Chapter One
Bulma looked up into the bright summer sky, the sun shinning down hot and intensely. Sweat dripped as she tried to focus on the object of her interest in the sky. Vegeta, in a set of punches threw them with a furry that happened so quickly she would have missed it if she had blinked at all. It had only been a few days since Vegeta started to live at her home with her and her family again. The first time had been when he, like many others, was waiting for the Dragonballs from Planet Namek to recharge. Now it looked like he was going to be staying with them now for three years.
Along with her father she had been working on a gravity room that Vegeta that had demanded for the day after they received the frightening news about the future to come. Soon it was going to be finished but for now he lightly trained as he put it, in her backyard. There was one small part of her that was happy he had been kind enough to keep air bound and the lawn still remained green and mostly undamaged.
Watching the Saiyan under the hot sun had her slightly entranced by his powerful but extremely precise movements. The man could even be called graceful but she would never tell him this, it would only stroke his already overly bloated ego. A cloud finally covered the sun partly and now she could clearly see he wasn't moving now and was instead looking down at her. The small cloud quickly passed and now she was forced to use her hand once more to block the sun. A shadow now came down through the light towards her, stepping back she made room for him to land.
Vegeta stood shirtless with his arms crossed over his chest, his feet lightly touching down on the balcony his face in a scowl. "Have you nothing better to do than watch me woman?"
Silently being honest with himself, Vegeta had to admit when Bulma's face was relaxed, it was pleasing to look at. But it did fascinated him how quickly she could change it into something so shockingly different when she became animated. This was especially true it seemed when angered. As on cue her face bunched up as it turned sour. "I only came out here to take a break from working on the gravity room."
Turning, she looked off towards the city and tossed her nose in the air slightly. "I needed a shower since it's so hot today not even our A/C units can keep fully up."
Vegeta only grunted and figured she was trying to, what did the Earthlings call it? Make conversation. Since he wasn't one to waste his words carelessly on such tripe, he jumped down and walked closer to her. "When's lunch?" he demanded.
Turning towards him, Bulma glared harshly but then relaxed after she gave him a look over. Her face seemed to flush more and Vegeta wondered if the heat had gone to her head. He didn't need her burning up and become unable to help her father. He took a quick step to her and placed the back of his hand to her fore head.
Shocked, Bulma just stared wide eye as Vegeta felt her face with his hands. Quickly she pushed back away from him and started to sputter. "Wha.. What do you think your…your doing!?"
Looking at her like she had two heads, he simply frowned more than he already was. "Checking to see if you had scum to the heat, I can't have you slowing down your work because you decided to gawk at me. You humans are such weak things if you think this is hot."
Her bottom lip started to shake with rage. "It's the humidity you asshole that's getting to me, not the heat!"
Biting down hard he kept his own anger in check and just growled at her piercing tone of voice. "Look, even you are covered in sweat. I bet your feeling it just as badly as me so don't try and pull that high and mighty Saiyan shit on me buddy. Even I could see you were moving sluggish today."
He had Bulma by the throat and up against a balcony window in a blink of an eye. Gasping, she tried to swallow as he darkly glared at her, giving her a deep warning of a growl. "Don't, test me woman."
Calming down the best she could while still slightly choking, Bulma glared darkly back at him. "Let… me… go…"
His eyes narrowed and gave her a slight squeeze before dropping her. Bulma coughed a little and rubbed her sore throat as she stood, her back going ridged. Her eyes were now just slightly higher than his, but Vegeta couldn't be the least bit intimidated by the slightly taller woman. It was when she started to smirk slightly Vegeta 's eye narrowed.
"Think I'll take the rest of the week off." she said calmly.
Vegeta blinked in shock. "You…" he hissed.
With her hands now on her hips, she smiled at him. "Touch me like that again and you'll never see that precious gravity room my father and I have been working on day and night for you."
"Don't threaten me woman or you wont have a head to talk out of any more." Vegeta warned as his blood started to boil.
It took all that he had not to break in her hand when she poked sharply at his chest. "Enjoy the summer weather, jackass." Walking away, she left Vegeta stunned by her comment. Bulma entered back into her bedroom but Vegeta couldn't see in through the glass since it was so darkly tinted for the day time light. Glaring he turned away and walked to the balcony wall.
"Females." Vegeta grumbled and could have spit he was so mad. Not one to let his anger just go, taking into the air he headed east into the desert. Badly he needed some empty space to let some of his rage go, so he wasn't tempted not just blow up the whole damn city right that very moment.
