Visible Stranger

X.

Bura padded down the long corridor in her bare feet, though she still wore the outfit she had been wearing throughout her date. She had excused herself from Pan and Trunks who were still talking downstairs. She had said she was tired, not having gotten much sleep the night before, and was ready to call it a day. However, as soon as she got into her room and kicked off her shoes, she didn't feel quite so tired anymore. For some reason, she just had to talk to Yamucha.

Reaching his room in record time, she knocked on his door three times, letting herself in before he could get out the phrase of "come in".

She saw that he was busy folding some of his clothes and setting them on top of the wooden dresser. After seeing it was Bura at the door, he closed his top drawer a little and abandoned whatever he was doing, "Bura…hey. How did the date go?"

"I…" she began, but then stopped abruptly. She pushed on the door enough where it closed behind her, walking over to his bed but not sitting down. Her expression changed from harsh, to flustered, to exhausted, "I don't know, Yamucha…I feel really confused."

"Uh-oh…what happened?" he asked immediately, pulling up a chair and putting it next to his bed. He waved his hands, silently telling her to sit down. She obliged, her hands held firmly in her lap.

"He kissed me," Bura stated abruptly and simply.

Yamucha looked taken aback, his eyes widening a little, "Goten kissed you?" He saw her nod, "Bura, that's great that—."

"No, it isn't!" Bura yelled, her hands going to her sides to grip the bed sheets underneath her. Her eyes glared at him intensely, but she wasn't mad at him. Feeling all the more frustrated, she stood up from the bed hastily and walked quickly over to the dresser mirror. She looked into it only for a second before turning back around, not being able to stand looking at herself at the moment.

Yamucha watched her very closely; knowing an outburst was about to come at any second, "It…isn't?"

"No!" she screamed again, turning away from him again, only to turn right back. Her hair had a hard time following her movements, for it flew every which way, every once in awhile gliding over her face and bouncing softly on her shoulders.

"Umm…mind if I inquire as to why? He wasn't as good a kisser as you expected him to be?" He asked, smirking a little bit.

Bura couldn't help but feel a small tug at the corner of her lips, but she quickly made it go away to put on a scowl again, "I don't think it was that. It just…wasn't what I expected at all." Not knowing what else to do, she took her seat back on the bed.

"Really now? Do explain," Yamucha leaned forward in his seat, his hands resting over his knees.

Bura sighed, trying to find the best words on how to explain it, "It wasn't…magical," hating how horrible that sounded, her face scrunched up and she shook her head. "As in…we were just sitting there watching the movie where someone was about to die…and he turned my face towards him and kissed me. It was a simple kiss, but it had depth to it…"

"Uh-huh," Yamucha said, telling her he understood so far and for her to go on.

"And while he was kissing me…I heard everything that was happening in the movie…I heard Pan, I heard Trunks, I heard the audience…my mind was so clear I could even hear and feel Goten breathing through his nose!"

Not being able to help it, Yamucha let out a small laugh. He stopped abruptly, however, when he saw the stern look Bura was giving him. Clearing his throat, he sat back in his chair, "I see what you're saying. You wanted everything and everyone else to disappear when he kissed you. Like it was only the two of you together in the middle of nowhere."

Bura pointed at him, her eyes sparkling, "Exactly! And it was far from that…and I was so confused afterwards! I didn't know why I was feeling like I was feeling. It just felt like…" Bura turned her head away, her heart thumping harder at what she was about to say, "it felt like the kiss was meaningless. Like I was kissed by a boy that had no meaning to me."

They both went silent. Bura continued to glare at the floor, Yamucha continuing to stare at her. Finally, after some time, Yamucha sighed and stood up from his chair to sit next to Bura on the bed. He put a comforting arm around her back, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, "That happens sometimes. You think the world of someone and then when you finally get a shot, it's all blown away."

At first, Bura tensed when Yamucha sat next to her, but quickly relaxed into his embrace. Turning her head to face him, her eyes were full of hope, "That's supposed to happen?"

He nodded, "A lot of times, yes. That's why they call them crushes. Whether you want to admit it or not Bura…as far as what I can tell, you no more than had a crush on Goten. You thought it would be wonderful to be with him, but once you had the chance, it's not at all like what you expected."

She thought about it for a moment, "I guess that makes sense…" she paused and pulled herself a way from him a little to get a better view of him, "It's all your fault, ya know?"

"What?" Yamucha blinked twice, "My fault? How do you figure?"

Bura simply grinned at him and shook her head. A small blush came to her cheeks, but she tried to ignore it as she glanced at his dresser that had a lot of his clothes on top, "So what were you doing?"

Yamucha looked to where her eyes were, "Oh, that…well, I was just packing."

"Packing?" she asked quickly, her eyes immediately going back to him, "Why would you be packing?"

"Well, I over-welcomed my stay here and I figured it was about time for me to take my leave again," He nodded as if agreeing with himself, "Yep, time for me to get back to my old way of life again."

