Chapter 4
"Hey, sleeping beauty!" Someone shouted, jerking Bulma awake. "Come on, Bulma, I think you've slept in long enough now. It's time to get up. You've already slept past lunch."
"Owww," Bulma said, trying to rise. Her bruised back posed quite an obstacle in getting out of her car. Finally, she managed to stumble out. Squinting in the sun, she saw Kuririn in front of her, all decked out in his Kame gi. He looked ready for any danger the day might propel him into. He whistled.
"Boy, what happened to you?" he said when he saw her in the light.
"I must have slept funny," she lied. "My back is killing me!"
"Well, how did your clothes get so shredded?" he asked, looking at her quizzically.
"Huh?" she said, and looked at her clothes. They were torn and dirty. Apparently the rocky ground on that island had done more than bruise her back. This wasn't really the perfect time to explain things. She had to come up with something fast.
"I guess I was sleepwalking again," Bulma said, shrugging. "Believe it or not, this happens to me a lot. Don't worry. Just let me get into some clean clothes and I'll be fine."
Kuririn appeared to buy her bogus explanation. They walked into the Kame house. Roshi stared at Bulma in surprise as they walked in.
"Kuririn will give you my explanation Roshi," Bulma said, yawning. "I'm going to go change."
She took a change of clothes into the bathroom with her and locked the door. Then she put a towel over the doorknob. Roshi had an annoying habit of peeking in at her when he thought she wasn't looking. He was a harmless old man - a pervert, true - but harmless nevertheless. Still, it made her really mad when he did that and she certainly didn't want him to see these bruises. Whew! Those rocks really did a number on her back. There were no broken bones, and the bruises would disappear in a few days, but they were everywhere! She had to hand it to Gohan. He was very fast for a huge, lumbering giant.
Kuririn was even more excited today than he had been yesterday. He fidgeted all afternoon and nearly drove Bulma crazy. When he said that Kami must have wanted to train the most promising fighters, something occurred to her. Why hadn't Kami wanted to train her too? She was nearly as good as Yamucha. She had mastered all of his moves, not to mention some of her own. But surely Kami had had a good reason for excluding her. Hadn't he?
The thought pestered her all afternoon. It still tugged at her mind as she left with Kuririn to pick up Yamucha. She was ashamed to admit it, but she was jealous of Kuririn and Yamucha. She wanted Kami's training too. She sighed.
"There's the stadium down there," she said. "The game isn't over yet, so I imagine that Yamucha is still playing."
"Are you okay Bulma?" Kuririn asked her.
"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm just a little upset."
"Oh. Well, don't worry Bulma. I'm sure that Yamucha is just as miserable as you are. It's always sad when a couple has to break up."
Bulma laughed. "That's not what had me bummed Kuririn," she said. "Anyway, I had good reason for ending our relationship. I guess I do miss Yamucha a little, but I'm not sorry I broke up with him."
"Well, then what's bothering you?" Kuririn asked. "You haven't spoken almost all evening. Come on. You can tell me, Bulma. We've been friends for a long time."
Bulma sighed. "Look Kuririn," she said. "Now isn't the time for me to tell you. That's assuming there actually is a right time to tell you. I know you're worried, but try to forget about it. I'm just fine. It's really no big deal, so just concentrate on what we have to do tonight. Yamucha is going to freak when he finds out that Kami wants to train him."
As she maneuvered her way into the parking lot, Kuririn watched her face. She seemed to be all right, but he was sure that something was bothering her. He wasn't quite convinced that she was over Yamucha. Well, maybe they would work their problems out eventually. She was right though. Yamucha was going to be very excited when he heard the news.
Bulma landed in a place not too far from the stadium entrance. She unbuckled her seatbelt, but Kuririn had already hopped out of the air car.
"You wait here Bulma, while I go get him. I won't be long," he said quickly.
Before she had a chance to answer he had gone. Bulma didn't really want to be alone right now. She wanted to hide from her thoughts. Her eagerness to be trained by Kami had left her confused. Why was she so eager to train right now? She was even more interested than she had been when she had seen Goku.
Every path she took in her mind led her to the same set of reasons. She hated to admit it at first, because the thought actually scared her. First of all, her brief talk with Piccolo last night had made her seriously challenge her reasons for declining his offer. She certainly didn't want to spend all that time with him, but what about preparing for the Saiyans? For some reason, she actually found herself wanting to face them in that battle a year from now! Was she insane? She wasn't sure, but one thing she was sure of was that she had really wanted Kami to take her on too.
