Chapter 37 – New Member Of The Team

"We leave in an hour, woman."

She had felt more than heard his words due to her head resting on his chest and in response Bulma sighed before releasing an "Mm-hm."

They were currently led in bed, just simply lying there and listening to the sounds of each other's breathing and heartbeat. It was a comfortable silence, one that didn't need to be filled with idle conversation and neither of them wanted to destroy the moment. It was a pretty long moment, one that had lasted for well over three hours now, but neither of them cared enough to move. It felt like they didn't have the energy to move even if they wanted to.

After finally leaving the meeting room, Vegeta and Bulma had gone to their home to pack for the mission. Vegeta had wanted to go and train some more, but she hadn't allowed it. Bulma had told him that he could train for four whole months in his own training room on the ship, but for now, they were going to relax a little. Besides, she needed it. Because of what happened in the meeting room, she was sore. At the time it had been amazing, but now, she couldn't even walk properly!

Her inability to walk was not something that Vegeta had missed. In fact, he had laughed at her and once again asked if she could handle sex with the Prince of all Saiyans. Bulma had had to stop herself from strangling him! Unable to handle sex with the Prince of all Saiyans… who the hell did he think he was? She was Bulma Briefs for fuck sake! She could handle anything.

Vegeta smirked at his mate's thoughts. Winding her up was always entertaining and when she got really angry… well, it was hilarious and arousing all at the same time. Her cheeks would turn a pale pink colour, her eyes would spit fire, her fists would clench and tremble at her sides – unless she had placed them on her hips – and her chest would heave with her angry pants for breath. Sometimes, Bulma would place her hands on her hips and lean forward – personally, this was Vegeta's favourite pose of hers. It was because when she was wearing her training uniform, he got a good view of her ample cleavage and it wasn't an unwelcome sight.

"You're such a pervert." Bulma mumbled whilst trying to hide her smirk against his chest.

He looked down at Bulma and raised a brow. "I'm hardly a pervert, woman."

Rolling her eyes, she lifted her head so that she was looking him in the eye and raised her own eyebrow, giving him an unbelieving look. "Oh? So you weren't thinking about my chest just now? And you weren't just thinking of how turned on you get when I'm angry?"

A devilish smirk graced Vegeta's lips as he watched her. Of course they both knew she was right. When it came to Bulma, in his own way, Vegeta was a bit of a pervert. No, he didn't go sniffing her underwear or watch her shower or whatever the hell it was that perverts do, it was more like… it more like he worshipped his mate's body. It was the less than pure thoughts that drifted through his mind whenever he caught sight of her or whenever he thought of her. It was because when she was angry, or just simply talking, he would think of things he could do to her, of things she could do to him. "You're more of a pervert than I am."

Bulma couldn't help but chuckle and nod once. "I guess I am."

On more than one occasion, Vegeta had caught her thinking of him and her thoughts were even dirtier than his own. Whilst he thought of simply taking her, she thought of positions. Whilst he thought of tasting her, she added to those thoughts by thinking of licking chocolate or ice cream off of various parts of his body. With one look, Bulma would be aroused. Vegeta couldn't understand how it was possible at first, but when he heard her thoughts about his eyes being filled with heat and seeing his eyes through hers, he understood.

Her mother had said the two of them were in the 'honeymoon' stage of their relationship. They had been told that when she and Dr Briefs had been on their honeymoon, they couldn't even leave the bedroom! To say that Bulma and Vegeta had been disgusted by the conversation would be an understatement and now neither of them wished to be left alone with the woman. If Vegeta had thought of Mrs Briefs as annoying before, now he thought of her as infuriating. Sure, she had nothing on Bulma, but in her own way, Mrs Briefs got under his skin and annoyed the hell out of him.

"We should probably get up now."

Bulma's words and actions were opposites as she tightened her hold around Vegeta and snuggled closer into him.

Vegeta had never been one for cuddling. Whenever he had slept with a woman, he would make them leave almost immediately when he was done with them or he himself would leave. But it was different with his woman. It felt natural to have her in his arms, to have her using him as a pillow and holding onto him. In fact, whenever Vegeta woke up, she was always holding onto him or lying on top of him, but he was always holding onto her just as tightly.

Some may say the way the Saiyan Prince acted with her was pathetic, that he was being weak. But for the first time in his entire life, Vegeta couldn't bring himself to care. It was because of this woman that he was growing stronger. It was because of his need to protect her that he was gaining strength. For a true warrior such as himself, it may be considered a reckless thing to put somebody else's life before his own, but he didn't care.

She was worth it.

Why was she always stuck with the shitty jobs?

Sure, Bulma knew that she had built the ship herself, but Bardock and her father knew the entire layout as well. In fact, they had checked everything thoroughly, including the bathrooms! If anything they had checked everything a little too thoroughly because now, Bulma was pissed off and most definitely not in the mood.

She could understand their reasons behind the search and whatnot, but it still annoyed her that they doubted her! Never had Bulma ever failed in a project, especially not when so many lives would be at risk if she did. Not only her own, but her mate's, her best friend's, Raditz's and Nappa's. She would never do anything to harm them! To make sure she didn't, Bulma had triple checked everything.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Bulma walked a couple of paces ahead of the others as she led them down the many different corridors. The way she was holding herself as she walked, from her tensed shoulders all the way down to her powerful strides and clenched fists, told the others not to speak to her unless they wanted her to yell at them or hit them.

As they entered the ship, there was one large room that was both the control room and meeting room. It was pretty plain looking, but that didn't matter to them. Then, there were three different doors. The door in the dead centre, exactly opposite the ship's entrance, led to the bedrooms. There were enough bedrooms for each of them and spare ones for the warriors they would be rescuing. The door on the left led to a ladder that would take them down to the bottom of the ship, where they would find the training rooms. Before you reached the ladder, you would find two storage cupboards filled with food and other necessities as well as a medical room. The door on the right led to the kitchen, dining area and living area.

