lol... sorry Day Dreamer006, I thought you meant shorter chapters. O well. This one will probably be shorter than the rest too.
I know some of you are confused about Vegeta, but believe me, there's a reason behind his actions. I'm not stupid, I didn't make him go completely insane – I love Vegeta too much. Next chapter will clear up a few things, and I plan to have that out, by the latest, tomorrow.
Warning: This chapter might be a little harder to understand, especially in the beginning, so read slowly!
Anyways, on with "Part II"!
"If I go crazy then will you still call me superman..."
Another tear drifted down my cheek and landed on the ground. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. My stomach hurt so much. Even though I get pretty bad cramps at times, this pain was much worse.
"If I'm alive and well, will you be there... holding my hand..."
'No,' I answered myself. I sniffed and closed my eyes. No one's there. No one's there to hold my hand. I feel so alone now... well, I did kind of isolate myself after what just happened in the house, but...
I sighed. My hand was feeling better now. When dad caught my punch he squeezed my fist hard, almost breaking my hand. But now I can actually move it.
I opened my eyes and looked at the blades of grass around me. There was a slight breeze, making them sway gently. I shakily touched a tall blade of grass and wove it again and again between my fingers, making them work. They were sore, but I had to make them work. That's what Gohan told me once. 'Never sympathize an injured part of the body.' His words rang through my mind. 'Even though it hurts, work through the pain. Or else, when that injury heals, it will be slower than the rest of your body.'
And my hand had to be one of the fastest parts of my body in battle. There was no way I was going easy on it.
"I'll keep you by my side with my super human might..."
I took in another deep breath. It was getting hard to sing now. My throat kept clogging up with tears. I tried not to think about what happened, but I couldn't help but do so.
I had tried kicking him. But he kept me there, up against my own wall. Then I tried powering up. That didn't work either. He didn't budge. And his grip seemed to tighten to my arms.
My arms... I looked at the arm that was outstretched in front of me, playing with the grass. There was an ugly dark blue bruise on my upper arm, circling my whole arm from his hand. But where his fingers pressed into my skin was even darker.
I sighed. I hoped it was done changing colors. Because I really didn't want it to turn black.
After I had tried everything to get out of his grasp, I just gave up and lowered my head, letting the tears fall. It wasn't fair. I did nothing to him! Why was he doing all this to me? He was making my life miserable – just when I thought it got better, it actually got worse.
After a while he just threw me on the floor, muttering, '"Pathetic earthling."' He didn't even consider me a Saiyan anymore!
That's what really made me mad. He was leaving, but I wasn't ready for him to leave yet. I stood up and started yelling at him.
'"I am only HALF earthling if you remember correctly father!"'
'"Well it sure doesn't seem like it to me!"'
'"I have yet to show you what I can do!"'
'"I know what you can do – I can sense you when you're fighting with Kakarot's damn sons."'
'"Well, 'Kakarot's damn sons' happen to be my closest FRIENDS, so I suggest you NOT refer to them as you just did!"'
Silence. He didn't know what to say.
'"Goku was a lot stronger than you ANYWAY!"'
That had done it. Dad whirled around and gave me a look that could possibly kill any human.
But I was only half human.
The look didn't last long though. He bolted toward me, sending his fist into my stomach. I spit out some saliva before doubling over, holding my stomach. That was probably the worst hit to the gut I have ever received in my life. And my stomach still hurts.
I was still mad at him though. I regained my composure and started punching him. He easily blocked them, but showed no signs of amusement on his face. He was still mad from my previous comment. But I didn't care. It was only the truth.
Then he caught one of my fists and squeezed my hand. My left hand... The hand that was now playing in the grass. The hand that I was teaching how to write with. Someone made a remark at school about how I was so smart but couldn't write with both hands. It didn't offend me, but made me think, 'Oh, that'd be cool if I could write with both hands...' Plus, once I taught my left hand how to write, then I could shove it in their face.
I was doing well with the teaching too. I hope this injury doesn't slow me down.
I remember yelling – loud – in pain. He immediately let go and covered his ears. I started shaking my hand violently, trying to make it stop hurting.
Then I realized...
Trunks! He was back, and I needed him.
I took the opportunity to quickly fly past him and flew to Trunks's room. But he wasn't there.
"Trunks?" I called out, searching his room and then his bathroom. "Trunks?!" I started panicking. Where the hell was he?!
When I figured he was probably downstairs in the kitchen stuffing his face, I flew towards the door, but bumped into something – hard. I fell back and looked up, only to look at dad's amused face. He was blocking the doorway.
"Trunks isn't here," he stated simply.
My eyes widened when he said that. 'What?!' I remember thinking. 'The time I absolutely need him, and he's NOT HERE?! Dad must be lying!'
"He got a call from a business man and had to drive down to an office 2 hours away for an urgent meeting," he continued on with a smirk. "He won't be back until late afternoon."
All the sadness that I had felt when it happened was welling up inside me again. Of course, it was just my luck. The day I needed him most was the day that he had to be called to a business meeting.
But soon my thoughts drifted back to what had happened next.
