fleurlicorne was very diligent the last days and translated the next chapter! Enjoy! I hope you had a nice Christmas? :)

Her last three words were still echoing in his head.

"I hate you."

Did this Earth woman really think that anything she said would affect him? If so, she didn't know him very well. Didn't the woman understand that she wasn't emotionally ready to read the letter yet? On second thought, he had no interest in meddling in her affairs. Vegeta wasn't quite sure how he had gotten himself into this situation. Perhaps this was all just an interesting game, which was a nice change of pace from his non-stop training regime. Although he had intended on maintaining a healthy distance from the blue-haired woman, she always happened to run into him. The present time was a current example, where she had strolled onto the terrace, which was where he secretly liked to engage in silent contemplation. Fate also seemed to be conducting its own game, because how else could the woman regularly show up in the same vicinity as him? He almost found that prospect to be funny, and he would have been more amused, if a loud smack hadn't suddenly disrupted him.

The noise was loud; however, the pain was just a light touch, like a small breeze that she had breathed softly on him. Bulma had her right hand extended, which she had used to slap him in the face. What...this woman dared to hit him? And why had he momentarily become so unaware of his surroundings that she even had the opportunity to slap his cheek at all?

"What right do you have to determine the course of my life…?" Tears were flowing down her cheeks and the blue of her eyes shone bright beneath the liquid.

Why did she have to start crying now? Didn't she understand that...Vegeta was so perplexed by her slap that he was tongue-tied. He just didn't know how to react. On the one hand, there was the insolence that she could carry out such an assault in the first place; but on the other hand, there were those intense emotions that he saw reflected in her eyes. He wondered why people wore their hearts on their sleeves. It was only because of a stupid letter that she had gotten so hysterical and had started to cry...That response was beyond incomprehensible to him, it was really...alien.

Just when the Saiyan was about to unleash another arrogant remark, it suddenly got nipped in the bud, because Bulma ran away from him and the embarrassment of her emotional outburst. The Saiyan no Ouji could only hear her sobs, that rang dangerously in his ears. When he could no longer hear her footsteps, he allowed himself to let his anger subside. Had his behaviour perhaps been...out of line? He looked curiously at the envelope that still lay in his hand. What was he going to do with this thing? Keep it or possibly even read it? No, he didn't give a damn about what this weak dumbass had written to the woman. Vegeta would keep the letter in his room, and eventually she would come to realize that his intentions weren't as bad as she had initially presumed.

Yes, he was completely right in doing what he had done. In his own way, he had meant to do her a favour, regardless of what the final outcome was. But then why...did he feel something akin to...a guilty conscience?

XXX

The next morning Bulma woke up feeling worse than ever. When she opened her eyes, she felt this burning sensation, which was the aftereffect of her raging tears from the previous night. She didn't know exactly when, but sometime during the night, she had eventually fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion that had been caused by her crying. After having a few hours of sleep, she now replayed yesterday's events in her mind, and felt a rising shame. Had she actually cried in front of Vegeta? "Oh man," she sighed, and buried her head in her hands at that thought. The prince must think that she was a weak woman and someone who lost her nerve over a little game of steal-the-letter...Why had she not responded differently? If only she had remained calm. If she had had a more self-confident attitude, he would have felt compelled to return the letter to her. She wasn't bothered by the fact that he was playing this game with her, rather she was overcome with this unpleasant feeling of embarrassment and just wanted to undo everything that had happened yesterday night. He was definitely going to bring up this subject again to ridicule her. Or had he not even read the letter and had just stamped on it with his foot instead? A series of horrible scenarios about what he might be doing with the letter, whirled through her mind, and she was having trouble trying to block it all out. At this moment, there was nothing she could do anyways. It was over and she just had to accept it and proceed in the best manner possible, which would be to pretend that it had never happened.

He could stick the letter up his ass, or read it, or do whatever he wanted with it. The blue-haired woman also had her pride and she wouldn't degrade herself any further by begging him to return the letter to her. If he thought that she would stoop so low as to do that...

She put her hands back down to her side and decided to get up. Everything would appear less grave after she had her morning shower.

