32 Hanker Sore

The first match of the semi-final has officially started and so far Yamcha's already on high alert and not acting as rash as he sometimes tends to act. Had he been rash and unthinking he would have sought to land the first blow and would have been dealt the first blow instead. He understands how I fight - at least I assume he does - and knows that he needs to be very careful. It's quiet between us and quiet around us, as not even the spectators dare utter a word. It's amusing when this happens and I wonder how long this can go on before the people become restless and annoyed.

"You're free to strike first," I say at the minute mark and Yamcha scoffs out a laugh. He doesn't move an inch from where he stands and continues to watch me like his next prey.

"Don't try to taunt me into anything stupid" is his reply and he steps to the right slowly, watching me and cautious. "I know how you work"

"And how do I work?" Because I'm curious to know what he thinks of me at this point. He's an odd one and has been since he suddenly appeared at the last tournament. He changed for the better and it's admirable, but sometimes it's hard to believe he was that dumb cowardly bandit roaming the desert four years ago.

"You've never made the first move," he says and he's right. It's not a preference and not something I do on purpose, it just works out that way and I've never made it an issue. "Your opponent always attempts to land the first blow and maybe they do, but you retaliate two-fold"

He's taken this quite seriously, hasn't he? And he speaks from personal experience I'm sure.

"You wait, and watch, and plan, and strike with scary precision"

Seems he's fully prepared for every possibility and that's worth something. From this stalemate between us I've gathered that he's not willing to strike first, he's extremely cautious and on high alert and knows what to expect from me.

"You're fast, not strong" he continues. "But you have this annoying tendency to erase that drawback with the use of ki. Luckily it's noticeable when you do it and you expel more ki"

When he smiles it's not the cocky one he had worn when we had first met.

He truly has changed.

I haven't fought him in years and I haven't been around enough to know what skills he has picked up on. There was not much revealed from his fight against Roshi and all I know is that he has developed his wolf fang fist further and learned the Kamehameha wave. His ki has also shot through the roof and he must have enough control to back it if his match with Roshi is anything to go by.

Alright then, since he's unwilling to make the first move, I shall initiate this fight for him.

What he doesn't understand is when I'm given the chance to be the aggressor, it won't start out too well for him.

Yamcha, like Kakarot, is more power-focused than anything else so his speed isn't anything comparable to me or even Chichi or Krillin. Despite that, he manages to react on time to shift his stance into something more defensive and his once exposed stomach is no longer vulnerable. Sadly for him, I have no issue changing my target or my attack to something else entirely. What was first meant to be a hard open palm to the stomach has quickly shifted into a high kick to the temple. And Yamcha - prepared as he is - is quick to try to block the attack which only leaves his torso unprotected once more.

I suppose a strike to the stomach would be preferable over a kick to the temple, so I oblige.

When I intend to strike the stomach, I strike the stomach and I make it a painful experience every time. There are certain places on the body that are bound to have you feeling on the edge of death if hurt.

One strike to the stomach; I hear the telltale sign of his body reacting to the blow which is likely some stomach acid traveling up his system. He stumbles back and his defenses fall apart in that instance. Second strike; I'm low and drive my hand up for one to the chin and his entire body tilts back.

It's never good if I'm given the opportunity to strike first because sometimes it can end right there.

He's done on the floor after that and the silence that had once been comforting has quickly morphed into deafening cheers and the voice of the announcer rings above them all.

"Stealing the first move and possibly the last, Durian opens the match with two deadly blows!" He's always so enthusiastic when narrating the fights and he's quickly next to the fallen Yamcha who gasps and sputters on the floor. "Ten, nine...."

Yamcha jumps onto his feet on the count of seven and blood leaks down his chin and onto the floor. He sways for a moment and I have to refrain from attaching immediately. Yamcha wants to prove something today and I will give him the time to do so, as his friend.

"I should've att-" he starts but coughs up a fit, more blood exiting his system and he laughs, pained yet amused. "Lesson learned"

"Ready to go again?"

"I'm surprised," he sighs heavily and breathes deeply. "I'm surprised you haven't knocked me out yet"

"You're a special case so I'm willing to take a page out of Kakarot's book" just for today and only against friends.

