Chapter 2 (Original)

Title: It’s Not Where You Start…

Chapter 2: Get Angry? Get Even.

Rating: T (for now…)

Fandom: Dragon Ball Z

Genre: Alternate Universe/Romance/Angst/Drama

Pairing: Vegeta/Bulma

Warnings: Language. Abuse of commas and semi-colon as necessary, they made me do it.

Short Summary: AU. Bulma’s finishing up her Doctoral Degree at age 21, Vegeta’s in classes at age 24. When the two meet, things become hectic for the both of them.

Summary: Alternate Universe. Bulma Briefs is the daughter of the world renown Dr. Briefs of Capsule Corporation. Smart, beautiful and charismatic, Bulma is the middle of getting her Master’s Degree at only twenty-one years of age. When she meets college student Vegeta Ouji though, things begin to change and she’s unsure as to whether or not she likes this change, much less can control it.

Disclaimer: All Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT characters belong to Akira Toriyama. Cause let’s face it, if I owned these characters I would totally be making this into the animated canon or manga cannon somehow.

Author’s Notes: So here’s the second chapter, wewt! In this it’s mentioned that West City is in the U.S.A. (aka, The States) simply because it works out better plot wise if it exists outside of Japan (which is where I’m sure Akira Toriyama would base his characters if he put them in the 'real world'). Plus I’m more familiar with U.S. customs and as such I feel more comfortable writing about it, seeing as how I live in ‘The States’ myself.

Please leave a review as they are like candy to me and I like candy. :)

Recommended Listening: “Trigger Happy Jack” by Poe, “Low” by T-Pain.

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It’s Not Where You Start…

Chapter 2: Get Angry? Get Even.

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“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.” –Mel Brooks

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Bulma cursed loudly as she sifted frantically through her jacket pockets and designer purse. She just had to have the damned designer bag, even though it had no real place to store her phone. Admittedly she knew better but the purse was just too gorgeous to not have, so she didn’t really care at the time of purchase where her phone would go; until now. As she rummaged, with no small panic, through all of her items at the lunch table, a tall Japanese man place his lunch from the student cafeteria in a seat beside her own, unnoticed.

“Whatcha doin’ Bulma?” The young man with spiky hair asked jovially.

“I’m looking for my phone.” She said to the young man while not diverting any attention from her mad search for it at the end of the table.

The young man arched an eyebrow and dove into his overly full tray while asking, “Don’t you usually put it in your jacket pocket since you bought that new purse?”

Bulma groaned as she gave up her hunt and started to put her school items back in order. “Normally you’d be right Goku, but apparently it’s fallen out somewhere.” Sitting properly in her seat once more she crossed her arms and hunched back in her seat, positively choleric at the notion of losing her phone, again.

“Well it’s a good thing you’re rich! Otherwise you might have some problems replacing the phone.” Came the friendly observation between alternating bites and gulps of food and drink.

The unhappy student absently poked the burger on her lunch tray unhappily with a finger, “Yeah but I had some pictures on there I really wanted to put on my computer.” Neglecting to mention said pictures were of Yamcha, her ex-boyfriend, she added, “Besides, if I replace any more lost phones I just know the phone company is going to bite me in the ass with some sort of liability charge.”

Goku nodded, if nodding was indeed the motion he was making between the devouring of different items on his tray, as a petite but strong looking woman strode up to the table and plopped into the seat next to Goku.

“Hi Chi-Chi,” Bulma said with an unenthusiastic wave to her friend.

 The new comer addressed the moping woman first, “Hey Bulma. Hey Sweetie,” after giving the ever-eating guy next to her a kiss on the cheek she turned back to Bulma. “What happened? It sounds like you’re kind of upset about something.”

As Bulma picked at her food she gave a little grunt of displeasure. “I lost my phone again and I can’t think of where it might be.”

“I told you not to get that horribly small purse Bulma,” she admonished as she quickly fixed the bun that held her black tresses away from her face. “Have you retraced your steps? Are you even sure you took it with you this morning?”

Bulma bit viciously into a potato fry and answered after swallowing the bite-sized morsel, “Yes and yes, thank you very much. I checked Dr. Gero’s classroom and even went all the way out to my car to check and see if I left it in the door pocket.”

Chi-Chi looked skeptically at her friend as Goku rose seemingly unnoticeably to get another tray of food, “Are you SURE you took it with you from your apartment? You’ve done this before you know…”

“Yes, I’m sure!” She ground out as if she were a child being scolded. “I had to go back up the stairs this morning to get it, believe me I remember taking it with me.”

Chi-Chi sighed in defeat at her friend’s scatter-brained tendencies. World’s smartest woman and THIS was how she represented the her gender? Life was cruel. While she admired her friend for her intelligence, she’d not-so-secretly give an arm and a leg for Bulma’s brains just so the world’s smartest female could have common sense. Reaching into her own purse she pulled out her cell phone and proffered it to the grumpy girl a few seats down.

