Chapter Twenty-Three

Sasoli's stomach made a note of protest and was ignored.

The first hour had flown by as she watched the various comings and goings of the various employees. The second hour was fine, if a bit boring.

The third dragged.

The fourth hour was hell.

Uub tried to pay attention to the lowly secretary that was making her way toward her car. He really did. It was just Sasoli had gone into a coma like state and she was starting to worry him.

"Sasoli?" He poked her arm.

No response.

"Are you okay?" He poked her arm again.

Nothing.

Uub glanced at the secretary, she was fine, before turning his full attention to his passenger.

Her eyes were open but unfocused.

He waved his hand in front of her face.

Still nothing.

He tapped her nose but, besides blinking, there was no response.

Unable to resist he reached for her hair, and nearly had a heart attack when she spoke, "Having fun?"

"Sasoli," Uub had retreated back to his side of the car, "What happened? Why weren't you responding?"

Her eyes were now focused and sharp.

"I was tracking their energy," Sasoli stretched out, "In case, any of them flared up in distress."

Uub took in her slumped figure and nodded. Keeping track of so many must have exhausted her both mentally and physically.

"This was a bust," the demi-saiyan was annoyed and tired, "Come on."

She popped open the car door and started trudging back to the company.

He was quick to follow.

"We'll report to Trunks and then call it a day," Sasoli yawned.

He nodded though he felt like he had forgotten something.

"Kakarot," Sasoli paused at the main door, "Where's Uncle Vegeta?"

"He took Bulma home," Goku shrugged.

"Of course," she twisted her mouth, "I should have known. You can go home now."

"Ok," Goku waved a quick farewell to Uub and then he was gone.

Instant transmission was a wonderful thing. Something Sasoli fully intended to learn one day.

A light bulb went off over Uub's head. They were supposed to find Sasoli a place to stay today.

But they hadn't.

"I can't believe my office is exactly the way it was when I left."

"It's not surprising, considering you became the president after your mother," Maron pointed out logically.

"She's right," Sasoli added then to Trunks, "Nothing yet."

Trunks attention turned to his cousin, "Hn."

Uub sighed and glanced around, noting the drastic changes since the last time he had seen the office. The mountains of paperwork were gone replaced by shiny file cabinets. Something was off . . .

"Sasoli, where's your filing cabinet?"

Sasoli frowned and glanced around, "I guess they moved it."

She shrugged.

"So you're staying with Uub?" Trunks injected suddenly..

"No," Sasoli denied instantly.

"Yes," Uub glanced at her curiously, "We didn't find you a place today."

Maron touched Sasoli's arm.

"You should stay with him, at least for tonight." The blonde was concerned, "I don't know if you can get into a decent hotel at this hour."

"She's right," Trunks stood by Maron, "Zarah mentioned you claimed adult rights so you can't stay with either of us and we don't want repeat Zarah incident."

Sasoli pouted stubbornly.

"I don't want to impose. I already put him out last night."

Trunks brows went up.

Maron elbowed him.

"You didn't put me out," Uub was puzzled by her reasoning.

"Yes, I did," she insisted.

Uub sighed, "My offer to you last night is still open."

Trunks and Maron were completely absorbed and ignored.

Sasoli chewed her lip and then she caved. They were right. She had no where else to go and Trunks had made it clear she couldn't stay in the building again.

"Sasoli, one more night won't kill me," Uub tried to lighten the mood, "Besides, we could go over more strategies."

"Ok, but tomorrow I'll get my own place," Sasoli was resolute in her decision.

"Sure you will," Trunks snarked under his breath.

Maron glared and swatted him.

Sasoli ignored him and walked to Uub.

"I won't be sleeping in your bed this time," she remarked just loud enough for him to hear.

He arched a brow as he followed her out the door, was that a challenge?

Valjean glanced around the hotel room nervously. The last time he had agreed to meet someone somewhere he had almost gotten captured by the police.

The dirty bitch . . .

"You never did pay attention to your surroundings."

Valjean jumped and spotted his fair haired companion in the bathroom doorway.

"Hey, Cupid man, you scared the shit out of me."

