~!*!~
"Hm...feeling it already? I'm nowhere near Earth yet. How intriguing."
The woman gingerly caressed the sparkling crystal orb in her lap, a ghost of a smile on her thin cracked lips. At last. She would be able to witness it. The sweet taste of revenge...she could almost taste it.
After waiting almost a thousand years in her lonesome prison, she could watch the one responsible perish. Perish into the wind for causing her such pain. She would return it tenfold-no, a hundredfold! It was what they deserved, for causing such pain to her and her people. They needed vengeance. He who wronged them would pay for such indescribable treatment, killing off her people one at a time. For murdering her loved ones. They would pay, so dearly, they would pay... And she would be the one to deal the judgment in her ancestor's place. She was given that burden and she would gladly carry it.
Until he was dead at her feet. Only then would her curse be lifted, as well as his. Oh yes, she was lifting his curse. But it came at the highest price. His life.
The smile widened. Soon, soon! Her gnarled old hands trembled, almost see-through over the coldly glowing ball before her. So many centuries she had waited for the moment that was awaiting her.
She laughed, harsh and clear, alone.
~!*!~
Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. Vegeta closed his eyes briefly, tiredly massaging his temple with two fingers. He couldn't figure it out, where this sudden headache had come from. Only yesterday he had felt completely fine. It didn't matter much to him, but it certainly was annoying. Not to mention embarrassing. he hadn't meant to fall asleep. He had simply taken a moment to try and soothe the throb in his head by sitting on the bed, and all of a sudden it was dark and the door was closing. A familiar energy had revealed by whom.
Curse that Kakarot...couldn't he ever take his prying nose out of other people's business? It was almost enough to make him sick.
And the more he thought about it, he realized he actually could be sick. His hands somehow made their way to his face as he breathed deeply, closing his eyes. After a whole day of it, he was entirely done with this faintly nauseating feeling. No time for that.
"You okay in there?"
His hands dropped at the light knock on the bathroom door. Add one more to the list of things that were currently annoying him. Still, he unhesitatingly swung open the door without warning, causing her to squeak and jump back to avoid being hit.
"Sheesh!" She crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow. "Warn me first!"
He brushed past her, much to her indignation, and promptly sat on the edge of the bed. It was strange; he felt so tired, yet...not. He doubted he would get much sleep tonight, for whatever stupid reason.
He didn't even look up when Bulma stood beside him expectantly. "You've been acting a little strange today. Is something the matter?"
Well, sure. But he wasn't about to admit it was because he had a little headache. So he shook his head.
"...But if something was, would you tell me?"
A pause. Then, "Would you quit pestering me?"
"Fine." She hmphed and marched around to her side of the bed. She settled in without another word, her back turned on him. He could live with that.
He did the same after giving the side of his head one last irritated rub. No, no relief tonight. It was more the thought of him being kept awake by such a trivial thing that was bothersome. Though the pain was pretty bad too.
He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. It was ridiculous. No chance of him being held back from anything, even if that thing was mere sleep. And by some miracle, after waiting exhaustedly for hours, he succumbed to a light slumber.
But of course even that couldn't be without some kind of nightmare. Why would it?
~!*!~
Bulma's eyes cracked open sluggishly. Surely it couldn't be time to wake up already, she was certain she would have heard the alarm. It was still dark anyhow. So what could have possibly woken her?
She scowled half-heartedly as she felt the bed shake, undoubtedly from her 'other half'. That was probably what had startled her awake, the rocking. She didn't bother turning, though at that point she was ready to smack him. He never tossed and turned at night, which she deduced meant he was awake. But why? Was something wrong? Perhaps he had felt it too, the unsettlement in the air. She wanted to figure out what it meant, but her tiredly aching head prohibited it. Hopefully the problem wasn't immediate-she had barely slept the last few nights thanks to minor stress from work.
So she turned, a tiny bit huffily, onto her side and closed her eyes. A few seconds later they opened again. Perfect. All of a sudden her brain felt the need to turn on, focusing on the idea of a threat. No, nothing was going to happen. She just needed to get that notion out of her mind so she could rest. Except that was easier said than done.
"Ugh...stop moving," she hissed, once again closing her eyes tightly. "You're shaking the bed."
She knit her brows when he didn't answer, as well as not stopping. Maybe he really was asleep? That would be unusual for him to be turning so much. After a moment, she turned fully around to face him.
Based on the silhouette he was on his side, facing away from her, but he looked strangely tense. To raise her concerns, his breathing seemed off. Irregular, almost like he was out of breath. And he kept shifting like he couldn't get comfortable, which was the shaking she had endured.
"Psst!" She almost attempted to wake him by touch, but decided against it. No telling how his reflexes would react. "Hey, wake up. Vegeta."
He still didn't wake up, which was highly concerning. He would wake up at the smallest scratch of a mouse's claws. And this certainly didn't seem like deep sleep either. Something was definitely wrong.
As much as she hated putting her life on the line, she hesitantly reached out to shake him out of it, but stopped when he restlessly rolled over so he was facing her. Her eyes somewhat adjusted, she was surprised to see a look of pain on his sleeping face. Only she couldn't tell if it was physical or from whatever kind of nightmare he was clearly having.
Then he gave a quiet, short moan and her suspicions were put to rest. The way he was partly doubled over, breathing a little quickly, she could tell he was actually hurting. But why? Where? How? She felt the immediate need to help but she couldn't get over her fear of his reflexive reaction. One had to think about these things when they were by a Saiyan, especially him.
