- 23 -
A New Friend?
The Jokester
Setting a pile of folders on the working desk that had been cleared first to allow a place to put everything that needed to be kept, she weaved her fingers through her hair. I hope Daddy's able to help him... If her father, with the best doctors in the world couldn't find the chip and retrieve it, then no one could. It could very well be the reason those who put it inside his head in the first place didn't take it out. That or they are really sadistic bastards.
Squatting down to pick up another stack of folders and papers, she found succeeded in knocking herself off balance as she landed on her hip before sitting down fully. She sighed. What am I doing? Shaking her head slightly, she covered her face with her hand while resting on the one that wasn't sore. She was exhausted. She couldn't ignore it anymore. And what was she really doing here other than getting in the way of the robots?
Closing her eyes, she found herself recalling all that had happened after the incident. To think things started relatively normal that morning... or rather yesterday morning, it was hard to believe that it was only four in the morning now, if anything it felt like a whole week had passed.
"Bulma! A-Are you okay?" She could hear the echoing in her head of her mother calling out to her not long after things had settled down; could see it playing in her head as if it were happening all over again. Her mother had fawned over her after clumsily making her way over the uneven ground. Her father had not been far behind.
"Oh-oh my..." he had muttered casually while he straightened his glasses, "They sure did a number on themselves."
Bulma pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes closed tightly as she tried to clear the ramblings of what came after, but it stayed, unwilling to be released from her photographic memory.
She sat there; somewhat in a daze and not noticing that her fingers were still rubbing the side of Vegeta's face while her father checked his vitals. A few yards away Goku sat down next to Gohan, ChiChi standing there remaining abnormally silent after her best friend had said their son was okay.
Her mother leaned over next to Bulma, whispering rather loudly, "You know, you two are rather cute... Do you th-"
Bulma blushed, her fingers ceasing their movement as everyone looked at her. She hissed as she tried to cover up her embarrassment, "Moommm... really? I don't think now is a good time to start that nonsense..."
"What? Just saying..." She pouted as she straightened.
Bulma noticed Goku eyeing Vegeta wearily before glancing at his wife. It looked as if he wanted to say something to ChiChi, but was unable to now that everything had quieted down. She bit her lip, wondering what she could do to help them. She was still set on doing something, the question was what?
Lost in her thoughts, she nearly screamed when Krillin and Yamcha landed behind her and her ex exclaimed loudly, "Kami guys, what the hell happened here?"
Bulma looked down at Vegeta, back painfully stiff as she snapped back, "Well you would have some clue if you showed up the other day."
"Oh, c'mon babe, don't be like that!" he whined and she gritted her teeth to keep from saying anything else. Honestly, she wasn't in the mood. She made her opinion obvious; as far as she was concerned she was done talking to him.
Bulma growled; it was a low deep rumbling that sounded nothing like her and after it came out she started to giggle. Man, I've been hanging out with these Saiyans too much. But it felt so right with her irritation. Yamcha had stood there like an idiot for almost three minutes waiting for her to explain as she helped her father stabilize Vegeta (though again what help could she do with one arm?) before Goku informed him of who Bardock and Vegeta were. By the time he finished Tien, Chaozu, and Piccolo landed just in time for him to explain to all of them what happened with Vegeta.
"What!" Bulma flinched as her ex's voice rose. "So he is the reason you are hurt? Babe, why are you even helping him?" He grabbed her arm as if to yank her away even with the wounded Saiyan still resting on her lap, but before he could actually do it, she tore her arm back, giving him a furious look that made him sputter.
She shook her head, more forcefully as she gritted her teeth at the memory. The pesky memories rambled in her head like one of those old arcade ping pong games. Back and forth; up and down; swirling around and around until she was dizzy. She still couldn't believe the nerve of her ex. Even after she calmly told him why, he still went ballistic on her. It would have been almost comical with the way Tien, Chaozu, and Piccolo fled back to their respective homes to flee him. Or what they would call homes... she was not really sure what Piccolo would call a home... But that was beside the point. Sighing, she stood slowly, her frustrated thoughts returning to Yamcha.
Of course he wouldn't understand. He never understood. The only time he pretended to actually care was when he wanted some action or when she was showing attention to other guys. Putting the folders she picked up on the desk, she smiled humorously at the thought of her and Vegeta every being something like that...Yeah right, as if... She rolled her eyes at the absurdity of it all.