I could tell dad was getting a kick out of my face. I was panicking – I was all alone in Trunks's room with my father. I was shocked that Trunks was gone. I was angry that he could just leave me like that.
"WHAT?!" I finally screamed. "NO! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"
Dad kept watching me as I fell down and started crying.
Luckily, I had help this time.
"What is going ON in here?!"
My head shot up at the sound of my mother's voice. Dad had moved so he was almost leaning up against the side of the doorframe, leaving enough room for mom to pass through. I could tell dad was surprised that mom had finally found us arguing – well, in this case, me crying and him not comforting me. Maybe that's what pissed mom off.
I looked at the blade of grass still in my left hand. "Kryptonite..." I whispered as I pulled it out of the ground and let it fall. More tears came, but I was done crying. These new tears won't escape my eyes.
"Vegeta, what are you doing to her?!" Mom had asked him before telling me to leave Trunks's room, which I gladly did. I brushed through the two and ran – ran through the hallways, ran down the stairs, ran through the many living rooms, ran through the huge kitchen, ran out the door, ran to the side lawn... I fell on my knees and cried briefly before rolling over on my back. My right arm was sprawled out on the right side of me, and my legs were bent in a position that allowed my knees to face my left side but my feet face the right. I was looking at my left arm, facing one of our pools. I couldn't see what was going on out on the street or the sidewalk because I wasn't facing that direction, thankfully. I didn't want to see people looking at me strangely. That's the last thing I needed right now. (A/N: Think about how Winnie Foster was lying in the beginning of Tuck Everlasting. If you didn't see this movie, you're really missing out on some great stuff!)
And I'm still lying here, on this side lawn, thinking about anything that comes to mind. But usually, the things that come to mind are about dad hurting me, or Trunks leaving me, or how mom finally found out about what's going on between us.
I wonder how she'll react to that?
The only reason I haven't told her about any of this is because I didn't want her to get mad at dad and start fighting with him. Things would be worse at home, and I don't want her to have anything more to worry about.
I remember Goten had pleaded with me to tell her what had been going on after an incident with father over the internet. 'Bra, you gotta tell her! It'll hurt her more if she finds out by herself!' he kept sending.
I did think he was right. But I just couldn't find myself telling her. Sometimes I would walk towards her ki to tell her, but then chicken out and run back to my room. It just didn't seem right.
"If I go crazy then will you still call me superman..."
I sighed and closed my eyes. At least I could still sing.
Suddenly, everything got darker. I put my eyebrow down in confusion and opened my eyes. There was a shadow looming over me.
At first I panicked. What if it was some stranger? But as I further examined the distorted shadow, I could make out... a Mohawk?
"Who said you were superman in the first place?"
I smiled. It was him! There's no mistaking that voice!
I turned my head so I was looking up at the sky. But instead of just the sky looking down on me, Uub was too. He looked so dark in front of such a bright background, but I could still tell that he was smiling.
"Hey," I greeted, not as enthusiastic as usual though.
He noticed this and frowned a bit.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
'If I'm alive and well will you be there, holding my hand?'
Those lyrics singing in my head made me smile even more. To tell you the truth, Uub would be there, holding my hand if he had to. He was always there for me. So why do I say no one would be there for me when Uub always is?
'Because when you last thought Ricky would be there, he wasn't.'
I almost frowned, remembering my stupid old boyfriend. He was always there, but not like Uub was. Ricky was just... there. Uub was there, but Uub showed you that he wanted to be there. Ricky was only there when I called him, asking him to come over. Uub just kind of came over anyway, knowing I was upset somehow.
Whoa... why am I comparing Uub to my ex? Is it because I consider him... boyfriend material?
I suddenly realized that he was still standing over me, wanting an answer. Without thinking, I patted the ground next to me and said, "Lay down."
He hesitated at first, but then did as he was told. He laid down on his back and put his hands under his head, staring up at the sky. I shifted my position so that I was lying straight too with my hands on my bruised stomach.
We weren't touching. We were just lying there together, acknowledging each other's presence. I don't know about him, but I was happy just to have him being there.
Finally, after a good time of silence, I answered, "Dad and I got in another fight." When he didn't say anything, I continued on. "It was about my progress report. He woke me up, even though I was having a frickin sleepover with Pan, and hurt me. He made Pan go home before he did anything horrible to me though." I paused. "Only this time, mom stopped the fight."
Uub had been closing his eyes, but once I said that last part he slowly opened them and looked at me. "So now your mom knows?" he asked in his soft voice.
I nodded.
"Are you glad that she knows?"
... Damn Uub and his mind questions!!!!!
I sighed and tilted my head, thinking. "I'm not sure," I answered slowly. "I didn't want her to know because I didn't want her to worry about me, but now that you've mentioned it..." I paused. "Maybe I am glad that she finally knows. Now I don't feel like I'm keeping anything from her."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Uub nod his head.
Then I let my head fall so that I was facing him. Wow. We were really close.
But I didn't let myself get nervous. "Why?" I started out, "Should I be glad?" If he was going to ask me questions like that, then I should be able to ask him some too.
He smiled briefly, knowing that I was just throwing his question back in his face before turning his head to face the sky again. "Well, frankly I would have told her what was going on when it started happening," he answered.
