Chapter Eleven: The Morning After the Night Before, part 3
A short while later, Kuririn wandered
out into the backyard
to call the remaining guests in for lunch.
word into the air.
In a flash, Goku was standing in front
of him. "Is it ready?"
He nodded and pointed to a faucet outside.
"Kasumi-san asked if you
could wash up out here first before coming
inside." Goku nodded
and moved to the faucet to start washing.
Vejiita floated silently down and landed
near Kuririn. He
hesitantly approached the older male.
"Uh, Vejiita-san, could you
wash up by Goku?"
He arched an eyebrow and crossed his
arms. "And who said I
have to? No one orders the Saiya-jiin
no Ouji around."
Kuririn stammered and swallowed audibly.
"Well, Kasumi-san
asked if you could."
Vejiita narrowed his eyes at the bald
male quivering under his
strong stare. And abruptly turned
towards Goku, who had just
finished, and the faucet. Vejiita
pushed Goku out of the way and
commenced washing thoroughly. Kuririn
handed them each a towel
and followed the two clean Saiya-jiin inside
to eat.
Everyone was seated at the table, and
they each found a
seat. Vejiita forcefully moved Gohan
from the spot next to Akane,
and food began to be passed around.
Dinner was eaten rather quietly, and
meaningless small talk
was directed at no one in particular.
As they were finishing up, Akane brought
up the subject of
moving. "Vejiita-chan, I still have
to pack up mine and Ranma's
belongings. It may take awhile."
Vejiita grunted in reply. He
stood up and reached behind him
and brought forth two capsules and handed
them to Akane. "Onna
sent these along. They're empty storage
capsules. You can put what
you want to bring along in them."
Akane took them from his outstretched
hand, smiled and
patted Vejiita on the arm. "Arigato,
Vejiita-chan. These will work
perfectly. That was so thoughtful
of her!" Vejiita just grunted,
mumbling to himself and stalked outside
with a faint blush of pink
staining his cheeks.
Dinner was cleaned up quickly.
Akane and Ranma went
upstairs to pack, and Goku teleported Kuririn
back to Kame house.
Vejiita floated in a lotus position
over the koi pond. He
reflected a still picture over the water
as his mind reflected on the
past sparring sessions, seeing what needed
to be worked and
focused on in the next sessions with Serori
and Seiika. He saw a
great deal of improvement in just the one
morning, but much was
needed to be accomplished before he could
be remotely satisfied.
Soon, though, his thoughts wandered
to Bulma, and the
events that took place last night.
He never thought he would mate, ever.
Especially when he
found out Vejiita-sei was destroyed.
And now, there was only one
female Saiya-jiin known to exist, and that
was his sister. But she
was his sister! And plus, Serori would
not be very happy about that
line of thought. She was his, and
he hers, for quite a long time.
He probed the Link to see what Bulma
was feeling at the
moment. Bulma, a blue-haired weakling,
wormed her way into his
almost non-existent heart; pushed and shoved
until she held it within
her small grasp. He cursed himself
for being so weak to accept the
Bond so easily, and with such a pitiful
species.
But Bulma was not like the other Humans
he had ever
encountered. She may not be strong
physically, but her mind is the
strongest on the planet. She is a
prodigy in the science field; a
place where Vejiita had to admit, he knew
barely anything, just
enough to get by.
Her spirit was invincible. She
may have been frightened of
him when he first arrived on Chikyuu with
Nappa, and on Namek-sei,
but she soon got over that. He was
very surprised, though, when he
was resurrected with the others on Chikyuu,
she invited him to stay
with her at Capsule Corp.
She even called him cute.
He blushed slightly at the memory;
he had acted disgusted,
but secretly he was surprised and a bit
pleased, to see that she even
took the time to notice him in that way.
He reached out to her through the Link
and let her emotions
wash over him. She seemed to be occupied
doing something.
