Ningenkakushi: Lord of the Desert

Chapter 6 - Out of the Park, Out of the House

Yamcha goes home with Bulma to Capsule Corp, and it's strange being back – he's been away for almost three years, after all, and he only stayed for two months last time. Other than going to high school and that year with Roshi, he's mostly been out on his own, traveling the world and training, and now he's back in his old room with its pleasantly pale blue walls and the couple posters he's put up, clean but distinctly unlived-in. It's... odd, being in one place, living within walls, being so near other people all the time. The city is interesting, but it's also loud and busy and crowded – it's going to take some time to get used to this territory again.

Bulma helps him.

They go to places together and she shows him everything she didn't think to when she was sixteen and didn't have a chance to when they were twenty. There's parks hidden amongst the bustling buildings, some so large that you can almost forget you're in a city if you go in deep enough, and the out-of-the-way shops that Bulma loves best for shopping (she doesn't actually care for the mall all that much – says it's full of inferior merchandise and inferior minds (Yamcha gets the feeling that there's a story behind this, but doesn't press)). She helps him find the local markets, and watches fondly as he bounds from stall to stall examining the produce and chattering about what sorts of meals he can cook with this or that or the other, and reveals the concept of the 'cookbook section' of bookstores to him, then grumbles that he's going to ruin her figure if he keeps cooking like this (but never in serious tones).

There is also the yelling that happens when she finds out he's been carrying the Azure Dragon Blade everywhere in capsule form, but it's followed by the acquisition of a license so he can do so without getting arrested. He actually finds and acquires several lesser ki blades at a market Bulma likes to go to for parts – the vendor might not know what they are beyond excellent swords, but Yamcha recognizes the watery blue tint to the metal that Master Tengu taught him to look for, the signature of a ki blade. Bulma shakes her head and laughs and warns him not to try and fill the house with swords (the way she's heard some guys do), and he promises he won't, simply acquiring sheathes for them and placing them on top of his dresser in his room – easy to access for when he he's in the mood to use a different sword style for the day (scimitar is his specialty, but he's used other types in the past, and sometimes it's fun to mix things up a bit).

Pu'ar shows him things as well, and introduces him to Chae, a little yellow tanuki with orange markings and an extremely bushy tail. She's a photographer, and the two met about a year ago in a café – Bulma says it was the cutest thing she's ever seen.

"Sorry I couldn't come see you compete," Chae says as he shakes her paw, words rapid-fire and slightly arch for some reason, "But I had, like, a commission I needed to finish and the deadline was the next day."

"Don't worry about it," Yamcha says with a grin, which fades under Chae's puzzled look. "What?"

"Nothing really, just – Pu'ar always calls you 'Lord' Yamcha, and I had you pegged for one of those grand-standing types, not, you know," she waves one paw as she searches for the word, "Likeable." Then she must catch the look Pu'ar is shooting her, because her ears go down in a rather guilty expression. "Er, not that Pu'ar speaking well of you didn't, like, help your case or anything. Sorry."

Yamcha snorts, but Pu'ar had warned him that Chae has a tendency towards bluntness over tact, so he tries not to take it too seriously. "That's a leftover from our wild youth. She doesn't have to call me that and she knows it." He gives Pu'ar a pointed look, but the little cat just sniffs and lets it roll right off her.

"Lord Yamcha is Lord Yamcha," she says primly, "And that's all there is to it."

The conversation goes surprisingly well after this rather rocky start. Chae warms up to him fast when she learns that he and Pu'ar really do have a strong friendship and Yamcha finds he can't be too upset over someone else being worried about his best friend like that. Pu'ar, meanwhile, is unsubtly relieved that the two of them seem to be getting along and gets adorably flustered at a gently teasing comment Yamcha makes about her having found a nice girlfriend. Chae sniggers into her third almond-mocha decaf at this (caffeine is the nectar of the gods, but it's something she says she saves for times of need (which is probably a good thing for the world, because she's energetic enough as it is, of the focused sort that is terrifying in its strength and efficiency)). However she also shoots Pu'ar a definitively fond look as the little cat batters Yamcha's shoulder in embarrassed, impotent annoyance, so it's probably good odds that his comment won't be a joke for long.