"I'm honored" he chuckles and slides back into his stance, ready to go again. "I won't waste any more of your time"

He's the first to move this time around and I prepare myself for what I know to be powerful strikes. The first couple are dodged, those following blocked and whatever got too close for comfort redirected. He's gotten faster, as expected. Stronger too as I struggle to tank his strikes more often than I would like and in one instance he forces me back a step and sweeps my left leg away and upsets my balance. He's quick to use that to his advantage because in the next instance I'm struck in the head with a blow so powerful it would have brought tears to my eyes in any other circumstance.

"Crap"

The world spins for a second and I'm on my knees when things begin to make sense. Yamcha stands over me with this toothy smile and a puffed-out chest - proud.

"How was that?"

Oh, it was good. It hurts like hell and it has quickly started a miserable headache behind my eyes and it takes a moment for me to get to my feet.

"You could have cracked my skull open" I'm not sure it's still intact as we speak. "Maybe you did"

And just as I say that my vision is colored red and my head feels uncomfortably damp. Something is running down my forehead and the back of my neck - blood. The lightheadedness is bound to worsen the longer I bleed.

"It seems you've come too close to that"

Yamcha snickers.

"I wanted to grab your tail, but I figured you have trained it by now," He says. "So I settled for the next best thing"

Well, it was the best move as my tail wouldn't have offered him any sort of advantage.

"Ah, Bulma's definitely not happy with this" I sigh and rub the blood off my forehead and out of my eyes. I don't need to risk a glance in the crowd to know what kind of look I'll be getting from her.

That seems to give Yamcha pause, oddly enough.

"She's not gonna yell at me, is she?" His joy and confidence from before quickly fade away at the danger of having an angry Bulma set loose upon him.

"It's either you or me pal" It could go either way. "There's no way of knowing"

Yamcha sighs and nods "Yeah, best we get this over with before you pass out from blood loss"

Hah, that's not likely.

He takes the initiative again, I don't let him land any deciding blows on me this time around. I'm not willing to risk something like that again and I'm not letting him get the chance to build up to it. He pulls his arm back for what's bound to be another clawed strike and I prepare to redirect him this time, but his ki spikes. In the next instance, a bright blue ball of energy is mere inches from my face and I feel the burn of it when I narrowly move my head away.

I strike him in the side and jump away. That attack was too close for comfort and now he's brought ki spheres into play, I'll have some fun with them as well.

"I may have made a mistake" he realizes too late when I already have one in each hand with two others already sent for him.

My attacks are nothing special and the only thing they have going for them is their honing ability. Wherever he goes they follow and the only option he has is to either destroy them or risk being struck by him. I add the two others into the mix and he almost falls out of the ring to dodge them. One is destroyed by one of his own. Another he risks kicking and it explodes upwards. The third hits him, but he stands his ground, and the next and sent away as well, exploding close enough to him to do some damage.

His perfect gi is ruined where that one had struck him on the shoulder and he's bleeding from his left cheek. Still, he grins and stands as if nothing had happened.

I'm feeling floaty now - not good.

He dashes towards me once he's sure enough, coming in low and coiled and I let him. He strikes - I move with him, following his moves and stepping into his personal space to send him over my shoulder and onto the ground.

I go for the head and I'll be repaying him for what he's done to me. I go for the stomach and I'm making a current wound that much worse. I go for the neck and he's without having to suffer much pain. I go for the throat and I might as well kill him.

He gets up faster than I had expected, but it works in my favor. He's not even properly on his feet yet and I've hit him square in the jaw. He wobbles and I strike him behind the knee to watch him tumble.

I crouch down after that, careful and inspecting to make sure I've actually done the job.