Probably in her lab tinkering with one of
those infernal inventions of
hers. She radiated to him her intense
concentration and frustration
about her project that wasn't working in
the way it was supposed to.
Suddenly, he felt waves of warm thoughts
spash through him. She
had felt his probe into the Bond.
He enjoyed the sensations and sent
his own thoughts of love
and affection, or at least what he considered
was love and affection.
He sent her reassurances to help her concentrate
on her project.
He felt her gratitude and another tidal
wave of love for him.
He would never understand what motivated
her to operate
and think, but, with times like these to
draw upon, he didn't want to.
That would break her spirit, and that was
what attracted him to her
the most. Her spirit drove her emotions,
and he was beginning to
cherish her extremeness dearly. She
may have the genes and
composition of a human, but her heart, soul,
and spirit was truly
Saiya-jiin. He mused that if she were
a pure-blooded Saiya-jiin
through and through, she'd been irresistible
to every male. He could
see those traits in Seiika, and definitely
could see that in Bulma.
He was broken out of the contemplation
of his mate by an
unknown body jumping into his lap and wrapping
its arms around his
neck. He opened his eyes wide and
was presented with the laughing
eyes of his twin sister, Seiika.
Akane had been watching Vejiita for
several minutes, and saw
his expression turn soft and dreamy.
She could only guess who
occupied the normally emotionless Prince's
thoughts. Akane saw the
perfect opportunity to jump the unguarded
Vejiita.
So she did.
And scared the crap out of him.
She grinned wide when she saw his eyes
snap open in shock
and confusion.
"Kon'nichi wa, Vejiita-chan!
Whatcha doin'?" She grinned
even wider when his look of shock turned
into a slow grin of his own.
"I was meditating, Seiika-chan.
You might want to try it
sometime..."
She snorted and waved her hand in dismissal.
"Nah, I'd just
fall asleep." She quirked an eyebrow
in his direction. "Seems I got
woken up a little too early this morning
by an annoying long-lost
sibling and his friend that could have stayed
lost for a couple more
hours." Her eyes glinted mischievously.
"I will have my revenge."
Vejiita comfortably wrapped his arms
loosely around her
waist. "And how will you achieve this
ill-met goal?"
She gave him a look of mock-concentration.
"Well, there are
many torture devices for me to peruse, but
I have always found one
to be most torturous for the tormented,
and most satisfying for the
tormentor."
He raised an eyebrow, curious and slightly
amused. "And
what would be this horrific torture?"
Akane pulled an object out from behind her back. "This."
He squinted his eyes, and studied the
object in her hand
thoroughly. "Ahh. I see."
He fingered the white duck feather in
her grasp. "And what do you intend
to do with this weapon of
torture?"
She pulled the feather out of his reach.
"Well, the best way
to tell you, would be to show you."
With that, she brushed Vejiita's
sides lightly with her weapon.
He twitched slightly. Akane raised
an eyebrow and her lips
curled into a smirk.
She gently dragged the feather over
the inside of his bare
arm.
It jerked out of the way.
Akane's light smirk turned evil.
"This is only the beginning,
my Prince." She tossed the feather
over her shoulder and cracked
her knuckles loudly. "Prepare for
death by tickling, Vejiita no Ouji!"
Akane wiggled her fingers and commenced
her attack on her twin's
ribs.
Vejiita's eyes went wide. What
in the world was she doing to
him? Her mere touch was sending shivers
throughout his body, and
making his muscles spasm involuntarily.
What was this sensation she
was creating?
Vejiita snorted loudly.
Well, it couldn't really be called
a snort, because he made it
with his mouth open. Maybe it was
a sniff. Or a chuckle. All right,
he admitted it.
He laughed.
As Vejiita twitched under Akane's Fingers
of Torture, more
and more laughs bubbled to the surface,
and were released. As her
fingers danced deftly over his compact frame,
finding more and
more tickle-zones, Vejiita laughed harder
and harder, rare tears
starting to course down his cheeks.
