Val returned the village a few days later, not only still disliking how cold it was there, but also still disliking sharing such a small space she had to share with Tien in his yurt. That and no one else in the village would be near her often or initiate a conversation with her. She did her best to keep her dislikes to herself, trying to push through them as no situation was going to be perfect.
Aiko seemed to pick up on her simmering annoyance and started to pick at them a little at a time. Val tried to keep from rising to her antics, reminding herself not to. After breakfast her third day there, Val was leaving the dinning hall building before Tien or Chiaotzu did since they were cleaning up after she and the others ate. Tien told her she did not need to clean up with them as she did not stay in the village permanently, yet, so she did not have to help with any clean up. She thought it was liking not that, but rather people there were still uncomfortable with her touching anything or anyone. It was frustrating to her to be treated like a princess and at the same time a leper in this situation.
Val waited outside of the dinning hall, sitting on the steps and feeling a bit bored and stiff and irritable from the cold. She saw others from the village milling around as well, but not too close to her. She sat in silence, not engaging with anyone with her arms wrapped around her middle. She kept her gloved hands covered up underneath her lest someone stare at them nervously yet again. She felt someone bump into her as she sat, making her jump and then move without thinking. She was up on her feet and grabbed the person by the collar instinctively. It took her a second to register it was Aiko, which made herself mad at both her and herself for reacting so aggressively.
"Dah, jumpy," Aiko clicked her teeth at her. Aiko brought her hand up, pulling Val's off of her collar roughly. Val made herself let go and back away. "Didn't see you there. So small. Just thought it was a pile of the furs upon the furs," the larger woman commented. Val looked at her, trying not to raise to anything Aiko was saying. "You don't have to go after picking a fight, no?"
Val shook her head. "I wasn't," she pointed out, debating if she should step back more or not. She certainly did not want to.
"Then why you grab me?" Aiko asked back.
Val shook her head again. "Because you ran into me," she seethed back.
"Dah, and I told you it was because I thought you were furs what with how many you are wearing to stay warm up here," Aiko shot right back. Val looked up at her, not blinking. She wanted to start a fight, her eyes blazing with the desire to do so. The other villagers in the area were watching the two of them as well. Val turned away, deciding she would just head up to the training area early before she let Aiko goad her into do anything foolish. Aiko called after, "what? You don't want to fight after all? What was the point of grabbing me then?"
Val stopped and turned to face her, confidently blurting out, "that's a fight you wouldn't win."
She swore under her breath when she saw Aiko stomp over to her determinedly. Aiko came up toe to toe with her. "You think that's why I was told not to challenge you? I would break you space witch, quite easily."
Val looked up at her, shaking her head. "I'm not going to fight you," she ruled.
"Fearful?" Aiko asked.
"For you," she responded.
Aiko looked down at her. "Then prove it, fight me." She nodded to behind Val. "There's a fighting area near the stables we keep the livestock in."
"Aiko-" Val started.
"Or are you so chicken we need to put you in the stables as well?" Aiko asked her.
Val gave in, temper simmering to a boiling point. "Fine, lead the way," she nodded, being torn with wanting to have the fight and regretting agreeing to it.
Aiko clicked her teeth, beaming at her. "Follow me, space witch," she bid, stomping confidently up the path towards the barns by the forest entrance.
Val swore under her breath, crossed her arms over her chest, hid her hands away, and puffed after her. She heard and saw the other villagers who had been around following after them as well. Except for one she saw slip away back up to the dinning hall.
While Val followed after them, she was thinking how foolish but how tempting it was to just knock Aiko around after dealing with her for so long. Dealing with her, the wet cold atmosphere, her own confused feelings over Tien, how she disliked the cramped space she shared with him, how distant people were with her, and over how training ate into her much desired researching time but research ate into her much needed training time. That and having to still balance between Tien and Vegeta while missing training with Piccolo, who was more skilled than Tien was. So many frustrations boiling over into giving into the desire to just knock Aiko around to get her at least to back off and burn off her own temper.
"What's going on?" Val heard a voice call out. She turned to see Tien and Chiaotzu come out of the dinning hall. She stopped, watching Tien rush up to her. "Someone came running into the dinning hall saying Aiko goaded you into a fight. What do you think you're doing?" he asked in a low voice. "You can't rise to her, even if she goads. She does that. You can't fight her." He sounded almost like he was defending her.
Val sighed up at him and shook her head. "What? This is my fault?" she snapped quietly at him. "If she wants to fight me so badly, I'm not backing down," she ruled. "Why should I? I'm so sick of... of... her..." she finished off.
