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Chapter 2 – Nothing personal

A very important rule of the job was to always keep personal feelings at bay. It had been the first lesson Goku had learned and he had taught it himself to others. He had even repeated it countless times to Vegeta. Should any reporter regard a target as a real person, or get emotionally involved, the job would end screwed up. This sacred law applied to Bulma Briefs as well.

Now, as he was contemplating the bottom of his glass with some dejection, Goku knew that he was about to do something that might bring Bulma Brief's case close from a personal matter. The thought had been looping in his brain for two days. However, unless giving up to Pilaf's request and leaving the glory and money to Vegeta, he had no other choice.

Half of a reporter's job consisted in gathering information from various methods and a huge amount of cleverness. Goku considered it was the most boring part of the work, but he also knew nothing was possible if he hadn't obtained the right tip at the right time. Thus, over the years, he'd been able to build a pretty large network of informants for himself and he was aware that it had been the main reason of his success so far. Goku worked with anonymous sources instead of seeking information by well-known informants that any of his competitors could question as well. That was why he was often the first to know things - when he wasn't the only one.

It was nothing hard for him. He had always been a cheerful, charismatic guy and he had never turned his back on anybody. In a way he regarded himself as a humanist. He was chasing famous people, but he paid attention to unknown people as well because in his eyes, every person was worth it.

That way, he had sympathized with an incredible bunch of people and his outstanding memory helped him remember almost all of them. Waiters in restaurant, mailmen, flower vendors, delivery men, bored nannies, secretaries, gardener, students - all of them had a name and a close or distant connection with someone famous. Goku had met them while on a hunt. Some of them liked money, others needed friendly times, or even some help in their daily lives and Goku was able to provide it all. In return, he knew exactly how and where to get information whenever he needed it. He even had some watchmen up in there. They cost some dough but thanks to them, Goku had often been the first one to catch a scoop.

Now, Bulma Briefs was something different. Unlike other public personalities this woman wouldn't just hide from unwanted reporters, she loved playing cat and mouse with them. She was able to spread false rumors and she had toyed more than once with Goku.

He remembered too well the whole month he'd spent tailing her a year ago. Gosh, he'd had a hard time. He'd needed to be constantly on his guard as she was able to leave her home in the middle of the night, without any warning, to take her jet halfway around the world. She was also able to leave a place without anyone knowing how she did it, and she had a lot of electronic gadgets guarding her privacy, such as a phone jammer, video cameras with face recognition that were able to spot Goku from afar and countless alarms and traps in her place.

Her close staff was reduced to three incorruptible people who would likely die for her and any other person at her service were most of time ignorant of her habits or plans.

Keeping track of her had been a real pain in the ass and although he'd failed at getting any valuable pictures of her, Goku had been proud to be at least able to keep an eye on her. He had thought that it would be a good introduction to know her habits a little better. That was until he realized that the bitch had been replaced by a lookalike the whole time. Goddammit, it had been so depressing that he had dropped the whole matter at once.

His only solace from his failure was that no one had ever been able to make it. Bulma Briefs's personal life remained a mystery.

She was a genius – Goku could vouch for that fact – and she was an incredible business women. Pretty, admired, and rich. Goku could hardly tell anything else about her and such poor portrait would fit tons of other targets as well. What Pilaf was demanding was far beyond this. He wanted to know about her intimacy and preferably about her love life – or sex life, who would make a distinction anyway? Yet, Goku hadn't the slightest clue about it.

He'd found out long ago that Bulma liked to spread false rumors on her own. Thus, crazy contradictory gossips had been launched about her. Some would say she was sex-addicted while others swore she was as cold and chaste as a nun. She was once claimed to be lesbian and lately she happened to be a romantic heroine mourning for a secret lost love. None of these rumors were reliable though and as far as Goku knew, she could be all at once.

He'd been in touch with countless people in the last two days and he knew nothing else. For the first time in his life, his own private informants had been of no use at all. He was now waiting for his last hope in this lousy bar and although he hated what he was going to do, he prayed for it to work out well.

A cheerful hand slapped his back all of a sudden. "Here we are, the great Goku is back to his old friends," a voice exclaimed.

Goku raised his head and turned his eyes to the short guy beside him. He hadn't changed the least over the years. His chubby face was wearing the same cocky smile and his messy hair looked as filthy as ever. Although the guy might be as rich as Pilaf himself, he would always take care to look as seedy as possible. "Hi, Yajirobe. I'm glad you came. Be my guest and have a drink," Goku replied.

"No doubt I'm your guest tonight," Yajirobe chuckled without paying any attention to Goku's half-hearted tone. "You must be damn desperate to remember me. I'll have some bourbon."

Goku waved at the barman to order the drink while the shorter man was climbing the stool next to him and making him comfortable "How's the family doing?" Yajirobe asked.

"Divorce. About two years ago. The kid lives with Chichi. But you knew that already, didn't you?" Goku answered with a weary voice.

"Heard about it but still, I never thought she would have the balls to kick you out," Yajirobe replied.

"Thanks for your sympathy. I hope you're fine as well," Goku resumed with an unaffected face.

"I am indeed. This year has been a good year and it seems today might be the best day of it, right my friend?"

Goku sighed. "It depends. I'm not sure you have what I need."

Yajirobe blurted a little laugh as he grabbed his glass. "Let me guess. Bulma Briefs."

Goku frowned at his words. His companion sent him a mischievous wink and it was enough to light a bulb in the journalist's head. "Vegeta," he hissed.

"He came to see me two days ago and he offered me big dough, you know," Yajirobe resumed with fake innocence in his voice.

"Did you tell him anything so far?"

"How could I? Do you think I'm God and I can deliver any valuable information about the Heiress at will? Even I have my limits," Yajirobe objected.