He twisted, trying to find relief
from the new sensations.
Suddenly, as fast as his laughter started,
Vejiita
straightened out and with a flash, encased
Akane's wrists within his
hands. He stopped laughing abruptly
and brought his face
nose-to-nose with the female in his lap,
staring at her accusingly.
"You made me laugh."
She reached out and wiped the tears
of his face, smiling
through her own tears, and happily nodded.
"Hai, I did. You used to
be a happy child. I remember having
a lot of fun with you, often.
You've become way too serious."
He leaned his forehead against hers
and closed his eyes with
a sigh. "That's what Friezer's army
would have done to you.
Laughter like that is considered a weakness,
and will easily get you
killed. I haven't laughed for the
sake of laughing for a very long
time, Seiika-chan." He raised his
head and lightly brushed his lips
against the ridge between her eyebrows and
sighed once more,
looking into her eyes. "Arigato, Seiika-chan.
You don't know what it
means to have you back in my life.
The lack of your presence has
been a very dark, and very deep, black void
within me."
She ran her fingers through his hair
and kissed his own ridge.
"You mean the same thing to me, Vejiita-chan."
She reached out and
trailed her fingers over his face, turning
his head back and forth a
few times. "You grew up to look exactly
like Papa. All you need is a
goatee," she winked and patted his
cheek, "and a few inches in
height."
He scowled slightly, but smirked anyway.
"And you look
exactly like his mate. Except,"
he reached out and fingered her
hair. "Except for your hair.
It's blue." He looked at her
concernedly. "You never had blue hair
before. It's not the same
blue as the Onna's, but still, it's blue.
Is this an after-effect of
being on Chikyuu too long? Your hair
was as dark as mine, although it
always did lay rather flat." He unconsciously
reached up and
fingered his own wild locks. "Will
my hair turn blue, as well?"
Akane brushed back her hair and blushed.
"Well, I, um...I dye
it this color."
A raised eyebrow. "Honto? Why?"
She shrugged her shoulders and blushed
a little more. "I was
sick of the black color--everyone has that
color, or a close variation.
I wanted to be different, so I chose blue.
It compliments the black,
and hides the roots pretty well."
She ran her fingers through her
hair and ruffled it up some. She pulled
back a clump for his
examination. "See? I have black
roots. I will have to dye it again,
soon."
He snorted. "That's rather vain of you, isn't it?"
She smiled and nodded, straightening
out her hair as much as
possible. "Yup."
Vejiita cracked his own knuckles and
waggled his fingers.
"Now about my revenge for your revenge..."
Akane's eyes went wide and shook her
head vigorously. "Oh
no, you don't!"
He gave her the same smirk she gave
him earlier. "Oh, yes, I
will!" Akane shrieked and shot out
of Vejiita's lap. She stopped
suddenly, though, when her tail was captured
and held tight. She
fell to the ground in pain. "Ow!
Vejiita, let go!"
Vejiita snorted and tugged a little
more on her tail. "You
have to get over the pain of your tail being
pulled. Everyone in the
galaxy knows how a good hand hold on the
tail of a Saiya-jiin is
disabling."
Akane gritted her teeth against the
pain. "Who said it was
painful?" She laughed a few times.
"See? No pain..." Vejiita gave it
a few more tugs for good measure.
Akane yelped loudly. "Pain!
Okay! Lots of pain! Stop it,
Vejiita!"
He yanked it hard. "Make me."
Akane stood up and backed up slightly,
turning around.
Vejiita had a nasty grin on his face, openly
challenging her to stop
him. She stomped over to him and started
to tickle him again,
finding the same spots she found earlier.
Vejiita tried to resist the sensations
she sent spasming
through his muscles, but it was hard.
He remembered he had a
secret weapon in his hands and yanked hard.
She momentarily
stopped her assault of his ribs as the pain
flashed over her body.
