Adherent strangers –Chapter 1– Vegetables and watches.

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or anything related to it.

As our blue-haired genius stared at the patterns of her blue and purple wallpaper the knuckles of her delicate hands turned a lighter shade then the rest of her from tightly gripped the horn of the phone. Bulma sighed and waited impatiently for the annoying low ringing sound to stop buzzing in her ear, which it did after about five seconds. Finally, the long awaited sound of her best friend's voice reached the anxious girl who lay on her queen-sized bed.

"Moshi moshi, Chi chi here," A cheery voice spoke through the receiver, unaware of the drama going on at the other side of the connection.

"Hey Chi, Bulma here." Bulma spoke hurriedly, impatient to get to the topic of her latest dilemma. She just had to get it all off her chest and share the previous events with a person who possessed at least some amount of sanity.

"Hi B, what's up?" The dark haired woman replied, already noticing the tone of voice in which was spoken to her. She knew it all too well and with that came the knowledge that there simply couldn't be any good news awaiting her.

"You will never, ever guess what my dad decided to do, now! I swear, he drives me insane sometimes... he always does these things! I mean, he's obviously a genius, like me, why else would we own this giant and successful business. But seriously, why does he keep doing stuff that just seems plain ignorant. I don't get it! It's like he.."

"B, calm down, Just tell me what's going on and start from the beginning if you want me to follow." Chi chi interrupted her friend. She knew full well that if she hadn't done that, she'd still be listening to her ranting an hour from now, still without having a clue about what caused it all in the first place.

Bulma took a deep breath, attempting to calm her mind, untangle her sentences and explain the situation to her friend.

"Okay, well I was just working in the lab on that project I told you about, when I decided to get something to eat. I got downstairs and was about to grab some milk when this guy comes strolling into the kitchen. I've never seen him in my entire life and he just passes me by, like it's his house or something. He drinks an obscene amount of water right from the faucet and is about to just walk away, again. Just like that, not a word, can you believe that?"

On the other side Chichi wasn't completely sure what to make of the story, her famous friend had quite a reputation of exaggerating. She didn't have much time to ponder her credibility, though, as Bulma relentlessly continued her rapid recognition of the afternoon's events.

"So I ask him nicely who he is and what he's doing, and he just looks at me like I grew a pair of horns! Then my dad casually walks in and announces that the guy will be staying at our house! Then to top it all off, this other boy walks into the kitchen, not saying a word either, and shakes my hand. Like it's the most normal thing in the world to just barge into someone's house and treat it as your own without any regards to the real owners!" Bulma was breathing heavily by now, having failed to keep her temper in check.

"Uhm..." Chichi uttered as she started to question her friend's sanity. Maybe she just dreamt it all.. She thought, kami knew Bulma was capable of imagining something like that.

"Exactly.." Bulma mumbled as an answer to her fiends exclamation, she simply had no clue as to what her father was planning with this new charade of his.

"But.. I don't get it. Why would he do that?" Chichi asked, she just couldn't get her head around it. Sure, strange things happened to them and their weird little group of friends, but this was a little abnormal even for them.

"He said he used to know their father or something.. I don't know.. He said something about how he used to be friends with their father but the guy died a while back. He stumbled across those two boys when he was in central, recognized them and took them back here. Apparently they'd been homeless since their dad died.. " Bulma mumbled, turning over to lay on her stomach before she continued.

"But I just don't get it, why couldn't he just give them a few bucks to get a house and stuff. That way they could've built up their own lives again.. Why take them here?" The blue haired girl asked, thinking aloud more than really talking to her friend, anymore.

"I really don't know B, you should ask your father. Though I'm sure you already tried to squeeze it out of him." Chichi spoke, slightly humoured by the thought of Bulma placing her father in a bench-vice in order to get the information out of him.

"He said he wanted to make sure they were okay.. Though I don't see how he couldn't make sure they're okay by just checking up on them every now and then."

"Well, I guess he has his reasons, then.." Chichi mumbled,glad to hear that her friend had calmed down a bit. Maybe now she could explore some of the moreinteresting details, she grinned, unable to stop herself from asking.

"So, tell me, is he cute?" She blurted out, she was just too curious about how the mysterious boy looked, her fantasy running amok andignoring the fact that she had a boyfriend. She was just a hopeless romantic and this was the perfect situation for some juicy romance. /grins/

If Bulma had been drinking something at the moment she was absolutely certain she would've decorated the walls with it by now, caused by Chichi's sudden outburst. "Chi!" She screeched accusingly as her eyes widened in surprise of her friend's boldness.

"Hehe, what?" The perpetratorasked innocently, being sure that Bulma had at least given it some thought.

"Well, I dunno.. " On the other side Bulma huffed and thought about the question. Sure, the guy wasn't bad looking, but she hadn't seen much of him as of yet. She'd only seen him in the kitchen and at that moment she'd been too busy gawking at his rudeness.

