Chapter 6 Moving On Cont.
A/N Please forgive me…Put down your pitch forks and knives and enjoy! *Smiles nervously*
Bulma backed away nervously as Tarble strode past her and Jace. She was hoping that he didn't notice her, and at first it seemed so. At that very moment his cold eyes met her terrified ones, and his irritated grin morphed into a deadly one. Bulma felt beads of sweat forming above her brow; she was having flashbacks to her first 'encounter' with the evil Prince Tarble. She looked on as Tarble focused all his attention on her. He seemed as if he was going to say something to her, and just as his mouth parted Tarble's view was blocked by an extremely chiseled back.
"Humph, at least you know I am the Golden Child" he mocked. Bulma gulped a glob of spit that was forming in her mouth; Vegeta had interjected and saved her…again. Tarble quickly brought his attention back to his older brother.
"Of course YOU would be out in the garden with your lapdog playing, shouldn't you as the elder be doing something more productive?" Tarble spat. Vegeta didn't reply with any words, just a smirk. He took a step closer putting him inches in front of his brother's face. Bulma, Jace, and Radditz observed from the sidelines, as the two Saiyan Princes' stared each other in the eyes in dead silence. The lack of sound and movement was making Bulma uncomfortable, she had an itch on her nose but refused to scratch it, fearing to cause an 'all eyes on her' reaction from everyone.
"Are you challenging me, Vegeta?" Tarble's voice was low and deadly.
"Do you accept…Tarble?" Vegeta responded arrogantly. Before the situation could escalate further another voice interrupted the scene at the moment.
"Will you too never get along?" Bulma looked up and realized that the new voice belong to the King. Tarble rolled his eyes at his father's question and shoved his shoulder into Vegeta's chest, violently nudging him out of the way. Vegeta laughed at Tarble's outburst, as he stomped away mumbling something under his breath.
"Why do you torment your brother Vegeta?"The king asked. Vegeta was still laughing wildly as he rested his hands on top of his father's shoulders. The King frowned and stood up straight scolding Vegeta with his serious glare. Vegeta quickly regained his composure, awkwardly clearing his throat.
"You mustn't treat him so, you are older and you should know better" the King scolded.
"Forgive me, Father" he replied. The King brought his hand to Vegeta's shoulder and lightly squeezed "No need to apologize" he smiled. "Just go easy on him". Vegeta nodded, and his father began to walk away, continuing on his path to wherever it was he was going in the first place. Radditz and Jace slightly bowed, and Bulma followed suit. When the King was a few paces away he turned back and smiled "You have important thing you need to attend do!" Vegeta groaned and put his head in his hands. "I will attend to them now!" he shouted back.
Vegeta turned back and realized that Jace and Bulma were still there. He took hold of Bulma's arm and turned to Jace. "Carry on!" he barked. Jace gave Bulma a sympathetic look and scurried down a little pathway disappearing behind the exotic plants and flowers. Vegeta then turned to Radditz "I have things my father needs me to attend to, we will continue later". Radditz nodded and she and Vegeta began making their way back to his room.
Bulma was definitely disappointed, she was supposed to be spending the day with Jace and it was cut short. Once they made it through the large doors to his room she felt some stinging behind her eyes. Being in his room was torture, either he was ignoring her, or he was yelling at her. The image of her family popped in her head and made her think about times where she could do whatever she want when she wanted, and with whom. She felt that all too familiar feeling in her gut, and tears began to silently stream from her blue eyes.
Vegeta was about to go into the bathroom for a shower and he noticed the tears sliding down her cheeks. Vegeta looked up at his luxurious ceiling with an extremely aggravated look. He kept his eyes on his ceiling and asked "What could you possibly be crying about now?" Bulma looked at her feet, hoping he would just ignore her and go on about his business. They were both quite a moment and Vegeta brought his eyes from the ceiling to her.
"I said…what are you crying for?" his voice sounded deathly agitated. Again, Bulma stayed quiet, not wanting to say anything to upset him. Vegeta exhaled deeply and marched began arching towards her. Bulma felt her heart pounding behind her chest as he approached her. When he made his way in front of her he took hold of her shoulders and shook her, not hard enough to hurt her, but hard enough to bring her out of her little 'trance'.
"What the fuck are you crying for?" he screamed. Bulma broke down and began to sob. "I hate it here! I miss my family, all I want is to go home!" she cried. Bulma dropped to her knees and silently pleaded with God, begging him to wake her up, praying she was in a dream. She was grateful to him because he saved her from death, but hated him, because the cost for saving her made her 'his' prisoner.
"The fuck?" he hollered. He started disgustedly at the crying woman beneath him, balling his fists in frustration. "What did I get myself into?" he whispered to himself. Her sobbing was causing his ears to pulsate in pain. He couldn't take it anymore; there was only one thing he could that would possibly make her shut up.
Vegeta scooped Bulma into his arms, throwing her frail body over his shoulder. She continued to scream and cry. At this point Bulma was thinking the worst. He was probably so fed up with her that he was just going to dump her outside on her own, or even worse give her back to Tarble. He continued to walk with her hung over his shoulder throughout the palace, every once n a while screaming for her to shut up. After a few minutes the screaming began to wear on her lungs and the ear ripping shrieks turned into pitiful moans. Bulma felt his movement cease and she gazed in front of her and caught glance of a huge door. Vegeta quickly opened it and entered. Once inside he dropped Bulma onto the floor. The floor was smooth tile and it felt heated under her feet.
