Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters. Also, who else is annoyed we have to write these for every chapter XD

preciousjade76: Thanks for reviewing and yeah, he thinks they're good candidates… I'm glad you liked the chapter. I hope you like this one too :)

"Vegeta? Are you alright?" Bulma asked when she walked into the dark kitchen. She turned on the light and saw Vegeta sitting at the table with his hands to his head.

"Go away," he told her, although his voice lacked his normal venomous tone.

"Vegeta, what's wrong?" she asked again. "You can talk to me. It's okay."

"No, I can't," Vegeta admitted. "You wouldn't understand."

"I could understand if you just explained in to me," Bulma replied.

Vegeta looked over to her and she was taken aback. He looked like hell. There were bags under his eyes and they looked hopeless. Bulma had never seen the arrogant man like this before and she wasn't sure she liked it. She walked over to him and started rubbing his back.

"You look like you've been through the war," Bulma gently teased, although the concern was evident in her voice. "You need to learn how to relax. This excessive training isn't good for you."

Vegeta didn't look at her. He didn't want her to know that it wasn't from training. He had been having recurring nightmares lately and it wasn't getting any better. He just wanted it to stop, but every time he closed his eyes his memories would consume him and the only solace he had was in training. However, he was overly exhausted and didn't have the energy for his usual prolonged training.

"It is better for my sanity," Vegeta slipped out. Bulma's hands froze on his back.

"What do you mean by that, Vegeta?" she questioned.

He leaned his head against her. "Let it go, woman. It doesn't matter."

He was slightly shocked when he felt Bulma hug him from behind, and even more shocked that he was doing nothing to stop her. "Of course it matters, you baka Saiyan," she chided. "You matter."

Vegeta couldn't help the feelings of pride that swelled within him at her words that she had said before, but then it dawned on him that she was wrong. She was just too innocent to see it.

"You're wrong about that, woman. Don't say something like that again. We both know it's not true."

"How can you say that?" she quietly snapped at him. "You're strong, brave, and deep down you're a good person."

Vegeta turned to glare at her. "That is a downright lie. After everything I've done, how could you say I'm 'good?'"

"Well, you could have just left and let the planet get destroyed," she pointed out. "You could have just trained, fought Goku until you defeated him, kill us, and left, but you didn't. You could have killed me for going back on my word and interfering with the androids' creation. You could have-" She was cut off by Vegeta's lips.

He really didn't want to hear another thing he could have done, and probably still should do. He didn't want to hear anything at all. For the first time in his life, Vegeta just wanted to feel something. For his entire life, he hardened himself to the point where he couldn't feel anything. His senses were dulled slightly so that he could endure pain longer and not be able to form any attachments. He hated it, yet he did it to survive. Underneath his cold façade was still the same six year old boy who was afraid to get on Frieza's ship, who forced himself not to mourn the loss of his parents in fear he'd be punished for being weak, the same boy who trained and killed so that he wouldn't have to deal with the memory of his first real kill.

They pulled away from each other and Vegeta could see how confused Bulma was by his actions. He didn't understand them either. All he knew was she was what Nappa had described to him years before. She was his woman, and now that he had admitted that, he wouldn't let her go.

Bulma smiled at him and put her hand against his cheek. "See, you have a good heart, Vegeta," she whispered. "You just can't see it yet, but I can. And since I can see that, you matter to me. I care about you, Vegeta."

"You shouldn't," he told her.

"Maybe not," Bulma replied, "but I was never really one to do what I should do."

She and Vegeta stared at one another in a heavy silence, before he went outside to continue training. Somehow her words seemed to give him the energy he needed.

"So, do you think he'll try again?" Juu asked Jay.

"I don't know, but I think we should stay here just in case," Jay admitted. "Bulma said she'd be fine with it if at any point if we felt we needed a place to get away. Krillin already went back to start packing some of our things. I already told him the personal items to get."

"Okay," Juu said sadly. "I really hate all of this, but I'm glad we met these nice people."

"Yeah, me too. Anyway, let's get some sleep. Bulma said we have meetings to go to tomorrow since it's our day off from class. We need to be ready."

Juu smiled and closed her eyes. Thankfully, she and her brother would be able to sleep peacefully that night.