Last time:
Vegeta finished wrapping the package, looked it over, then wrote the correct address on it. He made sure not to put his return address, for then the package would never reach her. With one last look at his room—his old life—then took a deep breath and headed out for the post office.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma yawned deep and forced herself out of bed. It was a sunny Saturday morning, the perfect way to start her last summer before college. The past few days had been devoted to school-related topics and cleaning up the mess Vegeta had made by crashing her graduation party. Now that all that was out of the way, she was free to enjoy her vacation.
"First thing's first," she said aloud, as she picked up the phone.
"Hello?" came a voice at the other end.
"Hey, Chi. What's on the agenda for today?"
"Good morning," Chi-Chi laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"That's what you say to me at the beginning of every summer. Never any other day."
"Tradition, I suppose. Did you have anything you wanted to do?"
"Well, it's not like we can do everything we did last summer."
"I know," Bulma groaned. "And I was really looking forward to paintball and biking contests. Damn belly."
"I love you, B," Chi-Chi laughed. "Well, to answer your question, I have no plans today. Goku said he's busy with the band, so my guess is Krillin and Maris are free too. Why don't you call Krillin and I'll call Maris and we'll all meet at your house in an hour?"
"Sounds great. I'll see you and Gohan then."
Bulma could picture her friend's wide smile, and the way she always grabbed her belly when her son's name was mentioned. She smiled herself at the thought of Trunks, then went to get ready for the day.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Good morning, dear," Mrs. Briefs said as Bulma sat down at the kitchen table.
Bulma gave her mother a strange look, and said, "There's something different about you today."
Mrs. Briefs smiled wide and tossed her hair, something Bulma hadn't seen her do in years.
"You're wearing your hair down…Why?"
"I looked in the mirror this morning and I hated the way my hair looked, so I took out all the pins and let it hang on my shoulders. I think it looks much better this way."
"Me too," Bulma said, grabbing the pitcher of orange juice. "Did anyone call for me while I was in the shower?"
"A few." Her mother walked over to the table, set down a plate of toast, then went to the refrigerator for a bowl of fruit salad. "Mrs. Ouji wanted to know if you were free for dinner tonight, Dr. Kito called to say your appointment is Tuesday at 3:30…and a package came for you."
"Great, I'll call Mrs. Ouji back after breakfast." She was about to dig into her fruit salad, when the last thing her mother had said struck her. "Did you say I have a package?"
"Yes. It's on the coffee table in the living room. What did you order?"
"Nothing…Wonder what it is," she mumbled to herself, then got up to get the package. Immediately it struck her as odd that there was no return address, but it had most certainly been mailed. She brought it back into the kitchen with her, where she grabbed a knife, and ripped through the tape.
She let out a small sound, not quite a gasp, and stared into the box.
"What is it?" Mrs. Briefs asked.
"It's…" But the words fell from her lips, as she reached into the box and pulled out what was inside.
"Isn't that something you made?" her mother asked, eyeing the object.
"It's Pandora's Box…"
"Your little lock box?"
Bulma nodded slowly, but she wasn't really paying attention. There was something else in the package, a small folded piece of paper. She took a deep breath, took out the note, and slipped it into her pocket before her mother could see.
"Do you know who sent it?"
"I have a hunch," Bulma said, then grabbed Pandora's Box and went up to her room without touching her breakfast.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma read the note for the tenth time, and still it didn't make sense. She'd searched the package for another note, or a clue as to what she was supposed to look for, but she only became more confused. It was obvious that the package was from Vegeta; the note was even in his handwriting. What she couldn't figure, was what his message meant; "What's inside is not food, but truth."
"Really?" Bulma had scoffed the first time. She didn't think he'd send her a package of cookies in a password-locked mini-fridge.
In small print at the bottom of the note, was a hint as to what the password could be, but even if she didn't figure it out, she'd have to get Vegeta to open it, because it was voice activated by his voice alone. The clue sounded simple enough, but it seemed her brain was on temporary shutdown; "Password hint: 'Have you ever considered putting it to use?'"
"What the hell are you trying to tell me, Vegeta?" she groaned, setting the note on her bedside table. It was obvious that it was something she should know, but he made it complicated enough that it would take her some time to figure it out, and by then Vegeta could be long gone with a wife in the Bahamas or something. "This is ridiculous," she sighed, deciding to forget about the package and the cryptic note for now.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
18 cuddled up close to Krillin, her arm draped comfortably over his lap. It was eight o'clock, but already they were in for the night. They decided to take a break from the others, just this once, and have a night completely to themselves.
