((Quick note: /………….\ indicates thought with the dots replaced by words))
Chapter 2
Back in the small town where Dr.Briefs and Bulma reside, Yumcha and Krillin are hiding behind some bushes outside Bulma's house. Yumcha parts them so he can get a better view.
"Heh! Oh boy! Bulma's gonna get the surprise of her life, huh Yumcha?" Krillin remarks glancing over at Yumcha who is standing next to him dressed even better than usual in his finest outfit. This being a red formal jacket complete with tails, worn over the top of a gold waistcoat with a white shirt under it. He wears tight fitting black pants and brown boots.
"Yep. This is her lucky day!" Yumcha replies while grinning mischievously. Yumcha lets go of the branch he'd been holding back, which swings back and leaves Krillin with a mouth full of leaves. He spits them out and turns to follow Yumcha, who is walking over to a long table covered with a white cloth. There are numerous people seated about it and standing here and there. A huge feast is spread across the table. To the right of the table is a small band. To the left is an arch formed of roses climbing across a frame. The scene is every bit what you'd expect a wedding to look like, which is what it is. This beautiful wedding set up is just out of view from Bulma's house as it is hidden behind a row of trees. Yumcha strides into the midst of the crowd and everyone turns to look at him.
"I'd like to thank you all for coming to my wedding. But first, I better go in there and... propose to the girl!" Everyone there laughs, except for the small group of women from outside the tavern, who begin crying because they are in love with Yumcha. He then turns and points at Krillin.
"Now, you Krillin. When Bulma and I come out that door…" Krillin cuts him off, eager to prove he knows what he's doing.
"Oh I know! I know! I strike up the band!" Krillin turns to face the band and, with baton in hand, begins to conduct them in playing 'Here Comes the Bride'. Yumcha hits Krillin over the head and the band stops playing.
"Not yet!"
"Sorry" Krillin says quietly while rubbing the growing lump on his hairless head.
With no clue as to what is happening out side, Bulma sits in an armchair in front of a small fire reading her new book. She looks up from her book upon hearing a knock at the door. She puts her book down and walks over to the door.
"Don't people have better things to do than bother me?" She puts her eye up to the spy-hole in her door and groans when she is greeted with a distorted view of Yumcha. "Just what I need" She grumbles through clenched teeth. She puts on a fake smile and pushes the door open. "Yumcha? What a pleasant…surprise"
Yumcha pushes past her into the house smiling smugly. "Isn't it though? I'm just full of surprises. You know, Bulma, there's not a girl in town who wouldn't love to be in your shoes. This is the day..." He pauses to fix his hair in a mirror to his right. "This is the day your dreams come true"
"What do you know about my dreams Yumcha?"
"Plenty. Here, picture this." Yumcha plops down in the chair Bulma was previously seated in and props his mud-covered boots up on Bulma's book. He begins to kick off his boots and wiggle his toes through his hole-y socks. Bulma scowls at him as she watches mud drip from his feet onto her book.
"A rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire, and my little wife, massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs" Bulma's scowl only deepens at that this and a look of disgust crosses her face. Yumcha gets up to stand with his face inches from Bulma's. "We'll have six or seven"
"Dogs?" Bulma asks hopefully.
"No Bulma! Strapping boys, like me!"
"Imagine that" She moves away from him to pick up her book and place it on a shelf. Yumcha only proceeds to follow her as she moves across the room.
"And do you know who that wife will be?"
"Let me think…"
"You Bulma!" He says while cornering her. He places a hand flat on the wall behind her above each of her shoulders. Bulma quickly ducks under his arms to move away from him.
"Yumcha, I'm speechless. I really don't know what to say" Yumcha strides across the room towards her retreating form, pushing chairs, tables and the like out of his way as he goes. He catches up to Bulma as she stops at the door. He traps her against the door in a similar fashion as he did with the wall. Both hands planted against the door with her between himself and it.