Feeling her whole face flush quickly, her mind began to feel a little dizzy. She couldn't tell if her heartbeat began beating quickly or slowed down tremendously. Her stomach twisted in an uncomfortable and tight knot, the rest of her body feeling like jello.

"You're…what?" she asked weakly, hoping she only heard wrong.

"Leaving," he repeated simply, "Either tomorrow night or Sunday morning. I was thinking Sunday would be a little better because of the traffic, but if I don't want to hit any at all, I might hold it off until Monday when—."

"You can't go," she interrupted him, her eyes seeming a bit vacant. Snapping herself out of it quickly, Bura gazed at him, "You can't go!"

He stared at her in shock, "I…can't?"

"No!" Bura tried her best to speak more, little sounds coming out every time she opened her mouth, but really…she didn't know what to say. And if she allowed herself to be free and say whatever came to mind first, she was afraid of what would come out. So instead, she threw her arms around his neck and held him closely with the strength she had, "Yamucha, you can't leave yet…" she hid her face in the crook of his neck, "You can't leave me."

Needless to say, Yamucha's eyes were twice their size. His arms were eagle spread, his eyes only being able to see a mass of blue hair next to him. What did she mean by that? Sure, he guessed he had helped her out with her problem with Goten a little, but it was nothing to over-react like she was. He suddenly felt her body stiffen and her eyes clamp shut against his neck.

Becoming worried, he quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, his one hand staying at her lower back while the other traveled up and stroked through her hair. Softly, he began speaking; "Hey…Bura, what's up?"

She tried to hold it back, but in the end, she couldn't help but give a loud sniff, "You can't leave," she repeated again.

"Yeah, but…" he tried to push her away a little to see her face, but that only made her grip him tighter, "why?"

"Because! You just…" She pulled away a little and hid her eyes on his shoulder now, "you just can't. You…I…it's just…" sighing, she sucked in a deep breath and pulled away from more. She stopped when her face was right in front of his, her eyes coming in contact with his own. Bura blushed from this and looked down, resting her forehead to his. Before she knew what she was doing, she felt her lips lightly brush over his own. She felt him tense beneath her.

"You shouldn't be so tense," she said lowly, her lips still touching his as she spoke, "you should try going with the flow." She kissed him again.

Bura spoke as though she were now the one teaching him what to do, instead of what she originally went to him for. He began to relax a little bit, but still not as much as she wanted. Pulling away just enough to speak again, she smirked against his lips.

"This is the kind of kiss I was talking about…where my mind's so fuzzy," she kissed him, "it's hard to know what's real and what's not," she pressed her lips to his again, hearing him give a low moan within the lock. Her hand happened to brush across his long hair, running its silkiness through her fingers, "I don't want you to leave."

Finally getting up enough strength and courage, Yamucha pulled away and sucked in a deep breath of well-needed air. His eyes roamed down to the girl in front of him, seeing how glazed and passionate her eyes were as they stared at his lips. However, once her eyes glanced up into his own, they became big and curious.

Yamucha swallowed the lump in his throat roughly, suddenly feeling very taken away by her beauty. He shook his head slightly. No…that was definitely not the way to be thinking right now. But as he saw her bring her face closer to his once more, he couldn't find anything within him that wanted to pull away from her. And so, once again, they were lip-locked.

She felt his hands tug gently on her hair, entangling his fingers within her strands. Bura's hands ran in between their body, pressing her palms against his chest and his abdomen, feeling his muscles that he managed to keep after years of training.

They pulled away from each other again, sucking in large amounts of air. Without wasting a precious second, Bura leaned in again, this timing going for the side of his mouth, sliding her kisses over to his jawbone, then to slightly under his chin, then placing kiss after kiss on his neck. All the while, Yamucha kept his eyes tightly closed, his breathing coming out a bit raggedly after having been holding his breath for some time.

"B-Bura…" he finally managed to speak, but heard no response from her as she continued to love his neck, "this is…this is wrong. We have to—."

"If this is wrong, I don't want to be right," she said in a whisper, her delicate hand sliding up his back and landing on the back of his neck to rub back and forth. She moved back up to kiss his bottom lip, biting it lightly.

"Good concept," he responded, then resting his hands on her bare shoulders to press her to him now. Bura quickly got over her surprise and decided to enjoy it and relax, letting him do some of the work now.

She shifted her position on the bed, making her short black dress ride a little higher up her thigh than what she, at the moment, felt comfortable with. It was her turn to pull away now, hoping Yamucha wouldn't take too much notice of the inconspicuous way she pulled the bottom of her dress down so it wouldn't show so much. To her luck, the guy still looked dazed and confused.

"Yamucha…"

Hearing his name, he snapped out of his daydream and looked down at her. He gave her a smile, reaching forward with his hand to push some strands of her hair behind her ear, "Yeah?"