He dropped her tail and began his own
counter-assault on her
ribs, immediately rendering her unable to
move. She curled up into a
ball and shrieked with laughter, vainly
trying to push his nimble
fingers away from her very ticklish sides.
Some of the others who heard the commotion
from the back
yard wandered outside to investigate.
The humans watched the two
siblings play, smiles gracing their features.
Goku and Gohan, though,
were slackjawed with shock.
The two Saiya-jiin continued to stare
at Vejiita in
amazement. They never would have pictured
the emotionally barren
male to ever crack a smile in joy, nevertheless
be roaring in laughter,
and be involved in a tickle war. They
glanced at each other and
smiled. Seiika was cracking and chipping
away at the thick, hard
encasing that Vejiita had wrapped around
himself for so long.
Ranma popped his head in between Goku
and Gohan, munching
on a sandwich he prepared in the kitchen,
curious to see what had
everyone's attention. "What's going
on?"
Goku eyed Ranma's sandwich, drool glistening
in the corner of
his mouth. "Vejiita and Seiika-oujo
are tickling each other." Slowly,
Goku reached over to grab the tasty sandwich,
but Ranma took
another bite and moved it out of his reach.
"Really? They sure are noisy."
He finished off the snack and
Goku sighed sadly. "It's good to see
Vejiita-ouji loosening up some.
He's so reserved and aloof."
Gohan raised an eyebrow in question.
"What do you mean,
Serori-san?"
He shrugged slightly. "Well,
it's just that on Vejiita-sei,
Akane and I used to have lots of fun and
play all the time with
Vejiita-ouji, in between training, that
is. Of course, we were only
small kids at the time, too."
Ranma stepped off the porch and walked
over to where Akane
and Vejiita were panting breathlessly, tired
from their playtime. He
sternly looked down at them lying on the
ground and crossed his
arms in a forceful manner. "Alright,
you two." He spoke in a gruff
manner with a voice an octave lower than
his own. "How many times
have I told you to stop running and playing
in the palace halls? What
kind of example are you setting for your
subjects? Or would you
like to have a session with Master Nappa?"
Both Vejiita and Akane looked up at
Ranma and back each
other. They snorted in unison and
quickly stood up and spoke
together. "Gomen nasai, Papa-ousama!"
"Oi, Vejiita! You looked like
you were having a good time!"
Goku called from the porch good-naturedly.
Vejiita arched an eyebrow and glanced
back at Goku, who
waved with a smile. He crossed his
arms and scowled deeply in his
direction. "Mention one word of this
to anyone and your ass is grass,
Kakarotto. Double for you, spawn."
Goku waved his arms in defeat.
"Yosh, yosh! Your secret is
safe with us, Vejiita." He winked
at Gohan.
Vejiita threw him another glare for
good measure and turned
to his sibling. "Are you ready, Seiika?"
She nodded and flashed him the filled
capsules. "Hai!
Everything fit within the capsules just
fine."
Vejiita then turned to Goku and nodded.
"We're leaving, then,
Kakarotto."
Goku nodded and turned to the assembled
Humans and
addressed Kasumi. "Arigato for your
hospitality and great food,
Kasumi-san. You cook as well as ChiChi
does!" Gohan bowed and
nodded in agreement.
She smiled brightly and returned his
bow. "It was a pleasure,
Goku-san. It's nice to cook for someone
who appreciates it."
Ranma and Akane started to say their
goodbyes. She gave
her sisters, father and Nodoka a good sized
hug. Genma was in
panda form, courtesy of Soun's farewell
tears, so she just waved.
Ranma gave his mother a hug, and waved
to the others.
"Later, everyone!" He turned to Akane,
who was still saying goodbye.
But she was having a hard time letting
go. Especially of
Kasumi and Nabiki, who were starting to
change color due to lack of
oxygen. "Let go of them, Akane. They
can't breathe! Plus, they
won't be all that far away. They can
come to visit, or we can. And
there is always the phone."
