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Disclaimer: I, of course, don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters. I also don't own It's My Life by Bon Jovi.
Notes: Okay, dokey, peeps, I'm back. I'm soooo sorry about the long wait, but I've been busy with school (you should have seen the assignment for History I just finished) and I've also been working on my original story, that I will one day release (hopefully!). I'm so excited about it, it totally kicks ass. Anyway, as a gift for your wonderful patience, I have for you a 4000+ chapter. My longest chapter yet, aren't you proud of me?? Anyway, on with the show… Chapter 4: Entry Denied
~*~
You're gonna hear my voice
~*~
It's not like me, to start writing a journal but I've decided that considering the life I've led it's about time I did. Who knows, maybe one day someone will find this and the real truth will come out about everything that's happened over the last ten years. Though I am willing to admit that while I do have an ulterior motive to all this, it remains to be seen why I even care if anyone would believe the writings of a depressed and aging retired fighter. It's not like anyone would believe me when they have they're 'Champion of the world' to idolise. So, my ulterior motive for this has yet to be stated. How do I say this while still sounding halfway intelligent? Actually, I should probably leave the brains part to Bulma and Gohan. The reason I begin these writings is in the hope that one day I will be able to pass them down to my own children. But, of course, unless I get anywhere with 18 that's never going to happen…Wait a moment, did I just imply that I wanted to have children with 18? Considering I don't even think she can have a child that's almost certainly out of the question. However the thing that worries me is not that. The idea that I think about 18 on a sexual level is almost petrifying. I never thought about Maron like that. But maybe that's what makes my relationship, or lack there-of, with 18 different to my relationship with Maron. Maron was a chance; a chance to finally have what I've always wanted - a girlfriend. But when it comes down to the crunch, Maron was not me; she wasn't my type of person. She was flirty and outgoing but fickle. She had so many boyfriends and I was blind to it. But 18 is the total opposite. It's ironic that I should be attracted to two totally different people. 18 is quiet and reserved and confused. And I think that's what draws me to her. Not just her beauty or the fact that she kissed me. No, 18 is so different from anyone I've ever met. She is so enigmatic. I can look into her blue eyes, when she gives me the chance, and I see so many things at once and still there is so much hidden. So much I still don't know. She's a mystery I can't explain. For now.
~*~
Contemplating what to do with her day, Bulma stared half-heartedly at the ceiling, as its never-ending white seemed to swallow her motivation. Across the room the door creaked. She watched in amusement as the bedroom door opened and a tuft of lavender hair was visible. It moved around the bed and ended up in front of her face.
"Mama, wake?" Trunks' little brow furrowed as he gazed into his mother's matching blue eyes.
"Yes, Mama's awake," she grinned as Trunks scrambled over her to lie in bed next to her.
"Mama, Twunks have nighmare," a frown graced the little boy's small face.
Bulma rolled over to look her son in the eye. She lent one cheek against her hand, her elbow digging into the soft mattress. Trunks lay on his back, staring at the same white ceiling his mother had been looking at earlier.
"What do you mean you had a nightmare?" Maternal instinct kicked in, as Bulma gazed at her son's frown. She didn't like it when he frowned; he looked too much like his father. Not that that was a bad thing sometimes. Trunks jumped up from his lying down position and mimicked his father's Final Flash attack.
"Dada go 'FINAL FLASH' and Twunks go boom," he fell flat on his back, imitating someone dying. Bulma looked at him in horror.
"Your father did what!?" she screeched. Trunks grabbed at his little ears.
"Mama," he whined.
"Oh, I'm sorry, baby," she held out her arms and the little boy jumped into his mother's warm embrace. Leaning against the headboard, Bulma rocked herself and her baby, but while the air was still and comfortable, her mind was racing at a million miles an hour. So, it was only a nightmare. But then again, weren't nightmares manifestations of the sub conscious? Did Trunks' sub conscious think his father would hurt him? She couldn't stand that thought. Sure she knew deep down that Vegeta would never hurt either of them, nonetheless, if her baby even dreamt that, she couldn't let it go any further. Nightmares led to fears and doubts. And regrets.
