AN: Ah, Dragonball. Giving literally zero wind-down time between sagas. None.

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Seventeen

"You're such a dirty old rat! I can't believe you invited me out to dinner just so you could make me pay for it! What kind of a low down pathetic jerk does that to a lady, huh?"

"W-well...you are rich-"

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT, YAMCHA! AND DON'T YOU TAKE HIS SIDE, DAMMIT!"

Apparently, five hundred thousand zenni bought dinner for Goku. That's how much it was worth. Apparently Bulma carried five hundred thousand zenni on her while visiting martial arts tournaments. Apparently the old pervert of a master did not.

It was a petty revenge, pitting the other woman on the old man and embarrassing him, but sometimes...she was entirely capable of being satisfied by pettiness.

The food wasn't bad, either. By the time the meal was finished, she felt refreshed enough to spend the rest of the night searching for information from the rest of the town. She settled a hand on her hip and frowned over at the old man as they finally made their way out of the restaurant (driven out due to the restaurant running out of food, more than everyone having finished eating).

"In the time you had today, did you arrange for a place to stay tonight?"

He glanced up at her and then huffed. "Actually...it seems I lost my wallet at home. I don't have the money for that, either. We'll just have to go home tonight."

...Unbelievable.

He really had expected her to win the tournament and then spend all of the winnings on things he wanted. Of course, even if she had, it all would have gone into Goku's stomach anyway.

In the end, she supposed it didn't really matter. If anything, the tournament was a reminder of how little she'd done in eight months to get home, and how much she'd twisted Kame House into a replacement for Team 7 that it wasn't. "...I'm staying here."

"Eh?" Krillin looked up at her in surprise, snapping out of whatever daze he'd fallen into while he watched Bulma rant at the old man. "What are you talking about?"

She shook her head slightly. "There's nothing more for me there. I need to find my way back home, and I'm not going to find it there." She hadn't mastered ki chakra yet, she'd barely been able to tap into it at all. Any time she attempted to use it, her body automatically tapped into chakra the way she was used to, not the different way. But she didn't have time to learn new techniques, let alone master them.

She belonged at home, with her real Team 7, looking after her family and friends, helping Naruto and Sasuke.

Goku frowned up at her. "But...we've got more training to do."

"Well..." Roshi sighed, leaning on his cane. "It's like I told you before. The Kamesennin style relies on your own style. I'm afraid it's as she said. I have nothing more to teach you. From here, it is up to yourselves to advance your skill."

Bulma and Goku's other friends since realized they'd stopped following, and turned back toward them, expressions curious. Bulma spoke up, hand on her hip. "What's the hold up? Did we forget something back there?"

"She wants to stay here." Krillin glared up at her. As if it was insulting to him that the old turtle hermit admitted to having nothing to teach her. "But that's stupid. She doesn't have a place to stay! You don't have any way to get a place!"

She sighed. Money wasn't particularly difficult for any shinobi to get. There was always something people would pay for, and a ninja could do almost any of those things. "I'll be fine. I won't be here long, anyway."

"You wanna stay here?" Bulma frowned and looked between her and the old man. "I guess it would be pretty bad staying with him..."

The old man harrumphed.

"It's not just that..."

"She's looking for the place she came from!" Goku spoke up before she could continue. "She fell through the sky onto Nimbus, and now she wants to get back, but I can't find the cloud she came from to take her there."

"It's not a cloud..."

The woman frowned over at her, expression an odd mix of confusion and concern. "Where's your home? If it's a magic cloud like Goku's, or anything like that, I'm sure I could help you find something just by using the Nimbus..."

She shook her head and waved her hand. "No. It's not a cloud. It's..." She wasn't unaware of how ridiculous it sounded, falling through dimensions, coming from what seemed to be an entirely different world. But it was true, and she did need to get back. "It's a...different dimension. Another world. I was doing something very...very important, and I need to get back to it."

"A different dimension?" Bulma stared at her, eyes wide, and then quickly shook her head. "Well if that's the case, you can stay with me! If there's anywhere that can track and open different dimensions, it's Capsule Corporation!"

...Capsule?

"Capsule..." She pointed at the row of small devices on the other woman's belt. "As in those capsules?"

Bulma blinked, and then looked down at the row of capsules for a moment, before nodding. "Oh! Yeah. I guess you wouldn't know if you weren't from around here, huh? Capsule Corporation makes these. In fact, we invented it." The girl smiled, and pointed at herself. "I'm the daughter of the president and founder, Doctor Briefs!"

She just barely caught the words Krillin muttered under his breath behind her. "Sometimes I think you actually are from another world..."