“Here, call your phone with this one and see if anyone’s found it. Maybe they’ll return it to you if you’re lucky.” Momentarily holding onto the phone as Bulma’s hand closed around it she deadpanned, “I want it back okay?”

“Yeah, yeah smarty pants.” She stuck out her tongue a little and held down the number tree key, knowing that one was voicemail and two was Goku’s number.

Riiiiiiinnnggg!

Goku meandered back to the table with another tray full of food and a bit of a brighter smile, if that was possible. “Hey guess what guys—er, girls!” he corrected at his girlfriend’s unimpressed glare.

Giving a small smile for the correction, Chi-Chi grabbed the soda off his tray to keep it from tipping over as he sat down rather haphazardly with excitement. “What?”

Riiiiiiinnnggg!

Bulma tapped her finger on the phone as it rang in her ear, but kept the other one open for Goku’s news.

“Do you remember when I went to Japan that semester as part of that exchange program in the Athletics department?” He said excitedly as he dove into another round of food.

“Yeah, and they were the loneliest four months of my life.” Chi-Chi whined while pouting her bottom lip for extra effect.

Riiiiiiinnnggg!

Goku continued eating and talking at the same time, not really caring about any crumbs flying out of his mouth, “You remember I told you about my sparing partner in karate class, right?” When Chi-Chi nodded he continued, “Well he’s actually here!”

Bulma was mildly interested in Goku’s discovery as she had seen the photos he had taken for souvenirs while he was there. While the person in question had never smiled in ANY of the photos taken, he was good looking and that interested Bulma very much. The way Goku talked about him he seemed friendly enough, but she supposed that wasn’t saying much as her dim-witted friend would talk about a rabid animal fondly. It was one of his more admirable, albeit sometimes annoying, traits; an endearing feature and part of why she was friends with the hunky Athletics major.

Riiiiiiinnnggg!

“Dammit!” Bulma cried out, pressing the end call button before the number went to voicemail. “No answer.”

Chi-Chi frowned in sympathy at her plight, “Maybe it’s in campus' lost and found? We could go by there after lunch if you like, my next class isn’t until three.”

“I’d definitely be grateful for the company. I hate having to go there by myself, they’re getting to know when I’ll show up.” She dipped her head so low over her tray that her purple-blue bangs nearly landed in her side salad.

The responsible girl chuckled and shook her head, not surprised in the least. “So, how’d it go in class today? About as expected? Did you bore half the class into slumber like Dr. Gero?”

Bulma grimaced at the memory of the unpleasant ‘Mr. Ouji the Fifth’. “Ugh, it went rather well I guess until the end of everything. Let me tell you, this one kid waltzes into class forty-five minutes after class starts, makes a TON of noise and commotion getting to his seat and then, after trying to intimidate the T.A. into marking him present by GLARING at him, decides to sleep through half the class. All while yawning obnoxiously whenever he was awake.” She bit into her burger as if to demonstrate her displeasure.

“Wow, talk about inconsiderate.” Chi-Chi’s eyes widened a little at the idea of someone so obnoxious while she mixed her Cesar salad.

“Oh, that’s not the worst part, Chi.” Bulma took a large sip of her diet soda to wash down the large bite of burger. “Get this, after class he has the audacity to correct me about my attitude, as if I were some sort of servant! The nerve!” She set her burger down and turned her attention to her small side salad, judiciously pouring dressing from a tin packet over it.

Chi-Chi gawked, “You’re kidding? Right?” Then smirked, knowing her friend’s ill temper and big mouth, “Did you let him live?”

Goku was munching happily away at his food, occasionally glancing at the cashier line across the room casually as if looking for someone, but he chuckled at the idea of Bulma the substitute student teacher making another student cry with her cutting and sly remarks. He would never be able to deliver an insult like Bulma, but then again, he would never want to insult anyone. There were a few exceptions, but they were rare.

“Yeah, I let him live.” Stabbing at the thinly coated iceberg lettuce she grumped, “What was I gonna do? I don’t think Dr. Gero would be too happy if I insulted his students and got him in trouble, much less hurt one of his students physically.”

Chewing delicately -conceded, “True. Hey, do you remember his name or what he looked like? Maybe I could trip him for you if I see him in the halls or something!” She perked up at her own sneaky idea; no one would see it coming!

“Ooo! You might have something there Chi-Chi! That way I wouldn’t get in trouble!” Bulma practically bounced in her seat as she chewed her own bite of salad. Chi-Chi had some fighting chops when she wanted to use them so she dare not insult her friend with the insinuation of her getting caught as she gave out his description. “He’s some kind of skater guy judging by the skateboard he had and his clothes. He’s about yea tall,” she indicated with her hand not that far from top of her own, “and he looks to be of Japanese dissent, like Goku.”

