Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ How?? ❯ How?? ( Chapter 1 )

How??

"Yeah, see you later," called Yamcha as he closed the door behind him. Pulling his yellow sports jacket closer he quietly sighed and turned to his companion. "Ready to go."

"Sure, that was a hell of party, huh?" commented Kurilin as he fell into step with Yamcha. "It was great being able to see everybody again." He looked up at the stars and grinned; "Vegeta, however, I could do without seeing for awhile."

"Yeah, it was nice, and Vegeta is still the same," replied the ex-desert bandit as he stopped to look back at the house an intense look of longing on his face.

Kurilin turned to glance at the house and back to Yamcha. Trunks was nearly three years old, he thought his friend had gotten over his loss of Bulma to Vegeta. "Hey, are you all right, man?"

"Huh," questioned as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs and foolish thoughts of running inside and taking Bulma back from Vegeta. "I'm okay, but far from all right." He turned back and smiled.

Kurilin kicked the rock that he'd been rolling underneath his white loafers. "You know I never asked, but it has been on my mind since the day we met up to confront the androids." He stopped and rubbed the back of his neck wondering if it would be the polite of him to ask such a personal question about Yamcha's love life.

Yamcha lifted a confused black brow at Kurilin's sudden stop in speech. "Let me guess you want to ask how I lost Bulma to Vegeta, right?"

An answering blush spread across Kurilin's small face. "Yeah, I was." He put up his hands backing away, "But you don't have to answer me, you know, with it being personal."

Yamcha secretly chuckled at his friend's discomfort. Kurilin was the first person who actually cared to ask how he lost Bulma to Vegeta. His other so-called friends seemed to shrug it off with a 'shit happens' attitude. But shit didn't happen in is love life, no, the sick sense of humor of Fate happened. He jerked his head eastward. "Hey, let's go sit over there, and I'll tell you all about the cruel joke that was played on me." He levitated up a few inches and started to fly toward the large apple tree that sat in the Briefs personal garden.

Kurilin let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't inadvertently crossed over the line into Yamcha's personal business. He started to cautiously fly to the tree where his friend was already seated beneath. "Why did I have to wear white," he mumbled to self as he set down. Grass stains are hard enough to get out, and this was a new suit he was wearing. And what cruel joke was Yamcha talking about?

He watched Kurilin sit down and lean against the tree as he tried to formulate what he was going to say about Bulma. She was a throbbing pain in his heart reminding him, she'd become another one of his unfulfilled dreams. She was someone else's now. "You know, I want to say, I began to lose when they mistakenly wished Vegeta back from the dead." He sighed the stars were sure bright tonight, "But I know, I began to lose Bulma long before that time."

"How could you lose Bulma before she even met Vegeta," questioned Kurilin. "You don't lose people to someone they've never met before."

Yamcha grinned. "I would like to agree with you, but I saw it happen--to me." He crossed over his chest, as he adjusted his position. "When I first met Bulma, it was love at first sight, but what I didn't know it wasn't lasting love at first sight." He gave a heartless chuckle, "It was more like we were both lonely and the other one could fill the void." He crossed his ankles, "I should have seen this coming in the beginning, but I was too caught up in the fact that I finally found a girl I could talk to and who wanted to be with me. I never saw how really opposite we were at the time."

Kurilin nodded along as Yamcha spoke, "But don't opposites attract?"

"That's a lie people tell," snorted Yamcha. "It's all been perpetuated by Fate, who enjoys messing around with human hearts," his voice full of bitterness. "Fate loves to play jokes."

"So, you mean your relationship with Bulma was nothing but a perpetual joke instigated by some unknown deity who has it out for you?"

Ebony brows met midnight hair as Yamcha blinked rapidly at Kurilin. "Umm, yeah, that's one way to put it. However, I would have chosen to say it another way."

Kurilin grinned, as a small blush spread across his cheeks.

They smiled at each other before Yamcha decided to carry on with what he was saying; "We use to date often at the start of our relationship--when there wasn't some kind of danger facing the Earth. We would go to the movies, the mall, science shows, and baseball games." He closed his eyes and sighed thinking of those good times he'd shared with his once girlfriend. "We had some good times…Bulma and I did. Even, when she was yelling at me, and we were breaking up off and on, we had some good times. During all that, never once did I think, I wasn't going to end up married to Bulma."

