A/N: Thanks to all of my WONDERFUL reviewers! Thanks a lot to Shades of Crimson and Dark Hope Assassin for the very long and wonderful reviews. I'm sorry to the rest of my reviewers that i'm making you wait and to Draegon-Fire... exactly how do you do it? You were almost there in the earlier chapters and now it seems you are right on trck and really nearing the cause of their break up... exactly how do you do it? But anyways... nice job. But anywho.. again thanks and sorry.

WARNING: Tear Jerker! Need tissues before reading...lol!jk.

BIG THANKS TO CHRISTINE! For proof reading this story!

Picture Perfect
You Can't Keep Acting Forever
Aoi Megami

Last Time

The shooting ended early because of the sudden emotional breakdown of both the leading actors.

"The nerve of him!" Bulma cried as she entered her friend's room. She plopped down on the sofa and buried her face in a pillow.

"Bulma?" Chichi called, while rubbing the her friend's back. Juu sat across in a chair in front of them.Bulma sniffed and withdrew her face from the pillow. She straightened herself up and looked into the awaiting eyes of her friends.

"I did say I was going to tell you the whole truth about us," She sobbed.

"It can wait." Juu assured her, patting Bulma on the back.

"No, it can't!" Bulma said cried while tears continued to flow from her eyes. "I'm going to tell you now. The real truth as to why Vegeta and I broke up."

"So where do you guys want me to start?" Bulma asked her friends.

"Well…why did you guys break up in the first place?" Juu asked.

"Stupid things." She said in simple words. She and her friends were in her bedroom, Diana finally agreed to separate Bulma and Vegeta from each other. Everyone figured she finally realized that there was no hope to save the couple's dead relationship.

"It was—" Bulma started but was quickly cut off by a knock on the door.

"Oh my god!" Chichi angrily said as she stood up to get the door. She violently twisted the doorknobs and almost—almost—took off the hinges of the door. Once she got a full view of the person knockingshe gasped.

"Vegeta?" she asked in disbelief.

"Wench, who do you think?" he asked. "The Easter Bunny?" he said as he let himself in without permission.

"What do you want?" Bulma sniffed, also surprised to see him in her bedroom. Vegeta had already changed clothes; the girls were in their pajamas while he on his boxer shorts and a plain t-shirt, which was a size too big for him.

Bulma went into deep thought about his shirt. She had loved to wear it every time after making love to him, and she loved the fact that it was so big she didn't need shorts to cover the lower part of her body.

"I want to talk to you." He gruffly stated.

"Is this going to take a while? 'Cause Bulma's got something really big to say to us." Juu pointed out.

"Do I look like the person who cares?" Vegeta asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Now get out!" he commanded. "I need to talk to the wench."

"Argh!" Chichi growled. "Bulma?" she turned to Bulma, looking for help on how to get rid of Vegeta, the nuisance.

"Chichi. Maybe we should talk to Bulma tomorrow instead." Juu led herself and Chichi out. Juu had picked up on Bulma's desperation to talk to Vegeta.

"But—" Chichi stammered. They exited and closed the door behind them. "We were so close." She whispered as the two of them headed off down the hall.

"I know, but those two need to seriously talk." Juu explained.

"Why?"

"Cause, I don't know why, but," she paused and looked at her friend in need of an answer. "Cause don't you think it's weird that Vegeta has to talk to Bulma alone, not in front of us, after the melodrama earlier?" she asked her.

"Well, yeah, but," Chichi thought for a while. "But Vegeta's always weird. What's the difference now?" she asked.

"Maybe, just maybe, you think—" she paused, hinting to Chichi where she was going.

"No." Chichi shook her head, not agreeing at all to what Juu was implying.

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"Wait." Chichi hurriedly stopped the argument. "Yes to what?"

"Oh my gosh, Chichi!" Juu slapped her forehead. "You're arguing with me and you don't even know what I'm talking about!"

"But really, what are you talking about?"

