| Friendship: A Chibi Story PROLOGUE This is separated into different points of view ~Vegeta~ Vegeta got off the bus and stepped off the sidewalk. "Man, that's a big school," he muttered, eyeing the surrounding buildings with suspicion and not a little fear. He walked down the sidewalk toward his first class. He stood up in the front of the room and announced himself before the teacher and class. "Um... my name is Vegeta Neusei. I'm new. Uh... Hi," Vegeta said, his eyes downcast and his face reddened. The class stood silent except for the few that snickered. The teacher, Mrs. Kumai, eyed the snickering students. "Nice to meet you, Vegeta," she said, her voice musical. Vegeta mumbled something incoherent. He went to the back of the class and sat down. As the year progressed, Vegeta got in to fights and became the designated bully. So another school year came and gone and a new one starts..... ~Piccolo~ Piccolo stepped off the bus and onto school grounds. He hugged his notebook closer to his chest. "Man," he thought, "this school is bigger than I'm used to," his dark green skin paled considerably and students beside him looked at him suspiciously. He kept his dark eyes downcast to avoid making any direct eye contact. Unfortunately, in doing so, he managed to bump into Vegeta. Vegeta was trying to get lunch money off of a younger girl when a moving object collided with him. Vegeta sprawled along the ground, his head smarting. Piccolo lay opposite of the fallen Vegeta and rubbed his head wound. Vegeta groaned silently as the young girl looked on as the bully lay parallel to the earth. The girl smiled at the young namekian and ran off to tell her friends. Vegeta stood up and stared at her retreating back. "That's just great" he seethed, "now I'm ruined." He turned his sights to the object of his shame. "You... little.... imbecile..." he hissed through clenched teeth. "You.... just ruined me!!" Piccolo looked up from where he was picking up his school books. His dark eyes took in the angry Saiyan. "I'm... s-s-s-sorry" he squeaked." "I-I-I'm new...." he said trying to explain. Vegeta would have none of it. He chased the namekian all over the school yard. Finally the bell rang and Piccolo ran for the school room. Vegeta tried to finally catch him, but didn't succeed. Piccolo ran to his first class. He slammed in the room right as the bell rang. "Why, hello" a shy voice said. "A little late, aren't we..." Piccolo gritted his teeth as he apologized to the teacher. "Gomen-Nasai" he said. "Well don't just stand there.. tell us who you are" Mr. Sakan said, making Piccolo jump. "My... name is Piccolo, Piccolo Diamoh. I just moved here." The teacher eyed the scared Namek. "Well, good for you. Your seat is in the back." Piccolo nodded and walked to the back of the class. He ignored the looks of the other students as he walked. ~Vegeta~ Vegeta walked from his fourth period class to the recess field. He was still seething about the incident earlier in the day. "That little whelp!" he hissed. He closed his eyes and counted to twenty. As he was crossing the middle of the basketball court towards the kickball field, he heard a ruckus. There, amid a small copse of trees on the edge of the playground was a large group of boys. They were laughing at something they had surrounded. "Like wolves on a calf" Vegeta thought, disgusted. He arrived to his intended destination and sat down beneath a tree as he waited. Soon he heard the crunching of leaves. "Konnichiwa, Bulma-kun" he said softly. "Konnichiwa, Veggie," a sweet feminine voice returned. Vegeta smiled. Bulma was the only person to see past his tough-guy exterior. She had seen the sweet guy beneath. It was their secret and they guarded it religiously. The two sat down together and just held hands and talked. The two social roles were exact opposite. Bulma, the pretty, smart, popular girl and Vegeta, the dark, handsome rebel that had been designated the school bully. It was a role that played to a tee. When they were alone, the real people came through. In contrast to his outer personality, Vegeta was actually very smart, nice, and courteous. They tried to talk as they normally would, but the loud laughing and noise from the boys kept interfering with their conversation. Vegeta began to get fed up. I'm going over there to see what's going on," he said. Bulma merely nodded and slipped from sight. Vegeta stomped toward the unruly crowd. The outer-ring shifted nervously as the well-muscled young man walked toward them. They knew him well enough not to fight him. The layered rings parted layer after layer like bark from a cedar tree till only a single ring was left. The Saiyan tapped one of the boys that stood in front of him. "Would you mind moving?" Vegeta asked civilly. The ruffian in front snorted and said "no way in HFIL! You runt." Vegeta merely raised a brow and in the space of one breath. The boy was parallel to Earth drawing up against the punch to the stomach and chest he just received. As the other boys' eyes widened, the boys split apart. Vegeta moved to the center of the ring. He was going to ask what in the name of Kami was going on when his foot hit something solid. He looked down quickly and annoyed. His scowl softened when he saw who it was. "It's... that kid" Vegeta mentally concluded. His scowl returned. "You are disgusting." he addressed the ring. "Are you so cowardly that you have to beat up a new kid? Smaller than you? You're all pathetic," he said. The ring grumbled and someone tried to attack Vegeta. Never losing his cool, he calmly and thoroughly trounced everyone. As he watched the bullies scattered, he thought to himself, "now those are true bullies." He dusted himself off and walked toward Bulma. He passed the lump on the