It was soon interrupted by the ringing of 18's cellular phone, which she could have sworn she'd turned off.
"Hello?" she answered, rather annoyed. Everyone knew that she was spending the night with Krillin, and did not want to be disturbed.
"Sorry, 18," came Bulma's sincere voice.
18's glare immediately softened.
"I just needed to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Have you seen Vegeta lately? He was supposed to meet me at the doctor's office Tuesday and never showed, and then we were supposed to pick out cribs, you know, one of each of our houses, and he never showed either, and so I called his mother and—"
"Calm down, B. Take a deep breath."
"Sorry," she sighed. "It's just I haven't seen him in over a week."
"I thought you two were still hating each other. Why do you want to see him?"
"Do you know where he is?" she asked, deliberately avoiding the question.
"Home, last time I checked. Every time I've been over there, he's been in his studio writing songs like mad. I think he'll make two new albums at the rate he's going…He never mentioned anything about meeting you this week."
"When's the last time you talked to him?"
"This afternoon."
"I just called his house, and his mom said she didn't know where he was."
"Maybe he left between now and then…Look B, I don't know what to tell you. It sounds to me like he's avoiding you, which makes perfect sense if you ask me."
"Why?"
"He loves you, Bulma, and if he can't have you, then he doesn't want to see you. You want nothing to do with him, therefore he'll give you what you want…It's crazy. I never thought I'd see the day when he'd finally learn to let himself feel something besides hate. You should be proud of yourself."
"Too bad I could never feel that," Bulma said sadly under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing…Look, if you see him or talk to him, could you tell him to give me a call? I don't care what time it is."
"Alright. Just be careful."
"I know," Bulma sighed. "But I don't think I have anything to lose now. Maybe being reckless is the answer this time."
"Don't let him hurt you again, Bulma."
"If you're right, and he does love me, then I don't see any reason to back down."
"What're you saying?"
"18, I am never going to find a man I love more than Vegeta. If I get hurt again, at least I can say that I tried. I don't want to give up because I'm scared of rejection. Not again. That's what I did the first time, and look where it got me. Alone and knocked up…This may be the stupidest thing I've ever done, but it's also the rightest."
"Good luck, B."
"Thanks, 18. I knew you'd understand."
"One more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Rightest isn't a word."
Bulma only laughed and hung up the phone, a knot as big as the Grand Canyon in her stomach.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vegeta checked his hair one last time in the mirror, frowned, then went to answer the door. She smiled brightly at him as he opened the door, even chancing a hug. He let her do it, hugging her in return, then slung his arm over her shoulder and escorted her to his car.
Just out of view, Mrs. Ouji watched, her eyes brimming with tears. This was not how things were supposed to turn out, and yet everything seemed over.
The ringing of the phone startled her back into reality.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Ouji," came Bulma's cheery voice. "Is Vegeta there?"
"No, Bulma. I'm sorry."
"Are you alright?"
"I shouldn't be the one to tell you."
"What?"
"Please don't be angry."
Bulma's muscles tightened.
"What is it?"
"Vegeta just left…for a date."
Bulma gasped audibly, her knees feeling weak.
"D-Do you know with who?"
"I'm so sorry, Bulma," Mrs. Ouji sighed. What she had to say next was one of the hardest things she'd had to tell someone. "Her name is Hitomi. She—"
"I know who she is," Bulma said quickly. "Thank you. Good-bye."
She hung up the phone before it had a chance to slip through her fingers.
Hitomi.
She was THE girl. Vegeta had known her all his life, as 18 had told Bulma, and they had been on and off for as long as anyone could remember. The last time they were together as a couple, was just after Green Dragon made it big. Hitomi decided to break it off because she knew they'd never see each other, among other reasons. She had told 18 several times that her and Vegeta would never work; he was bossy, rude, unloving, and she always had a feeling that he was unfaithful. Vegeta agreed that they should break-up, and they hadn't spoken since.
Until now.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Ok," Bulma said loudly, everyone's eyes on her as she paced Goku's living room. "I need to figure out that password—" She pointed to Pandora's Box and the note beside it on the coffee table. "—and I need it as soon as humanly possible." There were tears in her eyes, but no one brought attention to them. She needed to feel in control now, and no one was going to challenge that.
