Bulma felt her azure gaze roll upwards for the umpteenth time in the last few hours as Vegeta threw his countless series of kicks and punches into the still air of the Gravity Chamber. It had been hours since Bulma's doomed revelation regarding the current state of it, and Vegeta's ceased to respond. Very aware he was silently stewing, she let him be.
Vegeta heard her minuscule sigh of helpless boredom reach his ears, momentarily interrupting his focus on the stready stride of his martial arts series. He cringed his face into a scowl and barked, "That is precisely my sentiment at this very moment, woman."
Her head perked up, as those were his first words in hours. Her face remained precociously surprised as she replied, "Oh, I didn't know you had any sentiment!"
His scowl deepened into sharp agitation and his eyes darted off to the side with annoyance. She had never caused him such rage with her imbecilic decisions. Even as a genius, she couldn't figure out how to maneuver her own Kami-damn machinery. He felt as if he lost a tinge of respect for what the woman considered to be her life's work as if she was some female prodigy.
'Hmpf.. Maybe for this planet's standards.'
Bulma stood up and let out a loud yawn that nearly echoed the whole place. Within the twenty foot radius, there was only seven feet between them at most.
In that moment, Vegeta knew he would never feel it to be enough.
Bulma finished her vertical stretch to the heavens, trying to reinvigorate her aching muscles that were already lamenting her sedentary state. Not that Bulma's body was ever active in her laboratory lifestyle, but every few hours she would at least move around and be able to breathe.
'But not with this jackass here. I have better luck trying to relax in a bathtub full of fire,' were Bulma's toxic thoughts.
He caught her idyllic gaze that had wandered throughout her mental trance. When she finally snapped out of it, her vision focused in to see a pair of obsidian orbs heatedly pouring into her. Then they looked to the motherboard of the ship, thinking the same thought simultaneously with the blue-haired woman.
She gasped, "No, Vegeta! You cannot just blast your way through here, it's not gonna happen!"
"And just why the hell not?" He demanded.
"Because when I had to infuse the metal with an anti-energy deflector so you didn't blow yourself up, it made this thing practically indestructible! So we're gonna sit here and wait it out-"
"I will do no such thing, woman!" Vegeta screamed in response to scathing demand, "You're quite the fool to ever associate the word 'indestructible' with this scrap metal!"
She seethed, folding her arms stubbornly. "Fine. See what happens when you try to send a ki blast through the ceiling and implode us inside here. Go on!"
His nostrils flared with submissive frustration as he stood and launched a glare her way as she let out a "hmpf!" under her breath and began to walk away from him. But under the steam of his hot temper, he instinctively grabbed her by the arm and growled.
"You're not going anywhere until I see you on your knees next to that piece of space-wasting shit and getting us the hell out of here."
His stern demand was spoken low as the breath of his coarse voice danced across her face, making tiny vibrations of tingles whisper throughout her body. 'What caused that?' She wondered, not knowing if she felt intimidation or the soft thrill of their suddenly close proximity.
"You will never see me on my knees, Prince," she snarled before the sensation of his skin upon hers set in.
Vegeta noticed her eyes fall to his arm with a strange suspense echoing through them, making him jerk his grip away from her. He, too, felt enwonderment at the heat that had even seared his conscious for a moment, even though his Saiyan body was accustomed to the heat it was prone to generating.
Bulma let out a breath, unaware of its incarceration within her tight chest. Why was she so nervous around him all of a sudden? After so many close calls with his rage, Bulma felt confident he would never physically harm her. So it wasn't that...
"I'm devastated," He croaked with monotone sarcasm, stepping away from her. Bulma felt her arms fold themselves again, already cursing her mistake for sticking her with the insufferable Prince.
"You know, I bet someone will save us any minute! Goku or Krillin, or maybe even Yamcha-"
"NEVER say that cretin's name in front of me again. I would rather forsake my royal existence by perishing on this worthless planet than ever been associated with that foolish fuck-"
"Alright! We get it, you don't like my fiancee- anything else?!"
"Yes, actually," Vegeta bit the rhetorical bait with a devious smirk, causing her to eyeroll at herself for having to ask. "How about that ridiculous title you just gave him, what was that again?"
Bulma paused with confusion, Vegeta sardonically placing an open palm up to his ear. "..Fiancee?"
Suddenly a dark, lowly chuckle began in Vegeta's throat. "It sounds like the name of an intergalatic slug that regal planets feast on."
"Well, he's not, in fact, a slug," Bulma said in a faux-polite tone, feeling her patience grind with Vegeta's sense of humour. "If anything, I would bet you were jealous."
He stopped cold, all sense of humour gone as quickly as it had appeared on his dark features. Regarding her cooly, cleared his throat. "Jealous of a low grade rebel who's done nothing to claim his right to the warrior he so perceives himself to be?"
"Well, he has friends at least. And he's actually sweet for a guy who grew up in the desert... Besides, I'm marrying him."