I found myself being disappointed. I know I screwed up – I don't need to be told again!
But he wasn't done talking. "I'm not here to tell you about what you should have done because there's no point anymore," he went on. "What's over is over. All that matters now is that she knows."
I smiled. Uub is definitely the sweetest guy I have ever known.
And, I have now answered Pan's question from the prior night: I do like him. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. So what if he's my best friend? That's even better. I know all about him – I know what he likes and dislikes, I know what his favorite foods are, I know his darkest secrets, and most importantly, I know I can trust him.
And here I am, lying down with him. Could things get any better?
... With Uub I mean.
I decided to break our silence. I felt my way through the small path of grass between us to his hand and entwined my fingers with his. He once again had had his eyes closed. When I touched his hand, his eyes fluttered open. I could almost feel him tensing up.
I turned my head so that I was now facing him and whispered, "Thanks for always being here for me, Uub."
He turned his head towards me too with a shocked expression on his face. He was also blushing. I love it when he does that. Pan thinks I don't notice him blushing, but I do. I think it's so cute.
But once he saw that I was smiling softly at him, he relaxed a bit and smiled back.
'Point for me!' I thought happily as I scanned over his handsome features. What was there not to love about him? He's sweet, he's funny, he's powerful, he's good looking, he's smart...
I felt myself slowly leaning into him, staring at him the whole time. He was doing the same thing. 'Maybe he does like me,' I thought, hope engulfing me. 'And maybe we'll get to share a kiss...'
But just when we were almost touching, a voice belonging to a small boy rang out – "EWWWWW! BRA AND UUB ARE GONNA KISS!"
I quickly closed my eyes in utter annoyance. I knew that voice. Even if he wasn't my brother, he sure spent as much time at our house as Burro did.
I took in a deep breath before slowly opening my eyes again. Uub had only moved back a little, which made me happy. He obviously didn't care... much. He looked very embarrassed, but that was all.
I sat up halfway, balancing myself on my elbows. I had to move my right hand to do so, but Uub still held onto it. This just made me even happier, which is probably why I didn't jump up and kill the boys right then and there.
"Thank you, Vigo, for telling the whole WORLD!" I exclaimed. Both boys still looked completely disgusted, even though they cringed when I said the last word. A person driving by with his window down also glanced at me.
That's when I noticed the two plastic bags that they were holding, from Target. I put my eyebrow down in confusion. "What are in those bags?" I asked slowly. Last time they went shopping together – by themselves –, they bought 5 bags worth of candy and Pokémon and Digimon cards. Mom and Videl got soo pissed.
Both of their disgusted faces dropped when I said that. Burro shrugged while Vigo answered happily, "Burro has door handles for your mom and dad since Vegeta broke some of them, and I have candy in mine –"
"Vigo you idiot!" Burro quickly exclaimed, covering his mouth. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone that!" They both looked at me, scared.
I couldn't help but smile. Vigo's so cute. I can tell my brother gets so mad at him though, because he's horrible at keeping secrets. Sometimes my mom and ChiChi say that Burro and Vigo are like Trunks and Goten – Burro's the sensible and smart one, and Vigo's the completely clueless one. I wouldn't know, since I never experienced Trunks and Goten when they were kids. But if the moms say they're like Burro and Vigo... I'm almost glad I didn't!
"Did you buy the candy with your money?" I asked them. If they did, then I guess it's okay, even though mom told them not to. But, you can't trust two little kids to go shopping and get only what you want them to, especially those two little kids.
They both nodded slowly.
I smiled. "Then it's okay, I'm not going to 'tell on you', as kids like to put it..." I said, surprising them and myself with my happy mood. Vigo grinned and Burro smirked (it was as close to a smile as he could get) before running off into Capsule Corp. But before they got inside, mom walked out. Vigo accidentally bumped into her, but she was somewhat prepared for the collision. They glanced at each other in panic before saying a quick hello to her and running off into the house.
I smirked. 'Probably didn't want her to see the candy,' I thought. Then I realized that mom was walking towards me and Uub.
I eyed her cautiously. Why was she coming our way? She usually only interrupts me when she wants to talk about something. But what was there to talk about –
Then it hit me. She's probably gonna ask me about dad!
I quickly focused on dad's ki. It was at Super Saiyan, and he was in the gravity room. 'Must of fought with mom and is working off steam,' I thought wearily. I found myself squeezing Uub's hand in anxiousness. He squeezed back quickly before sending, -If she asks, tell the truth- through his mind.
I was surprised I received it actually. I suck at receiving messages through minds.
Mom smiled briefly at Uub before saying, "Bra honey, I think we need to talk."
I bit my lip and glanced at Uub. He nodded slowly and stood up. "I'll go now," he said. "Bye Bra. Bye Bulma." Then he jogged off.
I watched him go. 'No...' I thought sadly in my mind. I was all alone now. All alone to answer more questions.
--------------
Whoever knew having a serious talk and sparring could mix in with the same category? Surprisingly, it's possible, as I'm finding out right now.