"I'm very sorry, Yumcha" She reaches to her right and grasps the doorknob, she grins wickedly and then plasters a look of flattery across her face "But I just don't deserve you" With that she twists the knob and the door opens outwards. Bulma ducks under Yumcha as he tumbles out the door and into the mud. The wedding band begins to play 'Here Comes the Bride' as Yumcha had ordered. Bulma throws Yumcha's boots out of the door before slamming it shut. Krillin, who is conducting the band, looks down and sees Yumcha's legs sticking out of the mud, and a pig's head sticking up. Krillin cuts off the band, and Yumcha's head emerges from the mud, with the pig perched on top. He tilts his head back, and the pig slides down off him with a squeal.
"So, how'd it go?" Yumcha reaches out and grasps Krillin by the neck. He stands up, taking Krillin with him.
"I'll have Bulma for my wife, make no mistake about that!" He then throws Krillin down into the pool of mud as he marches from it.
"Touchy" Krillin mumbles to the pig beside him. Yumcha walks off, dejected.
Bulma pokes her head out the door. "Is he gone? Can you imagine, he asked me to marry him!
Me, the wife of that boorish, brainless..." She clenches her hands into fits to try and calm herself. She begins to descend the stone steps leading up to their house. "Madame Yumcha, can't you just see it! Madame Yumcha, his little wife!?" She spits the words as if they leave a horrible taste in her mouth "Not sir! Not me! I guarantee it!" She then sighs as she walks around to the back of the house. "I want much more than this provincial life..." She then runs out into the open field behind the house. It is full of long grass waving gently in the wind a sign that autumn is coming to a close. The field over looks a beautiful valley. "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand. To have someone understand. I want so much more than they've got planned"
No sooner does Bulma sit down amongst the sawing grass does Tien come galloping out of nowhere. Bulma looks up and a look of horror crosses her face when she sees her father is missing from Tien's saddle. She jumps up and runs over to the spooked horse. "Tien! What are you doing here? Where's dad? Where is he, Tien? What happened? Oh, we have to find him, you have to take me to him!" She quickly unhitches the wagon with Dr.Brief's invention in it from Tien and climbs onto his back. She then kicks him gently and they set off at a gallop the way her father had travelled just a few days ago.
They soon find themselves at the gate to the ominous castle that Dr.Briefs had accidentally stumbled on while trying to escape the wolves. Bulma gasps as she looks the castle over. "What is this place?" She says in awe. Tien then begins to buck as if frightened by something. Bulma dismounts and strokes Tien's snout to try and calm him. "Tien, please, steady" She looks up at the castle again "Don't worry dad. I'll save you from whoever has you trapped in there. She then begins to slowly walk up the path leading to the castles main entrance, leaving Tien at the gate.
Meanwhile Piccolo sits at one end of large couch with Goku at the other end in one of the castles many living rooms. A small fire blazes in front of the couch. Juunanagou sits on the large rug covering the stone floors with his back up against the couch listening to Goku and Piccolo argue as the fire warms him.
"Couldn't keep quiet, could we. Just had to invite him to stay, didn't we? Serve him tea, sit in the master's chair, dry his coat" Piccolo mutters angrily while glaring death at Goku. Goku simply crosses his arms and pouts.
"I was just trying to be nice." He then turns to whining "We never have any visitors!"
"Stop it Goku! You're acting like a child!" Piccolo yells at him, embarrassed by Gokus shameless display. Goku simply answers with the look of a hurt child. From the floor Juunanagou adds.
"He has a point" he pauses, eyes fixated on the fire "we never have any fun around here. The prospect of a visitor promised some amusement."
Bulma pushes the large oak door in and lets herself into the castle. She closes it quietly behind her and begins to walk down the corridor she has entered. "Hello? Is anyone here? Hello? Dad? Dad, are you here?" She calls out somewhat timidly which is very unlike her. Something about the castle makes her feel terribly uneasy and she doesn't want to attract anymore attention to herself than is absolutely necessary. She slowly ascends the grand staircase in the middle of a huge hall-like room. She reaches the top and begins walking down on of the many corridors branching from the landing, really having no idea where she is going.
