Pink and Fuzzy

Vegeta kneeled by his baby son Trunks’ crib.He ruffled his messy purple hair and tapped him on the cheek.Trunks laughed,then looked up with Bulma’s blue eyes.Vegeta knew it was time for his nap,and began to chant a sleep spell in Saiyan,said in a way that it sounded like a spirit song.He had hurt his ankle the other day and could not train in his gravity room for three weeks,not of his will,but because Bulma,as always,forced him to agree with her,so he had ulitmaltely ended up spending more time with the newborn.Bulma seemed to be the only one who could boss Vegeta around without getting blasted into another dimension.
As soon as he opened the door to the bedroom,he was greeted by a smiling Bulma.
“What are you so happy about?” he asked.
“Don’t think I didn’t hear you.That’s very sweet,Vegeta. Where did you learn?”
“I prefer not to say,” he mumbled.
“Vegeta,” Bulma said. “I’m going to visit my sick cousin on the other side of town.If you want, you can go somewhere also.I’m leaving Trunks with my Mom.”
“Sure Bulma.See ya later.” She smiled and rubbed his neck.
“What are you doing!?! Don’t ever do that again!” he exclaimed,not liking the tingly feeling that arose in his body when she did that.
“Sorry Vegeta.Well,see you later.”

Two hours later,he was thinking of sneaking back to the gravity room and training,but he felt nauseous. Something deep inside him told him to leave the house.Vegeta walked slowly down Mexico lane,Rutherglen avenue,and all the way to the Ghetto area on Grand street.His feet,although heavy,led him to where his subconcoius desired to be.He saw a large crowd of Ghetto Gang members,so he approached.He flew to the top of an ampartment building and from there,he could see that somebody was right in the center,surrounded.To his absolute horror,he could see that it was Bulma! And he heard a gun’s safety lock being unlocked. He delevitated down and shoved his way through the crowd.He didn’t want to kill anybody,so he attacked the gunman with an extremely weak ki attack,but the gunman was clearly hurt,and fell to the ground.He ran to Bulma,who was sobbing with fear and relief.He took her hand and looked angerly at the crowd. They forced their way through the crowd and took a city bus back to the Capsule Corp.Vegeta and Bulma began to cross the huge back lawn to the steps leading up to the deck,where the entrance to the building was.When they were halfway across,Bulma yanked a white rose from one of the bushes and handed it to him.
“Thank you,” she said.
Vegeta looked down at the rose in his hand.She expected him to grunt and throw it to the ground,but he instead smiled at it.The he looked at her with smiling eyes.Out of nowhere,a loud explosion was heard,disrupting the peace.Vegeta lost his smile,he dropped the rose,and his eyes went wide.His chest moved quickly,making it clear that he was taking short,quick breaths.His eyes opened wide and were filled with fear.He shot Bulma a glance that seemed to say “Goodbye,” then collapsed on the ground.She turned quickly to see a gunman aim the gun at her,but thankfully,he was out of ammo,and fled into the forest.Bulma dropped to her knees beside Vegeta.She took hold of his shoulder and shook him.
“Vegeta,get up.Get up.Let’s go inside now.”
There was no response.His eyes remained shut and a little stream of blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.
“Come on Vegeta! We gotta get inside.Veg-”
She rubbed his neck,knowing he could not stand that and would surely get up and yell at her if he was faking.Nothing happened,and she realized she could do nothing for him.
“No...No! This can’t be happening to me!”
She screamed her loudest,then broke out in tears.Her parents came out into the yard to see what had happened.
Vegeta’s spilled blood created a small river flowing into the grass.For the first time,Bulma learned that blood had a scent...a scent she would never forget.
Pick one word to describe the happenings during the next hour.Anything along the lines of panic would do.First, Bulma’s parents became expremely panicky.
“Quick! What’s the number to 911?” her father asked. “How should I know classified information like that?” her mother shot back.When Bulma finally had had it up to here, she grabbed the phone and dialed 911.