Dad and I have been sparring for a while now. I told him what had happened at the sleepover (even the makeover part since he asked about the makeup), and in return he told me what was happening here with Vigo last night. Turns out mom also made him clean some of the house – starting off with getting the bugs out of the pool! And since the bugs had all fall and winter to invade the pool, there were a lot of them.
After the pool he ended up doing the dishes with mom, and dusted and vacuumed his room (but he didn't have to wear an apron). Finally, he was allowed to go to sleep.
Then I asked dad again why he wouldn't help Bra. This time, he gave me a more detailed answer.
"Pan, I would have loved to help Bra. But, since it's a family matter, it would be rude for me to get involved. Plus, no offense to Bra or anything, but you told me this has been going on for quite some time now, right? And she hasn't brought this up with Bulma yet. I'm sure if Bulma knew, things wouldn't be half as bad. It seems to me that Bra hasn't yet confronted this issue with her whole family yet, maybe because she feels that she can handle it. Well, if she hasn't let her family help her first, than I don't think she'll need a friend to go over there and help her."
"But she's trying to protect Bulma, dad."
"From who?"
"From Vegeta. She doesn't want her parents to fight over this."
"Maybe her parents do need to fight over this. Maybe if Bulma had a talk with Vegeta, this would stop. I understand Bra is trying to help Bulma by not letting her know, but in the end she's just hurting her. Bulma will be very upset once she finds out because Bra didn't tell her. Bulma would be even more upset if I showed up and started beating up Vegeta for reasons unknown to her. She may think Bra thought she was helpless in this situation by not telling her about it. That would hurt Bulma even more."
I thought about that. Of course, he had a point.
Finally, after quite a while of sparring, I decided to take a break. "Dad," I panted, "I think I'm done."
He stopped too, breathing heavily also. "Sure, let's go inside and get some water," he said as he powered down before walking into the house. I followed his example.
He grabbed a cool bottle of water out of the fridge and sat down on the couch, turning on the television set. I swear, dad can be SO lazy sometimes. I shook my head, smiling, as I grabbed a bottle of water too. "Couch potato!" I teased as I flew past the room before he could say anything. But, I did see him grin.
Since my room is in the back of the house, I had to pass Vigo and my parent's bedrooms first. When I finally realized that Vigo was nowhere in the house, I walked into the master bedroom, where I could feel my mom's ki, and decided to ask about his absence. "Hey mom, where's –"
"Mmhmm, oh yes, I know." Mom turned around and shot me a glare. She was on the phone.
"Oops, sorry," I said quietly as I exited the room. I went to my room and changed (I was still in Bra's pajamas) into a tank top and long shorts. I had actually bought the shorts from the guy's PE section at a mall. They looked soo comfortable, and now I wear them all the time.
I pulled my hair up into a nicer ponytail and let myself cool off a little before venturing into my mom's room again. She was just saying bye as I walked in.
"Hey, who was on the phone?" I asked as I leaned against the door.
She seemed startled at first by my sudden appearance, but smiled. "Gohan always asks that too," she stated before answering, "That was Bulma. She called to ask if I knew anything about what was going on with Vegeta and Bra."
I paled. Oh no, Bulma found out?!
"But-But how did she find out?" I asked weakly.
Mom's face saddened. "She walked in on Bra crying and Vegeta just standing there, looking very guilty. When Bulma questioned him further, she realized that him and Bra had been at each other's throats for a long time now."
"Oh," I said quietly, looking down at the floor. "So what is she going to do?" I asked after a while, looking back up at my mom. She was standing over by the window, looking out at the woods.
"She's going to talk with her about what's been going on, and hope that Bra tells her everything," mom said rather sadly. "Bulma was very upset. She was crying. She couldn't believe that Bra would keep something like this from her..."
Bulma was crying?! 'Oh no,' I thought, slightly panicking. 'This is really bad. Trunks got back just in time to witness part II of World War III...' Wait a second, where was Trunks? He wasn't there in the morning when Vegeta woke us up.
Urgh. Just thinking about that wonderful wake up call makes me angry. He scared me soo much, it's not even funny. I was sleeping peacefully, and then all of a sudden the door flies open, banging the wall. Since I'm a light sleeper, it woke me up right away. I thought there was a battle going on or something from that bang. I jumped up and fell out of the bed. But he didn't care. He marched straight over to Bra's side of the bed, acting like I was invisible. I slowly stood up and watched as he just picked her up and started shaking her until she awoke. I feel so bad for her.
But where was Trunks? Why wasn't he there to help her?
'Bra, what have you gotten yourself into?'
Alright, so I'm just sitting on my bed, watching Dragonball GT, when the frickin cable goes out. OMG, I'm so pissed. So I decided to work on this story until the cable came back. Surprisingly, I finished the chapter. But since the cable's out, my internet's also out, so I can't publish it tonight (4/26).
Thank you all soooo much for all your reviews! I feel very loved. I hope the story is able to answer most of your questions, but like I said before, next chapter will really clear up some things (like why Vegeta's supposedly going crazy).
Oh yeah, I know lots of you are mad that Gohan didn't do anything, but he doesn't quite realize how much is really going on at the Briefs' household. That'll also be cleared up a little more next chapter, along with how Bulma didn't know about everything until now.
