Hello again! We are nearing the end of the story. I can't say how much fun it's been to write this, and I always look forward to the reviews/follows/favorites that I get. Okay, to be honest, I actually get excited when I see that new people have viewed it. Thank you all for supporting this little short story of mine!
Just a quick thing, last chapter someone had said that Bulma was too weak and desperate. I had actually sort of noticed that before I posted the chapter, so I apologize if it seemed that way. It should get better from now on, I had always thought that Vegeta was the easiest to write for, but I think that in this chapter Bulma seems more in character. Sorry for rambling on for so long, I'll just... leave...
And now, I present to you... chapter four!
Chapter Four
Bulma resisted opening her eyes, pressing her face into the blankets. She didn't want to get up, but the sunlight streaming through the glass door was shining directly in her face. Even so, it was better than being woken up by an alarm clock, which was precisely why Bulma had a glass door in her room. It was one-way too, so nobody could see inside.
Groaning, she turned over, still half-asleep. Bulma was not a morning person. Stay up late having fun, sleep until noon, that was her style. And she remembered just how much fun she had last night.
"Holy shit!" she sat up, the memories flooding back into her head. She almost laughed out loud. Who would have thought? Her and Vegeta.
Were they dating now? Bulma scrunched her nose up at the thought. Sure, he was cute, but he seemed kind of... oh, what was the word? Dangerous. Yeah, that's it.
She realized that the Saiyan in question was missing. The bed was empty and his clothes were gone. Bulma grinned wickedly, recalling some the more interesting parts of that night. Vegeta must have left to go back to his room of hell. Bulma was no fool. Even though he was tough enough to survive 300 Gs, it wouldn't have been pleasant. No wonder he wanted senzu, he was probably in agony, though he didn't show it.
"Tch. Stubborn," Bulma muttered. There was such a thing as being too proud.
She got off the bed and selected an outfit from her enormous wardrobe. She took a shower, then brushed her teeth and spent a reasonable amount of time combing, blow-drying and styling her hair. Once she'd pulled on her simple long sleeved shirt, short skirt and leggings, fastened her belt and laced up her knee-high boots she headed out the door. It was eleven o'clock in the morning. Bulma was going to hunt down breakfast, she was starving.
She found one of the many cafés that were built into her house. It was actually one of her favorites, right between her room and the garden, so Bulma decided to eat there.
After a delicious meal of fried eggs, toast, hash browns and steaming hot coffee Bulma sat at her table with a newspaper, wondering what to do today. The paper didn't have anything of interest, so Bulma put it aside.
She looked up, and Vegeta was in the doorway. A smile grew on her face at the sight of him. Boyfriend or not, he was incredibly hot. He was wearing the same clothes as last night, and he looked a bit more tired. Yeah, he had been training. Crossing to the counter, Vegeta nodded hello to her. As he was ordering breakfast, Bulma stuffed the paper in her bag and jumped up from her chair.
"Hey, Vegeta!" she said, running over to him. "Hi!" she grabbed his hand in both of hers. "How are you doing?" he brushed her away instantly.
"I'm fine. What is it?" Bulma stared at him, a bit confused. Um, hello? Last night, remember? She didn't say that, of course. Bulma had a bit more taste than that.
"Nothing. I was just making conversation," he tilted his head to the side, examining her and not speaking. Bulma was starting to get a bad feeling about this. Then Vegeta snapped his fingers and pointed at her.
"Oh, sorry, I see. You think that because of last night, we're friends now. Is that it?" Bulma's stomach sank in disappointment. This was not a good sign.
"What do you mean? You're saying that we're not?" he narrowed his eyes.
"Of course we aren't. I am not a sentimental worm like Kakarrot. So don't expect anything to have changed," Bulma swallowed, feeling a little nauseous. She didn't like where this was going.
"If it didn't mean anything, then why did you go along with it in the first place?" she asked, trying not to let her voice shake. Her throat was closing up, and she knew that she was getting close to crying. Whether from sadness or frustration, she wasn't sure. What was wrong with her? She knew that nothing could come out of this, and yet she still felt disappointed and rejected. That had to change.
"I was merely helping you. You seemed to need attention, so I gave it to you. Don't make me regret it,"
"So what, sex doesn't mean anything to Saiyans?" Bulma said, her voice raising in volume and pitch. She wasn't keeping her cool. Vegeta cringed.