XXX

Vegeta went back to his room after taking his own morning shower. He looked visibly refreshed and he shook his hair to dry it, then opened his closet and put his training clothes on the bed. First, he put on his blue training suit, which clung to his body like a second skin. One part of the suit was already torn. He would have to get Bulma to produce more training gear for him, but for today's training, it would suffice. The Saiyan no Ouji wanted to train outdoors again. Perhaps he would return to the gravity ship in a few days time, depending on when he got bored of training in the mountains. As he slipped on his boots, he wondered what he would do with the letter. Taking it along with him wouldn't be a good idea, so he'd have to leave it in the house. The woman wouldn't dare to enter his room...or would she?

At last, he had on his chest armour and gloves, and was finally ready to go. If she did dare to infiltrate his room, the letter would at least be hidden. Although there weren't many places to hide something in his room, he didn't want to make it easy for her. He looked over to the nightstand, where the blasted thing had been since the night before. He picked up the scrap of paper, and inspected the handwriting of the man who was paired with that strange woman.

He truly didn't understand why she had created such an uproar over this letter. It was also a mystery to him why the two were still together at all. He had already told Bulma that she didn't look happy with the weakling. There had been no ulterior motives on his part when he had informed her of his observations. It was almost as if the two supposedly loving partners were clinging to their relationship out of necessity, just so...

So that the future that Kakarot had blabbed to them would never happen. It was quite amusing that the relationship of the two Earthlings was in jeopardy just because of this foresight. But the blue-haired woman didn't want to break up with the weakling, despite that being the logical thing to do. However, the emotions he had evoked from her last night, they had been real and intense…But it wasn't like he was interested in her feelings. Vegeta was uncertain about the true cause of her tears. Was it because he was now pulling the strings, or was it simply because she didn't know what was written in the letter? Or was it due to the Saiyan knowing better than she did about how to act in her own best interests? He had taken the letter away to protect her from herself. But why had he done that? The reason was quite unclear to him. Maybe he wanted to do a favour, not only for her, but for all of them.

Vegeta did not know how to proceed. When should he surrender the letter to her, or should he even do that at all? But one thing was certain - for now it would be a good idea to hide the letter from her.

XXX

The following day wasn't any better for her. No matter how she tried to distract herself, she couldn't concentrate. Her thoughts only revolved around the letter that Vegeta was forcibly keeping from her. Her mother had come into the lab hours earlier to ask again about the letter. The blonde was just too curious and wanted to know what the former desert bandit had written her. Bulma had sent her away with a few short words, saying that there was nothing to be concerned about and that the letter had contained nothing particularly interesting. In all seriousness, it wasn't like the inventor could just reveal the truth to her mother, right? If she had mentioned that Vegeta had taken the letter, her mother would have wanted to question him about it. That was something she wanted to avoid, which would only make her more embarrassed than she already was. The Saiyan probably really believed that she couldn't cope with reading the letter right now. There was no way that he would tell her something that was a half truth or a lie. But what if she had just told him that she wouldn't open the letter? Her mother would have been intent on getting the letter back and reading it out for all to hear. Yes, the lie that the letter contained nothing particularly interesting, was the best course of action that caused the minimum of damage.

She sunk back into her office chair in annoyance and looked pensively at the drawer where her timeline was hidden. She was glad that no one cleaned her work area. There was nothing that Dr. Briefs and Bulma hated more than having important documents moved from their original location. Yet if someone were to rummage through her drawer, they would discover her little secret...But who would do that and who could decipher her messy scribblings anyways? She had added notes to her timeline, but without any background knowledge, any inquiring minds wouldn't be able to make any headway on what she was doing. In addition, her parents still didn't know that Vegeta and her might one day...

She couldn't even complete that thought since the words sounded so ridiculous in her head. She continued to stare at the drawer for a long time, before she moved forward and opened it. Bulma fished through the drawer until she found the timeline under a stack of papers, then she spread it in front of her and examined it with curiosity. She reached for a pen from the other end of her desk and blacked out the sections that had already elapsed. Six months out of the total three years had already gone by. This short period of time had already been extremely taxing for her. How was she going to survive the next two and a half years? And when would she see Yamcha again? Without thinking, she marked a point on the timeline that was from many weeks before. That was the day when her boyfriend had deserted her. Yes, he had been gone for far too long now.

