[complete] Follow You Down

[notpanties.livejournal.com]

Who: Bulma Briefs [notpanties] and Shotaro Kaneda [blamekaneda]
Where: Residential area, around the high school.
When: THIS MORNING.
Rating: PG. SURPRISE.
Summary: Bulma and Kaneda run into each other after nearly a week of not speaking. [warning: SOMETHING AWESOME HAPPENS. NO, REALLY. GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK. Even though you're not paying or this. ]
the log:

Kaneda fastened his jacket up to his chin, squinting against the freezing winds whipping through Discedo, bringing an unholy amount of snow flurries with them. If he was smart, he would've stayed put in the apartment he shared with Kakihara and Yamagata, sleeping under a small mountain of blankets or playing cards by candlelight.

However, the mood in the apartment was foul and locking himself away in what basically amounted to a dingy old box was even less appealing than braving the winter storm. Giving his roommates a vague explanation of where he was going ("Out."), Kaneda wrapped himself up in his jacket and disappeared into the night.

The holidays were not going his way. Not that he was very particular, but was it too much to expect the big Christmas haul he deserved? Nudie mags, cigarettes, a Mahjong set and cheap booze; enough to last him through January until it warmed up again. It's not like he wouldn't share, either, as long as the right people asked.

As if Christmas weren't enough of a disaster, he'd had what he thought was the chance to see Kai and Kei again until they dissipated like a fine mist before his eyes. He'd been too drunk at the time to fully grasp what happened, but once he realized that they were never really there to begin with he wasn't angry so much as severely disheartened. Neo-Tokyo wasn't this cruel, after all. He even wondered if this was another trick on the part of the scientists or his imagination pulling a fast one on him. From the day he woke up in Discedo, he hadn't stopped wanting to see them.

The winds picked up, ruffling his hair, which was growing so long as to be bothersome, and stinging his cheeks. Maybe it wasn't too late to turn around.

The past few weeks hadn't been the best for Bulma. Christmas was met with tiny, stupid excuses for presents from the scientists, along with a good portion of the people in the city dressed in weird outfits. The huge gathering at the town square combined with Son-kun and Monkey D. Luffy's eating habits completely turned her off to food, and the new year rung in with a horrible prophetic dream that had her on edge for days. Tacking on a fight with her best friend and no sign of him for days after, Bulma's mood had been sour for over two weeks.

After holing herself up in the auto shop for the day, Bulma bundled up for the trip home. As it had been for the past few weeks, no pink-haired roomie would be around to greet her, but she was beginning to get used to it. In the long run, living along was probably easier for her; living with Trunks was awkward despite her acceptance and favor of him, and her other room mates simply disappeared after some time. With the modifications she'd made to her apartment, she felt that she deserved to enjoy them on her own. Even if it did mean that no one would be around to talk to when she was at home. She had neighbors for that, anyway.

Hugging her jacket around herself, Bulma trudged forward through the snow, frowning. She had to do something other than distract herself with her work, but everyone seemed so busy lately, and the one person she could turn to was probably too busy making face time with a girlfriend that she'd never met.

"Ugh." She knew that she was jealous. Not only was Kei threatening to any future relationship that Bulma wanted with Kaneda (in all honesty, she only added to the list, followed by Vegeta, Trunks, and the inevitable truth of their family) but a girlfriend -- god, a girlfriend -- threatened their friendship, and Bulma was nowhere near ready for that.

Her footsteps grew heavy, forming into a series of stomps, before she ended up marching angrily through the snow and gritting her teeth. That jerk! she thought, He really gets me--!

Bulma's thoughts came to a halt when she caught sight of a figure not far away; as it grew closer, her eyes widened, before her grimace returned again. Great. Speak of the devil.

In the midst of the dirty snowfall and weak glow emanating from the streetlamps, a figure appeared to Kaneda like a ghost. His heart skipped a beat and he irrationally hoped that it was Kei, or perhaps Kai, returning to the city. For good, this time.

He broke into a sprint, eager to close the distance between himself and the other person. His lungs burned and his breath came in steep, shallow gasps, but those were only mild discomforts compared to the joy that was welling up within him until...

Bulma. It was Bulma who stood before him, scowling at him as if he were her least favorite person in the universe. After their recent spat through the communicators, Kaneda didn't really expect she'd greet him with all the warmth and bright smiles that she usually did but, in this moment, she was perhaps the angriest he had ever seen her.

