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" The Long and Winding Road " Written By: Debs-dragon Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dbz crew. Matty belongs to himself, any other characters are either mine or belong to themselves ^_^ Android arc # 6 THE LONG WINDING ROAD" 2001 Debs - dragon For Matty..... CHAPTER 1 Matty began to frown as he flicked through the mail. Bills, bills and more bills. He sighed, money never seemed to go far these days. Juuhachigou walked into the kitchen and put her empty cup into the sink. Seeing his long face she walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders trying to massage the tension from them. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing" he replied "Something's bothering you." she said softly, "Please tell me, I might be able to help." He sighed again and put one of his hands on hers. She stopped her massage . He pulled her around and sat her on his lap. She stared into his blue eyes. "So come on.... Tell...", she waited. "Well its just all of these bills" he said. "Look, I hate to bring this up but the credit card spending is going to have to stop." She looked at him. "Your serious aren't you?" "Yes." he said, "I can afford the usual bills & all but I'm afraid my wage doesn't stretch to the credit card amounts. I'm sorry Juuhachigou but I'm going to have to ask you to cut right back on the amount that you buy." He looked at her , waiting for her response. She looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded. "Okay. I'll try not to be so extravagant." she said She got up & went back into the lounge room. Matty sat a while longer running his hands through his hair. He hoped she understood why they had to watch their spending. He hated to restrict her but his finances were stretched to their limit. He got up & headed for the shower. Sitting in the lounge room Juuhachigou gave up trying to watch the TV She didn't really understand what Matty was so concerned about. Being who she was and having led the life she had there had never been any cause for her to learn or understand about money or economy. Anything she had needed or wanted she had just taken. Then later Krillin had given her everything she had needed so she had never had to think about the cost or worry about paying for anything. A frown creased her brow as she tried to understand what was going on. Oh well she would just have to try to cut back a bit as Matty had asked. He stuck his head around the door. "I'm off to bed." he said, "Goodnight." She looked up "Night" she replied. There seemed to be an uneasy silence between them. He turned and was gone. She was left alone to ponder on the problem at hand.
Just what was this obsession that these humans had with money? She
searched her memory banks but couldn't find much information on the
monetary system and its workings. She sighed. "Oh well, might
as well go to bed myself." she thought. She turned off the TV
and went through to her bedroom. Matty lay on his back staring at the ceiling. He felt awful, he knew that Juuhachigou loved to shop but he had to face facts. He just couldn't support this type of spending on his wage. He hoped she understood. He hadn't done a very good job of explaining to her. He rolled over, he would try to explain better tomorrow. He drifted off into a troubled sleep. * 4 weeks later * Things seemed to have settled down a bit with Juuhachigou not shopping as much. There still appeared to be an uneasy feeling in the air from time to time that Matty could sense but as yet he hadn't had the time to confront it. It was that day in the month again when Matty sat down to work out his finances. As he waded through the various bills matching the cheque book with the statement & receipts so his frustration & anger began to increase. He seemed to be going nowhere fast. According to his calculations, they were just managing to keep their heads above water. He looked at the credit card statement. "Damn!" he muttered and banged his fist down on the table. This was the last straw. Juuhachigou hearing the commotion coming from the study went to investigate. Matty was sitting there cradling his head in his hands. Scattered around him was paper, receipts, chewed pencils, calculator, dirty coffee cup and an air of general despair. She looked at him. "Now what's wrong?" she asked. Matty looked at her trying hard to keep his voice & anger under control. She met his gaze, a tremor of fear ran up her spine. She had never seen Matty like this before. "I thought we agreed to cut back on the credit card spending." he said, his voice unusually calm. "Err.. yes we did." she replied. "Look I did what you asked, I cut back so what's the problem?" she asked. "The problem is that while you may have decreased the number of purchases the cost of the things has almost doubled so we are still in the same situation." he said, having trouble controlling his temper. "But you didn't say anything about the cost." she said. Mattys head snapped up and he stared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry Matty." she managed to stammer. He got up from the table, his eyes glittered dangerously. "I thought you understood, we can't.... I cant afford to live like this." the anger was rising in his voice. "In case you missed it I only earn a certain amount and most of that is taken up in the normal everyday bills such as food, electricity, mortgage, What is known as the essentials." She began to back away slowly. She had never seen him this angry & upset before. His voice continued to rise in volume. "Once the essentials are paid for we have a bit left over for enjoyment, but at the moment you are spending twice that on things we don't really need." She looked nervously at him. "Look here, I said I would cut back and I did. I'm sorry if I didn't understand you properly." "Thats all well & good but I think you should give me back the credit card for a while." he said "Theres no need for that." she replied, her own anger starting to build. "I give you my word that I wont use it till you say so." "I think it would be better if I just cut them up now, then you wont have any temptation." he shouted. "FINE! I'll get it then. Obviously my word means nothing to you or you wouldn't ask again." she stormed back at him. She put her hands on her hips and stared defiantly at him. "At least then I will know where the money is going if the credit card is off the scene." he growled back. "In other words, you dont trust me." she spat. "In a nut shell, I suppose no I dont." he fired back at her. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he regretted them. She stared at him, tears began to well in her eyes.
She brushed them away, she wouldn't let him see her cry. "Oh Juuhachigou, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." he said. She pulled herself up. "You must have meant it being as you said it. I don't know what it is you want from me but I said I would stop spending. You have to learn to trust me Matty." her voice was suprisingly steady. She continued.... "I'm not about to stay here and be abused. When you sort yourself out then let me know." She turned on her heel and walked out. Matty stood there & watched her go. Suddenly all his anger & frustration rose to the surface, he snapped. "Okay! Go then! See if I care, You wont get far!" he shouted after her. His words cut through her heart like a knife, the tears fell like rain... she ran, out of the door & down the street, his words still ringing in her ears..... "See if I care." She took to the sky flying god knows where. Her tears
blinded her and she lost all sense of direction. She flew on until
exhausted she fell to the ground. She sat on a rock in the mountains
and holding her head in her hands she sobbed until there were no more
tears left to shed. She stared at the sky through red rimmed eyes.
"Why? Oh why?" she asked the clouds. Life was so unfair,
everything she cared about had either been taken from her or turned
against her. Was she always destined to be reminded of her past, of
the horrid things she had done. Hadn't she suffered enough? When was
she going to be able to enjoy freedom & happiness? "Why!!!!?"
she screamed . Matty had calmed down and was once again in control. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. What a mess he had made of things. Now she had gone and it was all his fault. His heart broke at the thought of the harsh words they had exchanged. "You certainly handled that one really well Matty old son." he chastised himself. He had to find her and apologise, he just hoped that it wasn't too late. That she would forgive him. Ohh why couldn't he learn to keep his temper under control? What was the point of having money anyway if she wasn't around to spend it on. He jolted with this thought. What if she had left him for good? That thought hit hard, he grabbed his car keys & jacket and went outside to the car to look for her.
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