At this Chi-Chi nodded and listened intently. She knew it’d be a childish prank if she actually followed through, but there was nothing wrong with entertaining the fantasy of retribution though as long as it remained just that—a fantasy.

Not stopping her tirade, Bulma ignored Goku standing up from the his chair, presumably to get yet another tray of food, “And as for his name, it’s—“

“Vegeta!” Goku called, to an imposing figure that had just exited the cashier line.

One corner of Bulma’s mouth involuntarily jerked downward as her mouth opened to say the offending name that for some strange reason had come out of Goku’s mouth.

Looking up at her buff friend, who was sporting his signature orange t-shirt that had it’s sleeves cut off, she asked cautiously, “…Ouji…Yeah. Uh, how did you know?” Her friend was perceptive about strange things but he was not clairvoyant, and he certainly did not have Computer Science 1020 at 10a.m. with Dr. Gero. Besides that, the classroom had been empty when the encounter had happened.

Goku waved a little more frantically at the strange figure, who seemed to be grudgingly walking over to their claimed table near the corner of the well-sized eating auditorium.

“Stop making a spectacle of yourself Kakarrot!” The raspy baritone voice commanded, and none too kindly. Since Goku was a popular guy it wasn’t exactly strange to hear him referred to as his nickname; which had somehow originated during his trip to Japan from the use of his ‘orange shirt collection’ as their friend Krillin had put it.

“Bulma?” Chi-Chi attempted to wave her hand at her friend worriedly at the sudden stop in ranting which was so un-Bulma like.

Across from Goku suddenly appeared a tray piled just as high with food from the lunch line as Goku’s had been, if not more than actually, and then a dreadfully familiar navy blue hoodie accompanied by a backpack and skateboard that were set carefully into the seat across from Chi-Chi. Bulma could practically feel her heart jump into her throat from surprise followed quickly by anger as she looked back at her friend next to Goku and then to the new addition to the table.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at the strangely quiet and seemingly irrelevant response.

“Sorry Vegeta,” Goku rubbed the back of his head innocently and took his seat once more, “I just wanted to introduce you to my group of friends here. How long have you been in the States?”

Vegeta, more interested in his food than conversation, gave a grunt in response. If Goku noticed he didn’t seem to care.

Bulma quieted a groan trying to claw it’s way out of her mouth, making a rather odd strangling noise emit from her voice box Again she repeated the eye motion to Chi-Chi and even added a small head movement in a frantic hope that her friend would put two and two together. God, how she wished she had her phone, she could at least text her thoughts to Chi-Chi then!

“This here is Bulma,” Goku motioned to his left, “and this is my girlfriend Chi-Chi! You remember me mentioning her don’t you?” He grinned a rather sweet and dopey smile as he placed an arm around said girlfriend in a quick show of affection, while she gave a polite greeting to the newcomer at the table.

Bulma’s fists shook slightly at her sides as she realized Chi-Chi still wasn’t going to get her point without her verbalizing it in front of the offending person. Wild-eyed she noticed her friend’s small red phone next to her tray where she had set it down and, in a futile fit of need for her phone, pressed down the speed dial for her own number. Maybe this time someone would pick up.

As the familiar melody of her ring tone trickled through the air Bulma had no need to place the red phone up to her ear. It took a few seconds for her to decipher that the words from the song were emanating from the backpack across from Chi-Chi.

“Shawty got low low low low low low low low…”

As she slowly turned her head toward the new student at their table, it was then that Bulma realized exactly what must have happened to her phone.

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“Shawty got low low low low low low low low…”

Fuck.

He wasn’t upset about the phone ringing as much as it was he didn’t appreciate the timing of the blasted thing; first while he was in the lunch line with his arms full and now in front of the person who owned the damned object. Could his day get any better?

Calmly and deliberately he looked towards the girl with the lavender cast to her hair—Kakarrot had said her name was Bulma, right?—and slid a smirk onto his face. “You dropped your phone.”

His hood was down now and he felt a little more awake and able to handle social interaction. After class, he had stopped by the restroom and decided to make himself look a little more presentable, or maybe it was to not feel so grimy, and ran some water over his face and hair; the subsequent finger combing of his hair causing the day-old gel to reactivate and prop the strands and clumps up in random and stylish spikes.

It was rather amusing to watch the formerly collected girl’s mouth drop open and twitch angrily while she was struck silent. Probably with anger. Pity he didn’t care.

“You—y—why do you have my phone!?” She demanded loudly, finally finding her words, ending the call and placing her friend’s phone down on the table. She knew how to make people look at her, that was for certain because half of the lunchroom was now casting thinly veiled glances toward the commotion.

