Chapter 2

He was avoiding her again, and she no longer cared to ask him to join her at the barbecue that Chi Chi had informed her about a few days ago. If he wanted to be a snarly prick, well, then, that was his problem. Bulma had missed out on too much fun because of that stubborn man she called a husband and she damn well wasn't going to miss seeing everyone again. Besides, Chi Chi said that Cassandra was coming!

So, the morning of the barbecue, Bulma dressed for the occasion in a pair of stretch hip hugger jeans and red "choppers" t-shirt, her hair pulled back in a tight, high pony tail. The most she saw of her Ouji before she headed out to her sky car was his back as he ducked into an alternate hallway to, as usual lately, avoid her. The night when he'd pinned her in the kitchen nearly two weeks ago had been the most she'd seen of him in almost three weeks now.

"Fine, Vegeta. You want to ignore me? Then you go right on ahead! I'm going to have one hell of a time tonight and if you lose me to someone else who cares about me, then that's your fault!" Hearing the words coming from her own mouth made her flinch because they held no meaning to her, not that it mattered. All she cared about was being surrounded by her friends and partying like she hadn't in a long time.

"Well," A smile sparked on Juunanagou's face and he became completely relaxed in the adjacent seat, folding his arms behind his head. "What a development. Bulma's here but Vegeta isn't,"

Cassandra glanced over at him from behind the wheel as she pulled up beside Bulma's air car and felt her stomach flutter. "I wonder why he didn't come...?" Shrugging it off as the Ouji just being an arrogant ass as usual, she cut the ignition and left the sky car, smiling as Juu came up behind her and nuzzled into her neck. "I guess I won't have to make myself as scarce as I had thought,"

"See? Now aren't you glad you came?" They made their way around the Son house to the backyard where the barbecue was already well under way, music playing in the background. They went unnoticed for the first three minutes, until a flurry of blond hair caught their attention and an excited exclamation of, "UNCLE JUUNANAGOU!" splintered through the air. Surprised, Juu's head snapped up just in time to see Maron's small child frame leaping towards him. The others had fallen silent at the sight of him, Yamcha and Krillan tensing, Tien and Choatzu just watching him warily.

"So you were able to talk him into it after all?" Juuhachi grinned as she watched her daughter successfully tackle her android uncle into the grass.

"With a little persuasion," Cassandra smiled as she embraced her friend, grinning wickedly at Chi Chi as her sister approached. It was Bulma, however, with whom she held the longest. "How are you?"

"I'm ok,"

Cassandra's golden eyes sharpened but Bulma shook her head. "Not right now. We'll talk about it later tonight,"

Nodding, Cassandra turned just in time to catch her youngest nephew as he jumped up into her arms, using a little bit of craft to reinsure her balance. "Goten! You've gotten so strong! Look at you!" Grinning, she hugged him and let him leap out of her arms so that she could embrace Gohan. "How you holding up there, my darling book worm?"

"Great! Oh, Aunt Cassy, I'd like you to meet Videl Satan,"

"Oh!" Cassandra smiled softly at the young woman. "Finally, a woman worthy of my nephew." Winking, Cassandra moved to pry Maron off of her lover so that she could shower some love on the wriggling little girl. "Oh Maron..."

Giggling as she was lifted away from her uncle, Maron twisted to avoid the tickle attack that was being launched on her and cried mercy to the air. Satisfied, Cassandra stopped her assault, earning herself a sweet little kiss on the cheek.

"It's been so long since we've all gotten together like this!" Chi Chi said, smiling happily. "I just wish Goku were here for this,"

"Yeah," Cassandra smiled innocently as she reached down to aid her seething lover from the ground. "See? Fun,"

"Feh! My idea of fun and yours differ by great lengths, yu know," He rose, still aware of the looks he was getting. "Yes. This is going to be extremely fun indeed."

"Uncle Juunana-san!" Maron tugged on his arms and he growled as he looked down at her.

"What do yu want, kid?"

"Are you married to Cassandra now? Huh? Are you?"

"Oh sweet Dende...give me a break. No, kid, I'm not."

"Oh but why not?"

Cassandra laughed as she swiped her up into her arms. "Because uncle Juju-san is afraid of commitment, darling."

