"Not there. No. Uh-uh. Mayb… No, I have a bad feeling about it… Noo…"
"Pepper, if you don't choose a place, we'll end up sitting in the village all day. I want to go here."
"But I have a bad feeling about that place! I wanna go somewhere else!" When Lynn woke up the next day, the bed was empty, the door half-open as Pepper's soft whining drifted in from Tarble's study.
Rubbing sleep out of her eyes, Lynn wandered through the small apartment, leaning against the half-open doorframe of the study as she listened to them argue.
Apparently, they both agreed that they needed to get away for a day, with Lynn. Take her somewhere and just relax.
But they didn't agree on where. Tarble had a place picked out, some spa on the western side of the continent called the Bansho Spa. According to the internet, the waters in the spa could heal any wound.
But Pepper was being difficult. She didn't know where she wanted to go, and was forcing him to look through countless travel websites, searching for the perfect location, and turning down every single one.
…
In the end, after a lot of persuading, and keeping the girls far away from the internet page with the spa's reviews, which all talked about how comfortable the spa was… until they realized that they were being watched by a massive horde of pervy swine-people.
Terrible review page. The spa had a three star review, despite everyone who'd been there claiming that the water had magical healing properties.
I managed to convince the girls to go to the Bansho Spa with me.
Admittedly, I had an ulterior motive behind my choice. As much as I really did want to help Lynn relax, I knew that this was probably the only possible time that I could get a look at that 'blueprint' for the legendary Bansho Fan, carved into one of the spa's walls.
I had an extremely high tolerance for stupidity, but one ogling pervert on the level of where I knew Master Roshi was in the anime was already far beyond what I believed that I could handle. Especially if it was directed at me, or the incredibly innocent Pepper.
An entire town of them? I knew that I'd only be able to go near it so long as everyone I brought with me, including myself, was too young to be their target.
Even now, I made sure to instruct the girls to wear bathing suits under their clothing, even though Saiyans didn't naturally care for modesty. They gave me a few weird looks for that one, but complied. I myself ended up wearing swimming trunks instead of shorts.
Finding the spa based on its address wasn't difficult. Since it was a natural spring, it was more of an out-of-the-way tourist spot than an actual business venture, and entry wasn't restricted in the slightest, so we simply flew right past the pig-town and landed right on the edge of the spring itself.
I'd made sure to carry a bag for our outerwear. We tossed our clothes into the bag and left it on the lip of the spring, in a small little shack that must've been built by the residents of the nearby village.
"It's warm." Lynn said, dipping her toe into one of the pools. I slipped into the opposite side of the same pool at the same time.
She was right. It was warm, but even a normal person wouldn't find it uncomfortable.
Lynn let a sigh of relief out as she slipped all the way into the pool, leaning against the side.
I expected Pepper to slide into the pool somewhere between us, but she did something that surprised me, instead.
"Head back." The younger girl demanded, laying down on her stomach on the stone floor behind Lynn, grabbing the older girl's hair and beginning to play with it. "You need to relax, Lynn. Just… lean back… and relax." Pepper whispered in a soothing voice.
I watched in surprise as Lynn actually listened to the younger girl, heaning her head back as she began to use a breathing technique that sent oxygen to her lower stomach, causing her body to begin lazily floating just below the surface of the water as Pepper began massaging her scalp.
Now, on Earth, the idea of relaxing like this during a spa day was pretty common. Letting one's hair down, getting a scalp massage, just forgetting your worries and hanging out with a friend was normal… But Saiyans simply worked differently.
It had nothing to do with acclimating to life on this planet, or mellowing out, simply relaxing like this wasn't natural for Saiyans. Seeing it happening right in front of me, both of them genuinely content with it, boggled my mind.
There was a good reason that the Saiyans of Planet Vegeta were so incredibly harsh as a people. Comfort didn't really work the same way for us, normally. We were wired to enjoy power, getting stronger, fighting, getting hurt, and hitting others, more than anything else, training was literally in our blood.
Heck, even our hair hated to relax. Hair that actually went down one's back in a sort-of straight manner, like Pepper and Lynn's, was actually pretty rare, and if you looked closely, even their natural hairstyles were sharp and wild, with random tufts sticking out from the tops of their heads in a wild manner that simply wouldn't be abated.
But here they were, humming and laying back as Pepper massaged Lynn's scalp, her feet happily kicking into the air as she laid on her belly, while the older Saiyan girl looked like she was beginning to come close to falling asleep, a soft smile on her face as she floated in the pool like she had zero concerns at the moment.
Now, admittedly, their natural Saiyan nature hadn't gone anywhere. Even as relaxed as they were, their bodies were subconsciously training, if you looked closely.
For example, Pepper's feet. The manner, speed, and distance that she was swinging them at, while it seemed nonchalant, was all perfectly calculated in some back part of her brain. Heel less than an inch from her butt, then fast enough that they can just barely be seen, then her toe taps the stone. Then she waited a beat and did it in reverse, with the other foot's toe tapping the stone.
Or Lynn's breathing, perfectly calculated to give her a specific amount of buoyancy at all times, the rest of her body as relaxed as she could possibly make it. That was also a form of training. But still, the fact was, most Saiyans didn't care for this type of training.
There was combat pleasure, and for those who'd become of age to choose a mate, there was sexual pleasure. Generally cold, unfeeling sexual pleasure. That was all that most Saiyans ever cared to know. Relaxation pleasure? Trust and friendship? Those things didn't come naturally to Saiyans. Even canon Goku struggled with finding pleasure in mundane, 'boring' things like this.
A small smile crossed my face as I leaned back against the rocky edge of the little pool, closing my eyes.
"Mm-mmm!" I was forced to open my eyes when Pepper loudly and pointedly cleared her throat in my direction. Locking eyes with the girl, she tilted her head in a certain direction.
'Seriously?' I mouthed at her.
She nodded. 'This is her day. Do it.'
… I stared her down for a moment in silent protest. She didn't budge.
Realizing that Pepper would never let me live it down if I continued to refuse, I reluctantly started massaging Lynn's feet and ankles, causing Pepper to let out a happy little hum as Lynn looked down in mild shock at being touched, which turned into silent amusement as she realized why I was doing it. Then, she closed her eyes once more, choosing to accept the pampering without complaint.