-Samo
I know some of you are confused about Vegeta, but believe me, there's a reason behind his actions. I'm not stupid, I didn't make him go completely insane – I love Vegeta too much. Next chapter will clear up a few things, and I plan to have that out, by the latest, tomorrow.
Warning: This chapter might be a little harder to understand, especially in the beginning, so read slowly!
Anyways, on with "Part II"!
"If I go crazy then will you still call me superman..."
Another tear drifted down my cheek and landed on the ground. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. My stomach hurt so much. Even though I get pretty bad cramps at times, this pain was much worse.
"If I'm alive and well, will you be there... holding my hand..."
'No,' I answered myself. I sniffed and closed my eyes. No one's there. No one's there to hold my hand. I feel so alone now... well, I did kind of isolate myself after what just happened in the house, but...
I sighed. My hand was feeling better now. When dad caught my punch he squeezed my fist hard, almost breaking my hand. But now I can actually move it.
I opened my eyes and looked at the blades of grass around me. There was a slight breeze, making them sway gently. I shakily touched a tall blade of grass and wove it again and again between my fingers, making them work. They were sore, but I had to make them work. That's what Gohan told me once. 'Never sympathize an injured part of the body.' His words rang through my mind. 'Even though it hurts, work through the pain. Or else, when that injury heals, it will be slower than the rest of your body.'
And my hand had to be one of the fastest parts of my body in battle. There was no way I was going easy on it.
"I'll keep you by my side with my super human might..."
I took in another deep breath. It was getting hard to sing now. My throat kept clogging up with tears. I tried not to think about what happened, but I couldn't help but do so.
I had tried kicking him. But he kept me there, up against my own wall. Then I tried powering up. That didn't work either. He didn't budge. And his grip seemed to tighten to my arms.
My arms... I looked at the arm that was outstretched in front of me, playing with the grass. There was an ugly dark blue bruise on my upper arm, circling my whole arm from his hand. But where his fingers pressed into my skin was even darker.
I sighed. I hoped it was done changing colors. Because I really didn't want it to turn black.
After I had tried everything to get out of his grasp, I just gave up and lowered my head, letting the tears fall. It wasn't fair. I did nothing to him! Why was he doing all this to me? He was making my life miserable – just when I thought it got better, it actually got worse.
After a while he just threw me on the floor, muttering, '"Pathetic earthling."' He didn't even consider me a Saiyan anymore!
That's what really made me mad. He was leaving, but I wasn't ready for him to leave yet. I stood up and started yelling at him.
'"I am only HALF earthling if you remember correctly father!"'
'"Well it sure doesn't seem like it to me!"'
'"I have yet to show you what I can do!"'
'"I know what you can do – I can sense you when you're fighting with Kakarot's damn sons."'
'"Well, 'Kakarot's damn sons' happen to be my closest FRIENDS, so I suggest you NOT refer to them as you just did!"'
Silence. He didn't know what to say.
'"Goku was a lot stronger than you ANYWAY!"'
That had done it. Dad whirled around and gave me a look that could possibly kill any human.
But I was only half human.
The look didn't last long though. He bolted toward me, sending his fist into my stomach. I spit out some saliva before doubling over, holding my stomach. That was probably the worst hit to the gut I have ever received in my life. And my stomach still hurts.
I was still mad at him though. I regained my composure and started punching him. He easily blocked them, but showed no signs of amusement on his face. He was still mad from my previous comment. But I didn't care. It was only the truth.
Then he caught one of my fists and squeezed my hand. My left hand... The hand that was now playing in the grass. The hand that I was teaching how to write with. Someone made a remark at school about how I was so smart but couldn't write with both hands. It didn't offend me, but made me think, 'Oh, that'd be cool if I could write with both hands...' Plus, once I taught my left hand how to write, then I could shove it in their face.
I was doing well with the teaching too. I hope this injury doesn't slow me down.
I remember yelling – loud – in pain. He immediately let go and covered his ears. I started shaking my hand violently, trying to make it stop hurting.
Then I realized...
Trunks! He was back, and I needed him.
I took the opportunity to quickly fly past him and flew to Trunks's room. But he wasn't there.
"Trunks?" I called out, searching his room and then his bathroom. "Trunks?!" I started panicking. Where the hell was he?!
When I figured he was probably downstairs in the kitchen stuffing his face, I flew towards the door, but bumped into something – hard. I fell back and looked up, only to look at dad's amused face. He was blocking the doorway.
"Trunks isn't here," he stated simply.
My eyes widened when he said that. 'What?!' I remember thinking. 'The time I absolutely need him, and he's NOT HERE?! Dad must be lying!'
"He got a call from a business man and had to drive down to an office 2 hours away for an urgent meeting," he continued on with a smirk. "He won't be back until late afternoon."
All the sadness that I had felt when it happened was welling up inside me again. Of course, it was just my luck. The day I needed him most was the day that he had to be called to a business meeting.
But soon my thoughts drifted back to what had happened next.
I could tell dad was getting a kick out of my face. I was panicking – I was all alone in Trunks's room with my father. I was shocked that Trunks was gone. I was angry that he could just leave me like that.