"He is?"

"I am not!"

"Yes, he sure is, but don't you worry that little blond head of yours, darling! I'll change his mind soon enough!" Winking, she threw Juu a glance over her shoulder and joined the others at the large picnic table where the food awaited them.

"I am not afraid of commitment," He grumbled, pouting, as he took a seat next to her. "What are you lookin' at, baldy?"

Krillan's eyes doubled in size and he waved his stubby arms frantically before him. "N-no one of course!"

"Good,"

"Aren't we short a head?" Cassandra paused, looking around. "Or two? Where's Vegeta and Trunks, Bulma?"

"Trunks is with his grandparents on a cruise. As for Vegeta? Probably sulking in the gravity room training. I wouldn't really know. Haven't seen much of him in the last several weeks. Jackass is avoiding me. Avoiding me! His wife!"

"Avoiding you? What the hell for?" Cassandra's interest was peaked at this finding, wondering if this was the reason she'd felt that ripple of emotion in the abyss in the last few weeks.

"How should I know? Every time I come into a room he happens to be in, he high tails it out of there and when I'm in the kitchen when he decides that he's hungry, he changes his mind and comes back later. He hasn't come to bed in forever, and lord knows I never see him while I'm in the lab. I don't know what's gotten into him!"

Yamcha opened his mouth to voice a smartassed opinion of the situation but Cassandra glared at him, daring him to say anything. His jaw shut with a snap and he quickly looked away.

"Chi Chi," Cassandra looked across the table to her sister and smiled faintly. "How long did Goku avoid you before the night that Goten was conceived?"

She watched her sister blush a deep crimson before she finally caught the drift. Her eyes swiveled towards Bulma and she quickly understood. "Oh, dear us! Four weeks. Bulma, how long has Vegeta avoided you now?"

"Three weeks, why? What do you know that I don't?"

"Do you really think so, Cassandra?"

"Of course I do. Vegeta's a Warlord Prince. I have no doubt in my mind that that's why he's avoiding her. Besides, he knows better! His balls are on the line if he hurts her and he knows that." She glowered over in Yamcha's direction. "Isn't that right, Yamcha?"

Paling at her words, Yamcha quickly looked away, earning a small chuckle from Juunanagou at the sight. "Your threats seem to work, dearest,"

"Of course they do,"

"Tell me!" Bulma growled, her cerulean eyes wide with curiosity and hope since her friends seemed so positive about this situation. "Cassy, please!"

"Hon, Vegeta's avoiding you because he's afraid of hurting you,"

"Hurting me?"

"Yeah," Cassandra smiled sweetly. "Hon, he's in rut,"

"What? Are you sure? He can't...Oh...Oh!" Bulma took a deep breath to steady herself. "But wouldn't I have noticed that?"

"Not if he's been avoiding you. Hon, you can't let him do that anymore...A Warlord Prince is very volatile when in rut, and because Vegeta's volatile when he isn't in rut...well you can see his hesitance to approach you. Bulma, he's Saiyajin like Goku, though. It's going to get much much worse as time progresses, and the longer he resists release, the worse off he's going to end up being. He won't be able to relieve it in training his body to exhaustion, it doesn't work that way with Saiyajin's. There's something about their genetics that doesn't allow for it. Goku probably would have snapped if he hadn't finally approached Chi Chi."

"What am I supposed to do? I've never experienced a Warlord Prince in rut before...I mean...well...Have you?"

"Yes, lucky me, but we're not discussing that at the moment," Cassandra waved it off, much to the unnoticed relief of the Warlord Prince sitting next to her. "Look, Vegeta needs you, Bulma,"

"Yeah..."

"So after this barbecue, when you get home, you put on something really-" she looked around to make sure that the children were preoccupied, and then continued, "-sexy and corner the baka. I don't care how you do it, but you can't just let this keep going on,"

"Yeah, cornering him is going to be just so easy,"

"Hit him when he's down honey. He's guaranteed to be in that gravity room, no? Kitchen? Use your instincts, use your craft, you'll get him,"

Nodding, Bulma forced a smile and sat up a little straighter. "Ok, now, since that's out of the way and I feel a hell of a lot better, how the hell did you end up with him?"