"So I've heard," Vegeta confirmed with a displeased tone. "Also, I've heard he does in fact have friends here on this wretched planet... of the female variety."
Her eyes snapped to his with malice. Was he really trying to go there? She felt a shallow blanket of vulnerability creep up from Vegeta's cruel words.
"Yes, how sweet," He cooed with a tone dripping with venom. There was a shadow of a smirk on his face as she scanned it for his intentions. As usual, she couldn't find them.
"Yamcha is a good guy," Bulma repeated, trying her best to ignore the voices of doubt echoing Vegeta's sentiment. There was a moment of still pause, where Bulma felt his stare bleed into her peripheral vision as she was wise enough to keep her gaze away from him at that point. He may have been a little too enigmatic for her to always calculate, but she knew she'd be an open book to him in that moment with such a raw subject. Especially when tears of doubt were up next should it continue. Luckily, it didn't.
"What is a good guy to you?"
She pondered him for a good minute with a hesitated suspicion, not seeing his angle, "Why?"
"I'm deathly curious to know what makes a 'good guy' in the great book of Bulma."
Feeling cold tingles crawl up her skull at the sound of him muttering her name with such a dramtic undertone, she looked away uncomfortably. "You know, someone with good intentions. Someone who won't.. hurt me."
A maniacal grin spread out across Vegeta's face. "Ah.. Then I am deathly curious what such a subjective definition makes myself."
Bulma frowned, "Would you really hurt me, Vegeta?"
He hated the way she asked that, her voice pathetic with a shallow concern to it that made it clear she completely doubted he would. In fact, it only angered him more because she was placing a filthy, humanistic impulse of compassion onto him that his entire race had only deleted from their protocol because they saw it for the error it really was.
"I've seen entire planets burns to ash in the innerfolds of the galaxy, erasing entire civilizations within minutes.. I've held the vein-throbbing necks of mothers and children alike in my hands before taking their very lives away for the sake of looting their belongings. I have stolen, lied, and murdered countless races. I am not capable of this slavery to emotions you humans so grotesquely exhibit on a lifelong basis, polluting your planet with filthy, feeble-minded children after procuring a false partnership with disloyal mates. Despicable.."
His snarling monologue filled her mind as her eyes trained themselves on him, not able to look away from his stoic expression. It didn't seem to be a yes to her question but it didn't seem to be a no, either. Confused and deflated by his wicked perception, all she could do was tap into the anger it had stewed in her as a response.
"First of all... Not everyone is disloyal. And second, you were only taught all of that evil stuff-"
"Like fucking hell I was. You dare question the origin of my very Saiyan nature? You are to tell me I am not of true Saiyan blood to which I am inherently within genetic right to enslave and persecute all inferior beings to me?! You are nothing but a foul human woman who can't admit to her own flawed design.. Admit it, your mate does nothing but explore the opposite sex for entertainment without your knowledge," Then he added with a snort, "We all know he isn't training."
"Foul? How am I foul when I have to remind you of basic hygiene every day? I'm shocked I can even breathe over here!"
"Which is a pity, isn't it?" He snapped, obviously enraged by her counter remarks.
"Look, I don't know everything you've been through or done elsewhere. But me and my family have done enough for you to at least show a little respect."
Vegeta spun to face her with a snarl, "Respect is earned woman. Getting me locked in here with you has done nothing but interrupt my training further when I hardly progress to any sort of level in my ascension to Super Saiyan thanks to your weak machines."
"I do my best, Vegeta, you break everything! You've pushed yourself way too far in the past and nearly killed yourself with MY invention and I won't let that happen again."
It came out faster than she meant to say it, and once she heard it she took on a slight blush and pulled her face away. Vegeta saw the shame flicker across her face, her cerulean gaze dropping to the floor.
"I shouldn't have said that.. That's just why I made this version the way I did. I was scared."
Once again she was proving her emotions controlling her actions, and once again Vegeta felt a churn on his insides. He hated feeling protected in some way, along with its implications that he cannot defend himself. Letting a glare take over his features, he turned his back to her.
"Fear is a worthless emotion. Giving into it almost always proves how weak you are."
His scathing words ripped her conscious, making her feel more humiliated than she already did. She knew emotions were the last thing to attract the respect of the Prince, let alone having any towards him. But perhaps she was onto something.. Perhaps she could play into this just a little deeper to get his attention.
"Vegeta?"
His name peaked his attention as he looked over his shoulder, his eyes flashing with a daring menace. He despised the swell in his chest at her tone of voice, soft and yet perilous as if summoning him for a challenge.
But she was doing just that, "Do you think we'll make it?"
His eyes narrowed immediately, "There is no we."
Her head fell back slightly as her face faulted with exasperation, "Fine, but you know what I mean. The Androids.. Do you think they'll win?"