~*~
Feeling it necessary to apologise for the incident the night before, Krillin began an unassisted search for 18. Normally, he used ki to find a person's position almost immediately. However, due to the fact 18 possessed no detectable ki, he had to search the old fashioned way. Quite sure she would have veered away from the major cities and towns, Krillin found himself flying over a huge pine forest somewhere near the Son property. He was barely even paying attention to where he was going when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flicker of golden light in a small clearing a hundred metres west. He watched, almost in awe, as the figure spotted him, before jumping into the air and fly far ahead.
Zooming across the heavens, Krillin sped to catch up with the figure but it seemed just as he would catch its heels, they would phase further ahead. Becoming impatient with the silly game being played Krillin decided it was about time he cheated a bit himself.
He phased out and appeared in front of his target, grabbing the person's shoulders in a tight grasp and staring them in the eye. As he glared into cornflour blue eyes he realised his mistake. Or perhaps lack thereof.
"Do you enjoy stalking people?" she whispered bitterly. He very obviously got the impression she didn't want to see him.
It took awhile for the reality to set in and as the shock subsided, Krillin became angry, "What's the big idea?" he questioned, tone leaving no room for lies.
"I don't want to see you ever again, pure and simple," she spat. Krillin let go of her shoulders but kept her eyes with a ferocious gaze.
"I don't care, I've been looking for you all over, and then you try and give me the slip. Why the hell do you keep running away from everyone and everything? Sometimes people's motives aren't just about taking advantage of you." The glare he received made him wish he were six feet under.
"What the hell would you know about being taken advantage of? To have my whole life based upon the whims of a mad man and then when I finally get away from that hellhole I get persistent morons like you that follow me around like some sort of lost puppy. What do you care about me? I'm just another person trying to kill your almighty hero, Goku the wonderful!"
Equally infuriated glares clashed like the sea on the rocks during the previous night's storm, "How dare you insult Goku, after it was his son who saved your life?" So what if he loved her, insulting Goku was a no-no.
"Exactly! Wasn't him, was it? The stupid idiot takes the credit for everyone else's work. And still morons like you stand by him, like he's some sort of saviour. He hasn't actually beaten any of your pitiful enemies yet. Seems like he is more of a figure head then anything." She smirked as she watched her opponent muse over her verbal attacks.
"He beat Frieza," Krillin burst out, desperate to prove her wrong in something. It almost felt like she knew him and his friends better then he did.
"No, he didn't," she rolled her eyes, patronisingly, "Trunks beat Frieza when he came back to warn you pathetic imbeciles. You know I really think he shouldn't have bothered coming. Your hero's dead, he left his widow knocked up, his best friend chasing me, for God's know why, and pathetic Vegeta acting like a pride filled bastard. You all sound like one big screwed up family. Trust me, I don't want to get involved with you little clan, so why don't you go back to your love struck musings and leave me out of it." She turned to fly off again, but his hand caught her, calloused fingers wrapping tightly around her arm.
"Why do you act like this? Why can't you just trust us for five minutes? We're not that bad. Why can't you stay with me, instead of living out here in whatever this is? Why do you act so cruel?" Sad eyes, that followed her every twitch, the every flick of her hair, burned her soul. How did he do that?
"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you." She snatched her arm from his grasp and folded her arms over her chest. This was going to take longer than she had first surmised.
It was Krillin's turn to roll his eyes, "How clichéd is that? You sound like a soap opera actress."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Her features blazed with anger.
Quite suddenly, 18 got the impression she wasn't standing in front of the same man as before. Maybe it was built up from the many times he had been rejected by her for she had never seen anyone look as hurt, but bitterly angry as Krillin did then. His face twisted to represent an emotion akin to suppressed rage. In all honesty, she was surprised he didn't slap her.
"It means exactly what I said," he sneered maliciously and 18 stepped back in the air. Then it came, the slap that echoed through the air. And before she could recover he was gone.
~*~
"VEGETA!!!!" The shrill scream that echoed through the Capsule Corp. Compound was probably heard by anyone within a two-mile radius. The man it was meant for definitely got the message. Not that he cared. With a plethora of jabs and roundhouse kicks, Vegeta cut his invisible opponent down to the ground. The same tired game over and over again. But if the woman refused to make a more worthy battle droid then so be it.
With his ki senses at maximum, Vegeta was well aware that Bulma was stalking towards to gravity room. She was angry, he knew that much. Even so, Bulma was angry more often then not.