In one of the many bathrooms in the castle ChiChi tries to no avail to get Gohan into the bath. After chasing the naked youth around for quite sometime she finally manages to get him into the tub of hot water and bubbles.
"Mom! There's a girl in the castle" Gohan chirps as if he had meant to tell her before but forgot because he was concentrating too hard on not getting caught and put in the bath.
"Now Gohan! I won't have you making up such wild stories!" She scolds him as she begins to scrub the filth from his body.
"But really mom! I saw her!" He wrinkles his nose up to show his distaste for the act of bathing. ChiChi merely scoffs, rolls eye eyes and continues scrubbing the youth. Juuhachigou slips in through the door and walks over to ChiChi. She is wearing a traditional french maid outfit (I hope we all know what THAT looks like) and has the same black demonic wings and devil-like tail as her twin brother, Juunanagou.
"You'll never believe what I just saw"
ChiChi turns to look at Juuhachigou and lifts one eyebrow in a questioning gesture.
"A girl! In the castle!"
Chichi's mouth drops at the comment. Gohan opens one eye from under the pile of soapsuds on his head.
"See, I told ya!" He grins at his mother who then proceeds simply to scrub harder.
Back in the lounge room Piccolo and Goku continue their childish argument.
"Goku you are most irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy eared, slack-jawed…"
"Dad?" Bulma's voice floats in through the partly opened door. All three occupants raise their heads and turn towards the door as they recognise the voice to be that of a female. All three quickly run to the door, pushing each other out of the way to try and get there first. Goku beats Piccolo and Juunanagou there and pokes his head out the door. The other two quickly join him just in time to watch Bulma disappear round a corner.
"Did you see that!?" Goku gasps as he opens the door a bit more to allow them to step out into the hallway. "It's a girl!"
"I know it's a girl!" Piccolo bellows at him. Juunanagou simply tries to hide the amusement in his face due to Goku's stupidity and Piccolo's yelling at him.
"Don't you see? She's the one. The girl we've been waiting for. She's come to break the spell!" Goku envelops Piccolo in a huge hug.
"Get off me!" Piccolo complains while trying to detach Goku from him. While Piccolo continues to pry at Goku Juunanagou slinks off down the hallway after Bulma.
"Hey" Goku whines as he lets go of Piccolo to watch Juunanagou disappear around the corner "where does he think he's going" Goku proceeds to speed after Juunanagou but stops at the end of the hallway to peak around the corner instead of just barrelling around it. It seems he has decided to think, for once in his life (must be the spell on the castle 0_o). Piccolo leisurely strolls up the hallway in no hurry, it would seem, to catch up with Goku. When he does catch up with him they begin to realise what Juunanagou is up to and turn to each other grinning. Juunanagou creeps silently behind Bulma as she wanders down the corridor. She passes a metal door to her left and once she is a few paces away from it Juunanagou opens it and darts inside. Bulma turns suddenly. Alerted to the now open door by the loud creek it emitted when it was opened. She turns and walks back to the open door. She steps through it to find a winding stone staircase in front of her.
"Dad?" she takes a few steps towards the staircase "dad?" she fails to notice Juunanagou who is concealed by the shadows behind the door. She hears a noise coming from up the stairs somewhere. "Hello? Is someone there? I'm looking for my father!" She calls up the stairs in a shaky voice. Upon receiving no reply she begins to ascend the stairs.
Bulma reaches the top of the staircase and looks about the dark prison room. There are several cells along one wall and hay strewn about the floor. She rubs her arms noticing the cold first and then the lack of lighting, as she carefully navigates her way into the room. She takes a burning torch from the wall and uses to see where she's going.
"I-I-I-s anyone here?" she calls out cautiously.
"Bulma?" The voice of her father can be heard echoing around the room followed by some heavy coughing. Bulma rushes in the direction of the voice and the coughing to find her father locked in one of the cells.
"Oh dad!" She kneels in front of the cell he's in and reaches in through the bars to take his hands in hers.
"How did you find me?" His voice is hoarse but the longing for his daughter softens his voice slightly.