Goku snorted at that. He knew the guy too well. Yajirobe would never drag his ass up there to meet him if he had nothing to sell. The true question was whether he'd already sold it to Vegeta. Goku had endured too much of Yajirobe's liking for double-crossing. "So, I assume you found something out in two days," Goku stated with disbelief.

"It's all fresh and new, but yes I'm proud to say I have something," Yajirobe sniggered.

Goku scowled at the news. He'd been personally unable to get anything in a whole month - in a whole year to be honest because he'd never completely given up to the challenge of learning something about the heiress. "How did you do it?"

Yajirobe gave him an enigmatic stare. "I have my ways and – huh – I had a fucking stroke of luck too, but that's not what matters. What matters is that I have something people would kill for, believe me."

Goku gritted his teeth. Yajirobe was jubilate and Goku felt he was telling the truth. The bastard had discovered some gold by sheer luck. "Did you tell Vegeta already?" Goku asked again out of frustration.

Yajirobe shook his head. "Nah. I kept it for you my old friend."

"Cut it out," Goku spat as this guy was getting on his nerves. "What is it about?"

Yajirobe didn't react to Goku's fit of irritation. He was enjoying the situation with obvious satisfaction. "Maybe it's about a boyfriend. Or even more. Who knows?"

Goku bit his lips. He realized that deep down in his mind he had hoped that Yajirobe had nothing worth the sacrifice he would demand. A potential boyfriend or even more - that was something deserving attention. "How much?" Goku mumbled while taking a sip of his own glass.

Yajirobe's smile fell from his face and he squinted at the taller man with disbelief. "C'mon Goku. Don't play smartass, you know I don't want money."

Goku closed his eyes for a while. Then, he slowly slid his car's keys over the counter to the shorter man. Yajirobe gazed at the item in awe. "Is this my jewel?"

"Unless you agree to be paid in good money like any normal dude," Goku growled.

Yajirobe took the keys with overdue care and contemplated them. "I never thought this day would come," he whispered.

Goku glared at him. The car whose keys were resting in that filthy bastard's hands was the last thing Goku still had left from his grandfather. It was a very rare classic car. His grandfather had cherished it and Goku had a lot of memories behind its wheel. By the time his grandfather had been alive, the car had been an ordinary piece of junk. As the old man had been too poor to buy a new one, he'd needed to repair it constantly. Yet, today it has become rather ironically a luxury car. Goku had received many tempting offer to sell it. Yajirobe had been one of the most insistent candidates, but Goku had never been willing to part from it. Even in the darkest time of his life, he'd refused to give up to this car. He had no other choice today despite his aching reluctance. "Take care of it, I'll get it back one day," he grumbled.

Yajirobe smirked and pocketed the keys. "May this thought comfort you. Amen."

Goku rubbed his eyelids as he needed to gather his thoughts and focused them back on work. "So, what's about that 'boyfriend or even more'?"

"There is a boyfriend. I'd say the affair had been going on for six months now," Yajirobe explained.

"Six months?" Goku exclaimed, "You must be kidding me? How can she hide this for six months? I've been watching her and –" He interrupted himself as he realized that he was just claiming his helplessness to know anything on his own.

"She's good. Too good for a fool like you," Yajirobe retorted.

Goku frowned. "I'm the best. You can't deny it, Yajirobe. I've always been the best in anything I've tried. You remember the time..."

Yajirobe shrugged. "Sure, Goku, you are the best, but she knows your face and she knows you even better than you know her and that's the point. She's no ordinary prey. An ordinary prey runs and hides while she sets traps for her hunters."

He was pointing out something Goku had found out in the cruelest manner and it resulted in him seething. "Screw her," he murmured, "who's the boyfriend?"

"A baseball player. Yamcha, ever heard of him?"

Goku repeated the name several time while searching his bottomless memory to pinpoint the person they were talking about. He could hardly picture the guy's face. He was a second-class baseball player competing for a spot on the town's team and the only thing coming to Goku's mind about him was that the guy liked his girls young, hot, and famous. If it hadn't been for this detail, Goku might as well have never heard about him. "I know who he is. Do you know how they met?"

Yajirobe raised his eyebrows. "Man, I bring you gold and you still want diamonds on top of it. You're the reporter so you'll have to work this out because I'm not going to do your job."

"How reliable is this?" Goku shot back.

Yajirobe gave him a bright beam. "It's 200% guaranteed. You know everything is home-made with me."

Goku nodded. Yajirobe was a nasty little bastard with many vices, but one thing was for sure when he said something was certain, he could be trusted. Goku would never have let go of his car if it hadn't been the case. "One last thing: you won't tell Vegeta, will you?" Goku asked with concern.

"You want me to keep him away? My, you're a bad loser. I'll do as you wish, but he offered me a lot of dough and I wouldn't want it to get wasted," Yajirobe muttered.

"How much?"

"5.000"

Goku chuckled. "Is this some sort of joke?"

Yet, Yajirobe was staring at him with an unruffled face. He shook his head in disapproval. "It's Bulma Briefs, dude."

Goku scowled and took an envelope out of his pocket. He counted the notes in it, took some of them out and gave the rest to Yajirobe. The short man turned restless at his gesture. He pocketed the money greedily. "You know, you guys should team up. It won't be a piece of cake," he sighed.

"Shut up. Take my car and stay out of this,"

In response, Yajirobe bid him farewell with a bow and left him. Goku closed his eyes as his guest exited the bar. He would definitely have to find a way to get his car back. His guts were twisted at the thought of Yajirobe driving it proudly and all this had been for Bulma Brief's sake. However, it seemed he'd gained a valuable tool for revenge and he was going to give it his all. He was going to take good care of the heiress even though he was aware the matter was maybe turning personal.

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