Akane finally released her sisters
and sniffled loudly,
throwing herself into Ranma's arms.
"Hai, I know. But still..."
Vejiita grunted and sniffled mockingly.
"Are you ready to go,
crybaby?"
She threw her brother a baleful glare.
"Shut up,
Vejiita-baka." He raised his eyebrows,
but said nothing in reply.
Goku glanced up, an idea forming in
his head. "Why don't I
just teleport us back home? It would
be a lot faster."
Vejiita nodded. "For once, you
have a decent idea,
Kakarotto."
Goku beamed brightly. "Arigato,
Vejiita! That's twice you've
complimented me today! I think that's
a record for you." Vejiita
scowled at the chuckles around him.
Gohan looked doubtful at his father.
"Will you be able to
carry all of us, 'Tousan?"
He shrugged carelessly. "I don't
know, Gohan. I never tried.
Why I don't I take you and Vejiita back
first, and then Seiika and
Serori?" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then. Vejiita,
Gohan, hang on." Gohan happily wrapped
his arms around his father's
leg, and Vejiita reached out and touched
Goku with the least amount
of contact possible, all the while a look
of absolute disgust lined his
features.
Goku waved goodbye to the Nerimians
and with his fingers
positioned on his forehead, flashed out
of existence.
Akane and Ranma turned back to their
families to say their
final good-byes. Akane smiled sadly
at her loved ones. "Thank you,
everyone, for understanding that we need
to do this. That we need
to train for this new threat that is headed
for Chikyuu, and that we
need to rediscover our Saiya-jiin heritage."
Kasumi smiled sweetly at the mated
pair. "Don't worry about
anything, Akane-chan, or should I say, Seiika-oujosama?"
Akane
blushed and shrugged. "We completely
understand. Just don't
forget about us." She reached out
and gave her sister one final hug.
"Go on, now. Live your life as you
should have."
Ranma nodded and wrapped his tail around
Akane's waist,
pulling her tight to him. "Don't worry,
Akane. We'll take care of the
new enemy. We're the good guys."
"And the good guys always win."
Goku popped back in with a
smile. "Ready? We'll be arriving
right next to Bulma. She's in her
lab." They nodded and with one last
wave, said goodbye to Nerima as
they slowly flickered out of sight.
Goku and his passengers faded back
into existence next to a
surprised Bulma standing two feet away from
their arrival spot.
"Good Kami, Goku!" Bulma gasped with
her hand on her chest,
panting breathlessly. "Isn't there
some way you can warn me when
you do that?"
Goku ran a hand through his hair and
shrugged helplessly.
"Gomen, Bulma. If I made noise, then
it wouldn't be a very good
technique. Or very effective."
She knitted her eyebrows together in
thought. "I guess not,
then." She turned to Ranma and Akane
with a big smile and a
smudge of grit on her cheek. "Welcome
to Capsule Corp., your new
home! I need to clean up in here for
a tiny bit, then I'll give you the
grand tour of the facilities. You
can wander around, but don't touch
anything." She turned back to her
worktable and shuffled through
some papers and parts.
Goku cleared his throat. "I'm
gonna gather Gohan and head
home, Bulma. Tell Vejiita I'll come
back later to spar tonight or
tomorrow and to use the new gravity room."
Bulma absently nodded and waved him
off. "Sure, Son-kun,
whatever." Goku smiled and waved at
the three of them and walked
out of the lab.
Ranma looked confusedly at Bulma, who
was still rummaging
through a pile of capsules on her table.
"Gravity room? What's
that?"
Bulma made a noise of accomplishment
and held up a green
capsule. "Found it! Yatta!"
She turned to Ranma and blinked a few
times. "Gravity room? Oh, that's
Vejiita's baby. It increases the
gravity and pressure levels so he can train
harder. It goes up to
five hundred times Chikyuu's gravity level."
