Hey Everyone, sorry this story took so long. I had a really tough time last week. But at last here it is and I hope you all enjoy it. R&R. And I don't own DBZ, DBGT or any of the characters and you all should support the official release. :D
Videl pulled the soft sheets over herself. Her head still throbbed from earlier but she knew she should try to get some sleep if she was to get up at 6 AM for work. She reached over and turned the painful light off. That's better. She closed her eyes forcing her thoughts away from the rather embarrassing evening and hoping that Vegeta was doing the same.
Videl groaned loudly as the awaking sun crept across her aching head. Her eyes fluttered slowly open just in time to hear the incessant buzzing of her nearby alarm. She turned toward the small bedside table and pressed carefully down on the alarm. Letting out a deep breath she kicked off the sheets. The cool air caught her by surprise. Oh right, I never dressed myself. Videl smiled sheepishly at the recollection of the previous night.
After dressing herself and combing out her unbelievably matted hair Videl walked through the metal building to her workspace. Bulma, spying her from an adjacent break room, walked over to her. Oh God if Vegeta told her...
"Hey Bulma" Videl said awkwardly. Bulma seemed unfazed by her out of character response and pulled her into the tiny room.
"I am so excited with how far the project is coming! I spent last night going over the altercations for the..." Videl's eyes glazed over as she continued nodding to Bulma's story. My head doesn't need this right now. She reached past the still talking Bulma to grab a mug from the counter and carefully filled it with coffee while maintaining eye contact with her friend turned boss. Videl stirred her coffee half listening to her friend.
"I just don't know if that would work...What do you think Videl?" Bulma tilted her head waiting for a response.
"Oh...well...it should work...I think." Videl stumbled through her words but it was clear to Bulma that she had not been listening in the least.
"Is something wrong? You seem despondent this morning." She glanced up at Videl's forehead.
"Oh my God! What happened? I can't believe I didn't see that before! Let me take a look at it." Before she could refuse Bulma pulled her in a near head lock examining the wound. Would it be wrong to avoid telling her about the incident last night? It's not like anything happened. It wasn't even my fault. Better to avoid the topic, the last thing I want to do is make it super uncomfortable while I am staying with them.
After Bulma was satisfied with her diagnosis as a simple cut that didn't look like it needed stitches she let Videl go.
"So what happened?" Bulma asked with a concerned tone. Videl rubbed the back of her head.
"Oh I just slipped and hit my head in the bathroom. No big deal." She chuckled and took a sip of her coffee. Bulma nodded in understanding.
"Well be more careful, you are invaluable to me." Bulma patted Videl on the shoulder. Videl nodded and began to walk out of the room.
"I'm going to get started. Really, don't worry about me. I am fine." Videl continued her walk to the lab. She resented Bulma for treating her like a defenseless child at moments such as this. I did fall out of a window. Videl smiled at her internal joke.
Soon she arrived at her rather dreary looking workspace. Outside the sun was covered by a blanket of impending gray clouds. Soon rain spotted the outer sidewalk and the smell of wet pine rolled into the lab. Videl took a deep breath immensely enjoying the familiar scent. Gohan and she used to go up to the mountains and train together when they first were married. The tall Japanese Black Pine dotted the mountainous region and in the morning the needles absorbed the soft dew. The scent was unmistakable and brought back the most joyous times in her marriage. The time of youthful freedom and promises of an adventurous future brought on by her love for this dreamy Saiyan. Oh god the thrill of the fight! I wish I could reignite that feeling once again.
Soon the rain quickened, pelting the building sideways and flying through the crack in the window. Videl walked over to the window and locked the latch, momentarily gazing out into the misty serenity of the rain. A loud beeping broke the moment of nostalgia and Videl glanced over at the screen. Must be a problem in the gravity room. Videl grabbed the prepared electronic bag and walked swiftly out the main door. Crap its raining really hard. She pulled her jacket over her head attempting to shield herself from the water. When she reached the dome building she paused to squeeze the water out of her hair. As she opened the door she noticed the beeping had stopped and she looked around the room for Vegeta.
Vegeta was standing over the panel replacing the broken part with seeming ease.
"What the...Vegeta what are you doing?!" Videl jogged over to the panel to observe what he was doing. He clearly knew exactly what he was doing, the broken part was removed and the new one was being screwed into place. Vegeta payed no mind to Videl's inquiry and continued fixing the problem.
"Vegeta...how did you learn how to fix this?" Videl asked with a honest curiosity. Vegeta finished the part and cautiously closed the panel.
"Why did Bulma ask me to help you if you knew how to fix it?" Videl continued. Vegeta walked past her and picked up two huge dumbbells and began lifting.
"Veg..." He cut her off.
"She doesn't know that I can fix the machine myself and I don't want her to." He said turning away from her to the window facing the main building.
"But why? I mean she is always teasing you about it...well not teasing...but you know. I just don't get it, with your ego I would think you would jump at a chance to prove her wrong..." Vegeta seemed genuinely agitated with her now.
"I am not an idiot! I knew how to fix this blasted machine from the beginning. I don't have to explain my reasons to you, woman!" Vegeta said defensively.
"Jeez Vegeta don't bite my head off, I just don't understand why you would waste Bulma's time by having her fix the machine when you could have done it yourself. So selfish." Videl snapped back. Vegeta sprung within inches from her face, with a terrifying glint in his eyes.
"Of course I could only have bad intentions. Never had a good thought in my life right?!" Vegeta exhaled sharply, Videl could feel his breath on her cheek.