Bura bit her bottom lip again, but was determined to not look away from him, "If you don't stay here…let me come with you."

Once again, his eyes widened. His hands gripped onto her upper arms, "Bura? I-I don't think you really want to do that. I mean—."

"Why?" her eyes narrowed, sparks and fire shooting off within her orbs, "Don't you want me to?"

"N-no!" Yamucha came to his defense quickly, thrusting Bura to him to wrap her up in a tight embrace, "It's not that at all," he pulled her back again to look into her eyes, "I would—love—to have you stay with me, but—."

She shook her head, her eyes set with determination, "But nothing! I'm eighteen, I can do what I want, so don't worry about my parents. Not only that, I know what I want…and I feel something with you that I never felt with Goten."

Yamucha was almost afraid to ask, yet at the same time, he wanted to hear it, "What's that?"

"Love." Bura said simply. She gave him a genuine smile and reached up to run her finger gently across the scar on his left cheek. She then giggled, "And I know it sounds really corny, but…really, like you said, what I felt for Goten was just a crush. And now that I saw how both look, I know this is real!"

Sucking in a deep breath, he felt his heart skip a beat, "…love?"

She nodded, "The time we spent together has been one of the best times of my life, and I'm not afraid to say that…I love you."

He stared at her for a moment in bewilderment before closing his eyes and shaking his head. Quickly, he stood from the bed and walked over to his dresser, pressing his palms flat against the top, "Bura, I was done with love along time ago…"

"Don't say that!" she scolded, getting up and walking over to him. She stood to his side slightly, looking at the side of his face before resting her cheek against his arm, "Everyone deserves a second chance at love…and that includes you, too. Don't you…love me, too?" Bura gripped his lower arm tightly.

Yamucha looked up after having been staring down at his feet. His eyes met with their twins when he looked into the mirror. He saw how young and innocent Bura looked beside him, but also how passionate and determined she was. He wanted to say yes…he wanted to tell her the truth…but there was just too much on the line.

"Bura…I'm so much older than you, you—."

"Age is just a number," she interrupted quickly, knowing he was going to mention the age difference sometime. She looked up at him again, "Do you love me?" she asked again.

"Your parents won't like it at all if—."

"They'll get over it," Bura once again cut in. "They may not approve of it for awhile, but I know they'll have to come around sometime. They can be stubborn, but I can be just as stubborn."

He paused. What else was there that could keep him and Bura apart? In the back of his mind, he was sure there was a million of other things, but for some reason, he didn't want to think about those deductions. Pushing himself away from the dresser, he turned towards her, his hands resting on her hips. She stared up at him with so much hope and trust that he couldn't help but smile for her, "Yes."

A smile lit up her face the second he said that. She knew was that yes meant…it meant…

"I do love you, Bura." And letting her have a good reason to be speechless, he leaned down to once again capture her lips with his own.

**********

Out in the hallway, Pan and Trunks had their ears pressed firmly against Yamucha's door. They listened intensely to their whole conversation, just waiting for Bura to burst out of the bedroom. However, once time went on, they noticed how it got more in-depth. Trunks was mostly in shock he was hearing it all, whereas Pan just looked completely and utterly pissed.

"I do love you, Bura."

Pan's eyes widened more as she opened her mouth to scream something before she burst into the room, but was surprised when she felt Trunks' hand close over her mouth. She moaned a few times as she began getting dragged down the hallway by him.

"Come on, Pan, don't ruin this for her," he whispered even once they got twenty feet away from the room. He continued to walk down the corridor where all the other rooms were, only then letting Pan go free.

She let deep breaths in and out once he let her go, glaring up at him, "Trunks, don't you totally disagree with everything we just heard?!"

Trunks only sighed and walked into his bedroom, "Bura's a big girl, she can do what she wants." He plopped himself down on his bed, his arms behind his head and his one knee folded up.

Of course, Pan followed him in, rage still radiating off of her, "But that means you disagree with her, then! I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds that idea completely crazy!" Pan walked over to his bed and glared down at him, "I say we tell your parents."

Trunks rolled his eyes, "Pan, calm down, seriously. You're actually turning it into a bigger deal than what it should be. If you act upset, you're only going to persuade my parents more to go against Bura and Yamucha…and then Bura will once again be very upset and inclusively pissed off at you."

Pan's eyes dulled, her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh, "I guess you're right…I guess I just never expected her to end up with him, no matter how much I teased her about it."

She glanced to Trunks and seeing him smirk made her smirk.

"But I know that Vejiita won't be happy at all with this arrangement…"

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Hello everyone. I noticed that I didn't get too many reviews for my last chapter…kinda expected that though. But of course, I wasn't about to leave you faithful readers out there hanging again, so here ya go. Also, since so many people lost interest, I'm gonna end this story sooner than expected. As you can tell, a lot was done in this chapter and I might put up about two more and then…The End! But this story was nice while it lasted. ^^