Far to east in the mountains, Goku paused in mid air and just barely ducked in time to miss a punch aimed at him. He smirked slightly and Piccolo also now turned his attention to the west. "Looks like Vegeta's at it." Goku spoke with a smile.
Piccolo crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "Sorry to interrupt but we need to stay focus here Goku."
Laughing before dropping into a fighting stance he smirked at his friend. "Sorry."
The two charged at each other and sparred while waiting for Gohan to climb back up the cliff they both had knocked him off. Piccolo smiled slightly, it was strange to be training with Goku since they had once been enemies for most of his life, now he wouldn't have it any other way and enjoyed the chance to fight by his side.
Powering down Vegeta looked over the destroyed wasteland, he rubbed his nose idly with his thumb as a cloud of dust blew past him. The sound of his stomach growling was what finally had him relax enough to start and think about flying back to were he now resided. It was strange to him to think about where he was and how he got there. Feeling a bit self-reflective, he took to the air and headed south for bit.
When he landed, he could still see the scars left on the landscape from his first fight with Kakarot. It was here when his life had taken such a strange twist of faith. Looking up to the sky he thought back to Namek and how a lower class Saiyan had done what he could not. How Kakarot had done what he thought for so long was nearly impossible and the thought of revenge was the only thing keeping him going. So many emotions surged through him just thinking about it, there was no way he was going to let himself fall behind in the race to be the strongest. He was going to work hard and long to rise higher and above that grinning fool.
Smirking now, the feeling that was now filling him was the call to rise to the challenge. As much as he hated Kakarot for what he had done and the ever-burning shame he now had to carry among all the others he was already bearing. But now he had seen with his own two eyes it was with in the realm of reality to become a Super Saiyan of legend. He would follow in Kakarot's footsteps and push himself even harder and finally surpass that worthless fool.
Laughing out loud to the heaven's, joy filled him as his birthright seemed all but with in his reach now. He had only to wait for that screaming woman and his father to finish the gravity room so his training could truly finally begin. It would be then he would finally show his true worth, proving why someone of his class was truly higher quality blood. Now the future had been opened to him and his freedom now all his own, he wasn't going to sit back and let some pile of metal and scraps take it away, oh no. He was going to fight and win, then kill that fool along with all the rest of his friends before laying waste to the backwater planet he stood upon that very moment.
Pleased with himself Vegeta took a deep breath of fresh air in, letting it fill his lungs and melt any apprehension he had, float away and dissipate. Before he left he did have a ghost of a feeling for the loss of his tail and part of his bones laid somewhere in the desert. Shivering at the thought he took to the sky and headed northwest finally, leaving the past behind him. His only thought of the future to come, letting it fill him with excitement.
Bulma sat and stared at herself in the mirror, her hands played at her curly up do as she frowned at it. She was no longer sure about her hair do or what to change it to. A knock at her door pulled her attention away from her self and she smiled as Yamcha's head appeared slightly past the now open door.
"Yamcha" she started to ask. "Do you like how my hair is?"
Stepping all the way into her bedroom he gave a small smile. "Yeah, looks great to me babe."
Not thrilled with his answer she turned back to the mirror gave her locks a few more touches, still on the fence on making any changes yet to it. Looking at Yamcha in the mirror she noticed he appeared almost nervous to be in her room.
"Well I, umm" he started and was playing with the belt ends that held his gi's pants up. "I wanted to know if you would like to go out tonight, if you're not too busy to, that restaurant you really love downtown. I was think about something's and I thought we could, you know, umm well we can talk about it later tonight."
Bulma titled her head slightly and was just puzzled by his behavior and frankly the way he kept fidgeting was grading on her nerves but she did need a break from all the work she had been doing the past few days. "Sure, what time?"
Yamcha looked up from his hands and smiled. "Nine o'clock, I could pick you up…"
Turning her head at the sound of shouting now coming from outside she frowned and gave Yamcha her back as she walked to the balcony. "I'll just meet you there, ok?"
Smiling even more Yamcha quietly muttered to himself about finally getting the chance to ask her 'the big question' tonight. Outside on her balcony, Bulma looked down to see Vegeta yelling at her father.
"What do you mean next week old man!?" he screamed.
Dr. Briefs cringed at the loud and harsh tone, his ever present cat pressed its face into his neck trying to hide. "I'm sorry but the parts we need, I can't manufacture them here. I just put in the order and they'll be ready in a few days."
Vegeta spat and turned away slightly. "Useless humans" he muttered cursing them all in his mind.
"Hey!" Bulma yelled down. "You leave my father alone!"
