Then He Kissed Her
II.
The next day, Bulma got up not feeling miserable like she thought she would. She saw that the clock said twelve p.m. and she quickly threw the covers off.
"Whoa! I didn't mean to sleep in this late!" she quickly scrambled around to find clothes to wear.
She didn't know why she was in a hurry, she had no where to go, 'Maybe I just want to get on with my life as soon as possible,' she thought to herself.
As soon as she got dressed, wearing short denim shorts and a blue tank top, she thudded down the stairs, still putting her earrings in. She made her way into the kitchen and got out a bowl and a box of cereal, putting it on the counter by her disgusting platter that was still sitting there.
"Eh…I think I'll get rid of this now," she said, pushing it off into the garbage. As soon as it was gone, the phone rang.
She groaned, not as enthused as she usually is when the phone rings. She picked up the phone, putting it to her ear, "Hello? …Oh…hi Yamcha…"
**********
Vegeta was training hard in the gravity room since seven that morning. He just began breaking a sweat though, making the gravity go higher and higher every ten minutes.
Still on the ground throwing punches, he began thinking about if he was going to be ready in time when the androids come.
'Is three years really enough time?' he thought in his head, 'That boy said they seemed to be unstoppable…that can't be true…anything can be defeated, especially androids. All you have to do is short wire them and they'll be down in no time! Heh, heh, heh…this shouldn't be too hard.
'But then again…why would that other Saiyan have a hard time with them in his time if they weren't powerful? If a Super Saiyan can't…how can I? …NO! I won't allow myself to think like that! I will be able to save this planet along with all the people on it! I will prove to myself that I can do it…and I will.'
With that thought in mind, he flew up and began kicking the air, along with throwing occasional blasts to the side and then deflecting them as they came back at him.
'Wonder what Bulma's doing…' he asked himself out of no where all of a sudden.
The thought caught him off guard as he fired too many blasts as once for his lack of concentration, and a couple flew back and pounded him in the chest. He exhaled loudly as it hit him, making sure not to get the air knocked out of him. He landed with a thud on the bottom, holding his shoulder and breathing heavily. The hit hardly fazed him; it was just the thought alone that it happened that bothered him.
'Why did I just think about that woman all of a sudden?!' he questioned himself, standing back up on his feet, 'I'm supposed to be training!'
He again started throwing punches through the air, angry with himself for thinking of such nonsense things. He talked to her for one night and already he was wondering what she was doing at the time.
"How pathetic!" he said aloud, not exactly sure what point he was trying to make to himself by doing so.
To get his mind more on training again, he turned the gravity stimulator up to 550. This really did take his mind off Bulma, for he got pressed down to the floor, not used to that much pressure. He slowly picked himself off, powering up some to overtake the high gravity, but he didn't have to hold it for too long, as the machine could not take that much pressure at once, overheating again.
"Damn thing!" he yelled at the machine as it began to smoke.
He furiously turned off the machine and walked out of the gravity room. He stormed into Capsule Corp., making his presence heard.
"Woman! Get out there and fix that stupid machine of yours! It's overheating again!" Vegeta screamed at the top of his lungs so that she would be able to hear him in any part of the building.
He listened for her smart reply, but didn't hear anything. He walked into the living room and to the stairs, "WOMAN!"
Still no answer.
He sighed and walked into the kitchen, "Guess I'll eat something until she comes down," he walked towards the refrigerator and then saw a note from her held by a magnet on the door.
Vegeta, had to go to a meeting. There's plenty of food for you, so if the gravity room broke because of you…you fix it! See you later. Bulma
Vegeta groaned at this letter. How was he supposed to get anything accomplished when he kept breaking the machine and Bulma was never there to fix it? He knew that when Bulma said she was going to a meeting…it was an all day meeting.
He sighed and decided to make the best of it. He opened the refrigerator and took out all its contents.
**********
Later that night, Vegeta was just lying in his bed, looking up at his ceiling. He wasn't tired, he just didn't know what else to do. Just as he predicted, Bulma was gone all day. It's not that he didn't mind having control of the whole house, it just seemed quiet without someone there to argue with him.