"Do you want the entire building to know? And, to answer your question, no, it doesn't. Oh for god's sake, woman, calm down," her hands were clenched into fists and her breathing was getting ragged. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. When she spoke again, she was more level-headed.
"Why did you... help me in the first place? You never do stuff like that," for a while, Vegeta didn't say anything. His face gave away nothing, it was just an aggravatingly indifferent mask. At last, he broke the silence.
"Well, I would say that I was showing gratitude for all the things you have done for me since I got here, but, to tell you the truth... I was bored." Bulma almost punched him. At the last second, she remembered that this wasn't the Muten Rôshi, this was Vegeta. The only thing hitting him would do would make him angry. Bulma even thought she saw him eyeing her fists, so just to throw him off, she didn't do anything.
"Okay," she said lightly. He looked at her in mild surprise.
"Oh, that's all?" Bulma's eyes darkened with anger and she clenched her teeth.
"Yeah." she stared at him coldly. "See you later, you big jerk!" she pushed past him, stomping out the café.
Once she was out of sight, Bulma closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists. How things can change. Was it really less than a day since she had spotted Vegeta from her room? It felt like it was in the distant past by now. She needed to escape. But where? Her bedroom and the garden, where she normally hid, were tainted with his presence.
"Damn him," Bulma muttered under her breath. Why couldn't he have just pushed her away? Things would be so much simpler if he had. She would have just gotten up, dusted herself off and continued on. No, she would not have even fallen in the first place. But he didn't, he let her believe that there was something going on between them. He showed her how brilliant and perfect things could be, then basically slammed that door in her face and said, "Nope." How dare he? He was too cocky and disrespectful for his own good.
How does a person become that cruel? Maybe he'd had a terrible childhood, riddled with disease, drugs, child abuse and famine. Bulma snorted at the thought. Yeah, right. That's totally why Vegeta's this evil today. She took her laughter as a good sign, though. That's it, she just needed to snap herself out of this before she started crying.
Why? That was her main question. Why did she care about him so much? Bulma couldn't understand. But there was this nagging feeling that kept bothering her, that there was more to Vegeta than this. That he only acted this because of his pride. That he was actually very thankful to her for giving him a place to stay and train and feeding him. This was too complicated. Oh, if only people were more like machinery. Then she would know what to do.
She needed something to focus on, something good and time consuming that would keep her sane until she could get past this and move on.
Bulma wandered off, in her father's general direction. Maybe she could help with running Capsule Corp. Anything to take her mind off that blasted Saiyan.
Two Months later
Bulma opened the cardboard box filled with hoi-poi capsules. One by one, she picked them out, examined them and then carefully replaced them in the container.
"Yep. This batch's fine," she called out to a stock boy who was standing by, anxiously waiting for her verdict. They were trying out a new way of shrinking the objects, it was a lot cheaper but potentially unstable. Which was where Bulma came in.
"Thank you, miss," the boy said gratefully, taking the box from her. She did a two-fingered salute and started to leave the room to go her next job.
But one of the capsules had fallen out of the box and Bulma didn't see it until she had stepped on it. Her foot slid out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground, face-first.
"Whoa!" she reflexively put her hands out to protect herself, so they took most of the damage. The main thing that was hurt was her pride.
"Are you okay?" the worker rushed to her side. Bulma sat up, shaky from her tumble.
"Yeah," she rubbed her knee, then winced. "Ah. I burned my hands on the ground," They were stinging and turning red. "But other that that, I'll live. Sorry, I'll just get out of your way," she got to her feet, careful to make sure that there weren't any more stray capsules.
Instead of reporting to her father, Bulma went to her room. She had some cream there that would be good for the friction burns on her hands.
Bulma kicked her way to the bathroom and got to the cabinet above the sink. She gingerly opened the door with her fingertips and searched for the jar of ointment. Her eyes landed on a box of tampons. She froze, her brain simultaneously putting two and two together and trying to resist where this was going. How long had it been since she had last gotten her period? Too long. And that night with Vegeta... the night she had finally succeeded in getting over, they hadn't used protection. No. No, this was not happening to her.
Bulma clutched the sink, her hands long forgotten. She felt like throwing up. Was it from horror? Or was it... morning sickness? She slowly sank to the ground, the cool tiles of the floor soothing her. Bulma was pregnant. Somehow. She knew that she didn't need a test for confirmation, could feel it in her bones.
So now what should she do?