She ignored the comment in favor of the woman in front of her. Someone who was capable of creating devices that worked in a fashion similar to the strange sharingan ability Obito (and Kaguya) possessed...surely that was the best possible path toward actually finding a way home. No matter what, it was a possibility she had to explore.

"You're accepting the possibility that I'm from another world easily."

The woman gave a long suffering sigh. "Trust me, 'I come from another world' is not the weirdest and most unbelievable thing I've heard or seen since meeting Goku."

It was too early to get her hopes up, she knew. Today had been far more than enough of a lesson of that.

Still...it was the first real, actual progress she'd made since arriving. It was the first glimmer of hope that might actually have substance. It took effort not to get at least a little bit excited over it.

"If that's it..." Goku spoke suddenly, arms crossed, face tilted down toward the ground in thought. "I'll stay with you, too."

"Eh?" She was fairly certain she made the sound...but then, just about every other person standing there did, as well.

"I promised to help you find your home." He nodded and looked up at her with a determined expression. "If it's somewhere here, or if it's on another world...Nimbus can help find it. And then I can meet your teacher!"

...She did remember him promising to help, months back. That said...she suspected it was the latter, and the prospect of further training, that really motivated his determination to stay.

Bulma stared down at him. "...You're not just trying to stay so I'll pay for all your food are you? Because you're gonna eat like a normal person when you're staying in my house. No all-you-can-eat binges!"

Goku huffed. "It's okay. Master Roshi always gave us little scraps of food, too. I'll be okay!"

"Little scraps..." The old man grumbled, and harrumphed again, before he shook his head. "...What about you, then, Krillin?"

"What about me?" The littlest one shook his head and crossed his arms. "I don't wanna live with that crazy lady anyway. If...if it's alright, I'll just stay with you for a while longer until I can decide what I want to do."

"Mm...if you like."

"Well then..." Bulma nodded. "Since most of you are staying with me anyway, I guess we might as well use my car. When does your ticket say your return flight is scheduled for?"

The old man fell silent for a few long moments.

...She dropped her fist down onto the top of his head.

(*)

He wasn't even sure why he felt so irritated. The crazy woman was finally out of his life, probably forever, they got a free meal and a free trip home on a private airplane, and he made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Tenkaichi Budokai on his first try. At thirteen.

Maybe...he just felt irritated because Goku actually believed Sakura. Like anyone would come from a different world and look exactly the same as the people from this world. Goku was pretty naive...but...Bulma and Master Roshi both seemed to believe her, too, and that made no sense at all.

He felt a little left out, going back to the quiet and calm Kame House while the rest of them (not counting his master) went off on wild goose chases all across the world with the crazy girl. But that was ridiculous, and he definitely didn't feel anywhere near left out enough to go and waste his life on that kind of thing.

While they were off adventuring, he'd just...train. Next Budokai, he'd come back and shove that woman's speeches right back in her face.

(*)

From the bed, she stared around the room. It was probably almost as large as Kame House's living room. Certainly bigger than most bedrooms she'd stayed any amount of time in. The girl, Bulma, had cheerily handed her a key and told her she could stay as long as the research took. As if giving away such a large room to a stranger wouldn't be any trouble for her at all.

Apparently, Bulma Briefs of Capsule Corporation was worth much more than five hundred thousand zenni.

The walls of the building were thicker than the thin walls of Kame House, and the large dome of the house itself was spacious enough that even if she left the door open she didn't hear any sounds or ruckus from the rest of the house.

She was a ninja, she could sleep with constant loud noise all around her, and she could sleep in complete silence, it didn't really matter to her.

It still felt just a little strange to be in such a different situation from the one she'd spent the last year in. She didn't even need to worry about the old pervert attempting to sneak into the room in the middle of the night or early morning to peek under her sheets.

In a strange way, she found it only made her want to get back home where she belonged all that much more.

As she settled herself into sleep, the soft sound of padding footsteps caught her ear, and her eyes snapped open immediately.

Goku stood in her doorway, rubbing his hand through the back of his hair. "Um...it's really quiet. I'm used to sleeping with Grandpa, or Bulma, or Krillin, or you, so..."

After a moment, she sighed, and then shifted to the side in the bed. "Just remember...I could kill you with my bare hands."

There was, maybe, a little less threat in her voice that time than the time before.

After all, he really didn't snore all that loudly.

AN: Last chapter was extra long wrapping up the tournament activities. This chapter is on the shorter side, because it probably won't be until next chapter that more things start.

Because you gotta get a little bit of down time, man.