Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ball X: A Love Story ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Dragon Ball X

A Love Story

Chapter 4:

"What are you going to tell them?" Aiko asked looking out the window. I shook my head.

"Have no clue." I said leaning back in my chair to stare at the ceiling.

I was staying at her place while I tried to figure out what I was doing. It was more so for my parent's sake than my own. That way when the reporters came to call, they could tell them that I didn't live there before they slammed the door in their face. Originally I was going to bum a room with Zoel or Gokou, but she offered when she found out I was looking for a place to stay.

I knew I should have just stayed at that damn dinner party.

"Well, you better think of something in the next couple of minutes. News vans are starting to appear."

"Fuck." I said disgustedly. "They must have had someone at the police station leak."

"Maybe they are here to talk to me." Aiko said after a moment, watching a camera man putting together his camera.

"What do you mean?" I asked puzzled.

"Well, I was with you. They might ask me about you."

"…What are you going to tell them?" I asked after pausing for a moment.

"The truth." She said opening the door and stepping outside into the snow. "Go into the kitchen so they don't peek in a window and see you."

Twenty minutes passed. I was a mess. Sitting on the floor and hugging my knees close, I stared at the door in the living room. Behind which Aiko was telling the reporters the truth. What was the truth? I was wondering if I was making a mistake trusting her to talk to them. Maybe I should have did it myself. But I had no idea what to tell them. I guess I could have just answered their questions.

After a while, I couldn't look at the door anymore. Or anything in this house, HER house. So I looked at my pants, burying my face in them. How I wished I would have just learned that damn instant transmission. I couldn't even fly away, there were helicopters outside. If I shot off a Ki burst to distract them, they would know it was me.

"Zoe, come here." Aiko said after opening the door. I gulped and moved to it and peered out. Dozens of reporters and their crews stood outside. All moved their lights and cameras and my direction, blinding me for a moment. I looked to Aiko.

"As you can see, his eyes are the wrong color." Aiko said smiling. "The man in Central Park, though wearing a suit very similar to my friend's here, he cannot be him. You all already have the proof from your would be paparazzi pictures."

The reporters all squinted in my direction and I squinted back at the lights. Aiko moved over and pried open my eyeball. I made a grunt in protest but held still, my eye starting to water from the light exposure. When I let go, my eye closed and wouldn't reopen. Then the reporters started to talk amongst themselves.

"Mr. Briefs, do you have anything to say on the matter?" One reporter finally asked. I rubbed my eye dry and peered at him, trying to keep from looking I was glaring at him too much.

"About what? It wasn't me. I don't see why my opinion on the matter would be important." I said instantly adding a tone of distain to my voice. "Don't you have anything better to do than constantly harass my family just because my great grandparents got lucky? I want you to leave us alone We are a normal family just like many of you have."

It grew quiet. Not once had a Briefs member actually said what they had all been thinking at one time or another, how the media seemed to love to chase them around. While they knew why they did, strange things always seemed to follow them around. But it was finally said. We are a normal family too - leave us alone.

I hope Dad would be proud.

"So how is school going?" One reporter finally asked with a smile. "Is this your girlfriend? Is one of the world's most eligible bachelors dating?"

I smirked at him. The ice seemed to break and they weren't asking about Central Park anymore. This was the press I was used to dealing with.

"School is awesome. I have one more year before I obtain my masters degree in business admin." I said. Then I moved next to Aiko and put an arm around her shoulder. She didn't flinch. "As for the dating part, I guess it is up to her."

She looked at me for a moment, looking into my eyes. A sudden jolt of panic gripped my chest. What would she say? What the fuck did I just say?!

She put an arm around my back protectively and patted my chest after a moment before smirking into the camera. "Sorry ladies. This one is taken at the moment."

So Aiko and myself started dating. The reporters backed off with the paparazzi shots in Central Park. Aiko standing up to them, had reminded them that they had no proof it was me. That this new mysterious gold fighter looked an awful lot like me, but not enough to pass as solid proof. Grandpa Vegeta, decided he wouldn't kill me after all and is even speaking to me again.

But that isnt the entire story. It couldn't be. I still have six more years to cover.

Winter formal. The words scratched a permanent scar in my mind as a lay awake staring at the clock on my wall. Directly underneath it was the worn sticky note that had the date attached to it. January 19th.

30, 31, 32, 33, 34. The clock kept ticking. I had about six hours before the accursed event. Aiko was at a hairdressers getting her hair done at a place I recommended. What she didn't know was that I was footing the bill. I am sure she will be surprised when she gets done and doesn't get a bill. Might even be mad. All well. I wanted to do it.

I sat in my chair in front of my computer which was displaying some calculus homework that I hadn't touched for the last twenty minutes. I was leaning back in the swivel chair looking around my room. I had spent twenty two years in this room. The walls were still light blue, though starting to look slightly faded. My father had long since wanted me to paint it. I told him I liked it was way it was. Long plastic slats covered the windows were covered with thick, dark blue curtains with gold embroidery.

