Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply, of course

Bulma's Life.....Like It Is! And What It Once Was......
Chapter 10: Love Hurts...

I just hope... and pray, that you feel the same way.

The next couple years of my life went on quite smoothely, with my newly found job going well. I was only an advisor, considering I hadn't been properly trained. Mostly, I just made the decisions. The people I worked with didn't like being bossed around by me, but they lived with it.

Vegeta's father took it angrily, but once he saw my amazing work, he got over it.

Vegeta and I remained close friends, not ^close^ kind of close, just best friends. Neither of us saw or heard about Lela ever again. But I remembered her well...she was the first girl friend I had ever had...and what had happened to Goku was ^anyone's^ guess, I missed him every day.

Nothing interesting or anything happened until I was fifteen years old.....

Eight years later.......

~*~

I groaned as my alarm clock went off. I really had to give myself a break...but what would that do to my duties? I sighed and rolled on to the floor of my room, now containing one bed, as I had had the other one removed.

I stretched and got up from the tangled mess of sheets. Time to get ready for another great day of my life. I walked over to the closet, containing all my clothes. I no longer needed to wear uniforms, thank Kami. I was quite independant for someone of my age.

I grabbed a pair of black jean bellbottoms and a marroon hoody. Time for my hair and makeup, something I was able to use at thirteen. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. I was glad my hair wasn't so grape colored as it used to be, it had changed to a better, more blueish color at age ten. I settled for some violet eyeshadow and shimmer powder. Today was a casual day for me, I was too tired to do anything else. I had stayed after hours to finish some paperwork, being Head of the Science and Nature Wing.

"Shimatta! I am late!" I growled, and grabbed my backpack and water bottle. I took one last look at my messy room and ran out the door, as fast as I could. I only stopped when I had gotten to the 'greenhouse', as I was still calling it.

"You are late, woman. What is up with you these days? Every time you get over with work you look like you were ran over or somethin'." Vegeta complained, but I hardly ever listened to him, really.

"Yeah, whatever! Good morning to you, too." I said, and began to rummage through my backpack, looking for a brush. My hair had began to fall out from my mini-marathon back there. I found it and began to pull it back up, when Vegeta grabbed it midstroke.

"You are so vain. Stop whatever crap you were doing and ^listen^ to me, for Kami's sake!" He growled and threw the purple brush back to me. I caught it perfectly and listened.

"There will be no work today, throughout the whole palace, with the exception of the guards." He said, and smirked triumphly. He had really gotten my attention.

"What? Why?" I asked. I was happy for a little break, I knew I ran myself too hard.

"Because my father wants to go destroy some little nobody planet. He will be gone for two weeks!" Vegeta said. I could tell he was happy because that meant he was in charge.

"Oh, great! I hope you don't go killing court members again, like last time! All over some stupid wine!" I laughed, remembering the incident that had happened two years ago.

"Shut up, that was pure accident. The people were twits anyway, no one misses them."

"Yeah, sure, that is why their families have been mourning ever since!" I began to crack up again.

"You say that now, but when ^someone^ is mourning for ^you^, I don't think you will think it so funny!" He warned.

I shut up, still feeling some amusement at his empty threat. I didn't want him to be mad at me.

"Fine, but you ^do^ know what this means, don't you?" I asked, smiling a hinting smile.

"What. . . ."

"Total free for all! We can do absolutely ^whatever^ we want!! The palace is practically a ^playground^!" I cheered, and looked around me. No one was paying attention to me, they were way used to me and Vegeta freaking out and playing our little pranks.

"I can't do that! My father will be furious when he comes back! He always gets mad these days, he claims that I am too old to be doing this." He said, and sneered.

"Well, that sucks. He won't even ^be^ here! Besides, we will be a little better this time! No horribly big pranks on the guards or nobles this time." I suggested, and flipped the curls falling around my face back.

"Can I do my hair now?" I asked, nodding at the hair surrounding my face. He nodded and sat down, calming down or giving up.

I pulled up my hair, and stuffed my brush into my backpack. I took it almost everywhere, it had all the essentials in it, from playing tricks to applying makeup, it was all in there.

"So, what do we do first?" I asked, holding out a bottle of hair dye, and smiling a purely evil smirk.

~*~

"This is ^not^ what I had in mind! Do we have to do this?" I asked reluctantly, knowing the answer.

"Yes! You suggested this, and so we are gonna do it! So shut up." Vegeta said from above me.

We were waiting for someone to walk by, and then our plans, well ^mine^, would come into play. Vegeta was up in a tall tree, a couple black blindfolds in his hands. The unlucky person who walked by would be ambushed by Vegeta, be blindfolded, and have some pink hair dye in his or her hair. I was holding the dye, which was permenant, I might add. It was my idea, and this was one of the best ones yet! But this was also one of the meanest ones.

"Pssssst!" Vegeta signaled me, and I looked where he was pointing.

Two nobles were walking this way, a man and a woman, holding hands and whispering to each other. They were obviously a couple. Which was even better, they could just have matching hair then. Thank Kami Vegeta had an extra blindfold, we were always prepared!

Vegeta flew down from the tree, pulling both the Saiyans down with him. He blindfolded them quickly, and held their arms while I came in.