Glaring up at her, his sneer was clear for her to see from the distant above. "Stay out of this woman! You're the one not even working on this anymore so stay out."
Gripping the balcony wall she grinded her teeth as she wish she could spit venom at the ungrateful self-centered man. "You keep this up and I'll give your shiny new gravity room to Goku soon as its finished!"
His arms dropped from being crossed over his chest down to his sides, his hands went into tight fists as he held his barely containable anger in check. "You wouldn't dare!"
"I would! So knock it off Vegeta, you're acting like some goddamn child and we are starting to get sick of it. You've only been back a few days and your acting like we should all bow down and kiss your boots."
Vegeta smirked slightly thinking about the visual imagery of Bulma bending over and indeed kissing his white boots. He was drawn from his daydream as she went on. "You need to learn how to act here, that attitude of yours is going to get you no where and if you started to say some please and thank you's you might get what you want quicker."
"Ok" he spoke with a wicked sneer. "Would you please shut up and I would be thankful if you kissed my ass."
This had Bulma seeing red and she leapt from the second story balcony at him. At first he was just shocked that she would do such a thing but then the horror set in if she hurt herself her father would never finish the gravity room and he would be left in the dust as Kakarot widened the gap between them. He cursed her as he lifted into the air catching her and was assaulted with a storm of hits he could barely feel.
After setting her down she pushed herself away from him and the two just glared at one another. Dr. Briefs took the moment to light a cigarette and left back to his laboratory. Vegeta was the first to start their fight again.
"Foolish woman, don't jump off things like that!" he scolded her.
Sneering herself she turned her nose up to him. "I'll do what ever I want, plus it wasn't that far down. I've fallen from higher."
The silence that now filled the air, cooled some of Bulma's temper. Now being outside in the hot sun, sweat was starting to run down her face. Her sharp blue eyes flickered to the glaring Vegeta, she noticed as well sweat was starting to flow from him as well. Frankly it was too hot to fight so Bulma gave in first.
"Its too hot for this, lets get you some lunch. I bet you still haven't eaten since you took off from before." She turned and walked towards the nearest door in.
Shock had all of his anger fade away, he couldn't wrap his head around how she could be so utterly pissed at one moment and then change and go in a completely new direction. Feeling his stomach cramp now from hunger he just lightly held a scowl as he followed her in and towards the first floor's large kitchen.
Piles of dishes now sat on the counter next to the sink. Bulma gave a long sigh, thankfully they had a oversized dishwasher now newly installed but she was still going to have to rise and put all those dishes in there. Even with central air the kitchen still felt warm and before she was going to get back to work she wanted something cool to drink.
Vegeta was still sitting at the kitchen table chewing slowly on a piece of fruit. A peach pit sat on a napkin as he swallowed the last bit. His eyes flickered to Bulma who pulled out a large jug from the fridge, also grabbing two glasses along with it, she sat down next to him and smiled a little.
"Lemonade?" she asked.
Staring at her with a questionable look on his face he more closely spied the liquid. It was a soft yellow hue with ice cubes and pieces of some sort of fruit floating around in it. He grunted which she took that as his response, meaning yes. Pouring a glass for him and herself she smiled even more and looked more visually relaxed while drinking it. Vegeta took his glass and sniffed it finding it both a sweet and sour smell, interested he sipped the lemonade finding bittersweet but surprisingly refreshing.
"You would think a city this close to the sea wouldn't get so hot." Bulma spoke trying to make conversation, but half forgetting whom she was speaking to. "This time of year is a little bad but it's the end of summer it's the worst. At one point the whole city shuts down for a day or two before we get any relief from some cold air blown down from the north."
"None of this matters to me woman, you're just talking now to hear your self speak." Finishing off his glass he poured himself another.
Frowning Bulma put her own glass down on the table. "I was only trying to give you a little info on West Capital since you'll be living here now."
Sitting back in his chair he looked away from her, "I really don't care about this city or even this whole mud ball of a planet either. So you can take any facts you want to tell me and keep them to your self because I don't care."
Glaring at him now Bulma was ready to breathe fire. "As if I recall this 'mud ball planet' has made Goku an even stronger fighter than you and if I recall correctly you need my family and I to build you a gravity room so you can train. Also on top of that we feed you and give you a room of your own. If you don't need us then you can just leave."
It was Vegeta's turn to glare. "Watch that tongue of yours woman, it will get you killed."
Rolling her eyes she huffed, "Well it sure wont be by you."
Vegeta stood and placed his hands on the table, Bulma thankful he either held back his strength or the table was able to take it what little he used. "And what is that suppose to mean?!"
