OK, this is my (hopefully realistic) version of the Bulma/Vegeta get together. I have tried really hard to follow the actual storyline and keep all the characters IN CHARACTER. (I really hate it when writers make Vegeta all romantic and mushy, HE'S NOT LIKE THAT!) Well anyway, hope you all enjoy this. If I get enough positive feedback, I may continue the story.



I, of course, do not own Dragonball Z.



It Had to be YOU!



Bulma had first seen Vegeta on Namack, but had been too concerned about self-preservation to pay too much attention. When everyone was wished back to Earth, safe and sound, she found herself inexplicably drawn to him. He was so arrogant and selfish, but at the same time, seemed so lonely and lost. She offered him a place to stay, and he surprisingly took it. But he would insult her, yell at her, smirk at her, and ignore her. No one did that to Bulma and came away unscathed. She always got her way. Vegeta wouldn't give an inch. This further fueled her fascination with him.



Vegeta on the other hand, was confounded how this silly weak earthling female thought she could command him around and talk down to him, like she did. He'd tried to kill her friends, and she was being nice to him, even offering him a place to stay. He could annihilate her with absolutely no effort, but yet she wasn't afraid of him. He was amused that he could make her angry, and would deliberately push her buttons to get a rise out of her. He had more important things to worry about than a stupid earth woman, though. He had to get stronger and beat Kakkarot! He would use this woman and her father to help him. Vegeta was used to getting his way as well.



Bulma was lonely. With everyone training so hard for the coming of the androids, Bulma was left with nothing to do and no one of any real interest to talk to. Yamcha was there, but he was busy training as well, and things between them really hadn't been the same since he had been wished back this last time, anyway. Bulma found herself thinking about Vegeta more and more, even though he either ignored her or insulted her.



Bulma was getting sick of Vegeta's aloofness. The only time he paid her any mind, was to insult her or do something else to make her mad. She would rail and scream and throw things. Sometimes he would yell back, but most of the time he would just stand there and smirk at her. That just further infuriated her, but he would just turn away and go to the gravity capsule to train, where she couldn't get to him. Bulma decided she was going to try a different tactic to get his attention.



Bulma always thought she was beautiful, but now she was going to be drop dead gorgeous! She started dressing more provocatively, in very short shorts or skirts and low cut blouses. Her perm had finally grown out, and she wore her hair long and loose. She took every opportunity she could to saunter past him, throwing flirtatious sidelong glances in his direction, twirling her long hair between her fingers. While Vegeta pretended not to pay any attention to her, Bulma noticed that his eyes would linger on her a little longer than they would before.



*****



One hot day, at lunch, when she'd actually managed to get Vegeta to eat with her, Yamcha and her parents outside on the deck, Bulma decided it would be fun to see if she could "interrupt" Vegeta's feeding frenzy. She took an ice cube out of her glass of iced tea and proceeded to seductively rub it on her chest and neck. "Oh, it's so hot!", she complained in a sultry voice, pointedly staring at Vegeta, sitting across from her.



Vegeta briefly looked up from his food and continued on the hamburger he was devouring, when he did a double take, with the hamburger poised mid-bite, to drop jaw and stare at her.



Yamcha, shocked, eyes wide and jaw on the floor, gaped at them. Her mother giggled, and her father continued eating not even aware of what was going on.



Vegeta finally aware of what he was doing, abruptly stands up, throws the hamburger on the plate, turns away and flies off.



Yamcha's spell of gawking is broken with the departure of Vegeta, turned to Bulma. "What the hell was that all about!" he yelled.



"What are you talking about Yamcha? I was hot, and that ice cube felt good!" Bulma replied.



Yamcha, disgusted, throws his napkin down, and leaves.



"Gee, what's his problem!" Bulma says to no one in particular.



"Huh?" Dr. Briefs looks up suddenly, blinking his eyes in confusion for a moment, before returning to his food.



"Oh, I think you made Yamcha jealous." Mrs. Briefs titters, "Vegeta is so handsome.", she titters some more before she returns to her food as well.



Bulma just smiles to herself, and thinks, 'It's working!'



*****



Yamcha had been noticing for a while that Bulma was acting strangely. She had told him jokingly that she thought Vegeta was cute and that she had a dream about him. He, of course, was momentarily jealous and angry, but then figured she was just trying to make him jealous to get him to pay more attention to her, so he had just shrugged it off. But this little escapade she pulled at lunch was just too much! Yamcha couldn't ignore Bulma's obvious attraction to that saiyan jerk any more. He decided, after dinner that night, he was going to confront her.