I scowled while I was doing it, but I got them good! I did the whole head of the woman, and the man got polka dots. I really felt sorry for them. Vegeta waited until I had hidden behind some bushes until he had undone the blindfolds and flew back up in the tree.

The two nobles looked around angrily for the connving ambushers, and eventually gave up. One, the girl, walked over to the river and looked at her reflected, and screamed frantically at my wonderful dye job. She was absolutely hysterical, and when her lover boy came over, he was freaking out too.

Vegeta and I cackled evilly until they had gone, running to their chambers to try to remove it, probably. I came out from my hiding place, and Vegeta came out of the tree.

"That was great! The stupid bakas didn't know what hit them." Vegeta said, happy that he had gotten some nobles. He hated almost all of them, from what he told me.

"Yeah, it was." I said a little less eagerly. Vegeta gave me a weird look and shook it off when I glared at him.

"What's eating you?" He asked, obviously not taking heed to my glare warning.

"Nothing! Geez!" I said, and sat down on a patch of grass. Vegeta crossed his arms and glared at me.

"I am not that stupid! I have known you far too long to believe that crap!" He said. "So you might as well spill it, woman."

I sighed. He really knew me too well. Some of the guys at work said that we should start going out as we were basically like that anyway. I had just flipped him off and went about my way. Why should I listen to a baka like him?

"I don't know. And by the way, don't call me 'woman'. My name is Bulma,

and you know that well." I said, and looked at him. He didn't buy it.

"As for the woman part, I don't care what you want to be called. Something ^is^ wrong, I know it, and you don't have to tell me, but I do know." He said, and began to walk away. I let him go, thinking.

I had never really kept a secret from him, not that I had had many. But keeping my bad mood away from him made me feel bad. The truth was, ^I^ didn't even know what was wrong with me. Somehow, I was having a bad day. I sighed and looked into the water.

I remembered my life as a kid, being here in this greenhouse almost every day with Vegeta, talking and playing. We had basically grown up with one another, and had been friends for awhile. I knew that I had changed a lot, and so had he. We were so much older now. I was fifteen, he was seventeen. Time had gone by really fast, with little action. I was tired of all this stuff I did every single day! I wanted to ^do^ something fun, to lift my mood. I scowled, and my reflection in the cool blue water scowled back at me.

I even ^looked^ different. I didn't find myself exceptionally attractive, though many of the men at work had said so. If I was so pretty, why didn't Vegeta ever notice? I asked myself, and immediately stopped. I wasn't going to think about this. Vegeta was my ^friend^, and nothing more. Did I want more? That was the question. I pushed it to the back of my mind. If I was thinking about this, I would defintly feel awkward around him, and then he would sense something for sure!

I got up, shooting one last glance at my reflection. "Bye Bulma," I told it, and walked to my rooms.

~*~

I awoke to a knocking on my door. I groaned and yelled, "Go away!"

"I think you ^might^ want to see this!" Vegeta yelled, sounding a little edgier than usual, almost scared. I was shocked and shaken at this, so I sprang up out of bed and ran to the door.

"What is it?" I fastly asked. Vegeta had a very uncomfortable look on his face. I looked down at my outfit. I had a little white nightdress on, barely reaching mid-thigh.

"Oh for-" I said, and threw up my hands. I turned away and went to change. I grabbed a pair of orange track pants (think Christina Aguirlera in her music vid, "Genie In A Bottle) and a light blue wife-beater. I threw on some running shoes and pulled up my hair into two buns, one at each side of my head. I left my bangs down, and bolted to the door.

"Ready! What is this all about?" I asked, putting my hands on my waist.

Vegeta looked extremely angry now. "You wouldn't believe me unless I told you, so I won't even ^begin^ to tell you." He snapped.

"Really. . . ..now what could ^that^ be?" I asked, shooting a sarcastic look at him pointedly. I could be mean, too, and he had better believe it, or else find it out for himself.

He started to run down the halls, and I followed as fast as I could. After running for a minute or two, I could hear yelling and arguing. What was going on in there? A riot?

Vegeta stopped in front of the throne room doors. "You must stay quiet, or else you will get us in more trouble than you already have!" He warned, and pushed open the doors.

I was instantly met with angry shouts of Saiyans and aliens alike. I looked around frantically, for a clue as to what was going on.

Vegeta looked back to see if I was still following.

"What is going on??!!" I screamed, trying to hear over the shouts.

"Your friend, Kakkarott has escaped, and is planning war with us, to get ^you^ back!" He yelled back. "He is asking aliens and humans alike to help him restore all the children taken back to Earth!"

I went pale. Goku. . . ..? Where had he been all these years? What was going on? Why would he do all this for. . . me? I shook my head and followed Vegeta to the front of the room.

"Vegeta! This is absolutely unacceptable! I had just ^barely^ left, and now I come back to see this? What is going on?!" King Scary said, as I still called him, mainly out of habit, I was not scared of him anymore. I was too used to him, being friends with Vegeta and all.

Vegeta explained all of this to his angry father, while I took in the surreal moment. Me. This was all for me.

Me.
Me.
Me.
Me.
Me.
Me.

ME.

~*~

 

So, what did ya all think? PLEASE write to me!! I love getting mail and chatting with you people!! Ja ne,

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