They weren't due to set off for another ten minutes, so once Bulma had finished showing the others around, Kakarot had gone back outside to say goodbye to his family one last time before he left. Also, at their request, Bulma and Vegeta went outside to say goodbye to her parents. She could tell he didn't want to, but Bulma was grateful that he stayed by her side. After all, it wasn't like he could start his training yet since he would have to pause it when they took off. Sitting down and strapping in was simply a precaution that they all had to go through with in case of any emergencies.

"You two will be safe, won't you?"

Bulma looked up at her mother's pleading features, but the woman's eyes were on Vegeta which completely surprised her. Not only that, but her eyes were open and practically begging him to keep Bulma safe. Seeing that Vegeta didn't enjoy having her mother stare at him in such a way, Bulma spoke up. "We'll be fine, mom. I promise."

"Good." Mrs Briefs sighed before pulling Bulma into a tight hug. "Please don't do anything reckless, Bulma."

She pulled out of the hug, but smiled. "I won't."

Just as the blonde was about to say something, her head snapped to the side as her eyes widened in shock. Both Bulma and Vegeta narrowed their eyes at her sudden change of mood before following her gaze, only for themselves to be shocked at the sight before them.

Standing in front of his father, was Gohan. Not only that, but Kakarot had his hand on top of the boy's head and a proud smile on his face. Piccolo was standing not too far from them, but his back was to her so she couldn't see his expression. Directly opposite of Kakarot and Gohan was Chi-Chi, who had a hand pressed over her heart as she tried her best to smile at her son and husband. Bulma could tell by the look on the younger human's face that she wasn't happy about something, but she could see that Chi-Chi felt as though she had little choice. The sight caused Bulma's heart to clench uneasily as her entire body filled with dread. Beside her, Vegeta stiffened as he sensed her silent distress but the moment she went to step forward, however, his tail wrapped around her wrist, stopping her movements.

"Vegeta-"

"Bulma," Vegeta spoke seriously, "you cannot change this."

"Like hell I can't!" She snapped angrily, but as she tugged on the her restraint, Bulma saw that she wouldn't be leaving his side any time soon so instead resorted to yelling. "Kakarot, what are you doing?"

At the sound of his name being used in such an angry tone of voice, Kakarot's head turned to the side to look at her and he frowned as he saw that she was being held back. What was she so upset about? Had he done something wrong? Why was Vegeta holding her back? Taking his hand from Gohan's head, Kakarot turned to face her fully with an expression that showed his confusion. "What's wrong Bulma?"

"What's wrong?" She repeated, her shrill voice causing Vegeta to wince ever so slightly since she was so close to his ear. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Kakarot frowned whilst Chi-Chi, Piccolo, Gohan and everyone else turned to face her. Some of them showed their confusion, but others did not. "What are you talking about?"

"Why are Gohan's things packed?" Bulma snapped angrily as her fists clenched even tighter. Vegeta's tail tugged on her wrist, but she ignored him. "Why is he stood with you? Why is Chi-Chi almost in tears?"

It was Bardock who spoke this time as he stepped forward from his place beside Turles, Raditz and Nappa. Those who had a strong connection with Gohan appeared to be looking at the boy proudly, but she couldn't be too sure since now they were all staring at her in confusion. "Were you not informed?" At her frown, Bardock continued. "Gohan will be joining you on this mission."

Gohan… Gohan would be coming with them? He would be entering the Cold Empire? Her hands loosened as her stomach twisted so violently she thought she was going to throw up. The thought of the young boy being so close to danger left a bitter taste in her mouth, but the thought of him being so close to Frieza made her heart clench painfully. Vegeta's tail tightened around her wrist, trying to give her as much comfort as he could whilst in public, but Bulma barely even felt it.

He wasn't even four years old! How the hell was he old enough to be sent on a mission? Her first mission had been when she was fourteen years old! Kakarot had been… well, when she had first met him, he had been nine years old. He had been with Turles and Bardock and…

It had been a mission.

What the hell was wrong with these damned Saiyans? How could they send children out on missions as dangerous as these? And the others were just as bad! Hayato… this was his idea, Bulma just knew that it was. He had asked her if she would be able to handle it, but she hadn't thought he meant something as big as this. That bastard! He had seen how attached she had gotten to Gohan and he was using her weakness against her. He was trying to prove that she couldn't handle it. Could she? Could Bulma really ignore the pain in her heart at the thought of Gohan fighting, at the thought of him having to kill to survive? She didn't think she could.

"Let me go."

Vegeta frowned at her words, but did as she had asked. He had heard every single one of her thoughts and whilst the one voicing her disgust about Saiyans sending their children out on dangerous missions angered him, he did not utter a word.

Knowing that yelling at them wouldn't do any good but prove Hayato right, Bulma stormed back onto the ship, ignoring the others as they called after her.

A/N - I don't really have anything important to say this week, or at least I think I don't. The only thing I think I need to tell you all is that, for those of you who are waiting for Battle of the Minds, the sequel to Battle of the Empires, you may have to wait a little longer. I prefer to have at least half of the story finished so that I don't have to keep you waiting for the next chapter and right now, I have writer's block and pretty bad eye strain too.

Preview to the next chapter:

His foot scuffed against the floor and it took him a couple of moments to answer. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad at you?" Bulma repeated as she frowned. "Why would I be mad at you?"

The look Gohan gave her made her heart clench and her stomach twist as guilt filled her entire being. He looked so sad, reminding her of a kicked puppy. "You were angry earlier," He told her, averting his eyes to the ground, "when you found out I was joining you."

Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review! :-)