Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Dark Blessing: Chapter 1

Juclesia

Bulma awakened in the darkness, the resounding boom of thunder drawing her from her fitful slumber. She lay still beneath the satin sheets, her breathing shallow, her heart pounding rhythmically in her ears. She despised thunder storms, the way they would seemingly fall upon her home in particular; almost like a bad omen. She hated the way the room would flash occasionally with the eerie glow of lightning, casting uncanny shadows among the walls and corners.

And it was even worse, knowing that there was no one beside her to comfort her in her time of childish fright.

She longed to have him with her again, having his arms wrapped around her, or even just knowing that he was there and would protect her when danger would threaten. Instead she lay alone in the capacious bed, inexplicably cold even while under the rich comforters and blankets. It didn't seem right, being alone in a bed that could at least fit three.

They weren't even certain how it'd happened All they knew was that his ki had utterly vanished, meaning only one possible thing: his death.

And already two months had passed.

But how? Goddamn it, how!

Bulma clenched her eyes shut in torment at the painful memory of first learning of his disappearance— at the persistent tendrils that wound mercilessly around her heart.

They had had a bicker the night before he vanished, one that caused her conscience to throb with unbearable guilt. But still, it shouldn't have been enough to provoke him to leave her. For God's sake, they'd had fights all the time, for years; what would have made that particular one any different?

And even if he had, for some peculiar reason, left her, to perhaps cool off in his characteristic way, he would have come back.

Bulma's heart went into a sudden spasm as another boom of deafening thunder rolled what seemed like right overhead, and her eyes snapped open in panic. It was then she felt the familiar tickle in her eyes as tears of either fear or sorrow, or perhaps even both, leaked from the corners.

On their own accord, her knees came up to her chin as she withdrew into a fetal ball, her arms winding tightly around her shins for deceptive comfort. "Vegeta," she whispered hoarsely, her voice constricting from a threatening sob. "What happened to you?"

The few minutes that lulled by after that seemed unreal— time itself seemed unreal, in the duration of her emotional anguish. And before she drifted off into a dreamless sleep . . .

Bulma could have sworn she'd felt someone's eyes upon her.


A/N: please believe me, if you've read any of my other stories, you know I don't write chapters this short. Even though I labeled this as Chapter1, it really is just a prologue. Other chapters will be longer---- much longer. Anyway, please please please please PLEASE REVIEW!