"Goku is up in about ten minutes," Chichi sighed as she began to help Bulma put Red back in his stall. "I hope he does better."
Speaking of Goku's score made Bulma wonder how Vegeta had done. She didn't say anything though; she didn't want another round of teasing. Besides, the scores would all be posted by 5:00 p.m. She could check them on her own; she could use the excuse that she needed to check to see who was leading the show.
Bulma had no time to dwell on Red's performance; instead, she had to finish Flawless's preparations and help Chichi with Seattle StormCat. Storm was a retired Thoroughbred racehorse like Red, but the brown horse had been off the track longer than Red and was much steadier. Since half the preparations were already done, the two girls were able to fly through their tasks; they even had time for a bite of lunch. Then it was back to the warm-up ring to try to settle into the next test.
Bulma was much calmer this time. She trusted Flawless completely; he would put forward his best performance and she would be fine. She had run the pattern once, and she had learned from it. Bulma knew that this time, she would do better. She was on her best horse.
Bulma tested first this time; as she had suspected, it went a lot better this time. Part of her problem with Red was that she had spent so much time worrying about him screwing it up that she had forgotten to watch herself. With Flawless, she could focus on herself and not worry about him.
Chichi's scores were even lower than her earlier test, but the woman didn't care. Where Priss was somewhat better at the arena and cross-country jumping, Storm was a lot better in those areas. The brown horse would have a good chance to increase his score in the next two stages.
After Flawless and Storm were settled back into their stalls, Bulma dropped onto a hay bale and sighed heavily. "Are you as tired as I feel?" she heard Chichi ask, and Bulma looked up at her friend.
"More, I think," Bulma said with a grin. "Are we done yet?"
"We've taken care of the horses," Chichi said happily. "Now we can take care of ourselves. Dinner?"
"Shower first," Bulma said, rolling to her feet.
"Hey guys!" Goku called out from down the aisle as he walked toward them. Behind him, a knot of Saiyan employees were gathered around Vegeta; he was writing notes on a piece of paper. "There's this great sandwich shop that we're getting food from. You want to go in on our order and have dinner with us?"
"Sure," Chichi said, smiling shyly at Goku.
"Hmm, no cooking and cleanup, with the added bonus of not having to leave the grounds?" Bulma grinned as she dug out her wallet. "Sounds good. But can we shower first?"
"Here's some money; is that enough?" Chichi said, pulling some bills out of her jacket pocket. "Do they have turkey?"
Goku agreed to meet them back here in half an hour and took their orders and money. As Chichi and Bulma raced off to get cleaned up, he walked back to the group. "I hope you know what you're doing," Vegeta said gruffly. "Father will hit the roof when he finds out."
"You're going to tell him," Goku said, his voice heavy with resignation.
Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid," he growled. "There's no reason Father should know, but you know for damned sure that one of the grooms or other riders will tell him."
"I'll take the heat," Goku said softly. "I really think she's worth it."
"I hope so," Vegeta said, "because Father is going to crucify you when he finds out."
"She is, Vegeta," Goku said, glancing back the way that the women had walked. "She really is."
Chichi and Bulma showered, dressed and raced back to the barn, meeting with the members from Saiyan Stables. A blanket had been set up a little way from the barn, and the Saiyans all trooped out to it and had a picnic. The other grooms and riders were surprised when the two women joined them, but it wasn't their place to say anything. Instead, they enjoyed the rare company of other riders, made rarer by the attractiveness of the women.
If the Saiyan horses were all cut from the same mold, then their riders and grooms had been stamped with them. They were all clean-cut with matching clothes: the black polo shirt with the Saiyan logo and blue jeans. But more disturbing to Bulma was the fact that they were all male.
Women had been a strong presence in the eventing sport for a while now. Some of the best and brightest were female, and it seemed wrong to Bulma that Saiyan Stables had only men. She had heard that the Saiyans could be discriminatory, but sitting in the middle of all these men, she felt the truth of that statement.
Even weirder, none of the men were flirting, not even a little. Goku was talking softly with Chichi, but that wasn't really flirting, it was the first stages of a relationship. Vegeta was ignoring both her and Chichi as hard as he could, and while the other men were remaining distantly polite. It was creepy, and she was glad when dinner was done.
Bulma sighed and glanced at her watch; it was past time to go as far as she was concerned. But Chichi showed no signs of leaving soon, and Bulma finally had to speak up. "Hey, Chichi, we should get going, you know?" she said softly as she tugged on the sleeve of the pretty yellow shirt her friend was wearing. "I want to check the leader boards, and tomorrow will come early."
"Sure, I guess," Chichi said reluctantly, starting to gather her trash.
"I'll come with you," Goku said, grabbing up both his and her trash and bouncing to his feet. "I want to see the boards, too."
"Great!" Chichi said, her smile lighting up her face. Bulma shook her head as she watched them grin at one another. How could they be in love that intently, that quickly? Of course, Bulma had never seen her friend fall in love before, so maybe this sudden slide was normal for her.