Once again, thoughts of the letter came rushing back to her. What if he had given her a date, the day when he would return to her? Or...or…?

Although she had grown accustomed to all this uncertainty, now a tremendous sense of curiosity was eating away at her. If Vegeta had not taken this letter away from her...

Suddenly, another thought struck her. The Saiyan had been gone for almost the entire day while he trained far away in the wilderness. He might not have taken the letter with him. No, he definitely would not have done that. A piece of paper would only get in the way or would get shredded during his training. "His room," she said, as if by magic. She was fairly certain that the door to his room wasn't locked. It had been over a year since Vegeta had started living at her house, so she had gotten to know a bit about him and his habits. He didn't possess anything that someone would want to poke their nose in. His room was only furnished with the furniture that she had supplied. But could she really bring herself to go snooping around in his room?

"No, that would be wrong," she said as she put her pen back down on the desk. Next, she folded her timeline in half and stowed it back into the drawer. She quickly closed the drawer and tried to focus on her work again. But it wasn't as easy to do as she thought it would be. The urge to comb through his room was too great. But it was wrong. She herself would not approve of someone rummaging through her things without her permission. But with Vegeta, it was completely different. As she noted before, he had no personal effects. So what was the big deal? It wasn't like she'd come across something scandalous. That conclusion helped to put her plans into motion. She felt a bit bad, but it wasn't like he wanted the letter for himself anyways. The Saiyan no Ouji had started this game, so she had to finish it. And it wasn't like she wanted to steal the letter. No, she just wanted to open and read it, before sealing it back up and returning it to its hiding place. Of course, no one would be none the wiser about her little act of cunning. The prince was still hours away, so he would never find out. With a little stealth, she could achieve anything, it was a trick that she had mastered as a child.

She continued debating over whether she should go and check his room or not. It was only becoming harder to resist the temptation the more she deliberated, until she finally got up and took off her lab coat.

XXX

Even though she knew she was not being followed, she cautiously walked down the hallway to Vegeta's room. She looked back over her shoulder every now and again to ensure that she was still alone. Bulma was being so quiet that she could almost hear her own heart beating in her chest. Why was she so nervous? Was it because she felt guilty or was it because of the fear of getting caught? But how could he catch her when he was god knew how many kilometres away? When she finally stood in front of his room, she mustered up all her courage and slowly turned the doorknob. Just as she suspected, his door wasn't locked. To prevent her parents from seeing what she was doing and from interfering with her plans, she immediately closed the door behind her. She was now in his bedroom, and it was a place that she hadn't entered in a long time. The last time she had been in there was when she had provided him with some clothes and other essentials. But he had quickly banished her from the room with his angry eyes. She had only meant well when she had intruded on him that one time, and until now she had left him alone, thinking that he needed his space. She was under the impression that he had never had his own private space before moving in with her. Perhaps he had been so overwhelmed by the new living situation, and that was why he had been so dismissive towards her. Bulma just never knew how the Saiyan would react on any given day.

Without making a sound, she tiptoed past his enormous bed. She came across some books that were sitting on his nightstand, whose pages were dog-eared and creased. Did the prince like to read in his spare time? Even if they were books by Earthlings? That last thought was most amusing. Her attention was piqued by the book on the top of the pile that was about Greek mythology. This was very interesting. So Vegeta did like to do something besides hanging from her roof or dedicating his heart and soul to training. In a way, the book suited him. Bulma had never noticed that books on this subject had been missing from the living room. When had he taken these to read? As she rifled through his pile of books, she remarked that he had neglected to take any of her mother's romance novels. Just the mere thought of the Saiyan no Ouji reading a love story...it was hilarious.

What was she doing? Had she come into his room to pry into his personal life? No, she had come here for an entirely different reason. She began searching for her boyfriend's letter. "Where did he hide it?" she asked herself, as she put the book back down onto the top of the pile. There was a desk on the other side of the room and she carefully inspected each of the drawers for the object of her search. But the letter was nowhere to be found. All the drawers were as clean and empty as they had been on the first day that Vegeta had started occupying this room. Bulma continued her search by looking in the Saiyan's closet. However, she only found some Earthling clothes and a few tattered training suits. It couldn't be that...She breathed out in frustration and sat at the foot of his bed. Where could he have hidden it? Had he actually taken the letter with him? Did he have so little trust in her?