She reached the gravity room and stayed there. Then she moved again, still in the vicinity. Vegeta turned around. Her face was staring eerily at him, through one of the porthole like windows. She was glaring, gaze fixated on him. It was a familiar gaze. Vegeta turned his back on it.
~*~
Bulma turned away from her sparring partner, if she could call him that anymore. Sure they slept in the same bed and sometimes had sex, but did that define a relationship? Maybe to Vegeta, but somehow she doubted it.
The reason Bulma had not entered the gravity room was rather simple.
She couldn't.
It wasn't that she felt she was intruding on Vegeta's training. Bulma couldn't care less about his training. There were no androids or over grown cockroaches or aliens on the way. The world was at peace so what did she care for training?
No, the reason Bulma couldn't get into the gravity room was exactly that. She couldn't get in.
It was locked.
The gravity room had never really had a reliable lock, as had been all too evident a few weeks ago when Trunks had broken in. For good reason too. Bulma had always worried that if Vegeta ever did anything too dangerous and she couldn't get in then there was no way of helping him without basically blowing it up. During the preliminary stages of their relationship, Bulma couldn't have cared if Vegeta died a rotting carcass in the GR, but matters had changed.
For a while anyway.
And now, for some strange reason (assumedly Vegeta) the Gravity Room was inaccessible. Why, remained the question.
There was a way to get around whatever Vegeta had done to the GR. In the depths of computer coding, a complex shut down program allowed the user to the turn the gravity room off and restart it in default.
Of course, Bulma wasn't planning to do that yet.
She was going to find out why the GR was locked.
But she had a much easier plan in mind.
Bulma one, Vegeta zero.
~*~
Gohan didn't particularly like normal clothes. He had spent so many years flying around the universe, fighting the bad guys - dressed in a gi. To dress otherwise felt regal. It was kind of like getting ready to go to a party every single day.
This, of course, did not deter his mother. Chi-Chi Son had never been one to care for another's opinion on a matter - she just did it.
So that was how Gohan ended up in Satan City at ten o'clock in the morning, trying on various outfits. The shop they were in was an expensive department store. It reminded Gohan of the shops seen in American movies.
"Gohan, would you hang on a moment. The lovely shop assistant is going to show me some adorable baby clothes they just got in," Chi-Chi raised a slender eyebrow, questioningly; "You won't go anywhere, will you?"
Gohan sighed, impatiently, "No, Mom, I'll stay here."
"Great," Chi-Chi disappeared around a corner and undoubtedly to annoy an innocent shop assistant. Gohan stayed put, which was rather annoying because he was dressed in an itchy pair of slacks and a top that remind him vividly of the shirt his father had been wearing when he had arrived home from Yardrat.
He had been standing there for a few minutes, fidgeting madly, when suddenly, there was a rather noisy commotion behind him and someone called his name.
'Gohan! Oh, Gohan, it is you! Do you remember me? It's Lime!' The girl was almost falling over herself to get to Gohan, tumbling over the parcels of the other girl she was with. The other girl muttered something along the lines of 'Watch it' and Lime began to giggle.
'Sorry Vi, hold on a sec,' Lime plodded over to Gohan, arms draped by three huge bags. She threw an arm around the demi-saiyan, accidentally slapping his back with a heavy parcel.
'My god, Gohan, you look so different. Oh, I so saw you on the TV,' she smiled excitedly, 'you were absolutely magnificent. I so know it was you who beat Cell. I'm tryin' to convince Vi but she thinks I'm insane. Being the daughter of 'the Champ' probably has something to do with that.' She burst into a peal of laughter, nudging Gohan in the kidney and creasing the pants he was wearing. She was also standing on his foot.
'Hey Lime,' Gohan winced, gently pulling his foot out from underneath Lime's. Lime didn't seem to notice.
'Oh, you've gotta meet Vi. Guess what?? She's a martial artist too. She does something called Bu-jit-su and she can beat all the seniors! Ain't that amazing! She's like totally in your league!' Gohan doubted that, 'Oi, Vi get over here. No, no, bring your bags; someone'll nick 'em. Hurry up already!'