Vegeta had been officially dating Hitomi for three days now.
"Did he give you any other clues?" 17 asked, shrinking back when he received an angry glare from Bulma.
"Don't you think I would tell you if there was?" she snapped, but immediately felt bad. "Sorry. I'm just a tad bit tense right now."
"It's ok," he sighed.
"No, it isn't. You guys are throwing away your plans to help me, and I'm being nothing but a pain in the ass."
"We understand," Chi-Chi said. "As far as I'm concerned nothing is more important at the moment. We need to get this password."
"Then there's the next hurdle," Bulma sighed.
"What?"
"Finding Vegeta. I haven't been able to find him for a week and a half."
"We can find him easy," Goku said, motioning to the twins. "He can't stay far from us, especially with the new album we're working on. He has to come to one of us, or Jun, eventually."
Silence set in, and the group went to work, pushing their brains to the limit to figure out the password. Hundreds of possibilities were scrawled on scraps of paper throughout the living room, though when they came together to debate, no one could agree on one password. None were dead-on right, or even close. They had it down to a few perimeters. It was one word, something she and Vegeta had in common, and the phrase "Have you ever considered putting it to use?" was, of course, the main focus.
"Maybe it's something he said to you," Maris suggested, scratched her head. She was running out of ideas, as were they all.
"I don't think so," Bulma sighed. "It doesn't sound Vegeta-esque." The group nodded.
Hours ticked on and the room began to grow restless. Plates and bowls and cups were scattered in all directions; minds were worn thin.
"This is ridiculous," Maris snapped. "I don't see how anyone could get this…What an ass. Stupid celebrity ego. Just because he can sing, doesn't mean he can string people out like this."
Beside her Krillin let out a small gasp, catching everyone's attention.
"What?" Bulma all but demanded, her heart racing.
He smiled wide, knowing that he had the correct password, the only possible choice. And, when the word passed his lips, everyone agreed.
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---Chapter 13!!! Hmm…I don't know so much about this one. I like it, but there's something weird…I don't know, you be the judge. I might change it—a lot—but I might leave it if enough people like it.
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Reviews=More Chapters)
Next time: WHAT'S THE PASSWORD!?
Vegeta finished wrapping the package, looked it over, then wrote the correct address on it. He made sure not to put his return address, for then the package would never reach her. With one last look at his room—his old life—then took a deep breath and headed out for the post office.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma yawned deep and forced herself out of bed. It was a sunny Saturday morning, the perfect way to start her last summer before college. The past few days had been devoted to school-related topics and cleaning up the mess Vegeta had made by crashing her graduation party. Now that all that was out of the way, she was free to enjoy her vacation.
"First thing's first," she said aloud, as she picked up the phone.
"Hello?" came a voice at the other end.
"Hey, Chi. What's on the agenda for today?"
"Good morning," Chi-Chi laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"That's what you say to me at the beginning of every summer. Never any other day."
"Tradition, I suppose. Did you have anything you wanted to do?"
"Well, it's not like we can do everything we did last summer."
"I know," Bulma groaned. "And I was really looking forward to paintball and biking contests. Damn belly."
"I love you, B," Chi-Chi laughed. "Well, to answer your question, I have no plans today. Goku said he's busy with the band, so my guess is Krillin and Maris are free too. Why don't you call Krillin and I'll call Maris and we'll all meet at your house in an hour?"
"Sounds great. I'll see you and Gohan then."
Bulma could picture her friend's wide smile, and the way she always grabbed her belly when her son's name was mentioned. She smiled herself at the thought of Trunks, then went to get ready for the day.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Good morning, dear," Mrs. Briefs said as Bulma sat down at the kitchen table.
Bulma gave her mother a strange look, and said, "There's something different about you today."
Mrs. Briefs smiled wide and tossed her hair, something Bulma hadn't seen her do in years.
"You're wearing your hair down…Why?"
"I looked in the mirror this morning and I hated the way my hair looked, so I took out all the pins and let it hang on my shoulders. I think it looks much better this way."
"Me too," Bulma said, grabbing the pitcher of orange juice. "Did anyone call for me while I was in the shower?"
"A few." Her mother walked over to the table, set down a plate of toast, then went to the refrigerator for a bowl of fruit salad. "Mrs. Ouji wanted to know if you were free for dinner tonight, Dr. Kito called to say your appointment is Tuesday at 3:30…and a package came for you."
