"I'm sorry sweetie but it's true. The two of you… well, you didn't fit together well." He looked away, but less because he was ashamed, she could tell, and more that he was trying to figure out how to explain what he was trying to tell her. "You know how sometimes you need a wretch that applies a ton of pressure? The nut is just stubborn and it sticks no matter what you do or however many times you loosen it? And other times there are nuts that need to be handled gently because if you squeeze too hard you could cause it to strip the bolt's threads or dig into the wood? There is nothing wrong with the wrench or the nut. They just don't work together."
"That was me and Yamcha, huh?"
"In my opinion yes. He is a nice boy and a good friend. I hope you two can keep being friends. But you weren't right for each other. I could tell that by the way you two fought."
"Yeah, I can see that," she said with a shake of her head. "The way the two of us would go at each other-"
"That's not what I meant," he said, cutting her off. "It's natural for couples to fight."
"Not you and mom," she said.
That made her father chortle. "Oh, your mother and I find our ways to show we're mad at each other. You just never noticed because we swore never to do that in front of you." He looked her in the eye and she knew at once she'd spend the next few nights lying in her bed and wondering just WHAT she had missed when it came to her parents and their marriage. The fights they had had in secret that she'd never known about. "Couples fight but the good couples know how to fight properly. You and Yamcha? You didn't fight properly at all."
"Because we yelled at each other."
"Because you yelled and he left."
Bulma opened her mouth to counter that. To tell her father he was wrong and that Yamcha wasn't a coward who fled confrontation. That he just knew when to leave unlike so many others.
Yet she found herself unable to say a word.
Her mind went to so many of their fights. How she would get upset with something he would say or do… or just as many times wouldn't say or do… and then the two of them would begin bickering and hurling insults only for Yamcha to leave with a bitter little comment while she was left shouting for him to come back and finish what they had started. And while they would eventually make up it never felt like anything was settled.
'Wasn't that why I decided to finally break up with him?' she thought to herself. 'We fought about him wanting to come late to our reunion because there was that convention he wanted to go to and when I got mad he decided not to come at all? Even though he knew how important it was to me?'
Her father continued. "You have always been someone that needed to be challenged in everything. Your first word was 'why' after all. You were never happy in school, saying that you were tired of the teachers making you hold back so that others could try and catch up. We gave up trying to hide your birthday presents because you always found them."
"You should have tried better," she teased lightly.
"Yamcha was never going to challenge you, Bulma. Not in the way you needed. You need someone that will push back against you and see a fight through to the finish. Yamcha found it easier just to leave the conflict which is why nothing every truly became settled for you two. There is nothing wrong with his choices except they didn't work well for you as a person." He paused, smiling slightly. "Honestly if your friend Goku treated arguments like he does fights I'd have pushed for you to date him!"
"Dad!" Bulma cried out, crinkling her nose in disgust. "I could never… with Goku…"
"Why not? He's a handsome young man. Very passionate."
"He's… so he said something the other day and it made me realize that… he's the brother I never had, okay? So me and him?" She shook her head violently, trying to dislodge those horrid thoughts. "No. Just… no."
Her father chuckled at her reaction which made her scowl all the more at him. "Very well. And like I said it wouldn't work anyway. Outside of a physical fight he's too easy going and timid. Reminds me of some of the boys you used to coo over when you were younger."
"I never 'cooed'," Bulma complained.
"You only saw their looks and never considered their personalities. They were too soft hearted for you… would have cried the first time you raised your voice. You need someone like him but with plenty of passion and determination in all things. And a drive to win that matches your own."
Bulma merely nodded, deciding to keep that all in mind. There was something to what her father had said. A logic that she'd never considered before but now that she knew it couldn't get it out of her head. It was like when she learned a new trick to build an engine and wondered why she'd never tried something like it before.
'Every time we fought I always pushed him and even though I was angry… I was never more upset than when he would walk away or refuse to talk to me. And when we made up I said I was fine and would apologize or tell him that I forgive him but… but I didn't mean it. Not really. I kept dwelling on it. Even now it feels like he died just to avoid talking to me!' She knew that was wrong to think and she'd never say the words aloud but it was true. 'But someone that will challenge me? Who will stand up to me and scream right back when I'm being a bitch? Yeah, that could be frustrating… but no more than anything else. And…' She smirked to herself, 'there are benefits…'
"Sweetie?" Bulma's mother called out. "Your friend Goku is here!"
"The last Dragon Ball!" Bulma said, getting up from her chair and hurrying over to the door only to turn back around and run to her dad, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks dad!"
"Have fun bringing the dead back to life, sweetie!" He called out after her as Bulma hurried upstairs.