The dark haired girl dragged her own bags over to Lime. She was shorter than both Gohan and Lime. Her ebony hair was pulled into two pigtails on either side of her face. Her blue eyes looked just as dejected as Gohan felt. Gohan did a quick reading. Lime was right; she was very strong.
The girl arrived in front of the two adolescents and dropped her bags unceremoniously on the ground. She thrust out her hand, using the other to rack hair out of her eyes.
'Satan Videl.' Gohan took her hand.
'Son Gohan.' Videl nodded.
'You're the guy Lime keeps going on about,' she commented wryly. Gohan laughed, hand behind his head.
'I suppose.' Videl rolled her eyes at his naivety. Lime giggled.
'You two look soooo cute together. Anyway, we better go Vi. We're gonna be late gettin' to the coffee shop,' Lime planted a sloppy kiss on Gohan's face, 'you have to come around and see me again Gohan. Don't be a stranger, 'kay?' Videl grabbed her bags and followed Lime. Lime turned around to wave merrily. Gohan barely noticed.
'Gohan, you have to see these things, they're adorable,' Chi-Chi's voice reverberated around the shop but Gohan ignored it.
He watched the retreating figures of Lime and Videl. Just at the door, Videl glanced over her shoulder. Something shimmered in her eyes. She bit her lip and turned around, following Lime out of the store and into the crowded street.
'Gohan!'
'Coming Mom.'
The louder that we scream the more invisible we seemA shimmering bead of wet salty liquid slid down the cheek of a girl surrounded by life but completely alone.
~*~
Bulma slammed a few keys on her keyboard but wasn't particularly pleased with the result. She had never had problems getting into the camera system before but something was definitely wrong. The projector she used wasn't connected to the camera she usually used to watch Vegeta. In fact, from the static she was getting, she figured the camera wasn't even working.
Grunting in frustration, Bulma slammed her hand against another key. A few moments later, her father's face appeared in front of her own.
'What's up, Bulma?' Dr. Briefs watched his daughter curiously. She was glaring, eyes slanted, brow creased in angry confusion.
'What's up?' Bulma asked acidly, raising her eyebrows, 'what's up is that for some reason I can't get into the gravity room and I can't get the projector to work. Plus, the camera I usually use to keep an eye on Vegeta isn't working. All I'm getting is static. Care to explain?'
Dr Briefs raised his hands in defence, 'I have no idea, dear. I haven't done anything to the GR.'
'Then what's going on?' Bulma asked angrily.
'I honestly don't know, dear. Last time I checked the Gravity Room was perfectly accessible. Are you sure you used the right code?' Bulma growled in frustration.
'Don't you think I would have thought of that?' she said, glaring hard, 'I'm not an idiot. And even so, a wrong code doesn't explain why the camera and projector are down.'
'I don't know, maybe Vegeta's done something.'
Bulma sighed, 'I thought that at first about the door, so I was gonna ask him about it, but I couldn't get the projector up. I think there's another camera but that means I'm gonna have to reroute the entire projection system. Besides, there is a default mechanism that will allow me to open the door to the GR, but it will take at least an hour to decode it. But I'm not gonna get him out of there any other way. I've tried signalling to him through the windows, but he's being a smart-ass. He won't let me in.'
Dr Briefs raised an eyebrow, 'Looks like your only choice, dear. Its almost lunch time, why don't you go get something to eat and then I'll come up and help you with some of that decoding, while you reroute the projector.'
'Fine,' Bulma sighed in defeat, 'looks like I've got no choice. Trunks is due for a nap so I'll put him down and grab a bite. Thanks anyway, Dad.'
'No problem. See ya soon.' The feed died.
'Just another problem to deal with. That man will be the death of me,' Bulma muttered to no one in particular.
~*~
Three hours later, after much fuss and tears two resolutions had been reached.
One, Gohan finally had some new clothes…
…And two…
…Bulma had access to the projector.
What joyous occasions they were.
Bulma sat in his swivel chair, staring at the computer, which would now allow her to talk to Vegeta through the projector. With the help of her father, she had managed to reroute the camera and projector. It had turned out that to default the entire GR system would have taken hours and resulted in an entire data loss. To reboot the system would have taken a full week of manual coding, something that neither Bulma nor her father were interested in doing. So, they had teamed up to reroute the projector.
And finally she could resolve the issue she had been planing to since word go.
So why had she stopped?
