Catching the Stars
Elflord: Okay, you know what? Before I get interrupted yet once again, I'm going straight to the disclaimer. I don't own DBZ, Bulma, Vegeta, any of the other characters there pertaining . . . actually; I really don't own anything but this fic. Wow . . . that's kind of depressing if you think about it. Never mind.
* * *
The stars shone bright under the cover of the dark sky that night. Bulma looked up and tried to find all of the constellations. It was an old habit of hers that she had had as a child whenever she was sad or lonely or just needed some comfort. And right now, it seemed as though she needed comfort more than ever.
Why she had ever consented to come was a mystery to her. She always hated those huge parties her parents would throw. Oh, yes, the whole gang would be there; Goku, Krillin, Chi-chi, Gohan, Piccolo, Roshi, Yamcha, and then, of course, her mom and dad; but she could never feel like she was really there herself. Sometimes, it felt like she was invisible; that their eyes would pass over and never see her.
It wasn't like they were trying to be mean or disrespectful or anything. She knew that none of her friends would ever try to do that to her. But when they got so happy sometimes, Bulma would just fade into the background. When she had been younger, she'd try to bring attention to herself, just to feel like she wasn't being forgotten. Lately, she'd even given up on that. In a sense, she almost didn't want them to know she wasn't there. It was better to just let them enjoy themselves and not make a nuisance of herself.
At that moment, she felt one tear crawl down her cheek. Deep down, she knew it did hurt her. But what to do? They were all happy the way they were, and it wasn't right for her to ask them to change. Still, she wondered just how much she could take.
Bulma looked around her, suddenly getting the feeling that she wasn't alone. Frightened, she looked back through the window to the dining room, and breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was just sitting at the table, eating and laughing, just like always. For a moment, she thought she really was alone, and in the back of her mind, wished someone really had been sitting there watching her. That is, before she spotted a dark figure sitting on the other end of the veranda.
Even from this distance, Bulma could see the dark, shining eyes, peering up into the night sky. In the moonlight, the silhouette was projected down onto the ground, making a perfect carbon copy of the figure, muscle for muscle, detail for detail. A great bush of black hair floated about it like an aura of mysticism. From one look, Bulma recognized the figure. Prince of the Saiyjins; Vegeta.
For a moment, Bulma stood stock still, afraid to move from her place. She didn't know if he'd noticed her or not, or even if it was a good idea to make herself known. He appeared to be completely oblivious to her presence. He had obviously been watching the stars as well.
But why?
Slowly, she quietly she made her way over to where he was sitting, crouched on the edge of the terrace. When she sat down beside him, he acknowledged her, but he did not look towards her, nor looked away. He just sat in his characteristic, emotionless, thoughtful trance. Bulma quickly realized Vegeta wouldn't want to talk, so, rather uncharacteristically, she took up a conversation herself.
"Why are you sitting out here all alone?" she asked him innocently.
"Same reason you are," he retorted shortly. She waited for a continuation, but none came.
"I came out because I'd rather look at the stars all alone than be in there and be ignored."
"So now you know why I'm here."
"Why so?" she tried to open the subject again.
"I already told you."
"What then?"
"Why you are."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
"Yup."
Under the moonlight, they sat still and silent as the trees rustled over their heads. Bulma still wasn't sure why Vegeta was there, but she felt that she really didn't have to ask. It wasn't much of change from his usual behavior. Vegeta had never been much of a talker.
Even after a several months, nobody trusted Vegeta. Her mom and dad had been kind and let him live for a while in their house, but she could tell by the way they were constantly trying to avoid him that they still greatly feared him. In a sense, Bulma couldn't blame them. After all, Vegeta had been one of Goku's strongest enemies once. It wasn't like he caused anyone harm anymore, but it seemed to her that trouble just followed him. He just wasn't one that you felt comfortable trusting. But deep down inside, Bulma knew they were wrong. He just couldn't be that way.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked suddenly.
There was a long pause. She could hear him draw his breath in firmly. 'Oh no,' she thought to herself. 'Please, just don't be angry.'
"Home."
The response was a simply one word, but it was the whole answer. In that one word, there was so much meaning.
'What are all the places you've been out there?' she thought to herself. 'Did you ever wonder why you're here? Do you want to know? That's what I would as if I had the courage."
