There was a thick fog rolling over everything in Satan city. It curled through the alleyways and over the streets. Nothing stirred. No one was out walking in this thick darkness. The streetlights shone in the dark night. They were the lone beacons of light in this night. No cars moved on the roads.
In the hallways of Capsule Corp, people moved with a little more silence than they would normally. Conversations were held in quiet tones. Almost everyone was quiet, as if expecting something unpleasant to come their way.
This was Vegeta's type of night. When nothing stirred and no one spoke. He walked slowly out into the fog, his retreating back soon swallowed within the swirling fog. Bulma watched Vegeta go, half puzzled at his liking of such a night and half worried for his safety. If he were out walking alone in that type of fog, someone might be able to surprise him. Not that anyone would try. There was something about his small and muscular frame and the way that he walked that conveyed the general idea that it would be a bad idea to try something.
Vegeta walked slowly through the fog, feeling the mists on his face. It was cold night to begin with and the fog on his face didn't help any. There was no one in sight. His footsteps echoed in the still night. He walked slowly toward the beacon of the next streetlight. There seemed to be lifetimes in each step toward the little beam of light and the next patch of darkness. Vegeta had thought he was alone up until then. The next thing that he knew there were a pair of headlights coming at him. He cursed and jumped up just as a truck passed under him. He scowled. That might have been painful. It must have been some drunk college kid.
He floated down slowly and resumed walking. After a while longer down that path of darkness he heard something. It was faint. but it sounded almost like sobbing. He walked toward the source. After a little while longer he came just outside of the last pool of light from the streetlights. The next one was broken, but they resumed after that. But a little dark gap had formed, and there was someone sitting there. Vegeta's eyes were superb and he could see well in the inky blackness. It was a girl. Just a little thing. If one were to go by body size alone she looked about ten. But then some areas indicated otherwise. And the tone of her voice as she tried to hold in her sobs betrayed her as well. Vegeta put her at about fifteen. He really didn't want to get involved but he was a little curious as to what would make such a young woman sob like that. He walked up slowly so she could see him approach. The sobs cut off with a strangled gasp. She looked up at him with wide eyes filled with fear. Aqua hair framed her face and fell to her shoulders curling slightly. She was curled up, her knees drawn to her chest, and as Vegeta got closer he could see that she was hurt. A long gash wound its way down her arm and was bleeding steadily. And across her face, the beginnings of a bruise were starting to form. He offered a hand down. She took it slowly and stood up. Her shirt was torn, and she held her hands over her chest trying to cover herself. Vegeta said nothing as he pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders. She smiled hesitantly.
"Thank you."
Vegeta nodded, a quick nod and one that suited him. "Why were you crying woman?"
The girl blinked. For a moment she said nothing and then she looked up at him slowly. "I hurt myself. I was crying because it hurt."
Vegeta knew that she wasn't telling the truth. The bruise on her face looked as if it had been inflicted by someone, the cut as well. As he stood closer he saw other, smaller and less noticeable bruises over her. She was being hurt by someone. He didn't like that idea. He didn't find that it was right to hurt someone unless you had just cause. This girl looked as if she hadn't hurt anyone in her lifetime and didn't look like she was going to anytime soon. He decided that he wanted to know more about the situation, his interest was piqued.
"What's your name woman?"
She took a moment before answering. "Lilly. My name's Lilly. Why do you want to know?"
Vegeta looked at her with a face that almost told her that she shouldn't be asking questions but answering them. "I was curious. I wanted to know what a nice young lady was doing out in the dark on a night like this crying as if she had been raped."
When Vegeta saw her flinch that told him all that he needed to know. He'd guessed that it might have been an abusive boyfriend and it turned out that he was right. That might have been the boy in the car that he'd dodged earlier that night. He was probably out looking for the girl because she'd run away. He'd probably hit her because he could, or because she's tried to resist him. Vegeta looked forward instead of directly at her. He said nothing for a moment and then he decided that he would help her. Indirectly of course. He needed to know more first though.
"Tell me about yourself Lilly."
She looked at the stranger that was sitting next to her. She could swear that she'd seen him in fighting tournaments and things of the like. She didn't know why he was talking to her. It had to be some sort of a trick. "What do you really want?" The mistrust that was written across her face didn't suit her, but in a way it was good. It was good that she didn't trust just anyone.
Vegeta still didn't look at her. "I want to know about you. I still want to know why you're crying. The real reason, don't deny, just speak."
Lilly looked down and pulled the jacket more tightly around herself. She looked down at the logo which was printed on the jacket's front. Capsule Corp. She hadn't seen this model on anyone else yet. But she remembered seeing someone from that house wearing it. It clicked. This was Vegeta, Trunks father and Bulma's lover. She looked down, her dark eyelashes still wet with tears.