"Oh, your hands are like ice" She says while rubbing his hands with her own. "We've got to get you out of here"
"Bulma, I want you to leave this place" He grips her hands tightly and a serious tone enters his voice.
"Who's done this too you?" Bulma's voice shakes with the thought of how her father had been treated while locked in this dungeon.
"No time to explain. You must go…now!" Dr.Briefs urges Bulma while his widened eyes dart about the gloom nervously.
"I won't leave you!" Bulma yells stubbornly while gripping her father's hands tighter. Suddenly, a powerful hand grabs Bulma's shoulder and whips her around. She drops the torch she was carrying into a puddle near her feet and the room is swept into darkness, except for one beam of light from a skylight. The faint light forms a square on the floor just in front of her.
"What are you doing here?" A gruff voice demands of her from the shadows. Through the gruffness in the obvious male voice rings the words of a well-bred noble.
"Run Bulma!" Dr.Briefs cries out from within his cell.
"Who's there? Who are you?" Bulma glances fearfully from side to side. Trying desperately to see whom the voice belongs to through the blanket of darkness that envelops everything.
"The master of this castle" Vegeta growls. Bulma is almost thankful for the darkness as tears begin to well up in her eyes.
"I've come for my father. Please let him out! Can't you see he's sick?"
"Then he shouldn't have trespassed here!"
"But he could die. Please, I'll do anything"
"There's nothing you can do. He's my prisoner" Vegeta sweeps quickly from one side of the room to the other. Bulma tries to follow his movements with only her ears to guide her.
"Oh, there must be some way I can...wait" She lifts her head, fighting back tears. "Take me, instead"
"You!" Vegeta pauses a moment to go over the proposition in his mind. "You would, take his place?"
"Bulma! No! You don't know what you're doing!" Dr.Briefs yells from his cell in a panic filled voice as he clutches the bars of his cell door's window.
"If I did, would you let him go?" Her voice is filled with fear for her father and for herself. She tries to stop the nervous shaking of her hands by placing them flat against the floor. She sits before her father's cell and waits quietly for a reply. She dreads both possible answers.
"Yes, but you must promise to stay here forever" His voice has returned to it's normal tone and pattern of speech. Bulma hangs her head and takes a moment to think.
/Forever is a long time and I don't even know what he looks like…\ She looks up again and squints, trying to see through the darkness.
"Come into the light"
Vegeta steps slowly into the beam of light from the skylight revealing only his white boots and tight blue spandex pants at first. As the rest of his beastly form follows Bulma's eyes wander up his body, taking in everything from his flaming hair to his tail. She gasps and her hand flies up to cover her mouth in shock. As the shock of his monstrous form wears off Bulma can look at him no more. She turns her head and flings herself into her fathers arms, which are stretched out to her from between the bars. A single tear falls from her left eye, leaving a trail down her cheek. She then regains her composure, stands and walks into the beam of light. She looks Vegeta in the eye with a look of complete innocence on her face.
"You have my word" Her voice is soft but rings clear throughout the room.
"Done!" He growls quickly and moves to unlock Dr.Briefs cell. Bulma collapses to the floor with her head between her hands. Vegeta unlocks the door to the cell and flings it open. Dr.Briefs runs from his prison and knees on the floor next to his daughter. Her wraps his arms around her shoulders.
"No, Bulma. Listen to me. I'm old I've lived my life…" He is cut off as a white gloved hand firmly grasps his shoulder and begins to drag him towards the stairs as if he weighed nothing.
"Wait!" Bulma calls after them.
"Bulma!" Dr.Briefs yells back at her before being dragged down the winding stone stairs to disappear from her sight round one of its many corners.
"Wait!" She tries again but louder this time. It doesn't seem to carry down the stairs, as there is no reply. Out of despair she begins to weep into her hands. Her whole body shaking with the effort of crying.
Vegeta erupts from the castles large front door still dragging Dr.Briefs behind him. Juunanagou hurries out of the castle after them, making sure to stay a few steps behind his master.
"No, please spare my daughter!" Dr.Briefs begs while clutching at the hand that is gripping his shoulder tightly.