She sighed. "There's no way around it," she groaned. "I've just got to improve my fighting skills so I can be ready for them. I don't know why, but I just have to fight them! Damn that Piccolo for making me want this!" But she knew it really hadn't been Piccolo's fault. She had wanted to fight Raditz when she saw how evil he was, and she felt the same way about the two Saiyans she hadn't even met. She had just been fooling herself into believing that she was too sensible for something like that. Sighing, she thought about going back to Piccolo, but dismissed that thought almost immediately. She was going to train herself. She wasn't going to give him the opportunity to say, "I told you so," at least until she showed up to fight when the Saiyans came. Anyway, Piccolo's mention of a secret weapon came back to her, and it made her wonder if she might use the new technique that she had been developing like a secret weapon. If she could get it to work the way that she wanted, she would certainly have an edge. It might do the trick.
She relaxed as she waited for Kuririn to return with Yamucha. She had at least given herself some peace of mind, even though she wasn't quite sure yet that she hadn't lost her marbles. After a few minutes Kuririn walked out of the front entrance with Yamucha and Puar. They strode up the car and Yamucha got in the backseat while Kuririn got in front.
"Hello Yamucha," Bulma said politely.
"Hi Bulma," Yamucha replied. "Did you hear the news? I get to whip some Saiyan tail!" He said it teasingly, rubbing in the fact that Bulma wasn't getting the same chance.
Bulma nodded, biting her lip as a tear rolled down her cheek. It was like salt on an open wound. He was taunting her with his chance at Kami's training!"
Yamucha watched the tear fall from Bulma's face and splatter on her wrist. His eyes dropped.
"I'm sorry Bulma," he said sincerely. "I guess that was a little cruel. I really have no idea why Kami didn't want..."
Bulma shot him a look of warning, gesturing toward Kuririn with her eyes. Yamucha understood.
"Uh, Goku!" he said, trying to salvage his last sentence. "Yeah, uh, I had no idea that Goku was dead."
"That's all right Yamucha," Bulma said, addressing his first apology. "I'm sure it's for the better. I'll have to be here to find the dragonballs anyway."
Kuririn piped up, thinking they were really talking about Goku. "Don't worry Bulma. Yajirobei said that they had some kind of training plan for Goku in the meantime. He'll be much stronger when you wish him back."
Bulma smiled. She hoped that Goku would improve a lot. It would be great to train under him if he were stronger than before.
"Well let's get back to Muten Roshi's," she said, looking at her watch. "We'll search out Tenshin-han and Chaozu in the morning."
"Great!" Yamucha exclaimed. "I haven't seen Roshi in ages! I hope he hasn't changed much."
All that night Bulma hardly spoke a word to Yamucha. She hadn't realized how hurt she was. She wished she knew why he had treated her like he did when they broke up. Of course, being the type he was, Yamucha hardly noticed Bulma's silence. He was too busy catching up on old times with Roshi.
Early the next morning they were all ready to go. As Bulma revved the engine on her air car, she yelled out to Roshi, who had come out to see them off.
"Don't forget now, Roshi," she yelled over the loud engine. "As soon as I get back we're going to begin our search for the dragonballs. So get everything we need together, and don't forget to call Chichi about those two that they have at the Son house.
"Don't worry Bulma," he shouted back. "I'll remember!"
Soon they were on their way to find their other comrades. Bulma decided she ought to ask where they should go.
"All right Kuririn," she said. "Where do you suppose Tenshin-han and Chaozu are?" She could sense them about two hundred miles to the east, but asked Kuririn anyway.
He scanned around a bit. "There!" he said, and pointed in the right direction. "They're that way! Hurry Bulma! I can't wait to see them again!"
"I hope there are no traffic cops around," Bulma said as she crammed the accelerator as far as it would go. She deftly maneuvered between hills and boulder-filled canyons. She raced over hills and even a desert. Finally, they came upon a dense, lush forest. She slowed the car to a crawl.
"How close are we?" she asked, fully aware of the answer.
"Wow!" Kuririn said. "They're right in that forest! Great timing Bulma! It's as if you knew right where they were!"
"Yeah, it's almost uncanny, isn't it?" Yamucha said. This time he shot Bulma the warning glance. "Listen, Kuririn," he said, glancing at the forest. "Why don't you and Puar go get them and bring them here. I'd like to stay here."
Kuririn figured he knew why Yamucha wanted to be alone with Bulma, so he didn't protest. Like a flash he ran into the woods, pulling Puar behind him and leaving the two to patch things up - or so he thought.
"It's over Yamucha," Bulma said, crossing her arms. "I haven't had any regrets so far, so that's how it's going to stay - over."
"I know Bulma," Yamucha said sadly. "I knew it a long time ago. I just never had the heart to tell you. That's why it took you so long to wheedle those last fighting techniques out of me. It was just too painful for me to watch you enjoying our time together, because I knew that it would only make it that much harder for us when it did end."
