Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Their Assignment ❯ Chapter 6

"-er you insufferable prick!" but she spoke to her empty bedroom where she sat glaring at her poster. She flung her blankets off and stormed to the closet, grabbing her clothes before stomping into the bathroom to take a shower.

She arrived at school twenty minutes later and met Chichi and 18 in front of the building just like always. But when she walked up their customary greetings died on their lips.

"What?" she asked self-consciously as they continued to stare.

"You never told us you have a boyfriend!" Chichi accused her.

"I don't!" she protested, shocked.

"Oh yeah? Then what's that?" 18 pointed to the base of her neck where her sweater had slipped down.

"What? I can't see that, as you so elegantly phrased it!" she snapped, her annoyance from last night still present and accounted for. Then it clicked where she was pointing and Bulma gasped, grabbing her neck as she recalled her most recent dream. "That jerk! How dare he?!" Then she noticed the stony silence from her friends. "Hey do you guys have anything important to do in any of your classes today, like tests?"

"No, why?" Chichi asked, still feeling slighted. 18 just shook her head wordlessly.

"Good, in that case, we need to talk. And I'm not doing it at school. Come on, we'll take my car," Bulma announced turning to walk to her car, leaving her two gaping friends behind.

Chichi and 18 shared a look before running to catch up with Bulma, neither of them quite sure what to make of her behavior. They both hopped in the car and Bulma started the ignition. Soon they were driving down the road. None of them had said a word since Bulma's abrupt announcement. Silence reigned as they pulled in at the Capsule Corp. Building.

"Come on, there's something I need to tell you guys…"

"Yeah well it better have something to do with how you got that hickey!" Chichi muttered fiercely. Bulma self consciously adjusted her back pack and held the strap so that it covered the tiny mark on her neck before opening the door and gesturing them in without responding.

"Oh hello dear! You're home from school early today aren't you?" her mother tittered before she cheerfully continued to stir the yellow batter she was mixing a large green bowl.

"Actually we're just skipping school today. I'm having a problem with something and I need their help," Bulma answered her absently before walking toward the stairs to her room.

"Oh. Ok, then, as long as this doesn't become a regular occurrence…" her mother agreed cheerfully.

"Whoa, that's your mom? She's way cool about this!" 18 exclaimed, staring back over her shoulder at the blonde.

"No kidding, my mom would have blown a gasket!" Chichi agreed.

"I suppose. Come on, I have to tell you in here. But first I need you to promise not to tell a soul do you understand?" Bulma warned them as they came to a stop next to her room.

"What's the big deal Bulma? You act like this is a top government secret. All we want to know is who's the guy who gave you that hickey," 18 pointed out with a raised brow.

"Well it's a lot more complicated than it seems so just agree already ok?"

"Ok, ok. We promise," Chichi tried to soothe. "Don't we?" she added with a pointed glance at the blonde girl.

"Yeah, whatever. We promise."

Bulma stared at them for a while before shrugging. "Good enough I suppose. Although you guys are going to think I'm completely insane."

"We're going to think you're completely insane if you keep building the suspense and it turns out to be a nerd. Come on, Bulma you're killing us here," 18 tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she followed the other two into the room.

"Fair enough. All we have to do before I tell you is go through here," she gestured to the passage in her wall. Her friends looked at her like she was insane.

"Uh, Bulma that's just a mirror…" Chichi stared at her friend in confusion, obviously thinking that she had never before shown signs of insanity.

The blue hair girl gave a quiet smile before murmuring gently, "Is it really?" As her finger touched the cool surface of the glass it rippled away from her touch like the surface of a pond. "Come inside, I don't want anyone to know what we're talking about and this is the safest place. Don't worry, there's nothing here that can harm you… unless he's asleep, but that's very unlikely since he's probably at school and if my I'm right about him… Well he's just probably not, all right? Trust me."

"Welcome to the twilight zone," 18 mumbled, staring at the mirror in awe. "I have a feeling this is going to be about something more intense than a boy isn't it?" The two looked at each other again before looking at Bulma, but neither of them had ever been ones to step down from a challenge so they cautiously stepped through the mirror.

