Disclaimer: I do not own and did not create DBZ or its characters. Any original characters are mine and are not to be used without written permission.
Here we are, this is where everything begins to spiral haphazardly into place. Trust me, I do have an idea of where this is going. I was going to cut this story into three smaller ones, but I think it'll flow better if its one long story. This takes place over their senior year in high school, and chopping it into pieces and labeling it for each couple would not allow enough cohesion. There is not just one couple at a time. It'll be developing gradually until the end of the year, where we'll have our grand finale! Kuririn and Juuhachi, will be getting together first, however, followed closely by Goku and ChiChi and then Vejiita and Buruma. Each couple will have one third of the story dedicated to them, referred to as Emerald, Sapphire and Diamond, symbolic of the three gems that the witch Iris refused. Just because, a couple, which may not be your favorite, is being focused upon, doesn't mean that any of the others will not be making any progress! So now, we will journey to West City Academy, home of the Dragons. Oh, and did I forget to mention a plethora of irritated teachers and a principal who's rumored to be a dominatrix?
Chapter One: The Dare
"All right class, settle down, settle down!" The teacher cleared her throat once, twice, three times. No response. The spoiled little brats that she had to teach kept right on with their meaningless prattle. She gathered her lungs full of air and released a yell that probably could have shattered Gibraltar. "I said settle down you little brats!" Instantly, the room calmed and was completely silent, and except for a couple paper airplanes that had crashed into the far wall, one could hear a pin drop.
Kuririn sighed. It was going to be a long day. Talk about bad luck. He had managed to get good teachers for the past three years. The stereotypical new teacher, the kind that was sweet and held your hand through the entire year. But this year, it was just his luck to get Language first period, especially with Ketting-san. Talk about a slave driver.
"Since this is your first class of your senior year, I'm going to go easy on you. This is definitely the last time you'll get a break." She smiled a devilish little smile, bordering on the sadistic and insane. Kuririn began to fidget nervously in his seat. "There will be no formal assignment, and therefore no homework. We're going to study local mythology today."
Ahhh, at least fate smiles upon me early in the morning. No homework! Kuririn smiled and sat up straighter, unfortunately bumping the elbow of the person to his left, who in turn lurched and nudged Vejiita.
"I don't know why we have to listen to this crap, its not like there's any truth to it. It's just a bunch of faerie tales someone made up to occupy the minds of children and feeble-minded morons," Vejiita spat, shoving Goku back, while the recipient of his displeasure simply smiled and closed his eyes.
"Gee Vejiita, I kind of think it's pretty cool," offered Goku in an attempt to placate him. "I mean there's dragons and knights and damsels in distress..." He trailed off dreamily.
"Like I said, it's for idiots." Vejiita smirked, the left corner of his mouth inching up in sardonic pleasure.
Goku was about to say something else, or worse, Kuririn feared, get Vejiita in a headlock and give him a noogie. Quickly he stepped in.
"Hey guys, at least we don't have any homework..." He looked over Goku's shoulder at Vejiita's face, willing whatever was merciful and in the heavens to get them to shut up. He did not want any problems this year.
Thankfully, Vejiita looked away from them and out the window, mumbling "I guess I can put up with it for that..."
Kuririn sighed happily. All was right with the world and God smiled upon them, at least momentarily. At this moment, however, the old bird decided it was time to pull the puppet strings, and Kuririn could almost imagine God cackling manically and dangling little Kuririn, Goku and Vejiita-shaped puppets from his clawed hands. He always imagined God as looking like Piccolo, for some odd reason. He abandoned this thought at turned his eyes toward the front of the room because Buruma had sauntered into class, accompanied by Juuhachi and ChiChi. It was too bad that he wasn't the only one to notice them.
"Hey Kakkarott, Baldy, look, its the Slut Triplets!" Vejiita stated none too softly.
"What are you doing here late, Briefs-san and company?!" the teacher demanded angrily. Someone always seemed to pull this crap. Every year, in never failed. This time though, she would have a little payback. She smirked.
"We got sent to the wrong classroom, Ketting-san. We're sorry for the trouble, but it really wasn't our fault," Buruma smiled sweetly at the older woman.
"Whatever." Ketting Arianna smiled even wider, if that was possible. "Go over there and sit behind Ouji-san, Son-san and Orinji-san." She knew of the animosity between the two cliques. It was impossible not to.
