Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Their Assignment ❯ Chapter 9

Goku hung the phone back in its cradle, leaving his hand on the receiver. His gaze was far away, and he didn't notice his cousin's annoyance when he kept standing there.

"Would you just sit down already Kakarott? I can't work on this stupid paper with you zoning out over there!" Vegeta snapped.

"Huh? Sorry Vegeta, I just… something's wrong with Chichi. She forgot our date and then she didn't sound right on the phone," Goku joined the smaller man at a table.

"I noticed. And she wasn't at school yesterday either. None of the girls were…"

"You think why she's acting weird has something to do with why they weren't at school?" Goku leaned back in his chair to study his cousin's face.

"Yes, perhaps. And perhaps we need to see them before Monday. And after a few days a bruise would be faint, light enough to completely conceal with makeup… Well then. Since you can't concentrate and I can't get anything done with you all tensed and annoying as hell, why don't we pay the ladies a visit? We can offer to assist them with whatever's bugging them."

"Really?! Can we Vegeta?" Goku bounced in his chair, perking up at the thought of getting to see Chichi before Monday.

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "Yes, you gibbering idiot, we're really going to see them. But seriously, tell me something Kakarott. Do you ever have… strange… dreams?"

"Strange… well sure I do! Like I had this really weird dream just last week that I was going to a wedding dressed up like Sailor moon. Man! It was totally disturbing!"

"Not like that you baka! I did not need to know that," Vegeta muttered closing his eyes before persisted with the line of thought he was trying to drag his cousin to. "I meant, have you ever had a dream where you were looking for someone and then you found her, but-"

"But when you woke up you couldn't remember anything about her except that she was perfect for you. That and the way she felt," Goku cut in quietly before thoughtfully adding, "So are you saying that maybe we should go see the girls?"

"Yeah." The two guys looked at each other before jumping up from their chairs, knocking them over in their haste to get to the garage.

"My car or yours?" Goku asked as they raced through their halls.

"Mine, that clunker of yours would leave us stranded and then we'd have to fly there and back!"

"Hey! My car is not a clunker! I'll have you know that's a 1979 Mercedes Benz 450 SL you're insulting!"

"And it constantly breaks down and then takes a couple of weeks longer to get the parts in than a normal car would!" Vegeta spat back, snagging his keys off the wall hook they were hanging from.

"Yeah well it's not like your car is any better in that arena and let's face facts here, it wouldn't have broken down if someone hadn't borrowed it to go mudding in it!!!!"

"You have a dinky antique and I have a brand new sports car. Guess whose car is more expendable?" Vegeta pointed out reasonably. "Now get in and stop whining!"

"Oh girls! You have some company! There are some nice young men here to see you!" Bulma's mother called knocking on the door.

"They know something's up!" Bulma whispered to her friend.

"It could be some other guys!" Chichi argued back in an equally anxious whisper.

"No it couldn't!" Bulma hissed back before raising her voice. "Did they say who they were?"

"Oh yes! One's that nice Goku boy and the other is his cousin Vegeta! They said they came by because you all need to work on a paper that's due for class on Monday and they aren't going to be available tomorrow!"

"Oh fuck! The Wuthering Heights Paper is due on Monday! And I've been avoiding Vegeta so much that we haven't even worked on it!" Bulma groaned, then raised her voice again. "Could you tell them we'll be down in a little bit?" Her mother happily agreed through the door and wandered back downstairs to entertain the 'nice young men' in question.

"But Goku and I already finished the paper! Oh!" Chichi protested before her hand flew to her mouth. "But that means I'm going to be working with him on any papers or projects we have in English for the rest of the year!"

"Assuming the planet's still here by the end of the year," Bulma agreed absently, rifling through her closet to find a turtleneck sweater. She tossed a red one out of her closet and then yanked a black one down off the hanger and tossed it with the other. "So which do you want?"

"Why do we need turtlenecks?" Chichi asked temporarily distracted from the reply she had been planning on making about her friend's last observation.

"Because I still have a mark Chi! That means that if I'm right about Vegeta then he has his suspicions about who I am and if I go down wearing a turtleneck that'll only confirm it in his own mind. But if we both go down wearing a turtleneck then he won't automatically assume that he's right. I hope."

"This day just keeps getting better and better!" Chichi growled before stomping into the bathroom to yank off her shirt and tug the red turtleneck down. She walked out of the bathroom to find Bulma already wearing the black one.

Bulma turned to her, "All right, let's go down. We can't really afford to keep them waiting much longer. Demons, even ones who don't realize what they are, are not extreme cultivators of virtues such as patience."

"Yeah, let's go see if we can't come up with something to send them away."

"I'm not really sure that's going to be possible. Everyone knows how neurotic I am about my grades so if I do something massively out of character, like say, kick my working partner out of my house for no apparent reason, then everyone is going to know something's up. That bastard has me over a barrel and he knows it. But we might be able to get you out of here without them figuring out that you're in on this."

"Sucks to be you."

"Don't remind me."

They walked down stairs and into the living room where Goku was chatting with Mrs. Briefs and Vegeta was sitting there staring at the blonde woman with a disturbingly glaze eyed look. He almost looked as if he were in physical pain. He looked up as they came into the room though and Goku noticing his movement followed his gaze.

"Oh there you girls are. I'll just go make some more snacks for you guys while you decide how you're going to work on your project thingy!" The ditzy woman tittered and pranced from the room.

"Fine, mom," Bulma didn't even bother to inform her mother that if she had anything to say about it their 'guests' wouldn't be staying long enough to enjoy those snacks. After all that would be rude, and there was no point in trying to disillusion her mother when she wasn't even sure she'd be able to pull off getting rid of them.

"Well? What do you want?" Bulma asked coolly from where she sat down on the couch facing the guys.

"Have you forgotten the paper that we have due on Monday, woman?" Vegeta drawled in the insultingly superior tone he liked to use with Bulma because it always brought color to her creamy cheeks.

"But we finished our paper a couple of days ago Goku," Chichi pointed out reasonably.

"But since Vegeta had to come over to work with Bulma I thought I'd surprise you so we don't have to wait till Monday to see each other," Goku pointed out in an equally reasonable tone. He looked at her with clear, measuring eyes rather than his usual easy-going expression and she had to force her not to squirm and blurt out the entire story to him right then and there. 'Damn him!' she thought after sharing a look with Bulma.

"I see. Well since we have work to do and you two have been good kids, why don't you just take her to have lunch and then drop her off at home or something, Kakarott?" Vegeta inserted smoothly, earning a death glare from the blue haired beauty sitting opposite him that he ignored completely as he continued. "In fact, why don't you take my car? It seems that I recall owing you a favor for borrowing your car a few weeks ago. I'll just call you on the cell phone whenever I need to go home or catch a ride from our lovely hostess."

Bulma responded with a tight smile to this last observation," I'm sure my mother will be thrilled to hear you call her lovely."

"Well, what do you say Chi?" Goku asked in a cajoling voice before Vegeta could come up with his own response, "Wanna go get something to eat and then I can take you home or something? And we're taking Vegeta's car. Hey, it's not everyday you get to ride in a brand new Viper."

"For a good reason," Vegeta muttered, grimacing at the reminder of just how much the car had cost him. "If I find even a scratch on that when I get it back, Kakarott," Vegeta began threateningly only to be waved off by Goku.

Chi, glanced at Bulma who looked back at her with an expression that was supportive without being encouraging. Then she hesitantly agreed. "Alright, just let me get my purse from Bulma's room and then we can leave. I'll call you this evening B."

"Uh huh. We'll talk later."

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