They found themselves standing once more in Bulma's bedroom. Bulma stepped through the glass and stood there, patiently waiting for the explosion. She didn't wait for long.

"Just what is this about?!" the black haired girl demanded on a rising note of panic.

"Do you really want to know or would you like to get hysterical first so we don't have to go through it again later?" Bulma asked dryly.

"We're going to put all hysterics on hold until we hear your explanation and if we don't like then we'll get hysterical, right Chi?" 18 said, although she seemed a bit shaken herself.

"Uh huh…"

"Alright then, I'll try to make this as concise as possible. Where to begin though? Why don't you sit down and I'll explain where we're at first." She waited until her two friends gingerly sat down after feeling to see if the bed was solid. She smiled slightly at that before joining them.

"First of all the place that we're at doesn't have a name, or rather it does, but it's unpronounceable to the human tongue. It's been called many things though over the years. I guess the closest translation would be Mirror World or Dream Realm. It was also the source of inspiration for ideas such as parallel universes, using dreams for communication in stories or to figure things out about your enemies, visions, psychics, people getting stalked through their dreams, that's a favorite on those TV series I've noticed. That sort of thing… I also understand things he glimpsed in this world inspired a lot of Van Goh's work. The point is this world is a reflection of the world in which the person who inhabits it. At the moment us, so you're seeing my bedroom because that's most natural to you."

"You mean we're like living in a dream or something right now?" Chichi asked, staring at their surroundings and running a hand over the bed.

"That's a rather simplified way of putting it but approximately, yes."

"But why did you need to bring us here?" 18 demanded, hugging a pillow to her chest.

"Two reasons. First of all, because you guys wouldn't have believed what I'm about to tell you if I hadn't and because no one can hear us here."

"No one? Is there someone in particular you had in mind?" Chi asked, shifting around to where she was more comfortable, and not able to see the black rippling pool where the mirror would have been in Bulma's regular room.

"A number of people won't be able to hear us here, the hosts of Heaven, the denizens of Hell, and unless he pops up anytime soon, the Prince won't either. I didn't finish explaining. This place is neutral territory, created to mirror the worlds desired by both Heaven and Hell, touching all yet part of none of them. It's a place where the agents of both can meet and discuss terms without fear of retaliation for a stray comment or negotiate using terms that might not be acceptable to their masters, even if it is only hypothetically. That means, only the people present are capable of hearing a conversation, and only human agents are capable of entering."

"And you don't want the guy who did that finding out about any of this?" 18 asked nodding to the dark bruise on Bulma's neck.

"Um, no dear, it remains more complicated. You see when this place was made, by some obscure quirk that one of the demons stumbled upon, the agent of Hell is capable of controlling everything that happens when they're in this world, giving them the physical advantage. On the other hand they can't remember as easily what transpires in this world once they return to the 'real' world. However, when they do something physically in this world it reflects on the actual person or object in the regular world. When he gave me this, he wasn't being affectionate, exactly. He was actually marking me in such a way that he would recognize me in the physical world. That way he can claim me there, since it is more binding."

"But you can remember what happens in here?" 18 asked intrigued.

"Yes. That's the perk of being a celestial. We don't have the control that the abyssal do but our minds are clearer. We remember more details of what transpires here. I guarantee you that I have a better idea of who he is than he has of who I am. Plus there's the whole fact that our orders are left for us here, so I have a clearer idea of what I'm supposed to do than he does. More preparation time, which is always handy."

"Abyssal and celestial?" 18 asked.

"Angel and demon."

Chichi cut in to ask, "Hold up! You mean some guy gave you a hickey so he could learn who you are in the uh 'real' world so that you two could hook up? So who is he and why is this a bad thing?" Bulma couldn't keep a grimace off her face.

"He is the Prince of Hell and it's a bad thing because we're not supposed to be involved considering he's on the side trying to destroy the world and I'm on the side trying to save it."

Please review… please? My ego requires nourishment….will continue fic for reviews…