"But..but..we can't sit by them Ketting-s--"
"I told you to sit there Briefs-san, or did I not make myself clear. Sit there, now, or would you prefer to get detention in the first period of the new year?" Ketting Arianna interrupted smoothly, daring them to rebel.
They made their way angrily to their seats at the back of the room, Juuhachi sitting behind Kuririn, ChiChi behind Goku, and Buruma behind Vejiita.
"Oi! Crome Dome! Sit down a bit more, I can't see!" Juuhachi forcefully demanded.
Kuririn wondered at the request, since he was only about four and a half feet tall, but complied without questioning out loud.
Juuhachi began reapplying her lipstick, using his shaved and waxed head as a sort of archaic replacement for a mirror, and Buruma and ChiChi snickered into their palms.
"What do you find so amusing, women," Vejiita turned around in his seat, "Apart from the fact you couldn't hope to attract any sort of male with your slovenly appearance."
Buruma ignored him, smoothed the mini-skirt that stood in place of the usual knee-length skirt of the uniform and quipped, "The fact that your buddy is bald at the age of seventeen? How unbelievably pathetic. I mean, how invirile can you get?"
Kuririn began to flush, this was a sore spot for him. He hated the fact that he had to shave his head, but it was part of the training in some way, and eventually he could let his hair grow back. But still, that was very low...
"Calm down Kuririn," Goku grinned good naturedly, "Just because it's her time of the month doesn't mean you have to let her get you down." He laughed heartily, and pulled out a six-inch sub, his pre-midmorning snack.
All the girls flushed and ChiChi looked as if she was going to retort, but was preemptively cut off by a screech from Ketting-san.
"Son-san, must I remind you again that there is absolutely no eating allowed in this class?!"
"Really? Oh wow, gosh, I'm sorry..." Goku flashed her his usual clueless grin coupled with a pair of apologetic eyes. She sighed in response, while everyone else in class rolled their eyes in amusement.
"Don't let it happen again." She cleared her throat once more. "Ok, class, today we're going to be studying the local legend known as "Love Lost."
"How romantic..." Buruma inserted happily, softly enough so that only those around her could hear it. ChiChi propped her chin up on her palm and looked pleased. Vejiita gagged loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
Ketting-san went on as though she had heard nothing, which was actually true for once. "It's about Lily, the Faerie Princess, her beloved, Derrick, and their tragic end. Can anyone tell me what happened?"
Vejiita was dying to comment, but Goku clamped one hand over Vejiita's mouth just in the nick of time, and shook his head, mumbling something about them not needing detention for the first day of school. Vejiita elbowed Goku in the ribs, causing Goku to yelp and let go of Vejiita.
"I know the story, Ketting-san," Kuririn announced suddenly, coming to the rescue of his two companions, one glaring, the other staring wide-eyed. Oh god I hope I don't blow this.
"You're going to tell it Crome Dome? This is going to be one great joke!" Juuhachi snickered behind him, fueling his stage fright even more.
"Go on Orinji-san," Ketting-san stated, ignoring Juuhachi.
"Ummmm, well....Lily and Derrick, meet and fall in love. But they can't marry in the Faerie World because Lily is the Princess, and Derrick is just a commoner. So they make a plan to become mortal. So they go to this witch who can make them mortal. But first Lily tells their story to the trees and whatnot, and they cry and their tears become emeralds. So they take these to the witch, as an offering, but she refuses. They go a second time, bringing sapphires, the tears of all the oceans and rivers and whatever, and she says no again, so the third time they go bringing diamonds, the tears of the sun and the moon." Kuririn had heard the story many times before, and so although he was nervous, he was able to accurately relate what had happened, although not as eloquently as he'd hoped.
"Diamonds..." murmured Buruma dreamily.
"Feh." Vejiita snorted. "Only a stuck-up snob like you would dream about stuff like that."
"Are you," she pointed one long finger at Vejiita, "Calling me, a snob, you lowlife asshole?!" she screeched, eyes narrowing.
"Yes," Vejiita purred evenly, one eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Why, why you, you..." For once, Buruma seemed at a loss for words as the two glared at each other. Their staring match was cut short when Ketting-san interrupted.