He turned over to his side, looking at his wall, 'Now that I'm not training, I don't see no harm in thinking about her,' he thought, embarrassed in front of himself for allowing himself to do so.
'We were actually talking civilized to each other last night…telling each other our lives and some of our secrets…I've never done that with anyone else before. I wonder if she has…yeah, most likely. She said she's been with Yamcha for fifteen years, he probably knows every little thing about her. She's lucky she has a lot of friends to tell these things to, but…why do I feel like I want to know her better? Does her life really seem that interesting to me that I want to hear more about her? Or is it just actually nice to have someone to talk to and to trust? Why…'
"Knock, knock."
Vegeta jumped a little at the sound of a voice. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards his door to see Bulma leaning against his doorway.
He sat up.
"Mind if I come in?" she asked, taking a step in anyway.
Vegeta shrugged, "How'd the meeting go?"
Bulma shook her head; "I didn't go to a meeting."
"But you left a note on the refrigerator saying you were," he said, watching her every move as she sat down on the end of his bed.
"I know," she replied, "but I didn't go to one…Yamcha called me," she said, almost reluctantly.
Vegeta shifted on the bed, "Oh, you went out with him?"
"NO!" she said abruptly, but then caught herself, "No…he called me and said he was sorry and that he wanted to take me out."
"And you said?…" Vegeta didn't know why he was so interested in her personal life and he most defiantly didn't like the fact of how interested he sounded.
Bulma sighed and didn't seem to notice though, "I said that I couldn't today and…and maybe tomorrow," she looked down at the ground in shame, "He said that sounded great, but he might be over sometime today and surprise me…I didn't feel like seeing him today, so I said I was going to be at a meeting."
She then looked at him, "Did he come by any time today at all?"
"No, I don't think so," he said.
Bulma slumped her shoulders, "It figures…I had a feeling that no matter if I told him I was going to be home or not, he wouldn't show up."
"Then…why did you leave?" he asked, sitting sideways on the bed to look at her.
"Because…" she sighed again, "because I guess I'm still kinda used to the old days…he would always come and visit me, and if I wasn't home, he would stay here all day and wait for me. But a few years ago, he didn't do that any more and when we set up a date or something…he would never show up. And…tomorrow…I don't know what to do! I don't know whether to go out with him or just give up on the whole relationship. What do you think?"
She looked over at him with eyes that said she wanted advice from someone that may give it to her.
Vegeta saw this look and got angry that she expected him to give her his opinion on something stupid, "Hey! Why are you asking me this?! How am I supposed to know anything about this kind of junk!?"
Bulma looked hurt after this comment, and looked down at the floor again, tears forming in her eyes, "I'm so confused…"
Vegeta felt terrible after this, but didn't know what else to do. How was he supposed to know about any of this love stuff? There was no way.
He opened his mouth to say something, but got interrupted by the doorbell ringing continuously.
"Bulma! Bulma, are you home?!" came Yamcha's voice from outside, followed by another round of doorbell rings.
Bulma gasped while Vegeta's eyes narrowed.
"What the hell is he doing here this late at night?" Vegeta said, standing up, getting annoyed by the ringing.
Bulma shook her head, "I don't know, but I don't want to talk to him right now, Vegeta, can you go tell him that I'm not here? Please?"
Vegeta glared down at her, "Woman, handle your own problems!"
She reached out and grabbed his hand in both of hers, holding it tightly, looking up at him with pleading eyes, "Please, Vegeta, I really don't feel like seeing him now."
He stared down at her for a few moments, before thrusting his hand away from hers and flying out his window. He flew down to the ground, behind Yamcha who was still ringing the stupid bell and calling Bulma.
He stepped up to him, "Hey! The woman's not here right now!"
Yamcha turned around, surprised to find Vegeta there.
"Yes, she is! I see her car," Yamcha insisted.
"She's out with friends."
"None of her friends have cars!"