Bulma was out on the deck pretending to read a book, while she was really keeping an eye on the gravity capsule, where Vegeta had holed himself up in ever since the little incident at lunch, not even emerging for dinner. Yamcha spotted her and came out and sat next to her.



"Bulma, we need to talk." Yamcha said gravely.



"Huh! Oh it's you Yamcha! What's up." Bulma replied, a little startled.



"Um, ah, well...I've noticed that you've been acting strangely with Vegeta around for a while now. I don't know if your trying to make me jealous, or if you are really attracted to that jerk, but I can't take it anymore." Yamcha sat quietly, waiting for her reaction.



"Oh, Yamcha," she sighed. "I guess we really do need to talk." she said, sadly.



"Hey babe, don't look so glum. I'm sure it's nothing we can't work out!" he said in a cheery tone with his hand behind his head.



"Well Yamcha, I've been thinking.... I think it might be best if we don't see each other for a while." Yamcha looked stunned, but Bulma continued. "We've been together for a long time, and our relationship just really isn't going anywhere. I really care about you Yamcha, and I don't ever want to lose your friendship, but this just isn't going to work out. I'm sorry."



Yamcha looked crushed, but composed himself after a few moments. "Yeah, I guess you're right Bulma. I've noticed that we have been growing distant, but kept denying it. I don't want to lose your friendship either, but I can't stay here and watch you flirt with that asshole. I don't know if you are seriously interested in Vegeta or not, but, please be careful Bulma. I don't want you to get hurt." Yamcha paused, then continued. "I'm going to pack up and leave tonight. I've been thinking about going over to Master Roshi's to train, anyway."



"I understand, Yamcha. I just want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. I know you need to get away for a while, but I hope you'll come back and visit." Bulma looked up searchingly into his eyes.



"Don't worry Bulma, we will always be friends... and I will come back to visit." Yamcha stood up, turning away to walk back into the house.



"Yamcha!" she blurted. Yamcha stopped walking and turned his head to look at her. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." Bulma continued. Yamcha smiled sadly at her, and walked through the door.



Bulma sat there in the setting sun feeling very sad. 'Oh Yamcha!' she thought, 'I never meant to hurt you. I didn't even totally realize what I was feeling and what I really wanted until now. I never meant for it to end like this. I'm so sorry!' Bulma had a lot to sort out in her mind and continued to sit there in deep thought until late in the night.



*****



It was early afternoon before Bulma woke up. Even with all the sleep she had gotten, she still felt emotionally exhausted from the night before. Even so, she knew she had done the right thing. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Yamcha further. She dragged herself out of bed, threw on a t-shirt and pair of shorts and proceeded down stairs to a much needed cup of coffee.



When she entered the kitchen, she found Vegeta seated at the table devouring a monstrous sandwich. "I see the loud mouthed woman has finally decided to grace us with her presence!" Vegeta smirked between bites.

"Oh, just shut up! I'm not in the mood for your crap, right now!" Bulma snapped back, while starting the coffee maker.



"Oh really." Vegeta replied. "Bad night breaking up with the weak earthling?"



"Huh! Hey! How did you know that!" Bulma caught off guard, shouted back.



"After the performance you gave yesterday afternoon, I figured it was only a matter of time before you either came to your senses, or that weakling grew some balls." Vegeta retorted.



Bulma blushed 10 shades of red. "Uh, um, I ..I don't know what you're talking about Vegeta." Bulma managed to stammer out.



Vegeta, now finished with his sandwich, stood up and gave her a menacing look. "I see." he said, then walked out the door.



'Oh Kami!' Bulma thought 'What have I gotten myself into?! Trying to get Vegeta's attention may not have been the best thing to do!' Bulma grabbed a coffee cup, poured herself some coffee, and slumped into a kitchen chair, resolving to herself she was going to leave Vegeta alone for a while.



*****



Vegeta was in the gravity capsule, taking a short break from training. He'd been mulling over Bulma's strange behavior the last few weeks. 'That crazy woman is acting like she wants to mate with me! She should know better than to think a saiyan prince would stoop so low as to mate with an inferior race! Kakkarot was a fool for mating with that stupid earth woman. She's even more annoying than Bulma!' Vegeta thought angrily. 'But Kakkarot's brat is so strong! Maybe the blending of races is not such a devastating thing. The Prince of all Saiyans should have a son to carry on the superiority of my race, not that idiot Kakkarot... but I can't degrade myself or my heritage by sporting with an earth woman...or can I? Bulma acts much like a saiyan woman, with her audacity and forwardness.' Vegeta ponders for a while, finally resolving the conflict in his mind. 'There is certainly no harm in finding a diversion while I train to reach Super Saiyan, to beat Kakkarot and destroy the androids. I will toy with the woman as she has toyed with me!' Vegeta smirked, deciding he needed an afternoon snack, to get him through his evening training.



