Winning the Love of the Handsome Skater
Chapter Four: All is Fair in Pursue and War! Let the Games Begin!
The same day very Bulma's last wish was to be left alone, unlike what you might've thought her wishes would be. She felt too alone for her own good that evening. She had the evanescent idea of asking Vegeta to share his huge enough mansion with her, just for the night, as she did not want to be left on her own cross her mind for a moment, but she knew better than to push her luck. For the little time the skater had shared with her and the gang, she found out he wasn't one of the most cheerful and careless people you could encounter. And that left her, yet again, alone to sulk in depression for the remainder of the day.
This was what she actually did, indeed. She wondered what could possibly be so wrong with her to have her wonderful boyfriend cheat on her all the time. What was so foul in her that drove him into hurting her every freaking time she turned her back to him? She wanted to know, desperately. She screamed in front of the bathroom mirror for hours on end, just to have her voice flee her in the end, and having her drown her sorrow in the salty liquid of her pure tears. She had never felt worse in her entire life… Hollow, emotionless, drained of her will to live, devoid of hope of any kind for what the future may hold in store for her. All she wanted to do was lie down and stare at the ceiling until her mind was numb enough to let her fall asleep… to a dreamless slumber…
Her mother and father knew their daughter really well, not to mention this was not the first time it had happened. They didn't even bother picking up the phone when its annoying lingering sound resounded over the walls of Bulma's corridor to her private chambers. When she was ready, she would pick it up herself and tell him to find something better to do than annoy her. Of course, she would use far different words, more like nastier insults. Or—which was more of a possibility—she would rip off the cord of the annoying telephone that would be sure to dance on her nerves, sooner or later.
It began irritating the daylights out of her far too sooner than the parents had anticipated. Their daughter nearly ripped the door off its hinges as she launched for the receiver and pulled the whole item inside so she wouldn't need to yell in the corridor. The whole Capsule Corp grounds did not need to know every single detail about her personal problems with her unfaithful boyfriend, thank you very much. Little she knew that, even after she had slammed the door, her voice had reached a volume loud enough for the shut door to make absolutely no difference whatsoever.
"What the hell are you calling for? What else do you have to say! I heard enough of your bullshit already, leave me alone to drown in my idiocy for letting you walk all over me for the umpteenth time in our entire puny relationship!" Bulma screeched over the receiver, causing the person on the other end of the line to wince at her tone, not to mention her volume. She let a small smirk grace her lips for a short instant before it faltered into nothingness. Let him squirm in a pathetic death! She could do better than that and she was just warming up right then! She'd scream at him until it no longer gave her any kind of satisfaction to hear his pathetic whiny voice over the phone.
"Bulma, please, you should listen!"
"I should? And just why 'should' I? What is it that you can possibly say that could matter anyway? Who, the fuck, do you think you're talking to, insolent bastard? I'm not just one of the petty little whores you screw around with. Shut the hell up before I decide I don't give a damn whether you wave your ass around the imbecilic school or not and have media and paparazzi on your tail, asking you questions about filth you would've never imagined I can make up. You have no idea what I am capable of doing when I'm berserk, Yamcha, don't freaking try my patience! You'd be surprised how thin it could get when you're not in my good books! Go and rot in Hell for all I care—which, by the way, by no means anymore includes you, or anything that has to do with you!" She finished her tirade and took a deep shaky—but nonetheless content—breath. Did she blurt all out in a second or what?
"But, Bulma, you don't understand! You have got the wrong idea about the whole thing. I was just—" he tried futilely to protest, but he certainly was in a huge mistake there. Oh, she understood everything really well. He didn't respect her; he didn't care about her feelings. There were better ways to tell someone those two things than cheat on them, she reckoned. How clearer could things be than that? She didn't wish to listen to any more of this… It was tiring her, emotionally and physically as well… She didn't wish to hear his excuses; she didn't want to yell at him any more… She just wanted him to leave her be… God knew it was the least he could freaking do after the way he had treated her.
"Did you even listen to what I just said? Are you deaf! No trace of memory in that tiny brain of yours from a second ago, is there? I wasn't born yesterday, Yamcha, and you have to think of a better excuse if you wish for me to believe your shit, which I won't anyway. Spare yourself some precious oxygen and leave me the hell alone! Forget I exist. Just let me live my life, and you live yours, screwing whomever you damn well please. I don't care anymore."