"Well, what do they look like, then?" Chichi decided to let her friend off the hook, for now at least, and focus on a slightly different issue.

"Uhm, let's see. I didn't get a chance to analyse them properly.." Bulma stated in mock graveness. " but the older guy is called Vegeta, and is probably about.. uhm, let's say 23 or something. The younger boy looks to be about 15 and his name is Seko." Bulma stated as she dug through her memories, chewing on the nail of her pinkie.

"Like the watches?" Chichi interrupted with a small giggle.

"Hehe, yeah. I guess." Bulma smiled, sharing a laugh with her friend. Both boys indeed had strange names, though they had, too. Her own family was named after underwear and quite a few of her friends after foods,so she figured vegetables and watches weren't that much out of the ordinary.

"Anywho, the older guy has really weird hair, it's pitch black and stands up straight, like he dumped a whole pot of gel into it and hung upside-down while it dried. He was pretty rude, too..." Bulma huffed, still a bit pissed at the young man's attitude.

"How about the younger boy?" The dark haired girl asked, taking a mental note to keep that one guy out of the conversation for now. At least until Bulma's anger finally ebbed away and had been replaced by her usual inquisitive nature. After which she was going to have to hear all about him.

"He looks very sweet, he has brownish hair, though it looks black in different lighting. I think he's pretty shy and all, he seemed afraid to approach me."

This made Chichi suppress a grin, anyone with enough sanity to speak of would have been afraid to approach Bulma, seeing as how pissed off she must've been at that moment..

About forty-five minutes later, after Chichi had managed to relieve her friend from some amount of stress and anxiety, Bulma left her room and wandered down the stairs in search of her newest pests. Before she reached the bottom of the stairs, though, she was faced with her father.

"Uhm, dad. Hi." She mumbled, she was still a little unclear about how she was feeling towards the whole situation. She figured she'd just have to make the best of it, for now. Dr. Briefs gave his daughter a slight nod in acknowledgement, waiting for her to continue. He was happy to see she had calmed down a bit.

"Do you know where Seko and Vegeta are?" Bulma asked, she was going to have to make peace with the two if she wished to continue living happily.

"Yes, they are settling into their new rooms. They're on the second floor of the guest house, rooms eleven and twelve." Dr. Briefs smiled, continuing on his way as Bulma watched him retreat. There was something curious about this whole situation..

She dismissed it, though, and began on her quest through the huge compound. As she reached theguesthouseshe went up another flight of stairs, reaching a long hallway which curved around to form the round shape of the dome-like building. On the right side of the hall there were windows which looked out over the city and thehuge gardens which surrounded the CC compound.

Facing the windows were the doors to the guest-rooms. Each being fairly large, including a separate bathroom. She quietly scanned the doors, there were a lot of rooms. They often had business people visiting from far away who they didn't want to stuff away in various hotels.

They found that by letting them stay near their home they built up a more personal relationship with them, which helped in achieving their business goals.

As such, the guest-wing was separated from the building where the Briefs' lived, ithad it's own front door to ensure at least some measure of privacy for the family and some more freedom for their guests. The two buildings were connected by a small tunnel-like section so that people didn't have to pass through the gardens in order to reach the other building.

She moved past the rooms, slowly registering the numbers in her mind, remembering which rooms she was supposed to be at. When she reached room eleven she stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath, bringing her closed hand down on the wooden door. A soft knock filled theair around her as the took a step back,waiting for a reply.

A few second later she received one in the form of the sound of a click as the door opened. At that moment the thought crossed her mind that she didn't even know which of the brothers occupied the room in front of which she stood.

Her question was soon answered, though,when the door opened furtherto reveal a small boy staring up at her with questioning eyes. A small smile soon crossed his features as he recognized his host "Hi Bulma." He said softly,looking up at her with obvious curiosity.

"Hi Seko." Bulma smiled, she knew she had to be careful not to scare the shy boy away, it would probably cause him to close up to her, which wasn't her goal in the least.

"Can I come in?" She asked, smiling more broadly as the boy stepped aside to let her move past him into the neutral guest room.

No less than twenty minutes later Bulma found herself standing out in the hallway again. She'd had a small chat with Seko which had been nice. He's such a sweet kid. She thought, and wondered how the two boys could possibly be related.

During their talk, though, it hadn't gone unnoticed to her that he hardly let her into any details about him and his sibling's situation, which only served to increased her suspicion about the whole situation. She was going to have to pay some attention to it, she told herself. For now, though, she had to focus on her current dilemma, the bigger brother.

She glanced out thought the window closest to her and noticed it had become dark outside, small droplets of rain splattering against the windows. She gave herself a sarcastic little grin at noticing the bad omen. It matched the situation perfectly.