"I'm an only child. My parents aren't home much........they travel a lot and do a lot of business. I really think that they're just avoiding each other. I go to Orange Star High School. I'm a classmate of Goten and Trunks. They're both nice young guys, they have all of the girls after them....."
Vegeta cut her off at this point, gently trying to steer her back to information about herself. "So, do you have a boyfriend? Possible mate as it were?"
Lilly blinked at the terminology but didn't say anything for a moment. "Yeah, I have a boyfriend. His name's Brian. He's a transfer student from England. He's a real sweetheart, he just smokes a lot of pot. That's the only thing that's really wrong with him, that and the fact that he drinks a little bit too. But really he's a nice guy."
Yeah, a real nice guy, thought Vegeta. He's so nice that he goes ahead and hits you and hurts you when you don't do as you're ordered. "So, how are you doing in school?"
She smiled a little bit, as if laughing at herself. "I don't do too well in school, I don't have time to study, I have a job."
"Oh? Where at?" Vegeta had an inkling about what she was going to say.
"I work over at the Lucky Duck." Vegeta knew the place, it was a bar/strip joint. He knew that she wasn't serving drinks. He looked ahead.
"I think you'd better quit that job, you're too nice looking for a place like that."
She blinked and laughed softly. It almost seemed to carry the message that she couldn't speak. I can't quit, I'm in too deep now. She looked ready to leave after that. He looked at her. "Come back tomorrow, around the same time alright? I'm going to teach you a few things about self defense." Lilly looked confused but nodded. She disappeared into the fog and Vegeta sighed. There was something wrong there and he could only think that he was making it worse.
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Goten yawned. It was too early for his tastes. There were only two other people in the classroom at that time. And then one of the sophomores walked in. She was in the freshman class because she'd fallen behind the others. Goten had been watching her recently, mostly because she sat in front of him, and also because yesterday she'd come into class and he'd noted blood sticking to the back of her hair. She'd also been wearing a long sleeve shirt when it was almost one hundred degrees outside. She came in slowly and sat down. He looked at what she was wearing, and he recognized it as Vegeta's jacket. He blinked and frowned. Trunks poked his back from the seat behind him and Goten turned around.
"Trunks-kun, do you see what I do?"
Trunks nodded slowly. "She's wearing my dad's jacket. I wonder why?"
Goten looked puzzled. "I don't know."
He chose to turn back around and look at Lilly. "Hi. how are you today?"
Lilly looked at him as if surprised that he was talking to her. She smiled faintly finally and answered. "I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you Goten-kun?"
Goten smiled a sunny smile, one only his family seemed to give justice to. "I'm okay."
He noted the bruise that was showing under her bangs. She had tried to hide it but it showed plainly. "What happened to your eye?"
Lilly brought a hand up to her face slowly, touching her swollen eye gently and making a face as it hurt. She looked up at him with her ice blue eyes and smiled a fake smile. "I ran into a door. Thank you for asking."
Goten didn't believe her and neither did Trunks apparently, because he came to stand up next to Goten. He looked at Lilly and smiled his endearing smile. "Lilly, I was wondering if you would be up to coming over to my house this evening and study. The teacher asked me to tutor you on some of the things that we've been going over recently." He looked over at Goten looking for support for his little scheme. Goten nodded. "Yeah, I was going over to, I didn't understand the math that well and I needed some help, maybe we could all help each other."
For a moment Lilly looked hesitant and then she finally nodded, giving her agreement. "Yes, I'll come, is eight all right?" Goten and Trunks nodded. She smiled and took her seat. The rest of the class passed without event. Just as she was walking out she was cornered by Brian. She felt her back touch the wall and she knew that she didn't have anywhere to go. He was smiling and looked pleasant, anyone who was passing by would see it as a friendly lover's conversation. He looked at her with steely eyes. "What were you doing talking to those boys?" She shook slightly, and almost dropped her books. When she didn't answer he slapped her quickly across the face. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. "I wasn't talking to them, they were talking to me, I told them to go away. Honest Brian I did." For a moment she thought that he didn't believe her, and then he nodded slowly. "That's my girl." Goten and Trunks had watched the whole thing, they were just about to walk over as Brian took her around the waist and led her off. Goten frowned. "I don't like this Trunks." Trunks said nothing, only nodding, his eyes hard.
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At eight that night Lilly knocked on the main door of Capsule Corp and was let in by a smiling Trunks. And for about an hour she worked on the homework that she had fallen behind with and did all right. Trunks and Goten saw her acting so much differently than she did in class. She seemed so much more alive than she had been. It was good to see her that way. And then it was nine. It was starting to grow dark outside and the fog was starting to roll in. When she looked out of the window all of the happiness of the past hour melted away as if it had been stripped from her. She seemed almost fearful of the rolling fog. She looked over at Goten and Trunks. "I have to go. Right now." She'd gathered her books by then and was almost to the door.
