"Are you translating for them, or just talking to yourself?" a voice growled behind Red. Bulma turned to look past her gelding, frowning when she saw the man who had addressed her. He was not much taller than her, wearing riding breeches and a black polo shirt. He had a black horse on the lead, and Bulma noted he was at least intelligent enough to keep his horse outside of Red's kicking range.
"Sorry," she grunted and moved Red down the aisle to his stall, leading him in cautiously. She liked Red, but when he was a racehorse, he had seriously injured a groom by pinning him against the door. It wasn't his fault – he got nervous in strange places, and when he got nervous, he spooked.
The man with the black horse walked past, and Bulma glanced after him, assessing the lines of his horse. It was the back of the man that caught her attention though; his polo shirt had the Saiyan Stables emblem on it. "Cocksucker," she muttered at his back, and then turned to Red. Without any more distractions, she was able to strip the shipping blanket and boots from him without a fuss, and was back out at the trailer in less than five minutes. She did pause long enough to note that Chichi had been right about the stable tags.
Chichi had already unloaded Storm; the dark brown horse danced on his lead, but Bulma could tell he was just working off pent-up energy from being coped up so long. Chichi lead him off, and Bulma went to the trailer to look up at Flawless. Which he was, she thought looking at him smugly; as always, the dark bay stallion looked awesome. He was her ticket to the Grande Prix. She'd not yet found a better horse - not for sale, anyway.
The sound of a door being slammed caught her attention, and she glanced toward the Saiyan Stables vehicle. The young man who had smarted off to her in the barn was climbing down from the driver's side of the cab. With a growl, Bulma stormed up to him.
"Hey, you!" she snapped. "I want to have a word with you! Did you know that you're an insufferable lout as well as a danger on the roads?"
He spun to face her as he dropped off the steps of the cab. "Go screech at someone else, witch," he growled. "Some of us have stables to run."
"You may think you're some big-shot," Bulma snarled, stepping into his personal space and thrusting her face forward, "but nobody here cares that you're Saiyan Stables – all that matters is who's higher on the boards at the end!"
"Yes," he cut back smoothly, "that is all that matters. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
Bulma scowled harder before whirling to stomp away from him. As she stalked away, he threw out a parting shot, "And I can guarantee that you have given head more than I have."
She spun back, her mouth falling open, her face turning red. "Well," she scrambled for a response, "one can easily see how I could be mistaken."
He merely cocked his eyebrow at her before striding away from her. She bit her lip, fighting to keep from going after him. What good would it do? The man was obviously an ass with no redeeming qualities.
Chichi's ringing laugh cut across the open parking area, and Bulma turned to see her friend walking out of the stables talking with someone. The man was tall, neck-cracking tall, with a happy, open face and crazy hair that stuck out from under a baseball cap. Chichi was smiling at him, making deep eye contact, and Bulma rolled her eyes when she realized that her friend was flirting. "We're here to compete, not find boys!" she hissed softly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. Chichi looked up and saw her, but instead of steering clear from the obviously angry woman, Chichi grabbed the guy and dragged him over.
"Bulma," Chichi enthused, "meet Goku. Goku, meet Bulma."
"Hi!" the man said, waving his hand at her and smiling a huge smile. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," Bulma said, trying to mask her irritation. "Chichi, could you watch the truck for a moment? I still need to unload Flawless."
"Sure!" Chichi said, but she was turning to Goku. "Can you keep me company for a moment?"
"Uh, I don't know," the guy said, fiddling with his hat. "I really should be helping unload." His statement was accompanied with a guilty look at the Saiyan semi truck.
Figures that Chichi would find a Saiyan to flirt with, Bulma thought irritably. "Look, Chi, I don't need you to hover over the truck. Just keep an eye on it, ok?" Without waiting for an answer, she stomped away.
She didn't need to look at her friend to know that Chichi was hurt – she could almost feel it. She almost turned back, but really, Flawless did need to be unloaded and Bulma knew she needed some time to calm down.
As always, Flawless helped soothe her. When she stepped into the trailer and undid his lead, he gently nuzzled her arm, his warm breath blowing over her skin. Without thought, Bulma slid her arms around the stallion's neck and leaned her cheek against his neck, basking in his presence. He held still while she soaked up calm and comfort from him.
"Are you mad because I'm getting over Yamcha first?" Chichi was standing at the bottom of the ramp, her arms crossed. "I wouldn't think so, but I can't think of why else you would be angry at me."
Bulma sighed and stepped away from Flawless, running her hands over his unmarked face. "Chichi, the only reason I'm getting mad is because we're here to compete, not scout for dates."
"I didn't go looking for him, Bulma," Chichi said quietly. "I just turned around and I saw him. I don't think I deserve your anger."
Bulma realized that she was fiddling with Flawless's lead and made herself stop before she gave her horse a neurotic twitch. "Chichi," Bulma finally said, "maybe deep down, so far down I don't realize it, I'm jealous that you've moved on. But really, the only thing I'm concerned about is getting the truck unloaded. So how about let's work on that, and you can tell me about this guy after that?"
"Ok," Chichi agreed, breaking into a beaming smile. Bulma watched her with something akin to envy, realizing with irritation that she was annoyed that Chichi was moving on. It really was wonderful that Chichi was moving past Yamcha, but when would she?
Reminded of him, Bulma couldn't help but remember how he had taken her for a ride with sweet words and subtle manipulations. But he had done the same to Chichi, and was probably doing the same thing to some other woman right now. With an irritated snort, Bulma thrust him from her mind and focused on Flawless. As always, he unloaded quietly and settled into his stall nicely, waiting peacefully while Bulma removed his traveling blankets. On the way back out to the truck, she checked on Red, and was relieved to see that he had drank some water. That was a good sign that he was settling in after the trip.
"Chichi," Bulma said as she met her friend at the truck, "everyone's settling."
Chichi grinned knowingly; by long association, she knew Bulma's horses as well as Bulma did, just as Bulma knew Chichi's. "Red's eating and drinking?"
"Just drinking," Bulma said, "but he'll be eating soon." Together, the women began to unload the truck. Taking turns and using the dolly, it was quickly done. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief when she locked the small tackroom they had been given.
"Now what?" Chichi said, clapping her hands against her jeans to get the worst of the dirt off of them. "We have two hours until dinner tonight."
"Well," Bulma said coyly, "this is our first time at St. Georges'."
"So?" Chichi asked.
"We have to hit the giftshop," Bulma laughed.
"Uh, Bulma," Chichi said unhappily, flushing slightly, "I spent most of my money to get here."
Bulma threw her arms around her friend and said, "Well, then you're just going to have to let me get you something to commemorate this event. No, no arguments!" She cut Chichi off with an upraised finger. "I want to get you something, cause there will never be another first time at St. Georges, Chichi. This is the only time it will be new."
Chichi looked at her with a wry side-long glance. "You know, I don't think being here will ever be old hat."
"But darling!" Bulma said, throwing her arm over Chichi's shoulders and dragging her along. "We're so cosmopolitan; we'll soon be bored with this rustic little spot." Laughing, Chichi allowed herself to be drawn to the gift shop.