Kurilin pulled up one leg and rested his head on his knee. "So, what happened, your obviously aren't married."

Yamcha turned his head to regard his friend. "Fate happened." He turned back to the gazing at the star-studded sky. "You know, for a while I use to blame Goku, because if he hadn't stopped you from killing Vegeta, then Bulma would still be mine, and Trunks would be my son instead of Vegeta's." He breathed in the cooling night air, "But, all along it was Fate, laughing at me."

"You know, I'd completely forgotten that I was going to kill Vegeta, if Goku hadn't stopped me," Kurilin absently commented. "I wonder what other things I've forgotten," he mused to himself.

"Probably lots of stuff," Yamcha replied re-crossing his arms. "But do not ever forget what I tell you tonight: Fate is a Bitch, with a capitol "B." He rotated his neck, "After I died and Bulma sped to Namek to use their dragonballs to wish me, um, us back, I felt relieved, and rejuvenated. I thought maybe I had a chance with her again, and this time I wouldn't blow it, this time I would forget my hesitancy to make a commitment, and just finally knuckle down and marry her." His throat began to constrict as he told his story, "You don't how close I came to asking Bulma to marry me, but once again I hesitated, because Vegeta had been wished back also, and I didn't know what he planned." Yamcha ran long fingers through his jet hair. "I told my stupid idiotic self, Bulma needed a man who wouldn't up and die on her soon after the honeymoon, so I put my plans on hold. You know I kick myself now, when I think back. I should have asked her to marry me, Vegeta or no Vegeta." Yamcha became quiet showing no inclination to finish his tale.

"So, when did you figure out that you were losing her to Vegeta," asked Kurilin breaking the deafening silence of the night.

"I noticed when Vegeta came to stay with Bulma after he returned from space trying to track down Goku. She invited him to stay with her, and then she told us that she'd been having dreams about Vegeta."

"Yeah, I remember that day, but if I recall I don't think those were good dreams for Bulma. The way she talked about them they seemed like nightmares."

"That's what I thought too, until I saw the way she looked at Vegeta. It was a look that I've never seen before--well, never directed at me. It was a look of pure lust. She wanted Vegeta badly, and the only consolation, I had was Vegeta didn't want anything to do with Bulma aside from using her scientific knowledge to make him stronger." He smiled, "This became an opportune time for me to reestablish my relationship with Bulma."

"Hmm, that sounds like Vegeta. So, how come that didn't work?"

"Fate stepped in, when I decided to stay around Capsule Corporation to train and keep my eye on Vegeta. Things were looking good, we falling back into our old rhythm, when Bulma and I began to fight over little issues like: Why I constantly took her to her favorite bistro and never anywhere else? And then she would throw Vegeta up in my face at random times." He snorted. "Little things that made no sense, because according to the behavior of Vegeta I was acting like the prince. But no matter how hard I tried, I seemed to be losing points in her eyes, while Vegeta gained them."

Kurilin relaxed his leg, and pulled his white sports jacket closer to him as the cool night air began to penetrate through his jacket and his skin. "How did Vegeta begin to win 'points' away from you? From the way Vegeta and Bulma act now, I can't imagine him winning points with a bad attitude."

"I kept telling myself the same thing, too," answered Yamcha quietly. "But, I found myself losing points daily. I remember when I got hurt training, I was lying on the sofa when Vegeta came in and took over the love seat on his rare occasion when we saw him. Well, Bulma came in and wanted to sit down however the only place available was next to Vegeta. But she didn't want to sit next to him and she asked me to move, but she knew I was injured and couldn't move. So, she ended up sitting--no snuggling next to Vegeta." Yamcha's lip curled as he thought of that day, "I knew she was only snuggling up to him to get back at me for not moving. And when she fell asleep he carried her to her room. The next day she served me a substance that looked like gruel and him a four star meal."

Kurilin snickered. "That sounds more like your own doing than Fate's."