"Now shut the hell up or I'll shut you up…understand?" he growled. Bulma didn't reply but she did stop crying, mostly because she was out of energy. When Vegeta walked away she looked around the room they were now in. at first she thought he was kicking her out, and then she thought that he was sending her to live in another room, but she was completely wrong. The room they were in was pretty small, and warm. There was a large mirror in the middle of the room with scattered flowers in front of it. Vegeta reappeared with a long and thin stick and a wax candle.
"Get up and come here", he demanded. Bulma not wanting to rile him up again did as she was told. Vegeta then held the candle in his left hand and held his right hand in front of it. A yellow beam of light formed in his right palm and lit the candle. Bulma looked on in fascination. She seen the men that brought her to this planet create 'energy' from their palms but this was her first time seeing it up close.
Vegeta lit the end of the stick with the candles flame, and immediately a scented smoke began to flow from it. Incense? They have incense here too? Vegeta motioned for her to sit in front of the large mirror. Bulma slowly knelt in front of the mirror, staring into her reflection. Her blue eyes were stained red from all the crying, her face was puffy and red from the screaming. She looked beaten emotionally, mentally, and physically. She looked at her knees, embarrassed at her own reflection. Vegeta noticed her depressed emotion and rolled his eyes. Pathetic.
He put the candle on her left side, and the incense on her right. He tossed a bushy bundle of what seemed to be flowers. They reminded her of baby's breath flowers, found back on Earth. It finally becomes clear to her that this was some sort of 'prayer room'.
Vegeta knelt down beside her. "Break the flowers apart and scatter them around you" he growled. Bulma did as he said. "Now pick up a piece and burn it over the candle's flame". Bulma found a piece that was large enough and she held it over the flame and burned it like Vegeta told her to do. She held it between her nails because it was extremely hot and still burning from a small flame that caught on them. "Now put it in your palm and close your hand".
"What?"Bulma shrieked. Is he really asking me to burn myself? Vegeta grunted in frustration "DO IT!" Bulma nervously placed the hot, burnt flower in her palm. She looked at it for a moment, wondering why he was making her do all these things. She felt Vegeta scoot behind her, and then he reached for her hand and closed her fingers over the burning bud.
The sensation coming from the burnt flower was overwhelming at first, it was piping hot. She felt like she was holding a hot coal in the middle of her hand. And then in the blink of an eye she felt this rush of calm come over her. The heat that was once centered in the middle of her hand had dispersed throughout her whole body. She felt it in her arms legs, stomach and even her head. Her whole body, even her mind, was instantly relaxed.
"You must learn to accept your fate." He started. "Your life has been altered greatly; your family and home are gone never too return". The words he spoke were harsh but the calming feeling allowed her to welcome them. "And you cannot change that", he continued, "your weak enough as is, and crying over spoiled milk won't make it better". Bulma closed her eyes taking in his words. They were harsh and he was barking them at her, but it was good advice, she had to admit.
"Pray and ask the Gods to grant you the serenity to accept the things that you cannot change. Accept what is troubling your soul, and embrace it, that is the only way you can move on from it". Bulma listened to Vegeta's words as she brought her attention back to her reflection. Her eyes and face were still puffy but her body and soul were at ease. She felt this huge sum of positive energy brewing inside of her as she looked at herself. She saw Vegeta looking at her through the mirror, and stared back at him.
"Why are you looking at me?"He scolded. "Look at yourself, and call upon the Gods to help you since you can't help yourself." Bulma stared at her refection and began to pray. She prayed for her family, she prayed for her friends, she prayed for Yamcha, she prayed for dogs, cats, grass, water, air…Earth. Suddenly she felt this rush of energy flow through her chest; it felt tingly, tickling her a bit. She began to see frames of past memories of her mom and dad, of Yamcha and of her old life.
The pictures brought this euphoric happiness to her. She began to see the destruction from the day she was taken and her planet, and family destroyed. It flashed by so quickly she didn't get a chance to be hurt and upset by it. Finally the images slowed down and she saw her family, with dogs, and cats, and grass, and they were all happy. Her family wouldn't want her to live her life reliving the past. The sight of her family and Yamcha in a happier place was a beautiful one. She never really believed in an afterlife, until now.
Bulma opened her eyes and saw a smile on her face. She didn't feel broken inside anymore, she even felt empowered. She felt at peace, she felt like she was in the now and not in the past. Where she was now wasn't the place she would have picked for herself, but she was here and she was alive, and she had to deal with it.
Tears began to stream down her face. They were a mix of happy tears, sad tears, and excited tears. She leaned back and her back met with Vegeta's chest. She was sure he was going to yell at her for crying but he didn't. He sat there and let her get it out for the last time. They sat there for a while longer and slowly her high wore off, leaving her body limp and weak.
Without saying a word Vegeta blew out the candle and picked Bulma up into his arms. They walked back to his room in pure silence. Bulma was irritated with him and his attitude but once again grateful, because she felt like a new woman. A huge burden was lifted off of her shoulders. Once they were back in his room, he laid her on the bed. Her body sinking in the soft mattress, she stared at the beautiful ceiling above her, with a blank mind totally at ease.
She was roused from her daze by Vegeta sliding into the bed beside her. He smelled good, and his body was still damp from the shower he took. He rolled to his side leaving his back facing her. Bulma's eyes were heavy, her body begging to sleep. She wasn't thinking, just acting when she scooted closer to Vegeta, pressing her body against his. She wrapped her arm around his chest and buried her face into his neck. She was expecting him to shrug her off but he didn't, he tensed up a moment and then relaxed.
She closed her eyes and lay there quietly thinking about nothing. Soon she could here Vegeta's silent snores, which soon helped her fall asleep as well.