Maintaining: Picnic

Maintaining
By Pixelgoddess

Chapter 5 - Picnic

By the time Vegeta got to the gathering, Trunks and Goten were attacking a heaping plateful of food. They were catching Gohan and Videl up with their latest training between mouthfuls.

Chichi spotted the prince's arrival, and moved to greet him.

"Vegeta. I'm glad you came!" she said, smiling.

"You cook better than those damn robots," he replied with a tiny smirk.

"I should certainly hope so! Come and sit down. Rezu is getting a plate for you."

He grunted in response and followed her to a table away from the children.

"You haven't been by for awhile," Chichi told him, as she poured him some lemonade.

"Yeah," Rezu added, as she set a plate in front of Vegeta. "We've missed you."

Vegeta glanced at the pair, disbelief flashing through his eyes. He quickly suppressed it, returning to his customary scowl. He looked up to see Goku surrounded by his friends.

"Kakarotto is back. You don't need me anymore," he muttered, staring down at his plate.

Chichi and Rezu exchanged a surprised look.

"Vegeta..." Chichi began, resting a comforting hand on his arm. "Of course you are needed."

"Yeah, we like having you here," Rezu added.

"Hn."

The other fighters and their families wandered over to say hi to Chichi and Rezu. Except for Piccolo, Gohan and Videl, they didn't even acknowledge Vegeta's presence, which pissed the women off to no end.

Krillin finally came over. "Hey, Vegeta, where's Bulma?"

The Saiyan gave the little monk a piercing glare, snarling his answer, biting off each word. "I.don't.know."

Goku chose that moment to join them, dropping a phone on the table. "Yamcha just called. He and Bulma are on their way."

Vegeta growled and leapt to his feet, fists clenched, tail snapping through the air.

"What's wrong?" Goku asked, confused.

Vegeta stared up at the taller Saiyan, struggling to force his anger down. When he could trust himself to speak, he answered, "Why would you think there is something wrong? I just need more food." He stalked away from the table.

"Bastard," Krillin muttered, returning to his family.

Rezu opened her mouth to say something, but Chichi put her hand on her arm, stopping her.

"Don't bother. It won't do any good. They have never gotten along." She watched as Vegeta got several pieces of cake and went to talk to his son and Goten. The boys' eyes lit up as he placed a plate in front of each of them.

Goku sat down by the two women. "It looks like Goten was right. There really is something bothering Vegeta."

"He wasn't anything like this while you were gone. I wonder what happened?" Rezu said.

"Maybe Bulma can shed some light on it when she gets here," Chichi answered.

"I hope so," Goku said, getting up to get more food.

Minutes later, the roar of an aircar was heard as the missing guests arrived. Bulma came dancing out, a huge grin on her face. Yamcha wasn't far behind, with a nearly identical smile. Some of the joy faded from his face when he saw the scowl Vegeta directed at Bulma.

"Hi guys! Sorry we're late!" Bulma chirped.

Yamcha tore his eyes away from the prince and came to stand next to her, his arm around Bulma's shoulders.

"Oh, shit," Rezu murmured to Chichi. "Would she...?"

"Yeah..." Chichi sighed.

"Bitch."

The late arrivals moved to greet their friends, catching each other up with the latest news. Chichi and Rezu couldn't hear what was said, but they did see how often they turned to look at Vegeta. Yamcha and Bulma were frequent recipients of hugs and handshakes.

The pair finally cornered Goku, a half-eaten plate of food in his hand.

"Hi guys," he said, a huge smile on his face.

"Goku!" Bulma wrapped her arms around him, giving her friend a hug. "I have the greatest news!"

"Tell me about it," the Saiyan answered, putting down his plate and returning the hug. "Hi Yamcha." He released Bulma to shake hands with his other friend.

"Yamcha and I are engaged!" she exclaimed, smiling, as Yamcha wrapped his arm around her waist.

Goku's smile froze on his face as he ran that declaration through his head. He was dimly aware that she had continued speaking, but he had stopped listening. His smile faded and he raised his eyes to look at Vegeta across the yard. The prince returned the look, stone-faced.

"...isn't that great?" Bulma finished.

"But...but, Bulma, what about Vegeta?" Goku asked, stunned at how unfeeling his oldest friend was acting.