Bulma went to her father's main computer and sat in the chair. Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a few seconds... Yawning, she wiggled a little as she settled in, trying to get comfortable. For a couple of minutes she sat there trying to still her mind, but her sub-consciousness only kept pulling things that happened that day from the fray and shaking them in front of her, demanding attention.
For what felt like the umpteenth time she repeated through clenched teeth, "I'm helping him, Yamcha, because he is my friend. I need no other reason."
"Oh, don't give me that, Babe. We all kn-"
"Um... he is slowly crashing. Can you two do this some other time?" Dr. Briefs stated calmly, but was looking at Yamcha, clearly slightly irked with the younger man.
Bulma's furious glare fell suddenly and she looked down at Vegeta. "What is it, Daddy? I thought you said he was okay."
"He was, but with this drug in his system things can change at any given second and he can't heal his internal injuries fast like normal..." Bulma frowned with worry as her good arm fisted Vegeta's tattered shirt.
Feelings had crashed upon her like a huge avalanche... and at the time she hadn't thought much about them, but now they surprised her. How could such an arrogant, thick-headed, insulting man... make me feel all these different things? Fear (for him, though earlier it had very much been for her and her own), sadness, helpless, useless, uncertainty... the list went on and for some of them only Kami could name. But above all... she hadn't felt this alive... for a while. For the past few years she felt like she was just going through the motions of everyday life. Like a haze that threatened to never lift... at least not until Vegeta showed up. More like crashed down... She smiled a little.
Her smile faltered slightly, recalling how she defended Vegeta against Yamcha so viciously when Goku was going to give him part of the single sensu bean he had (he had taken a sliver for himself of course, and the rest had gone to Bardock) and Yamcha was telling him not to do it. The fact that he would let a guy die just because he was jealous made her spitting mad, but this was overshadowed right now by thoughts on how passionately she reacted. Bulma couldn't ever remember a time she had ever defended someone like that. Sure, there weren't really that many times in her life that she had needed to defend someone, but of those few... She shook her head. If she wasn't careful everyone might think Vegeta was more than a friend to her, which again was laughable at best. If she wasn't so tired she would have even thrown her head back to laugh at the whole ludicrousness of it.
Pushing those thoughts away, she rubbed her aching shoulder inattentively as more memories came back. After giving out the sensu bean, everything became less urgent... though the chip was not far from either her father's or her own mind, and Vegeta and Bardock still had some major injuries to contend with that made them stay unconscious. But all in all, everything would be fine. That didn't mean the two scientists could completely relax. They knew that it had been only a temporary solution seeing as it healed Vegeta's internal injuries and stabilized him but only postponed his heart issues as her father had suspected. It was like a giant reset button on a ticking time bomb as it started from ten again to decrease to the point of no return.
She nibbled on her lip as she found herself once again wondering how the chip thing was going. It took everything to keep her from going back to the headquarters or to pick the phone up and call. She didn't expect anything to happen like it did that afternoon. Vegeta was far too hurt, held in unconsciousness by many drugs, and Goku was there. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something else might go astray. What if they didn't find it? What if they did but couldn't remove it? Or what if there was more than one and they missed it? Most wouldn't have thought of that last one, but Bulma was not most and when she pointed it out to her father even he had not thought of it. But why not? If this Freeza and his men were as sadistic as Vegeta and Bardock claimed, why wouldn't they have a failsafe installed? If she was a crazed psychopathic genius, that would be what she would do...
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
What the hell? The strange sound yanked her out of her dark meditations and she looked around as the robots went on, uncaring, doing exactly what they were programmed to do. Where did that come from? My cell is dead from the pool... Then she added mentally as her thoughts grew more irritated, Again... Was she ever going to get a break?
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
Frowning, she slowly stood from the chair and tried to fight the little stirring of concerns that sprang up. What if it was one of her father's experiments? It would be her luck that the energy Vegeta unleashed and the quake disturbed something that would explode while she was in there. The sound, however, seemed to be coming from the back door of the lab. It was probably more likely that the security door would malfunction and lock her in again with no way out. Speaking of which... She still didn't understand how the door got open to begin with. With nothing better to do she had checked the panel and found that it had been opened from the outside. How? She hadn't the foggiest clue, and she would have checked the videos from the security cameras, but the computers were down for now and that would take at least a full day and two working hands to fix.
It bothered her. And yet there wasn't anything she could do just then about it. Nevertheless, you can damn well bet that the second the computers were fixed that she was going to be looking into it. She shook her head, pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind to concentrate on the issue at hand; the one she may actually be able to handle. She paused near the back door, tilting her head as she waited for the sound to make itself known again.