Before he could object again, she slammed the receiver into its place on the phone and threw herself on the queen-sized bed. She sighed as she stared at the ceiling vacuously. She had done it. She was finally free, in more than one aspect. His presence had begun to turn into a suffocating grip a long time ago, though she had been too thick and stubborn to admit it. She had always been so selfless with him, tried to do her best so he wouldn't need to cheat on her again and break her fragile heart for the nth time. Obviously, no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to please him. What was such a relationship worth then? It only made her feel like a loser. She was better off without it…
The lavender-haired girl had loved her boyfriend dearly. He had meant the world to her, regardless whether the feelings were mutual or not. He had been her best friend, ever. It was common for her to have her best male friend as a boyfriend; she only thought it would be natural. Yet again, he probably did not think the same way. She knew most about him, almost everything, as he knew almost everything about her. They had known each other for what seemed like a lifetime. They had shared so much time and pleasant experiences together. How could he just throw it all away in a whim! She couldn't comprehend that but neither did she care any longer. She had her peace now, at last…
The moment of solitude was broken almost immediately though as the phone rang again. She let out an enraged primordial roar as she ripped the thing off its holder, getting ready for another row. He had just annoyed her to a point of insanity and she would make absolutely sure he was aware of that—and regretted it—the moment she spoke.
"What do you want now? I thought I made it clear to you—" But the voice on the other end of the line put her rant to an abrupt halt as quickly as she had landed on the floor.
"Here I thought you might need a ride and that's how you answer your phone? If I knew that, I would've stopped myself before calling." The voice sounded utterly annoyed and bored at the same time. It was such a strange mix. Just like the persona she was talking to. She was quite thankful he wasn't there in person. Otherwise he would've noted the slight red tint to her cheeks that had just appeared upon realizing her mistake.
"Oh—Sorry about that… I thought it was—"
"I know who you thought it was; I don't need you reminding me. Now answer the question if you will, I'm growing old here!" She raised a fine eyebrow at the rude tone he was using as well as his insulting interrupting of her sentences. A question? Where was there a question in his rant till now!
"I don't understand."
"Do you need a ride or not! How hard is that to rephrase from what I said earlier, Jesus Christ!"
"Well if you had just asked directly, I would've been quite faster with answering, you know. How hard is it to put your thoughts out in a straight word, so people could—"
"ANSWER, DAMN YOU!"
She needed to pull the receiver away from her ear so she could keep her hearing ability for some more years, as she figured she would need it. She grinned widely as she had caused him to completely get berserk with her by just bitching around with useless crap. She wondered how much time it must've taken him to "lower himself"—as he would've surely referred to it—as to concern himself with matters such as whether she would need a ride or not. Truth was he didn't really know where the villa was, so she guessed that was actually the only reason he was still breathing hard on the other end, doing his best at soothing his anger. One thing was sure – he was a man of his word, if anything.
"Sure, I could use a ride. I'm too damned emotionally exhausted to drive myself there anyway," she said with a half-hearted smile as she relaxed her back against the edge of her comfy bed. Oh, how she craved to just lay her head down against the pillow and drift off to a dreamless sleep… She felt terrible… She was sure even rags felt better at the end of the week than she did right then.
"Is this how incompetent women drivers try to reason their incapability of driving? 'Not in the mood to drive'?" His chuckle resounded in the walls of her head, leaving a permanent trace she was still unaware would affect her for a long, long time in the future. Her smile faltered and a stoned expression took over the smooth features of her face as she glared at the door that was right in front of her.
"Are you testing my patience now? All you have to do is tell me and I would gladly race you there tomorrow, you damn arrogant bastard. You're the one that's in disadvantage right now so don't play with fire! You are destined to be burned!" To her utter surprise all he did was sneer at her (she had expected an insult) and a phrase that she could swear he had spoken through a smirk etched onto his features.
"Ten a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late, or I'll find my own way somehow."
And with that he hung up on her. Ten a.m.! That was too late! What would the others say? On the other hand, what did she care what the others would say? She could be sure that Vegeta wanted to get plenty of sleep before having to deal with the gang for an extra weekend more. He was less tolerant to other people than you could expect by looking at him, being so famous and all.
The girl pulled herself up from the floor and onto her bed, crawling towards her huge puffy pillow. She set her alarm clock for nine in the morning, as she would need plenty of time to get ready tomorrow. She managed to wash herself, get dressed and even had some breakfast during the week, yet in the weekends her pace slowed down quite a lot for a reason she couldn't possibly fathom. Perhaps it was some psychological borderline of hers which didn't allow her to be as fast during weekends with her morning rituals as she was during the week.
Bulma shook her head clear of useless thoughts. What was she so caught up in thinking! Morning makeover! Geez… This situation must have really messed her up…
With a sigh she laid under the bed sheets without bothering to change from her house-clothes. She laid there, with her back against the mattress, an impassive expression holding her face as she drowned in thought yet again.
