Yamucha sat at Bulma’s kitchen table, staring down at the cup of tea she had served him wordlessly. They were the only ones in the kitchen, and so far, he had not said a single word to her. She kept glancing up at him with worried blue eyes, while busy doing some paperwork at the table across from him with the pen that he had bought her the last Christmas that they were together. He couldn’t look at her. A few minutes ago, Goten had wandered into the kitchen, and Bulma had spoken with him quietly, about himself, he presumed. Goten had scampered off in the direction of the large spaceship parked out in the yard, and Yamucha remembered again, how small Goten had once been, and how much he used to look like Gokuu. How much that had bothered ChiChi….

Last night he had tried to end things, to finally put the past away, but he was too chicken to do even the one act that could rid him of pain forever. He had stood beside the railing for hours, his hands tightly gripped so that his knuckles turned white and his hands blistered afterwards. And he just couldn’t bring himself to follow through with it, and when the voices screaming in his head became too much for him to handle, he had flown off into the sky, immersing himself in the night clouds. And he had been flying around until dawn, amid the dark clouds and the stars, dizzy and disorinted, until he drug himself to the Capsule Corporation ground and trudged slowly to the door, tired, defeated, and winded.

Vejiita, ever the cheerful, had greeted him at the door with a scowl and the astute observation that Yamucha, “looked like shit.”

Yamucha didn’t care. The old Yamucha would have glared at him and made threats and screamed until his face turned blue, but the new Yamucha simply blinked and walked past the Saiya-jin prince, paying not attention to him at all.

And when he entered the kitchen and found Bulma here doing the paperwork at the table, looking cute as always in a baseball cap with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, it only made everything worse. She had chirped hello and tried to coerce him into talking to her, but for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to speak, even though the words were right there at the back of his throat. Talking took too much effort, just like living. He could barely even keep his eyes open, let alone talk.

Why do I feel this way? He asked himself, staring down at his tea again, after looking up at Bulma briefly. Something has to be very, very wrong.

“Yamucha?” Bulma asked, peering curiously into his face. “Do you need more tea? Or have you even finished that?”

He didn’t answer.

She pursed her lips in frustration, and then smiled again. “Gokuu should be here any minute. I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do. You didn’t really have a chance to talk at the Son house the other day.”

Gokuu.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Gokuu was the source of every single one of his problems. He would hate the man, if it were actually possible to do so. Gokuu was a higher being, someone so perfectly pure and cheerful that it was almost unreal. He was way above the normal standards of a person, so high above everyone that no one could ever hope to surpass him. How could he live up to the ‘god’ that was Son Gokuu? No one could. It was that very realization that made Yamucha angry all over again.

Why wasn’t I given a chance to be Gokuu? He always steals the spotlight, always comes out the hero, always comes across as the good father….the good husband. No one else ever even gets the chance to be a miracle, to be a hero. It’s always Gokuu. Can’t anyone else see that I care about ChiChi too?! Why does Gokuu get to be the one that everyone is worried about now!? He doesn’t even give a damn! He just wants the attention!!

And as Gokuu strode into the kitchen, a concerned look on his face, Yamucha glared up at him with such hatred in his eyes that Bulma had to look away. Gokuu stared back at him with confusion, and then glanced at Bulma in question. She sighed.

“I can’t get him to talk.”

Gokuu frowned hard, then looked back at Yamucha with a smile. “Well lets see if I can help. What wrong Yamucha?”

“Selfish bastard.” Yamucha muttered, and then he stared back down at his tea.

“Nani?” Gokuu asked, a bewildered expression on his face.

Yamucha didn’t say anything, but eased himself up from the table, his eyes still burning with hate, and strode out the door, slamming it shut behind him. He stormed out onto the sidewalk, glaring at everything and everyone that he saw until he reached the small mailbox that proudly said, “Vejiita/Briefs” stuck into the lawn next to the sidewalk.

He stared at the mailbox for a moment, then flung his fist at it, knocking it clear out of the ground. Dirt, wood chips, and letters floated about him like feathers for a moment as if in slow motion, and then fell to the ground in a series of ‘plops’. Like the dismantled mailbox, Yamucha plopped down to the ground as well, sitting cross legged amid his destruction.

I need to stop destroying other things. What I really want to destroy is myself. But I can’t do that either, can I? I am such a loser.

He buried his face in his hands, sighing in frustration. When he looked up again, he noticed one of the letters from the mailbox lying in his lap. He picked up the letter and was about to tear the thing into shreds when he noticed something odd about the name ‘Bulma’ printed on the front of the envelope.

It was written in crayon.

Why in the hell would someone write a letter in crayon? He wondered, while turning it over in his hands. It looks as though it were written by a child or something.