"She's no longer your concern" He growls before roughly shoving Dr.Briefs at Juunanagou. He catches the old man before he falls.
"You're orders master?" He questions while exerting a firm grip on Dr.Briefs right arm, between his hand and elbow.
"Take him to the village! Drop him off just outside it so you are not seen then return, quickly!"
"Yes sire" Juunanagou bows slightly before taking to the sky still holding Dr.Briefs arm.
"Please let me go!" Dr.Briefs begs.
"Be quite old man!" (Hehehe I had to put that in there, the temptation was too hard to fight ^_^ ) With that he speeds off in the direction of the village holding Dr.Briefs by his right arm.
Bulma, still up in the tower watches from the widow as Juunanagou flies off carrying her father with him through the sky. She falls to the ground and leans her head against the stone wall below the window and continues to sob.
Vegeta stalks back up the winding stone staircase leading to the top of the tower only to find his path blocked half way up by Goku. He stops dead in his tracks and glares at Goku.
"Master?" Goku starts before gulping loudly.
"What!?!" Vegeta says angrily through gritted teeth.
"Since the girl is going to be with us for quite some time, I was thinking that you might want to offer her a more comfortable room." Vegeta growls angrily at him and shoves him against the wall before storming past him.
"Then again, maybe not" Goku gasps out as the air leaves his lungs.
Vegeta storms up the remaining few stairs and enters the dungeon where he notices Bulma slumped against the wall, still crying.
"You didn't even let me say good bye. I'll never see him again. I didn't get to say good-bye." Sobs wrack her fragile frame as she reverts back to crying. Vegeta, taken back by the unusual display of raw emotions coming from the girl on the floor before him, chooses to speak in a softer tone so as not to scare her further.
"I'll show you to your room"
"My room?" She looks up in surprise and sniffs quietly. She then looks about her and waves a hand in the direction of the cells lining the wall. "But I thought…"
"You wanna stay in the tower?" Crossing his arms over his chest he raises and eyebrow and smirks.
"No" She replies quietly.
"Then follow me" He turns and walks down the stairs. Bulma remains on the floor for a few moments in shock before quickly getting to her feet and hurrying after him.
He reaches the bottom of the stairs where Goku, who is carrying a torch, joins him. A few moments latter Bulma catches up to them and the three walk out into the hall. As they make their way down the corridor Bulma begins to fall behind, as she is busy glancing about her at the castles decor. Her eyes pass over the many hideous sculptures, which throw menacing shadows across her path.
/How can a person keep such horrid artefacts?\
Not watching where she is going she turns her head and comes face to face with a particularly scary sculpture. Frightened, she gasps and runs to catch up to Vegeta and Goku. She chooses to remain a step or two behind them though, despite her fear of the gloomy castle. Vegeta looks back to see a tear creep down Bulma's check.
"Say something to her" Goku urges Vegeta under his breath so that Bulma doesn't hear.
"Hmm? Oh. I…um…hope you like it here." He glances across at Goku for approval. He motions for Vegeta to continue. "The castle is your home now, so you can go anywhere you wish, except the West Wing."
"What's in the West wing?" Bulma asks intrigued.
"It's forbidden!" Vegeta stops to turn growl angrily at her. He then turns back to face the way he was originally headed and continues to walk while Bulma reluctantly follows. They soon reach a white door with gold trimmings around its edges and two gold handles, one for each half of the door. Vegeta opens the right side of the door to reveal a brightly-lit, well-decorated room. It has obviously been furnished for a female to use as her quarters.
"Now, if there's anything you need, my servants will attend you." He says almost tenderly as she wanders into the room. Goku nudges Vegeta and whispers to him.
"Dinner…invite her to dinner"
Vegeta straightens up, having recovered from his momentary relapse of kindness and growls angrily.
"You…will join me for dinner. That's not a request!" He slams the door behind him and stalks off, leaving Bulma alone in the bedroom.
Bulma, terrified, runs over to the bed and flings herself onto it, finally breaking down completely and crying till she has no more tears left to shed. Outside snowflakes slowly begin to drift from the sky.
* * *
To be continued…