grass, but stopped when it spoke. "A...a... arigato, whoever you are," the voice softly wavered. The lump uncoiled itself and Vegeta found himself staring at the young Namekkian from this morning. ~Piccolo~ Piccolo had been walking from his 4th class to a deserted spot on the playground where he could meditate. There was such a spot out by the football and soccer field. The only problem was that to get there, he had to get past the gang that had spread itself, almost purposely in his way. He began walking, trying to stay out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The leader of the gang was looking for a little fun. His sharp eyes caught sight of the sulking Namek. He nudged his friends and they too saw him. Piccolo never had a chance. The group surrounded him and pushed him toward a copse of trees. From there, Piccolo's day went bad to down-right heck. The group teased and taunted him and when he didn't respond, they began pushing. The pushing grew to shoving and from shoving to punching and laughing. That wasn't so bad, but when he tripped and fell is when it got ugly. The leader, knowing submissive prey when he saw it, began to nudge then kick with his pointed boot. The kicking escalated until Piccolo began to bleed. Thankfully it didn't get any worse, or they might have killed him. The fun was stopped abruptly by the appearance of Vegeta. Vegeta beat up the leader and scattered the gang. Piccolo looked up blearily. One eye was shut and leaking, the other was open but he couldn't see very well. All he saw was a fuzzy shape in front of him. "Arigato... whoever you are," he said, his voice hoarse. He tried to stand, but his left leg collapsed and he fell again. The fall jarred his sore ribs and he hissed out and whimpered in pain. A single green tear fell from his good eye. "Shhhhh" a kind voice let out, "It's all right. C'mon, lets get you to the nurse." Piccolo felt himself being lifted and his arm being laid across the shoulder of his helper. The other being wrapped his arm around the nameks battered ribcage and hoisted him up. "By the way, my name is Vegeta" the voice said softly. "Arigato, Vegeta" Piccolo said, half smiling, "my name is Piccolo." The other, Vegeta, made a hmphing noise. "We're almost there" Vegeta said, helping Piccolo up the school steps. They limped toward the nurse's office, past incredulous faces of the students and staff. They entered the office. Piccolo heard a gasp and a "Dear Kami!". A feminine figure rushed over to him. "What happened?" she demanded. Before Piccolo could answer, Vegeta answered. "He was walking across the school yard and was jumped. He would have gotten worse, but I stopped it." The nurse looked at Piccolo sharply. Piccolo nodded. ~Vegeta~ Vegeta looked at the pathetic bundle of rags at his feet. The young Namek was trembling. Vegeta watched as he tried to stand. He could see that the kid's face was all messed up. His nose was bleeding and scratches covered one half of his face. He smiled, blood turning his teeth a watery purple. Vegeta looked at him pityingly. He wondered how the green kid would react if he found out his helper was the same kid who had chased him only this morning. He helped the kid up and helped him to the nurse. "By the way, my name is Vegeta." The kid smiled. "Arigato, my name is Piccolo." Vegeta snorted at the name. "A musical instrument?" he though condescendingly. He helped the injured Piccolo down the hall, past all his peers who were staring at him in incredulity. Ignoring them all, Vegeta helped the Namek down the hall way. They got to the nurse's office and Vegeta knocked on the door. "Yes?" a voice called out. "I've got someone who needs help" Vegeta said, keeping his voice even. The nurse looked up from her paper work and gasped "Dear Kami". She rushed to take Piccolo from Vegeta. "What happened?" she asked in her voice, sharp. "He was walking across across the school yard and was jumped. He would have gotten worse, but I stopped it," Vegeta responded and Piccolo nodded. The nurse sprayed something on his injured eye. It was cold!! Piccolo shivered slightly. But he could see now. His eyes focused on the face of a pretty young red-haired nurse. "Arigato, nurse Miyosha" he said. She smiled and her blue eyes twinkled. "Hey Vegeta," Piccolo called. "Thankyou very much. By the way! Can I see you now? I couldn't see you before." Vegeta had turned around to face the wall, but now turned to see the young Namek. Piccolo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "It.... it's you!" He tried to run, but his leg collapsed. Vegeta grabbed the young kid to keep him from hurting himself further. "Look, I'm a friend. I'm not going to hurt you." Piccolo gulped slightly and nodded "Let me go" he said in a small voice. "Are you going to try to run?" Vegeta asked. Piccolo shook his head. Vegeta let go and Piccolo sat down. The nurse set and bound his leg. Piccolo eyed Vegeta warily. "Why did you help me?" he asked, dark eyes glittering curiously, "most would have either joined in or stayed away." Vegeta shrugged. "Everybody deserves a chance. I don't like people hurting others just because they're different," Vegeta said. Piccolo smiled. "Would you like to be my friend?" Vegeta looked up, his dark coffee eyes searching. Slowly he smiled. "Sure," he said, "if you don't mind hanging out with me." Piccolo smiled even wider. "Of course not!" They smiled and shook hands. Over the next few days, Vegeta walked around with a smile. He ignored all the weird looks and had a blast. He introduced Piccolo to Bulma. Bulma was just a little uneasy with him, but soon got over it. They became the best of friends and Vegeta taught Piccolo the ropes of being a bully. Then the end of the school year rolled around. |