Why did she feel like this was a bad idea?
Of course, due to the fact that Dr. Briefs was standing behind her, eager expression on his face, Bulma knew she would have to do it. Stalling only made her question her nerve. It would be much better to bite the bullet.
Press the damn button.
The little voices were telling her what to do. She imagined the characteristic angel and devil on either shoulder, whispering in her ears.
Leave him alone, wait till later.
You haven't waited this long and done this much work to waste it on doubts.
Sacrifice the time and wait.
No.
Yes, you must.
No.
That bad feeling is telling you to wait.
No, you are, you stupid goody two shoes.
I will not degrade myself with a retort.
Be tempted. Press the button.
No, don't do it.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
The devil won. Bulma pressed the button.
Meanwhile, Vegeta had been having a somewhat enjoyable time, training in his Gravity Room. He hadn't made any drastic improvements, but he felt it had been a good day. No interruptions from annoying woman and no roving saiyan children unlocking the door. Yes, his plan had indeed been a masterful one.
No interruptions…
Peace…
Oh, the serenity…
That was until a familiar face popped up in front of Vegeta, looking very angry indeed. You could almost describe her expression as pissed off.
Yes, definitely pissed off.
A little nervous too. Odd, that.
'What the hell are you doing?' Vegeta wasn't exactly pleased with the interruption of his serenity. He had been enjoying it.
Bulma glared, ignoring the fact that her father was about to be privy to yet another one of her and Vegeta's fights. 'Why have you blocked off the GR? Is it really necessary that you lock me out?'
Vegeta rolled his eyes, 'It wouldn't have if you had stayed out of here.'
Bulma stared at him, incredulous, 'Excuse me, but I do recall making that damn thing.'
'So?'
'So! So, buster, so I have every right to be in there when I please. The day you build that thing with your own supplies bought with your own money, is the day you can have complete control of that thing. Until that day,' Bulma spat acidly, 'I have control over that machine.
'You wish,' Vegeta muttered sarcastically.
Tip toed steps sounded behind Bulma and then the door to the lab opened and closed. Bulma swivelled around to find herself in an empty room. Her father had left her too it.
Not a moment too soon.
As she turned around, Bulma found herself face to face with a sizable ki blast, sitting neatly in Vegeta's left hand. It was aimed directly at the camera.
'Don't you dare blow up this camera,' Bulma spat, her voice not portraying the nervousness that flickered through her mind.
Vegeta smirked maliciously, 'what ya gonna do about it?'
'Default the gravity room and blow it up. Even if I only default it, it'll take at least a week to recode,' she raised an eyebrow sceptically, 'Would you be able to survive that long?'
The ki blast dissipated. 'What the hell do you want?' Vegeta asked angrily.
Bulma faltered, 'Ah…I…wanted…' she thought quickly. What had she wanted? Finally she blushed sheepishly, 'I can't remember,' she admitted. Vegeta growled angrily, 'you mean you wasted all this time for absolutely nothing. Something you forgot!! What idiotic planet are you from?' he asked, incredulous. The ki blast reformed in his palm. He took aim…
…And fired.
'Wait!' Bulma called out suddenly. She remembered. Trunks' nightmare.
But it was too late. As if in slow motion, the blast rocketed towards the camera. It made contact, blowing the innocent piece of machinery into a million pieces.
Bulma's screen filled with noisy static.
It was gone. Her chance of talking to him was gone. Completely non-existent.
Ceased.
End.
Done.
Finished.
Bulma glared so hard at the dead screen she was sure she could have bored a hole into its annoying static.
All was not well.
Unrest waited, tapping her sharp nails against the glass mirror of time.
~*~
So, what did you guys think? Song credits go to Nothing's Changed by The Calling. Also, Bu-jit-su (officially known as Bu-jit-su Modern Freestyle) is a style of Japanese martial arts based on self-defence. I thought it would fit the culture better, considering its Japanese. It will appear later on as well, and if you want to know anything about it, just email me at bulma_for_vegeta@hotmail.com. Anyway, if that brought on the tissues keep them on hand for the next chapter. This one was just a prologue for the next chapter, so get prepared (while I prepare myself to write it) for tears, screaming and all out angst of the best kind. Chapter 5 is on its way…Final Showdown!!!!!
Ratty