"Wake up!" she whispered loudly, urgently. "Can you hear me? Snap out of it!"
Finally she pushed aside her worries and shook his shoulder. "Get up!"
She let out a small screech when he jerked awake, but it was unnecessary. He immediately settled down on his back, panting lightly and staring at the ceiling. Now that she had accomplished that much...
"Are you okay?" She sat up halfway, looking at him with puzzled concern. "You were starting to worry me there for a moment."
"I'm fine," he snapped back, causing her to close her lips. Then she scowled.
"No, you're obviously not," came the retort. "Don't bother trying to hide it, you looked like you were in serious pain. Now shut up and tell me what's wrong." She paused for a second. "And don't be a smart aleck about what I just said."
He shot her an annoyed look, at which she returned with an impatient scowl. She was not about to put up with his attitude at two in the morning.
"I told you," he muttered, "I'm fine."
At that, her glare started to melt. That was it? He didn't sound very convincing and seemed to lack his usual abrasiveness. Her shoulders relaxed.
"And I told you, no you're not." She sat up fully, pulling her blanket-clad legs up to her chest. "Just tell me."
His own scowl deepened and he looked away, not answering. At least he seemed to have calmed, his breathing normal again. She wouldn't lie, he had scared her with that little episode. He had appeared so helplessly hurt, like...like a child with an injury. They didn't quite know what to do except curl up and cry. Maybe it had been because he was asleep. He didn't have his usual tough-guy barricade up to hide his pain and emotions. That was why it had clenched her heart so.
Only now, he was back to being normal, stubborn, irritable Vegeta. And he still wasn't answering her.
"So..." She hoped he could see the baffled, miffed expression she wore. "You're just not going to let anyone help you. You'll just sit back and suffer for no reason. You really do amaze me."
"...Shut up," he grumbled, still not meeting her eye.
"I'm serious. It's confounding, really. You have so many opportunities to let me and everyone else help you when you really need it, and you just toss us away like garbage. It's so stupid."
"I didn't ask for a lecture."
"I'm giving you one anyway! Will you for once just tell me what's wrong? You obviously need help and I'm right here waiting for you to just tell me."
"I don't need your help!"
"Really? You looked pretty bad there for a minute. I could've sworn..."
"Just mind your own business, would you? I'm not asking for your-or anyone else's-help! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself without a pesky mother hen wanting to hover over me."
"Pesky...you listen! I don't care if you're a Saiyan, you can't handle everything that comes your way on your own. For someone as intelligent as you say you are, you should have figured that out! The way you work now is just idiotic!"
"What would you possibly know, woman? I'm a warrior, we don't look to others for help. Certainly not from you!"
"You're such a selfish jerk! How much have I done for you? This is how you repay me?"
"What does that even have to do-?!"
"Just because! You just...you just need to suck it up and let me help you this once! I'm not asking you to do it all the time, just when you really need it, like now!"
Both finally stopped, by then nearly at each other's throats, literally. Taking advantage of the pause, Bulma sat back against the headboard and crossed her arms. A heavy sigh. Even she couldn't quite understand how she had gotten so worked up. She blamed it on the fact that it wasn't even three a.m.
"...Well?" She shrugged to say 'what're you gonna do?' "Are you just going suffer by yourself like you always do? Doesn't seem the smart thing to do. But hey. What do I know? I'm just a pest."
He didn't move, not facing her. Honestly she wasn't sure what his response would be to that. It was hard to tell with him. She waited in the tense silence for a minute, letting him and herself mull over everything.
Maybe she had been overreacting, a lot. But it was all true. She didn't at all expect him to change, but...she supposed something about the way he had looked earlier had stirred it inside her. He needed help, so why couldn't he just let it go and ask? He didn't even have to ask, just-grudgingly of course-concede. No words were needed.
Just then she was drawn out of her thoughts by a shift in the corner of her eye. She turned with a start.
"Trunks?" She frowned. "What are you doing out of bed?"
The nine-year-old stopped as he had been trying to leave without being noticed. He scratched the back of his head and didn't look at her.
"I was just...I heard yelling and I wasn't sure if..." he trailed off awkwardly. Bulma couldn't stop the small, sad smile.
"C'mere." She gestured for him to get onto the bed next to her. He brightened a bit and started to obey. Then he quickly jumped out of the way when his father suddenly brushed past him and out the door.
"Hey!" Bulma sat up straight again, gazing out the now-empty doorway with amazed anger. She shook her head. "That..."
She looked over when Trunks slowly climbed into her bed, staring out the door with mild confusion. It was then that she thought of how he must feel, what with his parents screaming at each other in the middle of the night. She would be truthful, it wasn't the first time. But it was the first that he had witnessed it so far as she knew, as she was sure he had from the door. No doubt the whole episode. With a sigh, she put an arm around him as he sat next to her.
"Sorry we woke you, Trunks," she said softly. He simply shrugged, which made her bite her lip. Who knew, maybe by then he thought it was normal. Normal for his mother and father to be fighting constantly. A sad truth.
"Where d'you think Dad's going?" Trunks asked innocently enough. He did have bit of a tone though.
Bulma shrugged one shoulder with a twist of her lips. "Who knows?"
It didn't matter. He would come back eventually. He always did.
~!*!~
There ya go. More torture known as another chapter. ;) Ah, but seriously... Anyhoozle, please review what you think! It's very much appreciated! ^_^'
Thanks!