"Don't call me that," Cupid ordered sharply, "You know I hate that."

"Okay, Cupid."

Cupid narrowed his blue eyes before sighing with exasperation. he hadn't made nice with Valjean for his conversational skills.

The fair man shook his head, then again Valjean never learned. Cupid had found him in the seediest bar in the city harassing some chick.

"So what did you want to talk to me for?" Green eyes were sharp and his voice hard, "Last time we talked you were supposed to give me a new shipment of Capsule Corp. goods. You left me high and dry."

Cupid was dismissive.

"My position was compromised."

"And I am just supposed to accept that load of bullshit," Valjean balled his fists.

Cupid turned to him and stepped into his personal space.

Blue eyes met and conquered green.

"You are."

Valjean was all apologies. Cupid could be a scary son of a bitch.

"So," Valjean tapped his cast nervously, "What did you want?"

"The stabbing last night," Cupid inquired lightly, "Was that you?"

Valjean became guarded but nodded.

"I see," Cupid smiled and became truly handsome, "I think we have a common agenda again."

"You after the CC bitch lawyer too?"

Cupid laughed.

"You know those murders?"

Valjean nodded wearily, still wondering if the whole thing was a setup or not.

"Those were me," Cupid rocked back and forth on his heels, "to lure her out. To bring her to me."

"Hot damn! I'll get her for sure now! Hey, Cupid man, did you get her name?"

"Yes," he smiled and closed his eyes, "It's Sasoli. Sasoli Briefs."

"Briefs? Are you shittin' me?" Valjean fell on the bed. "Well, that explains a lot."

Cupid turned so suddenly that Valjean snapped up into a sitting position in defense.

"Tell me everything."

And Valjean did.

Sasoli held her stomach as she tried not to wince at the pain. I guess skipping lunch wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Is it your tail again?"

She shook her head quickly.

"I'll be fine as soon as we get to your apartment," she replied in an even tone. Then silently, and I eat you out of house and home.

Uub continued to drive back but couldn't help sneaking concerned glances at her. Maybe a change of topic is in order.

"What's wrong with the bed?"

Sasoli blinked, "What bed?"

Uub met her eyes briefly before turning back to the road.

"My bed."

She frowned, "Nothing."

"Hmm," Uub nodded to himself.

Sasoli watched him suspiciously.

He just hummed to himself, his head bobbing lightly to music only he could hear.

She didn't relax her guard. He could be tricky when he wanted to be.

"You can let your tail down around me."

Her attention snapped back to him.

"I mean," he parked the car, "You don't, have to hide yourself from me."

He turned to her only for her to turn away.

"It's a pretty tail."

Sasoli burst into laughter at that one.

"And how would you know?" She shook her head and exited his car.

Uub huffed and exited so he could capsulate his car.

Sasoli laughed at him and then again at his door.

"I saw your brother's tail."

"You're going to compare my tail to Zarah's," she leaned against his doorway weakly, "Now you're just wrong."

Uub grumbled under his breath as they entered his apartment.

She grinned and made her way into the kitchen, "You're funny. Do yourself a favor, never speak of my tail again."

Uub crossed his arms and muttered to himself, "Talk about no good deed goes unpunished."

Sasoli's smile dropped and a look of horror replaced it.

The refrigerator was empty. She threw open all the cupboards.

Completely bare.

Not even a can of beans.

Her stomach clutched in protest.

"What are you looking for?" Uub glanced in just as Sasoli burst into tears, "Sasoli!"

"You have no food!" She wailed as she sank to the floor.

"Well, yeah," Uub approached her awkwardly and flinched when she cried harder.

He touched her shoulder.

"Sasoli, what's wrong? Are you hungry? I can go to the gas station."

She sobbed into her hands.

Uub winced as he remembered how much his master Goku could eat. "That's not going to be enough is it."

Her eyes were filled with tears.

He glanced around futilely, knowing he didn't have any food in the apartment. There was only one thing he could do to solve it.

He focused on the table and searched for the hidden power he gained from merging with Majin Buu. His entire body glowed as he concentrated, the timing had to be perfect.

