Sorry it's been crazy with vacation and work, I really have no excuse other than dry imagination. Anyway sorry for the wait and thank you so much for the enthusiasm! I hope you guys enjoy this little chapter.
Trunks did wake up and like they'd predicted, he wasn't exactly thrilled.
"Hey buddy, how ya feelin?" Goten asked a gasping Trunks after he'd sprung sitting up from the floor.
Bulla's attention turned from exploring the foreign console the minute she'd heard him make a sound and was with Goten at her brother's side. It took Trunks a moment to collect himself before registering the two half Saiyans in front of him.
"Goten?" He looked in a clouded haze between the two. "Bulla?"
Suddenly it must of all come back to him because something flashed in his eyes and he was trying to stand. "What happened? Where's Zorath?"
"Easy Trunks, he's not here." Goten lowered him back down to the floor by the shoulders.
For the first time he observed their white, metaled surroundings in bewilderment. "Where are we?"
Goten looked to Bulla for assistance but she gave none. He rubbed his head, trying to think of the best way to explain without overloading his best friend with information and freaking him out. "Well right now? We're on a spaceship."
He completely failed because Trunk's eyes popped. "A spaceship?! Goten you better start making sense right now or else!"
At that point Bulla had enough of this dance between her brother and the son of her father's rival. "We're both just as in the dark about all of this, as you are Trunks. So don't be so snippy!"
Her snide interjection earned both boys attention.
"We're on a spaceship because somehow instead of dying, we all ended up on the exact same planet in the middle of nowhere and it's our only way home." She added crossly. "Fortunately for you, both of us are already here, at least you didn't wake up alone and guessing like Goten and I did."
Goten had been around long enough to detect the look in Trunks eye and had inserted himself between them before a sibling fight could break out. "Bulla and I ran into each other while investigating and figured you had to've come with us, so we went looking for you."
He laughed awkwardly, distracting Trunks' response to the younger girl. "I guess it took your body longer than ours to wake up cause when we found ya, a bunch of Aliens we're takin you aboard their ship, so I rescued you." He finished explaining. "That's how we ended up here."
"Hold on, hold on." Trunks shook his hand, halting his best friend from saying anything else. "Just how did you get the ship?"
"We stole it." Bulla answered simply, no longer caring for a subtle approach.
"You stole it?!" He exclaimed.
Goten's eyes raised to the ceiling, so much for breaking it to Trunks easy. After the initial shock wore off Trunks' glare shifted on him. "And what do you mean by 'we'?"
He put both palms up defensively but Bulla spoke for him.
"Chill out Trunks, there was another spaceship so they weren't stranded and I only supplied the brains of the operation. Goten just so happened to have the brawn to make it work." she added, a final 'harrumph' of defiance wedged in as she turned her head to the side and folded her arms across her chest.
Trunk's face gave her a very Vegeta like pinch.
"And did you even think, to look for any tracers they could use to follow us to earth with?" He asked slowly with a slight hint of suspicion.
Her eyes cut to him from the side. "Of course I did! I disabled them all." She sneered offended by the very question. "I'm younger than you, not stupid."
At the look he sent to the console behind her, she pointed to it. "Check it yourself if you want, but I doubt you'll find anything I couldn't."
With that she stood up, exiting the room in a stomp.
Goten's gaze met Trunks' after a beat of silence and drawled. "Did ya have to go and rile her all up, Trunks?"
The other boy lifted himself off the ground. "She's the one who started in on me first."
Goten rolled his eyes at the remark. When it came to Bulla, Trunks liked to act the grown up but in reality could be so childish. He didn't quite get it, he and Gohan never squabbled the way the Brief siblings did. Maybe the territory just came with having a sister and the closest thing he had was a niece. Even then Pan although headstrong, never quite gave him as much trouble as Bulla seemed to give Trunks.
"Do we even have enough fuel to make it across space?" Said boy mumbled irritatedly, to no one but himself. Unable to forgo his usual neurotic tendencies towards anything out of his control.
Having nothing else important to do, Goten followed Trunks to the control panel and watched him type away at the symbols displayed across the large screen.
"Huh, well I'll be." Trunks let out a sound of disbelief. "The brat was right."
...
