The Day He Learned To Love
By, Ashley
Vegita shut down the gravity machine. Soon, very soon, I will be strong enough to defeat Kakarotto upon his return, thought Vegita. He walked out the door and down a long hallway towards the kitchen. As he opened the fridge he realized that there was no food left, none at all. Suddenly, Trunks came skidding around a corner, in his underwear, followed closely by Bulma.
They ran around the table a few times, "Trunks! You have to take your bath!" Bulma yelled after him as they continued their course around the kitchen table.
Vegita eyed them until Bulma turned to him, "A little help please?" she asked.
In the blink of an eye, Vegita was standing in front of the little boy. Bulma walked over and picked trunks up. He stuck his tongue out at Vegita and in retaliation, Vegeta touched his son's nose, sending a small jolt of electricity through him, turning his hair on end. Trunks and Bulma both begin to laugh and Vegita smiled slightly. Bulma looked at him, a bit shocked at his expression.
Regaining his composure, Vegita turned to Bulma with a smirk on his face, "I was wondering, what happened to all the food women?"
"Oh, I haven't gotten the chance to go to the store today, I've been to busy with keeping our son out of trouble. If you wouldn't mind babysitting, I'll go right now."
Bulma handed Trunks to Vegita and walks out of the room, leaving the Saiya-jin prince quite surprised and confused.
Vegita stood there, holding Trunks, feeling somewhat embarrassed. I am the Prince of all Saiya-jin, I don't 'babysit'! he thought to himself. Knowing that if he didn't do this, he would never get to eat, Vegita took Trunks into the bathroom, turned on the water, and set the boy in the bathtub. He turned and walked into Trunks' room. Vegita dug through a drawer and found a small green t-shirt for Trunks to wear. Upon his return to the bathroom, he hears a strange sound as he opens the bathroom door. There, standing amidst a ton of toilet paper, was Trunks. The toilet paper, along with the purple haired child, were all soaking wet.
"Trunks. What is the meaning of this?" Vegita asked sternly. Vegita picked up a piece of toilet paper, "This is not a toy you little brat!"
In response, the boy grabs the green shirt from his father, throws it over his head, and runs between the Saiya-jin's legs. Vegita turns to chase after him but then realizes he should clean the mess. Bulma would have a fit if she saw this, he thought to himself. It wasn't always a bad thing when Bulma got angry, it actually made her all the more attractive. Yet Vegita just did not want to listen to her bickering when she got home. He quickly threw all the toilet paper in the trash and mopped up the wet floor. Looking at the newly cleaned bathroom, he turned off the light and closed the door.
Once again, Trunks had messed something up. This time, he was running around the living room, marking on all the white walls with a bright red crayon.
"Trunks!" Vegita yelled to get his son's attention.
The small boy promptly stopped and hid behind a large blue armchair. Outraged, Vegita walked over to him and picked Trunks up by the collar of his shirt. Little brat, he thought to himself as he set the boy on his own bed in his room.
Vegita walked over to the door and glanced over his shoulder at his son, "Stay there and behave." he ordered before closing the door.
The Saiya-jin prince looked at the walls of his wife's home. He sighed and walked into the kitchen to get something to clean the mess up. Vegita returned promptly with a wet and soapy sponge, hoping it would do the job.
Soon he finished scrubbing the walls of their red markings and returned to the kitchen to do away with the sponge. Before he could even reach the kitchen however, he heard a large thud. Vegita ran into the room and dropped the sponge in the doorway. There, sitting on the floor was Trunks with a bag of flour, or rather, an empty bag of flour. The entire kitchen floor, as well as his son, were as white as a ghost.
Vegita coughed from the flour as it settled onto the ground, "You little! Now look what you've done!"
He regained his poise and picked up his son by his underwear.
"I'm sorry. Really otosan, I am." Trunks tried to get away, but Vegita's grip was far to strong
Enraged at having to clean once again, he dropped the boy in a newly filled bathtub. Going back to the kitchen, Vegita once again takes the mop to clean. When he goes back to the bathroom, Trunks was standing there, putting his purple shirt over his head. Vegita walked over and helped his son straighten the shirt out and grabbed him by the hand. He walked him into his room and set him on his little bed.
"Trunks, I need you to go to sleep until your mother gets home, ok?" Vegita asked, trying to keep his cool.
The little boy nodded and Vegita walked out and closed the door. He walked to his own room and took off his training outfit. He grabbed a white shirt from his closet and threw it on, along with a pair of blue jeans. By now the Saiya-jin prince was all out of energy. How does Bulma do it? he wondered. Vegita went back into the living room and fell over onto the sofa.
"I thought training was hard. But when you babysit and do that, you have nothing left to give." he said to himself as he closed his eyes. Not long later, two small feet can be heard, creeping down the hall towards the living room.
An hour passed and Bulma returned home. She unloaded the groceries and made her way toward the gravity room, almost sure Vegita would be there. She wondered if he had even taken the time to give Trunks his bath. Bulma almost faints when she sees Vegita, lying asleep on the couch, with Trunks right beside him. The purple haired two year old had his head lying on his father's chest. They were both sound asleep. Bulma walked by, careful not to disturb her husband, and her only son.
Hours later, Vegita woke up to the sounds of Bulma, working in the kitchen. He stood, stretched his arms high above his head, and made his was there. As he stepped into the kitchen, he noticed a smile on Bulma's face as she chopped up lettuce for her stir fry.
"What's got you smiling?" he asked her in his usual tone.
"Nothing Vegita, what makes you think that?" she asked, but couldn't help smiling.
He walked over to her, "Well, for one thing, I don't normally see you walking around smiling like a schoolgirl, what is it?" he pressed farther.
