Roses
-- Chapter One --
"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions"
Bulma smiled on the breakfast that she had made Vegeta. She wouldn't admit to herself that it was for him, of course. She'd share with everyone. But if he gave it so much as an extra "hmph", she'd be more than pleased. She didn't understand what she saw in him, but she didn't feel the need to understand it. She added more bacon to the table. He loves meat. She smiled in satisfaction. He'll love this meal. She had put alot of thought into it.
She glanced at her watch. It was nearly 8. Time for breakfast.
Bulma made her way to the gravity room so that she could alert Vegeta to his meal. She hummed a tune and smiled as she hit the intercom button.
"Vegeta! Breakfast! I made something I know you'll like."
She could see him through the viewing window, and he seemed to be in some kind of ... frenzy. He was attacking himself, with ki-blasts, in a flurry of motion. She couldn't keep track of his movements, and her head ached from trying.
"VEGETA!!!"
He stopped his movements only long enough to give her a hateful stare. She blinked, and he was at her side, leaning over her, and breathing heavily. His eyes were crazed. She gasped. He stared at her.
"Oh Vegeta... I thought you hadn't heard me. I'm glad you did... I made breakfast for you, and it's UMPH!"
Vegeta took hold of her, still wild with blood-lust. She was afraid. He shook her roughly, his fingers digging into her arm and side. She screamed as her arm broke with a sickening snap.
"Dammit, woman! You don't know what I think!!! You don't know what I want!!!" He was yelling at her. "Why the hell do you try so damn hard to get my attention?! Don't you know that all I want with this damn place is to train???"
She tried desperatly to hold back her tears, but god... Oh God... The bone of her right arm stuck out of her skin at a rude angle... Blood flowed out of the jagged wound. She screamed again, as he shook her harder, jarring her arm into an un-natural possition. He didn't seem to notice... Why?
"VEGETA! PLEASE STOP!"
He sneered and clenched his right fist, and more sickening cracks and pops were heard as two ribs on the left side of her body snapped.
"If you're so weak that you can't handle a berating, how the hell am I supposed to make my point clear???"
She tried to breathe, but something was stopping her. She couldn't hear what he was saying anymore. She couldn't feel her side, and she couldn't breathe. She tried, and her lungs burned. She felt dizzy, disconcerted. She could feel Vegeta jerking her body back and forth like a dog with a small kitten in it's mouth.
She heard a gasp, like something far away, but she couldn't hear anything besides that. She felt the ground rise up to meet her, hard, and she gasped at new found pain. Her last thought, before the world spun into black, was whether or not the bacon would be cold when he sat to eat.
Vegeta gasped in shock at his actions. Bulma lay at his feet, a crumpled bloody mass. Damn these weak humans. If he left her here, no one would find her. And lord know's she wouldn't have the good sense to get up and get to a damn tank. He was shocked, however, by his reaction to her invitation to breakfast. Did... Did he do this? How could he have???
He picked her up gently. No one would help her, if he left her there. He shouldn't have berated her... He should have known that she wouldn't be able to handle that. He didn't realize the extent of the damage that he caused to her. He'd have to take her to a healing tank.
She was only being... Nice? Was that the word? Nice. Making breakfast. He grimaced as he passed the table, set high with plates of sausage, pancakes, waffles, bacon... His lip twitched. God... What have I done???
He walked into the tank room, and placed her in. His scowl was deeper than usual.
Dr. and Mrs. Briefs came home from their shopping trip. Mrs. Briefs was surprised to see the table still full of food. And alot of food, no less... Suprizing. It was nearly dinner time, and yet breakfast was still out... Vegeta should have eaten it by now. And where was Bulma?? She glanced out of the window, expecting to see the occasional blast of light that indicated Vegeta's presence. Hm... No Vegeta. Where could they be?
She wandered down the hall, and summoned a cleaning bot. They were crude, but were equipted with a locator program.