My bed was one of the only new features in my room. When I became a teenager, I had outgrown my bed and needed a new one. I had a rather modern looking iron wrought looking affair. Aiko found my satiny violet sheets amusing. My blue comforter was still in blues. The same I had since I was a kid that I got from Grandma.

I moved from the chair and laid on the bed and my gaze went from the clock to the tuxedo hanging on the door. Every time I breathed in near these comforters, I smelled Grandma Bulma. I missed her a lot. She had been a large figure in my life before she died.

Natural causes. Dragon Balls don't bring back death that is self inflicted or from natural causes. She had been getting old. She had lived a full life and had seen her children and grandchildren grow up. So she died happy. I was just glad that my mother didn't give Grandpa Vegeta enough time out of his day to think about her too much, or he would spiral into the huge depression he had been in when she first died.

I closed my eyes for a few moments. Staring at a bright computer screen with all the other lights off had made me tired. I really should have turned on other lights, but I am too lazy.

"Kid."

I opened my eyes and looked up, then to the side. My mother was perched at the end of my bed. I didn't even feel or hear her come in, let alone sit on the end of my bed. I must have been asleep. I then looked to the clock. I had dozed off for about an hour.

"Hi Mom." I said with a smile. She smiled back for a moment before her face resumed it's usual neutral expression. It was natural. She was a Saiya-jin and did not like to show emotions to much. But she always smiled back when I smiled first. Unless she was mad of course.

"You have the Winter dance thing tonight don't you?" She asked. I nodded. She must be curious about something because her memory is damn near perfect.

"Yeah. I have to leave in a couple hours." I said sitting up and moving to sit next to her. Unlike most other women, she didn't have to look up to me because she was only two inches or so shorter than me.

"Do you love her?" She asked, not wasting any time in what she wanted to know. I knew it was going to be a question like this. The hard part was I didn't know the answer.

"I don't know Mom." I said feeling kind of like a heel. "I guess I haven't really thought about it. Aiko and I don't talk about that kind of stuff."

She nodded thoughtfully for a moment or two. Then she looked me in the eye.

"If you do decide you love her, then marry her. You have your father and mines approval for her. You have changed around her, and we like the change."

I hugged her then, and she hugged back. Which was a rarity. I may not have known what the change was, or cared. But my mother did not have many of these kinds of conversations with me, so I knew she wasn't bullshitting. "Thanks Mom. That means a lot of me."

"I know." She said with a smirk. "It is just hard for me to realize that sometimes."

"Dad's idea then?" I asked with a grin.

"Yeah." She said grinning back and standing up. "But you know I wouldn't have said it unless I meant it."

"Of course." I said still grinning.

"Night son." She said moving to the door.

"Night Mom. Love you." She smiled faintly and nodded, closing the door behind her before making her way down the hall.

"Boy, your stupid limo is here." Vegeta opened the door with a snarl. I turned to face him and grinned, still messing with the bow tie.

"I couldn't get those damn things on either." Vegeta said stepping forward and grabbing the stupid bit of black cloth and putting it on for me. When he finished, I smirked and he smirked back. "You are growing up."

"Most people would say I have grown up by now, as in past tense you know." I pointed out with a grin.

"Most people are alive only because it is against the law to kill them." Vegeta said back. I hadn't thought about it quite like that before.

"That is an interesting theory." I said with a grin.

"Your Grandmother would have been proud of you." He said then. I frowned for a moment.

"Does that mean just her or you too?" I asked.

He scrowled then demanded. "What do you think?!"

"I think everyone must be paranoid that something is going to happen if they are coming up to me telling me that they are proud of me all of a sudden." I knew he was proud of me in that moment and it made me swell with pride. Vegeta said shit like that even less than my mother did as he did not have the maternal soft spot like she did.

"Who else?"

"Mom, about three hours ago beat you to the punch." I said with a smirk. He frowned deeper.

"Stupid woman always did like to steal my ideas."

"She said it was Dad's idea." I said raising an eyebrow. His eyes twinkled.

"And you believed her." He said with a wide grin. I rolled my eyes. I forgot how often Alex and Vegeta liked to use other people in their back and forth feud. A feud that was about as old as me, if not a little older. He then left the room.

"HURRY UP BRAT! I AM TIRED OF LISTENING TO THAT DAMN HORN!"

"KAMI BOY! WILL YOU JUST FUCKING HURRY UP SO VEGETA WILL JUST SHUT HIS FUCKING MOUTH FOR ONCE TONIGHT! ?" I heard my mother also scream in the other room, never one to be left out in a yelling match.

"WOMAN! I am THIS fucking close to blasting your ass!"

"BRING it then you pathetic old fuck!"

Now they were actually fighting in the house. They had been house trained to the point where they would usually go outside first. But they don't like the snow either. So I guess they have been holding most of it in all winter long. Amazing.

