21
When she was sure that he was asleep, Bulma carefully extracted herself from his embrace. She debated on leaving the bow with Vegeta, but only for a moment. Deciding to leave him the knife instead, Bulma slung the quiver across her back and gripped the metallic blue bow tightly. Clutching her pin as she paused in the entrance, Bulma glanced back at the snoring Saiyan and whispered, "I'm sorry Vegeta, but you are worth dying for. No matter what you think or what anybody has told you. You're worth it to me." Then she pulled the hood of her jacket up to cover her blue hair and stepped out into the moonlit forest. 'Let's just hope that no found my hiding place from blowing up the mines.'
Bulma arrived at the Cornucopia an hour before sunrise, 'Good. That took me less time then I thought it would.' It felt like it took forever for the sky to start to change colors. 'Finally!' Bulma got ready, she'd have to be fast if she wanted to get out of there without a fight. As the sky was beginning to take on a pink tinge, a long table rose from the ground a few feet from the mouth of the Cornucopia. On it were four bags, each marked with a number corresponding to a Region; 2, 5, 11, and 12. 'So there's only six of us left, if I remember correctly.' Suddenly movement; a flash of red appeared, grabbed the bag labeled 5, and darted for the woods on Bulma's left. 'Shoot! No time to waste now.'
Ditching her hiding place, Bulma booked it across the open field and managed to reach the table in under a minute. Not stopping as she snagged their bag, she looped around the table and started towards the woods in the same direction the girl from 5 had gone. Just as Bulma cleared the edge of the Cornucopia, a knife came out of nowhere and barely caught her on the forehead. Blood was gushing from the cut above her left eyebrow, obscuring part of her vision. Immediately after Bulma felt the knife, she was knocked to the ground. Pinned under a great amount of weight, Bulma struggled and trashed against it, she just hoped it wasn't Zarbon.
"Well, if it an't Veggie's little woman." Dodoria drawled as she pushed a knife to Bulma's throat. "Say, where is the Prince of Fools anyway? Don't tell me Zarbon actually killed him?" The pudgy girl moved her neck to flick her long, strawberry blond hair out of her face as she chuckled at her own joke. 'They don't know. I can use that.' "Vegeta! Vegeta…" Bulma screamed until the pressure from the steel cut her off. Dodoria chided her soon-to-be victim, "Ah, ah, ah. None of that." She pulled out another, smaller knife designed for throwing, "You know what I love about kids, Blue? They don't leave as much of a mess after I kill them. Kinda like your little friend. What was her name?" Dodoria tapped the tip of the blade against her lip in thought, unfazed by Bulma heated glare. Chocolate brown eyes lit up, "Toriyama. That was her name. Well, we killed her and now I'm gonna kill you. And with you gone, Vegeta will have nothing to live for." Dodoria raised her hand high to plunge the small knife into Bulma's body. Closing her eyes, Bulma cried out in her head, 'I'm sorry Vegeta.'
But the pain never came. Unexpectedly, Bulma felt Dodoria's weight lift off of her, causing her to open her eyes. In front of her was a giant of a man, his close-cropped red hair had started to grow out on the sides of his head, and he held the hefty Career by her throat. "You killed Bird?!" Sixteen yelled in Dodoria's face, which was rapidly turning pink from his tight hold on her. "No…" Dodoria tried shaking her head but Sixteen's grip was too tight. Desperately wanting to live, she shouted, "Zarbon!" But it was too late for her, the mountain of a teen threw his pray into the side of the metal Cornucopia, breaking her neck.
He turned, his icy blue eyes focused on Bulma with such intensity that she feared she would suffer the same fate as Dodoria. Instead, to her surprise, Sixteen held a hand out and helped Bulma to her feet. "Just this time 12. For Toriyama." He gave her a tiny smile, "Life is good, but living in fear is not my idea of living." As swiftly as he appeared, Sixteen Gero disappeared amongst the trees. "Thank you." Bulma whispered as she grabbed Vegeta's bag and bow, whistling Toriyama's four-note tune to let the ginger know she was thankful for his help.
It was nearing noon when Bulma made it back to their little cave. She had took the long way just in case someone was following her. To her surprise, Vegeta was still asleep when she got back. At least she hoped he was asleep. 'Don't think like that. You would've heard a cannon if he'd…' Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Bulma knelt down beside the teen and shook his shoulder, "Vegeta. Vegeta, time to wake up. Come on, wake up. Vegeta, you're scaring me." Her voice trembled as she started shaking him harder. When that wasn't working, Bulma slapped his face and yelled, "Vegeta! Wake up!" Well, that did it. Vegeta's black eyes shot open and he pounced on her, pushing her to the ground and pinned her arms above her head. Growling at the intruder, Vegeta slowly blinked and his vision came into focus, "Bulma?" He scrambled away, like she had burned him. Clearing his throat to cover his hasty retreat, Vegeta asked, "What happened? How long was I out?" Then he noticed the cut on her forehead and his expression darkened, "Who hurt you?"
Bulma waved him off, she was used to his anger, as she set about opening the bag from the Banquet, "Dodoria nicked me with a knife, it's fine. I'm fine Vegeta." Inside the small-ish black sack was another small tin, but this one was the same blue as Vegeta's bow. Holding the bag upside down to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, Bulma was surprised when a tiny glass bottle appeared on the ground. "What's this?" She asked as she picked it up, the liquid inside was crystal clear. So clear that she thought it was water. But Vegeta knew it wasn't, and grunted, "Pour it on my leg."
He recognized the strong smell of the secretly made alcohol often found at the Market, even Dende would use it to clean wounds and his healing instruments. Bulma looked at him confused, "But I've already cleaned your leg with water." Tiredly reaching for her hand, Vegeta sighed, exhausted, "It's not water Woman. It's MoonWater, a cheap spirit. And a fast death if made wrong. MoonWater has to be a clear as water to be safe to drink or used for medical purposes. It probably came from the Drunk's own stash…" His eyelids slide shut for a moment before Vegeta forced them back open, No sleep. Must stay awake. "Bulma." He rasped, pulling her eyes from the tiny bottle in her hand, "Do as I say. Pour it on my leg. Please." At his whispered plea Bulma nodded resolutely to herself and scooted around to the other side of him.
After she unwrapped his thigh, Vegeta tried to maneuver her to straddle his leg but he was quickly losing his strength. Understanding what he wanted her to do, Bulma knelt on his right leg, just above his knee but below the wound. Wearily resting his head on her shoulder, Vegeta nuzzled her neck, using his nose to push her jacket and shirt to the side and placed his mouth at the junction where her neck and shoulder meet. She felt him take a deep breath so she drizzled the strong alcohol into the wound.
Biting down harder then he meant too, Vegeta tasted blood as he muffled his screams the only way he could. And the only one who knew how much pain he was in was the one he loved. Once the bottle was empty, Bulma lifted Vegeta's head gently and pushed him back against the wall so she could pat the wound dry and apply the blue salve from the Banquet. "Thank you." He breathed as he reached out, dipping a figure into the blue tin and smearing it onto her cut. Vegeta mumbled one last thing to Bulma as sleep over took him, "I'm sorry."