"It's not my fault I have that perception of you, you're a jerk to everyone! Every time you open your mouth you make some snide remark. You're completely unbearable! All I asked was why you let Bulma come out here continuously and pull her away from her important work to fix the machi..." Videl paused because it suddenly struck her as to why he was doing it. He wanted to be with Bulma...The image of Vegeta's disappointed face flashed in her mind from the day before. It was his way of trying to spend time with her without having to admit he wanted to. Videl pulled away from Vegeta's infuriating expression and looked in his black eyes.
"I'm...sorry Vegeta." Videl stammered considerately. Vegeta face twisted with a grimace. Videl continued:
"I didn't mean to jump to conclusions...I didn't realize...I mean...I should have gave you the benefit of the doubt. You're not all that bad...you did help me last night...I could have been seriously hurt." Vegeta's face changed from anger into suspicion.
"Why are you saying all this? You were angry just a moment before." He took a step toward Videl his eyes scanning her fervently. Videl rolled her eyes at his aggressive display and turned to begin walking towards the door. Vegeta manifested in front of her instantly.
"Answer me woman!" he demanded. Videl crossed her arms and looked at him menacingly.
"Get out of my way." Vegeta smirked at her request. Videl attempted to move past him but he blocked her callously.
"Well? Why don't you answer me?" Vegeta asked again. Videl was getting increasingly frustrated with the situation and turned to get away from Vegeta again unsuccessfully.
"Answer me woman!" Vegeta yelled at her, his smirk replaced with a familiar furious. Videl stood straight in his face and yelled back.
"Because I know what its like to feel...lonely." She spoke her last word much quieter but Vegeta heard her clearly. Though his face probably still looked furious to a onlooker, as close as Videl was she could see how his eyes had softened considerably. Even though Videl could see the truth in his eyes she could nearly anticipate exactly how he was going to react to that statement.
"Ha!" He exclaimed loudly, "Just because your pitiful excuse of a husband left you to chase after the dragon balls doesn't mean you can lump me into the same category as some pathetic weakling such as yourself." Vegeta's words stung Videl bitterly. Weakling? Videl swung at Vegeta who dodged the violent lunge with ease. He was smirking again at her. He's enjoying this.
"Ugggh! You are so infuriating." Videl stomped past him in a unreasonable rage and stopped at the panel which at the moment was rebooting the gravity machine.
"Fix this!" She yelled as she simultaneously kicked the panel. Sparks flew out of the destroyed machine sending a puff of black smoke into the air. Vegeta stared in shock at the rubble as Videl stormed out of the dome.
She walked back to the main buildings entrance and perhaps it was the rain but she slowly started to calm down and think clearly. Oh god why did I do that...Bulma is going to kill me when he tells her I broke the machine.
The rest of the day went by surprisingly quiet. Videl distracted herself with sorting files and forcing herself not to look out the window at the gravity room. Soon it was evening once again at capsule corp and Videl shut off her computer and made way into the main house. Pan was sitting on the couch with Bra, both of them were texting.
"Hey Pan, have you eaten dinner yet?" Pan nodded without looking up.
"Bulma's waiting for you in the Dining Room." Pan mumbled half aware of who she was talking to. Videl rolled her eyes. Teenagers. Videl made her way to the Dining Room where Bulma had already started on the first course salad.
"Hey girl." She said in a bubbly tone. Videl sat down across from her and they began their routine small talk about office business. About halfway through the meal and partway through their discussion of the weather Vegeta stumbled into the dining room. He was completely soaked from head to toe from the rain and cuts and bruises decorated his body like badges of honor. He sat down in the chair next to Videl and smiled wickedly at her. She returned the look. Bulma continued on about the weather oblivious to the tension that had grown in the room.
"So Vegeta how was training today?" Bulma asked harmlessly. Videl looked at Vegeta nervously. God now Bulma is going to have a reason to treat me like a child when she finds out what I did to the machine. Vegeta continued eating as he answered, not paying a glance in Videl's direction.
"I realized that my training is lacking something." Vegeta said. Videl looked at him confused.
"Whats that?" asked Bulma.
"I need more sparring in my training routine. I can't keep concentrating just on increasing my power, I need to increase my fighting capability as well. Luckily Videl offered to be my sparring partner." Vegeta coolly continued eating his meal, Videl nearly choked on hers.
"What? Videl hasn't fought in years. Is that true Videl?" Bulma looked at Videl with curiosity.
"Uhhh" Videl looked at Vegeta who had a half smirk planted on his face. "Yeah...I just miss sparring...It would be fun..." Videl said. He is just messing with me. He has absolutely no intention of making me his sparring partner. Well fine, I will humor him.
"Huh. Well if Vegeta won't use the machine as much I guess you can use the time you would have spent fixing it with sparring. It's about time you were nice to Videl, Vegeta. Maybe you can make friends instead of obsessing about beating Goku all the time." Bulma laughed at her own jab at Vegeta. "It's not like that's going to happen anyways." Bulma laughed again much harder than before. Sensing the overdone cruelty of what she said Bulma cleared her throat awkwardly. Vegeta payed no mind to this 'typical' comment from Bulma and finished his plate of food before getting up to leave the room. He stopped at the doorway without turning and said in a mocking tone:
"See you tomorrow partner." Videl stared at the doorway long after he left. What game is he playing?
Another chapter will be coming reallyyyyy soon, I am already working on it. Why do you think Vegeta wants to train with Videl? :o R&R