That joy that grew inside him deflated with a quickness and was replaced with a sense of righteous indignation. She had really let him have it -- in his opinion, without good reason. At the mention of Kei, Bulma's infamous temper flared, especially after he suggested the two meet. What was the big damn deal? Bulma made it a habit of practically adopting every girl who showed up in Discedo, after all. She and Kei would've become fast friends, he was sure of it.

But the argument didn't end there. It escalated to the point of Bulma telling him flat out to leave her alone. As cruel and cutting as some of their fights could get, Kaneda never imagined that she'd say those three words to him and mean it. Truth be told, it left him dumbstruck and he had been too furious to contact her again afterward.

Now, running into her like this, he felt he deserved an explanation. Kaneda stomped toward her, arms stock-still at his sides, hands clenched into fists.

"I wanna talk ta you," he hissed through his teeth.

Bulma hadn't really thought about what she would say to Kaneda when they finally decided to talk it out. In fact, she wasn't sure whether they were even going to, given how bitter their interacions were that day. She didn't think it was irrational for her to be so angry, but it hadn't yet crossed her mind that Kaneda had no idea as to why she had gotten so furious. She stopped, hugging her arms around herself and looking him in the eye.

Her body tensed. She didn't like being angry with him, and she didn't like how cold it suddenly seemed when she faced him. Her pride had kept her from contacting him over the past few days, for fear of hearing some other girl's voice in the background or tales of his time with her, so she was completely unprepared for what had to be said.

She pursed her lips, before nodding toward the entrance of an old house. They weren't outside of the residential district, so chances of any infestations were slim to none. If they had to talk, they'd do it where snow wasn't likely to pile on top of them.

When they reached the inside, she pushed the door shut and turned to face him.

"About what?"

He paced the floor, clearly agitated and mulling over what he would say to her. He wanted to demolish something; to take the rotten old dining room chair in the corner and hurl it against the wall until there was nothing left but splinters. It seemed Kakihara's penchant for violence was rubbing off on him, but he also knew that such an outburst would scare her off and further drive a wedge between them.

Instead of throwing the chair, Kaneda collapsed onto it, the cushioned seat expelling a cloud of dust under his weight. Elbows resting on his knees, he cradled his head in his hands, trying to sort through his emotions and seek out the important questions.

All he could manage was, "What th' hell is your friggin' problem?"

"What are you talking about?!" Her answer was an immediate reaction, her hands still braced on her forearms as she leaned against the door. She bit her lip, looking away as she tried to calm herself. She knew exactly what Kaneda was angry about; but the details weren't sorted, and all of her stubborn manner was clouding her judgment.

She remained tense against the door, her heavy glare returning to him. "Why are you so angry?

Kaneda's hands curled against the taut flesh of his scalp and angry tears stung the corners of his eyes. He wanted to shake her, he wanted to scream, but when he spoke, it was barely above a whisper.

"No. It was-- I dunno, some stupid illusion. Or maybe Yamagata an' I dreamed th' whole thing up, but they're not here."

He raised his head then, fingers lacing together so tightly that they went numb. His eyes, which were usually so youthful and shining with mischief, were red-rimmed and tired.

"So, between you an' me," he continued, his voice coming in as a barely suppressed growl, "I'd say you were doin' a whole helluva lot better."

The change in his tone hit her like a freight train. As he went on, her grip on her arms slowly loosened, her eyes lowering to stare at her feet.

"Oh."

Well, great. She was angry over someone that wasn't even there, and her best friend was just as stressed out and upset as she had been for over a week. Looking at him in the state he was in hurt, physically stung her, and she bit her lip, heaving a pained sigh. She responded faster than she thought she would.

"I'm sorry." For how crappy a hand he'd been dealt by the city, or the scientists, or whoever made him think that his friends had come to stay with him. For subjecting him to all of her irrational anger, and for telling him -- she bit her lip, her body arching slightly -- that she didn't need him, when she really, really did. Her voice shook as she continued, all of her wordiness wiped away by how angry she was with herself for being so horrible to the one person who meant the most to her.

"I'm sorry, Kaneda."

The sincerity was evident in Bulma's voice and he could tell she felt truly ashamed for all that transpired between them. Suddenly, all the pent-up frustration and negative feelings rushed out of him like air from a balloon. It was an ugly misunderstanding, that's all, and Kaneda was ready to forgive her if for no other reason than his life would be all the more empty and unhappy, but one thing was still nagging at him and he couldn't help but bring it up.

"What got'chu so heated about her, anyway?"