She winked and
motioned to them to follow her around as
she wandered through the
lab. "I have a feeling you'll get
to know it very soon."
Ranma's eyes bugged out of his head.
Five hundred times?
"Is that possible? Won't your bones
get crushed into powder?"
Bulma dug around in a cupboard for
a few minutes and
emerged with a handful of capsules.
She placed them on a counter
and brushed off her dirty and dusty overalls.
She rolled her eyes
and blew a wisp of hair out of her way.
"That's why you train. So
you don't get crushed into Saiya-jiin powder."
She sighed heavily.
"He's blown up several of them, already."
She stopped by a room and
entered, removing the soiled overalls.
She emerged from the
bathroom clean and in a purple tank top
and jean shorts. Shewaved
at the two young Saiya-jiin to follow her.
"Let's get started with
the tour, ne?" She led them through
various halls, pointing out
certain areas of interest and need.
"I'll take you to the gravity room
when we're done with the tour of the campus,
and I've shown you
your rooms. You can't miss it.
It's a big silver ball in the backyard.
He spends most of his time in the contraption,
training for hours
upon hours on end."
After the whirlwind tour of the compound,
Bulma stopped in
front of a set of double oak doors.
She opened them up and allowed
them to step in first. "This is your
two's suite. Vejiita and I have
one in the East wing."
To Ranma and Akane, who were used to
the cozy, but cramped
conditions of the Dojo, the suite was a
complete turnaround. Three
words crossed both of their minds:
It Was Huge! The main room
was a sitting room/den, decorated in muted
blues and yellows.
Several comfortable chairs and a couch made
for a homey
atmosphere, while an entertainment center
to die for and drool over
completely covered one wall. Modern
art decorated the walls and
corner tables. It had a very lived-in
look that welcomed the new
residents warmly.
Bulma watched their astonished expressions
with a hint of
amusement and led them to another door.
"In here's the bedroom."
She opened it, and led them into the lavishly
decorated room.
Again, they were stunned by the largeness
of it all, and the
extravagance Bulma bestowed upon them.
A large king sized bed
graced a corner, and several dressers, tables
and bureaus lined
other walls and decorated corners.
A set of flowing, flimsy curtains
covered the open balcony doors to let in
the warm breeze that
wafted in. More tastefully-done art
complimented the yellow and
green color scheme.
Bulma shook her head at the
young mated pair and led them
to another door. "Here's the bathroom.
There's a shower, furo,
scrubbing area, vanity, etc., in there."
She winked at Akane. "The
furo has a Jacuzzi option that I just adore."
Akane walked around in circles, trying
to find the words to
describe her gratitude and everything else
jumbled in her mind.
"This is way too much, Bulma-san!
We don't need this much room."
The other female waved her hands, dismissing
her protests.
"Nah, this is exactly like mine, only with
different color schemes.
Do you like the decorations? I designed
and decorated the rooms
myself." Akane nodded her appreciation.
"And please, just Bulma, or
-chan, if you prefer. We are sister-in-laws,
aren't we?" Bulma
winked suggestively.
Akane winked back and nodded.
"I guess so. I hear
congratulations are in order for you and
my twin, as well." She
nodded her head at the bruise that peeked
out of Bulma's tank top.
Bulma blushed a little and rubbed the
spot affectionately. "I
guess so. Anyway, why don't you get
settled in, and I'll go tell Vejiita
that you'll be down when you're done.
All right?" She waved and left
the suite.
Akane turned to Ranma and saw he was
peeking into the
gigantic walk-in closet. "This place
is huge! Bulma is certainly very
generous."
Ranma emerged from the closet and closed
the double doors.
"Yeah, I'll say. I think the closet
is the same size as our rooms back
at the Dojo." He went over to a chest
of drawers and opened
several, poking his nose throughout.
He was surprised when he
found them to be partially full.
"Hey, Akane, look. There's something
already in them!" He
pulled out the articles of clothing.
