Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters
Vegeta was roaming the halls of the Capsule Corp. compound during the early morning hours. He had been feeling restless despite the constant training and heaps of food he and his men were getting. Though this place was very luxurious, Vegeta could not help but cast his senses out to Frieza's ship. The first report had already been given, and Frieza seemed pleased with the progress, but of course, that had been the case with Bulma staying up for multiple days in a row with a short nap in between.
The woman hadn't looked so good that evening when she came up from her lab to get food from her mother. Both Vegeta and Raditz had noticed the troubled countenance of Goku who had kept his eyes on Bulma as she descended the stairs. The younger Saiyan's brow furrowed as he returned to his meal, eating with less vigor than he had started. He was definitely unhappy with what the woman was being put through.
As for the Dragon Balls…that was at least coming along nicely.
Krillin returned in the evening hours with the third Dragon Ball, the first being the four-starred ball that Goku had found once again. Apparently, the Earth-raised Saiyan had found another Dragon Ball before he found the four-starred and had forgotten all about it. With three Dragon Balls, they only needed four more.
Vegeta was still skeptical about these spheres. He didn't know what exactly to believe. These humans and even Kakarot swore by them. Their power had to be real. Thankfully, it was their advantage to have and not Frieza's.
"So…how are you holding up?"
Vegeta froze when he heard the Earth-raised Saiyan talking to the blue-haired woman. The prince's opinion of the woman had slowly been changing the more he interacted with her. She had been doing so much for him and what remained of his people. It left him feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards her. It also left him feeling more interested in her than he believed he should be.
"I'm exhausted," Bulma replied while trying to cover up a yawn. "Do you mind getting me a cup of coffee?"
"No, Bulma," Goku answered sternly. "You need to get some rest. You've been up for almost forty-eight hours straight. That's not good for you."
"I just need," Bulma began before a yawn cut her off, "to get through these last few blueprints so that I can construct the training bots tomorrow, plus I also need to run the plusonium sample to more compounds and-"
"Bulma, I don't care about this tyrant," Goku scolded. "I won't let you hurt yourself by not getting enough sleep."
The human sighed and shook her head. "And I can't let you all get hurt because I couldn't work fast enough."
Vegeta felt a pang of guilt at the fact that this human was putting her health on the line for them. He had never experienced such selflessness before at any point of his life. There were times he took on the brunt of Frieza's punishment to prevent Raditz and Nappa from being persecuted, but that was as far as his altruism went. Had he even been given the opportunity to aid another race, he would most likely walk away. These humans were certainly a confusing bunch.
"Bulma," Goku said returning Vegeta's attention to them. The young Saiyan had a hand on her shoulder, steadying the woman who looked about ready to collapse. "Go rest. I'll talk to them, okay? You can't keep doing this to yourself. You'll get sick."
"No, Goku," the woman replied with command, her expression serious. "Don't talk to any of them about this. It wouldn't make a difference, and I am not complaining. I am doing this for you and your brother, even for Vegeta, and all the people of Earth. We need this. I can handle it. Don't go to them."
"But Bulma…"
"No buts, Goku. I can handle this; I swear. I was just about to take a short nap and then get back to work. Now, the one who needs rest with all that training down there is you. Good night, Goku."
Goku stayed rooted in his spot, surprise on his face as Bulma shut her door in his face. He looked incredibly weary as he dropped his hand that had been resting on her shoulder and heaved a heavy sigh before retreating to where his guest room was. All the way, he was shaking his head. Vegeta watched the sorry sight and frowned. He had been just as stunned by the woman's words. She was putting herself at risk and, where he expected her to be doing this for Goku and her home planet, he was not expecting to hear that he and Raditz had made her list. This woman was really something else.
The next day, the Saiyans trained while Cui returned to Frieza with Bulma's report. Krillin and Yamcha took Gohan with them to search for the next two Dragon Balls. According to this radar they had, the two spheres were fairly close together, in neighboring villages most likely. If they could come back that day with both, then they would be even closer to finishing this and ready to make a wish by the end of the week.
Training was fine, but Goku was distracted, thinking about his friend, basically sister, and the fact that she was down in the lab for another twelve hours straight, meaning she had forced herself to stay up for sixty. He thought it was impossible, but she managed to make it through without collapsing. He didn't know how much longer it would last. He did not want his friend to even get to that point. By that point, she'd probably need to go to the hospital.