Stupid Trunks, stupid Goten, stupid alien ship.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Bulla fumed down long hallways, each corridor leading into more empty rooms.
At another dead end, she looked down at her dress and sighed. The once silvery cloth filthy, ripped and far too gone to save. Not that she even wanted to, as it would be a reminder of this whole mess. She hated it (a far cry from when she first bought it) and just wanted the short revealing fabric, off. She'd been hoping to find something in her wondering to replace it but so far she'd seen nothing.
"Hey squirt."
She almost jumped right out of her skin. Breathing hard after the small eep she'd let out, she whirled around to face the addresser of the ridiculous endearment.
"Goten you scared me!" She scolded upon seeing the black haired youth, nonchalantly leaning against the wall to her right. "That's the second time today! Are you looking to get punched?!"
He stared at her for a moment in amusement before answering. "Trunks finished double checking for any left over bugs."
"Good for him." She sniffed, annoyed as hell. Firstly by her brother and secondly for embarrassing herself in front of Goten...again.
He waited till their eyes met and smiled mischievously. "He didn't find any."
At the look he gave her, she felt a thump in her chest. 'What the hell was that?' She waved off the feeling immediately, after all it was just Goten.
"Well of course not." She snorted arrogantly, tossing her head to the side. Completely dismissing the older boys attempt at good will.
Did he go through the trouble of finding her just to try making her feel better? What did it matter how she felt about her brother questioning her capabilities? It wasn't the first time and he never bothered before. So just what was he trying to accomplish in doing so now?
She peaked through one lid, still finding him unmoved from the spot of wall his body occupied.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She eyed him. "Aren't you supposed to be off somewhere, following my brother around?"
"Ouch." He smirked undeterred by her quip. "No really, I felt that one. Now are we past defensive insults yet or can we actually talk?"
"Why? We never have before." She continued her aggressive reproach. At the moment she realized it was basically true. They'd never been truly alone together to talk past quick exchanges, much less a serious conversation, without Trunks or someone else showing up immediately after.
She'd known Goten for most of her life, but she didn't really know him. She was aware of the constant cheery, if not air headed, disposition he always had and love of anything edible but not what made him tick or even what his future goals were. Past being her brother's best friend and having close family ties, she'd never really had the incentive to. To her he was just something that automatically came with a part of her life she barely associated in.
"Well there's always a first." He shrugged. "Besides you still owe me for not killing you when I found you on that planet" He teased trying to lighten the mood. "You did say you'd do whatever I want."
Her face reddened at the mention of his earlier witness to her, less than graceful moment of weakness. Guess he didn't know her that well either. If he wanted something out of her, embarrassing her was not the way to get it.
"So, what?" She hissed. "Spit out what you came for already and be done with it!"
"I just figured." He started, losing a bit of the self assurance he'd approached her with. "You'd had enough of a rough day without Trunks being... well you know, Trunks."
She almost dropped her guard at the sincere confession before it built right back up.
"Why would I suddenly care what he thinks?" She argued instead. He was confusing her and not in a good way, she didn't like it. "Second of all, why do you?
"It's just, I thought without your quick thinking we probably wouldn't be so close home right now." He admitted rubbing the back of his head, a habit he shared with Goku. "so I felt.."
"Indebted?" She finished, snapping his sentence to a close. "Well forget it, I was only looking out for myself." Staring him in the eye, she bit out her next words. "Here's some news for you and Trunks, I don't care if I make myself useful or not. I'm only doing what I think, is best for me. So keep your new found sentiments to yourself. Got it?"
Goten was taken back by the anger she'd directed at him. He'd seen her turn it on Trunks plenty of times before and aside from small snippets he'd never felt the brunt of it. Sure they didn't talk past casually enough for him to, because he and Bulla weren't that close. In the past few years she pretty much ignored his existence and since hitting puberty, she hadn't wanted to hang much around him or Trunks, if given the choice.
She was, he admitted, spoiled and a bit bratty but it had never bothered him. He held no negative opinion against her, even with the way she acted towards him. She was Trunks' little sister and he didn't really regard her much beyond that.