Vegeta exited the gravity capsule, walking across the grass in the general direction of the kitchen, when he spotted Bulma at the compounds' in-ground pool. Bulma was laying on a raft, wearing a one piece swimsuit (she was taking her resolve not to draw any more attention from Vegeta very seriously, and opted not to wear a skimpy bikini) and reading a book, when she noticed a sudden absence of the sun. Bulma looked up to see the cause of the shadow and found Vegeta standing at the edge of the pool.



"Oh!" Bulma, said a little startled. "It's you Vegeta. Hey you look a little hot from training, why don't you take a swim to cool off," she said innocently.



"Oh, why not," Vegeta replied as he proceeded to walk around to the entrance of the pool steps, kick off his shoes and step down into the water.



"Hey Vegeta!" Bulma shouted exasperated, "What do you think you're doing?! You can't get in here with your nasty sweaty training clothes!"



"Fine!" Vegeta replied harshly, while a devilish smirk spread across his mouth. "If it bothers you so much woman, I'll take them off." Vegeta proceeds to remove his tank top t-shirt and spandex training shorts and step into the water naked as a jay bird.



Bulma shocked beyond words and turning a bright shade of red could only try and duck behind her book and pretend not to stare at him dumbfounded. 'Oh my freakin' Kami! What is he doing!' Bulma's mind raced. 'He's got an incredibly hot body, but this is way more than I wanted to see right now!'



Vegeta fully submerged in the water now, chuckled to himself. 'I see the woman can't take back what she dishes out.' Vegeta contemplated turning over Bulma's raft, but figured he wouldn't torture her further... for now.



Bulma, seeing that Vegeta was safely under water now, relaxed a bit, turning back to a more becoming shade of pink. She tried to start reading her book again, but couldn't help but notice that Vegeta would not stop staring at her. She grew more and more uncomfortable, until she decided she would just get out. She placed her book on the edge of the pool and slid off the raft into the cool water, and swam over to the pool steps and got out. Vegeta, leaning back against the side of the pool with a smug look on his face, never took his eyes off her, and Bulma could feel his stare burning into her back. She quickly gathered her things and retreated to the relative safety of the pool house.



'What was that all about!' Bulma thought. 'He couldn't keep his eyes off me.' Bulma saw her reflection in the pool house mirror out of the corner of her eye, and took a moment to appraise herself. 'Well I am still good to look at!' Bulma smiled to herself. 'Maybe he is interested in me after all.' She finished changing and decided it was time to head off to the lab to get some work done.



*****



It was late when Bulma finally emerged from the lab. She was so engrossed in what she was working on, that the lateness of day did not register until her stomach began growling with hunger. 'Darn! I missed dinner!' she thought. 'Maybe there's still some leftovers, that is if Vegeta hasn't gotten to them yet! Oh! But wait, I almost forgot that a pint of my favorite ice cream is hidden in the freezer. I've had such a long day, I'll be bad and just have ice cream for dinner.' Bulma headed to the kitchen looking forward to the indulgence.



She arrived at the kitchen, practically drooling in anticipation and began rummaging through the freezer to uncover the hiding place of her ice cream, to only discover it wasn't there. 'Dammit! Someone took my ice cream! I thought I had it hidden well enough, but I guess Vegeta found it anyway.' Bulma sighed in resignation, as she began exploring the contents of the refrigerator to see what she could come up with to eat instead. She settled on some left over mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, prepared herself a plate and headed out to the living room to watch some TV while she ate her rather unsatisfying meal.



Bulma walked into the living room only to discover that Vegeta was already there, sitting on the couch. The TV was on, but he appeared to be only half heartedly watching it, with a disgusted look on his face. "Oh, hey Vegeta! What are you watching?" Bulma said, a bit surprised. Vegeta almost never watch TV.



"Nothing." Vegeta replied disgustedly.



"Well do you mind if I change it then?" Bulma asked.



"If you want to attempt to find something other than worthless crap on that thing, then be my guest. Oh, but I forgot, you Earthlings only watch worthless crap." Vegeta retorted.



