Thank you for the reviews so far! I've been having fun exploring this new concept and coming up with a game-plan. It's quite refreshing! I've also started on a new chapter for the 7 Year Gap already! I'm hoping to get a decent amount of writing done during some off time I'll be having soon!
I won't have much access to a computer during that time so I may not update for a couple of weeks, but I'll still be typing things up on my phone and getting ideas down! :) Please let me know what you think! I can't lie, I get kind of obsessive with checking my phone to see how my work is being received after I post an update! ;) I get so excited!
Thanks again!
"Shit. Shit. Shit."
Vegeta was hovering above the wreckage, his heart pounding as he waited for the cloud of dust to fade. The woman was frail and weak – the explosion had been intentional, but there was no way she could have survived such a thing. If a single aspect of her plan had gone wrong she would have perished along with the plane. Or perhaps worse – if she had escaped in time, she may have just plummeted to her death. Wishing he could trace ki without his scouter, Vegeta's eyes searched the area for any sign of the woman, making his way through the cloud of debris and scanning his surroundings.
'Damn, damn, damn!' He thought. Even if she had survived, she wouldn't be getting too far before her shock bracelet knocked her out. This would have been a slight source of comfort to the saiyan, if he wasn't concerned that she might be injured. If she were wounded and got zapped, the impact might be enough to finish her off.
Even as he flew he was amazed. Perhaps he'd underestimated her in assuming she wouldn't be capable of attempting such a thing! But now she might be dead, and he was cursing himself for letting it happen. He'd almost starting feeling comfortable sitting next to her, and he'd foolishly let his guard down. What an idiot he was! It was when he made it through the debris and could see more clearly that he spotted it. A large white veil that nearly looked like a tarp hanging from a tree on the highest mountain. Below the veil he could see two pale legs swaying in the wind.
Bulma was panting to catch her breath. She'd done it. The parachute that she strapped to her back in her father's lab had worked, the timing of the explosion had been perfect, and she had gotten away. Sure, her parachute had snagged in a tree and she was now dangling 10 meters above the ground, but she would find a way to get down. At least she'd survived. She was clutching the line of the parachute, gasping as her skin swelled with a pain unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. The entirety of her back had blistered from the wave of the explosion, and she was letting out whimpers from the pain. Oh, kami, she hadn't planned for that. Her eyes were closed, and she was still trying to come to terms with the throbbing in her muscles, when she heard his voice.
"You stupid woman! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Bulma shook, dropping her head as she grasped the parachute line even tighter. She was so beside herself in agony that she didn't even register what his voice meant, and immediately she began to snap back. "What's the difference if I get myself killed?! It's not like you aren't going to kill me once we get all the dragonballs, anyway!" She screamed, shaking her head.
Vegeta was stunned. She was reacting as if she wasn't surprised by his presence at all. Rather, it almost seemed as if she'd assumed it wouldn't work all along, and she had long ago accepted that he might have survived. "Go ahead, then! Punish me! Kill me! At least I tried!" Her eyes were still pressed shut, and she let out a groan of pain as she swung in the wind before continuing. "You can't blame me! I know what you're planning to do with those dragonballs. You think you're the first person to want them?! I know you're going to destroy the planet! I had to try and stop you! You'd do the same thing if you were me! You don't understand what it's like to watch your friends die, to have someone kidnap you, threaten your life, threaten the entire world... At least by doing this I was giving myself a chance!" She turned then, opening her eyes, and the fire drained from her tone. Seeming to finally realize the situation for the first time, she stared at the man in front of her dumbly. Vegeta was hovering right in front of her at face level... 10 meters above ground... "You..." She breathed. He was flying? "You... you're just like Goku..."
He didn't reply right away. He was peering at her with his arms crossed, his eyes locked on her face. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. Bulma had noticed by now that if his forehead wasn't dripping with anger, then his expression would typically just be neutral. And even then, he was still likely to be mad. It was impossible to predict him. Her breathing slowed, and she watched back, waiting anxiously for the moment he would strike her.
