[ Contents | 2. The Lord of Monsters | 3. What Life Has to Offer | 4. Trouble on the Waterfront ]

Yamucha's Student

By Dragoness Eclectic

Chapter 3. What Life Has To Offer

"This is good!" Saisei pushed his chair back, smiling at Lina, Yamucha's current girlfriend. That night's adventure had been dinner and a movie with Lina and Nezumi, Lina's roommate; Lina had proved to be an excellent cook.

"Yes, it is!" said Puar as she flew around the table to wrap her paws around Yamucha's head in an exuberant hug.

"I told you!" Yamucha said smugly. "Lina is the best cook I know!"

Lina raised a raven-black eyebrow. "And how many cooks do you know?" she asked archly.

Yamucha turned red and looked panicky for a moment, then Lina laughed. "Never mind; I was teasing. You're far too easy to rattle, Yamucha." She gave him a friendly smile. "To tell the truth, I learned how to cook from 'Zumi, here; she's a much better cook than I am."

Nezumi giggled and waved her fingers at the two men, as if to say "yep, that's me". She was a short woman with short brown hair, freckles, and an incredibly sunny, outgoing nature that completely overwhelmed Saisei.

When he and Yamucha and Puar had arrived, Nezumi flung open the door and yelled over her shoulder at the top of her lungs, "THEY'RE HERE!" Laughing merrily, she'd flung her arms around Yamucha and then Saisei, hugging them both in turn.

Saisei had been paralyzed; he stammered something polite, his face red with embarassment. There were very few women at the Buddhist temple where he'd been raised, and none of them had been like Nezumi.

Nezumi giggled and put a finger to her lips. "Don't panic, I already have a boyfriend."

Yamucha seemed slightly befuddled by Nezumi's attack, and was also stammering. Relief crept through Saisei; it wasn't just him. Perhaps he wasn't as ignorant as he'd feared; perhaps Nezumi was just unusual.

A short time later he sat on a cushion that turned out to be a large stuffed bear. Nezumi looked at him reproachfully. "You're sitting on Mr. Muggins," she said.

"I'm... sorry. I didn't know," he said, startled. He jumped up from his seat on the bear and inspected it carefully. It showed no signs of being alive. Relieved, he sat the plush bear to one side; at least he hadn't squashed a living creature like Puar. "I don't think I hurt it."

"'S okay, Mr. Muggins isn't supposed to be out here anyway," Nezumi said with a giggle as she pounced on the offending bear and carried the brown plush creature down the hall. Saisei thought he heard her lecturing the bear about straying out of his room, and shook his head. He must be imagining things! Then he glanced at Puar, who was curled up among a small pile of plush-toy cushions.... But the bear wasn't alive! Really! Saisei decided he was right; Nezumi was unusual.

They all enjoyed the movie, a tragic melodrama; Lina and Nezumi cried at the sad parts and cooed over the handsome but tragic hero and his doomed romance, while Yamucha and Saisei appreciated the street fights between the feuding factions, the big grudge fight with the scheming villain at the end, and the really good popcorn.

"I'm not surprised he lost the fight," Saisei observed. "That's no way to hold a sword! I'm only amazed that the prince managed to hit him, because he couldn't hold a sword either---OWWW!"

Saisei rubbed the back of his head where Lina had just hit him with her purse. "How did I offend?"

Yamucha chuckled. "It's best not to worry too much about the fighting skills of the actors--at least not out loud. It looks fake to us, but to everyone else it looks good enough to tell the story."

Lina laughed. "You don't tell me about the martial arts goofs in the movie, and I won't tell you just how much I kept wanting to grab that girl and shake some sense into her. Honestly, if I'd ever acted like that, my mother would have spanked me black and blue! It makes for a great drama, but do you know anyone who actually carries on like that?"

Yamucha thought for a moment, comparing the obsessed, tragic heroine with Bulma, Lina, and Nezumi in turn. "Uh, no."

"There you go."

Several days later...