"Where is your home?" she asked him innocently. "Can you show me?"
"Somewhere around there," he motioned towards one cluster of stars. "Or at least it used to be, I guess. It sure as hell isn't there now."
"Libra," she muttered to herself. "The scales . . ."
"Say what?" he snapped.
"That's what we call that constellation here on earth," she explained to him. "It's a zodiac sign."
"What in God's name is a zodiac sign?"
"It has to do with birthdays," she explained further.
"How very interesting," he muttered sarcastically.
The conversation died again. Bulma never thought she would want to speak to Vegeta at all. But somehow, now, she wanted more than anything to just get him to smile at her.
"I love the stars," she began to sigh. "When I was a little girl, my parents told me that if I caught a falling star, I could have just one wish, but it could be anything I could ever dream of. At night, I would always watch the stars, just to see the beauty of the night sky. I always thought that one day I would catch a star. And then I would go to sleep, and I would sometimes dream that I would just fly into the sky up amongst those stars and never come back, just stay there forever and ever. . ."
Her voice trailed off, the words suddenly losing her. Vegeta was looking at her with an unusual look in his eyes.
"Pretty stupid, huh?" she said quickly. "I don't know why I told you that."
"No," he whispered. "No, it isn't. It's not stupid at all. I think it's beautiful."
"Yeah . . ." she mused quietly to herself. "But don't you think I was fooling myself?"
"Sometimes, we all fool ourselves, not just out of blindness, but out of necessity."
The conversation came to another pause, this one more natural. Bulma wasn't sure why Vegeta was even talking with her. It was weird. Sometimes, it seemed like Vegeta was the biggest bigot in the whole world, maybe even in the whole galaxy. Then, there was other times when it seemed as though he was one of the deepest people she'd ever met. But nobody ever knew. Most of the time, they never knew what he was thinking, because he would never tell anyone. Bulma was really wondering why he was talking to her at all.
"Did you?" she asked suddenly.
"Did I what?"
"Delude yourself."
There was a quick, uncomfortable pause as Vegeta was planning his response. 'Please don't be angry,' she thought to herself. 'I know you don't think I understand you, but really, I try my best. Why are you so afraid?'
"Everyone has deluded themselves, and I am no exception. I myself deluded myself into believing power would make me feel strong. And I was wrong."
"What did it bring you?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
"I'm just interested."
"You've never been so interested before."
"Well, I guess . . . I guess . . . I don't know. I guess I was just looking for-"
"Looking for someone to be a victim with."
"Yeah . . . maybe that's it. . ." The darkness was beautiful, the breeze blowing at their hair, making their shadows change forms in the moonlight. Bulma looked down at her own shadow, the imprint over herself printed onto the ground. Sometimes, when she was dreaming, Bulma would wonder if she was real or just a shadow. That's just how she felt sometimes; like she was just someone's shadow; taken for granted by everyone, always in the background.
"But . . . that can't be it." She looked down at her shadow, another, secret Bulma who lived in the background.
"Are you alright?" It was not the usual derisive tone, cutting straight through her. It actually sounded like a compassionate remark.
"Yes . . . just dreaming," she replied sadly.
"I don't think you ought to say that," he said, getting to his feet. "There is no just in your dreams."
"No. . . I guess not," she replied, standing up herself. "But, after all, they are only dreams."
"But I don't think of it that way."
"How do you think of it?" Bulma asked in a curious voice.
"Well," he began, peering back up at the constellation Libra, "I've always believed that our dreams were the reflection of our deepest, most sincere desires of all. Sometimes, even our conscious mind won't accept those desires. So we can only just dream."
"So. . ." her voice drifted off. She was looking off into the distance. How could it be that someone who had been so insincere before could also see so deeply into her own human spirit? In a way, it wasn't quite as surprising as it seemed. Everyone had behaviors that were not at the forefront of their personality, but only can out at certain times. Bulma had always sensed that he couldn't be a frightening beast, as everyone else seemed to believe. But even though she'd known it, she'd never imagined that he would show that part of himself to her.
"Hmmn?" he asked Bulma, when she didn't finish her sentence.
"So . . . so you're saying that deep down inside, I want to fly to those stars, like in my dream."
"Something like that," he answered frankly. "At least that's what I always thought."