So just what did he do, to earn such animosity? He didn't think she disliked him but whenever she did speak, either directly at him or in his presence, her tone always came off with a slight hint of disdain. It frustrated him, especially since he was putting in effort for the first time to get closer to her.
"I didn't mean it that way Bulla, stop putting words in my mouth." His eyebrows furrowed holding about as much intimidation as a puppy that made it almost cute in a way only a Son could pull off.
It only served to irritate her further because she wanted to be cross with him but Son family genes made it so hard to be and it wasn't like they did it on purpose. It was almost as if they were completely unaware of it's effect by the sheer innocence emitted. Well at least the youngest two were, she had a sneaky suspicion that sometimes Goku knew exactly what he was doing.
She on the other hand rewarded the action that she'd seen send girls less immune quivering, with a dismissive eye roll. "Well since a gag right now doesn't look too promising...I figure it's the only way to get you to shut up and leave me alone."
He gaped.
"Are you hearing yourself?" He scoffed, throwing his hands in exasperation. "We haven't talked in years and the first time we do instead of being I don't know cordial maybe? You continue acting like I'm dirt under your shoe! Just what did I ever do to you?"
"Take a good guess." She snorted, trailing off as snottily as she could manage. It was a question that didn't sound like he thought it should. It wasn't entirely inquiring, and it wasn't mocking; it was a statement within a question, and his brain worked itself silly trying to anticipate what was going to come next.
"Okay I give up." He threw his hands in the air with a shake of his head. "It's not worth the headache so tell me what can I do to get you to stop being so darn aggressive."
"You can start by not referring to me with such a ridiculous name." She demanded sharply. "If you must address me, it's Bulla." Her eyes locked into his in challenge. Not backing down against the 25 year old after the bold declaration. Studying his face, Bulla continued on almost thoughtfully, though he could see her mind spinning its angry little cogs as she continued.
"Not kiddo, not squirt, pipsqueak or anything in the like, for that matter." She gestured to herself, scoffing in a way only a brief could. "Do I look like a child to you?"
For the first time he did, look that is. Not just in the usual haze he unconsciously covered her with in the past. Hair a fairer shade than the baby blues he'd seen, were the only reminiscence of the little girl who used to chase him and Trunks. Despite her bedraggled appearance, his eyes roved over blossoming curves that had no doubt complimented the once shimmering long sleeve, now battered dress which oddly contrasted with its length reaching only three inches past her thighs. His gaze briefly landed in the dipped V, between her breasts before shooting right back up. No, he admitted with an inward blush, she certainly didn't.
"Well right now?" Pushing away any thoughts centered toward forbidden territory, he snapped. "You still look like a scabby kneed brat to me."
She hadn't seen a mirror yet nor did she want to, knowing the hideous result that was for sure to stare back. Never less, she was aware of it enough without him needing to point it out. How dare he bring up her current disheveled state?
"As if I care about the opinion of some backwood spawn of a 3rd class Saiyan, mountain boy." She snorted back condescendingly. Refusing to show he got to her.
He in turn flinched from the retaliation, his mouth dry of any response to bite back with. That didn't mean he didn't feel the small boil of anger though in the pit of his stomach at her words. The familiar rage that set him back to feeling 10 years old again and having to hear those same words if not varied in order, from her very own father. He hadn't been able to anything about it then either.
Neither of them were very happy to say the least. Goten felt like he was standing on unstable ground. He was used to argumentive women but this was on a whole different level. Where his mom was a window, hard to penetrate yet transparent, Bulla was like talking to a wall. With her, he felt out of his element and had no idea how to communicate himself peacefully, against the hostile vibe aired between them.
And Bulla?
She just wished he'd just leave her the fuck alone. 'Wasn't he suppose to be some kind of womanizer?' She thought. Apparently not, because he obviously didn't know the first rule regarding them... knowing when to back away.
"Are you done?" She finally snapped. "Because I am."
And just like that he was dismissed. That's right, dismissed.
He beyond done, he realized even before her question. Maybe he'd try agin in the near future but this experience had completely turned him off for the time being. Whatever bad feelings the young heiress felt towards him obviously wasn't going to come to light, at least not at the moment.
He let out a restrained breath, parting with a shake of his head and a "Whatever Bulla" leaving the Blue haired girl to stew in seclusion.