TITLE: It was meant to be?
AUTHOR : TheFlagBearer (edited by KawaiiTenshi)
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: Some language.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own DBZ, or any of the characters.
SUMMARY: Bulma/Vegeta pairing and get-together.
NOTES: This is actually KawaiiTenshi posting this for TheFlagBearer. Enjoy it! It's great!
"What is that woman's problem?" Vegeta was thinking to himself as he easily pushed himself up with one finger (under the strain of 300 times gravity). "I don't understand why she won't just leave me alone! It's not as if she's my mother." The computer's voice in Dr. Brief's gravity room announced that the gravity level was now 350 times that of earth's. Under the heightened strain, Vegeta began to sweat. That didn't stop him, however, from standing up and performing several flawless back handsprings.
Suddenly, the gravity dropped to normal and Vegeta, caught off guard by his lighter weight, flew up and hit his head on the ceiling. After descending back to the ground, Vegeta saw that Bulma had shut off the gravity generator and had entered the room holding a tray of lemonade.
"Dammit Woman! You've interrupted my training! And for what, some miserable juice drink?"
"Oh shut up Vegeta! If you don't drink something you'll dehydrate yourself. What good will all this training be if you're stuck in a hospital bed when the Androids come?"
"Ha! Foolish, really. That could not possibly happen. I'm the strongest person on this miserable planet. After all this training, even your precious Kakarot won't hold a candle to me."
"Is that so? Well it seems to me that Goku can become a Super Saiyan and somebody we know can't...who was that again? Oh that's right, it was you."
"I will be a Super Saiyan soon enough! Then I can show Kakarot and this entire planet who the true prince of all Saiyans really is."
"Yeah, blabady blah blah blah. 'I'll show this whole planet who the prince of all Saiyans is' you make me wanna puke with a pathetic line like that!"
"Damn you woman! Get out of my face!" Bulma placed the tray onto the only piece of furniture in the room - a heavy steel table that was bolted to the floor - and left the room. As soon as the door was shut behind her, the gravity began to gradually move back up to the 350 times level. And gradually, under it's own wait, the glass and pitcher that the lemonade was in began to crack and then break. The juice left dents in the heavy table as it splashed to the floor.
*****
Several weeks had gone by and the situation was getting steadily worse with Bulma. Every day had some new challenge she seemed to present to him. Of course, it wasn't as if she was the only problem. Vegeta himself was extremely demanding. He expected all his meals to be exactly on time and he wanted the water in his bath to be exactly the right temperature. Their conflict was coming to a head when she burst into the house one day, eyes filled with tears. He didn't know how to react. Of course he'd seen people cry before - either out of physical pain he had inflicted or out of emotional pain at having seen a loved one perish - but he wasn't aware of anyone dying and she didn't seem to be injured. What could be her problem? Just then Yamcha burst into the house, calling her name.
"What is her problem?" Vegeta scoffed at the young fighter.
"You- you caused this. She had to spend all of time cooking for you and cleaning for you. We didn't even get to spend any time together! I told her it was you or me and she didn't want to kick you out on your ass, so I get the short end."
Suddenly Vegeta felt more vulnerable than he'd felt in his entire life. It was an odd feeling as he knew that Yamcha posed no physical harm to him - Vegeta could snap the weakling like a twig - but it was his words: "she didn't want to kick you out on your ass". Did one human woman have the power to effectively immobilize possibly the most powerful being in the universe simply by not allowing him a place to sleep and food to eat? Ridiculous! he thought. But why was he dwelling over it so?
*****
About a week later Yamcha stopped by the Brief homestead carrying a beautiful new girlfriend on his arm. When Bulma saw this, she was infuriated.
"What in the Hell do you think you are doing?"
"Well, it's not like we're dating any more..."
"You moron! That doesn't mean-"
"Wait a minute Bulma." Yamcha turned toward his date, "Why don't you go in and meet Mrs. Brief? This might take a minute."
"Okay!" the girl replied rather shallowly.
"Look, Bulma, I didn't think you would be so jealous about this. I only came over to ask if I could...maybe...borrow a few bucks?"
"Me? Jealous? I am so not jealous!" Just then Vegeta walked out the door on his way to the gravity room. "I'll show you just how not jealous I am!" Bulma reached up, put her arms around Vegeta's neck, and planted his lips with a passionate kiss. Before he could pull away, she let go and sauntered into the kitchen. As the look of surprise on Vegeta's face was gradually shifting to one of feigned disgust, Yamcha walked up and punched him in the chin.