"But . . ." her voice drifted off again. She looked right into his eyes. She'd never noticed it before, but Vegeta really did have beautiful eyes. They were very dark, and rather unusual, but in them, she could see reflected in them everything he saw. For one moment, Bulma had the thought in her head that she could see what he saw, think what he thought, feel what he felt, and then was suddenly back to being herself.
"But I can't fly . . . why should I dream of that?"
"Do you wanna bet?" Suddenly, his arm wrapped around her waist. Before she could protest, Vegeta took off into the sky, Bulma wrapped in one arm, flying off into the night sky.
The wind whipped through her hair as they jettisoned through the currents. With one arm, she held onto his body, being too frightened of the height not to, and the other flailed crazily around her side in pure reaction.
"What are you doing?!?" she screamed to be heard over the sound of the wind.
"Teaching you to fly," he replied loudly but calmly.
"But if I let go, I'll fall!"
"Then you'd better not."
"But if you drop me, I'll fall!"
"Then I won't!"
"But . . ."
"Don't worry!" His voice sounded strained but confident. "We're getting outta here!"
Up, up they sailed. Bulma had flown before, of course, being carried around by Goku and Krillin in her childhood, but this was somehow different. For once, she didn't feel that the sky was an alien place. It felt like she had always been meant to fly.
Suddenly, she felt a sudden urge to look down back at the earth. She looked and saw the ground spinning away below her, but for once, this sight did not insight fear in her heart. Still, she closed her eyes. It was making her kind of dizzy.
For what seemed like hours, the wind whistled through her ears like a blind banshee. She didn't dare open her eyes again. To think of the sheer height was incredible, but to think of the sight of it made her queasy in the stomach. Then, when it seemed to her as though they must have climbed to the top of the sky by now, his strong, confident voice called to her once again. "Open your eyes," he called. "Open your eyes and see it."
The clouds beneath her feet were purple and blue, shining luminously in the moonlight. With a start, she realized that they were above the clouds, above the earth, the buildings and the houses smaller than Lego blocks. It took her breath away. Out of instinct, her arm clutched tighter to his body, but her eyes were full of awe.
"It . . . it's . . ." she tried to put in to words the incredible peace and tranquility within her, the indescribably awe which filled her heart.
"Don't," he muttered, turning to look into her eyes. "Don't say anything just now."
For miles and miles, they drifted serenely through the clouds, through the sky, neither of them saying a word. 'Flying isn't that bad,' she thought to herself, her eyes becoming heavy with fatigue. 'I don't know why I was ever afraid.'
"Here we are," Vegeta announced, making a sudden decent.
"Huh?" Bulma suddenly shook herself awake again. "Where?"
"There," he motioned toward a small lake below.
With a soft thump, they landed easily on the springy grass, skipping a few feet before being able to make a complete stop. With a simple flick of his arm, Vegeta let her out of his grasp at last and let her walk on her own feet again. At first, her steps were stumbling and nonlinear, as if she'd been on a ship for several hours and was coming back to land now. Vegeta snickered at her obvious dizziness, and guided her up to a dale on the bank of the lake, his strong hands clasped gracefully around her wrist. Soon, her vision got back to normal, but she didn't try to take her hand back. It felt natural and comforting, and she liked that sort of feeling. Then they sat down at the top of that beautiful green dale, the dark lake reflecting the stars in a dual image. Over their heads, the branches of a willow tree loomed, the leaves making a beaded veil to hide them from view.
For a long time, they sat and said nothing at all, just enjoyed the peace of the countryside. Bulma kept waiting for him to explain himself, but he only looked off into space and said nothing.
"Why did you bring me here?" she asked at last.
"Because I love you." He pronounced these words calmly, without emotion, as if he were stating something obvious, like the weather.
Bulma didn't know what to say. She felt her mouth hanging open in disbelief and consciously closed it. It was like someone had picked up a giant rock and just dropped it on her head. Vegeta; love her? It was like some kind of sick joke. She hadn't expected Vegeta to have ever loved anyone, never considering herself.
"What?" she asked confusedly. "Did you just say you love me?"
"That's what I said."
"But . . . you can't be serious. You're not serious."
"I've never been more serious in my life."
"Look . . . look did Goku put you up to this, because really, it was funny at first, but this is just a bit-"
"Nobody put me up to it, Bulma," he grabbed her arms gently and pulled her in towards himself. "This is not a gag."