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
Beep... Beep, Beep... Beep
Her eyes fell on a pile of medical equipment that had been knocked over and glass from an overhead light. Inside there seemed to be something flashing. Brow creasing, she carefully reached out and started to move the mess off of whatever was there, only to pause when it came into view. Bardock's scouter? She removed the rest of the debris covering it before picking it up and putting it over her ear. On the screen, in a language she couldn't even begin to understand, were flashing words. She bit her lip as she wondered what she should do. He never said not to answer it and as far as she knew there was only one Saiyan that ever communicated with him. What was his name again? Oh right, Tash...
He only -would one say called?- when it was something important. And she would have gotten Bardock if he weren't still unconscious from his injuries. If it was life or death, of course she would wake him, but nothing short of that. The older Saiyan really took a beating if that half of a sensu bean was unable to heal him enough to wake him. Even so, she couldn't just ignore it. Here goes nothing. She licked her lips as she pushed the button on the side, hoping that it would establish the connection.
"Bardock? Finally... I've been trying to reach you for hours. Is everything alright?" A young man's voice filled her ear and the tenor with a hint of something lower made her smile a little at the reminder of Vegeta.
However, it wasn't because of this reminder that made Bulma simply stare at the mess that was her father's lab, unsure what to say. No, the reason why the normally confident heiress hesitated was because Bardock hardly talked about Tash and she couldn't ever remember Vegeta mentioning him... Well, maybe once, but still I hardly know anything about him. That was not something she liked, going into a conversation not knowing anything about the person. Perhaps she should have taken this into consideration before answering, but she had little choice now that she had.
"This isn't Bardock," she stated, trying to keep her voice even and calm. If she assumed Tash was anything like his cousin any sign of weakness or hesitation was not a good thing. "But I can relay any message to him for the time being... Or just tell him later that you, er, rang." She mentally slapped her forehead. Like he would know what the hell rang means... geez, Bulma. She shook her head, so much for not appearing foolish. "I mean called or whatever you call this con-"
"Who are you?" the Saiyan on the other end all but growled lowly, sending shivers down her spine. It only served to paint the picture of someone looking nearly identical to Vegeta on the other end. Just what I need, another temperamental Saiyan...
Damn she was an idiot; of course he would be suspicious of anyone but Bardock answering. "I'm Bulma, Bulma Briefs. Sorry, I should have probably started off with that..."
"Oh!" His tone lightened quickly, dare she say that he almost sounded cheery. Cheery and Vegeta simply didn't go together and the image she had shattered in her head, startled. "You're that human girl Bardock spoke of. You don't sound like I thought you might."
Neither are you, bucko! she mentally retorted only for her brow creased slightly suddenly, realizing what he said. She placed her good hand on her hip and demanded hotly, "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"I just meant that you sound... cuter than I pictured this genius Bardock told me about." Bulma blushed a little with the compliment, only to be taken aback by how... so unlike Vegeta and Bardock he was as words continued to pour from his mouth. "With the way Vegeta described you I would have thought you some hideous wench. Then you could still be as ugly as a Morluk so... yeah. Guess I'm jumping the ki blast, but then Vegeta tends... or tended to always exaggerate things sometimes..."
Bulma simply couldn't picture who could possibly be on the other end. Surely this was not Vegeta's cousin! He was too... bubbly and excitable. Kind of like a puppy when their owners returned from work, lapping up all the attention and, oh Kami... all that uncontrollable licking! She only barely managed to keep herself from giggling at the image of a puppy with Vegeta's head on the other end, yammering away.
"There was this one time, we were on Ulinyn and he came to the rest'in all beat up really bad. Seriously, if that stomach wound had been any deeper his entrails would have been trailing all behind him... then again maybe they already would have if he hadn't been holding the wound... Like I said a really nasty wound. And when he finally came out of the R.T. he was sure in-"
"R.T.?" she questioned hoping he would hear her over himself, but then with his Saiyan hearing he of course heard her.
"Regeneration tank... forgot you Earthlings don't use them." With her questioned answered he continued on as if not interrupted, "At any rate, he was in a sour mood, complaining about some vicious giant alien with razor sharp claws. Then again he is rather short for our race... so almost anything could be considered a giant... Turned out it was some Snasshler who managed to outsmart him or something, thing wasn't even seven feet yet and-"
"Whoa, whoa... um, Tash is it?" she cut him off, realizing he would persist on and on until the end of time if she didn't stop him. Poor kid must not get out very often... That had to be it, she couldn't imagine Vegeta's cousin talking like this all the time.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that." He chuckled softly at himself and she could almost picture him doing Goku's famous over the head scratch. That was how cheerful he sounded. "I'm Tashaen, but no one actually calls me that. Hey, is everything alright? Bardock hasn't ever let an outsider talk to me before... even when I pestered him about meeting you. Which by the way we need to play revet, I still don't believe you're that smart..."