"What is going on in your living room?" Aiko asked as I climbed into the car.

"Oh. My mother and grandfather are fighting." I said closing the door as the limo began to drive off. Aiko looked at me horrified.

"What?" I asked and looked down at my suit. "Is there a spot or something?"

"Fighting?"

"Oh. Don't worry about it. Those two are the resident full blooded Saiya-jin. They love to fight. Those particular Saiya-jin have been feuding since before I was born."

"Is that why you haven't introduced me to them yet?" She asked, losing the horrified look a little.

"Sorta. They are kinda crazy by Earthling standards. I didn't really want to scare you off yet."

"Oh." She said quietly. My radar went off, but I couldn't think of what could be wrong.

"I like your hair. And your dress, and your makeup. You look gorgeous."

She dimpled. "Thank you! And I noticed that you very slyly, or not to slyly rather, picked up the bill for all three."

"Isnt that what boyfriends do?" I asked innocently. "Besides, you have no proof it was me."

"Other than the hairdresser slipped." Aiko grinned, slipping into a fake French accent to mimic my hairdresser. "Oh zat Zoë. Such a dahhling man. I have been zat man's hairdresser since he vas a wee boy."

"She always did pronounce my name funny, pronouncing the e like it wasn't silent or something."

"Must have made saying your full first name hard."

I laughed. "Took one look at it and didn't even bother to try."

She laughed too. "ZO-e-RIN-THI-AN."

"Yeah. That." I grinned, hugging her and giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Is it a Saiya-jin name?"

"No. My mother named me after someone she knew a long time ago." I said trying to think back to asking where my name came from. "A Yardratian doctor I think."

"Is a Yardratian an alien?"

"Yeah. A race of humans from a planet called Yardrat. Big surprise huh? They are highly advanced in the ways of medicine and time manipulation."

"You should take me there someday." Aiko said snuggling into my chest. I hugged her and stared off into the cabin of the car.

We waited a few moments in silence. I had started to feel uneasy.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked looking up at me. I didn't return the look.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, still feeling tense.

"I already know your heart beats really, really fast, but now it is practically racing, even for you. And I have that tingling feeling."

"Should we be there already?" I asked finally, looking to her.

"Once you mention it, yeah. I don't even recognize where we are." She said sitting up. She pushed something on the door.

"Zoerinthian, the window isnt going down." She said after a moment, panic creeping into her voice. I moved over to the other window and pushed the window button.

Nothing. I tried the handle. Door was locked too. No unlocking mechanism. I peered through the heavily tinted windows.

"I don't recognize where we are. I think we have been hijacked."

Aiko didn't say anything. I looked to her and she just looked back, slightly pale. I moved my way to the front of the cab and knocked on the window.

A moment later, the driver stepped on the gas, throwing me back to the ground hard. Aiko shrieked. "Zoe, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I am fine." I muttered. This fuck was asking for it. I lifted a fist to punch the glass when Aiko rushed and stopped me.

"Zoe, don't. There is a camera." She whispered. I peered around the cab and panic crept into my heart again.

"Fuck. This whole fucking limo is probably bugged." I said. Damn it. My conversation about Yardrat and my fighting relatives has probably been overheard. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my cousins number for his cell phone.

No signal. The damn limo was halting my signal.

"Fuck!" I said disgustedly. Shoving the cell phone back into my pocket. I moved up to the cab window again and pounded, this time bracing myself.

"You son of a bitch! Stop the fucking limo!" I yelled. Of course, he didn't. I rubbed my temples. I could, in theory just blast out of here, and take Aiko with me. But in such small confines, I risk hurting her. Plus I would have to destroy the car. To make sure all the equipment was destroyed. That would kill the man driving the car. I wasn't a killer. But so far it is looking like I am going to have to destroy it anyways.

"Someone is trying way to fucking hard to uncover my family secret." I growled to myself. "And whoever it is, is getting smarter."

Then the limo stopped. The driver got out and opened the door on Aiko's side. I moved toward her, but a gun was leveled at the both of us.

"Freeze Saiya-jin. Ladies first." The driver said. He had a deep raspy, yet kind of squeaky sounding voice. Kinda of like some would-be badass from the mafia.

Fuck. So much for element of surprise. Talk about a trap.

My phone ringed at that moment. Shit. Fuck. Damn. The man had no qualms of reaching into my pocket to get it once I had exited the car. More men appeared, also with leveled guns. He flipped the cover and peered at it.

"Son Zoel eh?" The man said. "He is next. Not that it matters to you."

"Next for what?" I demanded.

"We are the EDA. Earth Directorate against Aliens." The man said. "We couldn't quite stop your mother, but you are only half of what your mother was."

Lovely.

"Okay, so you are the assholes that fucked things up real good around the time I was born?"

"I suppose you could put it that way." The man said with a grin.