She became lost in his gaze, his eyes melding with hers, both of them lost in a trance. In that moment, she looked past his face, past the bad boy image that he always seemed to be sporting, to the person inside. And for that one moment, even if it were for just an eye-blink on the face of time, she knew that this was the one she wanted to see every day for the rest of her life.
'How I wish I could speak to you,' she thought to herself. 'How I wish I was as brave as you are.'
Out of the corner of her eyes, Bulma caught sight of the reflection of a shooting star in the lake, making a tiny white streak across the blackness of the water.
"Look!" she called to him, pointing towards the shooting star. "Hurry! Make a wish!"
"Say what?" he cried out, letting her go to gaze at the glowing white streak in the sky.
"Here on earth, if you see a shooting star, you get to make a wish," she explained. "But you can't tell anyone what it is."
"Uhh . . . okay." His eyes shut closed, his face lined in concentration. The star flashed out of sight, away into the night sky, out beyond their galaxies.
"Am I done now?" he asked childishly.
"Yeah . . ." the sentence dropped away into nothing and the whole scene fell silent again, the wind making ripples on the surface of the water. They sat in that tranquil moment for what seemed like an eternity. "How long does it take?" he asked in an inquisitive manner.
"How long does what take?"
"The wish; how long until it comes true?"
"I don't know," she sighed wistfully. "I guess you just wait."
Again, silence.
"What did you wish for?"
"I'm not allowed to tell anyone, remember?"
"You can break the rule just once, can't you?"
"I wished. . ." the words were failing her again. "I wished . . ." the sound of her voice was getting stronger now. "I wished. . . for the courage to do this."
And without another word, she kissed him. Bulma kissed Vegeta; Prince of the Saiyjins: Vegeta; foe of Goku and threat to the world: Vegeta; the lost son of a forgotten world; she kissed him. In that kiss, she sang all of her love, and in that kiss, she told him everything she'd always wanted to say, but was too afraid to.
When she pulled out of the kiss, he stared into her face, smiling, and said one phrase that put her whole being at ease.
"I didn't think they came true that fast."
Elflord: Okay, you know what? Before I get interrupted yet once again, I'm going straight to the disclaimer. I don't own DBZ, Bulma, Vegeta, any of the other characters there pertaining . . . actually; I really don't own anything but this fic. Wow . . . that's kind of depressing if you think about it. Never mind.
* * *
The stars shone bright under the cover of the dark sky that night. Bulma looked up and tried to find all of the constellations. It was an old habit of hers that she had had as a child whenever she was sad or lonely or just needed some comfort. And right now, it seemed as though she needed comfort more than ever.
Why she had ever consented to come was a mystery to her. She always hated those huge parties her parents would throw. Oh, yes, the whole gang would be there; Goku, Krillin, Chi-chi, Gohan, Piccolo, Roshi, Yamcha, and then, of course, her mom and dad; but she could never feel like she was really there herself. Sometimes, it felt like she was invisible; that their eyes would pass over and never see her.
It wasn't like they were trying to be mean or disrespectful or anything. She knew that none of her friends would ever try to do that to her. But when they got so happy sometimes, Bulma would just fade into the background. When she had been younger, she'd try to bring attention to herself, just to feel like she wasn't being forgotten. Lately, she'd even given up on that. In a sense, she almost didn't want them to know she wasn't there. It was better to just let them enjoy themselves and not make a nuisance of herself.
At that moment, she felt one tear crawl down her cheek. Deep down, she knew it did hurt her. But what to do? They were all happy the way they were, and it wasn't right for her to ask them to change. Still, she wondered just how much she could take.
Bulma looked around her, suddenly getting the feeling that she wasn't alone. Frightened, she looked back through the window to the dining room, and breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was just sitting at the table, eating and laughing, just like always. For a moment, she thought she really was alone, and in the back of her mind, wished someone really had been sitting there watching her. That is, before she spotted a dark figure sitting on the other end of the veranda.
Even from this distance, Bulma could see the dark, shining eyes, peering up into the night sky. In the moonlight, the silhouette was projected down onto the ground, making a perfect carbon copy of the figure, muscle for muscle, detail for detail. A great bush of black hair floated about it like an aura of mysticism. From one look, Bulma recognized the figure. Prince of the Saiyjins; Vegeta.