"You would think that, but I soon began to notice other things: like how well Bulma and Vegeta looked together when she fell asleep on his shoulder. Or how they would argue constantly, but it wasn't real ire, more like love play." He moved to pull his own jacket closer around him. "Then I would see the kitchen scenes, where I would walk in on Bulma shoved up against the counter and Vegeta pushed up against her. Upon seeing me, those two would jump apart, and Bulma's face would be flushed. I use to think that maybe he was doing his usual round of threaten the people in the compound, but the flush on Bulma's face spoke differently, and I chose to ignore the nagging truth in front of me."

"You chose to ignore such an obvious sign," Kurilin asked his mouth gaping open his eyes wide. "How come?"

"Because I had the one thing Vegeta didn't have," said Yamcha as he stood up he brushed off the seat of his pants. "I had history with Bulma and he didn't. I felt that she wouldn't toss our relationship aside for uncertainty with Vegeta. But I was wrong."

Kurilin stood up and again falling into step with Yamcha.

"Bulma began acting weird around me, so I sought out her room to find clues to what was wrong," he kicked a large rock out of his way. "I found her diary--by accident--and well, I read a couple of pages." He stopped and turned to Kurilin, "You know that in her diary she originally sought the dragonballs to find a boyfriend who had a rough exterior, knew his self-worth, and was a prince."

Kurilin smiled. "Hey two out of three aren't bad."

"That's what I thought, when I read the passage myself," he turned back to walking the path to lead them out of the Capsule compound. "Then I realized the joke Fate played on me. He gave me the most wonderful woman I could ever want or meet and then Fate decided to house us with her ideal soul mate. He was everything she wanted two fold. While, I was just an ex-desert bandit. So, who do you think she chose to be with?"

"Vegeta."

"Vegeta," echoed Yamcha still lost in memory. "I realized the full joke only after Bulma told me she was pregnant with Vegeta's child. Fate decided to give her a condensed version of what she wanted and then give her the hard-core version of what she wanted. It was like here is the man you've dreamed of since you were a child, and here's another man you have some mediocre history with. How could she not choose Vegeta? Then to top it all off Fate waited for me to fully give my heart to Bulma, then gave her to someone else knowing I would have a hell of a time replacing her."

Kurilin reached out and opened the gate; "Do you ever think about trying to get Bulma back?

Yamcha took one last look at Bulma's house before shutting the gate firmly behind him, "Honestly, only in my dreams. However, in real life I know it's not plausible, because not only would Vegeta kill me, I know it's not possible to split two souls apart. Vegeta completes Bulma in such a way, that it boggles the mind. Moreover, Bulma, she tempers his wont to kill, and brings out a softer side that I've only seen once. They are a whole; and Fate decreed that they should stay that way. I don't stand a chance."

They stopped in front of Kurilin's apartment. "I don't know what to say."

Yamcha smiled. "You don't have to say anything. It was nice to talk with someone for a chance."

Kurilin bit his lip, not wanting to say what he was going to, but needing to say it. "I know this is going to sound lame, but I know there is a girl out there for you somewhere."

"Yeah, I know," whispered the scared bandit. "Nice seeing you again, if I don't get home Puar's going to send out all the police looking for me." He watched Kurilin let himself inside his door, before he jogged down the steps. "A woman out there for me, huh?" But he couldn't get his mind off the blue-hair goddess that Fate snatched away from him as he disappeared into the bleak darkness of the night.

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The End. Created [07/18/01] and finished [07/21/01]. Just a little something, that was floating around in my head. Thanks for reading it. All standard disclaimers apply. If you want, please e-mail me with your: comments, questions, critiques, and criticisms (flames) at: pmchivas@hotmail.com. Or, if you prefer, I do have a guest book. Dark Shadow Princess.

Lunatics Ravings:

This wasn't written to make people feel sorry for Yamcha. It was written to show his side of the story. Face it, Bulma just didn't throw Yamcha over because she saw the stunning pectoral muscles of Vegeta. It must have been a gradual thing, and the break up, must not have been as bad as some writers want to believe, as Yamcha is still good friends with Bulma as we see in the Babi Di Saga with Majin Buu.

This also wasn't written to debunk the popular notion of 'bad Yamcha cheating/beating Bulma' litany that seems to invade the colossal collection of Bulma and Vegeta fanfics. Nor, was this written to help bolster the reputation of Yamcha in the Defenders of Yamcha Battalion. It was just something floating around in my head.