Curiosity finally got the better of him and he tore the envelope. He read the crayon scrawled letter in a matter of minutes, then stopped and stared at it for a moment. Then, in a blur of grass clipping, wood chips and other letters, he jumped to his feet, and ran back inside the house as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Vejiita!”

Vejiita heard Bulma calling him, but decided to ignore her and continue keeping an eye on Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou, who were standing by themselves at the side of the space ship, talking quietly. He didn’t know why the tin can girl had decided to bring along her tin can twin, but he didn’t like it. There was nothing but evil in their eyes, and he couldn’t help but still hate them for embarrassing him the way that they did. The female cyborg might have redeemed herself and became a normal citizen, but that by no means made up for any of it.

“Vejiita!” He heard her yell again.

He snarled and looked in the direction of where her voice was coming from. What in the hell is that woman’s problem?! Can’t she see that I am trying to be inconspicuous here?! She’s going to make them look over here!

He turned around and crossed his arms, deliberately ignoring her and continued watching the jinzouningen. Knowing Bulma, she probably just wanted to yell at him for something he did again, or make him lift something that was too heavy for her. In years past, he had grown a lot fonder of her, but he had to admit that her screeching still bothered him enormously. She was a lot better when she was quiet, though, he did enjoy their fighting sometimes. At least it brought some excitement to an otherwise boring day.

“Vejiita!!”

This time he heard extreme desperation in her voice. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the woman was crying. And he could hear the others too, talking loudly and earnestly as if something were wrong. Even the jinzouningen looked mildly concerned about something and they both started walking towards the house after nodding at one another.

Vejiita uncrossed his arms and began walking towards where the sound of Bulma’s voice had been coming from, feeling very uneasy that something was very wrong. About halfway there, he saw the whole group gathered around in a tight circle, murmurring in worry. Bulma’s face suddenly appeared from the center of the circle, and she ran at him, clutching a piece of paper in her hands.

“Vejiita!” She cried again, and held up the letter. Tears were streaming down her pale cheeks, and she looked exhausted and very flustered. “Vejiita, you’d better take a look at this….”

She paused then spoke catiously. “Bra ran away.”

His heart stopped beating momentarily, and his whole mind screamed, and it felt like the world just crashed around him in tiny slivers of color and happines. But his face never showed any change or any emotion whatsoever. “Nani?”

“She ran away.” Bulma confirmed, her chin quivering slightly. “She’s been acting indifferent all morning, but I never knew that it was this bad.”

Vejiita just stared at her. Bra….

Bulma held the tiny little bundle out to him with weary arms, and he awkwardly accepted, taking the little girl into his arms and staring down at her face. The soft purple blanket that was wrapped around her tightly, and even though she was a big baby, or so the doctor said, she still felt so incredibly small in his arms. The hospital room was deadly quiet now, a sharp contrast to the bustle and shouting that it had been when Bulma had first said that ‘it was time’. Bright flowers were strewn all about the room in vases and mounds of cards and gifts were piled all around the bed, and all over the sitting chairs. None that seemed half as amazing as this tiny little thing that Vejiita was holding in his arms now; none of it even compared.

He continued to stare down at the baby in wonderment. “What is it?”

Bulma laughed hard, and lay back against the pillows propped up on the bed. “It’s your child, baka.”

Vejiita glared at her. “I know that, woman! I wanted to know if it was a female or a male!”

She looked slightly insulted that he couldn’t even tell what sex the baby was. Anyone could plainly see that it was a girl, even if she was just a tiny little thing all wrapped up in a blanket. After all, it looked so much like herself that it was uncanny. “It’s a girl. Her name is Bra.”

“Bra….” He repeated, and the name flew around his head a few thousand times. He liked it. He liked her. It was an indescribable feeling then, watching the baby sleep soundly in his arms, a baby that he helped create, a baby that would one day grow up and have a life all of it’s own, just like he did. But this baby wouldn’t have to live in fear under the rule of an evil being like Freezer, or be forced into trying to be the ruler of a planet and an entire race before she was even old enough to walk. And she wouldn’t be ignored and despised, like his son. It was different this time, then it was with Trunks. Trunks had been a mistake, and a shocking surprise, as he was suddenly forced into parenting. Bulma hadn’t even really grown on him yet, and he didn’t want anything to do with either of them. But now….with Bra….

And then the baby slowly opened her eyes to gaze up at him, and they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were just like Bulma’s beautiful eyes, but instead of Bulma’s glinting power and sexiness, there was a glint of innocence and wonder there that was so amazing to him it took his breath away. And she blinked, with long dark eyelashes fluttering against the smooth skin of her cheeks, and Vejiita blinked too, in amazement.

Bra….

Without a word to anyone, Vejiita took off into the sky.

Chapter 14
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