Peridot grumbled as the strange noise continued to emanate from the long haired Saiyan. it was almost like some kind of throaty roar. Almost rhythmically, he would emit it everytime time he went into stasis until he awoke the next morning. She glared at where she could see his tail hanging off the loft where he was resting. Every night he would do this and it would impede her work. She never asked for this. This new Saiyan called Raditz just showed up one day and they invited him to stay...in her work area.
She was alright with the Bulma in her work area, but this was just unacceptable. Not only did he make those noises all night but he was also loud during the day, extremely sloppy, and had no concern for the belongings of others. She had had it with him, but she didn't dare say anything. He was a Saiyan after all. He could grind her into dust if she upset him! So, she continued to put up with the noise. "You only have to deal with this a little longer. Once you stop the Cluster, you won't have to put up with him again…" she thought.
….
Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!
Peridot's eye twitched at the noise. She remained silent however, and continued her work.
Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!
Her annoyance grew every time that noise resounded against the wall. She gritted her tee, but held her tongue. She couldn't say anything. There was no one around to intervene if she did.
Pa-thunk! Pa-thunk!
Everytime the ball hit the wall, she came closer and closer to screaming. she didn't know how much more she could take.
Pa-thunk! Pa-
"WILL YOU STOP THAT?! I'M TRYING TO WORK!"
Silence fell and Peridot's hands immediately flew to her mouth. The ball fell to the floor as Raditz stopped the repetitive motion of tossing and catching the ball to look at her in surprise. She stared at him with wide eyes as he got down from his loft and started walking towards her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She whimpered, curling up in a ball, "You can continue! Just please don't-" She stopped as he walked passed her towards the door. Peridot looked at him in confusion.
"I'm going for a walk...or see if the green guy's willing to spar," he announced.
"So you're not going to try and hurt me?" she asked.
"For now. Seeing as my survival on this planet is kinda depended on you being able to finish this drill thing, it's in my best interest not to," he said as he continued to walk out the door, "I'll be back in about an hour." With that he stepped outside the barn door.
Everything was quiet. Peridot sat in silence for a moment before she felt a flutter, giddy feeling rise up in her. She giggled slightly, covering her mouth. "I just shouted at a Saiyan...and got away with it!" she thought with glee.
….
He was making that noise again. This time in the middle of the day. She could see him lying on a haybale next to an old shelf, eyes shut. Bulma had left to attach a part to the drill outside. Peridot continued her work, trying to ignore the noise.
A few minutes passed. Then there was a loud crashing noise and a screech. Peridot turned to the noise to see that one of the shelves hand broken, and its contents, including a few tool boxes and paint buckets, had spilled onto the floor. Raditz was wide-eyed and panicked, but it didn't look like any of the shelf items had come close to hitting any vital part of his body.
"Everything ok in there?" Bulma called.
"Yes!" Peridot responded, "A shelving unit just malfunctioned."
"Ok!" Bulma hollard back.
Peridot looked over to the mess. "So are you going to clean it up?" she asked the Saiyan from a distance. His panicked look switched to dumbfounded as he seemed to struggle to look over to her. Then it quickly turned to anger. "Alright! I'm sorry!" she huffed, "I won't bother you!"
"Peridot!" he hissed weakly, "Get over here!"
"What?" she asked, "I thought you wanted me to leave you alone!"
"Just get over here!" he growled.
Peridot looked at him in confusion before getting up slowly. "Why exactly do you want me over there?" she asked.
The Saiyan looked down in embarrassment. "I...need your help…" he said.
"And why would I help you?" she asked folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.
"Because if I manage to get out of this without your help, I will make you regret turning me down!" he snarled, glaring at her.
Peridot yelped before getting up and walking over to him. "Ok, what do you want?" she asked.
Raditz blushed in embarrassment. "I can't move," he admitted, "A tool box landed on my tail…"
Peridot looked down and sure enough, one of the toolboxes from the shelf sat atop the Saiyan's very crumpled looking tail. A wry grin formed on Peridot's face. "If you laugh, I swear I'll turn you into space dust!" he threatened as he noticed it.
Peridot composed herself before picking up the heavy object and placing it aside. Raditz sighed in relief and stood up, stretching. "Thanks," he said, looking down at her and smiling. Peridot returned it. A second later the smile on his face faded in favor of a more stern expression. "You will mention this to no one, got it?" he warned. The green gem swallowed nervously before nodding.
….