The sun had set hours ago by the time Saisei carried his bicycle up to his small, cheap apartment. He didn't dare leave it out on the street; in that neighborhood, it would be gone as soon as he turned his back, and he could ill afford to buy another. Dock laborer's pay was scarcely enough to pay his rent and food--and he was eating more now. Training under Yamucha, biking across the city each way, plus a full day's work at the docks demanded a great deal of energy from his body, and his body demanded food in turn. Fortunately, part of that demand was met by the evening meals at Yamucha's apartment, or he'd have been forced to choose between paying the rent and going hungry.

Money was tight, time was tighter. Saisei had to be up before dawn to join the rest of the morning shift unloading and loading the big freighters; after a full workday, he'd bike over to the park to train with Yamucha again, and return to his apartment just in time to wash up and go to bed for a good seven hours or so--just like he was doing now.

The next day, however, was a weekend; no work, and Yamucha-sensei had mentioned something about going to a ball game...

After turning out the light, Saisei looked out the grimy window of his apartment for one last time before turning in for the night. As his eyes adjusted to the half-lit street outside, he watched the usual figures passing by: laborers going home or out to drink, drunken sailors and prostitutes from the bar across the street, less savory individuals on less savory business--

One caught his eye. It was too dim to see the man's face as he left the dive, but there was something oddly familiar about the blocky build and rolling walk. It was a sailor's walk, but Saisei didn't think he'd seen him on a ship yesterday or the day before. Where had he seen the man before?

He shook his head and tumbled into the broken-down bed--and into old nightmares of pain and murder, all overseen by the man in the grey coat with the cold blue eyes.

Puar settled down on her favorite cushion as Yamucha searched his apartment.

"Where in all this mess is my good glove?" He dug through the locker at the foot of his bed, tossing odds and ends on the floor.

"Upper shelf of the hall closet," Puar said in her high-pitched voice.

"Oh, right." Yamucha brushed his hair back from his face. "I forgot that's where I threw it after last year's game." He grinned unexpectedly at the blue and gray cat. "I should take better care of things, I guess."

"Yes, you should," the little cat scolded as she floated up to the closet shelf in question and handed Yamucha his baseball glove. He put it on his hand and tossed a ball into it several times, grinning.

"Yamucha," Puar said as she settled onto the back of a nearby chair, "you should play more often. You love it so much!" Her eyes were wide, pleading.

Yamucha frowned briefly. "You know why I don't play anymore."

"But it makes you so happy when you do!" Puar said, still pleading. "You've been sad for so long..." A tear escaped Puar's right eye and stained the fur of her cheek.

Yamucha noticed. "Puar, please... You know I only enjoy the first game, and then it's like it was last year, or the year before." His shoulders slumped. "And baseball was not what I liked best..."

"Oh, Yamucha!" Puar floated up to his shoulder and hugged her human friend. "You shouldn't have given up that, either. You were so miserable until Saisei showed up--"

Yamucha's head jerked up at that. "Yes, I was." He turned his head and looked at her out of one eye. "Maybe I am doing something worthwhile by training the kid and passing on my skills.... I learned a lot more than I thought from Mutenroshi and Kami." He laid the glove and ball down next to the clean uniform he'd be wearing tomorrow.

"I'm so much weaker than Goku or Vegeta--especially Vegeta! I thought I wasn't any good at all. I'm still not any good in the kind of fights Goku gets into, but I know a lot--and I can teach what I know," Yamucha mused. "And maybe I can help Saisei out with whatever trouble he's gotten into."

Puar's eyes widened. "Please be careful, Yamucha. I have a bad feeling about Saisei's enemies...."

"GO, YAMUCHA!" Saisei, Nezumi and Lina screamed from the stands as Yamucha rounded the bases. Nezumi hung onto their drinks as the fierce young man jumped up and cheered his sensei on. Puar hovered with them, her small voice lost in the general din.

After the game, they gathered at a certain bar and grill popular with sports fans and players alike.

"Yamucha-san, why do you not play more often?" Saisei asked, looking distressed. "It delights you, I can see that. If my training interferes--"

Puar made a face; she'd had this same discussion with Yamucha herself.

Yamucha waved him to silence and handed Saisei a beer. "No, no, it's not that. I only play exhibition games because, well.. I'm too good." His face reddened, and he seemed almost embarrassed. "You saw how it was; they always walk me when I get to the plate--better one free base than a guaranteed home run. It takes the fun out of it, so I pretty much quit." He shrugged. "What do you do when you're already the best there is? Nothing to work for, really."