But he never did.
As time passed and he continued to stare at her, she could swear she nearly saw his face soften. There was something dim lulling in the back on his eyes. He was still gazing at her, not having even blinked. "Believe me." He finally said, and faintly she saw that the look in his eyes was getting deeper as he spoke. There was something there - something she hadn't been expecting... "I understand what it's like." He continued. "I understand more than you will ever know."
What?
Her mouth dropped open, and suddenly he was right by her side, ripping the parachute lines that kept her strapped to the tree. She squeaked from the release of tension on her back, but she hardly had enough time to breathe before he grabbed by the waist and hoisted her over a shoulder. Carrying her as if she was a bag of wheat, he lowered them both to the ground.
As soon as she set her feet on the grass, Vegeta turned and shot a purple beam at the tree she'd just been trapped in. "DAMNIT!" He yelled, shooting down another. Bulma's eyes widened, holding her breath as she watched, thinking he would turn on her next. But he didn't. He let out another obscenity and then stood panting with his back to her, his hands balled into fists as he fought to gain his composure.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, he slowly turned to glare at her from over his shoulder. "You destroyed our plane." He growled. "Your stupid child's game got our plane destroyed, Woman!"
She understood now - it was clear. His show of blasting trees was his way of releasing frustration without taking it out on her. Bulma, who was still processing the expression she'd seen on his face a few moments ago, was feeling less frightened now. "That wasn't our only plane." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. With a shrug, she unclipped a capsule from her belt and threw it. A pink jet appeared from the smoke in front of them, and in an effort to be cheerful she clapped her hands together as she stepped towards it. "Not bad, huh?" Bulma forced a grin, despite the stinging that was still radiating across her back. She gestured to the jet with her thumb, locking eyes with Vegeta. "So, how's about we get back on route?"
He was still catching his breath as he watched her. She was actually smiling at him - as if she hadn't just destroyed a plane in an attempt to kill him! She was acting so calm about it! As if it had been some kind of joke! As if he'd easily forget about such a thing! What was with this woman?! Vegeta wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead, his amazement working to dull his fury. But still, it wouldn't do to have her attempting escapes when he needed her for the dragonballs. He glared, forcing the bewilderment off his face. He needed to make sure she wouldn't try anything again. "You see now that you can't easily get rid of me." He growled.
She shrugged. "It was a longshot. Like I said, you can't blame me for trying."
"You do know that if you hadn't landed in that tree and had gone any further the bracelet would have electrocuted you." He continued.
Her face lost some of its cheer. "…Yes. I know." She replied, but he could tell this was news to her. Did she not understand what he had already told her about it generating electric shock?
"The bracelet is designed to stop someone from getting outside of a certain radius of the person who assigned it. When a slave is attempting to flee, and they make it to the pod station, they will instantly drop and the shocks will cease. With you falling thousands of meters away, you would have continued to be shocked until your heart fried. You understand that, don't you?"
She was looking rather ill now, but he could see she was trying to mask it.
"This is exactly why I put it on you, Woman." He continued. "I could tell you would be the type to attempt an escape. I must say, though. I didn't think you had something like that in you…"
The Bluehead turned, shaking her head as he continued his lecture. She was heading for the jet, not wishing to hear anymore - he was making his point. It was then that Vegeta saw her back. The rear of her shirt was withered into scraps that revealed burned pink skin. Patches of dried blood spread across her body. Cuts. Meanwhile, Vegeta had a minor tear in the fabric of his left arm, having managed to fly from the plane and avoid the blunt of the explosion. His eyes widened, examining her injuries. She had said she believed he was planning to destroy Earth with his wish, and it was clear that she really was trying to protect her planet. She really had been willing to sacrifice herself in effort to stop his plans and protect this disgusting ball of grass. And, again, she'd been right - it was true, he really couldn't blame her for it.