Now.

"Turn into sandwiches!"

Sasoli glanced up at the odd command in time to see light streak from his Mohawk to connect with the table.

The light blinded her a moment and when she regained her sight, the table was no more. In it's place was the biggest, oddest shaped sandwich she had ever seen.

"Eat, Sasoli," he pleaded, "Don't cry."

Another tear, "I don't understand. What happened?"

"Sasoli," he brushed it away, "Please, just eat."

She just continued to blink.

"I - this - Ok, I can turn anything I want into food," Uub explained hesitantly, "It's a side effect of the merging."

"With Buu," Sasoli's tears were slowly dying with understanding.

"Yes," he sat on the floor next to her and let his head drop, "I guess you don't like me anymore."

She glanced at him then to find he was partially turned away.

"Majin Buu created the evil kid Buu by becoming angry and separating from it. It's not enough I am the reincarnation of the evil Buu but now I share in it's . . . I am human and I am not human, I am a freak."

He opened his eyes to find her gone.

"I think it's wonderful."

He turned around and was surprised to see her tail free and moving with her, actually punctuating her thoughts.

"You're not a freak, Uub, not anymore than I am," her tail drooped for a moment before curling up at the tip. "We're just different."

Then she ate his table.

Well, not all of it, she saved him a leg.

It wasn't until after they finished that he realized he should have used the opportunity to end their engagement.

Though . . .

He wasn't sure if he wanted to . . .

The bed issue was solved when they both fell asleep on the floor. They were trying to outlast each other in the duel over who was going to be sleeping in the bed.

They both lost.

"I see," Cupid was unsure of how to take advantage of this new information.

"Yeah, I know," Valjean kicked his foot. "I still don't understand why she did it. It's not like she's a cop or anything."

A cop? Cupid's eyes narrowed, she couldn't be . . .

"Hey, Cupid man, you've been casing her for weeks, right? You know her schedule and everything by now, right?"

"No, I don't."

Valjean's mind skipped a gear.

"What? But that's what you do! You had that place cased for weeks before you did anything!"

Cupid glared and Valjean shut his mouth.

"This one is different. She doesn't have a schedule. Sometimes, it like she doesn't even leave the building and when she does, she with Uub. . ."

"Who?"

Cupid went silent, why would she spend all her time with a detective and, then in her spare time, try to track down criminals?

There had to be more to this situation then met the eye.

"Hey, Cupid?" Valjean inquired hesitantly, "Is Uub another inside man?"

"No, he's an obstacle." Cupid snapped his fingers, "We need bait."

"Bait?" Valjean didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes," Cupid eyed Valjean, "She almost caught you once. How much do you want to bet she won't be able to resist going after you again."

"Me?" Valjean's thought drifted back to the attractive woman who nearly trapped him, "Ok, I can take her."

Cupid glanced at him quizzically.

"You know, beat her up and stuff," Valjean grinned, "I'll have no problem manhandling that chick, let me tell you."

Cupid scoffed at him.

Then he took it back.

He'd thought the same when he'd first tangled with her and she'd taken him out so fast, he hadn't known he was beaten until he hit the ground.

This could work to his advantage.

Valjean didn't know he didn't stand a chance against her. He would distract her while he, the intelligent one, would come up from behind to take advantage.

"Tomorrow, I'll find a way to get her to come to us."

"Hey, could we play with her first? You know, before we kill the bitch." Valjean probed carefully.

Cupid waved dismissively, "After I question her."

Valjean smiled and was lost to fantasy.

Cupid crossed his arms.

Who was Sasoli Briefs? Really? A rent-a-cop, lawyer, and a vigilante?

It didn't make any sense.

The first two occupations would prevent the third. So which one was she? Or was there another one under all the layers?

Cupid smiled, the best way to peel back layers was with a knife.

"Oh, Valjean, you're going to have to lose that cast."

Uub blinked blearily at the ceiling as he wondered why his bed felt so hard.

Then he remembered that Sasoli was there.

So he wondered why his couch was so hard.

Then he remembered his standoff with her about who was sleeping where though he couldn't recall who won.