"You ass! She's my girl!" Yamcha was glad that Vegeta was too shocked by the whole situation to swing back, and he quickly jumped in his car and drove away, leaving his date behind.
*****
Vegeta slowly walked back into the house, forgetting all about his training for the day. His only thought was of that kiss. It was the first time he'd ever kissed a human, and for that matter, anybody. He didn't necessarily like it, but he wasn't sure that he hated it either. Bulma was standing in the kitchen when he walked in; she had an excited look on her face.
"So? What did he say? Did he leave?"
"H-he
punched me..."
"What? That idiot! You didn't kill him did you?" Bulma ran out the door, apparently looking for a dead body or something. She found nothing. "Where is he?"
"He left..."
"What's wrong with you all of a sudden? ...Wait, it wasn't that kiss was it? Saiyans don't get like incredibly sick or something when humans kiss them do they? No, that can't be right; after all Goku and Chi-chi have a kid together. Wait- no way...you liked it didn't you?"
"What?!"
"Haha! You did! You liked it!"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Then what?"
"If you must know, I've just never been kissed by anyone before. I was a little shocked."
"That was your first kiss? I thought you were, like, 50?"
"Well, we Saiyans aren't exactly known for our affection- w- this is none of your concern." He stormed out of the room.
A smile spread across Bulma's face as she whispered to herself "He liked it!" Meanwhile, on his way to the gravity room, Vegeta let the smile show. He really had liked it.
*****
The next few days were pretty awkward for Vegeta and Bulma. They mostly tried to avoid each other, thus solving their problem of each annoying the other (at least temporarily). When they had to come in contact with each other, there was little talking. One day Mrs. Brief got so fed up with the awkward silence that she made them sit down with a table full of food and talk about things. It was to no avail: Vegeta just stuffed himself silly and Bulma pretended she was going to be sick at the sight; she promptly excused herself.
Eventually, though, things were getting back to normal: Bulma bugging Vegeta about his training and Vegeta bugging Bulma about everything else. That all changed, however, one day when Yamcha decided to "drop by" again. Apparently he believed that Bulma and Vegeta were sleeping together, and he was three sheets to the wind when he stopped in and began screaming at Vegeta while the Saiyan was training.
"You think you're hot, don't you Veggie-boy?"
"Are you insane?" Vegeta replied, not really meaning Yamcha any harm because he was too wrapped up in his preparation for the Androids.
"No. I'm sick of you two walking around like you mean the world to each other-"
"What are you talking about? I've barely talked to that woman for the past week. She annoys the Hell out of me."
Yamcha began sobbing, "She used to annoy the Hell outta me. I want that back. I'm gonna get that back." Yamcha began to increase his power level.
"You are insane. I'm warning you that if you try anything tricky on me I will cut you down like the rat that you are." It was too late: one of Yamcha's guided energy blasts was flying right at Vegeta's head. Using super speed, Vegeta dodged the energy and landed a punch right into the drunk man's stomach. Yamcha went down with a thud. Assuming Yamcha wouldn't be up for a while, Vegeta began to walk to the showers. He was surprised by another of Yamcha's blasts right into his back. So surprised, in fact, that when the dust cleared, Vegeta lay on his stomach trying to catch his breath. The fight was on now. He quickly got up and moved toward Yamcha, who was too drunk to react. A swift kick to the back sent Yamcha sprawling, but the young fighter somehow managed to get up once again.
"Let's see you recover from this. It's a little technique my friend Tien taught me: Solar Flare!!" A bright light flooded the room, and Vegeta was temporarily blinded. It was just enough time for Yamcha to fly up and give the Saiyan a boot of his own. "You may have thought me week because the saiba-men killed me, but I got some great training on King Kai's planet. I'm not just some pushover anymore!" Yamcha hauled off and kicked Vegeta right in the chin. He was attempting another kick when Vegeta grabbed his leg and swung him into the ground. The entire room shuddered on impact.
*****
Bulma's interest was piqued as to what new attacks Vegeta was training himself with, so she decided to take a walk down to the weight room. On the way there, she nearly fell over as the floor underneath hear moaned under the strain of some powerful force. Concerned, Bulma ran the rest of the way to the weight room, only to find Yamcha crumpled in a heap on the floor and Vegeta no where in sight.
After a quick check to see that her ex-boyfriend was still alive (which he was - just barely) Bulma began her search for who she knew was the culprit. Not completely to her surprise, steam was entering the weight room from the direction of the showers. In a fit of anger, Bulma burst into the shower room to find Vegeta, cleaning himself of the day's training. He looked over and saw her.