Protecting his own home planet was something he hadn't even managed to attempt himself, and he knew he would have risked his own life if he'd been given the opportunity. In fact, it was something Vegeta had fantasized about throughout the majority of his adolescence. The wish that he could have done something, or at least tried. The dreams he would wake up from, visions of his planet's demise playing over in his head. He'd been unable to do anything but watch in horror from Frieza's ship. The sound as the world he'd been born to exploding, echoing through space as it reached his ears, playing over in his mind for years to come as he screamed through his dreams. The utter resentment that fueled his hate, causing him to lash out and rebel against his captor at any chance he got. It never did him any good. His spiteful acts of revolt never filled the gaping pit in his core that had formed in watching his civilians' execution. It only resulted in his own torture, his own pride being threatened as Frieza sliced a long nail through his skin while his henchmen cheered.
He really couldn't blame her for trying. This woman – this confusing girl that cowered at his shadow one moment, and then was throwing herself out a plane the next. She was truly unpredictable. Her actions should have meant she was fearless, and yet she was quick to get unhinged over his description of the electric shackle. Vegeta smirked, following behind and boarding the pink plane. This trip was going to be rather interesting…
.
Neither of the two exchanged words for another four hours, until Bulma landed the plane in a pasture and shut the engine off. "We're coming up close to the first dragonball." She muttered without making eye contact, crawling out from the jet. Vegeta followed suit, hopping into the grass. It was night time now, and there was hardly anything to illuminate the pasture at all. He turned towards the Bluehead and saw in the pale of the night that she was throwing another capsule. A moment later, and a small house had formed in the dark. From the interior Vegeta could see that there were lights on, which cast through the window to illuminate his face as he grinned. "Interesting…"
The house had been equipped with everything that made Bulma comfortable. A fluffy sofa in a sitting room, a bedroom with thick blankets that made her feel pampered to lay under. A refrigerator full of food. Vegeta had gone right after it, filling his arms with every ingredient he could get his hands on and concocting a makeshift feast with the resources. Not sure of what else she could do, Bulma sat across from the saiyan as he stuffed his face. She watched, once again distracted with amazement as he swallowed everything down with enough pace to make her dizzy.
'If only Goku were still alive.' She thought. 'These two could have had raced each other.' She wondered who would win during a timed eating competition, for she almost felt as if this man was quicker with his mouth than even Goku had managed. Her eyes widened as he down a plate of cold noodles, trying to find a connection as to how his eating habits could be so similar to her best friend.
Vegeta felt her eyes on him, and it wasn't until he finished his last bite that he looked up and shot her a scowl that he hoped would intimidate her.
Instead of looking frightened she cupped a cheek in her palm, nodding her head to the side. "How do you understand." She said, and it came out as a muffled command rather than a question. He raised an eyebrow, not bothering to verbally respond to her words. "You said you understand what it's like to be in my position. To be held captive. You understood why I jumped from the plane… How could you know what that's like."
A million potential ways of responding ran through his mind. Flashbacks of torture chambers, of bloody body parts he had to salvage through. Of miscellaneous screams. Of manic laughter. Of a lizard's tail swaying bitterly as it considered its revenge. Vegeta furrowed his eyebrows, not wishing to relive any of it. "That's not important." He replied. "My past is nothing you should be concerned with."
She wasn't satisfied with this, and she continued staring at him. Vegeta darkened his tone. "I said it's none of your business." He growled.
"Why does it matter if I know? Your secret will be laid to rest when you decide to end this game and finish me off like you did my friends. You might as well share it." She replied, sounding rather nonchalant about her own demise.
That was it. His calm mood had been fading with the intruding thoughts of Frieza's sword-like claws, and now she was interrogating him. "You keep talking as if you know my plans!" Vegeta spat. "I never said I would kill you!"
"Oh? Act as if you have a conscious all the sudden! I'm not stupid! You don't have to tell me, I can see it myself!"