Lina idly drew patterns on the table with her fingertip. "I wouldn't say that. If you really are the best, I can think of things you could do," she said, smiling at Yamucha in a way that made him very nervous.

Puar hovered next to Yamucha's shoulder; her eyes widened as she stared at Lina. Was she really saying what Puar thought she heard?

Saisei, oblivious to the by-play, said, "At the temple, the very best became teachers. Could you not teach baseball?"

Yamucha looked slightly startled. "You mean coach? I never thought about that... I suppose I could." He regarded Saisei thoughtfully. "I think of myself as more of a fighter than a baseball player, though--and I am teaching you that right now!"

Nezumi's eyes sparkled. "Hey, you could teach Saisei to play baseball! I bet he'd be good at it!"

Something leapt in Saisei's dark, almond eyes, and a smile crossed his usually serious face. "Actually, Yamucha-sensei taught me baseball as part of my training." He had finally learned the ki-block after learning some analogous moves from baseball--catching a hard pitch, hitting a fastball. At least, he thought he had. He could block Yamucha's attacks in training--but could he stop a true enemy?

Unaware of Saisei's worries, Yamucha grinned. "Yes, the kid's a pretty good batter, and he can pitch, too." He looked at Saisei. "Hey, when you've got your, uh, personal matters sorted out, I'll recommend you to a scout I know. I think you'd have a real good chance if you try out." "I'm pretty good at softball, you know," piped up Nezumi. "We could--"

"--no, we couldn't," Lina interrupted, looking at her watch. "We're on next shift, remember?"

Nezumi's eyes widened as she looked at her watch. "Oops! You're right."

"Sorry to ruin the party, guys, but we've got to run," Lina said. "Duty calls."

Yamucha raised an eyebrow. "You're working pretty long hours, aren't you?"

"Hmmmph! This is nothing compared to what we were working after the earthquake. Raditz finally got enough new people and got things sorted out to where we weren't each doing the job of four people. Anyway, we've got to go." Lina tossed down the rest of her soda and nodded to Nezumi.

"Umm, see you later," Yamucha said wistfully as they left.

"So, what do you think?" Lina asked Nezumi as she started going over the paperwork piled on her desk.

"About Yamucha or Saisei?" Nezumi smiled as she tossed papers from one basket to the next, or into the trash.

"Either. Both."

"Well..." Nezumi turned her face up and rested her chin on her fingertips. "Saisei is cute, but really shy--which makes him twice as cute!" She giggled. "Awfully serious, though--like Raditz."

"Even the Chief isn't that serious--he knows how to laugh at himself," Lina responded, picking up some of her own paperwork. She turned the papers over with an expression suggesting that the document had suddenly sprouted slimy growths all over. "That kid is just young enough to take himself and the entire world dead seriously. I hope he gets over it soon."

Nezumi wrinkled her nose. "Radi-kun mocks himself; he doesn't laugh at himself in a nice way. I've only seen him really laugh when Mr. Son brings little Goten over. I agree with you about Saisei; besides, he's much cuter when he smiles."

"Radi-kun?" Lina raised a black eyebrow. "Are things more serious than you've told me about?"

Nezumi blushed and hid her face. "Well... no," she answered in a small voice. "I just hope they will be." She peaked out between her fingers. "And what was that you said to Yamucha? 'I can think of things you could do'?"

It was Lina's turn to blush. "Yes, that was a bit blatant, wasn't it? But darn it, I wish the man would make up his mind. I don't want to break up with him, far from it, but we've been going nowhere for months. He just might be a keeper, but I can't tell if he wants to be kept, you know?" Lina shrugged helplessly.

"Well, at least he's not gay!" Nezumi giggled. "Remember what we thought when the Chief first came on as Bulma's bodyguard?"

Lina broke up laughing. "Oh God, yes!"

In his office, Capsule Corporation's Chief of Security wondered at the merry feminine laughter ringing down the hall. Raditz finally sighed and shook his head; humans were so strange sometimes.

[ Contents | 2. The Lord of Monsters | 3. What Life Has to Offer | 4. Trouble on the Waterfront ]

Disclaimer: See Credits.

Copyright 2001 by Dragoness Eclectic