"If you two would stop flirting, Ouji-san, Briefs-san, perhaps we could conceivably hear the myth, and you two could carry out your little courting-ritual on your own time, if at all possible," she mocked sarcastically.
"Like I would ever go for her! Her father probably did some weird experiments on her and that's why her hair is blue!"
"Like I would ever go for him, he's such a delinquent, he'd get me arrested!"
Buruma and Vejiita blushed and spoke heatedly at the same time, their emotions and actions both the same as they forgot each other to face their mutual enemy. Ketting-san nodded at Kuririn.
"So, anyway, they go the third time to the witch, but this time the king, Lily's father, follows. He hears Lily asking to be turned into a human, and he barges in and is gonna kill Derrick and the witch. Lily begs her father not to kill her true love," Kuririn continued. "And then the witch said--"
"How dare you Vejiita!" A large smack was heard, the result of Buruma having cracked Vejiita hard over the head with her purse.
At this point, a vein was starting to pop. Ketting-san angrily barked her order to Kuririn. "Orinji-san, get up here now, so we can hopefully avoid anymore interruptions. The interruptions should know that if there is one more peep from any of them until the end of the period, that they shall all be getting Friday detention, with Principal Nolan-san!"
All boys in the class shuddered at the thought of any time spent with the whip-wielding woman, who always wore high leather heels. Many rumors about her other 'job' as a dominatrix at some kinky club in Orange City were supposedly true.
Kuririn walked to the front of the classroom, and stood next to the teacher's desk. Ketting-san flipped off the lights and pulled down the blinds, plunging the small room into shadow. Fumbling in her desk for a moment, she handed Kuririn a flashlight, smiling at him coolly.
"The scary part comes now, I know..."
Kuririn twitched nervously and decided to end this as quickly as possible. He held the flashlight under his mouth and began to talk in an eerie voice, though he sounded incredibly corny to his own ears. "Then the witch said 'Foolish children, if you had told me that love was the reason, I would have cast the spell at once!' And to punish them, she cast them out of the Faerie World, but they didn't become mortals. They were stuck between the worlds, destined to wander alone for all eternity. She cast them out using this spell,
When mortals find true love three,
Only then will you be free.
Lily and Derrick were thrown into the cold place between the worlds, and would remain there until they helped mortals find true love three times. They say that faeries live under hills. They also say that the old cemetery is on the very hill that Lily and Derrick lived. They say that if you go to the cemetery during a full moon, you can see Lily, calling out to her lover and searching for the three sets of mortals that will set them free. Also, on a full moon, you should be able to see Derrick wandering the shrine near the old cemetery. My grandfather takes care of the shrine."
"Has he ever seen them?" gulped a particularly cowardly girl who was apparently extremely sensitive to atmosphere.
"He's seen both of them. He told me other things about them. They say that Lily is jealous of lovers, and if you go there and flaunt your happiness to her, she will take your love away. The only day you may go with your lover, is June first. This is the anniversary of the day that Lily met Derrick, and so instead of cursing you, she blesses your love. It is said that couples that do this are gifted with eternal happiness and stay together forever. Derrick is supposedly some sort of servant of death, and will come at the end of each person's life to take them to the otherworld. Someday, they say...he will come....for you! Mwahahahaha!"
A girl suddenly screamed, and Kuririn, completely bewildered, looked around with his flashlight to see who it was.
Ketting-san switched on the lights. ChiChi was half sitting, half lying on the cold tile floor, her legs spread awkwardly in the air. Kuririn was briefly happy that she wore pants. Goku had sneaked behind her while the girls were occupied with the story, and pulled the chair out from under her. Both Vejiita and Goku were laughing hysterically, and for once Vejiita had taken Goku up on the offer of a high-five. Buruma was repeatedly smacking Vejiita over the head with her purse, but he either didn't seem to notice, or didn't care. Juuhachi punched Goku in the nose. Ketting-san was apparently frozen solid and unmoving in her rage, and probably about to give them all detentions, when the bell rang, signalling the end of the period and saving them all.
At lunch, Goku, Vejiita, Kuririn and Piccolo all sat at their designated table. Goku and Vejiita were unconciously competing in an incredibly deep and engrossing eating contest while Piccolo watched, disgusted, slowly sampling his water. Kuririn picked at his food, deep in thought.