She wouldn't let herself get fooled ever again. She had had enough of Yamcha toying with her and her feelings. If that was the way he would treat her, she would be better off boyfriend-less. She knew that none of her candidates in school really wanted her because of who she was. All they wanted was the fame of being 'Bulma Briefs' date'. How wonderful it must sound to them. Did they even realize what it was doing to her? The inconsiderate bastards… All of them were so like one another. So stereotypical, so identical… So boring and lame… She wanted something different, something special…
Goku had been the only person that considered her emotions and her welfare above everything. Ever since they were little, Bulma had always been befriended to the goof. Sure, he was not the brightest bulb in the store, but at least he was caring, gentle and sincere. His naivety was probably what made him so innocent… and pure. She envied ChiChi in a way… Even she, Bulma, had had the chance to have something with Goku. But then again he wasn't what would truly please her whim. She knew now that she needed a man, not a boy… She needed someone reliable, someone she knew she could trust. And there was no longer such a person in her life to fit that description… She even wondered if Yamcha had been such a person in the first place, but she shoved the thought out of her head with a speed to be envied for. All she had right now were her friends… At least they would never betray her…
With a sigh, she huddled into the velvety covers of her huge bed and turned to her side, cradling her head in her bent arm by the elbow between her and the pillow. She would have to deal with all of these emotions again tomorrow, she was sure. But right then all she needed was to sleep over it and try to regain some of her lost pride overnight.
A thought ran through her head before she had realized it – while she had been talking to the brute that found himself as a neighbour of hers now, she had forgotten completely about the events of the day. All she could think of was how to counter his insults, screams and annoying comments with matching ferocity at bay. She smirked. The bastard… Even if he would probably never admit it even if she tried to torture him into it, she knew that he had used that tone of his on her today because of her earlier breakdown. Maybe he wasn't much of a compassionate friend to comfort you while you cry, but he sure as hell could already figure how to push her buttons with expertise to stun you.
She tossed herself to her other side in her bed and sighed heavily again. How would she face her friends tomorrow and admit that they have been right all along? They had told her a million times, but she had never listened, she had always put her trust into Yamcha, time and time again, getting hurt over and over again. Holy shit, she even fought with ChiChi on the topic today, defending the bastard and letting him separate her from her dearest friend. And what for! A scumbag like him did not deserve to be honored in such a way, she deduced… Yet how could she possibly excuse to ChiChi? The raven-haired girl had quite a temper in such situations.
With a roll of her eyes towards the blinking dot of her alarm clock, Bulma decided that she would have to admit defeat to her friend, and try to put up with the roll of convincing, lectures and all the shit that would follow, only making her feel worse and smaller than ever. She just hoped she would have the will-power to listen to the brunette rubbing salt in the fresh wounds tomorrow… But if that was the price to pay for stupidity, she surely deserved it. That and she could hope she never had to endure it ever again. She wasn't too sure if she would be able to.
She continued to ponder over other things, doing her best at having sleep fall over her, yet all her tries failed miserably, one after another. Well… Maybe she would be able to sleep tomorrow in Vegeta's car.
He would take her there by a car… right?
She said her good-byes to her early waking parents and shut the door quietly after herself.
When she turned around she found a stunning sight before her. She lost her firm hold on her backpack, as well as on her bottom jaw as she noticed the dark indigo coloured Lamborghini Diablo GT, with an impatient driver behind the steering wheel waiting for her to arrive, drumming his fingers against the soft-looking fabric embracing the wheel. She fought to regain composure and picked her backpack up and swallowed slowly before making her way to her new neighbour, who seemed to lose more and more of his precious patience with every single second she lingered at the threshold of her house.
The door slid upwards and almost made her swoon. She was not a freak on the topic of cars, but damn it, this was not a car! This was something… more than just a car! It was like a living, breathing baby, whose engine was purring gently.
She slid in the passenger's seat and hugged her backpack, almost in fear that the comfy leather might devour her into the heavenly vehicle. She had a weakness for sports cars that Yamcha would never possibly understand. Was that too tomboyish?
She heard the lingering words of the last verse of a song she had never heard before, 'If you choose to pull the trigger, should your drama prove sincere, do it somewhere far away from here!' She grimaced at the fancy audio system of the car which had nothing to do with how much she envied him for having such a car all to himself.
"No wonder you have such a sour expression on your face. Jeez, is everything you listen to so… brutal?" She tried to begin a conservation all the while trying to ignore the fact she was sitting in a Lamborghini Diablo GT, a car an edition limited to 80 of those babies only, not to mention how much it most certainly cost. Was it necessary to say that was a fact one can hardly ignore? Vegeta threw her a malignant glare.