She let herself sink down, calming her breathing as she came to a sitting position against the door. Bulma was surprised by how quickly he seemed to calm down. They were similar in that respect; despite what their intentions were the both of them easily let their emotions get ahead of them sometimes, though his reactions were usually radically different from hers. Despite the slight feeling of resolve, an ugly tension still hung in the air, and she shivered at the thought of it.

"What? Kei?" Her response was quiet. She wasn't quite ready to let him know how incredibly jealous she was at the very one of his voice with the girl, whether she was actually there or not. Bulma knew how she felt, and if it were anyone but Kaneda, the entire city would have known about it by now. But Kaneda was the biggest exception to her judgment that she'd ever encountered; she wasn't about to tell her best friend that she was crazy about him, and couldn't stand the thought of him spending time with another girl.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. Of course, from the wistful way he talked about Kei, it shouldn't have been that shocking for Bulma to come to such a conclusion. They may have been together for a matter of days, but Kaneda could reminisce for hours about how smart and brave she was; how she stuck her neck out for him multiple times; how the very act of her calling his name over and over lured him back from the blinding white abyss that Tetsuo had dragged him into.

Honestly, the nature of their relationship was... complicated, and maybe something romantic could've developed if he hadn't been plucked from Neo-Tokyo and brought here. Kaneda certainly tried his damndest to put the moves on her, but Kei deflected his advances at every turn, though he could tell she was warming up to him. Then, when things with Tetsuo got really crazy, he had all but abandoned any attempts to woo her. Survival, and revenge, had been at the forefront of his mind then.

Kaneda fixed Bulma with a look, a wounded half-smile forming on his face. "She was really important ta me, but we weren't dating."

"Oh," again. She had turned to watch him as he explained, and felt no more comfortable than she had before. Bulma racked her brain for a better response. The option of a clear response was one that never occured to her until the last minute, and while she wasn't lacking in tact, Bulma had a knack for trying to pull her own response out of other people without having to say it at all. This one, though, would be harder than it usually was.

"It wasn't her, really. I mean, sort of, but-- It's not like she meant it, I guess."

Whatever she was trying to explain was utterly lost on Kaneda, and he couldn't resist laughing at the way she was stumbling over her words. Bulma may have been able to conjure up the most creative insults to fling at him, but when it came to personal matters, it seemed she had a lot to learn about staying gracious and composed. In moments like these, she acted like an awkward seventeen year-old girl, and Kaneda found himself not minding.

He hopped off the chair and crossed the room to stand before her. It felt like they had been in this position hundreds of times before; reconciling after a particularly nasty argument. It was comforting to know that, regardless of how mad they were at each other, it was inevitable that they'd mend the friendship.

In Discedo, it was foolish to hold grudges. Who's to say that person wouldn't vanish before you had the chance to make up?

"Still pals?" he asked, extending a gloved hand.

She watched his hand for a few moments, before gritting her teeth and grabbing onto it. "That's it? I mean, you don't want to know the whole story?" She pulled herself up to his level, looking him in the eye. Edging him on was doing nothing for her. She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to let him know. But pouring that out at random was nothing short of totally freaky for her, and she wanted, no, she needed him to prompt her for it. Bulma had seen far too many daytime drama shows to let her precious confession go to waste as just a passing mention.

"Aren't you wondering about why I was so angry?! Come on, Kaneda! I had a great reason to be angry! A really great reason! I wanted to hit you, you jerk! I was so angry that I -- I forgot to do my nails!" She raised one hand to display her unpolished, dirty nails, her voice still a half-sob from her outburst only moments before.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he cried, forcing her hand down, not even sparing her poor neglected nails a sympathetic glance. Something had seriously gotten into her. Kaneda had never seen Bulma this deep in the throes of absolute hysterics before.

Well... alright, there was that time with the rat; and again when her fish died. Even way before that, when the first auto shop burned down, but that had been a disaster for everyone. Still, there was something markedly different about this overwrought display Bulma was putting on.

His eyebrows furrowed and he clutched her upper arms in an effort to keep her still and calm her down. "Alright, shut up-- relax, will ya?! You got my full attention. Why were you so mad?"

"Relax?! Why should I relax when my best friend is so slow!?" She moved to throw her arms up, but his grip on her kept them still. It was only then that it hit her: here it was. The Moment of Truth. Was it really supposed to be like this? She hadn't exactly planned out how she was going to tell him. In fact, she had no intentions of ever telling him. But after everything they'd been through over the past few weeks, along with her over-the-top rant (Good job, Bulma, she thought, You sure know how to screw yourself over.) there was no way she could play it off the way she usually did by denying him the answer. Not after they had finally broke the silence between each other.