Nappa could see the younger Saiyan's distraction and smirked. He needed some entertainment, so he thought, as they took a break, that he could get under Goku's skin. "So, Kakarot," he called mockingly causing Goku's expression to harden and rage to course inside of him.
The Earth-raised Saiyan turned his head an inch, glaring at the former general. "What?" he bit out angrily.
Nappa wore a self-satisfied smirk. "I overheard something interesting the other night between you and the human woman." He noticed Goku twitch and grinned. "You worried that she's losing a little bit of sleep?"
"Nappa," Raditz warned, sensing his brother's energy rise.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Nappa scoffed. "It's just sleep, and she's just an Earthling. Don't tell me that she's really that weak that sleep affects her. Pathetic."
"That's enough."
The three Saiyans turned to see Vegeta entering the kitchen, his arms crossed, looking unamused. "Nappa, do not speak of our allies in that manner. That woman is putting herself at risk of her own volition, and not because of fear towards Frieza. She is doing this so that we have time to train and a shot at taking that bastard down, so that we may finally be free of him. She is far from weak. You obviously didn't stay to hear all of what was said."
"Vegeta," Goku breathed out in surprise.
The prince eyed Goku. "You've been wanting to tell us that she is risking her health, yet she would not let you. Both your loyalties are admirable. I will speak with her."
"She needs to sleep," Goku told him, his voice laced with worry. "If she goes too long without proper rest, her body is going to shut down and she'll get sick. Chi Chi would get colds whenever she went to bed late, and she still got eight hours of sleep. Bulma's had an hour in between a forty-eight hour and twelve hour stay."
"Feh…maybe we should just Frieza have his way with this place. These people are a waste. Nothing but weakli-"
Nappa was slammed against a wall and was surprised to be looking into the eyes of not Goku, but Vegeta. "Shut up," the prince snarled harshly. "I don't know how many times I need to make myself clear, but you are not to say anything more. You will not insult the woman and what she needs. You will not call her weak again, understand me?" Nappa nodded, his expression shocked. "Good." He released the gasping Saiyan and started to head for the lab. "Oh, and Nappa, if you disobey me again, we will be one fighter short against Frieza."
And with that, Vegeta was off to find Bulma leaving three stunned Saiyans in his wake.
Her lab seemed pretty standard, but the inventions he saw lining the walls were some of the most impressive things he had seen. It didn't surprise him that he'd be impressed as he entered, but it did surprise him that he couldn't find Bulma at all. She had not come upstairs at all during the day. Vegeta knew. He had been zeroed in on her energy.
He continued walking to the back of her lab where he could sense her small energy and picked up his pace as soon as the scent of blood hit him. Eventually he found her, typing away on her keyboard, trying to match more compounds with plusonium, drops of blood falling on the keys. She looked even worse than the previous night, dark circles around her eyes and slouched shoulders. Goku was right. She was going to make herself sick if she continued in this manner.
Vegeta looked off to the side, and noticed that most of the blood was pooled next to a series of robots that the prince assumed were the training bots she had only finished blueprinting twelve hours prior. He sneered at the robots. He was sure they were impressive and would be very helpful, but they were nothing worth this woman jeopardizing her life over. "Woman," he called, yet he got no response. "Woman!" he tried again, a little bit louder.
Bulma snapped out of her daze and looked over to see Vegeta standing in her lab. Her face looked so dim, and Vegeta had to resist stepping back in surprise. The woman yawned before forcing a smile. "Hey, do you need something?"
"No," he replied, "but you do. I'm here to relieve you of your duties for the day. You're going to rest for the remainder of the day and start sleeping on a regular schedule. But first, you're going to take care of that cut on your hand."
She frowned at him. "Goku talked to you, didn't he?"
Vegeta gave his head a single shake. "Kakarot said nothing. I overheard the discussion. You will be of no use if you don't get the rest your body needs."
"It will all be worthless if Frieza gets pissed at my lack of progress, so what does it matter? You guys have a time crunch. I get it. I accept it. Why can't you?"
"The same reason you can't accept that this wasn't your fight to begin with," Vegeta countered, silencing Bulma. "You got dragged into this because your friend happens to be one of us, because we wanted to break away. Yes, Frieza would have been pissed if we didn't find anything and might have destroyed the planet, but that was not certain. I heard you tell Kakarot that you're doing this for Raditz and myself as well. You owe us nothing, yet you're still down here killing yourself. We could easily return with your reports, tell Frieza plusonium didn't match any of the compounds, and return to his home planet disappointed. He wouldn't just destroy a planet without a reason. He would have others do it if there was something he wanted that was being withheld. We wouldn't even have to tell him Kakarot was here. We would be gone, and your planet and friend safe, so why are you killing yourself for us?"