"I have not agreed to take you there only to have you criticize my taste in music," he said and with that—for him—the topic was quite closed. The passenger door slid closed as if it was a raindrop that was gracefully dripping down the smooth surface of the window during the gentle spring drizzle that resurrected the whole nature. Bulma blinked slowly and looked forward as the engine purred slightly louder and the teen pulled out of the driveway in the direction Juuhachi had pointed out for him yesterday at school.
"It was just an innocent comment, jeez…" Just as she said that, the next part of the following song was screamed as if directly into her ears.
'Fuck your God, your Lord, your Christ! He did this! Took all you had and left you this way; Still you pray, never stray, never taste of the fruit, never thought to question why!' Bulma bit on her lip as she pondered over the phrase. As deaf as she was towards that kind of things, she could not help but apply the lyrics to the current state of her life. What had she done to have this situation take over her? 'It's not like you killed someone! It's not like you drove a hateful spear into his side! Praise the one who left you broken down and paralyzed; He did it all for you!'
Vegeta's head was moving barely visibly to the beat of the song, a wistful look in his obsidian orbs. She almost caught herself doing so as well. Hell, his Weltansicht might not be as bad as she had initially supposed.
She cared too much about insignificant things for her own good. She never wanted to answer the plaguing question… 'Why?' She always dismissed everything that made her own little world shake. She liked being ignorant; she preferred it to being hurt. Yet her ignorance proved to be just as painful in times like these, when her carelessness made such messes. She felt stupid… and the thought of the previous night only made her squirm uncomfortably in her seat when she recalled the way she had burst in tears in Vegeta's arms the previous day.
She took a side-glance at him. His firm strong jaw-line and stern expression were making him look older than he actually was. His lively flame-hair was as spiky as ever, even though she doubted he ever did anything special to keep it that way. His eyes were dull, his gaze vacuous, unreadable. She wondered why it was that she could find nothing to hint he had ever been a child which couldn't take care of himself… There was always something left behind in people, if even just a hint of a trace of their childhood… Why couldn't she find one in him? It was weird…
"If you keep staring, you'll have to pay a fee for the next ten minutes," he informed her in a cold distant voice that brought her back to reality with a start. She shook her head and looked away. She decided it was not quite the right time to start an argument she wasn't really willing to participate in. She didn't get much sleep last night as it was, but it refused to honour her with a nap even now. Her discomfort was obvious, yet Vegeta was oblivious to it. He was too caught up in watching the road. Which she was quite thankful for, as he would have noticed the pained expression etched onto her features as she continued to mull over nonsensical matters.
Bulma informed him how to get to the villa and continued to daze off in her weird delirium—neither asleep nor awake. Vegeta decided with an indifferent scowl she was not in the mood to argue so early in the morning, perhaps. 'Thank God. I thought I'd never live the day she would be quiet…' he mused while he took a sharper turn.
Bulma's ears perked up as she heard the same song from yesterday, yet this time she had caught it from the beginning. 'Don't fret, precious; I'm here…' She stared at the stereo and blinked slowly. This band she was definitely starting to like, for some unfathomable reason.
The trip was quite a quiet one, if you ignored the metal that blared from the speakers of the aerial—as Bulma referred to it in her mind—car. They soon arrived ('Duh!' Bulma thought, 'With that car what else should I have expected?') They got out and Vegeta pushed a button on his small remote and, with an assuring beep from the expensive vehicle's alarm, they made their way inside where the whole gang was having the morning coffee and most of them looked like they have just been forced out of bed, most likely—as Bulma presumed—by ChiChi.
"Bulma!" Goku exclaimed and jumped up to hug his friend as if they hadn't last seen each other in less than twenty-four hours.
Vegeta meanwhile made his way to the table and sat next to Juuhachi, snatching Goku's untouched mug of coffee and pulling it in front of himself. He put his car keys in a chest pocket and zipped it closed, after which fishing in another and pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of it. Juuhachi glared at him with her cold azure eyes while he thumbed the pack open.
"You can't smoke here," she informed him in a venomous tone. He acted as if he didn't hear a word she said and pulled a cigarette out of the pack and put it into his mouth, cupping his hands while he lit it with the second object. Her gaze hardened while she observed how the lighter landed on the table with a careless toss and the pack slid its way on the horizontal tablecloth-less surface right after it. The teen fetched the mug with his free hand, exhaling the toxic smoke smugly.
"Why would you think that?" he asked sarcastically referring to the lit cigarette in his hand.
"Yes, you can, but I won't let you! Go out and smoke your damn lungs dry elsewhere! I will not tolerate—" But he cut her quite short.
"Want a smoke?" He offered her the pack with a suggestive quirk of a dark eye brow. The blonde dithered a second and looked spitefully at him, as if the mere speculation she was a smoker insulted her. He didn't move, just looking expectantly at her. She growled and snatched it, going through the same drill he did. He acknowledged his victory with a smug smirk as he exhaled another puff of smoke.
