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 Chapter Five...