"Well..." She found herself smirking, for once happy that her predictions about him had been wrong. "I don't know what this revet is, but I'll gladly dispel any doubts about my genius. As for what happened..." Bulma glanced around the room that was almost picked up. "A lot has happened today... or yesterday really. Kami, I need sleep." Rubbing her face, she tried to stifle a yawn only to fail miserably.
Concern colored his voice and it swiftly lost its happy tone as he spoke again, "What happened? Raditz shouldn't be there yet..." Bulma could hear what sounded like someone typing on the other end. "In fact, he shouldn't be close... not after I hacked into the pod mainframe and managed to tweak a few things to slow it down slightly without it alerting anyone."
"No, no... It's not Raditz, luckily." No, he wasn't a completely naive little puppy it seemed. Bulma walked back to her father's chair and sat down, sighing a little. "No, it was... um... Vegeta." Should she tell him everything? Did he know about the chip?
"Is he okay?"
Honestly, it wasn't her place to tell the kid this and she didn't want the headache. "Yes, for now. We just found out that there are other complications other than the whole drug issue. He pushed himself a little hard the other day sparring with Goku when he shouldn't have been which trigged this series of events that led to him having a rather high fever and hallucinating..."
"Oh fuck."
She chuckled softly as she rubbed the back of her neck, unable to describe it any better than that. "You have no idea. Bardock and Vegeta looked like they went through a meat grinder, and Goku is still walking with a limp. And this is after some major healing..."
Tash hesitated before he asked, "And you?"
Her brow rose at that, startled that he would be concerned for her. He really was disproving what she had thought of him right and left. "I was fortunate... While he thought I was someone else I was almost able to get him to snap out of it, but Goku (who he thought as this Cui guy) moved and set him off and he attacked me, but he pulled his strength at the last second. I only ended up with a mild concussion and a dislocated shoulder. To be honest I've survived worse injuries..."
She started to rub her bruised neck, deciding not to tell of what else Vegeta did. Tash was a Saiyan, so she doubted that he would understand her fear... staring into those cold, empty black eyes. She shivered as those eyes came to her mind again, forcing her to close hers. Yes, she had been in situations where many bones had been broken, but none of them had instilled such gut-wrenching fear in her. But none of this was Vegeta's fault. While lucid and thinking, he had been ruled by his own fear, and his reaction was one to make his attacker not think he was scared shitless. Let alone, who knew what else that chip had done to him. It could have altered his thinking along with his senses... Of course, she knew this was just her trying to come up with an excuse for him, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want to see Vegeta like that.
Then again, she could be entirely wrong about him not understanding. He had already shattered all her previous views of him. Maybe she could tell him what she felt... No, it was definitely best to wait until she got a better understanding of him before doing that.
Bulma shook her head, realizing she had been lost in her thoughts for a few minutes and Tash hadn't said anything. "You still there?"
"Y-Yeah... he actually held back? T-That's amazing..."
Tash sat there, staring blankly at the five screens that held scrawling numbers and video feeds. The room full of wires that left little room for the chair and some standing space and pitch dark except for the glowing from the machine. He just couldn't believe it. Vegeta held back. He never held back a punch. Sure, he stopped himself from killing him or Bardock, but he never pulled a punch. This girl didn't realize how lucky she truly was. He didn't know what a concussion was... but obviously with it being mild it couldn't be that bad. And a simple dislocation? Fuck, he wished Vegeta had pulled his punches so many times when they had sparred or gotten into a tiff.
Crossing his arms, he leaned back as he wore a confused scowl that mirrored his cousin's. "... he has changed..." he muttered mostly to himself, completely forgetting the woman on the other end.
"I didn't understand what Bardock was talking about when he said Vegeta had changed... b-but..." He could hear the small quiver in her voice, but it was something that would have gone unnoticed by most. He was impressed. "But after seeing how he acted, I have to agree. He has changed. He's no monster though, why can't anyone see that?"
Hearing the defensive tone she took snapped him out of his own thoughts and he blinked amazed. He thought he was the only one who thought that, but to hear this utter stranger say that... He smirked. "Most would not agree with you... actually the whole universe disagrees with you."