Bulma looked down and said, "Raditz is Goku's brother, Gohan's uncle. He belongs here with them. Goku would be devastated if anything happened to him. It took him a little while to warm up to the idea, but I can see that he loves his brother. As for you…well…" She looked up and met his eyes. "You went out of your way for me. You could have let those jerks hurt me, but you got me out of there. You didn't even know that I knew Goku. You act tough, but you wouldn't be standing here right now telling me to get sleep and take care of myself if you didn't care at all about me. I don't know all of what's going on, what you've had to do all these years, and I probably can't even imagine it, but even so, you're still fighting to be free. You just said that you could go back and get Frieza to leave without destroying the planet and without him finding out about Goku. You could have also brought me and Goku to him and had us be forced into a life of slavery and get brownie points for bringing back another fighter and a scientist. You care about us, so I care about you, too, and I cannot in good conscience let you return to that life, not without a fight."
Vegeta's expression remained impassive as he and the woman stared at each other, neither breaking eye contact. With that same vacant expression, he moved to pick her up. She attempted to fight him, but was just so out of it that he was able to hold her steady and took her away from her computer. "But I need-"
"To sleep," Vegeta finished. "I'm taking you up to your room and you will not be leaving it until you've rested a few hours. Then you will eat a normal meal, not a little plate, and then you will go to bed for the rest of the night."
"Vegeta," Bulma whispered in complaint.
"Quiet," the prince returned. "You will do as I say."
The woman sighed, finally surrendering as she rested in his arms. Her head was against his chest and he looked down to see her eyes finally closed. She was still awake, but this was a start. Besides, he needed her to be awake when he entered her room. He needed to know where she kept her medical supplies so that he could treat the wound on her hand. It was just a cut, but humans did not heal as quickly as Saiyans. With her immune system most likely out of whack, she couldn't afford to get an infection.
Her bedroom door was partially open, so he only needed to lightly kick it to get in. Once inside, he lied the woman down on her bed. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with exhaustion yet a small smile on her face. "Where do you keep your bandages?" he asked, ignoring the fluttering feeling in his gut.
"There's a first aid kit in my bathroom," she replied, motioning to the door to her private wash room. "It should be on the counter still."
Still? Vegeta asked himself. Just how many injuries had she been sustaining while working on all of this stuff?
Vegeta found the box and returned to her bed, taking her hand. She watched him as he worked. He seemed to know what he was doing despite the fact that his medicines were probably different than Earth's. It stung when he cleaned the wound thoroughly and a bit roughly. He then formed a small orb of ki in his hand to which he put the hand over. She was mesmerized by the fact that her hand actually felt better and wondered what he was doing that made the pain go away. Finally, he wrapped bandages around her hand, tight enough but not too tight, and then placed her hand back down on her bed.
Her eyes didn't leave his form as he returned the kit to her bathroom. He didn't look at her as he began to leave her room, but her voice stopped him. She called his name softly which caused him to go to her and sit down on the side of her bed. "What is it?" he asked her.
His heart stopped beating as she moved to place a kiss on his cheek. He was not used to physical contact like this, yet it felt different than when he panicked when Kakarot's boy grabbed him. Speaking of, he remembered the Earthling Krillin, saying something about the grip he called a "hug."
"It's a symbol of affection between friends, family, and significant others."
"Thank you," Bulma voiced before she closed her eyes and turned over.
Vegeta took the moment to leave the room, his heart now beating rapidly. Krillin's words repeated in his head, and confused Vegeta even more. This gesture…it was different from the hug, it felt different, but Vegeta didn't understand why. He saw her kiss her father and mother on the cheek once, but he never saw her do that to any of her friends. He knew they were not family, and she didn't do that with her friends. That only left one option, but that couldn't be.
What exactly were they?
Next in New World
She was so close, she could almost taste it. Just a little bit more, she told herself. So close.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Fu-! "Busted, huh?" she sighed as she turned to see Vegeta standing in the middle of the kitchen. "I just wanted to get a little more done tonight. I want to have more listed on the report tomorrow."
Vegeta's expression was unmoved. "Do not worry about the report, Bulma. Yesterday's was adequate enough. If he was bothered, trust me, we would have noticed."
Strangely enough, that didn't seem to make Bulma feel any more confident in her lack of progress.