The smirk faded as he repeated, “I said you dropped your phone. What, are you hard of hearing as well as stupid?”

The woman called Chi-Chi looked a bit confused at her friend as Kakarrot had already gone back to eating. Even with all his stupidity he had to admit he had the right idea. Vegeta turned his full attention to the food presently in front of him. Lunch time, or any meal time for that matter, was for eating, not for talking and so he began to consume the food he had purchased.

The girl from class gaped openly before her eye began twitching and she forced her mouth shut with a few jerky attempts. As she attempted to calm herself she took a few deep breaths and bit out calm and evenly, “I called it just a few minutes ago. Why didn’t you pick up the phone to let me know it was found?”

“Because my hands were full.” He answered simply, not looking away from his meal, and then dove into eating his own tray of food with an orderly gusto.

The irritated woman seemed to seethe at the end of the table, next to his own seat as if waiting for more of a response. Finally, after a few moments of food chewing silence, the dark haired woman of Kakarrot’s spoke up.

“…Well aren’t you going to give it back?” She asked with a hint of anger laced in the bottom of her voice; a warning of what would happen if he answered anything but yes.

He made sure to swallow the bite of food in his mouth before answering, even taking time to wipe his mouth afterward swiftly with a napkin, “When I’m done eating, I’ll think about it.” Giving the brunette a pointed look, he lifted up the next item for disposal by his digestive system, stopping in mid motion when he was interrupted by Bulma.

“But you’re already here. Why not just give it back now?” Oh joy, the woman at the end of the table seemed to have found her voice again; her palm extended expectantly.

Expelling an annoyed sigh, Vegeta looked directly at the woman making sure to hold her blue eyes with his. “Because I am eating and I am not sure I’m going to return it. I do know, however, that if I am not allowed to finish my meal it will not have the slightest consideration of going back to you.” With that he plucked a few napkins from the dispenser in the center of the table and placed them promptly in her expectant hand and returned to eating as if nothing had happened.

At this action Kakarrot’s woman elbowed Kakarrot in the ribs rather harshly, “Goku…” she gave him an admonishing look in return for his questioning glance at her deed.

“What? He’s right, he is eating you know!” He stated innocently, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. By the woman's irritated sigh, this was apparently the wrong response or at least not the one she had been expecting from the thoughtless buffoon.

“That’s not what I meant. Goku, he’s your ‘friend’, do something!” The woman was glaring sharply at the large athletic man next to her. Vegeta might have laughed at the absurdity of such a small female intimidating a male of Kakarrot’s stature and build if he allowed himself to act upon whims—which he didn’t. Instead he calmly continued to eat his food as his former sparring partner defended himself from his perceived mate.

Smoothly and quietly, Bulma rose from her seat and stalked over to the backpack and skateboard sitting in the chair across from Chi-Chi, intent clear on her face. Vegeta could feel her surprise when his hand darted out to capture her own in a firm and uncomfortable grip as she attempted to open the zippered compartment supposedly hiding her phone.

After another swallow of food he addressed the young woman in his clamp-like grasp. “Don’t you know that it’s rude to go through other people’s belongings without permission?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to take other people’s things?!” Futilely Bulma attempted to redirect her, and as a result his, hand at the zipper again to continue opening the bag. He simply took another bite of food and swallowed elegantly, all the while keeping a firm grip on the prying hand.

An annoyed tone made it’s way into his voice as he defended his territory, “I told you I would think about it when I was finished eating—if that ever happens at this point.” Giving her hand a menacing squeeze of warning he flicked her hand away from his bag and began to eat with two hands once more, ignoring the irate woman as if she had never been a threat at all. She had lost it, he had found it. Wasn’t there a rule about that somewhere? Why was she so presumptuous as to think she deserved to get it back? She was foolish enough to lose it and he was smart enough to find it; open and shut case.

The Bulma woman rubbed the offending hand with the other comfortingly in an attempt to soothe the red marks left there from his grip. Then, after a moment of what looked to be thought, she walked to her seat and started packing up her items methodically and full of purpose.

Chi-Chi stared at her friend in confusion as she offered her phone back to her and gave Goku the remainder of her uneaten food; things were never good when Bulma became quiet. Throwing her backpack over one shoulder, the blue haired girl said her farewells to her two friends and then looked at Vegeta as she walked back to the opposite side of the table, with feigned felicity.

“When you decide to give me my phone back, Goku knows how to get in touch with me.” Then, with one deft movement, she urbanely removed the unpleasant acquaintance’s skateboard from the chair and left with a swift pace to her car to deposit the collateral item.

He might deny it if anyone asked, but Vegeta felt a smirk of appreciation tugging at the side of his mouth; A woman after his own heart.

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