"Then they are morons who are blinded by their own selfishness and if you're one of them then I have nothing to say to yo-"
Tash's eyes widened before getting somewhat irritated. "Whoa, no. Hold up, girl. I didn't mean that at all. I for one happen to agree... and what is it to you? You hardly know my cousin. Why are you so defensive of him?"
"Let's get one thing straight, bucko, I'm not a girl. I'm twenty-six years old. Second, I need no reason, but if you must know he is my friend and I'm tired of people placing this image of a monster upon him."
Rubbing his face, he sighed. This girl... correction woman, was really too much. Her voice started off so nice, but he could see what Vegeta meant about wanting to tear your ears off. How the hell did his cousin not kill her already?
"How can anyone expect him to act differently with the way he's treated? It's like beating a dog that was trained to fight..."
"What's a dog?" Perhaps it was just better to change the subject entirely... if he didn't stop the screeching soon he was tempted to blast his computers and that was something he would never ever do.
"..." She huffed, calming a little, "How can you not know what a dog is?" But then again... Vegeta never saw a cat before, maybe there are no dogs in space... No shit, Bulma! Of course there's no dogs, how could they have the same animals... ghaa I need sleep."
He found himself smiling at the way she berated herself, it was different... "The word dog is in the universal language, but it's a term used for a slave, whether that be another sentient being or beast. I always wondered where the word came from... dog... what an odd word." One of the many questions he had stumbled upon in his short lifetime. It was hard to get answers for such questions because no one cared. A word was something that could change so easily...
"Hmmm... A dog is an animal here on earth, tamed long ago by humans for protection, labor, and companionship. One could say they are slaves for many do view them as objects of possessions and they are often abused." He could hear her moving, as if to write something down. "That is interesting... I always wondered how come the 'universal' language was our main language..."
"It is?" Why hadn't Bardock or Vegeta told him that yet?
"Yeah, it's the main language that survived from the great catastrophe thousands of years ago... I noticed though, that we have many words that neither Vegeta nor Bardock understood." She snickered softly and he felt his gut clench at the sound. Never in all his life had he heard someone laugh quite like that. It was so... so carefree a-and happy. "Like prude... oh my, that was funny. I called him a prude which is someone who is embarrassed and proper about anything that has to do with sex. His face when I told him what it meant was sooo hilarious."
Tash was speechless at how brash this woman was. No one ever had the guts to speak to Vegeta casually, let alone about... that. She didn't notice the silence from him as she continued proudly, "I have gotten him to blush a few times now too...but this probably just bores you. What did you call for?"
"Bardock was supposed to call, but never did and I needed to tell him my estimation for Raditz's landing there, but it can wait..." Crossing his arms behind his head he smirked at his computer screens. "Now tell me more about human culture. Bardock's been rather tight lipped. But more importantly, tell me about these times you got Vegeta to blush... "
.~-~.
And while that intrigued him, it wasn't the true reason he suddenly found himself wishing he was back in the hidden room talking to her. This reason was because of all he had learned about human culture... Damn how he wished he could be there. He was specifically interested in these things called movies, but there was also many other things she had mentioned he wouldn't mind seeing. Like those capsule things that could hold any size object in something the size of a two inch cylinder tube. Gods how he would love to get his hands on something like that... they were virtually itching to play with one.
Tash also liked the human woman just for her personality, but to be completely honest anyone who could give him insight into such an interesting culture would be his best friend. You could say it was one of his hobbies, learning about different cultures. He knew so much he was basically a walking encyclopedia about the universe and the different cultures that had yet to be corrupted by the Cold family's rule, or those that had been present before...
Sighing, he found himself wishing she hadn't fallen asleep on him, stopping midsentence in her explanation of some similarities she found in the Saiyan language and this ancient... Latin. It was suspicious to say the least. And maybe, just maybe humans and Earth were not as sheltered from the universe as once thought. What if a long-ass time ago a group of them had fled the destruction Bulma had mentioned, ran into other cultures to spread what was now the universal language before somehow... and no doubt Vegeta would kill him for thinking this... but somehow these stragglers finally settled on Plant Vegeta to become the Saiyans. Okay, so it was a huge leap. There was no proof to speak of and counting the language similarities was weak at best.
That didn't stop him from speculating or even searching on his end while listening to her soft snores. And what he found was that no one, absolutely no one knew where the universal language came from. It was like someone had purposely wiped all that from history, but damn it... he was going to find the truth somehow. Then again that was easier said than done when his computers that could hack into almost any system found nothing and he was chained here to the base being the spokesperson for Bardock. That didn't mean it was a wholly hopeless endeavor, however, he did have his own... he wouldn't call them spies or anything, but he did have his ways of getting reliable information.