"Well, these ones do," Vegeta said, becoming impatient with the human.
Yamcha gave Vegeta a look that said he didn't believe him and began flying up to the second story to try and find Bulma.
But Vegeta was too fast for him, and he knocked him down out of the sky, having him land hard at the ground.
"I said she's not here! So go away and stop bothering me!" Vegeta yelled, still up in the air.
Yamcha hated to see himself beaten, but his back ached badly and he knew he had no chance of winning against Vegeta.
He got up slowly and ran towards his car, glaring back bravely at Vegeta before he left.
Vegeta watched him until he was out of sight, before flying back in his window, closing it, and then walking back over to his bed where a smiling Bulma still sat.
He sat down beside her, "Happy?"
Bulma nodded and threw her arms around his neck to give him a hug, "Thank you, Vegeta."
He felt his face grow hot from this gesture, and he pushed her away quickly, "Yeah, yeah! I helped you, now you don't have to get all touchy about it."
Bulma laughed, "But that was still really nice of you to do that for me."
Vegeta growled at her, "I'm not nice."
She giggled again, "You're nice to me."
He raised an eyebrow at her; "From the things I do and say to you…no one in their right mind would call that nice."
"I guess I'm in my wrong mind then, huh?"
"Huh?" Vegeta asked, not getting it.
"What?"
"What?" Vegeta asked her again, unaware that he was repeating after her.
"Why?" Bulma said, trying to keep a straight face.
Vegeta paused a moment and searched his mind, "…why what?"
As soon as he said that, Bulma began laughing hysterically. She always played that stupid little joke on people, but she never thought it would work on Vegeta.
He sighed loudly and shook his head, looking at the laughing Bulma, "So…where did you really go then if you didn't go to a meeting?" he asked her, trying to change the subject.
Bulma still laughed for awhile, but slowly stopped, clearing her throat before she talked, "I just went out shopping, I had nothing else to do…but I don't feel like talking about that anymore. What did you do today?"
Vegeta thought back on his day, "I woke up and began training, but then stopped because…oh yeah! That reminds me!" he gave her a glare, "Woman! That machine broke again! Go out and fix it!"
She looked at the clock and saw that it read ten-thirty, "I will tomorrow, it's too late tonight."
"No it isn't!" Vegeta stood up, crossing his arms over his chest, "I want to get started right away on training tomorrow morning and you sleep the whole day away! I demand you to go fix it, now!"
Bulma stood up in front of him, putting her hands on her hips, "Vegeta, you have no right to tell me what to do!"
"I have every right! I made your boyfriend go away, now you fix that machine!"
Bulma narrowed her eyes; "He's not my boyfriend."
"Well, that's not my fault! It's yours and I handled it, so why won't you do this thing for me?!" Vegeta yelled, getting angry with her like he used to all over again, "No wonder he stopped coming to see you! He probably did a lot for you in you did nothing in return, so he got sick of it!" he paused and laughed, "Maybe I shouldn't have made him leave."
Her face began burning as she stood right in front of him, "Listen Vegeta, I will not loose my temper over you, I know what you're saying is not true, so I won't bother to argue. But since you said that…I'm not even going to bother fixing your stupid toy!"
Vegeta's eyes flashed with anger as he flew up above her, grabbing her wrist and lifting her off the ground.
Bulma screamed in shock as she was lifted off the ground, "Let me go, Vegeta!"
He only took her above the floor until he reached the ceiling, then dropped her, watching her fall about six feet to the floor, then flying down in front of her, looking down at her.
Bulma sat, on the ground, rubbing her wrist gently, "Ow! That hurt you jerk!" she screamed up at him.
He laughed, "That is what I meant to do, woman!"
As soon as he said that, he froze. Memories of his dream flooded back to him, seeing Freiza hovering above him, laughing down at his pitiful form.
"You…you blew up my planet!" he screamed, knowing it sounded obvious and stupid, but he found it impossible that it happened.
But that statement only made Freiza laugh hysterically, "That is what I meant to do, fool!"