Rising she met his gaze, "Meaning with out me and my mud ball planet you'd be shit out of luck and your not going to kill me or anyone else because then you wouldn't be able to stay on Earth any more. Goku would see to that."
"You think I'm scared of some lower class trash like him?!" he barked, letting his hands ball into fists.
She smiled and placed her thin hands on her hips as she stood. "And for getting that worked up about it, you'd just proven my point."
Grinding his teeth he knew he had just lost the battle but wasn't sure how. So badly he wanted to just reach out and snap her neck like a twig but she was right. If he wanted to ascend he was going to need their help and that gravity room they were building. For now his fate was tied into theirs and he wasn't going to let himself fail because of some woman who seemingly loved to push his buttons went to far and got herself killed by him.
Suddenly with out warning, he left her alone without saying another word. The anger that he still felt was going to put to good use. Taking into the air once he was outside, Vegeta powered up slightly before starting. Pushing his speed as he imagined ripping apart the wench he just left in the kitchen, it felt good to just picture finally silencing her.
Shutting the door on the dishwasher Bulma sighed, it was tiring constantly fighting with Vegeta and she needed a way to stop it even if for only a few days. She had said earlier that she wasn't going to work for the week but this one time pleasing him would be in her best interest. With the gravity room finished she was sure the Saiyan would lock himself away in it and hopefully never to be heard from again. The thrill of getting him out of her hair was too much for her to pass up.
Once in the main lab Bulma changed into her work clothes and grabbed her tools. She was willing to work all through the night if she had to, there was no way in hell she was going to put up with that man's shit any more. Only stopping when dinnertime came about, Bulma ate in silence next to Vegeta who was digging into his own mountain of food.
Looking her over in-between bowls of rice he couldn't help but notice the glow her skin held to her as she ate down at her food with a determine look. It was a strange sight for him to see her in her work clothes, normally the woman appeared to only wear bright and clashing colors. Always checking her face and figure in a mirror or complaining if she was at all dirty. Now the woman had streaks of dirt and grease on her face and bits of grime under her nails that didn't come out when she washed her hands for dinner. The total opposite of what she normally seemed to be, how could a woman change who she normally was so much?
Finishing the last of her vegetable Bulma got up and took her plate to the sink. She waved goodnight to her two parents who had been watching both her and Vegeta eat in silence. Vegeta couldn't help but take notice she was heading to their laboratory where construction was taking place and not off to he bedroom to sleep. He smirked and knew right away the woman had been working hard and hopefully soon his new gravity room would be awaiting him.
Across the city Yamcha sat alone at a table, he looked over at the clock again and knew now she wasn't coming now. What Bulma didn't know was this was a make it or break it moment, it was then Yamcha finally knew things were over between the two of them. Taking a small black box out of his pocket he looked down at the small diamond ring and had to be happy over the fact he could still return it and get a refund.
Part of him wanted to cry that he was going to have to start all over with someone but he had grown tired of Bulma always working on something and forgetting about him. But to be honest he also did the same thing to her. He could only guess it was because they just didn't care that much about each other anymore to remember dinner dates or spend nights together. After paying the bill for the appetizer he had ordered, Yamcha took the long way home, taking his time with a quite stroll through the city at night.
You can say it was sheer curiosity that awoke him in the middle of the night. Sitting up in his bed, Vegeta felt out around him. The woman was still off in the lab and because of this he got out of bed instead of going back to sleep. Pulling on a shirt he walked barefoot to the source of his mystery. He wondered how far they were along now and hoped it wasn't still just a pile of parts everywhere like it had been days earlier.
Silently the door slid open to the large room and before him stood a half open pod, the same size of the ship he had left to go to space before. Not to be wastefully they had taken apart the ship to completely rebuild it and reinforce it to take the enormous gravity he wanted to train in. Walking silently into the lab more he found it silent except for the humming of the lights above. Looking over to the left he found Bulma passed out on a small sofa they had by their small work kitchenette. She was curled into a ball and was barely on the sofa.
Walking over he watched her sleep for a little while. She was facing towards him and he squatted down to get a better look at her face. Her face completely relaxed looked soft and inviting but Vegeta would never dare to try and touch her. Looking her over it was then he finally noticed her clutching a poorly bandaged hand to her chest. Standing, he took a quick glance over to the kitchen's counter, a box of gauze was still out along with a small pile of bloody paper towels. Sighing, he knew how slowly human's healed and didn't want any further delays than already had happened. Squatting down again he nudged her awake.