"Tash, Tash!" He heard his name echoing down the hall and cringed, dread filling him at who it was and what it could possibly mean. "Blasted, Tash; where are you, you worthless cub..."
"What now...?" he muttered softly under his breath as he dropped his lax stature and folded his arms before his black chest plate, scowling. He couldn't express how much he hated this other Saiyan. "I'm down here, Leka. What do you want?"
Tash couldn't help but smile when he heard the low threatening growl and the unwanted Saiyan rounded the corner. "My name is Lekaen, Tash. Show proper respect to your betters, cub." Lekaen walked briskly towards him, glaring. "We are weary of waiting for you to establish connection with Bardock and will decide this with or without his input."
Oh this is just perfect. Tash was really starting to tire of the council and their antics. This was the twentieth attempt where they tried to do something without Bardock's approval... with the elected leader away, a few of them saw it as a prime opportunity to do things he strictly forbade or disapproved of. Of course, it wasn't a leap to expect such things from power hungry brutes. But the idea that they could do this over his head... it was really starting to get on his nerves. He was no pushover!
Stopping, he glanced down briefly at his black boots to collect himself before glaring back at the older Saiyan as his lip pulled up in a snarl, "I'll show respect when you do, you old sack of bones." His tail flicked, irritated. His eyes narrowed further to pin the older Saiyan to the spot like he had seen Vegeta do countless times before when he was younger, and like the spineless worm that Leka was the man flinched as he stopped in his tracks and even took a step back. Damn right, you better back up.
"I may not be royalty, but Vegeta is my cousin and Bardock left me in his place. I told you and the other council members that when I had their answers I would call them. Not the other way around." He started to walk again and to give the older Saiyan some credit he remain rooted. Then again he could just be frozen to his spot with fear. "I may have acted like I was not paying attention or that I cared, but don't for a second think that I'll allow you to go behind Bardock's back to do things I know damn well that he has disapproved time and time again."
Lekaen's eyes widened and he took another step back before seemingly realizing himself and stood his ground, his look one of conceit as he believed he had the upper hand. "Well, if you are so observant than when has Bardock disapproved any of the things we asked?"
"Do you really want a list, Leka? I don't think you want to embarrass yourself..." he drawled, his sneer turning into a dark smirk. "You'll find that I'm very much capable of recounting all the times you have tried to take rights from the lower classes and those of mixed birth or create some other suppressive rule." When the older Saiyan remained there, arrogant expression still on his face Tash sighed. "Okay, you old bag of bones... let's get this humiliation over with because I have shit I have to do. Shit, far more important than your lame attempt at a power trip in our leader's absence."
Tash bumped into his shoulder roughly as he walked by; frowning once he was past him. I hope they won't want exact dates... He practically groaned at the thought and almost couldn't believe the horrible timing of all this. Perhaps lying to Bulma about the importance of his call hadn't been smart, but he got the hint that the old man needed rest and it wasn't like she could do anything to help him. They are like damn kids when Bardock is away. He rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing he had to put them in their places... again.
How many times did they have to be told that they couldn't take rights away from the mutts? Seemed one time in the least... This issue was also something more personal for Tash, he had... he wouldn't call them friends... but he knew some of these children of mixed rank. They didn't deserve to have their rights taken away simply because one of their parents came from a lower class. It wasn't like they had a choice and neither did many of the parents. Whole families had been torn apart and when they got to the bases they coped each in their own way. Not to mention the very same council had ordered many of these parents to do it... what with their race dying out and all.
What a headache! He just knew this job would be a nightmare when Bardock told him to do it. When was the last time Leka and Shallato tried this? A small chuckle escaped him before he promptly stopped it and glanced backwards to make sure the other Saiyan who followed after him hadn't heard. He looked ahead again, smiling slyly. That's right... the last time was when I put morknots in the council room and they had to hold the meeting outside in the gardens. Shaking his head, he mentally allowed himself to laugh. They hadn't been able to meet in the room for a whole week and had to dodge the flying big-eyed beasts for months afterwards. Some still believed that there was one in the east wing great hall, hiding in the rafters. Good times...
His smile grew as the realization hit him. That was it! He could use his pranks as a timeline and give them the damn dates if need be. They wouldn't even know what hit them!
~~~~.~-~.~~~~
Beta'd by LPphreek
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