Seeing this in his mind, his eyes got wide in horror and he dropped to the ground on his knees, 'No…no, I can't be becoming Freiza…there is no way I can let that happen!' he screamed at himself.
He snapped out of it and looked ahead of him at Bulma still holding her wrist tightly to her chest. He moved closer to her, "Are you…okay?" he asked slowly, not used to ever asking anyone that.
Bulma gave him the meanest glare she had, "Does it look like I'm okay!? I think you sprained my wrist you idiot!" she gasped, as she found that the more she screamed, the worse her wrist became.
Vegeta's pride was about to get in the way, his head telling him to send her away to deal with her problem, but he stopped himself. This was the woman that said he could trust her and that he believed. This was the woman that was there for him after he had a nightmare like no one else was and the one that didn't mind talking to him for hours on end. This was the woman he was growing quite fond of.
He reached out and grabbed her hand gently in his, letting it get in focus with him, so he could see how bad it was. Once he examined it, he sighed with relieve that it wasn't sprained, it was just bruised.
"Her wrist is going to be fine, it might be black and blue for awhile, but that's it," he told her, giving her hand back to her.
"That's it?" Bulma asked, then laughed sarcastically, "That's it!? How can you say that's it when my wrist would have been fine if it wasn't for you!"
Vegeta flinched a little. For once in his life, he was trying to be helpful to someone and she came back and yelled at him.
"I…I don't know what came over me. You just…got me mad," he said quickly, getting up and going into his bathroom to get a warm washcloth.
"Well you better learn how to keep your temper down, Vegeta! Just because someone gets you mad doesn't mean you have to hurt them!" Bulma still yelled from within his room.
He walked back in and over to her, putting the rag around her wrist and made a tie to hold it there.
Bulma watched his as he did this, "I don't even know why you're bothering to help me now, after all, I thought you would—."
"I'm sorry, all right?!" Vegeta screamed, getting tired of her going on and on about it, "I'm…sorry."
Bulma stared at him in amazement, surprised he said the "s" word. She soon got over her shock and smiled at him as he got done with her wrist.
"Apology accepted," she said to him, not moving her hand away from his.
He smirked a little, making sure not to look at her face, just pretended to still examine her wrist, even though he knew there was nothing else he could do for her.
She reached out with her good hand, tilting his chin up so that he would look at her. Once he was doing so, he looked at her with a look of confusion.
"If people gave you a chance, they'll find out that you're really a sweet guy," she laughed.
He snickered, "It's not them that don't give me a chance…it's me that don't give them a chance."
She looked down for a minute then looked back up, "You gave me a chance…and that makes three things so far."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked her.
"Well…first you trusted me. Then you were nice to me. Now I just find out that I'm the one you gave a chance. I think that's pretty good, don't you?" she smiled at him.
Vegeta thought about this for a moment, "I…I guess so."
After he said this, he looked into her eyes. In them, he saw her looking at him in a way she never looked at him before. They seemed soft and compassionate, sparkling in the dim room.
He felt like he was entranced by them, but quickly took his eyes away from her and stood up, "It's getting late."
Hearing him say this, brought her back to reality and she stood up too, "Yeah, you're right, I should get going to bed."
Vegeta nodded.
Bulma just stood in the middle of the room for a few more seconds, before she headed towards the door. She turned back around at Vegeta before she left, also putting her hand on his doorknob.
"Goodnight, Vegeta," she said.
'This feels like it happened before…' she thought to herself.
He nodded to her and she smiled. She walked out of the room, just like the previous night, and closed the door.
Standing outside his door, she didn't feel like going to her room yet. Smiling all the while, not even a remembrance of the pain in her wrist.
She sighed, almost confusedly, 'Oh, Vegeta…can this really be happening this fast? Am I really…' she paused in her mind. Did she want to think about that? …Yes, 'I think I've fallen in love with you, Vegeta…'
Bulma put a hand to her heart and smiled more, thanking the heavens, "I guess my heartbreak didn't turn out to be that much of a heartbreak after all…"