She shrugged it off and turned to her left, Vegeta must be in room twelve. Bulma figured and stopped in front of the designated door. She took a small breath to steady herself, she was going to have to swallow her pride in order to live at least somewhat carelessly from now on. And she wasn't liking it one bit.

She lifted her hand and a small knock could be heard throughout the hall, echoing a few times before disappearing into the air. A few minutes later she wondered it maybe it'd been too soft, for there was no answer.

Seko had confirmed that his brother was still in his room, so she decided to knock a little louder. He probably hadn't heard her. A few minutes passed again before curiosity took a hold of her. After knocking and waiting once more she carefully wrapped her small hand around the handle, pushing it down.

The door opened with a slight creaking noise, allowing her to cautiously peep in. "Vegeta, are you there? I'm coming in…" She spoke to the darkness she was faced with. She carefully stepped into the room, being careful not to close the door behind her since the light in the hallway provided her with vision.

She reached out to the wall beside her and found the light switch, which she pressed.A bright light suddenly engulfed her as she blinked a few times, squinting at the attack on her pupils. After a few second her eyes had adjusted to the drastic change and she could see clearly again. The room was exactly the same as it had always been, she noticed.

Seko had unpacked and placed a few personal items here and there. His brother, on the other hand, had only dumped his backpack besides his bed and decided to leave it at that. She didn't really give it any more thought and got ready to leave again when she noticed the balcony doors, they were opened in order to let in a small gush of cool air.

She wondered as she crept towards it, had he left it open for a breeze, or.. Her question was soon answered as she found herself facing the unmistakable silhouette of her oldest guest. He was leaning against the wall besides the glass doors, his arms crossed and eyes closed as the light from the city formed a small aura around his form.

Bulma was about to make herself known, figuring he hadn't heard her come in, when a deep voice suddenly broke the silence. "What do you want." he spoke in such an intriguing voice that it made her wonder if the shivers thatsuddenly ran down her spine were caused by the chilly evening air, or not.

She then frowned lightly at the tone of voice he had used, but decided to let it go, trying to keep her temper in check. "Uhm, hi there. Sorry to disturb you, but you didn't answer when I knocked on your door. I wasn't sure if you were here at all." She mumbled, giving him a small smile, hoping to clear the air.

She took the moment of silence which followed to take a careful look at the young man in front of her. The light coming from inside the room revealed he had still to open his eyes, though the serene look on his face had been replaced by his usual frown.

Her eyes travelled down his figure, he was only slightly taller than her but he made up with it by his built. She could see the outline of his muscles through his long sleeves, making her realize that he could very well bequite handsome, were he just to stop that frowning of his.

She stopped her thoughts, though, when she realized he still hadn't answered her. For a moment she was about to raise her voice to him, when she remembered her promise to herself. She swallowed her words and continued with a new set.

"Well, uhm.. I just wanted to welcome you and properly introduce myself, seeing as how things went a little.. fast, this morning." She spoke, uncertainty tugging at the edges of her mouth which still formed a small smile on her face.

When she still didn't receive a reply she took a steady step forward and extended her hand. "Hello, I'm Bulma." She said in a confident voice as she waited for her statue-like company to acknowledge her.

He did so by letting out a mocking snort, his eyes still fixed at whatever he was looking at. "Onna, I am already familiar with your name. I take it you already know mine, too. Am I right?"

In her stunned situation the blue haired girl only managed a light nod. "Well then, what could possible be the use of this poor excuse of socialization?" Silence was all that ensued for the nextten seconds. "Well then, it seems you agree. Would you then kindly stop bothering me and leave me the hell alone?" He grunted at her as her hand slowly moved down to her side and formed a tight fist.

She was fuming, how dare he! All her previously gathered willpower about staying nice flew out of the window at the speed of light as her mouth opened to unleash the mother of all rants, causing the man's ears to ring.

As she yelled and screamed all hell together, all he did was quirk an eyebrow at her temper. She reminded him of himself, he pondered, but quickly replaced the thought with plain annoyance. She was really starting to get on his nerves.

So in the middle of her attack he turned towards her, taking a step in her direction for her to find his face only inches away from her own, blocking all words from leaving her lips. She gulped, staring into his dark eyes as she felt his breath tickling her tiny nose.

There they stood, their chests almost touching. He still had his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face as he too, stared into his counterpart's eyes. They were magnificently blue, shining in the scarce light as they pierced his soul with a passion he had rarely seen in his life.

But before he got a chance to continue his thoughts se quickly shook himself out of the trance and opened his mouth "If you are quite finished I'll let you find your way to the door. I have more important matters to attend to." He growled at her as he moved past her, their shoulders brushing ever so lightly, yet clearly noticed by both.

He left her where she stood, alone on the balcony, completely frozen for minutes after his departure. When her consciousness returned to her she just blinked a few times and slowly shook her head.

All of this just couldn't have just happened to her..

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