"Hey, these look like the outfit
Vejiita-ouji had on earlier." He held
up one of the black spandex
suits to his body. It had a jagged
stripe of blue down the left side.
"Looks like this would fit me."
Akane held up another purple and black
bodysuit for a closer
inspection. "These look like they
fit snugly. Bulma is very generous."
Ranma nodded and quickly undressed
and slipped into the new
training outfit. "Hey, this is actually
really comfortable." He twisted
a few times and did a partial kata.
"You can move real well, too."
Akane gave him a quick glance, but
did a double take at how
the suit molded to his body very well.
The sight of him gave her
tingles up and down her spine, before settling
in her stomach
and...lower regions. "It definitely
looks good on you, Ranma-chan."
She slid over to him and molded her body
against his back. Her
hands came around his waist to rub at his
hard pectorals. "It shows
off you 'assets' well." She pulled
a hand back to pinch his posterior
for emphasis.
Ranma smirked and turned around in
her embrace, coiling his
tail around her thigh. He started
to nibble on her neck, giving her
more tingles that traveled from her head
all the way down to the tip
of her tail. She purred in his ear
and flicked the outer rim with her
tongue. "Ranma, for someone who used
to run away at the thought
of a kiss, you sure know how to turn a girl
on..." Her purrs turned to
moans when he started to massage the base
of her tail, getting her
aroused fast and furious.
Ranma growled in her neck and moved
lower, etching a path
with his teeth and tongue down her shoulder
blades. But their
foreplay was, to their great disappointment,
disrupted by a voice
breaking into their session.
"Seiika? Serori? It's Bulma.
Listen, I forgot to mention a
few things."
Both Saiya-jiin groaned loudly in despair
and disgust. "Just
when things were getting good..."
Ranma grumbled under his breath.
He buried his face in the crook of Akane's
neck and sucked on her
Bonding mark, getting a loud moan from his
mate.
"First is the intercom and security
system. It's the panel of
buttons by the bathroom door. Press
the blue button to respond, if
you can hear me. I'll explain all
the buttons in person; it'll be easier
that way."
Akane pushed out of Ranma's embrace
reluctantly and
plodded over to the panel of buttons on
the wall. She gave Ranma a
sultry look before she pushed on the button.
"Hai, Bulma. We can
hear you. You mean the button that
says, 'Talk' on it?"
Bulma laughed on the other end. "Hai!"
"I think I figured that one out on
my own. Thank you again
for being so kind and generous, Bulma.
We really appreciate it
tremendously."
"Don't mention it. Anything for
family." Bulma paused and
the mated pair heard a deep rumbling in
the background. "Oh hush,
Vejiita. Vejiita said to hurry up
and get down here. To quote the
monstrosity himself, 'Stop wasting precious
training time.'" Bulma
giggled again at the mumbling that had to
be Vejiita.
Akane grinned and chuckled. "Yosh,
yosh. We'll be down soon
enough. Tell Vejiita-chan to go meditate
or something."
A loud snort was heard in the background.
Bulma giggled
again. "He just rolled his eyes and
stomped off. Anyway, I'll be
heading back inside to finish my lab work.
Did you find the outfits in
the drawers? The black-base and blue
ones are for Serori, and the
black-base and purple ones are for you.
Vejiita ordered that they
needed to be purple for some reason--only
Kami-sama knows. He
wears navy blue with black. Anyway,
the new gravity room is set up,
ready and waiting to be blown up once more."
She sighed loudly. "I
really need to invent a Saiya-jiin proof
metal. It really would come
in handy around here."
Akane smiled to herself. "Well,
it keeps you busy, ne? All
right, I'll start unpacking and be done
soon, I hope. Ja." Akane
switched off the intercom.
"Take your time. Vejiita can just hold his horses."
Akane turned toward the empty room
and sighed. She
reached into her pocket and withdrew the
two full capsules and
activated them in the center of the room.