For a moment, Bulma stood stock still, afraid to move from her place. She didn't know if he'd noticed her or not, or even if it was a good idea to make herself known. He appeared to be completely oblivious to her presence. He had obviously been watching the stars as well.
But why?
Slowly, she quietly she made her way over to where he was sitting, crouched on the edge of the terrace. When she sat down beside him, he acknowledged her, but he did not look towards her, nor looked away. He just sat in his characteristic, emotionless, thoughtful trance. Bulma quickly realized Vegeta wouldn't want to talk, so, rather uncharacteristically, she took up a conversation herself.
"Why are you sitting out here all alone?" she asked him innocently.
"Same reason you are," he retorted shortly. She waited for a continuation, but none came.
"I came out because I'd rather look at the stars all alone than be in there and be ignored."
"So now you know why I'm here."
"Why so?" she tried to open the subject again.
"I already told you."
"What then?"
"Why you are."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
"Yup."
Under the moonlight, they sat still and silent as the trees rustled over their heads. Bulma still wasn't sure why Vegeta was there, but she felt that she really didn't have to ask. It wasn't much of change from his usual behavior. Vegeta had never been much of a talker.
Even after a several months, nobody trusted Vegeta. Her mom and dad had been kind and let him live for a while in their house, but she could tell by the way they were constantly trying to avoid him that they still greatly feared him. In a sense, Bulma couldn't blame them. After all, Vegeta had been one of Goku's strongest enemies once. It wasn't like he caused anyone harm anymore, but it seemed to her that trouble just followed him. He just wasn't one that you felt comfortable trusting. But deep down inside, Bulma knew they were wrong. He just couldn't be that way.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked suddenly.
There was a long pause. She could hear him draw his breath in firmly. 'Oh no,' she thought to herself. 'Please, just don't be angry.'
"Home."
The response was a simply one word, but it was the whole answer. In that one word, there was so much meaning.
'What are all the places you've been out there?' she thought to herself. 'Did you ever wonder why you're here? Do you want to know? That's what I would as if I had the courage."
"Where is your home?" she asked him innocently. "Can you show me?"
"Somewhere around there," he motioned towards one cluster of stars. "Or at least it used to be, I guess. It sure as hell isn't there now."
"Libra," she muttered to herself. "The scales . . ."
"Say what?" he snapped.
"That's what we call that constellation here on earth," she explained to him. "It's a zodiac sign."
"What in God's name is a zodiac sign?"
"It has to do with birthdays," she explained further.
"How very interesting," he muttered sarcastically.
The conversation died again. Bulma never thought she would want to speak to Vegeta at all. But somehow, now, she wanted more than anything to just get him to smile at her.
"I love the stars," she began to sigh. "When I was a little girl, my parents told me that if I caught a falling star, I could have just one wish, but it could be anything I could ever dream of. At night, I would always watch the stars, just to see the beauty of the night sky. I always thought that one day I would catch a star. And then I would go to sleep, and I would sometimes dream that I would just fly into the sky up amongst those stars and never come back, just stay there forever and ever. . ."
Her voice trailed off, the words suddenly losing her. Vegeta was looking at her with an unusual look in his eyes.
"Pretty stupid, huh?" she said quickly. "I don't know why I told you that."
"No," he whispered. "No, it isn't. It's not stupid at all. I think it's beautiful."
"Yeah . . ." she mused quietly to herself. "But don't you think I was fooling myself?"
"Sometimes, we all fool ourselves, not just out of blindness, but out of necessity."
The conversation came to another pause, this one more natural. Bulma wasn't sure why Vegeta was even talking with her. It was weird. Sometimes, it seemed like Vegeta was the biggest bigot in the whole world, maybe even in the whole galaxy. Then, there was other times when it seemed as though he was one of the deepest people she'd ever met. But nobody ever knew. Most of the time, they never knew what he was thinking, because he would never tell anyone. Bulma was really wondering why he was talking to her at all.
"Did you?" she asked suddenly.
"Did I what?"
"Delude yourself."
There was a quick, uncomfortable pause as Vegeta was planning his response. 'Please don't be angry,' she thought to herself. 'I know you don't think I understand you, but really, I try my best. Why are you so afraid?'