Man, Juuhachi seems to be getting prettier every year. I mean, today when she was punching Goku's face she looked absolutely breathtaking... Kuririn stopped suddenly. Most people looked insanely happy when actually landing a punch on Goku, and Juuhachi had done it a few times before. But never had he really thought of her as beautiful doing it. He slammed his fist down on the table, annoyed with himself. Amazingly, Vejiita and Goku's attention left their food and was directed solely on Kuririn, if only because his blow to the table caused their trays to slide a minuscule amount, a millimeter to be exact, in Kuririn's direction.
"Ey, Kur in, at's up ith oo?" inquired Goku curiously around a mouthful of food.
"Hey Goku, do you think you could attempt repeating that without your mouth full, I mean, God forbid you should stop eating for the two seconds required to say that, or use good manners," muttered Piccolo sarcastically while he shuddered and rolled his eyes simultaneously.
She's so beautiful, so attractive. Maybe if she was nicer to us or had a better attitude I might, might, like her more. Kuririn's thoughts were cut short as the focus of them walked over to their table, flanked on either side by ChiChi and Buruma.
"Hey, you," ChiChi addressed Kuririn, "We wanna talk to you for a sec."
"Yeah," chimed in Juuhachi, "We got a proposition to make..."
"We want to go this Friday during the full moon and see if the legend is true," finished Buruma. "Your grandfather owns the shrine, you could easily get us in!"
"Now why on God's green earth would Baldy want to help you bitches," Vejiita smirked. Whatever one could say about Vejiita, and one could say a lot, one couldn't say he wasn't loyal to his friends. They also couldn't say he didn't hate Buruma, ChiChi or Juuhachi with such a passion he would do anything, short of dressing in drag and parading across the green, drooling and drunken Unigame Yamucha in tow, to thwart them.
"Awwww, d'ya hear that girls? Oh, our poor little he-men are too scared to go to the cemetery at midnight! Poor wittle babies!" Buruma cooed mockingly. All three girls laughed raucously.
"We would too," Kuririn defended, "There's just no real reason to go through all the trouble of trying to prove that to you guys...err...girls..."
"Oooh, looks like old Kuririn here is finally starting to teethe!" Juuhachi jeered in her usual cool monotone. "God, you'd think guys who're martial artists and able to defend themselves wouldn't be such quivering cowards."
"Like you women would last two seconds out there," Vejiita retorted, an amused fire growing in his eyes. "You'd be screaming and running after two seconds." He paused dramatically, and his pitch rose from his usual rumbling baritone to a screechy falsetto. "Oh my god! My nail broke! The horror, the horror!" he squawked in quite a good impression of Buruma. Vejiita, Goku and Kuririn all laughed helplessly, clutching their stomachs as Piccolo looked on, bored, and pointedly sipped his water.
Buruma fumed silently for a minute, then grinned with a dangerous glint in her eye. "Alright, if you're not scared of the dark, I challenge you, Vejiita." She chose her wording carefully so Vejiita couldn't refuse. "All three of you meet us there before midnight on Friday, and we'll really see who's scared and who's not. I dare you." She grinned widely, showing two rows of pure white teeth.
"You're on," Vejiita stated calmly, then looked over, or rather tried to look over the crowd towards the other side of the cafeteria. "Isn't that your little boy toy over there with Meichii on his lap?" he asked innocently, or as innocently as one could expect of him.
"What?! Meichii?! I'm gonna get that little flat-chested bimbo whore once and for all!" Buruma rushed off, closely followed by ChiChi and Juuhachi, but only after they glared at all three boys.
"Works...every...time," Vejiita looked overly pleased with himself, and had he been a bird, would have probably preened.
All three turned back to their half-finished meal, and Piccolo resumed his millionth re-counting of the 1,294 ceiling tiles. Peace reined supreme for about three seconds, until a shrill scream came from the other side of the cafeteria.
"Vejiita! I'll get you for that!"
"We'll see..." mumbled Vejiita, still smirking with self-satisfaction.
Goku downed a two liter bottle of coke in two giant gulps, and then burped loudly. Vejiita's eyebrow twitched, and Piccolo glared at Goku out of the corners of his eyes. Kuririn simply wondered if Piccolo was going to start banging his forehead on the table even earlier than was normal in the year.