He flicked his eyes between her and the direction Aiko had gone. His face looked sour. "Just... just, she's proud," he said. "And can be a bit sensitive. You don't know her like I do." He stared only up towards where the barns were now. "I know you'll win, but just make it close. Without letting her use her knife," he advised. He looked conflicted, saying even that.
She turned away from him and trudged back up the hill in the wet snow, debating if it was a good idea to engage in this fight after all, but unwilling to back down in the midst of all her frustrations piled on top of her.
Aiko stopped, nearer to the forest behind the barns than the barns themselves. Val looked over at the barns and the fields behind them, seeing the livestock had still not been let out for the day since they were tucked away in the barn at night for their own safety from onikumas and other wild predators. Val flicked her eyes over at the villagers around them, seeing them look nervously over at her in a negative way, but nervously over at Aiko in a more protective way. Val felt her temper flare in a spark of jealousy at the newest form of caution railed against her. Chiaotzu looked nervously intrigued. Tien even looked more nervous for Aiko rather than her. She turned away from the others and over at Aiko, ready to sink herself into the fight, hating the idea that she had hold herself back when she would rather go all out.
Aiko nodded her head up at Val. "Gloves on only. No curses," she demanded.
Val nodded, not wanting to take her gloves off anyway in such an infuriatingly cold climate. She brought her hands up, tightening the straps at the base of her gloves to show they would not be coming off that easily. She also ruled no energy blasts silently to herself either, since Aiko could not do that. "No knife," she demanded back. She nodded down at Aiko's boot.
Aiko clicked her teeth, but did not remove the blade Val knew was in there. "It will stay sheathed as long as your cursing hands will stay sheathed."
Val grumbled under her breath, but nodded in reluctant agreement. She shook her hands out, showing the gloves were not going to be removable. She sunk down into a sparring stance, waiting for Aiko to start this fight she so desperately wanted.
It did not take long for Aiko to charge at her, fists raised up. Aiko threw a punch that was far too slow compared to what Val was used to when training with quite a few others, especially Piccolo. Val dodged it easily. Aiko growled ferally at her, throwing and missing another punch when Val dodged it by a wide margin. The punches were aimed at Val's face, but so predicably easy to dodge. She kept dodging in the direction closer to the woods and farther away from the other villagers without meaning to. Aiko kept trying the same kind of punch over and over, making Val wonder if even Dende could have beat this one trick pony of a woman. Val allowed herself a slight hum and thought to miss Dende and the others, wondering how the lot of them were getting on at New Namek.
Even in her reminiscing, Aiko was moving far too slow to get a hit off of her. Val moved away more, hands poised to strike her back when the moment came. Aiko growled and huffed at her, "fight back, you coward! And quit the running!"
Val hesitated, throwing a covert glance over at Tien. He gave an equally covert nod. Val turned her attention back on Aiko. Instead of dodging, she blocked Aiko's next punch, swiping the fist aimed for her face away before throwing a softened punch at Aiko's face. Her punch landed, making her cringe internally as Aiko groaned painfully and backed away clumsily. Aiko rounded on her, hand rubbing against her now tender jaw. She spat, a pinkish mix in it due to a bit of blood. Val sunk down, gloved fists raised up protectively over her own face.
Aiko loosed a ragged scream, charging at her. Val blocked each punch, biting back the desire to scold her for being such a one trick pony with her attacks. Piccolo would not have held back just as much as Val was forcing herself to do, meeting each punch Aiko threw with her own held back strikes before backing away, getting nearer and nearer to the trees. She felt Aiko's frustration at her lack of being able to land a strike grow in time with her own frustration that she had to hold her back from hurting the weaker woman just because Tien asked her to.
Aiko shouted wordlessly at her, desperately charging at her, fist raised. Val dodged her to the left, seeing Aiko run towards her right her. Val took the opportunity to bring her elbow down on her shoulder blade to knock her down to the pile of snow behind her. Aiko seemed to land with a hardy grunt, but Val thought it best to send her to the ground away from the trees at the very least.
Val watched, relieved Aiko at first stayed down rather than rising back up to try to hit her again. Val backed up, right on the cusp of the tree line, noticing a wild, sweaty smell, wondering if that was Aiko in all her efforts. She kept her eyes on Aiko, debating what to do if she rose up again. Probably best to put her down and keep her down now. Enough time had expired in the fight. Aiko looked at her, her face in sudden, anticipatory shock. She moved to crouch down on the balls of her feet, yanking her long knife out of her boot, eyes trained in Val's direction.