"Bot. Locate Vegeta and Bulma."
The raspy metallic voice of the bot answered.
">click Vegeta is in Med Lab One. >click Bulma is in Med Lab One."
She walked into the Med Lab.
Vegeta sat at a console, waiting for the timer on the tank to run down. He had placed her in four hours ago. He hadn't left yet. This damn computer stuff was too complicated. The grav room's controls were easy enough, but this required know-how. And he didn't know how. He wished that Bulma was there to work the damn thing. But she was IN the tank, and he let her know just how he felt.
He walked to the tank, resting his forehead and palms against the glass.
"You know, if it weren't for your weaknesses, you wouldn't be in there. If you were a Saiya-jin female, you would've fought back. That's how we solve things on Vegeta-sei. How we...solved....things..."
He sat down again, knowing that she couldn't hear him.
He did some major damage to her. She'd be in there for quite a while. And all he could do was wait. He checked the console again, and then, looked up, shocked, as Mrs. Briefs walked into the room.
"Oh. Hello there, Vegeta." Her smile was bright, as usuall. "Have you been sitting here this whole time??"
He stammered, for a moment, then regained his composure. He grunted.
"Where's Bulma?"
Ah... The moment of truth. He had known that it would come, but had hoped for more time. He jerked his head in the direction of the tank. He hoped that Bulma's mother wouldn't see the bloody clothing near the tank.
She glanced into the tank. Bulma floated naked in a blue-green solution. She was in the fetal position. Small bubbles floated out of the respirator attached to her mouth and nose. She looked so innocent, so lost. She seemed to be sleeping. And she had a nasty gash on her arm.
"What happened?"
He fidgeted for a moment, and was ashamed of that, even though Mrs. Briefs couldn't see him.
"She.. Fell. On me." He frowned. Couldn't he think of something better to tell her??
"Oh. When's she getting out?"
He was about to answer when the toxins alarm started screaming.
What they said about these tanks is wrong, Bulma thought. They say you can't hear anything. They say you're asleep. They're wrong. She heard Vegeta, knew that he had placed her in here. It made her hurt, but it made her feel good, to know that he cared enough to put her in here. Although, he was the reason she needed the aid of the tank...
She floated in her blue-green world for what seemed like forever. Occasionally, she was aware of Vegeta's voice. He talked to her. He talked to himself. She could hear him tapping the keys of the tank's control console, and mumbling, sometimes cursing. She hoped that he wouldn't accidentally kill her by pushing the wrong buttons. That's what she got for trusting a bumbling idiot with complicated technology.
After a long time, she heard the sound of her mother, speaking to Vegeta in quiet tones. Vegeta's answers in louder tones. She did NOT fall on him. Why was he lying?? Why couldn't he ever admit that he wasn't perfect... That he didn't know how to handle humans... She began to cry, knowing full well that if Vegeta could see her, he would insult her for being weak.
Suddenly she felt odd. Something was wrong with the tank's liquid... I CAN'T BREATHE!
Vegeta leaped up.
"GET AWAY FROM THE TANK!"
Mrs. Briefs ducked. She had had enough experience with Dr. Briefs' experiments to know that that tone of voice meant business.
Vegeta leaped up and blurred in his rush to break the glass surrounding Bulma and the tank's liquid. The tank exploded in a shower of glass and shrapnel. Mrs. Briefs was soaked by fluid.
"Oh! My new shirt is going to STAIN!"
Vegeta ignored her, and placed Bulma gently on a table. He realized suddenly that he was panicking. She wasn't breathing, so he felt for her heart beat. Her skin was wet and cold, but there was a beat. What was it called.. What was it that Bulma had shown him... He remembered it had something to do with mouths being close together, and a shock ran up his spinal cord.
He tried to position her head the right way, then he blew into her mouth the way that she had shown him. God... What if he were doing it wrong? Would she die, just because he had screwed up???
(Next, Chapter 2 in Roses: "Surprise, Surprise")