"WHAT?!" I finally screamed. "NO! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"
Dad kept watching me as I fell down and started crying.
Luckily, I had help this time.
"What is going ON in here?!"
My head shot up at the sound of my mother's voice. Dad had moved so he was almost leaning up against the side of the doorframe, leaving enough room for mom to pass through. I could tell dad was surprised that mom had finally found us arguing – well, in this case, me crying and him not comforting me. Maybe that's what pissed mom off.
I looked at the blade of grass still in my left hand. "Kryptonite..." I whispered as I pulled it out of the ground and let it fall. More tears came, but I was done crying. These new tears won't escape my eyes.
"Vegeta, what are you doing to her?!" Mom had asked him before telling me to leave Trunks's room, which I gladly did. I brushed through the two and ran – ran through the hallways, ran down the stairs, ran through the many living rooms, ran through the huge kitchen, ran out the door, ran to the side lawn... I fell on my knees and cried briefly before rolling over on my back. My right arm was sprawled out on the right side of me, and my legs were bent in a position that allowed my knees to face my left side but my feet face the right. I was looking at my left arm, facing one of our pools. I couldn't see what was going on out on the street or the sidewalk because I wasn't facing that direction, thankfully. I didn't want to see people looking at me strangely. That's the last thing I needed right now. (A/N: Think about how Winnie Foster was lying in the beginning of Tuck Everlasting. If you didn't see this movie, you're really missing out on some great stuff!)
And I'm still lying here, on this side lawn, thinking about anything that comes to mind. But usually, the things that come to mind are about dad hurting me, or Trunks leaving me, or how mom finally found out about what's going on between us.
I wonder how she'll react to that?
The only reason I haven't told her about any of this is because I didn't want her to get mad at dad and start fighting with him. Things would be worse at home, and I don't want her to have anything more to worry about.
I remember Goten had pleaded with me to tell her what had been going on after an incident with father over the internet. 'Bra, you gotta tell her! It'll hurt her more if she finds out by herself!' he kept sending.
I did think he was right. But I just couldn't find myself telling her. Sometimes I would walk towards her ki to tell her, but then chicken out and run back to my room. It just didn't seem right.
"If I go crazy then will you still call me superman..."
I sighed and closed my eyes. At least I could still sing.
Suddenly, everything got darker. I put my eyebrow down in confusion and opened my eyes. There was a shadow looming over me.
At first I panicked. What if it was some stranger? But as I further examined the distorted shadow, I could make out... a Mohawk?
"Who said you were superman in the first place?"
I smiled. It was him! There's no mistaking that voice!
I turned my head so I was looking up at the sky. But instead of just the sky looking down on me, Uub was too. He looked so dark in front of such a bright background, but I could still tell that he was smiling.
"Hey," I greeted, not as enthusiastic as usual though.
He noticed this and frowned a bit.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
'If I'm alive and well will you be there, holding my hand?'
Those lyrics singing in my head made me smile even more. To tell you the truth, Uub would be there, holding my hand if he had to. He was always there for me. So why do I say no one would be there for me when Uub always is?
'Because when you last thought Ricky would be there, he wasn't.'
I almost frowned, remembering my stupid old boyfriend. He was always there, but not like Uub was. Ricky was just... there. Uub was there, but Uub showed you that he wanted to be there. Ricky was only there when I called him, asking him to come over. Uub just kind of came over anyway, knowing I was upset somehow.
Whoa... why am I comparing Uub to my ex? Is it because I consider him... boyfriend material?
I suddenly realized that he was still standing over me, wanting an answer. Without thinking, I patted the ground next to me and said, "Lay down."
He hesitated at first, but then did as he was told. He laid down on his back and put his hands under his head, staring up at the sky. I shifted my position so that I was lying straight too with my hands on my bruised stomach.
We weren't touching. We were just lying there together, acknowledging each other's presence. I don't know about him, but I was happy just to have him being there.
Finally, after a good time of silence, I answered, "Dad and I got in another fight." When he didn't say anything, I continued on. "It was about my progress report. He woke me up, even though I was having a frickin sleepover with Pan, and hurt me. He made Pan go home before he did anything horrible to me though." I paused. "Only this time, mom stopped the fight."
Uub had been closing his eyes, but once I said that last part he slowly opened them and looked at me. "So now your mom knows?" he asked in his soft voice.
I nodded.
"Are you glad that she knows?"
... Damn Uub and his mind questions!!!!!
I sighed and tilted my head, thinking. "I'm not sure," I answered slowly. "I didn't want her to know because I didn't want her to worry about me, but now that you've mentioned it..." I paused. "Maybe I am glad that she finally knows. Now I don't feel like I'm keeping anything from her."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Uub nod his head.
Then I let my head fall so that I was facing him. Wow. We were really close.
But I didn't let myself get nervous. "Why?" I started out, "Should I be glad?" If he was going to ask me questions like that, then I should be able to ask him some too.
He smiled briefly, knowing that I was just throwing his question back in his face before turning his head to face the sky again. "Well, frankly I would have told her what was going on when it started happening," he answered.