"Sometimes I think you spend a little too much time with Goku." She sighed. "Anyways, like I was trying to say, maybe Vegeta's trying to be nice in his own way, you know?" She paused. "And maybe he himself knows that he's been a little bit too rough on Bulma lately, so he feels guilty, and well, you
know Vegeta." She added unsurely.

"I agree." A voice said. Both the girls' head snapped towards the source of the voice.

"Diana?" they said in unison.

"Follow me ladies." She said as she led the two girls into her own quarters.

"Whoa!" Chichi awed when she saw how grand Diana's bedroom was. "Whoa!" she said again, as if her first response wasn't clear enough.

"What's up Diana?" Juu asked.

"Yeah, I thought you'd given up on Bulma and Vegeta already?" Chichi asked afterwards.

"Me? Give up? Since when?" she asked herself. "Not ever!" She answered for them.

"So why do you want us here?" Chichi asked.

"To ask you something." She said.

"What?" Juu asked this time.

"Do you think that Bulma and Vegeta should end up together?" she asked. She twirled gracefully in the center of her bedroom; everything was a brilliant mix of red and gold. The huge eight foot long window draperies were a silky laced red, the window panel, the bright color of gold. Her bed was so
filled with feather pillows; you could hardly see the bed sheets. It was an old Victorian style room, perfect for Diana's style.

She stared at both girls, whom were looking at each other, probably deciphering what to answer.

"Chichi?" Diana started with her. "Do you think they should be together?" she asked her in a soft voice.

"Umm…" Chichi thought, she looked over to Juu, whose icy blue eyes were now warm, worried, and strangely unsure.

"How about you Juuhachigo?" Diana turned to the blonde.

"I," she started. "I'm not so sure." She answered.

"We're not really in the position to make a decision for the both of them." Chichi said.

"I know." Diana sighed, accepting defeat for the time being. She sat at the foot of the golden couch near her bed as she motioned for the girls to sit. They quickly responded to her command. "But don't you get the feeling that those two do want to be together, but are just too full of pride to admit it?"

"Well, umm… yeah a lot." Juu smiled. Chichi nodded in agreement.

"That's why I want to put them closer together again." She said. "And let me tell you a little secret." She leaned in closer to them and the girls did the same. "Remember when Yamucha came to visit?" she whispered, as if the walls had ears and the whole world was listening to their conversation.

"Yeah." Chichi and Juu nodded.

"Well, if I didn't rush, then I would've seen them kissing." She said. Both girls gasped.

"NO!" Chichi said. Juu and herself quickly withdrew from the little circle of closed heads. "No way, Bulma and Vegeta almost kissed?"

"Yes, I saw it myself, but when they heard me, they drew back! I hated myself then!" she said. "If I only hadn't rushed, they would've been kissing!" she gritted her teeth in frustration for her own mistake. "So I'm making a proposal." She turned to them in a serious face, getting into business; the real reason why she led both of them to her quarters.

"What proposal?" Juu asked, unsure. She finally realized that Bulma was right-this Diana woman was crazy.

"Help me." She simply responded.

"What?" Juu and Chichi said in unison.

"Help me get them back together." She proposed.

"Okay Vegeta, talk." Bulma said once her friends closed the door behind them. She watched him, and noticed he was fidgeting. She raised a brow in confusion. "What?" she asked again after a few moment of silence. She breathed deep and stood up from her position on the couch. Vegeta however, walked towards the outside of her balcony. Bulma followed him out, the fresh air was cold, and Bulma shivered, but continued to watch Vegeta.

His back was turned to her and she could see goose bumps on Vegeta's tanned muscles. He held onto the railing as he cast a glare upon the people, silently—minding their own business—as they walked along, not knowing that somebody was watching them from above.

"I'll ask again Vegeta, what do you want?" Bulma growled.

"Do you always have to rush things?" Vegeta snapped as he turned an angry face to her.

"What do you mean?" she asked angrily. "You were here so I expect an explanation!"

"Oh, here we go again!" Vegeta turned away from her.