Val gasped as the woman charged at her, knife raised high. Val grabbed her by the forearm, halting the blade before she could strike. Aiko grunted something incomprehensible at her, but she held on, hardly holding back now.
Then she heard a sniff and a low rumble behind her. She kept hold of Aiko's forearm, but turned her head back, seeing a scared up bear that would dwarf even Piccolo before her. It reared back its hind legs, opened its mouthed, and roared at the pair of them. Val felt her ears ring from the sound of it. Val felt her eyes grow wide at the sight of it, gaze locked on the row of sharp, glistening teeth that could probably even break her own skin.
"Onikuma!" Aiko shouted in her ear. "Let me go!"
Val let her go, but shoved her away protectively and stepped out in front of her. Aiko struggled to be shoved off, leading Val to look back at her to succeed in doing so. She saw the onikuma moving in her side vision, but only fully saw its paw side swipe her upper right leg at the last second, knocking her away from Aiko. Val half bit back a scream with the sharp claws sank across her leg and knocked her down and rolling across the snow away from Aiko.
"Aiko," she panicked, worried the weaker woman would be harmed by such a beast. She gasped as she tried to rise and then crumpled because of her right leg. She looked down at it, not quite comprehending the sight she saw at first. Her thick pants were torn and red at the front and outside of her thigh. The red was growing darker and spreading. Her eyes went wide when she realized she was bleeding from the gashes the onikuma had managed to cut into her skin. "Aiko, run! It can't be beat!" she shouted, bringing her hands down on her leg to staunch the bleeding.
Aiko did not back off, instead she roared with all her might at the onikuma. The beast seemed confused to shouted at someone so tiny in comparison. The beast reared up, swiping at Aiko, who managed to dodge the lumbering move. Val tried to get up to help her, but groaned when her right leg protested at the move.
Tien was next to her, but eyes often glancing over at Aiko dodging and swiping her knife at the onikuma. "You need to move," he said, grabbing her from under her arms and dragging her away towards the others. She hissed under her breath, noticing the other villagers back away from them. "Someone help her," Tien said, nodding down at Val before turning back to watch Aiko, almost ready to go over to help her instead.
Val looked around and saw two skittish villagers, two older women come over to her, hesitating far too much for her to want them to come near her. She raised her hands up, pulling to loosen her gloves. That managed to scare even those two brave ones back into the line of cowards. She grabbed Tien before he could go to Aiko, who swiping her knife to and fro in the air at the beast, chasing her near the tree line. "Help me," she demanded, starting to take off his fur cloak by herself, hoping it would not be too cold for him up here. She ripped a long strip around it and started wrapping it around her wounded legs. She saw he was watching Aiko more, who had climbed a tree since she last looked, with the onikuma digging its claws into the trunk in hopes to shake Aiko out. She pulled on his shirt to get his attention. "Bind it," she demanded. He looked back down at her and took the two ends of the strip and tied it. He then looked back at Aiko. "Tighter," she insisted.
He looked away from Aiko and he did. Val winced, worried about how deep the wounds were and about the risk of infection. She worried at just how sharp the onikuma's claws had to be to break even her skin. Val glanced up the same way Tien was, watching Aiko jump from the tree, driving her knife down through one of its eyes as she landed on top of it. She roared as she collapsed into the snow with the beast, that was still twitching and plaintively whinging. The sight and sound of both, mixed with the faint smell of blood in the area, made Val feel sick to her stomach. Aiko untangled herself from the beast, shouting her own praises and holding the bloodied knife as a prize. She was unscathed.
Val noticed the other villagers were watching her, impressed with the brutal victory over the beast. Even Tien was watching her in amazement that she emerged unscathed. "Help me up," Val said, drawing his attention back to her.
He looked down at her leg, clicking his teeth. He picked her up rather than helping her to stand up. "We need to get that looked at," he conceded. "We need to get back to the village-"
"Take me to Capsule Corps," she interrupted.
He reared back. "The village is closer," he said. He started walking towards the village, with the others side stepping away from the pair of them.
She shook her head. "Capsule Corp is better," she urged. He did not answer, but threw a glance over at Aiko. He turned away and kept walking tensely. "I'm not going down there," she ruled, squirming to get out of his grip. She fell on her feet, swearing as her right leg was jarred.
He caught her, supporting most her weight. "I'm not going there," he countered.