I found myself being disappointed. I know I screwed up – I don't need to be told again!
But he wasn't done talking. "I'm not here to tell you about what you should have done because there's no point anymore," he went on. "What's over is over. All that matters now is that she knows."
I smiled. Uub is definitely the sweetest guy I have ever known.
And, I have now answered Pan's question from the prior night: I do like him. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. So what if he's my best friend? That's even better. I know all about him – I know what he likes and dislikes, I know what his favorite foods are, I know his darkest secrets, and most importantly, I know I can trust him.
And here I am, lying down with him. Could things get any better?
... With Uub I mean.
I decided to break our silence. I felt my way through the small path of grass between us to his hand and entwined my fingers with his. He once again had had his eyes closed. When I touched his hand, his eyes fluttered open. I could almost feel him tensing up.
I turned my head so that I was now facing him and whispered, "Thanks for always being here for me, Uub."
He turned his head towards me too with a shocked expression on his face. He was also blushing. I love it when he does that. Pan thinks I don't notice him blushing, but I do. I think it's so cute.
But once he saw that I was smiling softly at him, he relaxed a bit and smiled back.
'Point for me!' I thought happily as I scanned over his handsome features. What was there not to love about him? He's sweet, he's funny, he's powerful, he's good looking, he's smart...
I felt myself slowly leaning into him, staring at him the whole time. He was doing the same thing. 'Maybe he does like me,' I thought, hope engulfing me. 'And maybe we'll get to share a kiss...'
But just when we were almost touching, a voice belonging to a small boy rang out – "EWWWWW! BRA AND UUB ARE GONNA KISS!"
I quickly closed my eyes in utter annoyance. I knew that voice. Even if he wasn't my brother, he sure spent as much time at our house as Burro did.
I took in a deep breath before slowly opening my eyes again. Uub had only moved back a little, which made me happy. He obviously didn't care... much. He looked very embarrassed, but that was all.
I sat up halfway, balancing myself on my elbows. I had to move my right hand to do so, but Uub still held onto it. This just made me even happier, which is probably why I didn't jump up and kill the boys right then and there.
"Thank you, Vigo, for telling the whole WORLD!" I exclaimed. Both boys still looked completely disgusted, even though they cringed when I said the last word. A person driving by with his window down also glanced at me.
That's when I noticed the two plastic bags that they were holding, from Target. I put my eyebrow down in confusion. "What are in those bags?" I asked slowly. Last time they went shopping together – by themselves –, they bought 5 bags worth of candy and Pokémon and Digimon cards. Mom and Videl got soo pissed.
Both of their disgusted faces dropped when I said that. Burro shrugged while Vigo answered happily, "Burro has door handles for your mom and dad since Vegeta broke some of them, and I have candy in mine –"
"Vigo you idiot!" Burro quickly exclaimed, covering his mouth. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone that!" They both looked at me, scared.
I couldn't help but smile. Vigo's so cute. I can tell my brother gets so mad at him though, because he's horrible at keeping secrets. Sometimes my mom and ChiChi say that Burro and Vigo are like Trunks and Goten – Burro's the sensible and smart one, and Vigo's the completely clueless one. I wouldn't know, since I never experienced Trunks and Goten when they were kids. But if the moms say they're like Burro and Vigo... I'm almost glad I didn't!
"Did you buy the candy with your money?" I asked them. If they did, then I guess it's okay, even though mom told them not to. But, you can't trust two little kids to go shopping and get only what you want them to, especially those two little kids.
They both nodded slowly.
I smiled. "Then it's okay, I'm not going to 'tell on you', as kids like to put it..." I said, surprising them and myself with my happy mood. Vigo grinned and Burro smirked (it was as close to a smile as he could get) before running off into Capsule Corp. But before they got inside, mom walked out. Vigo accidentally bumped into her, but she was somewhat prepared for the collision. They glanced at each other in panic before saying a quick hello to her and running off into the house.
I smirked. 'Probably didn't want her to see the candy,' I thought. Then I realized that mom was walking towards me and Uub.
I eyed her cautiously. Why was she coming our way? She usually only interrupts me when she wants to talk about something. But what was there to talk about –
Then it hit me. She's probably gonna ask me about dad!
I quickly focused on dad's ki. It was at Super Saiyan, and he was in the gravity room. 'Must of fought with mom and is working off steam,' I thought wearily. I found myself squeezing Uub's hand in anxiousness. He squeezed back quickly before sending, -If she asks, tell the truth- through his mind.
I was surprised I received it actually. I suck at receiving messages through minds.
Mom smiled briefly at Uub before saying, "Bra honey, I think we need to talk."
I bit my lip and glanced at Uub. He nodded slowly and stood up. "I'll go now," he said. "Bye Bra. Bye Bulma." Then he jogged off.
I watched him go. 'No...' I thought sadly in my mind. I was all alone now. All alone to answer more questions.
--------------
Whoever knew having a serious talk and sparring could mix in with the same category? Surprisingly, it's possible, as I'm finding out right now.