Bulma had been sitting in the waiting room for an undetermined amount of time.She hadn’t bothered to remember how long she had been waiting there when a doctor came to speak with her.His face told his news before he opened his mouth.Bulma rose from her seat,fearing what she knew she couldn’t stop. “Bulma,I have some terrible news...”
She didn’t even have to listen.She already knew the words by heart from watching ER:Life in the emergency room.
She just never expected it to happen to her.
“No....”
She refused to hear.
“No!”
She sank to her knees,covering her ears.
“I don’t want to hear! Don’t say it!”
“Bulma,I’m sure you’d want to know..”
“I don’t want to know! But I do...I know...”
Bulma suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears.She ran into her father’s arms and sobbed loudly.
Spring.It had come like a sudden rainstorm and Bulma and Vegeta had watched the trees slowly bud,and now they had burst into bloom. It was now a week after Vegeta’s funeral.It was a cool,sunny morning.There was not a cloud in the bright blue sky.The sun shone brightly.The mountains seemed to stretch so high,they were on the brink of ripping the paper-like sky.Bulma sat on the deck overlooking the backyard,staring at the almost completely gone red splotch in the grass.A pink rose bush sat beside her,sent to her by Goku’s family in the days prior to the funeral.
The red area became too depressing to look at any longer,so she moved her eyes away from it,only to find them on a more depressing sight.Her eyes fell on Vegeta’s small grave under an oak in the backyard.She herself had asked to bury him there.She felt he did not belong with thousands of dead people,many of whose graves were forgotten and in bad condition.She did not want to forget him.
Knowing what she must do,she turned an index card over and wrote a poem with a red pen.
Goodbye By Bulma Brief Goodbye,I’ll always love you Your life ended way too fast. I’ll never forget that smile of yours. Too bad it was you last.
Feeling somewhat better,she drew hearts and roses all over the card.She knew that she’d keep the card forever.
She put it away and looked towards her garden,a somewhat happier sight. But when she looked that way,she sensed that an apiration was approaching her.
Turning quickly around,she saw the faint colors of a ghost approaching her.
“Stay away! You leave me alone! Why,you little...”
A long string of cusses followed this.
“Relax,Bulma! It’s only me!”
She now realized that she had yelled at Vegeta’s wandering spirit.
“Vegeta?”
“It’s me,who’d you think it was,little Kakerott?”
“No...I-”
“Honestly,nobody pays any respect to the dead anyomore! Well,in the ancient days,they actually worshipped the dead! If-”
“Excuse me?”
“Why in my day-what? What is it?”
“Vegeta,aren’t you dead?”
“Yup.And it isn’t any fun being dead either.”
Bulma almost smiled. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to see you before I moved on.”
“To where?”
“Some place.They told me there were some people I might want to see there.It’s a land thousands of miles away called the land of pink and fuzzy:the land of....Avenging Spirits!”
That’s Vegeta all right,Bulma thought,hearing Vegeta’s non-sequitor add-on.
“Naw.They just told me my family was there.My second cousin’s having her reincarnation party today.I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“But how will you get there?”
“Your paths as a human are long.Mine as a spirit are short.”
With that,his image faded.She felt his presence withdrawing.
“Don’t go! Don’t leave me alone!”
“I’ll be back,” his voice said.
“Come back!”
After his presence had totally faded,she recieved a telepathic message.
When I must leave your world for a time, please do not cry and shed wild tears. I have been here for my last years. And since we cannot communicate with phone calls, that’s why we have the Dragonballs.
Bulma’s eyes were glossy with tears.Through her sorrow, she smiled.She and her friends already had four Dragonballs.
Smiling,she stood.She walked over to the white rose bush,where she picked a rose for Vegeta such a seemingly long time ago.As she walked onto the deck and into the house to put the rose in a vase,she had a feeling that finding those other three Dragonballs would be a wonderful adventure.

THE END

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