"You must not be as smart as you think you are if you're going to make such idiotic decisions!" He snapped. "For you to go and pull something so suicidal, over a mere assumption, you're obviously a fool!"
Bulma shook, unable to think of a retaliation. He made a good point, and she hated it. She bit her lip, turning away as she felt her cheeks started to sting. None of this made any sense. His words completely contradicted everything she'd seen him do to her friends. He yelled as if the mere idea of him killing her was preposterous, which may have been comforting if he wasn't screaming it at her. What was with him, anyway? He was harsh one moment, nearly pleasant towards her parents the next. He went back and forth between threatening her, then yelling at her for putting herself in danger. He'd even been looking at her as if he had made some type of epiphany when she'd still been hanging from her parachute. What was that about, anyway? She'd expected him to be angry beyond all reason, but he hadn't even slapped her. He'd specifically restrained himself from it, and she just couldn't make sense of that. He'd sounded so genuine when he made his confession to her before ripping her from the tree, but now he didn't want to tell her anything.
None of it made any sense!
"Would it suit your highness if I excused myself?" She hissed sarcastically, feeling rejected from his harsh reaction to her questions.
"What do I care!" Vegeta barked.
Bulma pushed herself up from the table. She really hadn't intended for him to get so upset. He seemed like the type who was eager to share gruesome details if it meant causing her fear. If anything, she thought her own interest might have intrigued him, but instead it'd had the opposite effect, and she was no closer to understanding anything about his character. "Will I be able to leave the room without getting electrocuted? Or would that be getting too far away for you?" She asked, looking for an excuse to give him a hard time. Even so, she was surprised as the hostility in her own tone. She instantly regretted it, thinking it would spur him into a tirade, but he didn't even look up at her. "You could jump from a plane without it going off. You tell me."
Great. Once again, he'd made a good point. Now she was not only frustrated, but also embarrassed for asking such an obvious question. "I don't know what the radius for this safeguard is!" She replied, cheeks turning pink, trying to defend her reasoning for asking.
"As you shouldn't. The less you know, the lower the chances you'll attempt anything else idiotic."
Bulma let out a sharp hiss. He was giving her minimal yet condescending responses, and perhaps he was doing it to mess with her. If his goal was to get under her skin, it was working. She stormed for the bathroom, slamming the door shut as she went. A moment later the door swung open again, and she reappeared in front of the saiyan. Vegeta was still sitting at the table, glaring bitterly at the wall.
"I want to take a bath." She announced.
"Okay."
"I said I need to bathe."
"Fine."
"How can I bathe with this thing on?"
"It can get wet."
"I don't believe you."
"You should."
"I need more detailed answers!"
"Not necessary."
"You must really see me as stupid if you think I'll believe that this device has the ability to electrocute me, but isn't going to shock me when I submerge it in water!"
Vegeta slammed his hands down on the table now, the dishes rattling from the impact. "Damnit, Woman!" He barked. He was still trying to collect himself as memories of Frieza's ship flooded his mind, and she was only prodding his patience with her incessant questioning. "If I cared so much about making sure you didn't run off, why would I send you to be electrocuted in a tub?! Go bathe and leave me alone!"
"You could be lying. You could be setting this all up so I'll go in there and -"
A chair flew across the room as Vegeta abruptly stood. "Believe me, Woman! If I wanted you to die I could easily do it with my bare hands - right now! I have no need for such elaborate plots!" He spat. "You're testing my temper, Woman. Enough with your paranoid accusations!"
"I have a reason to be paranoid!" She screamed, turning and storming from the room again. When she made it to the bathroom she turned, glaring at the saiyan who had retrieved his chair and was now sitting again. "And my name is not Woman! It's Bulma!"
.
