I don't own DBZ and never will… tear

You Never Say You Love Me

She was under the covers one night when she started thinking about the one she loved most in the entire world. She was puzzled about why she picked to have him when she was beautiful enough to get any guy she wanted. It never seemed to work out that way, however. It turned out that no man was good enough for her; no one could make her happy, and if they could, they either couldn't keep up with her or give her her space when the need to work on her projects overcame her. There was only one man who put up with her and made the world a comfortable place to be in.

She could feel the warmth radiating off of him to her side. Why was it that he was always so warm? Even in the dead of winter, out in the snow with the wind beating against her, she would run to him thinking that his bulk would shield her from the wind, but when she reached him, there was warmth. When she kissed his cheek playfully, his skin was warm. How was that? Was it that the heat from the three suns of his desert home planet permanently made him hot to the touch?

Bulma turned her head and looked at Vegeta. He was sound asleep, but he still wore the aggressive look on his face that never seemed to go away. He was probably having another bad dream. Not so much a nightmare; he never got those anymore. Bulma could remember the times before they were officially together when she could hear him growling from his room at night. When she went in to check on him, he looked like he was in torment, but his growls were so ferocious that she wasn't sure if she should even go near him. Once they started their relationship his nightmares seemed to lessen until now they were merely bad dreams, unaccompanied by growls or looks of pain. Bulma hoped that one day they would disappear entirely.

She turned on her side and snuggled up against Vegeta and nuzzled her face against his shoulder. He didn't move and she was both glad and miserable about it. She looked up at him again, hoping that he might wake up, but he did not. His face was blank. No crinkled brow, no grimace. She smiled at him and hugged her arms around his arm.

"I love you, Vegeta."

Usually he would look at her and seem to be on the verge of repeating the word back to her whenever she said this to him, but he never did. He didn't say anything anymore. When they first started, when she said these words to him, Vegeta would look at her sharply and demand why she thought she loved him? He thought it was just lust at first, but he knew she was attached to him and it puzzled him, she knew. He would demand answers and all her talk about his mere presence, his strength, his ability to keep up with her, being the only man who could put her in her place without making her feel demeaned, none of these answers were good enough for him, even though they were the truth. Now he just looked at her for a while without malice or love and without questions. It was his mask, the one he gave everyone, except this particular mask could be tweaked to give her special looks that no one else got. It was his way of showing love.

"You never say you love me." She said this as she looked at him. She didn't whisper, but neither did she speak loudly. She wanted him to hear, but she did not want him to get uncomfortable again. He always got uneasy nowadays when she talked about love. She figured that it was because he was allowing his own feelings to surface, a thing which in his days traveling with Frieza could have gotten him killed. He didn't want her to talk about it, so that he wouldn't have to deal with these new emotions within him and floating around him.

"I know you've had a tough life," she continued, "but it's okay to feel the things you feel. No one will think any less of you. In fact, they think less of you now. They think you treat me badly. I know better, but still…everyone is surprised that I have stayed with you for so long. Your little charade of being the ultimate tough guy gets in the way. I know it's your armor, but you can let your guard down every once in a while. Keep training, but you don't have to be so gruff with everyone. Especially me.

She sighed. "And sometimes…maybe just once…you can say the words. Oh, I know that you do love me, Vegeta. I know you do. I can feel it in my soul, I can feel it through our bond…and I can tell from the way you act around me. You do things for me that no one else could ever get you to do. That shows you love me. You bicker with me, but in a way, it's our love song. We both love to argue with each other." She giggled, "You always come up with the best comebacks. Our fights are like when teenagers chase each other and giggle. It's the same thing, isn't it? It's just the way we have fun with each other.

"Hm. You hug me and you kiss me when no one else is around. You've cuddled with me on the couch tons of times. You've sought me out during the day for no apparent reason. You didn't even have broken equipment for me to fix, you just stood there watching me, like you were keeping me company. But I guess when you thought you were there longer than necessary, you pretended to have some complaint or just plain started arguing with me about anything, just to get me to not notice you had been there so long in contented silence. I noticed. I know its true meaning.

His eyes were open now and staring at the ceiling. He continued to look up in the silence, almost waiting for Bulma to continue, so she did.

"But sometimes…even though I know that you love me and I appreciate the little ways you allow yourself to show it, I still need to hear the words. You're mine and I'm yours in every sense. I know you'll never really leave, even when you threaten to. And when you do go off to train, I know you'll come back even if it pisses me off that you left in the first place and you might be gone a long time. The words should not be important, I guess, but they are. You could buy me the world, you could even kiss me in front of all our friends, you could dance with me, but even though all of those things would mean the world to me, none of them are the same as those three little words."

His head turned and their eyes locked. He barely blinked; he waited for her to continue.

She looked back and searched his eyes. The love was there. So was puzzlement and sadness that the best he could give was not enough for her.

"Maybe it's a Saiyan thing, hm? I can't imagine a warrior race being into love. Or maybe it was just all your years on Frieza's ship. The love and kindness that you might have had in you got beaten out or hidden away never to see the light of day again." She touched his cheek.

"What good would touchy-feely emotions do you where you had to be cold and unfeeling? Where would kindness get you? What would happen to the ones you loved if you expressed that love? They would have been used against you to make you do what needed to be done." She sighed. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. I just need to hear the words. You don't even have to say it in front of anyone but me. Sometimes actions just aren't enough.

"Like before when you told me that there is no love between Saiyans without a bond between them. It was a hint that you love me. You have to love me if you have a bond with me, right? But it's not the same for me as it is with you, I guess. Maybe you're content just knowing with your soul, but I can't go my whole life without hearing the words. I just need to hear the words." Her voice broke and she dipped her head down in shame for crying in front of such a strong and proud man.

He nuzzled his nose against hers and kissed her gently and purred deeply. He would never do that for anyone else. If he had still had a tail, he would have wrapped it around her waist and to draw her closer to him. Instead he turned on his side and wrapped his arm around her, continuing to purr more softly. Bulma smiled weakly and buried her head against his chest. She loved the gesture, at all the meaning he held behind his actions, but she was greatly disappointed. Vegeta had his eyes open and he stared out the window from his spot on the bed. He felt her disappointment run through him. He was disappointed too.

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Well, I intended this to be a one shot when I began. I still do I guess, but I'm thinking of making an alternate version or adding another chapter. I know it was a bit short…unusually short for me actually. R&R and it will help me to make my decision!

LadyBranwen2012