"Great, I'll call Mrs. Ouji back after breakfast." She was about to dig into her fruit salad, when the last thing her mother had said struck her. "Did you say I have a package?"
"Yes. It's on the coffee table in the living room. What did you order?"
"Nothing…Wonder what it is," she mumbled to herself, then got up to get the package. Immediately it struck her as odd that there was no return address, but it had most certainly been mailed. She brought it back into the kitchen with her, where she grabbed a knife, and ripped through the tape.
She let out a small sound, not quite a gasp, and stared into the box.
"What is it?" Mrs. Briefs asked.
"It's…" But the words fell from her lips, as she reached into the box and pulled out what was inside.
"Isn't that something you made?" her mother asked, eyeing the object.
"It's Pandora's Box…"
"Your little lock box?"
Bulma nodded slowly, but she wasn't really paying attention. There was something else in the package, a small folded piece of paper. She took a deep breath, took out the note, and slipped it into her pocket before her mother could see.
"Do you know who sent it?"
"I have a hunch," Bulma said, then grabbed Pandora's Box and went up to her room without touching her breakfast.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma read the note for the tenth time, and still it didn't make sense. She'd searched the package for another note, or a clue as to what she was supposed to look for, but she only became more confused. It was obvious that the package was from Vegeta; the note was even in his handwriting. What she couldn't figure, was what his message meant; "What's inside is not food, but truth."
"Really?" Bulma had scoffed the first time. She didn't think he'd send her a package of cookies in a password-locked mini-fridge.
In small print at the bottom of the note, was a hint as to what the password could be, but even if she didn't figure it out, she'd have to get Vegeta to open it, because it was voice activated by his voice alone. The clue sounded simple enough, but it seemed her brain was on temporary shutdown; "Password hint: 'Have you ever considered putting it to use?'"
"What the hell are you trying to tell me, Vegeta?" she groaned, setting the note on her bedside table. It was obvious that it was something she should know, but he made it complicated enough that it would take her some time to figure it out, and by then Vegeta could be long gone with a wife in the Bahamas or something. "This is ridiculous," she sighed, deciding to forget about the package and the cryptic note for now.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
18 cuddled up close to Krillin, her arm draped comfortably over his lap. It was eight o'clock, but already they were in for the night. They decided to take a break from the others, just this once, and have a night completely to themselves.
It was soon interrupted by the ringing of 18's cellular phone, which she could have sworn she'd turned off.
"Hello?" she answered, rather annoyed. Everyone knew that she was spending the night with Krillin, and did not want to be disturbed.
"Sorry, 18," came Bulma's sincere voice.
18's glare immediately softened.
"I just needed to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Have you seen Vegeta lately? He was supposed to meet me at the doctor's office Tuesday and never showed, and then we were supposed to pick out cribs, you know, one of each of our houses, and he never showed either, and so I called his mother and—"
"Calm down, B. Take a deep breath."
"Sorry," she sighed. "It's just I haven't seen him in over a week."
"I thought you two were still hating each other. Why do you want to see him?"
"Do you know where he is?" she asked, deliberately avoiding the question.
"Home, last time I checked. Every time I've been over there, he's been in his studio writing songs like mad. I think he'll make two new albums at the rate he's going…He never mentioned anything about meeting you this week."
"When's the last time you talked to him?"
"This afternoon."
"I just called his house, and his mom said she didn't know where he was."
"Maybe he left between now and then…Look B, I don't know what to tell you. It sounds to me like he's avoiding you, which makes perfect sense if you ask me."
"Why?"
"He loves you, Bulma, and if he can't have you, then he doesn't want to see you. You want nothing to do with him, therefore he'll give you what you want…It's crazy. I never thought I'd see the day when he'd finally learn to let himself feel something besides hate. You should be proud of yourself."
"Too bad I could never feel that," Bulma said sadly under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing…Look, if you see him or talk to him, could you tell him to give me a call? I don't care what time it is."
"Alright. Just be careful."
"I know," Bulma sighed. "But I don't think I have anything to lose now. Maybe being reckless is the answer this time."
"Don't let him hurt you again, Bulma."
"If you're right, and he does love me, then I don't see any reason to back down."
"What're you saying?"
"18, I am never going to find a man I love more than Vegeta. If I get hurt again, at least I can say that I tried. I don't want to give up because I'm scared of rejection. Not again. That's what I did the first time, and look where it got me. Alone and knocked up…This may be the stupidest thing I've ever done, but it's also the rightest."