"Nothing." she replied, going back to her cutting.
Vegita grabbed her wrist and turned her toward him, "I hate it when people lie to me women. What has you smiling?" he asked harshly.
She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket, "This." she replied, handing it to him.
As Vegita took the paper, he realized it was a picture of himself and Trunks, both asleep on the sofa, "When did this happen?!" he raged.
"When I got home, you two were asleep together, it was a Kodak moment."
Vegita turned from her, infuriated with himself, "I'm going to go train."
"Hold it Vegita! Why don't you go and see how your son's doing, he was hoping he'd get to play with you again today." Bulma said, making him stop.
"Play? Play! All I did was look after him so you could go to the store. I would never lower myself to such things as 'playing'!" he yelled.
Bulma's eyes turned cold, "Fine! Have it your way Vegita! Forget about the family that needs you!" she turned from him swiftly.
"I have better things to be worrying about women. When Kakarotto's friends wish him back, I must be stronger."
"Is that all you ever think about! You may have a different background then I, Mr. high and mighty prince of the Saiya-jin, but you can't treat your own family like trash! Gokou used to spend almost all his time with Gohan and Goten while you just stay in that infernal gravity room and waste your entire life training! I won't tolerate it anymore! If you don't want to spend time with the ones who love you, then you can find another place to live!" she almost began to run out of the room until Vegita grabbed her by the arm, swinging her to face him.
Her eyes were stained with tears but it wasn't those that got to the prince, it was her gaze. A gaze of a women, lost in emotion over everything she loves and not wanting to give it up, but knowing she might have to. Bulma grabbed his hand and removed it from her arm, turning, she ran out of the room. Vegita was surprised by the reaction Bulma had given to his comments. Does it really matter that much to her that I be around Trunks as well as herself? He began thinking. Vegita stood in the middle of the kitchen, searching his feelings and finding, he really did care for this women, and her son. Knowing what he must do, he strode into Trunks' bedroom. As he quietly opened the door, he spied his son practicing fighting poses in the mirror.
"What are you doing?" Vegita asked sternly.
Trunks whirled around and immediately dropped his eyes to his shoes, "I was...just uh...messing around, that's all." he replied nervously.
"Why?"
"Because...I um.....I uh....wanted to uh....be like you." the small boy swallowed hard then glanced up at his father, fearing he'd get in trouble.
Vegita was astounded, he had never thought of himself as a role model, especially after the lecture his wife had just given him. He walked over to Trunks' side and kneeled down beside him, looking him in the eyes, "How about I show you something a bit more useful?" he asked, a slight smile on his face. Trunks' eyes grew huge and he nodded very enthusiastically. Together the two made their way outside.
Bulma looked up from her pillow, "Why is he so stubborn and cold?" she asked herself outloud. "I should forget about him and just worry about the well being of Trunks." yet she knew she could not. Suddenly Bulma heard a loud explosion outside the window, rushing over, she spied Vegita's profile, his face titled toward his son. What amazed her more was the fact that it wasn't Vegita who had caused the explosion, but tiny Trunks. The purple haired boy was smiling, as was Vegita. He's actually spending time with him, and having fun. She thought to herself in awe. Her husband looked over at her, the slight smile still on his face. She replied with an equal smile and she knew, Vegita wasn't regretting a moment of this time. He was teaching his son the ways of the Saiya-jin, the ways of his people.
When the duo finally came in, late that night, Trunks was fast asleep. His father carried him to his bed and tucked him in.
Upon leaving, Bulma stopped Vegita in the hallway, "I'm very happy about what you did for Trunks today Vegita."
Vegita stood there not saying anything, waiting for her to finish.
"See, it wasn't so bad now was it?" She put her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his chest, "Admit it, you had fun."
"Right." Vegita replied sarcastically.
Bulma looked up at his face, "Don't lie. I saw the way you two were training, just like a father and his son, the way things should be."
"Alright, I admit it, it wasn't as bad as I figured it would be. Trunks has a lot of power for his age, but this doesn't change anything. I'm still going to undergo extensive training in the gravity room every day."
Bulma leaned back against him again, "That's ok as long as you spend some time with your son, and me."
Vegita suddenly picked Bulma up into his arms.
"Vegita, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Like you said, you wanted to make sure I spent some time with you, right?" He carried her into the living room and gently set her on the sofa.
"But.." she started.
Vegita held up a hand, "I've had some time today to think about this and I want to say it before I regret it."
Bulma fell silent as he began talking. He told her of his past, his thoughts, and what he wanted the future of his family to be. She never knew he felt all these things, but she knew he felt somewhat guilty about the way he'd been treating her lately. When Vegita had finally finished, over two hours had passed.
"Vegita, I never knew your feelings before, I'm glad you told me."
"I figured that since you spill everything to me at least once a day, I could do the same one time for you." he replied.
"I do not." she argued.
"Every day you get on to me about one thing or another and underlining it all, are your feelings. Today I read those feelings and acted on what I read."
"In other words, you decided to be human for a day." She retorted.
"Who said it was for only a day?" he smirked.
Bulma's eyes grew a bit larger, "You mean your going to act social from now on?"
"If that's what you want. It's what your feelings were telling me this afternoon."
She jumped up and hugged him tightly, "Thank you. I couldn't have asked any more of you then that."
He made a chair out of his arms and Bulma sat in it, still hugging him, "Come on, lets go to bed, it's been a long day."
She nodded and together they headed back up the stairs to their room. Bulma drifted off the sleep in her husband's arms, her last thought of how Vegita had turned over a new leaf. He finally cared for the ones who loved him the most.
The End