Slowly Bulma opened her eyes and stared sleepily at Vegeta. "What's wrong?"
He almost laughed at her question as she looked at him confused. "Sit up and let me see."
Now really confused Bulma did what he asked but carefully watched him. Gasping when he grabbed her hand and pulled it out towards him, Bulma felt lost on what was going on. "Really woman do you not know how to dress a wound."
A blush spread across her face as she watched him go to the kitchen and start to look through the cabinets. He found some rubbing alcohol and grabbed the box of gaze along with some tape next to it. Kneeling back down in front of her, he grabbed her wrist and pulled off the bandage. Bulma watched shocked and surprised as he opened the bottle and poured some on a square of gauze. Hissing as he gently cleaned the wound he smirked at her pain.
"I don't need you woman getting an infection and having your hand fall off over something like this. You are going to need those hands for when I require them." Speaking as he cleaned the wound, he waited a moment for the liquid to dry.
When he looked up at Bulma she was staring at him with a raging blush and her mouth slightly open. Thinking about what he just said he blushed slightly himself. "I meant for building things woman like training bots and making repairs!"
He silently cursed himself as she now started to smile and even giggle a bit. "I got it. It was just funny how you worded it."
"Feh" he huffed and started to properly bandage her cut. "Don't know how you could even cut yourself there." he mumbled as he worked.
"It's easy to when you're falling asleep while working on that thing." She noted with a nod of her head towards the half finished pod. Then looking down at Vegeta who was firmly taping the gauze down around her hand. "What are you doing awake by the way?"
Vegeta stood, his task now complete. Turning he looked over to the capsule in progress. "I was curious."
Standing up herself she stood next to him with a smirk, "At three in the morning?"
His eyes snapped to her, "Do you have a problem with that?"
She held up her hands, not wanting to fight at such an early time or late she should say. "No, no, no. Strange, but fine. I don't care when you check in on us, so long as you stay out of the way when we are working I'm fine with you in here."
Feeling proud of her work so far she took a few steps ahead and then looked back at him. "So what do you think?"
He huffed, "Its only half way done woman. Its not much to look at."
She smiled, "Yes but this baby is going to be able to make it all the way up to 300 times normal gravity. Maybe even more but I wouldn't want to push it any further than 300. Anything higher than that and I'm going to have to special order some new metal for the whole thing. Pain in the ass if I have to, I would have to get that company over in East Capitial to freeze and realign the metal's molecules."
Rolling his eyes as she started to mumble now but then suddenly turned to him and stared. "Didn't you and Nappa blow up East Capital?"
Vegeta opened his mouth to respond but she was quick to cut him off. "Yes, that's right. That's why they moved all the way out there. They were able to build that whole new complex. I guess some good things did come out of your wasteful destruction. Now they are one of the best metal manufactures."
"I have no clue what you are going on about woman." Vegeta said with a scowl.
"Huh, oh sorry." She looked at him and smiled weekly. "I was just saying that because you guys blew up East Capital, the company we ordered this metal forged from had the chance to grow exponentially and with out them this wouldn't have been possible. So in short you guys blowing up that city kinda worked in your favor. Still a lot of people did die that day…"
Bulma trailed off and went silent. Vegeta just stared at her, knowing what was on her mind and it was best she didn't forget. That she was housing a man who had killed millions, if not billions. It was strange for her to look up and stare into the eyes of such a man and not feel afraid.
In those cold and dark eyes she saw hate and anger but they didn't glimmer any more with utter thirst for blood. Silently she wondered what had changed them from the first time she saw him on Namek. Maybe it was the death of Freeza? Didn't Krillin tell her he had cried on Namek, begging Goku to kill Freeza? Her mind quickly grew more curious about Vegeta, which was a very bad thing in reality. She wasn't one to let a mystery that interested her go unsolved. Her blue eyes sharpened as she started to more deeply search his own.
"Is that so." Vegeta spoke breaking the silence and her gaze as he glanced past her to the capsule.
Looking back at the pod as well, she placed her hands on her hips. "Strange how things work out that way." Vegeta only grunted in response.
"I'm going back to bed." Bulma turned around and watched as Vegeta walked away to leave.
"Goodnight then." she called to him and he just gave a wave of the hand over his shoulder to her before exiting out the doors.
Stretching up and she felt sore all over from falling asleep on the sofa like that. She could see in the future it was going to happen more often with Vegeta now with them, ordering a new and much larger couch tomorrow might be best. Walking out of the lab now to find some sleep in her own bed, she couldn't help but shake the feeling she was forgetting something.