An hour later, and a fresh Bulma Briefs had stepped back out into the main room. Mentally she wasn't nearly as angry as she had been before going in, but physically she was feeling worse. Warm water on burnt skin could do that to a person. But her hair was washed, her skin cleaned of the dust that had been caked on throughout the day, and she was relieved to have gotten it over with. Vegeta, who looked like he hadn't even moved and was still glaring at the wall, had heard it all. The way she had been groaning in the bathtub, letting out sharp curses and moans any time she seemed to move. He knew that she was in pain because of her back, and it only made him feel more sour. 'Foolish girl.' He thought. Perhaps this would be enough of a lesson for her to not attempt anything so rash again.
The Bluehead stepped through the room without a word, taking a seat across from the saiyan and placing something in front of him. He looked at it, recognizing it as the device she'd referred to as the dragon radar. "There's no telling until we start our search in the morning, but there's a village nearby." Bulma was saying now. "The dragon radar will direct us to the dragonball in relation to our own geographic location, sort of like a compass, but I can't be sure of where exactly it is until I start the search tomorrow. It's possible the dragonball is laying somewhere in the surrounding forest, but I suspect someone who lives in the village has possession of it."
"Easy enough." The saiyan replied.
"I'll go look for it tomorrow. You can stay here and wait, but I need to know that the bracelet you put on me will allow me to make the trip."
"Nice try." He smirked, looking up at her for the first time since she'd been sitting there. "I'm going with."
Her eyes widened at that, and she shook her head. "No - I don't need you to come."
"Oh? So I'll set you loose to attempt another escape plan?" He nearly laughed at this, and she didn't think she'd ever seen him looking so amused before. Truth be told, up until that point she hadn't been sure if he even had a sense of humor. "No…" She drifted, trying to find the words. He made a good point, but escaping truly hadn't been on her mind this time. If she wanted to attempt to get away again, she'd make it a much less obvious than that. "It's just that… there's going to be… people…"
"Oh? People in a village! Who would have guessed?!" Vegeta scoffed before narrowing his eyes. "Look. I told you I wouldn't harm your parents if they didn't intervene, and I stuck to my word - did I not? My only focus is obtaining the dragonballs. If I cared to commit genocide on your people I would be fully capable of doing that now, and without any help."
"My people." Bulma breathed. This wasn't the first time that his odd word choice had struck her. She held her breath as she looked at his face, thinking for the second time that this man really was some kind of alien… The strange thing was that there were features about him that struck her as oddly similar to Goku. The color of his hair, which seemed to defy gravity no matter what he did. The large muscles that protruded from every crevice of his body. His appetite, which seemed to be completely insatiable… The fact that he could fly... But what did any of it mean?
"Now that we are on the subject – how many dragonballs are there?" Vegeta grunted, bringing her back to reality. She cleared her throat. "There's seven."
"Right. So we need all seven before I can get my wish. How long will it take after retrieval?"
"Oh, uh - it shouldn't take long. The hard part is collecting them."
"Good." He nodded, looking satisfied now. "We have 88 days."
"88 days?" The confusion was written on her face. There was an exact deadline? Suddenly her nerves were triggered. "Why 88 days? Why not 90 - or even 200?"
There wasn't a playful smirk, nor even the hint of joke on his face. Vegeta was staring into her eyes now, sternly asserting his point. "My time runs out in 88 days. If I don't gain immortality by then, well - you don't want to know what happens."
The way he said it was nearly grim, but not in a manner that was threatening her directly. It was almost as if he was talking about himself. As if he was speaking of fate in general. His earlier words replayed in her head once again – he'd said he understood what it was like to watch his friends die and be… kidnapped… Bulma's heart suddenly dropped. She watched as he stood, and she held a hand out to stop him. "Wait." She gasped. "Wait! Are you – is there… Is someone coming after you?"
Vegeta had been making his way through the living room. He abruptly paused, and she knew it was true. Slowly he glanced at her, the fearfully serious expression still plastered on his chiseled face. "Smart girl." He muttered. "Don't ask any more questions. Understand?"
And with that he marched into the bedroom and shut the door, leaving Bulma with only her racing imagination to keep her company.