"Fuck you…" she muttered under her breath as slowly blew out as well.
"You'd wish that, wouldn't you?" He smirked impishly at her. Juuhachi made a matching expression, her hand feeling the little cylinder like a natural continuation of her wrist. Now that was one of the members of this tight little clique that he could hardly grow tired of. This petite little female had a temper to match his—in most aspects anyway. Or at least it appeared so at first sight. Perhaps he'd need to investigate further…
"I promised my brother I'd stop smoking," she stated nonchalantly, ignoring the disappointed expressions on her friends' faces.
"And I care, because…?" She threw him another spiteful look and then gave a single-shouldered shrug.
"Actually, neither do I."
"That's quite better." Vegeta smirked as he took a big sip of the strong coffee, having the dark liquid leave a burnt trace down his throat. Now that was exactly what he needed. He finally felt ready for a day with a whole bunch of losers surrounding him. Well, what could he say? Coffee was just another sinful habit of his endless list of such…
"Whoa, Vegeta, your car rocks my world!" Maron squealed and latched onto the teen's neck. It was disheartening how much she resembled an octopus from a cartoon sometimes… He pushed her roughly back and glared daggers at her for almost choking him with his coffee.
"So you finally picked it up from the garage?" Goku butted in—obviously interested—after having just taken a peak at the vehicle outside. Bulma followed him suit, with her head kept low against her collarbone, not wishing to face her friends. Without her boyfriend by her side, arriving here with the newest jerk to attend their peaceful little group and already cause chaos into it, she felt humiliated beyond belief.
"Yup," Vegeta noted with fake enthusiasm. He took another dip of the cigarette while staring into blank space. Goku took another glance over his shoulder at the car from the window behind their backs. With a huge grin he gave his thumbs up at the glaring Vegeta, who just shook his head and muttered something incoherent that disturbingly resembled like 'I'm surrounded by idiots…'
"Aren't you afraid that someone might try to steal it in school or something? It's quite an expensive and nice car," Krillin said as he sat at the table as well.
"Let them try." The spiky-haired boy inhaled from his cigarette again. "I'll twist the hand they used to touch it so badly no doctor will be able to twist it back to its goddamn joint." Krillin paled at the answer and quickly took a sip of his coffee, trying to shake off the subject.
Through the whole morning exchange Bulma kept her silence—trying to be lower than the grass—looking out at the woods in the back of the villa with longing. She didn't want to stay there, with all of them around her… She felt as if her place wasn't there; right then it truly wasn't, in her opinion.
ChiChi noted her friend's discomfort and pondered to herself what could've happened to have Bulma so fidgety but otherwise did not speak on the matter, deciding that the lavender-haired girl would tell her if she thought it was something worth discussing.
However, as the minutes passed, her long-time friend did not even utter a word. The brunette sighed in exhaustion. She had no clue what was wrong with Bulma today, not talking to anyone at all and everything… Was she still mad because yesterday's argument? ChiChi had thought Bulma cleverer than that.
"Hey, B, how did it feel riding in such a luxury car?" she turned to the girl in question suddenly, snapping her out of her delirium. The girl stared dumbly back at her. No 'I told you so' nor 'didn't I tell you I was right? I told you, didn't I? I told you I was right, but you wouldn't listen, would you'? Was she missing something? A sneer, perhaps, a jeer, an insult?
"It wasn't much of a long ride here anyway… But it was a nice feeling, yeah." The inheritress tried to force grin on her numb facial features.
"Any new projects you'd like to show off with?" ChiChi urged on, seeing that the way the conversation was heading it had no future. It was apparently working—her little plan that was—as the Bulma's eye brows immediately narrowed over her sapphire orbs.
"What do you mean "new projects to show off with"? When was the last time I showed off! I don't show off!" The heiress to the biggest corporation in the whole world lifted her nose up in a snobbish manner which suited her social status quite well if you thought about it.
"Sure you don't, B." Juuhachi butted in as well, putting her cigarette out and taking the last sip of her mug. By the time Vegeta was already on his second cigarette. Maron glared at him and sneezed. She was allergic to the smoke and did her very best to hint him that… but he didn't really care enough to pay her any heed. He paid absolutely no attention to her, even when she tried to nudge him out of it.
"What the!" The heiress sounded quite offended as her head whipped towards her blonde friend. "You too? How dare you?"
"The snob's stirred! Save the women and the children first!" Vegeta commented sarcastically, making her head turn in his direction this time, glaring venomous daggers at him and probably hoping he'd drop dead any second now.