Juunanagou bristled at the personal attack and scowled up at the sky, earning himself a soft nudge in the shin from Cassandra. Curious, he looked down at her out of the corner of his eyes and wondered why she looked so pleased with herself.

Cassandra chuckled slightly. "Well, do you remember two years ago when you and I went on that cruise then came back and I stayed with you for two weeks? Well, the morning I left I had decided to check on my total sales at my restaurant while gone and found that two days after you and I left on the cruise my sales went from 1300 a morning to zero for that entire month. So I called Sharon and we met at the restaurant at about 7 that same morning. Bulma, the place was completely empty except for Juu-sama here. None of my cooks, servers, managers, no one was out there. Nothing was done, nothing was ready. I was so pissed and knew they were cowering in the back so I just went to the intercom and voiced my feelings on the matter rather thoroughly. Needless to say, after I brewed a fresh batch of coffee and gave him some, things went a little smoother. Sharon helped get everyone back on task and I turned that morning from a 0 breakfast to an 800 breakfast. It continued to climb over the next several days. People seemed to feel safer with Juu occupied. Apparently seeing me eating breakfast and having coffee with him every morning that week really picked business back up again,"

"Good Dende...How many did you end up firing?"

"Eh, six all together. Bakas still didn't want to work," Cassandra shrugged, rolling her shoulders. "Either way, that's how I met him,"

"And the circumstances of the coupling?" Chi Chi chimed in, giving Juunanagou an assessing look.

"Well, it took a good six months, but he finally got me to give in. A good thing, too, considering,"

Bulma seemed to know where this was going and stopped her, shaking her head faintly. "We'll discuss it after we eat when the boyos are all occupied with other things,"

Relieved, Cassandra nodded at her friend, leaning on her boyfriend to hide the chill that had come over her in the memory that had just resurfaced. The night Juunanagou had taken her virginity hadn't been a pretty one, at least, not in the beginning anyway, but still...it was a hard memory to face. He noticed it immediately and slipped an arm protectively around her waist, pulling her taught against him. Cass smiled sweetly up at him and grinned over at Krillan. "Looks like I've acquired more relatives, no?"

"As if we weren't all already related in some way," Yamcha muttered, still disliking having the Android present among them. Juuhachi he didn't mind. He trusted Juuhachi. But Juunanagou...well, he was more unpredictable and Yamcha didn't trust him not one bit. Cassandra could hold her own against the android, yes, but that didn't ease his anxiety any. He didn't want this android anywhere near his best friend's home. What would Goku think if he were here?

Sensing the tension and deciding to ease it a little, Chi Chi turned to them with a broad smile. "You know, training or no, I bet Goku's still ten times more powerful than Vegeta even though he's in Other World right now,"

"Yeah, just don't tell Vegeta that," Bulma giggled, grinning. "Goku's training with the Kai's so I really have no doubt about it,"

A silence fell about the table until Chi Chi sighed heavily in disdain. "Do you think he sees them? Do you think he talks to them?"

"Who?" Bulma asked. Cassy looked up and sighed sadly, reaching out and grasping her sister's hands in sympathy. "It's tomorrow, isn't it? Tomorrow marks one hundred years,"

"Yeah," Cassy confirmed, her eyes dampening as the tears formed. "I can't believe that it's really been that long,"

"You're older than all of us, Cassy. After a while time just flies by and you forget some things, but you never forget the people that really matter to you," Juuhachi smiled at her from across the table. "We all loved them even if some us never met them face to face."

"I just...How could I have forgotten about tomorrow?"

"Truthfully? We've all been distracted, sweetheart," Chi Chi reassured. "But at least now we know why dad isn't here,"

"I hadn't even noticed...I haven't seen him in so long. Oh, Chi, I'm a horrible daughter,"

"Oh, oh! Sweetie!" Chi Chi grasped her hands from across the table and smiled at her. "You're the best sister I could have asked for and you know dad loves you like no other. You were his first daughter and he doesn't think you horrible. You have your own life now, you have for...what? Almost one hundred fifty years now?"

Shocked, Juunanagou stared at her, his lips parted in surprise. 150!