Bulma shot him an angry look, but decided against saying anything, sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote off the coffee table and began flipping through the channels before settling on one of those late night comedy shows. She had set her plate on the coffee table until she got settled, and when she was comfortable, leaned down to grab it, when she spied an empty ice cream container under the coffee table, and it was her favorite kind.



Vegeta turned his head at Bulma's sharp intake of breath. "YOU JERK!! I knew it was YOU who ate my ice cream!" Bulma shouted at him.



"I didn't see your name on it." Vegeta retorted with a devilish grin on his face.



Anger contorting her face, Bulma jumped up, couch pillow in hand and began pummeling Vegeta with it, shouting, "HOW DARE YOU!! I open my home to you, feed you, give you state of the art facilities to train in, and all you do is use me, ignore me and act like an insensitive asshole!!" His patience snapping, Vegeta grabbed the pillow out of Bulma's hand and gently (for him) pushed her to a sitting position on the couch. This only infuriated Bulma more, and she jumped back up and tried to pummel him with her fists. Vegeta grabbed her wrists and held them to end her futile attempt to hurt him. Her face was only inches from his. "Am I ignoring you now?" Vegeta asked her. Bulma immediately quieted at his question and close proximity. She could feel the pressure of his hands around her wrists, but he wasn't hurting her.



They stood like that for several moments, in front of the couch, staring at each other, each painfully aware of the close presence of the other. Bulma could feel the attraction crackling like electricity between them and moved closer to press her body against Vegeta. She looked searchingly into his eyes for a brief moment before she planted her lips on his. Vegeta, stunned momentarily at this sudden turn of events, released his grip on Bulma's arms. He quickly regained control, though, pulled Bulma even closer and began hungrily responding to Bulma's kiss. Vegeta was attracted to this annoying and weak female, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Bulma, sensing her arms were now again mobile, wrapped them around Vegeta's neck and continued her assault. Their passionate frenzy continued like this for several moments until Vegeta picked her up and carried her off to her room.



*****



Bulma woke late in the morning with the sun in her eyes. She was momentarily blinded and disoriented until she rolled over to escape the morning sun's harsh glare and saw the rumpled side of her bed that Vegeta had occupied not so long ago. The events of the previous evening came rushing back to her, and she smiled in remembrance. She rose from the bed, stretching languidly and taking stock of the soreness of her body from last nights exertions. Vegeta was surprisingly gentle for how strong he was, but the urgency of their need last night still left some bruises. 'Oh well,' Bulma thought, smiling wickedly, 'last night was certainly worth the pain of today. I don't think Vegeta escaped unscathed either.' Bulma took a long hot shower, got dressed and headed to the kitchen for some food. She was ravenously hungry this morning, realizing that her dinner was left forgotten on the coffee table last night.



When Bulma entered the kitchen, Vegeta was there raiding the refrigerator.



"Good, you're just in time to make me some lunch, woman." Vegeta commanded.



Bulma's contented smile was quickly wiped off her face and replaced with an angry scowl. "Look ASSHOLE! You are perfectly capable of making your OWN food! And I thought after last night, you would at least be more considerate to me!" Bulma yelled, slamming the bowl for her cereal on the counter.



"Regardless of what has transpired between us, Bulma, I am still the Prince of all Saiyans, and I will do as I please." Vegeta replied, smirking all the while.



Hunger over-riding her anger, Bulma decided to ignore him and fix herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Vegeta hadn't really expected Bulma to make him anything to eat, he was just trying to get a rise out of her, as usual. He returned to his exploration of the refrigerator and settled on a whole roasted chicken. (Mrs. Briefs always made triple of what they would normally have for dinner, for Vegeta's Saiyan appetite) He set the chicken on the counter and walked up behind Bulma where she was sitting at the table. She could feel his presence behind her, but chose to continue ignoring him. "I find you to be much more agreeable to my senses when you are angry. Be ready for me tonight." Vegeta spoke softly to her. Bulma, only momentarily stunned, turned to throw her nearly empty cereal bowl at him, only to find he wasn't there. "Jerk! We'll see about that!" she shouted, hoping he would hear. Vegeta, just outside the kitchen door, chuckled to himself. "Yes. We will see." He said to himself, walking to the gravity capsule with the chicken in hand.



Bulma sighed, then smiled. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' She thought, 'And I wouldn't change a thing!' Bulma got up from the table, put her bowl and spoon in the sink, grabbed a soda from the fridge and headed off to the lab to start her day.







FIN