"Ha-ha-ha! Very funny! Remember you are still indebted to me, bastard! If it wasn't for me you had no chance of getting here!" she snapped at him, her cheeks flushing in anger. His smirk widened as he put his smoke out as well, squashing it against the glass ashtray violently, as if mimicking what he could do to her both verbally and physically. Or that was how Bulma understood it anyway. And she didn't like it.
"Says who? Besides, don't underestimate my orientating abilities, woman. I can be quite better than you probably expect me to… in more than one meaning of the phrase." He grinned wickedly at her and she blinked a few times, trying to blink her blush away, understanding too well for her liking what other aspect to his words there could be.
"Come on, Vegeta; I'll show you your room." Juuhachi pulled him by the elbow before the fight could go on any longer than her tolerance could take and before her prey could flirt any more with one of her best friends.
Little did everyone else know the blonde and the ditz of a Bulma-look-alike had begun an unvoiced competition between each other – which one of them would have Vegeta first! The winner got the grand-prize – Vegeta himself. The loser… Well, the loser had to stare helplessly while the winner made out with the prize. It was quite a nice competition now, was it not? Yet neither of them considered Vegeta's say in the matter and completely forgot he had such in the first place.
Once most of the gang was outside considering plans for the day ChiChi sighed and turned to look directly at Bulma, finally getting the privacy she had longed for the entire morning.
"I'm really sorry about all of this, B. You act as if I wanted for my premonition to come out true!"
"Well, since you made it very clear to me how stupid I was for not listening to you on Friday, how was I supposed to know what you wanted to actually say?" the other girl tried to defend herself, causing a ugly scowl to twist her friend's face.
"Bulma, I have no idea what's up with you ever since yesterday! I understand you're angry with Yamcha for cheating, it's only human. Goddamn it, even I have the urge to march out that door, to find him and to wring his precious neck right this instant. He did damn right not to come here, for otherwise he would've probably been used as a darts target. I'm quite sure we'll all come out winners if that's what we have to shoot at. Anyway…" Bulma smiled slightly the last comment. "No matter how upset you are, ever, how can you possibly think I would want to spite you in such a moment? I'm your best friend! Not a predator who wants to tear you apart, jeez…" she muttered, shaking her head in dejection for being so underestimated, and was about to leave when Bulma latched onto her neck and refused to move.
"ChiChi!" the heiress wailed in despair. "I'm so sorry… I've… I've completely… Damn it, I can't even say what I want to!" she yelled at no one in particular. The raven-haired girl sighed and put a hand on her friend's head, an unsteady smile gracing her own lips.
"That's okay, B. I understand… You must be confused now. But don't worry. We're all here to love you and support you!" she commented cheerfully, making her acquaintance smile through the tears that have begun cascading down her cheeks. "Er, well, maybe except for Mister I'm-such-a- big-shot-and-you-should-all-fall-on-your-knees-in-my-presence-or-you-shall-be-beheaded-by-my-Royal-assassins and Miss Prissy-Sissy-Maron… But neither of them really counts in the gang, so, yeah. All of us will support you!" She grinned widely and Bulma laughed at the definition of Vegeta ChiChi had made. She didn't have the heart to tell her friend that yesterday Vegeta was by far not the jerk he appeared usually. Besides, ChiChi looked a bit too fond of hating Vegeta… and the feeling looked quite mutual…
The girl even let herself drift off in thought for a little, wondering whether he was such a jerk at all. Maybe it was just a mask to protect a more sensitive part of him from the cruel world around? Or maybe that was just the way he was? Or was it not? Maybe he had, like she presumed yesterday, all childish innocence beaten out of him forcefully some long time ago?… She would probably never know.
"Oh, ChiChi, thank you so much for being here for me! I don't know what I could possibly do without you by my side! You're truly my outer strength, girl! Don't you dare to ever leave me!"
"What are you saying, Bulma Briefs?" ChiChi pushed her away fast, glaring in a mother-like fashion at her. "Are you trying to tell me you think I will be unfaithful to you?" The girl sustained the comment '-like Yamcha was' because right then was not the quite correct time to remind her friend of her boyfriend's cheating nature. "If you ever dare say that again, I'll bitch-slap you in the head! Did I make myself clear?" Bulma's grin widened once again, making her facial muscles hurt with the effort. She paid no heed to them. She nodded enthusiastically and the other girl's expression brightened as well. "Very well then! Now let's go and see what Juuhachi has for us! She said we would have quite some fun here!"
Both of them made their way outside, where everyone had gathered to look out at the perfect scenery, commenting on the forest animals around them, exciting things to do or perhaps just the way to the nearest shop where they could find beer and get wasted, just because they could.