"Everyone has deluded themselves, and I am no exception. I myself deluded myself into believing power would make me feel strong. And I was wrong."
"What did it bring you?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
"I'm just interested."
"You've never been so interested before."
"Well, I guess . . . I guess . . . I don't know. I guess I was just looking for-"
"Looking for someone to be a victim with."
"Yeah . . . maybe that's it. . ." The darkness was beautiful, the breeze blowing at their hair, making their shadows change forms in the moonlight. Bulma looked down at her own shadow, the imprint over herself printed onto the ground. Sometimes, when she was dreaming, Bulma would wonder if she was real or just a shadow. That's just how she felt sometimes; like she was just someone's shadow; taken for granted by everyone, always in the background.
"But . . . that can't be it." She looked down at her shadow, another, secret Bulma who lived in the background.
"Are you alright?" It was not the usual derisive tone, cutting straight through her. It actually sounded like a compassionate remark.
"Yes . . . just dreaming," she replied sadly.
"I don't think you ought to say that," he said, getting to his feet. "There is no just in your dreams."
"No. . . I guess not," she replied, standing up herself. "But, after all, they are only dreams."
"But I don't think of it that way."
"How do you think of it?" Bulma asked in a curious voice.
"Well," he began, peering back up at the constellation Libra, "I've always believed that our dreams were the reflection of our deepest, most sincere desires of all. Sometimes, even our conscious mind won't accept those desires. So we can only just dream."
"So. . ." her voice drifted off. She was looking off into the distance. How could it be that someone who had been so insincere before could also see so deeply into her own human spirit? In a way, it wasn't quite as surprising as it seemed. Everyone had behaviors that were not at the forefront of their personality, but only can out at certain times. Bulma had always sensed that he couldn't be a frightening beast, as everyone else seemed to believe. But even though she'd known it, she'd never imagined that he would show that part of himself to her.
"Hmmn?" he asked Bulma, when she didn't finish her sentence.
"So . . . so you're saying that deep down inside, I want to fly to those stars, like in my dream."
"Something like that," he answered frankly. "At least that's what I always thought."
"But . . ." her voice drifted off again. She looked right into his eyes. She'd never noticed it before, but Vegeta really did have beautiful eyes. They were very dark, and rather unusual, but in them, she could see reflected in them everything he saw. For one moment, Bulma had the thought in her head that she could see what he saw, think what he thought, feel what he felt, and then was suddenly back to being herself.
"But I can't fly . . . why should I dream of that?"
"Do you wanna bet?" Suddenly, his arm wrapped around her waist. Before she could protest, Vegeta took off into the sky, Bulma wrapped in one arm, flying off into the night sky.
The wind whipped through her hair as they jettisoned through the currents. With one arm, she held onto his body, being too frightened of the height not to, and the other flailed crazily around her side in pure reaction.
"What are you doing?!?" she screamed to be heard over the sound of the wind.
"Teaching you to fly," he replied loudly but calmly.
"But if I let go, I'll fall!"
"Then you'd better not."
"But if you drop me, I'll fall!"
"Then I won't!"
"But . . ."
"Don't worry!" His voice sounded strained but confident. "We're getting outta here!"
Up, up they sailed. Bulma had flown before, of course, being carried around by Goku and Krillin in her childhood, but this was somehow different. For once, she didn't feel that the sky was an alien place. It felt like she had always been meant to fly.
Suddenly, she felt a sudden urge to look down back at the earth. She looked and saw the ground spinning away below her, but for once, this sight did not insight fear in her heart. Still, she closed her eyes. It was making her kind of dizzy.
For what seemed like hours, the wind whistled through her ears like a blind banshee. She didn't dare open her eyes again. To think of the sheer height was incredible, but to think of the sight of it made her queasy in the stomach. Then, when it seemed to her as though they must have climbed to the top of the sky by now, his strong, confident voice called to her once again. "Open your eyes," he called. "Open your eyes and see it."
The clouds beneath her feet were purple and blue, shining luminously in the moonlight. With a start, she realized that they were above the clouds, above the earth, the buildings and the houses smaller than Lego blocks. It took her breath away. Out of instinct, her arm clutched tighter to his body, but her eyes were full of awe.
"It . . . it's . . ." she tried to put in to words the incredible peace and tranquility within her, the indescribably awe which filled her heart.