"Yamucha, we did have good times together. But the best times came when we just did what came naturally to both of us. We spent so much time trying to do what we thought the other wanted that we missed out on a lot of fun. We were just too stubborn to admit that we liked different things and had different outlooks on life. I think the main reason - near the end, anyway - that I enjoyed training with you so much was because I loved learning to fight and I knew you loved teaching me. It was something we connected on. You know, breaking up with you was hard, but I think it would have been a lot easier if we had just stayed friends afterward. It would have removed a lot of the tension from our relationship and it would have given us the freedom to do what we wanted, even if we didn't connect on a few things."
"I've felt exactly the same way," Yamucha said, allowing his shoulders to sag. "That's one of the things I'd wanted to tell you when we were alone." He looked as if a large weight had been lifted from his back.
"Thanks Yamucha," she said gratefully. "I feel a lot better now, knowing that you understand. But one thing still bothers me. Why did you act the way you did when I broke up with you? It really hurt my feelings to see so much indifference."
"That was sheer childishness," he replied remorsefully. "That very night I had planned to break it off myself. I had finally gathered the courage to tell you it was over, and then you broke up with me first. I was so angry that I hadn't gotten my chance that I just left. At the time I had meant to hurt you by leaving like that, but not long afterward I was so sorry that I just couldn't stand it. I tried to find you the day afterward, but your mother said you had gone to 'some reunion.' I didn't know which one and neither did she."
"I didn't tell anyone anything," Bulma said. "I just left too. Yamucha, the beginning of our separation was hard, but it doesn't have to stay that way."
"You're right," he said. "It doesn't. And it won't, I hope. When all this is over we can resume your training and continue having fun. Even though Kami-sama didn't call you personally for his training, you can still learn from me. I promise I'll remember all he teaches us."
"I'm sure Kami had an important reason for not wanting me too, so I know I shouldn't feel too bad, but I still wish he had wanted to train me. Just think! What an honor it would be to be trained by the guardian of the earth! I hope you know how great a chance this is, Yamucha."
"I do," he said solemnly. "And don't worry. I'll teach you everything I learn. But we'll need Goku too. You still have a very important job."
"Yeah. I have to deal with that hentai of a hermit for a year. Yippee!" she said sarcastically. "I just hope I can keep my ki down to keep from killing him."
Yamucha laughed. "Hey, wait a minute!" he said suddenly. "That reminds me! Why haven't you told anyone that your ki is so high? I would think that you would have at least told Kuririn. Why the secrecy?"
"I didn't really have the opportunity to tell anyone until a few days ago at the reunion. But even then things happened too quickly. There have just been too many more important things happening. I had originally planned to reveal it all at the Kame house and surprise everyone, but Raditz showed up and I lost the chance. I guess I still want to surprise everyone enough to keep the secret awhile longer. Maybe I'll even wait until Goku gets back. But if I get time, I'm going to do some self-training. I've managed to elaborate a little on that teleport technique I showed you earlier, and with a little more time and work I'll get so that I can actually teleport from one place on the planet to another. I've achieved that level of success with inanimate objects, but teleporting myself is a lot harder. I've been a little wary of trying that technique out on myself."
"You've gotten that far? That's amazing! You'll have to teach me that when everything's back to normal!" Yamucha said excitedly. He was extremely proud of Bulma's success and sometimes attributed most of it to his 'exceptional expertise as a martial arts sensei.'
Bulma laughed. "I'll tell you what," she said, smiling at him. "You teach me Kami-sama's training - at least some of it anyway - and I'll show you what I'll have developed by then. Deal?" She stuck her hand out.
"Deal!" Yamucha laughed and grasped her hand. They shook hands vigorously, just as Kuririn, Tenshin-han, Puar, and Chaozu emerged from the trees, laughing and talking loudly.
Bulma and Yamucha got out of the car and joined the small reunion. After a few minutes of reminiscing, Bulma called for attention.
"Hey guys!" she said. "You should probably go to Karin tower now. I don't want to seem like I want to get rid of you, but I wouldn't want to keep Kami waiting if I were you."
"She has a point," Tenshin said. They all agreed that it would be best to leave right away, and as Bulma and Puar waved goodbye, most of the earth's strongest fighters flew off for Karin tower.
"Come on Puar," Bulma said, turning toward the air car. "Let's go back to Muten Roshi's. You can help us search for dragonballs if you want," she offered, knowing that Puar needed something to do to take her mind off Yamucha's absence.
"That would be wonderful Bulma!" Puar said excitedly. "But can we stop at Yamucha's apartment first? I'd like to get a few things."
"Sure," Bulma replied. "I need to pick up a few things from the store anyway, so we might as well stop off in the city." Bulma started up her air car and took off - at a much slower speed than before.
On to the next Chapter!