"What do you want?"
"Y- y- you're naked..."
"And? You've never seen a naked man before?"
"Well, there was Goku...and of course Yamcha...but..."
"But what?"
"You really have no inhibitions, do you? You're just like Goku. Well, not quite like Goku..." Bulma was beginning to sweat.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. I, uh, I gotta go." She ran out of the room and back into the weight room. It was here that she found Yamcha still crumpled on the floor, but he appeared to be conscious. "Can you get up?" She asked him.
"I- I feel like I got hit by a freight train..."
"If that had happened you would probably be in better shape than this. Come on. I think I've got a senzu bean from Korin upstairs."
Yamcha began to thank her and apologize for his mistakes, but he was interrupted by a surge of vomit, which landed mostly on Bulma.
When they had left the room, Vegeta stepped into the weight room. He'd heard everything that was said, and for some strange reason, he felt worried. About what, he had no clue, but he was almost certain that it had something to do with Bulma. Was he falling in love with her? The thought concerned him more than ten fights with Frieza could possibly have.
*****
When Vegeta walked upstairs he found that Bulma had recovered from the awe of seeing him naked, and apparently she was mad as Hell at his beating up Yamcha.
"He shot at me first! Was I not supposed to defend myself?" he demanded.
"Well we all know that you're way stronger than Yamcha. You have no excuse for beating him the way you did."
Apparently the senzu beans work at sobering a person too, as the recovered Yamcha no longer slurred his words when he yelled "Hey! I'm standing right here! Are you calling me weak?"
"No I'm not calling you weak, but you are weaker than Vegeta by far." Bulma replied.
"Well, I can't be with a woman who thinks I'm a weakling-"
"Who ever said we were back together? You kind of wrecked your chances of that when you showed up with that- that- that skank!"
Vegeta was getting restless. "I've heard just about enough of this crap. I'm leaving."
"Oh no you don't!" both Yamcha and Bulma yelled.
"What have I got to do with your love problems?" he wanted to know.
"Everything," Bulma said, "he broke up with me because I was spending too much time with you!"
"Yeah," Yamcha agreed, "and then she made matters worse by kissing you the other day."
"I didn't ask her to kiss me! I didn't even want her to kiss me!"
"What?! You said you liked it!" Bulma was indignant.
"I said no such thing! You make things up in your head, Woman!"
"You liked it?!" Yamcha screamed, looking like he was going to punch Vegeta again. Remembering what happened last time, he backed down, but he continued yelling. "If I weren't so sick of looking at her face, I'd hit you so hard."
"You're a liar, pansy!" Vegeta retorted.
"Did you like it? I liked it-" Bulma was saying.
"You WHAT?!" Yamcha screamed.
"You WHAT?!" Vegeta cried.
"-a little."
"Oh this is rich," Yamcha began. "go ahead and fall in love with a killer, Bulma. A killer! You're insane!"
"Hey, who said I was in love with him?"
"You liked his kiss!"
"I did not kiss her! She kissed me!"
"Butt out!" Bulma and Yamcha screamed.
This was the chance Vegeta was looking for, so he simply walked out of the room, following their orders. They continued yelling at each other for a few hours, until Yamcha stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. A crying Bulma ran toward her room. She was so upset that she ran right into Vegeta's chest, blubbering all the time. Instinctively, Vegeta grabbed Bulma around the shoulders so she didn't fall over. Without even realizing who was holding her, she buried her face into Vegeta's chest and continued sobbing. Not really knowing what to do, he tried to pat her back, but he hit a little too hard and her body shook violently. Too wrapped up in the moment to be in any sort of pain, Bulma just laughed loudly, and Vegeta joined her. It was the first time she'd heard him laugh at something in a non-sadistic way.
The two laughed for a few more minutes and then Vegeta helped Bulma get to her room and sit on her bed. When they were both sat down, he looked deeply into her eyes and had to admit to himself that he was in love. She looked back at him with her big blue eyes and they fell into each other's arms, kissing passionately. The next morning Vegeta rolled over and stared deeply into the sleeping face of the woman he loved. She opened her eyes and stared back. They stayed that way for a half-hour.
*****
"Mrs. Brief, is Bulma in her room right now?" Yamcha asked.
"I think so. Do you want some breakfast honey?"
"No thank you. I have to go apologize to her for being such a pig."
"Okay. You know the way."