Everything was quiet. Raditz had gone off to go into stasis again. Peridot smiled to herself. All day Steven, Gohan, and Connie had been showing Raditz "movies" on the image projection cube. They finally left, and now she had an opportunity to continue her analysis of "Camp Pining Hearts." She crawled up to the loft with the tape in hand. She carefully tip-toed around Raditz in his bed and turned on the projection cube. Raditz stirred slightly as the light filtered into the room, but only turned over in response. She put the tape in and started the episode. There was a groan from the Saiyah behind her as the theme song began, but for the next forty minutes, he mostly remained quiet.
Peridot watched the episode with undivided attention, carefully taking notes on the episode and giggling with delight at her favorite moments. As the credits rolled, she rewound the episode and started playing it again.
"Oh, no way!" Raditz growled as the theme song started playing again, "Are you really watching this a second time?!" Peridot jumped as the irritated Saiyan got up, marched over to the TV and ejected the tape.
"Hey! I was watching that!" she snapped.
"Yeah! And it's the middle of the night, and I'm trying to sleep!" he yelled back.
"So? you spent the entire day watching those stupid Sad Sword 'movies' with Steven, Connie, and Gohan and disrupting my work!" she retorted, "Why can't I watch what I want to watch now?"
"First of all, It's 'Lonely Blade', not Sad Sword, and although they're extremely inaccurate, they're way better than this tripe!" he started, "Secondly, because it's night! You can watch whatever you want during the day, but at night, I have to sleep!"
"You 'slept' all last night! Can't you go one night without?" Peridot responded.
"Sure if you want to see me burn down the nearest city!" Raditz snapped rolling his eyes, "If I don't sleep, I get tired and irritable. For your own good, you should avoid making it so I end up like that."
"Why?" Peridot asked.
Raditz looked at her in confusion. "Why what?" he asked.
"Why do you get irritable?" she asked.
"Because I'm organic. All organic creatures are like this. Not just humans," he explained like it was obvious, "If organic creatures don't sleep, we can't function properly. We can't concentrate or control our emotions as well."
"That seems horribly inefficient," Peridot noted, "It must be extremely annoying to have to do that every night."
Raditz looked at her in surprise. "Actually, it's more annoying when you can't sleep," he explained. Peridot gave a confused look. "Most organic creatures enjoy sleep. It allows one to relieve stress and help rejuvenate one's self," he explained.
Peridot tapped her chin in thought. "It can relieve stress?" she repeated. Raditz nodded. "And how does one initiate sleep?" she asked.
Raditz gave her an odd look. "Well you just lie down, get comfortable, close your eyes, and just relax until you drift off," he explained.
"Drift off?" she questioned, "I thought you didn't move while in stasis."
Raditz blinked at her before he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No you don't actually-" he started, "It's just an expression. Here, watch me." He crawled into his makeshift bed and lied down. "You lie like this, and close your eyes," he explained. Peridot copied him on the floor next to the bed. "Now you just stop thinking, breath deeply, and let your body relax," he said.
Peridot did as he said. As she breathed deeply, she felt herself relax until she finally drifted off.
…
A week or two had passed since then. She had dabbled in sleeping a few more times and experienced what Raditz had called dreams. Most were either pleasant or just illogical, but one night…
Peridot woke up with a scream, breathing hard and clutching her chest. Sweat dripped down her forehead. "Wha? What's going on?" the Saiyan groaned as he awoke near by. "Peridot? What's with all the noise? I was trying to…" he started, getting up. He then saw how hard she was breathing and the panic in her eyes. He looked at her with amusement. "Jeeze, what's with you? Did a spider crawl up your spine or something?" he asked.
"It was...I-I saw Yellow D-Diamond…" she stuttered, looking at him fearfully, "She wanted me shattered!"
The Saiyan stopped smiling as he looked at her. He remembered having dreams like that of Frieza. He knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey...It's ok. It was just a dream," he assured, "She's a billion miles away right now. She can't even touch you."
The frighten gem looked at him for a moment before nodding and calming down slightly. "I think I'm going to stay away from sleep for a while," she said, looking down.
Raditz nodded. "Suit yourself," he said, getting back into bed. He looked back at the still shaken gem. He sighed as he already regretted what he was about to say. "If it'll make you feel better…," he grumbled, "...you can watch that 'Camp Pine Hearts' or whatever it's called…" Peridot looked at him in surprise. "...but only one time, alright?" he warned. Peridot nodded excitedly before sliding down the ladder to go find the tape. Raditz sighed as she climbed back up and turned on the TV.
"Raditz?" she said as the theme song began.
"Hm?" he grunted, opening one eye.
"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.
"Whatever…" he responded, tucking himself in.
Bit of filler. Trying to give Raditz some kind of a personality but I don't know how well that went. Anyways, enjoy you guys and have a good day! Next chapter: it could have been great.