"What about him? Come on Goku - it's not like we were ever married. You know how he his. He is so cold - he couldn't ever love anyone. Yamcha can make me happy."

For the first time in his life, Goku wanted to hit Bulma. How could she treat his prince like this? Just throwing him away like he was nothing.

"What did he say when you told him?"

She let out a disdainful breath, rolling her eyes.

"You - you didn't tell him? This is how he is finding out? Bulma, how c-?" He didn't understand. She had always been self-centered, but he never would have expected this.

Bulma frowned, disappointed that her friend wasn't happy for her. "What is your deal, Goku? What do you care what that asshole thinks?"

Goku felt his ki spike as his temper rose. He quickly controlled it, planting an artificial smile on his face. "Bulma, I hope you get the happiness you deserve," he said, walking away, fists clenched.

He started to head over to Vegeta, but caught Chichi's signal and veered over to Piccolo instead. Even as he talked to the Namek, his attention was on the prince.

Chichi hadn't been able to stand it anymore, and had gone over to talk to Vegeta as he stood under a tree. She had watched Goku's reaction to the couple's announcement and smiled in approval.

It had taken some patience and effort, but she had gotten Vegeta to talk to her occasionally when Goku was dead. She knew that his pride would be damaged even more if Goku came over now, so she had waved him away. The two Saiyans could talk later, in private.

Vegeta glanced over at the woman speaking to him He wasn't really listening to her, just letting the sound of her voice wash over him. He knew why she was there, what she was trying to do - but for some reason it wasn't really bothering him.

The pain was there, lying in wait deep within, just waiting to rise up and devour him. He couldn't believe Bulma would do this to him - not like this. He had known she was back with Yamcha - he could smell scent of sex and sweat all over her. He didn't know why he hadn't just killed the damned man, but since Buu he had lost his taste for death.

But - she never said anything. Never told him what was wrong. He had tried to ask, but these feelings of loss and betrayal silenced him before he could say a word. This was just one more failure to add to his already long list.

He watched with trepidation as Bulma and Yamcha spoke to Kakarott. When the other Saiyan had stared at him he willed himself to mask his emotions. He had known the woman since he was a child - of course he would agree with her. So, he was amazed when Kakarott's ki rose and he walked away, fists clenched and tail twitching in anger.

He gradually became aware that Chichi had fallen silent. He looked over at her and smirked. She was mirroring his pose exactly - arms folded across her chest, a scowl on her face. All she lacked was the tail protectively coiled about the waist.

Chichi noticed that the prince was looking at her. Then she realized what he was seeing and returned his smirk. "You do know that you are welcome to stay here anytime, don't you?"

He nodded.

"Good," she said, lightly resting her hand on his arm. "Don't forget." She was halfway back to where Rezu was sitting when she noticed that Krillin was approaching Vegeta.

Vegeta stared down at the little monk standing in front of him. He raised an eyebrow, amazed that the coward would dare to come this close. He was aware that the party had come to a halt, everyone staring at the two of them, just waiting to see his reaction. ::He knows Kakarott won't let me kill him - so he thinks he's safe.::

Krillin smiled up at the prince. "So Vegeta," he gloated, "The prince of assholes screws up again. Looks like you weren't a good enough fuck to keep her. You really are a waste of air, aren't you?"

Vegeta screamed in fury, leaping to SSJ. He began to build a ball of ki to obliterate the little asshole, but before he could throw it, all hell broke lose.

Krillin went flying across the yard, bent at the waist from Chichi's kick. He slammed into a surprised Yamcha, knocking him back into Bulma. 18 launched herself at Chichi in retaliation, but was blocked by a solid wall of Goku as he IT'd in her path and tossed her out of the area. Goten and Trunks scooped up the stunned monk and began throwing him back and forth like a basketball. Yamcha moaned in pain as Bulma fluctuated between trying to shove him off and screaming at Vegeta. Rezu shouted at the boys, demanding they release their victim.

Vegeta turned to Chichi, ignoring the fracas. "Nice technique."

She grinned. "He is such a shithead."

Rezu came over, a struggling boy beneath each arm. "Want us to keep him for the night? I think the party is over for these two."

Vegeta nodded, releasing his transformation, and flew off.

TBC