They exploded in their
customary cloud of smoke, and once that
cleared, Akane and Ranma
were greeted by the piles upon piles of
belongings that were
contained within.
Ranma shook his head. "Did you
really need to bring the
whole house with you, Akane? My goodness."
Akane elbowed him in the ribs and scowled,
kneeling in front
of the first pile and began to sort through
it. "Oh, hush, you. Some
of it is yours, too. And I didn't
know what we'd need here."
Ranma knelt behind her and wrapped
his arms and tail around
her in a tight embrace. "Love you."
He murmured into her ear.
She leaned back and reclined her head
on his chest, reaching
out to take his chin in her mouth.
"Love you, too." They sat there
for several minutes, just basking in each
other's presence. Akane,
though, was the first to break the moment.
'Ranma?"
He rustled his nose through her hair
and emerged
heavy-lidded. "Nani, Hima-chan?"
Akane smiled slightly at the endearment
and turned around in
his embrace so she was face to face with
him. She studied his
features, bringing a hand up to trace his
cheekbones, stroking his
face with gentle fingers. He smiled
softly down at her and captured
her hand to lay light feathery kisses on
the palm. Akane sighed
dreamily and sank her head into his chest,
wrapping her arms around
him in a tight embrace. He rested
his chin on her head and stroked
her hair with a free hand.
"If we were still on Vejiita-sei, we'd
never have been able to
get this close."
Ranma nodded. "I know.
Also, I would've had several purging
missions notched on my belt. And more
than likely, we'd have
spawned several brats, since we mated so
early."
Akane frowned slightly. "But
we'd also be a lot older--Vejiita
still hasn't told us why we're younger than
him, and how he knew
about us being on Chikyuu. If he knew,
why didn't he come see me
earlier? Was he ashamed of having
a weakling for a sister?"
"You aren't a weakling, Akane."
Ranma shook his head firmly,
frowning back at her. "If we were
still on Vejiita-sei, or trained as
extensively as Vejiita-ouji did, you would
be an infinitely better
fighter than you are now. Look at
what you can do. You have the
ability to go Super Saiya-jiin. Just
think of the strength and power
and potential you hold within you.
Just think of what you'd be if you
went through the same regimen. Goku-san
is the only other one that
can make the jump, although I think Vejiita
is at the breaking point.
Your father, well," he blinked and
blushed a little, taking notice of
the small frown on Akane's face at the mention
of the discrepency.
He quickly reworded his thought. "Tendo-san
only gave you a means
of venting your anger, and did nothing more
to further your training
than to show you the bare basics.
Hell, Oyaji did the best he could
with me, on the road, and I still am nothing
compared to Vejiita and
Goku. And I thought I was the best.
The Humans never had the
bloodlust that flows through our veins,
so they never had to create a
way to control it."
Akane nodded her head in agreement.
"I guess so. Life would
definitely been different, if Friezer wasn't
in the picture all that
time ago." She turned to the piles
of belongings still untouched and
let out a huge sigh of despair. "Why
don't you go keep Vejiita-chan
busy, and I'll organize this disaster, ne?"
Ranma leaned forward and nipped Akane
on the nose. "Hai."
He stood up and went to the balcony doors.
He threw her a smile
over his shoulder and jumped off the outcropping,
and out of sight.
Akane sighed once again and glared
at the mountainous piles
of...stuff. "Why can't Bulma invent
a capsule that'll put away
everything, too?" She began to sort
through the piles and was
surprised when two bots entered the room.
"Seiika-chan, there should be two cleaning
bots headed your
way. I sent them up there to help
you unpack. Just tell them what
to do--they respond to voice commands, and
have detailed optical
sensors." Bulma's voice wafted in
just in the nick of time.
Akane smiled wide and ran up to the
intercom. "You're a
lifesaver, Bulma-chan! They're just
what I needed. Arigato!"
End of Arc One: Enough Saiya-jiin to
Shake a Tail At!
(phowahcs.com)