Dad and I have been sparring for a while now. I told him what had happened at the sleepover (even the makeover part since he asked about the makeup), and in return he told me what was happening here with Vigo last night. Turns out mom also made him clean some of the house – starting off with getting the bugs out of the pool! And since the bugs had all fall and winter to invade the pool, there were a lot of them.
After the pool he ended up doing the dishes with mom, and dusted and vacuumed his room (but he didn't have to wear an apron). Finally, he was allowed to go to sleep.
Then I asked dad again why he wouldn't help Bra. This time, he gave me a more detailed answer.
"Pan, I would have loved to help Bra. But, since it's a family matter, it would be rude for me to get involved. Plus, no offense to Bra or anything, but you told me this has been going on for quite some time now, right? And she hasn't brought this up with Bulma yet. I'm sure if Bulma knew, things wouldn't be half as bad. It seems to me that Bra hasn't yet confronted this issue with her whole family yet, maybe because she feels that she can handle it. Well, if she hasn't let her family help her first, than I don't think she'll need a friend to go over there and help her."
"But she's trying to protect Bulma, dad."
"From who?"
"From Vegeta. She doesn't want her parents to fight over this."
"Maybe her parents do need to fight over this. Maybe if Bulma had a talk with Vegeta, this would stop. I understand Bra is trying to help Bulma by not letting her know, but in the end she's just hurting her. Bulma will be very upset once she finds out because Bra didn't tell her. Bulma would be even more upset if I showed up and started beating up Vegeta for reasons unknown to her. She may think Bra thought she was helpless in this situation by not telling her about it. That would hurt Bulma even more."
I thought about that. Of course, he had a point.
Finally, after quite a while of sparring, I decided to take a break. "Dad," I panted, "I think I'm done."
He stopped too, breathing heavily also. "Sure, let's go inside and get some water," he said as he powered down before walking into the house. I followed his example.
He grabbed a cool bottle of water out of the fridge and sat down on the couch, turning on the television set. I swear, dad can be SO lazy sometimes. I shook my head, smiling, as I grabbed a bottle of water too. "Couch potato!" I teased as I flew past the room before he could say anything. But, I did see him grin.
Since my room is in the back of the house, I had to pass Vigo and my parent's bedrooms first. When I finally realized that Vigo was nowhere in the house, I walked into the master bedroom, where I could feel my mom's ki, and decided to ask about his absence. "Hey mom, where's –"
"Mmhmm, oh yes, I know." Mom turned around and shot me a glare. She was on the phone.
"Oops, sorry," I said quietly as I exited the room. I went to my room and changed (I was still in Bra's pajamas) into a tank top and long shorts. I had actually bought the shorts from the guy's PE section at a mall. They looked soo comfortable, and now I wear them all the time.
I pulled my hair up into a nicer ponytail and let myself cool off a little before venturing into my mom's room again. She was just saying bye as I walked in.
"Hey, who was on the phone?" I asked as I leaned against the door.
She seemed startled at first by my sudden appearance, but smiled. "Gohan always asks that too," she stated before answering, "That was Bulma. She called to ask if I knew anything about what was going on with Vegeta and Bra."
I paled. Oh no, Bulma found out?!
"But-But how did she find out?" I asked weakly.
Mom's face saddened. "She walked in on Bra crying and Vegeta just standing there, looking very guilty. When Bulma questioned him further, she realized that him and Bra had been at each other's throats for a long time now."
"Oh," I said quietly, looking down at the floor. "So what is she going to do?" I asked after a while, looking back up at my mom. She was standing over by the window, looking out at the woods.
"She's going to talk with her about what's been going on, and hope that Bra tells her everything," mom said rather sadly. "Bulma was very upset. She was crying. She couldn't believe that Bra would keep something like this from her..."
Bulma was crying?! 'Oh no,' I thought, slightly panicking. 'This is really bad. Trunks got back just in time to witness part II of World War III...' Wait a second, where was Trunks? He wasn't there in the morning when Vegeta woke us up.
Urgh. Just thinking about that wonderful wake up call makes me angry. He scared me soo much, it's not even funny. I was sleeping peacefully, and then all of a sudden the door flies open, banging the wall. Since I'm a light sleeper, it woke me up right away. I thought there was a battle going on or something from that bang. I jumped up and fell out of the bed. But he didn't care. He marched straight over to Bra's side of the bed, acting like I was invisible. I slowly stood up and watched as he just picked her up and started shaking her until she awoke. I feel so bad for her.
But where was Trunks? Why wasn't he there to help her?
'Bra, what have you gotten yourself into?'
Alright, so I'm just sitting on my bed, watching Dragonball GT, when the frickin cable goes out. OMG, I'm so pissed. So I decided to work on this story until the cable came back. Surprisingly, I finished the chapter. But since the cable's out, my internet's also out, so I can't publish it tonight (4/26).
Thank you all soooo much for all your reviews! I feel very loved. I hope the story is able to answer most of your questions, but like I said before, next chapter will really clear up some things (like why Vegeta's supposedly going crazy).
Oh yeah, I know lots of you are mad that Gohan didn't do anything, but he doesn't quite realize how much is really going on at the Briefs' household. That'll also be cleared up a little more next chapter, along with how Bulma didn't know about everything until now.
-Samo