Trunks looked a little confused but nodded. "All right, same time tomorrow. Do you want me to walk you home Lilly? It's getting dark." She shook her head and left without a word more. She would've loved to have been walked home but she couldn't be. If Brian saw her walking home with another boy. She walked quickly through the growing fog, and flinched as a car passed by. She could barely see it as it came around the turn. Its headlights shone bright in the darkness, almost blinding her, and then it passed. She shook her head. That could be him, testing her, following her. Seeing where she was going and what she was doing. He could hit her and kill her with the truck. He'd threatened to before.
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Vegeta sat on the curb waiting for her. He didn't really expect her to show up, but a figure emerged out of the darkness. Her slight form was unmistakable. It was Lilly. He smiled slightly, truly more of a smirk than a smile and nodded.
"Good to know that you came. Assume a defensive position." She actually managed a stance that was halfway correct. As he sized up what she was wearing he knew that she wouldn't be able to move around very well. Only, it would have to do for now. He taught her a few basic moves and she proved to be a quick study. Only, when it came to an actual simulated fight she froze. This was typical behavior for someone who was abused. There were a few behavior patterns and this was one of them, stay still and be quiet and your aggressor would leave after they became bored. Vegeta was poised to do a slow strike that she was supposed to block, but she stared at his balled fist with horror and anticipation written across her face. She was waiting to be hit. Vegeta's face conveyed annoyance, but then it softened and he smiled slightly as he spoke to her.
"Don't worry about it. I won't hit you. I never hit anyone without a reason. Whatever it may be, I always have a reason."
She nodded slowly and managed to perform the block right after another try. After a little bit of practice they sat on a curb again. A car passed by and Vegeta noted how tense Lilly was.
"Why are you so afraid of cars?"
Lilly shook herself out of her daze and didn't look at him. "Brian said that if he ever finds me with another man he'll kill me. He'll take the truck and run me over with it." Vegeta snarled. That kind of abuse was the worst kind, the mental kind.
Over the next few weeks Lilly began to come out of her shell. She gained confidence through the night lessons with Vegeta and she did better in school because of her time with Trunks and Goten. One day she was sitting in class and looked at her desk. She turned pale and stared at it with white faced horror. There was a little heart carved into her desk with a knife sticking out of it. Brian knew. He knew that she'd been getting tutored or whatever. Or maybe it was just a sick joke. She sighed and took out her books.
Bulma looked over at Vegeta as he was about to leave the house, she needed help with some things in the back rooms. And he'd put her off long enough. She managed to keep him there.
Lilly stood in the swirling fog looking for Vegeta. He wasn't there. She sat down and decided to wait for five more minutes. And then she remembered something. She was supposed to be on a date with Brian that night. Her heart began to beat frantically. She saw a pair of headlights turn onto her street. It began to move slowly down the road. She froze. That was Brian's car. Her eyes closed in fear and a single tear worked its way down her face. She was so afraid that she couldn't move.
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Vegeta looked at the paper the next morning and slammed his fist down on the table with so much force that the wood splintered. For a moment he sat simply looking down.
Bulma came in slowly after that. Her eyes were dark and full of unspoken suspicions. Finally she could hold it in no longer.
"Vegeta, where have you been going all of these nights? Have you been going to see someone? I'm not angry, I just need to know."
Vegeta turned, his eyes dark and angry, yet sad at the same time. "Yes Bulma, I've been going to see someone, this is her. She's a fifteen year old named Lilly."
Bulma looked at the front page of the newspaper and brought her hands up to her face in shock. A girl had been murdered last night. Her name was Lilly. There was a picture of some of the things left at the crime scene, and one of the things was Vegeta's bloodstained coat. She'd been run over by a car several times and had died a slow and painful death.
She couldn't believe that Vegeta had been sleeping with such a little girl, there was another explanation. He gave her one before she asked.
"You want to know why I was going out so late at night? That little girl, I found her earlier this month, she was out in the middle of nowhere crying because she'd been raped. I got the rest of her story, she had been abused by her boyfriend and was continuing to be so. I taught her a few self-defense moves. And because I wasn't there last night she died. I hope your project was really important!" Vegeta got up and stalked off without another word. Bulma sunk down into a chair, fully realizing what she'd done.
Trunks and Goten didn't see Lilly in school that day, and she didn't come over that night. No one would ever see Lilly again.
The End
A Note to everyone reading :PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T GET INTO DRUGS!!! THEY ONLY HURT YOU AND THOSE YOU LOVE. Think of Lilly.