His expression cleared slightly, nothing but sheer confidence burning in his onyx orbs.
"Of course not, " He spat indignantly. "I am much too powerful to let some metallic waste destroy me."
She stepped forward, but not without silently gulping and facing him with doe eyes of hopeful innocence. "Will you show me?"
He squared his body to face her, confusion tweaking his features.
"Show me your power."
Those words alone were melodious to Vegeta's ears, despite the voice they were coming from. In fact, the undertone of desperation in her voice did even more so to streak his ego and he felt himself powering up almost instantly.
He kept his eyes boring into hers, his muscles enlarging to handle the currents of energy surging through his body. Veins swelled and exposed themselves through his olive skin, the darkness of the room illuminating them under the intense, bright rays of blue energy.
Bulma could feel the high jump of heat in the tense air surrounding her, and as thick as it was, she found her hair gently swaying from the manipulation of Ki waves. Not just shocked her social experiment with Vegeta had pulled through, she was mystified at the transformation before her.
Of course she'd been around fighters all her life, but there was something different about experiencing Vegeta's power.. Perhaps it was his dramatic edge, or his fiercesome ego- maybe just his strength alone as powerful as he was compared to most of her friends.
Regardless, Bulma was speechless.
She saw her hand reach forward, almost as if looking in from the outside of herself, toward the shimmering light showering her. He saw her move closer, her eyes in a cerulean trance of enwonderment that he'd never before seen in response to his transformation.
He watched as her hand made contact with his chest, where his Saiyan heart pulsated at the speed of lightning underneath her hand. The sensation of her touch piqued an unfamiliar sensation within his powered up form, causing him to jerk back in response.
He lowered his energy, only able to diminish it so much due to his distressed state of mind. Thoughts of irritation and rage scoured through his mind at what he was feeling, that wench sending the wrong signals to his brain like the witch she was.
Her face fell at the loss of the bright lights, her hand gently folding away like wilting flower back to her chest. They looked at each other with alternate expressions, one full of want and one full of..
Not hate, she realized. No, he didn't even hate her.
"You're scared," She blurted, more so out of contempt that he had pulled away from her like an unattractive leper.
"What in the blazes are you speaking of? There is nothing the Prince of Saiyan fears!"
"Apparently there is," Bulma stated matter-of-factly, folding her arms precisely. "I get it, you've never been touched by a girl before have ya?"
The rage that unfolded on his face was momentous, making Bulma wished she'd had a camera- because it was also the first time he'd actually let a soft blush creep over his face.
"You don't have to worry, Vegeta, I don't have cooties you know," She boldly declared, smugly giggling to herself.
Suddenly she felt herself being lifted and catapulted to the nearest wall. Her back landed roughly against it, not too hard because Vegeta had been guiding her body by her shoulders to somehow control the impact. She should have known his anger would end up raining on her after that last one..
"You fucking bitch," He spat into her face, his mouth just inches away and his voice in a low croak. "How dare you make a mockery of something you know nothing about!"
Her eyes met his, this time finally matching his emotion with her own claustrophobic frustration, "Oh really? What don't I know, Vegeta? That I can't even touch you without being pushed away?"
"I've travelled the galaxies with female specimens more flawless than your petty human mind can even fathom. I've encountered species exclusively made of women whose primary goal of their existence was to please men with their bodies. And I come from a race whose females lived to gain respect on the battlefield as well as with their prospective mates. To accuse me of being unfamiliar with the opposite gender is not only preposterous, but uninformed at best.. "
Bulma became furious with his examples, more indigified by the second. Finally, she felt her retort build up in her throat without the usual accompaniment of intimidation to filter her. "Show me."
No. She wasn't serious. In his pent up state of rage at her ridiculous accusation that he was somehow fearful of her by pure intimidation alone, and in his current phase of trying to phase her out of his life- he was completely starstruck by her daring command. There were only split seconds that passed which held in his second thoughts until he felt himself respond without the use of words.
In a sweeping aggression, Vegeta crushed her face with his. His lips landed with such an impact that she felt her head knock back against the wall. Growling in response, she returned the kiss with a dizzy fervor, lacking the will to stop herself despite the numerous consequences for such a reaction..
And then there was light, with none other than Goku smiling down at them from the ceiling of the Gravity Chamber.
"Hey guys.. You alright down there?"
Ooooooooh c*ckblocled! Dang...
All that time you guys waited, too. I'm the worst!
Which by the way I can explain but not excuse.. New job, lots of overtime and recovery time and I'm sorry I suck :(
Anyway I just wanted to thank ALL my reviewers for my most recent update & beyond. I read each and every one and I can't believe how much you guys are enjoying this but it's awesome and keeps me motivated to get this BV ball rolling so I can actually complete one that I'm super proud of.
Thanks to everyone who's sticking around, too. It WILL speed up I promise.
Just don't kill me for the cliffhanger.
Peace! & Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Nicolesque