." All of a sudden his face lit up. Vejita groaned. Nothing good ever came from Goku's ideas, at least not in his opinion. "Why don't you join us? I'm sure that we'll all get something out of it."
"Only if we're counting coup," Vejita retorted. "I refuse to spar with such a pathetic, squirmy little weakling. It would be an insult to both of us." Taking a second look at Goku's ridiculous beach outfit, he reconsidered. "Well, to me anyway."
Bulma slapped him on one of his biceps. "Don't be an ass!" She then touched his muscle again and raised her eyebrows. "Actually, Krillen, he might be right." The inflation of Vejita's ego went up almost visibly.
"I understand," Krillen said, shuddering at the remembrance of Vejita's Super-Saiyan transformation. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea in the first place..."
"And you're surprised?" Vejita snorted. "It was Kakkarott's idea, what did you expect?"
Just then Yamcha came out of the house, his expression thankfully a bit lighter. "What's he doing here?"
"Me and Vejita are going to spar," Goku informed him. "You're welcome to join us, too."
Yamcha shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I think that I'd prefer to keep all of my limbs today."
Vejita smirked. "Damn, there goes all of MY fun. Come on Kakkarott, lets get this over with." Without saying good-bye, he was gone in a flash of blinding yellow light, quickly followed by Goku, who offered an apologetic smile to the remaining humans.
Yamcha watched them fly out of sight, then approached Bulma cautiously. "Hey, why don't we take a walk?"
Bulma narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What for?"
"Don't worry," Yamcha assured her with a knowing smile. "I just want to talk to you. And now that Vejita's out of the way, I think that we can do that safely. You know, without me getting beat into a bloody pulp."
Bulma had to smile at that. "You don't have to be so defensive around him all of the time, Yamcha. That's what makes him so edgy, you know."
"I was under the impression that he was ALWAYS like that," Yamcha commented, leading her along the beach. "He hasn't been exactly civil to anyone ever since he landed on Earth. Well, with the exception of you." His eyes drifted over to where Trunks was making a sand castle, whistling something contentedly. "Or at least, I hope has been civil to you."
Bulma glanced out over the ocean thoughtfully, but did not immediately answer. Yamcha frowned in concern and tried to get her to look him in the eyes. He was unsuccessful-- Bulma didn't even notice.
"Hey," he said, waving a hand in front of her face. "Is he decent towards you?"
Bulma's eyes were hard and difficult to read. "Why do you care? Its really none of your business. We're through, remember?"
"Yeah," Yamcha acknowledged. "But I would still like to be friends, despite well...him."
"Thank you for your concern," Bulma answered softly. "But I don't need your sympathy."
"Ouch," Yamcha snapped. "I'm sorry if my concern bothers you, Your Highness. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you start going around claiming to be the 'almight PrincESS of all Saiyans' now."
Bulma snorted. "That's not likely to happen anytime soon, I assure you."
"That's because that bastard won't marry you," Yamcha accused, kicking at the sand angrily. "It makes me happy to see YOU happy, but this is getting ridiculous. How long are you two going to put it off? I mean, you have a CHILD, Bulma."
"We don't NEED silly titles and documents saying that we're together," Bulma responded defensively.
"Well, I suppose you're right," Yamcha said doubtfully. "Its amazing even to see Vejita acknowledging the fact that he might care about you. But still, Bulma, both he and I know that it would make you happy. I think that he should be willing to do anything and everything it takes to keep you content. Damn his pride."
Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Thats a lot coming from the man who practically destroyed my life. The only reason that we even got together in the first place was our breaking up."
Yamcha considered this for the first time. "I guess that's true." He glanced over at Bulma, who, in his opinion, only seemed to be growing more beautiful as she matured, and shook his head. "You know, after we broke up, I seriously considered asking you back out again. I have to admit that I still regret it, when I'm alone in my bed at night and I know that, well, I ASSUME that, you're with HIM."
She grinned. "Hey, you did ask me out again, remember? That definitely made MY Christmas."
"It was impulse, I swear!"
"That's why you had time to pick out a cute little promise ring?" Bulma retorted lightly. "I was so angry at you."
"I can't blame you," Yamcha agreed, a bit embarrassed now that he looked back on that time. "Especially considering the fact that you were PREGNANT that whole time... I'll be that Vejita was pissed."
Bulma laughed. "Yeah, he was. It could have been worse, though-- much worse."
"Has he ever taken his anger out on you?!" Yamcha demanded.
"No, of course not," Bulma exclaimed. "He has too much pride in how much of an honorable Saiyan he is to do something like that. But you've seen him lose his temper before-- it isn't pretty."
Yamcha shook his head. "I've been on the receiving end of his wrath quite a few times. Believe me, I know what you mean."
Bulma smiled up at him, causing his heart to melt just like it used to. It hurt him to realize that she was Vejita's now, he admitted to himself. "Thank you for your thoughts... Our relationship hasn't been too great for the longest time."
Yamcha grinned with friendly pleasure. "Yeah, it hasn't, has it?"
Bulma, in a spurt of courageousness, looked him in the eye seriously. "Friends?" she asked, stopping and holding out her hand.
Yamcha considered for a moment, looked off in the direction Vejita and Goku had flown, and shook her hand. His smile was friendly and warm. "Friends," he agreed.
Bulma returned his smile and continued walking, allowing the cool water to lap at her feet gently.
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(A/N): See, I haven't abandoned this fic completely! Sorry about the slow update, I've been very busy lately, and I've actually planned out the rest of this fic and "Pitch Black", so things will be moving along faster from now on. Expect an update on Monday or Tuesday. Sound good? Great. Please remember to REVIEW!!
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