"Thanks." Yamcha made his way down the hall towards Bulma's bedroom. Outside her door, he prepared himself for what he was going to say: "Bulma, I'm sorry. Can you forgive me? I picked this flower just for you. (Yeah, that's what I'll say.)" He opened her door and held out the flower. "Bulma, I- What the Hell is going on here!"
Surprised and naked, Bulma fell out of the bed and pulled the sheet around her. "This isn't what it looks like-"
"That's good, 'cause it looks like you two slept together last night."
"Yamcha, I-"
"Save it. We're done, Bulma." Yamcha walked out of the room.
"Why did he not try to attack me as usual?" Vegeta asked.
"He's really hurt this time. Oh, what have we done Vegeta?"
"Why do you care? I thought you loved me now."
"I do, but Yamcha's my friend. I feel really bad. Maybe you should go talk to him..."
"What would I say? He probably hates me."
"Well I'm going to assume that he'll have nothing to do with me-"
"Fine, I'll go." Vegeta pulled on his clothes and ran after Yamcha.
Outside, Vegeta stopped Yamcha from hopping in his car. "What is your problem, Yamcha? It's not as if you weren't with another woman just a week ago."
"I don't know- maybe you're not the person I should be speaking to about this."
"She sent me out here, so you're going to talk." Vegeta forcefully pushed Yamcha toward the stairs and made him sit.
"I guess I hoped that if I apologized to her, she'd get to love me again."
"Well that was foolish."
"What?"
"How many times would I have to apologize before you forgave me for everything I've done?"
"But...you've never apologized."
"Good point."
"Just tell me something," Yamcha said, "do you love her?" Vegeta moved his gaze quickly toward the ground. He'd never admitted his feelings to anyone before, and no he'd have to do it to Bulma and Yamcha. "Answer me. 'Cause if you don't truly love her, then you do not deserve her."
"I do."
*****
Soon after, Yamcha stopped calling and faced the facts: he'd lost the woman he loved for the last time. It was now about three weeks after their first night together. Everything seemed to be going great with the two of them, and Vegeta had even gotten a little training in after all the sleepless nights. One day, however, Bulma dropped a bombshell:
"Vegeta, I think you should sit down." He did. "Vegeta, I'm pregnant-"
"WHAT?!"
"I know this complicates things a little, but I think-"
"I don't care what you think, Woman! How could you do this to me? How can I have a child and train for the Androids? Tell me!"
"Don't yell, Vegeta, I'm standing right here!"
"Don't tell me my way, Woman!"
"Why are you acting like this? I thought it would be nice to finally have a family. We can have the wedding-"
"Wedding? You're kidding. There will be no wedding, Woman. Not for me, and definitely not for you!"
"So what are you going to do, just abandon us? You can't run from all your problems! This isn't even a problem! We can be happy together."
"I think not! I can't take this right now, Woman! Why did you do this to me?"
"I did this to you? That's rich! It seems to me it was you doing all the 'doing' in this situation."
"I'm leaving!"
"W-what? What will I do without you? I didn't mean what I said, Vegeta, really!"
"If you need me, which I suggest you don't, I'll be at Kami's place. I can't look at you right now." And he left. Bulma fell onto her knees in a flood of tears. As he flew toward Kami's home in the sky, tears fell from the eyes of a man that had never known such pain as leaving the woman he loved. He didn't really understand why he reacted the way he did, but once he had, he couldn't turn back. Arrogance; it was his biggest flaw.
*****
About eight months later, Yamcha came by for the first time since his "pep talk" with Vegeta. He was, of course, staying at Kame House with Master Roshi and Krillin, and he came back to Bulma's to make sure Vegeta was still being straight with Bulma. He wasn't happy to find Vegeta had gone AWOL.
"That bastard! How could he leave you here, pregnant?"
"He'll come around, Yamcha. But for now, it's nice to have someone who cares."
"Of course I care... I- I still love you, Bulma. I know that I can't be with you, but I will always love you."
"Thanks, Yamcha. You don't know how good that made me feel." Just then, Bulma felt a strange pressure in her belly, and an unfamiliar, but recognizable sensation overcame her. "Yamcha - I- I think my water just broke!"
"OH MY GOD!! What do I do? She's gonna have the baby now, what do I do?!"
"Hey! First off, you should probably calm down. Then you can help me into your car and drive me to the hospital. It's that simple."
"Okay. I can do this. Drive to the hospital and help you into the car."
"Well- good enough...Listen, I have a bag packed already. It's in my closet. Can you grab that in put it in the car? Can you handle that? I'll get myself in the car so you don't leave me here."