She struggled, trying to pull away from him again in her frustration. She managed to get away, only to fall down in the snow, favoring her left side. She pushed his hands away when he went to help her up. She looked up at him, insisting, "Capsule Corps. Better medicine, better equipment, better people," she insulted, intentionally be loud enough for those around them to hear her. She started to push herself up, concerned when her right thigh started to feel wetter.
Chiaotzu stepped up to them, offering up, "why not go to Korin? He might have a new crop of senzu beans grown by now. He was trying to make as many as possible for, you know..." He hinted softly. "If they are ripe, she could use one."
Val looked at him and then up at Tien, who was looking over Aiko, with others around her now, with no one worried to being too near her. "Take me to Korin then," she compromised, recalling how the senzu bean she had taken in the past on Old Namek made her recover so quickly and fully after her fight with Reacoom. She reached up and grabbed at Tien, making him help pull her up and pick her back up into the princess carry. He was still looking over at Aiko. Val felt the temptation to smack him on the chest. She grabbed his chin, pulled him towards her, kissed him instead angrily, catching him off guard. That got his attention back on her. "Korin's," she insisted, wishing Dende or another healer was an option.
Tien flew her to Korin, under the Lookout, seemed to rush to do so. Val winced at all the flying and jarring to her leg. She hated dealing with it. Korin and Yajirobe were there, surprising the two of them as Tien set her down gently on the floor. She favored her left leg, leaning against Tien as little as she needed to. The beast scratching her, injuring her, when not even Aiko bore a mark from it was infuriating.
"What happened to you?" Korin asked, breaking the shocked silence.
"Korin, she needs a senzu bean if you have one," Tien explained promptly. "She was attacked by an onikuma."
"And you lived to tell the tale?" Yajirobe asked, eyeing Val and her hastily wrapped up leg.
She nodded, biting back her temper about the injury. That doubling with that Aiko unfairly had not been injured at all. She looked away from him and over at Korin. "Just one, if you can spare it," she huffed out, leg aching. She could feel her hair sticking to the back of her sweaty neck.
Korin met her gaze as she held her breath, just wanting to be rid of the pain and the shame of her leg. "I'm sorry, but your timing is ill. I don't have a ripened one at the ready. Unless you could wait a month or two," he excused, shaking his head apologetically. "A hospital is your best option right now."
"Why not!?" she snapped at him. "How is this possible? Yet again!" She let her temper slip out, struggling to bite it back, but not wanting to anymore.
"Val," Tien started gently.
She rounded on him. "I nearly died last time when I went to the Shinsenkai and had no chance at a senzu bean either. And now my leg is injured, and I have no chance at one ripe nor unripe," she reminded him.
"An unripe bean would poison you sooner than heal you," Korin warned her. "It's not a risk worth taking."
Val listened to his excuses, frustrated. She huffed, not sure what to answer, nor wanting to give into the temptation to pick a fight with him for an uncontrollable slight he had given her. She turned back to Tien. "Capsule Corps," she demanded simply.
"Val-" he started.
"Capsule Corps!" she shouted, willingly not holding back her temper this time. "I just need to go there."
"I'm not going there-" he started.
She interrupted him this time around. "Then I'll take myself there!" she ruled, favoring her left leg as she hobbled over towards the edge. She was unsure if she should even fly in this condition. She stopped before her leg could give out, feeling her brow sweat coldly. She looked over at Yajirobe. "Can you take me there?" she asked, hating how pitiful she sounded.
He blinked up at her. "It's a far way to go in my transport," he warned her. "But I could..."
"You can't fly?" she asked him incredulously. He was supposed to be another defender of the Earth, at least that was what Yamcha had said.
He shook his head. She huffed, rubbing her leg and its ache. She doubted she could get herself there. "Fine. What payment do you want for it?" she offered.
He looked up at her, suddenly intrigued. "Uh..." his eyes seemed to linger a bit too inappropriately on her. Val nodded, too enraged and in pain to care.
"Hey!" Tien cut right back in, sounding jealous now. "The village or a nearby hospital would be closer."
Val looked over at him. "Just go back to your village and Aiko," she sneered. "I'll get to Capsule Corps one way or another." She held his gaze, not biting back her desire to back down to this fight. He seemed to pause, not quite saying anything back. "I would rather bleed out than go back to that village."
He took the bait. "Why? What did they ever do to you?" he asked.
She paused for a second before letting her temper out. She tore at her hands, ripping her gloves off, breaking the straps that tightened them in the process. She shoved up her sleeves past her bracelets and forearms. She held up her hands. "You know why! It's because of this!" she shouted. "You told them about this! You told them and they won't touch me, or let me touch anything, or even get near me or close to me!" She panted as she finished, bringing her hand to her aching right leg. She could faintly smell blood, hating it even more.