"Don't," he muttered, turning to look into her eyes. "Don't say anything just now."
For miles and miles, they drifted serenely through the clouds, through the sky, neither of them saying a word. 'Flying isn't that bad,' she thought to herself, her eyes becoming heavy with fatigue. 'I don't know why I was ever afraid.'
"Here we are," Vegeta announced, making a sudden decent.
"Huh?" Bulma suddenly shook herself awake again. "Where?"
"There," he motioned toward a small lake below.
With a soft thump, they landed easily on the springy grass, skipping a few feet before being able to make a complete stop. With a simple flick of his arm, Vegeta let her out of his grasp at last and let her walk on her own feet again. At first, her steps were stumbling and nonlinear, as if she'd been on a ship for several hours and was coming back to land now. Vegeta snickered at her obvious dizziness, and guided her up to a dale on the bank of the lake, his strong hands clasped gracefully around her wrist. Soon, her vision got back to normal, but she didn't try to take her hand back. It felt natural and comforting, and she liked that sort of feeling. Then they sat down at the top of that beautiful green dale, the dark lake reflecting the stars in a dual image. Over their heads, the branches of a willow tree loomed, the leaves making a beaded veil to hide them from view.
For a long time, they sat and said nothing at all, just enjoyed the peace of the countryside. Bulma kept waiting for him to explain himself, but he only looked off into space and said nothing.
"Why did you bring me here?" she asked at last.
"Because I love you." He pronounced these words calmly, without emotion, as if he were stating something obvious, like the weather.
Bulma didn't know what to say. She felt her mouth hanging open in disbelief and consciously closed it. It was like someone had picked up a giant rock and just dropped it on her head. Vegeta; love her? It was like some kind of sick joke. She hadn't expected Vegeta to have ever loved anyone, never considering herself.
"What?" she asked confusedly. "Did you just say you love me?"
"That's what I said."
"But . . . you can't be serious. You're not serious."
"I've never been more serious in my life."
"Look . . . look did Goku put you up to this, because really, it was funny at first, but this is just a bit-"
"Nobody put me up to it, Bulma," he grabbed her arms gently and pulled her in towards himself. "This is not a gag."
She became lost in his gaze, his eyes melding with hers, both of them lost in a trance. In that moment, she looked past his face, past the bad boy image that he always seemed to be sporting, to the person inside. And for that one moment, even if it were for just an eye-blink on the face of time, she knew that this was the one she wanted to see every day for the rest of her life.
'How I wish I could speak to you,' she thought to herself. 'How I wish I was as brave as you are.'
Out of the corner of her eyes, Bulma caught sight of the reflection of a shooting star in the lake, making a tiny white streak across the blackness of the water.
"Look!" she called to him, pointing towards the shooting star. "Hurry! Make a wish!"
"Say what?" he cried out, letting her go to gaze at the glowing white streak in the sky.
"Here on earth, if you see a shooting star, you get to make a wish," she explained. "But you can't tell anyone what it is."
"Uhh . . . okay." His eyes shut closed, his face lined in concentration. The star flashed out of sight, away into the night sky, out beyond their galaxies.
"Am I done now?" he asked childishly.
"Yeah . . ." the sentence dropped away into nothing and the whole scene fell silent again, the wind making ripples on the surface of the water. They sat in that tranquil moment for what seemed like an eternity. "How long does it take?" he asked in an inquisitive manner.
"How long does what take?"
"The wish; how long until it comes true?"
"I don't know," she sighed wistfully. "I guess you just wait."
Again, silence.
"What did you wish for?"
"I'm not allowed to tell anyone, remember?"
"You can break the rule just once, can't you?"
"I wished. . ." the words were failing her again. "I wished . . ." the sound of her voice was getting stronger now. "I wished. . . for the courage to do this."
And without another word, she kissed him. Bulma kissed Vegeta; Prince of the Saiyjins: Vegeta; foe of Goku and threat to the world: Vegeta; the lost son of a forgotten world; she kissed him. In that kiss, she sang all of her love, and in that kiss, she told him everything she'd always wanted to say, but was too afraid to.
When she pulled out of the kiss, he stared into her face, smiling, and said one phrase that put her whole being at ease.
"I didn't think they came true that fast."