"Okay." Yamcha ran off. When she was in the car, Bulma picked up her cell phone and made a few calls. First Kame House, so Master Roshi, Krillin, Turtle, Oolong, and hopefully Tien and Chiaotzu could make it to the hospital. Then she called up Goku. After a short conversation, he had teleported over to her using his "instant transmission" technique.
"Hi Bulma! How you doing?"
"Goku, where is everyone?"
"Well, Piccolo is driving Chi-chi and Gohan over here so they can pick up your parents and bring them to the hospital."
"Oh, good thinking."
"Unfortunately, the Ox King can't make it."
"That's okay. Listen, will you go get Yamcha's head out of his ass and bring him and my bag down here? I have to make one more call."
"Sure thing." With a strange buzz and a flash, Goku had teleported into the house.
"You could have walked in ya know!" Bulma called after him. She then got serious and dialed the number to Mister Popo's telephone line up at Kami's place.
*****
After three hours of labor, Bulma held in her hands a little boy. He had a little bit of purple hair (half-Saiyan hair could change, unlike full Saiyan) and deep blue eyes. Bulma was so proud of him. She was disappointed, however, that his father never showed up to see him.
"Bulma," Yamcha said, "This may not be of much consolation, but I'm here for whatever you need."
"Yeah." Everyone agreed.
"I'll baby-sit anytime you want, Bulma." Chi-chi put in.
"And I'll help," Gohan added. He seemed to have taken a real liking to the little boy. "So what are you going to name him?"
"Well, I don't know. I thought Vegeta would want to help in that respect, but I guess we can't leave him nameless until his Daddy shows up. How about...Trunks." The baby giggled slightly. Goku also laughed inwardly as he knew exactly what she was going to say (having met mirai-Trunks about a year earlier). "Yeah...my little Trunks. Thank you guys. All of you. Especially you, Yamcha." She reached up and gave her ex-boyfriend a hug. It was at that moment that Vegeta walked in the door.
Having swallowed his pride, Vegeta was preparing himself to apologize to Bulma and ask for forgiveness. He opened the door..."Bulma, I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner-"... and he saw her hugging Yamcha. Suddenly, all the rage he'd ever held in his body released itself and he rushed toward Yamcha, looking for blood.
*****
Luckily Goku was there, as he grabbed a hold on Vegeta's shirt and instant transmitted the two of them to a place far away from the hospital.
"Bring me back there, Kakarot! I don't want to fight you right now. I'm going to kill that rat!"
"Well that rat happens to be a good friend of mine, so if you want to kill him, you'll have to go through me first."
Suddenly something within Vegeta clicked. He knew that Goku was enormously powerful - more so than himself. What's more, he knew that he'd have to exceed Goku's power if he were to live with himself. So it was part because of that and part because of the pain he felt when he thought about Bulma and Yamcha when he decided to leave earth that day. He didn't know if he'd ever come back. But he pushed Goku's arm off of his own and flew back to Bulma's house. There he grabbed a spaceship capsule and his Saiyan battle. He went into the yard, opened the capsule, climbed into the ship, and flew from earth, never looking back.
Goku returned to the hospital Vegeta-less, and everyone immediately started questioning him. He explained that Vegeta himself had never said where he was going, but he could feel that the Saiyan had left the planet. Bulma was particularly upset.
*****
Two more years passed, with still no sign of Vegeta. However, just as mirai-Trunks had predicted, two Androids showed up and began wreaking havoc. Goku never did show symptoms of the heart disease mirai-Trunks had warned him about (at least until later) and the Z fighters all fought the Androids. Mirai-Trunks also returned, warning that the Androids the Z fighters were fighting were not the ones from is future. It was during a fight with one of these killers (#19) that Goku finally began showing signs of his illness (apparently he had picked it up during his time on the planet Yardrat. Weakened, Goku was losing the fight with #19 when Vegeta finally returned from his distant training. He surprised everyone by revealing that he could now become a super-Saiyan, just like Goku and mirai-Trunks. He then killed #19 and chased off #20.
Vegeta had explained that he became a super-Saiyan by ceasing to care about becoming stronger, and while that was not truly a lie, what he never admitted was that he was helped along by the pain he felt at seeing the woman he loved in the arms of another man.
Many years passed, and, still believing Bulma had deceived him that day, Vegeta kept all his emotions inside him. He worked to train little Trunks and witnessed his son become a super-Saiyan, but he still never admitted his love until Trunks was about eight years old, during Vegeta's fight with Majin Buu.
*****
Like it? I hope you did!