The three threw away their trash and begin to walk toward where the boards were posted. Bulma and Chichi fell into step on either side of Goku. For Bulma, her position had been unintentional, but the symbolism of it irritated her. Goku was most certainly coming in between them, but Bulma wouldn't stop it. The look on Chichi's face was too happy to argue against.
She felt his warm presence before she noticed him in her peripheral vision. She turned to see Vegeta Saiyan walking next to her as if he were just strolling along the same path she had taken. "What do you think you're doing?" she said, surprise making her hostile.
"I'm walking with my brother to check the boards," he said simply, his face neutral. "Is there a problem?"
"No," Bulma said, nearly wincing at the petulant tone in her voice. "No problem at all."
The four continued their walk in silence, but that silence was broken when they got to the boards. Bulma was pleased to see that of sixty-two competitors, Flawless was number twelve and Red was thirty-fifth. Priss was twenty-second and Storm was forty-first. When she scanned the rider's names, she found Goku and Vegeta's horses: Goku's Silver Surety was seventeenth and his Warland Conqueror was twenty-fifth. Vegeta's other horse, Warland Commander, was seventh. Bulma sighed inwardly. She had a long way to go, though it looked like Flawless would definitely qualify for the Prix. Priss probably would too, but Red and Storm were still uncertain.
"Hmm," Vegeta grunted. "Six of the top twenty are Saiyan mounts. We'll have to improve that number tomorrow."
Bulma stared at him. "That's a 30 domination of the field," she said. "That's good, considering the quality of your competitors."
"Father wants us to have ten horses in the top twenty by the end of the meet," Vegeta said.
"Ten?" Chichi said. "Just how many horses did you guys bring?"
"Thirty," Goku said and added with a grin, "but then, when you have fifteen riders and ten additional grooms, you can field that many horses. Of course, we're down two horses, since Master got hurt and Inky's hocks were inflamed this morning."
"Our two best," Vegeta sighed, looking tired for a moment. Then his features hardened and he said, "Everyone will just have to do better from here on out. No mistakes."
"Wait a minute," Bulma interjected. "You guys really think that you'll have one-third of your horses in the top twenty?"
"Why not?" Vegeta said. "We're Saiyan Stables, and Warlander is the best sire of this generation."
"You're incredibly arrogant, you know?" Bulma said.
Vegeta cocked an eyebrow at her. "And your point is?"
"Above your comprehension, apparently," Bulma said irritably. "You can't just say stuff like that; you have to back it up. Sure Warlander is a good sire, but the best? I would argue that."
"You can say whatever you want, woman," Vegeta replied briskly, "but that doesn'tâ" His ringing phone cut him off, and Vegeta pulled it off his belt. When he checked the caller ID, his expression changed. Bulma couldn't put her finger on exactly how it did, but he was definitely not happy about who was calling. "I have to take this," he said and walked away from them as he answered the phone.
"Let me guess," Bulma asked. "The master of Saiyan Stables?"
"It's about the time he'd call," Goku said, his voice tight.
Chichi rubbed his arm comfortingly. "He isn't really that bad, is he?"
"Sometimes," Goku answered softly. "I'm just glad that Vegeta has the phone."
"You know, the more I hear about your father, the less I like him," Bulma muttered.
"Sometimes, I feel the same," Goku said, his voice sad. Chichi reacted to that sadness by turning to him and hugging him. Goku looked surprised, then happy as he put his arms around her. "Thank you," he whispered into her hair.
The hug lasted for a while; Bulma finally turned away from them, a little embarrassed by the intimacy of the moment. She tried not to stare at the other Saiyan, but there really wasn't anything to watch but Vegeta, and her gaze returned to him again and again. She couldn't hear what he said, but his irritation was clear, even from where she was. When he finally hung up, his arms shook with suppressed emotion â rage, Bulma would assume.
He glanced at his brother, still hugging Chichi, and a wave of emotions swept across his face. They were so thick and fast that Bulma couldn't recognize them. Then his face was blank, arrogantly neutral, and he walked over to them. When he came closer, Chichi and Goku pulled apart. But they lingered closer to one another; it was clear that they were becoming more and more comfortable together.
"We need to go to bed," Vegeta said gruffly to his brother.
"What did Dad want?" Goku asked.
Vegeta shrugged. "Just an update. He's checked the results so far on the internet, and he was calling to make sure that I had a plan to get our numbers up."
"Do you have a plan?" Bulma asked.
Vegeta shot her a sharp look and said, "Of course I do. That's why I need to collect my brother and get back to the stables so that I can instruct my men."
Chichi and Goku looked reluctant to part, but Vegeta was adamant, and Bulma didn't fight the separation too hard. It would be nice to have a bit of time with Chichi before bedtime. Together they went to check on their horses, then back to their dorm room. Both women got ready for bed, but they didn't fall asleep; instead, they began talking. Their talk quickly turned to men, and Bulma got the shock of her life.
"Bulma," Chichi said shyly, wadding and unwadding a blanket over and over again, "I think that I'm in love."