She wasn't quite sure when, but her sobbing had come to a complete halt, and had been replaced by the heavy pounding of her heart inside of her chest. There were instances when they'd been this close before, but never any that she didn't have the option of slipping away. Face-to-face with him, she did everything she cold to muster up something intelligent, something blunt, something that screamed eloquence --

"Because you were with another girl, and I hated it!"

Or, that.

The second those words escaped her lips, he froze. Bulma was right, he could be slow on the uptake sometimes, but the meaning behind those words weren't lost on him now.

But... no. No way. He couldn't have heard that right. There was water in his ears or she meant to say something else entirely and got mixed up. Whatever the case was, Bulma definitely didn't just confess that she liked him.

Kaneda wasn't a stranger to love confessions, having juggled several girlfriends at once back home. They were never anything remotely serious or long-term; dates at the arcade, countless love hotels and naming bike tricks after his lovers ("I call this th' Double-Bent Squealing Sachiko!") all in the name of fun. Once he got tired or bored, he thoughtlessly moved on to someone new.

It was never about sharing mutual interests or how well his personality meshed with the girl's. If he was pursuing her, it wasn't because he sought friendship. Maybe that's where he went wrong with Bulma. No, not wrong, but he got his own tried and true formula backwards. They got to know each other. They told sad stories from their pasts and their expectations for the future. They knew one another's likes and dislikes, and even founded a successful business together with the auto shop.

Slowly, he freed her from his grip. He should say something, shouldn't he? After all, he had recently been contending with his own burgeoning feelings for her, and she wouldn't accept a cocky "thanks." In fact, she'd probably deck him. For all the ups and downs they'd shared, she deserved something real and from his heart.

Finally, rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "Damn, girls really do take forever ta do everything. You would've saved us both a lot'a grief f'you said so earlier."

Bulma didn't know what kind of response to expect from Kaneda. He was a wild card in his own right, and she knew that all too well, but she knew that he would not make a huge deal out of the situation. Which was all for the better, really, because she was just then regaining her composure.

"Yeah. I guess so."

She took a few steps away from him, her hands retracting to their previous position on her arms. Was that it? She didn't want to outright demand an explanation of how he felt, despite how much she wanted to know. The more she thought about it, though, the more disappointing his response was. He sounded like he wasn't ready, and she didn't know how long it would be until he was taken away again.

But she wouldn't force him. She wasn't exactly sure of how they'd move on past this, or whether there would be an expectation for them to return to the way they were before. With her feelings out in the open, she felt cold and awkward, raising her chin and averting her eyes to the window to try and play off her own emotions.

"Geeze, it's cold in here. Let's go home, okay? My skin's going to chap!"

Kaneda didn't budge. "Are you deaf?" he blurted out before rocking on his heels and affecting a casual expression, though there was a peculiar twitch to his lip that betrayed his otherwise cool demeanor. If he had to spell it out for her after this, he was giving up. "Can't go anywhere real flashy for th' first date."

"... What?!"

Bulma's attention suddenly snapped back onto him, her eyes going wide at his response. Does he mean--?!

"... You loser! You could have just, you know, told me straight out!" She threw her arms up in mock irritation, before one of her hands moved to brush at her eyes. All the while, her lips were forming into a wide, beaming smile, her cheeks hot from just how worked up she was. "Moron! Geeze!"

Bulma pulled her hands away from her face, setting them on her hips as she sniffled -- softly, so as not to completely ruin the illusion of her amusement at the entire situation. "And here I am, the exceptionally beautiful girl that's totally crazy about some jerk, freezing my butt off in an old shack."

She shrugged her shoulders slightly, overcome with a strange sense of joy that she'd been reaching for since fall. Maybe this was what she needed to keep her from going crazy under the pressure of the city. Kaneda had long since proven to be the one person who could help her out of any jam, and the only one she would turn to when situations were dire. He'd been there for her for months, and though she'd always had Umi and Mona to fall back on, Kaneda was often the first person she ran to. She needed to be with him, no matter what kind of future the city had in store for them.

"What now?"

Without apprehension or any pretense of shyness, Kaneda slung an arm around her shoulder and grinned.

"Anything!"

The gesture just nearly startled her, but she quickly leaned into his grasp. Bulma had been waiting for this for what she felt had been ages; but true to her form, that was completely exaggerated. She reached a gloved hand up to the hand he had on her shoulder, lacing her fingers with his and nodding toward the door, her usual grin playing upon her lips.

"Like I said, let's go home. I wasn't joking about my skin, buster!"