His vision cleared and the ceiling came into sharp focus.

"I guess I won," he commented softly to himself, "Why else would I be sleeping on the floor?"

A movement to his left made him reassess his statement.

"Unless, we both fell asleep."

He turned his head so he could have a complete view of Sasoli at rest.

She was a quiet sleeper. She slept mostly on her stomach with her arm as a pillow, slightly curled toward him. Her spikes fell gently around her face, making her skin look soft and smooth in comparison.

Then he remembered 17's rather disturbing tale of watching his wife sleep and nearly losing an eye.

Uub decided it might be best to study from a distance.

He sat up and went to stretch out his arms when his left arm snagged.

Sasoli twitched in her sleep.

Uub went very still and waited for her to calm. His eyes trailed down his arm to his wrist where they stopped and it became very clear why he couldn't move his left arm very far.

Her tail was curled around his wrist like a giant bracelet and didn't seem inclined to let go anytime soon.

"Uh oh," he regarded the sleeping demi-saiyan, "Sasoli . . ."

No response.

"Ok, don't panic," Uub scrutinized his wrist for any possible way to break her grip without waking her up. Maybe if he unwound it slowly and gently.

He took hold of the tip and started to rotate his wrist.

The tail tightened it's grip and snapped back to it's source.

Sasoli snapped awake in time to see Uub unbalance at the sudden jerk and topple towards her. She rolled to avoid being squished but was jerked to a painful stop as her tail became snagged.

She glanced back to see what on earth her tail had gotten tangled up in when she saw it.

Their eyes met.

"I woke up like this," Uub gestured to his wrist, "I didn't do it."

Sasoli stared at her tail and mentally commanded it to release him.

It ignored her.

Sasoli's mind raced as she searched for possible explanations. Two possibilities came to mind, one, her tail had suddenly developed a personality of it's own and would soon grow a face in order to talk to her. Or, an actually worse scenario, her saiyan instincts were taking physical form in the most alien part of her, taking action where she would not.

Either way, for the next foreseeable future, they were stuck together.

"Can't you take it off?" Uub jiggled his wrist.

Her tail followed the motion like rope but it was the feeling of his skin ruffling her fur that made her shiver.

Maybe she could force her tail to let go of him.

She whipped her tail to the side only to wrench Uub's arm into an awkward angle.

"Ok, ow," he tried to smile but it came out more of a grimace.

"Sorry," Sasoli brought it back to it's original position. "Let's try standing up."

After some careful maneuvering the attached couple took a moment to reassess their situation.

"So . . ." he didn't know what to say. Her tail wasn't hurting him but they couldn't work this way.

"I know . . ." Sasoli tried to straighten her tail and Uub followed the movement to stand directly behind her.

"Ok," she tried to wrap her tail around her waist and watched Uub walk around her to stop with his hand on the base of her tail.

Sasoli quickly spun in a small circle to unwind herself.

"I can't let go of you," she admitted panicked as she began to pace.

Forced to pace as well, Uub regarded her tail that hung limply between them. It was kind of like a furry handcuff.

"I need to talk to my mom," Sasoli decided and turned on her heel to change.

Only to run into Uub.

This was going to get old very fast.

So it was an awkward fifteen minutes later where they stood on opposite sides of a partially open door to change. He had to keep the same shirt since there was no way to take it off without ripping it. He was just grateful to have a shirt at all since he sometimes slept without one.

"So your mom will know what to do?" Uub questioned as Sasoli crawled over the driver side into the passenger seat of the car.

"She should have an idea," Sasoli sat as close to him as possible but turned away so he would have enough slack to drive. "She warned me."

Uub frowned as he started the car.

"She warned you that your tail would attach itself to me?" Uub ignored the fact that her tail was draped across his lap. Moving back and forth idly as he moved the steering wheel.

Sasoli ignored it too.

"No, she implied something 'interesting' would happen," she glanced over her shoulder to met his eyes, "I think this qualifies as 'interesting.'"

"Hmm," Uub nodded and drove just a bit faster.

End of Chapter Twenty Three