"Yes Vegeta, here we go again!" she calmed herself down. "Why do you have to do this every time?" She said, on the brink of tears. "I know how you still feel, I'm not blind!" she sniffed, tears pouring down her cheeks. "And you know what I still feel for you!" she said bravely.

"You know we can't go back." He shook his head. "I'm here to tell you, that this is our final movie together." He gulped. "And that this is the last time we'll be talking to each other, in this setting." He stopped to catch his breath. "Once the movie is over, we'll never see eye to eye again, we'll never everacknowledge each other's presence ever again, and," he paused, choking on his last words.

"We'll never love each other, ever again." She finished for him.

"You really don't get it do you?" he asked her. "I don't love!" he sighed out. "You yourself should know that by now. I never did and never will love
you!"

"Quit acting!" Bulma snapped. Vegeta turned to her and was stricken with pain, a feeling he never he had never known he had, the tears on her face, and the pain she must be feeling, but still, he kept a cold, expressionless face. He couldn't comprehend why. When they broke up, he did felt pain
and anguish, but every time they had their media bouts he felt cool and calm. But when she started dating Yamucha, he felt the same feeling again, so he dated other people to forget that feeling, and as the years passed by without her, he got used to not feeling like before. But now it returned, as quickly as that, it took him years to master how to not feel it and it was quickly broken, by just looking at Bulma in such a state.

"What?" he asked in confusion as to why she would say such a thing in a moment like that.

"You said so yourself." She started. "Remember?" she looked at him and he shook his head 'no'. "There were scouts watching our play and you said you don't want to go for professional acting. You said 'Acting will be the beginning, but as you get used to it, you can't tell your own true feelings from your own acting, therefore it will be the end of you,' don't you remember that?" she asked.

"I remember." He answered. "Acting will be the beginning," he paused.

"And also the end." She finished.

"What's that got to do with anything?" he asked, and once again, his pride took over.

"I loved you very much Vegeta, and I still do, it's been tough for me to get over you, and every time I see you it just hurts!" she cried. "And I do still love you, I guess my high school love is my true love." She smiled as she cried, but she still felt pain, for she knew Vegeta, so he couldn't—no, wouldn't—let his feelings take over his pride. So she prayed.

"What's that got to do with this?" Vegeta asked, his tone growing bored.

"Everything Vegeta!" she said exasperatedly.

"Bullshit. I don't understand a single word you say! All you give me are words but no explanations." He said and started to head inside. Bulma dropped to her knees; she buried her face into her hands and cried. Vegeta paused. She stopped and looked up to him.

"I can't believe you were about to tell them why we broke up!" he snapped at her.

"They're my best friends."

"We had a deal." He said. "No one should know, and we'll keep it at that." He said and left the balcony, heading towards her door.

"Vegeta!" she cried. He stopped. He didn't turn to face.

"Is this really it?" she asked. "Is it truly over between us?" she desperately asked. "I want you back." She cried. "Please take me back." She cried. "Don't tell me it's over."

"It has been." He interrupted her, still not turning to look at her.

"Stop it!" She gasped and continued to cry.

"Everything you thought about the feelings I still have for you, are all false." He said.

"Quit acting! Quit acting like you don't feel anything! You can't keep acting forever!"

"Dry your tears wench, it's been over between us since you made that decision to walk out on me." He said and left the room.

His last words sent knives into Bulma's heart. She closed her balcony door, plopped down unto her bed and cried, until she cried herself to sleep.

The sun rose, a new day had begun; the rays of sunlight hit her face and she woke up, her eyes were sore and red because of all the crying she had done the night before. She stood up, looked at herself and noticed a note on her dresser; she took the note and read it. It was from Yamucha. It stated he
was in Italy, and he wanted to have dinner with her the night after they get back from work. She made a mental note to answer his telegram later. She was actually very surprise that Yamucha was there, and at that moment, she realized she needed him the most. But what Bulma didn't know, is that there is a new surprise coming her way.

A/N: sniff a tear-jerking moment, isn't it? Tell me what you think! Review!