The whole weekend the teenagers spent in the following activities: going to the lake for an unfathomable reason, returning soaked to the bone to the villa house, lighting the fire-place and drying their drenched clothes there. Then ChiChi would make some hot tea and some cookies to fill their growling stomachs with, a long-line forming in front of the bathroom with no allowance for the couples to go in together. Juuhachi claimed sex was forbidden on her grounds. Then they would talk in front of the fireplace for countless hours until late hours of the night, after which all of them split up and went to their rooms for a nap before the next day.
Everyone had a great time together…
… Except for Vegeta.
He stubbornly refused to participate in the conversations and neither Juuhachi nor Maron could pull him into it. When that time came, the teen just marched out on the balcony of his room and probably smoked his lungs dry. No one paid attention to that fact and Juuhachi tired to ignore it as well. Only Bulma failed to soothe her curiosity after Goku returned empty-handed from his pursue of his best friend. The tall male claimed his spiky-haired friend refused to come down even for dinner. It was already Sunday night and they would be leaving early tomorrow morning. They'd split up to gather their school stuff from their houses and then meet again at the school. It was quite a nice plan, now was it not?
Bulma slipped out before anyone could notice her missing and made her way towards the room Juu said she had put Vegeta to sleep in. She couldn't help her stirring curiosity and she would pay the fees for it later. Right then she needed to talk to him… Just to get some sort of…verbal fight? Perhaps she needed something a little bit different from her caring loving friends? She did not know… It was just something about the strange-haired teenager that attracter her to him…in a very disturbing way. It was a strange power that was not in her reach, not hers to control. That was why she just obeyed and pushed the door open without bothering to knock. She wondered if he would've actually heard her anyway.
She found the room empty, as she had expected to find it. It was rather chilly and she could guess where the occupant of the premise was by the gentle swirling of the curtains.
She made her way to the balcony's sliding door to find the teenager in question with his Discman present in his hand which hung lifelessly by the side of his body over the edge of the balcony railing, on which he was sitting. It did not look like a comfortable position to take, yet he seemed to have no problems with it.
The lavender-haired female planned on sneaking towards the chair next to him without getting noticed earlier than she had reached it, but the damned skater appeared to have a better guard than she had given him credit for.
"Stop brooding, woman; I am quite aware you are there;" he said in a nonchalant tone and she snorted like a spoilt child being denied one of its whimsical wishes. He had just ruined her perfect fun. With a sigh of exhaustion, she sat on the chair as she had intended, looking up in the dark sky, which was illuminated only by the soft glow of the moon and the brightly shining dots of the stars above. She had always loved admiring the sky.
When she was aware he wasn't in the mood to begin a conversation with her, she decided to take on the challenge and try to start one herself.
"You didn't join us down there last night and you aren't attending tonight either. What's wrong? Not your style?" He didn't answer; instead he yawned widely, not bothering to cover his mouth as he did so, vacuous gaze never removing from the inky waters of the lake illuminated by the faint light of the moon in the distance. She guessed that was not, definitely not a topic he'd like to discus with her. She tried again. "Juuhachi seems to show interest in you. It has been quite a long time since she had been on a male pursue," she stated as-a-matter-of-factly, watching his face carefully out of the corner of her eye for his reaction. He threw her an indifferent gaze and then tore his attention away from her again.
"So I guessed as well."
"Maron has taken a challenge to get into your pants before Juu does," she continued to nudge in the topic for no apparent reason whatsoever. She didn't know why she was even doing it… She just didn't feel like leaving, maybe…?
"Yes, I noticed," he muttered out in his casual tone.
"So why don't you act upon it? Two attractive girls are fighting over you? Isn't that an ego-booster? Not that you don't find ego boosters in most things you do, but anyway…" And so Bulma decided to turn to the only tactic that always worked on that guy—she tried to pick up a fight with him. However, her attempt failed so miserably if it had been materialistic, it would've hit the ground with a deafening crash.
"I could damn well care less what they do. If you have failed to notice this by now, I don't give a damn about them."
"Doesn't being a smoker get in your way of being a body-builder? Smoking is quite not good for your health, you know. You can get cancer by smoking. It is written on every pack, if you have not noticed." She was him as if he was curious two-year-old which was discovering the simple everyday miracles of the world around it every second of every day. He threw her a death glare and sighed exhaustedly at her.
"Woman, I can take care of myself. Stop pushing your nose into my business! It is none of your concern. If you're looking for a damn fight, go bash your worthless boyfriend or something and leave me be!" Oh, that was a low blow she hadn't really anticipated.