"Good luck, B."
"Thanks, 18. I knew you'd understand."
"One more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Rightest isn't a word."
Bulma only laughed and hung up the phone, a knot as big as the Grand Canyon in her stomach.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vegeta checked his hair one last time in the mirror, frowned, then went to answer the door. She smiled brightly at him as he opened the door, even chancing a hug. He let her do it, hugging her in return, then slung his arm over her shoulder and escorted her to his car.
Just out of view, Mrs. Ouji watched, her eyes brimming with tears. This was not how things were supposed to turn out, and yet everything seemed over.
The ringing of the phone startled her back into reality.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Ouji," came Bulma's cheery voice. "Is Vegeta there?"
"No, Bulma. I'm sorry."
"Are you alright?"
"I shouldn't be the one to tell you."
"What?"
"Please don't be angry."
Bulma's muscles tightened.
"What is it?"
"Vegeta just left…for a date."
Bulma gasped audibly, her knees feeling weak.
"D-Do you know with who?"
"I'm so sorry, Bulma," Mrs. Ouji sighed. What she had to say next was one of the hardest things she'd had to tell someone. "Her name is Hitomi. She—"
"I know who she is," Bulma said quickly. "Thank you. Good-bye."
She hung up the phone before it had a chance to slip through her fingers.
Hitomi.
She was THE girl. Vegeta had known her all his life, as 18 had told Bulma, and they had been on and off for as long as anyone could remember. The last time they were together as a couple, was just after Green Dragon made it big. Hitomi decided to break it off because she knew they'd never see each other, among other reasons. She had told 18 several times that her and Vegeta would never work; he was bossy, rude, unloving, and she always had a feeling that he was unfaithful. Vegeta agreed that they should break-up, and they hadn't spoken since.
Until now.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Ok," Bulma said loudly, everyone's eyes on her as she paced Goku's living room. "I need to figure out that password—" She pointed to Pandora's Box and the note beside it on the coffee table. "—and I need it as soon as humanly possible." There were tears in her eyes, but no one brought attention to them. She needed to feel in control now, and no one was going to challenge that.
Vegeta had been officially dating Hitomi for three days now.
"Did he give you any other clues?" 17 asked, shrinking back when he received an angry glare from Bulma.
"Don't you think I would tell you if there was?" she snapped, but immediately felt bad. "Sorry. I'm just a tad bit tense right now."
"It's ok," he sighed.
"No, it isn't. You guys are throwing away your plans to help me, and I'm being nothing but a pain in the ass."
"We understand," Chi-Chi said. "As far as I'm concerned nothing is more important at the moment. We need to get this password."
"Then there's the next hurdle," Bulma sighed.
"What?"
"Finding Vegeta. I haven't been able to find him for a week and a half."
"We can find him easy," Goku said, motioning to the twins. "He can't stay far from us, especially with the new album we're working on. He has to come to one of us, or Jun, eventually."
Silence set in, and the group went to work, pushing their brains to the limit to figure out the password. Hundreds of possibilities were scrawled on scraps of paper throughout the living room, though when they came together to debate, no one could agree on one password. None were dead-on right, or even close. They had it down to a few perimeters. It was one word, something she and Vegeta had in common, and the phrase "Have you ever considered putting it to use?" was, of course, the main focus.
"Maybe it's something he said to you," Maris suggested, scratched her head. She was running out of ideas, as were they all.
"I don't think so," Bulma sighed. "It doesn't sound Vegeta-esque." The group nodded.
Hours ticked on and the room began to grow restless. Plates and bowls and cups were scattered in all directions; minds were worn thin.
"This is ridiculous," Maris snapped. "I don't see how anyone could get this…What an ass. Stupid celebrity ego. Just because he can sing, doesn't mean he can string people out like this."
Beside her Krillin let out a small gasp, catching everyone's attention.
"What?" Bulma all but demanded, her heart racing.
He smiled wide, knowing that he had the correct password, the only possible choice. And, when the word passed his lips, everyone agreed.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
---Chapter 13!!! Hmm…I don't know so much about this one. I like it, but there's something weird…I don't know, you be the judge. I might change it—a lot—but I might leave it if enough people like it.
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Reviews=More Chapters)
Next time: WHAT'S THE PASSWORD!?