"I just...I miss everyone so much, especially..." She paused, shaking her head. "I guess I miss grandpa and grandma the most...They were always so...alive. They loved each other so much, so deeply, they just passed it down on to their family."

"And you'll continue the SaDiablo line for us just like I have,"

"You know, I really think Goku is with them, laughing at us right now,"

"Why laughing?"

"Because we keep making more food then we need because we forget that he's gone,"

"I hope he sees this! Maybe he'll come to his senses and come back to us!" Chi Chi snarled, glaring up at the sky. "You hear that, Goku! Stop sharing stories with uncle Lucivar and get back down here!"

Cassandra laughed, resting her head on her arms, unaware that Juunanagou had moved away from the table and had walked down towards the stream a little ways away from the group. She was 150 years old? How was that possible?

Bulma noticed his absence first, one finely shaped aquamarine brow raising in curiosity. "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"What?" Cassandra looked up at her and gasped, stiffening. "Oh no..."

Juuhachi groaned and shook her head, glaring at her brother's turned back. "I swear, if he decides to be a stubborn ass I'll shove my foot so far down his throat that he shits my shoelaces," She rose to go and confront him but Cassandra stopped her. "Let him dwell on it for a moment. I've learned to let things take their own course with him. When he's ready to talk about this, he'll call for me,"

"He looks a little grumpy,"

Cassandra smiled gently at Bulma. "He'll be fine,"

"Let's eat!" Yamcha sang out a second later. "Come on, you guys! I'm starvin'!"

Halfway through the meal, when everyone was deep in conversation and Cassandra found it a wonderful time to detach herself, she rose, slipped away from the table, and joined Juunanagou by the water.

"One hundred and fifty years old, Cassy?"

"It comes with being of the long lived races," Cassandra shrugged as she leaned back against the nearest tree, her gold eyes roaming over the stream before her. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I guess I figured it would all be explained when we crossed those particular bridges. Actually, to tell you the truth, I really hadn't even thought about it."

He glanced over at her over his shoulder and studied her intensely. "What happens tomorrow that had you all upset?"

"Oh," She sighed, shrugging. "It's the hundred year anniversary of the death of Witch."

He raised a brow in her direction and Cassandra found herself smiling faintly. "Witch, the Living Myth, Dreams Made Flesh. The most powerful being in all of the realms. She was my grandmother. When she died, my grandfather went with her. Daemon lived for Jaenelle and only Jaenelle and when she returned to the Darkness, he chose to go with her. His family was protected and well taken care of, so it wasn't a burden. Soon after that, I came of age, and took hold of the family assets and land. Of course, when Chi Chi married Goku, I gave it all to her. I didn't really want it. As a matter of fact, about a mile up that way you'll find the ruins of the old SaDiablo Hall."

"So your last name isn't really Matthews?"

"Well, legally it is. After everything that happened, I changed it, made Matthews my official public last name. However, I am still and always will be Cassandra Rose SaDiablo. Daughter of Ox King and Leora SaDiablo."

"So..." Juunanagou turned to face her, not really entirely sure as to what he should say to her. "That's a lot to take in, I suppose," He smiled, walking up to her to take her hand in his own. "But I can understand very well why you haven't said anything prior to this. There's so few of us left that...well, if word got out,"

"Exactly,"

He smiled again, taking her arm and leading her back towards the others. "I just wanted to make sure before we continued. You understand me, Cass, and you're the only one that has ever openly accepted what I am and everything about me since day one, no questions asked. I won't be giving you up that easily,"

"Oh good," Cassandra flashed him a brilliant smile as they approached the table, but it faltered when Chi Chi, Bulma, and Juuhachi all rose and came around to her. "Time for that discussion?"

"Yes,"

"Yay," Cassy murmured and followed them inside, pulling Juunanagou along with her. She didn't want to have to recite the memory of the worst night of her life. At least...not alone.

End chapter. Yeah, I know, it's still a bit confusing, but I really didn't want to start by explaining everything about the Blood and their power, that actually comes in a few more chapters where Cassandra is confronted by Vegeta, blah blah blah. XD It's not too terribly complicated, I promise!