"Oh yeah, he's fast asleep"

~~~~~~~~~

"Seriously?"

Exasperated, Bulma tilts my head down to look at the damage to my head, and pain throbs behind my eyes. Yamcha seriously could have killed a normal human with that hit. I believe Bulma realizes this if her worry is anything to go by. She's not angry as she tends to be when she's worried. She's rather accepting this time around and merely inspects to understand the damage done. She's not much of a doctor but I'm sure she knows enough to realize that had I been anyone else she would be needing to buy a casket.

The medics had been quick to try to help me but I had dismissed them and reminded them of the fact that I fixed Chichi and Krillin within moments. They're amazed but have stopped questioning what kind of sorcery I used for such a thing.

"Where are the senzu?" Bulma asks, now tilting my head back for me to face her. I have to blink my vision into focus for a moment - she realizes and sighs. "Where are the beans?"

"Over there" I motion behind her to the table littered with miscellaneous stuff and amongst them sits the small pouch I've been carrying the beans in. I'm really happy I learned to plant those magical beans, they're lifesavers.

"Eat," she says and slips one past my lips. She stands there and watches me as if she expects me to spit it out or something.

When I swallow my headache is instantly gone and the feeling of drifting on air fades away with it. The instantaneous effects of this thing will never cease to amaze me.

I'm barely given the time to enjoy such sweet relief and there's a wet cloth over my face and Bulma laughs when I sputter in shock. You don't just do that to a person without warning.

"That's not very funny"

She doesn't take me seriously and there's no way anyone can take me seriously when she's cleaning my face like I'm some child. She takes at least five minutes with her task and I'm convinced she took that long out of pure enjoyment.

"So you're not an eligible bachelor," she says now the cloth has been put away and this is a very abrupt change of subject

"I'm not even a bachelor," I thought the longer hair would give people more of a hint than the last time. Perhaps I shouldn't have worn the binder today, maybe then it would make my gender more discernable. Or maybe, just maybe, people have realized and just don't care because I'm sure my voice is more defined now I've gone through those awkward stages that come with growing up. "I make a good bachelor, apparently"

"Hmm, you do" Bulma admits and I gasp.

"You admit it!" it's a miracle. "You never admit such things, what has come over you?"

She pinches my cheek in retaliation and it does hurt a bit more than her punches - which is quite funny.

"Yeah well, I'm the reason you're not eligible so I'm allowed to admit whatever I want and you can't make a big deal out of it," she says now, sounding just a bit defensive.

"You admit again!" what has befallen her today? She must be sick out of her mind or something. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

"Okay now, you're just being dramatic"

"You don't usually admit such things, Bulma," I say honestly and she shrugs now, not meeting my eyes and coming off as a bit sheepish. "Is the great Bulma Brief embarrassed?"

She glares at me, not wanting such a thing to be pointed out too blatantly and I raise my hands in surrender and peace.

"No but really, why would you say you're not eligible?" she asks

"You just said why?" did she not just point it out and did she not get defensive about it? Was she joking, because I did not take it as a joke.

"You're serious?" Apparently, she was not serious when she said what she said and seems surprised that's the actual reason.

Really, what other reason would there be for me saying that? I haven't met anyone else worth my time and there is certainly no one else who has my attention quite like Bulma does. Kakarot is more like my brother, Krillin is in the same category, Yamcha just doesn't count for many reasons and Chichi is like a little sister. I don't have anyone else in my life save for them and I don't think the math is that hard to understand.

"Are you serious?" I have to ask her now, leaning back in my seat to watch her.

"I mean I was just joking because of 'our marriage' and that whole situation" she admits now, sounding even more embarrassed than she had been before.

I stare at her and the pinkness on her cheeks slowly becomes red until she really can't hide it anymore and stomps her foot to express her frustration with me.

"Stop staring at me, Durian"

I smile and she bristles.

"You like having my attention, don't pretend to be mad" I point out and she's silent, either shocked or too flustered to dare say anything. "Really, I'm surprised you had to ask me that, Panchy would be ashamed"

She gawks at me when I say that and I make the decision to shift myself a bit away from her to have a better chance of dodging any forms of attacks that may come my way.

"Don't bring my mother into this"

"Okay," I nod. "How about your father?"

The look I get from her is answer enough.