"Trust..." At that word, she had to stop short. Apparently, she couldn't be trusted. As she was well aware, she was now intruding on Vegeta's domain without him knowing it. In addition, he never would have given her his consent to do this. Did he even suspect that she would ever go and explore his room?

Bulma looked back and forth throughout the room. Where could he even hide the letter? His drawers were empty along with his closet. That left only his books to look through..."The books!" Her hand shot forth like a bullet from a gun, and she moved to the head of the bed. She nervously opened one of the books and roughly turned the pages. There was nothing in the first book. When she reached the bottom of the pile, she finally found her slightly crumpled letter in the cover of the last old tome. Once she had determined that the letter was still unopened, the blue-haired woman breathed a sigh of relief. She inwardly thanked the prince several times over for being honest enough to leave the letter untouched.

Now that she finally had the letter in her hands, she was unsure about how to go forward. Was she doing the right thing? Was she really ready to read the letter with an open mind?

"Dammit," she cursed, then she spread herself across the Saiyan's bed. As she was lying down, she breathed in the scent from his pillow. It was a pleasant smell that was incredibly...manly. Once in awhile, she'd find herself close to the fighter, and she remembered the smell that had been exuded from his pores. It was the same smell that now enveloped his pillow and it was pleasant, even almost intoxicating...

Bulma shook her head at her wandering thoughts. Why in the hell was she thinking about Vegeta? Yamcha must have been gone for far too long...She reorganized her thoughts and held the letter up so that she could look at it again. Now that it was directly below the light, she could make out some of the words through the envelope. But everything just didn't feel right to her. "What am I doing here?" she asked herself while clawing at the covers with her hand. She was really acting stupid. Vegeta would eventually give her the letter, she just had to be patient! Right there and then, she decided to abandon the entire plan. But as it so often happened, things would go and turn out differently than she expected.

"I would like to know the answer to that too," growled a second voice from the doorway. The blue-haired woman was so startled that she dropped the letter, which landed on her chest. She didn't want to turn her head in the direction of the voice, because she would then have to face reality. How could she have been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the door opening? And how long had the Saiyan been there watching her? How could she explain her presence in his room? She felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. This was just like the time when she had returned home from a romantic dinner with her boyfriend. Why was fate always bringing them together...was there a higher power that wanted that?

"I'm talking to you…," Vegeta continued as he approached her.

Bulma heard his steps coming closer and closer to her until he appeared directly in front of her line of vision, looking dirty and sweaty after his day of training.

"I...uhh…" Well, what could she say in her defense? She couldn't think of a credible lie right then. If she hadn't been holding the letter in her hand, she could have conjured up all sorts of tall tales. But as it was...

"This isn't what it looks like," she began, and in actuality, that wasn't a lie. Just when she had decided to call off her plan, he had crept up on her. It was just her luck that he had to appear at that exact moment...

"So what is it then? It looks as though you didn't come here for the letter," he surmised, and crossed his arms.

Bulma's ears pricked up at his interpretation of her actions.

"You really think so? Well…," she quietly muttered. Had he not noticed her holding the letter or if he did, why was he responding like that? He was behaving rather bizarrely.

"No. I know exactly what you're doing here." A strange grin curled around his lips.

What could the monkey possibly be referring to?

"And that would be?" The inventor straightened her upper body, so that she could get a better look at him. His gaze did not betray any of his thoughts. It was odd that he was being so quiet. Not for the first time, she realized that she had no idea about what was going on in the warrior's head and what he thought of her or even about this whole comical situation that they were now in. Her heart pounded wildly against her chest, for it was obviously not an everyday experience to be lying on his bed while he stood there, looking down at her from above. And she just couldn't manage to unravel the look that he was giving her. They had been alone together on several occasions, but being in his bed was really a step further than she wanted to go. As if everything wasn't already absurd enough, his next words unsettled her even more and made the dark and murky world of the Saiyan's mind increasingly peculiar to her.

"It's perfectly clear. You want me."