"You won't let them close to you!" he spoke back. "You won't speak with anyone, you won't connect with them, you wouldn't even let anyone help you when you were injured."
She huffed, rounding on him. "They're afraid of me! They hate me! You mis-told them what I was and what I could do, you must have! No one else treats me like they do." She felt herself grow hotter and sweatier. She yanked off her fur lined coat, throwing it down on the ground. "I'd rather trust Vegeta to treat my leg right now than anyone of those villagers, and he'd be an idiot when it comes to this," she bluffed, cringing at the idea of him of all people seeing her without any pants on, which is what the person who would have to treat her would have to do.
He seemed to bait at that. "Wouldn't you rather have Piccolo do it instead?" he threw back.
"Wouldn't you rather go check on Aiko instead of being here? Or is she too weak, even for you," she countered. She looked away from. "Let's go," she urged Yajirobe. She halted, hesitant to try to step anywhere on her leg. Yajirobe did not move, eyes shifting to look between them and to exchange a nervous glance with Korin. "Please," she pleaded. She huffed, frustrated. She looked up, ruling, "I'll just ask Kami to take me instead." She hoped flying even that far was not a bad idea.
"Uh, he can't leave the Lookout," Korin pointed out.
"What? Why not?" she asked, knowing he had at least once before to ask Piccolo to become guardian right before Garlic Jr.'s attack.
"Unless there is a dire emergency or its guardianship related, there must always be a guardian in the Lookout," he explained. "He will have to refuse you."
She clutched her fists, not sure how to respond. "I'm going to Capsule Corps," she ruled, dragging herself over towards the edge.
"I'll take her," Tien answered, resigned. She looked over at him, shaking her head. He approached her, with her backing off but struggling to not fall down. "You're getting what you want!" he pointed out saltily.
She smacked at him, not wanting him to pick her up now. She struggled against him from taking her, but her right leg buckled, feeling wetter. She wilted, giving in. She could not fly herself, but she wanted to shove out of his arms so badly even as he flew. She overly hot and overly ashamed over everything. She was at least a little grateful at how fast he was moving.
When they landed on the grounds of Capsule Corps, he did not set her down. He looked around the buildings. "Which way?"
"That way," she pointed towards the medical research building, hesitating slightly as they would have to go passed the spaceship where Vegeta trained.
If he was in there, it was likely he would sense them going by. She could certainly sense him. Her leg felt wetter, the hot, throbbing pain more noticeable. She could smell blood even. A few drops had dripped from her leg into the grass. She figured he could as well, throwing a glance down at her right side. He walked a little faster, holding his breath. He glanced at the door of the spaceship as they passed it, just as hopeful as she was that he would not catch them. They got passed the door, and a few steps away before both of them heard the door open behind them. "What the hell?" Val heard Vegeta say. Her stomach dropped. He must have seen the drops of blood.
"Put me down and go," Val said, shifting her way out of Tien's grip. He was willing to set her down and let her favor her left leg, but did not let her get much farther than that. "Let me go and just get out of here," she reasoned, not wanting this to escalate into a fight between the two of them. It was the last thing she wanted to deal with.
She looked over, seeing Vegeta moving towards them. "Is she bleeding? What the hell did you do to her?"
She pushed herself away from Tien and stumbled towards Vegeta, explaining, "an onikuma attack... It's a type of wild, giant bear... His village. His... friend killed it, but not before it got me," she explained. She got to him, grabbing his shirt so he could not get any closer to Tien. He was a bit to sweaty for her taste, but she held on, lest he went after Tien. "Can you get me to a doctor?" she asked him, leaning on him, even though she felt hot, annoyed, and begrudgingly humbled.
Vegeta looked between the two of them. The amount of amusement on his face left a bad taste in the back of her throat. He hauled her up, tossing her over his shoulder before walking passed Tien and towards the medical research. She winced as her leg got bumped by him carrying her. "Couldn't kill the beast yourself?" he goaded. "Or get her here any sooner?" He kept walking, with her hoping he would leave it at that. "Just go back to that snow loving village where there's a woman who actually wants to be around you."
Vegeta did not look back, but Val could see the look on Tien's face over Vegeta's shoulder. She looked away from him, avoiding eye contact with Tien while resisting the desire to punch Vegeta in the back for saying such things. He carried into the building with the door behind them. She kipped, wanting to get down and go back outside, but he held her firmly over his shoulder.