"He is not my boyfriend anymore. And besides, if it bugs you, it makes it my business, for I have to quite get even at you for all the stupid verbal spars you start up with me when I am not in the mood for one," she reasoned. Logically, her speculations were quite correct, though she wasn't really sure why she was bothering. She just wanted to bug the daylights out of him and try to make him feel just as he made her feel in the worst possible of moments. But it seemed not to work when she was the one doing it. He was far too uncooperative to do anything at the moment, much less argue or reason back. He looked frankly exhausted.
"Whatever…" was his last mutter before he pushed the play button on the machine in his hands, dismissing her completely. Vegeta was never a talkative person, but none of the usual anger that accompanied his 'garrulity' was evident anymore in that moment. He seemed like a hollow shell of himself compared to what he showed everyone else. Was she currently becoming privy to something she shouldn't be? He was no less rude than usual, but… There was something far more depressing about the expression his face was etched into than at any other point she had seen him.
"What's wrong?" she couldn't help herself but ask. Curiosity killed the cat, they say.
"None of your damn concern! Stop asking me and just fucking leave me alone already. I want to have some peace here. What are you, blind?" He jumped off the railing onto the marble balcony floor and made his way towards the room only to have Bulma following him closely behind.
"What did they do to have you like that?"
"No one did anything to me, alright! As if anyone can do anything that would matter to me anyway… Just leave, your presence is not wanted!" He emphasized on the "not wanted" part coldly, hoping she would hear what he was saying and take the hint to finally leave the damn room. Hell, why did she have to be so irritatingly stubborn?
"Then what happened? I think if you talk to Juu, she could—" The nerve of that woman!
"Why do all of you think she is so fucking perfect for me, eh! First Kakarott, then his harpy makes remarks about her and me in my presence and now you! Will you drop it? I don't appreciate you people trying to act familiar with me, because you aren't, alright? Get that trough your thick skull," he seethed through his clenched teeth
"What's so bad about you and Juu? She's a really nice person to all of her boyfriends. She might not look like it, but she's quite caring and considerate, not to mention—"
"SHUT UP ALREADY!" he bellowed insanely at her, a vein throbbing violently in an ugly purplish colour on his forehead. "I grew tired of this conversation a long time ago! This has nothing to do with you, got it! And stop trying to play a match-maker; I don't want to even think about her right now, because of the fucking bitch that she keeps reminding me of." He froze when he realized that it had slipped off his tongue. Bulma stared blankly at him and cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Who does she remind you of, Vegeta?" she inquired, as if she could possibly have an answer to that. If she had had any chances at getting anything out of him tonight, her luck had just run out.
"No one," he snapped coldly, a solid finality in his voice. "Leave. Now," he ordered curly, turning his broad back to her.
She sighed, but did as told. Retreating silently, she stole a glance at him as he threw himself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling through the pitch-black darkness that had flooded the room. She made her way back to her friends, who were laughing, talking and just having fun in general. They have started playing games again and she would have hated to miss that for anything in the world. She couldn't help but wonder… who was the girl Juu reminded Vegeta of? Speaking of which, where was she?
"Juu went to pick something that could suit like a blindfold!" Krillin informed her as if reading her mind. Bulma's face beamed brightly.
"I love that game! Whee! I can't believe we're going to play!"
There had always been a childish part of her that she would hate herself if she let it die. She liked to play fool, but most of all, she loved childish games. They made her remember. They reminded her of sweet childish innocence and ignorance… Something she would be never able to regain. Shaking her head, she joined her friends and sat herself on the comfy couch while listening about the last training Goku and Krillin had and how badly both of them have fallen off their boards.
Back in the unlit room, the subtle teen glared at the ceiling as if it was guilty for the development of things in his life. He took his phone out of his back pocket and glared at the LCD screen, re-reading for the hundredth time his last text message received. He growled and threw the device against the wall in a fit of mad rage. Surprisingly, it did not crumble to pieces; its battery fell off and the thing shut down, collapsing against the cold wooden floor with a dull thump.
Vegeta could care less. He was too furious with the memory of the SMS he had received to give a damn about anything.
"Fucking Hailie… Wouldn't they all just leave me be! Why is everyone so damn bent on telling me how to live my life!" he screamed at no one in particular, his outraged yell resounding off the thick walls of the premise.
Little did he know that a certain blonde girl watched the whole display from the crack made by the unclosed door…
A/N: I had planned to have quite a longer chapter up, but decided to divide it in two for I would need quite some more time to write the whole chapter… Hope you don't mind. It was quite an uneventful chapter, but I promise next one will be a killer. Mehehe… I plan on making a lot of things to happen in one chapter. And that is the next one. Five is a nice number, don't you think? Hehehe… Please review! That would have the next chapter out in the blink of an eye. Otherwise I will take forever to get inspiration, knowing myself and all… -.- Yours sincerely, Dark Hope Assassin.