The voice of the announcer can be heard all the way here and he alerts me to the current match and the fact I'm missing Chichi and Kakarot's rematch.

"Durian?" Bulma already sounds questioning when she calls me. "Did you take my parents seriously?"

"Oh no, not quite," I say and she raises both brows in question

"What does "not quite" mean?"

"Well, at first I had merely considered it as a joke, but not at the same time, but not as a serious thing, you know? But I started to think about it and I realize that I'm very dangerously attached to you. And that led to some thought which led to a realization which led to many other things" I explain, recalling how things had become this way for me. "So now the thought is a pleasing one"

She blinks.

"Don't look so dumbfounded, I know you consider it as well" I say and her reaction speaks volumes. "I do believe the thought crossed your mind when I gave you that plushie. I've gotten quite good at reading you and I'm quite proud of that fact. I've come to notice your tells"

"Your honesty still amazes me to this day"

"And your genius still fascinates me," I say. "You don't even begin to understand how much I love your intelligence and fast learning capabilities"

Bulma gets a certain way when I tell her such things, as if she can't believe a word leaving my mouth and I never understood why it would be so unbelievable. She acknowledges her intelligence quite proudly and happily admits that she's a fast learner, yet when I admit to liking that about her it's as if she doesn't think she's any of those things.

"You make me mad sometimes"

Oh yes, I've realized that. Apparently, I'm a frustrating factor in her life and she has said this many times before.

"You do and say things no one else has ever done or said and your compliments are never the ones I'm used to and you listen and you stay up with me and you take time out of your day for me and it's frustrating because I'm supposed to like men but then you come along and ruined it all, you've ruined everything for me, you bastard" she's rambling and can't stand still and I realize that she must have needed to get it all out at some point so I just sit and let her vent her frustrations, to me, the one who has caused it all. It only seems fitting seeing as I'm apparently the one who has given rise to these thoughts and realizations.

"Usually, one would apologize for ruining things," I say absently, to which Bulma only shoots me a pointed look.

"Let me guess, you're not sorry"

"I'm quite pleased actually" I shrug. "As it turns out, it's good to ruin certain things"

If it turns out to be a good thing, would that mean it had not been ruined in the first place? Now, that's food for thought and something to ponder at a later date.

"You're infuriating," Bulma says, now sitting on the nearby bed with eyes directed on me.

"Could it be that your frustration is not purely on an emotional level?" I wonder, quite amused now the thought has entered my mind. "You do openly gawk Bulma, I wouldn't be surprised"

Bulma sputters, surprised or outraged, it's hard to tell with her. I expect a rebuttal or scolding, but nothing comes. She just sits on that bed with pink cheeks and eyes averted away from me, just steaming in her embarrassment.

"Not gonna deny it?"

"No," she says and I'm quite surprised. This is the type of thing she's quick to reject, after all.

"Can I a-"

"No"

Okay.

She's silent again, perhaps lost in thought. The sound of an exciting battle can be heard even here and from the spectator's voice, it seems the battle is leaning more in Kakarot's favor. I glance back at Bulma when I hear her release a very loud groan and fall back into the bed she was seated on. Exasperated, I'm assuming.

"You okay there, bunny?"

"No, I want cuddles, but I can't get cuddles right now because you have a match soon, so I'm not okay" she whines. "And I want to be mad at you, but I'm not, so I'm mad that I'm not, but I'm not mad at you"

Very complicated feelings she's having there.

"Let's go out after the tournament," she says and it doesn't sound like something I can turn down. "We can go to that restaurant that just opened"

"Hmm, sounds like a date"

"That's because it is" she sighs. "Don't play dumb, Durian"

I resist laughing as best I can.

"Aren't we long past things such as dates?"

"You don't get the concept of dates," she says and she would be right. "Besides, you've been dying to go to that restaurant, so we're going"

Should I be surprised that Bulma knows I've been wanting to go to that restaurant? I haven't said a word about that place to anyone, so in all logical sense, she shouldn't know that I've been dying to go to the new restaurant.

"Durian, I've known you for four years and I have a dumb tendency to pay very close attention to you, there is no way I wouldn't know that you wanted to go to that restaurant" again, she sounds a tad bit defensive.

I hadn't even brought up the issue of not telling her, yet she knew the thought had been in mind.

"Awe, you love me"

When I'm smacked with a pillow, I'm not even surprised by the aggression. I've embarrassed her enough for the day, it was about time she got aggressive.

"Yes I do, so stop being annoying!"