Then He Kissed Her

III.

The next morning, Vegeta decided to get an extra early start of training at 6:30. He felt groggy as he threw the covers off and began getting dressed…not like his usual self.

"I got to stop being so easy on myself…" he said, mostly as a mumble.

He walked down the stairs slowly, still rubbing his eyes, seeming to not get awake. But once he reached the bottom of the steps, he perked up a little as his nose picked up food. He made his way into the kitchen, only to find Bulma at the stove, making breakfast.

Vegeta leaned against the doorway, "Oh, no…the great cook is at it again!" he commented sarcastically.

Bulma turned around in time to see him smirk. She frowned from this, "Oh hush, Vegeta…for once I'm making something I already know how to make…sorta. And that's pancakes and eggs!"

"Sorta?" Vegeta mocked her, "Sorta means kinda and kinda means not really and not really means…" he crossed over to the refrigerator, "I'll make my own food."

She blinked twice in confusion, but then put her hands on her hips, a spatula still in one hand, "Listen Vegeta, I got up really early this morning to make your breakfast and this is my forth attempt to do so, so I would suggest you just sit down and take what I give you!"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at her after shutting the refrigerator door and popping a sandwich into his mouth that he made right in side the cold box, "Why?"

Bulma groaned out in frustration when the phone rang. She sighed as she walked over to the phone, "Now who can be calling this early in the morning…" she pondered before she picked up the cordless, "Hello? …What do you want, Yamcha?"

Vegeta sat down at the table, wanting to listen to the conversation on one side that he knew would turn into a fight.

"Where was I last night? Why is it any of your business? …Well, if Vegeta said I wasn't there, you should have listened then you wouldn't be aching right now, huh?" Bulma rolled her eyes as she did a complete turn from her impatience, "No, I do not want to hang out with you today. …Because…uh…I'm gonna spend some time with Vegeta today."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her, "Hey! I—."

But before he could go on, Bulma instructed him to be quiet by putting her finger to her lips. From this, he knew she only said that as an excuse.

Bulma turned her attention back to the phone, only to blush, "No! Of course not! You're crazy!"

Vegeta began wondering what that weakling said to make her blush.

As the seconds passed, Bulma only seemed to get brighter and brighter, "Well, fine! Think that if you want! I don't care anymore!"

Vegeta smirked, happy he was right about the fight.

Bulma had a scowl on her face for a little longer, then she sighed, "Yamcha, just leave me alone, okay?"

And with that, she hung up the phone lightly. She walked over to the table and sat down across from Vegeta, head in her hands.

"What was that about?" he asked her.

Bulma sighed once again, "I don't know…sometimes I wonder if Yamcha knows the meaning of the words 'it's over.'"

He shrugged and got up to get a plate and try some of her eggs and pancakes, sitting back down after doing so.

Seeing this, Bulma sat up, smiling at him, "You like?"

Vegeta chewed his first bite thoughtfully, like it took a lot of brain power to know if the food tastes good. After he swallowed, he looked down at his plate, "Well…the eggs seem to have too much pepper in them and it seems to me that you put milk in them…" he looked up at her and shook his head, "No good, so maybe next time just try making them sunny-side-up. As for the pancakes, you added way too much batter for your own good and why did you make them blueberry?! They could have just been buttermilk, you know!"

Bulma tilted her head to the side, trying to figure that whole thing out, "So…does that mean you like it?"

It was his turn to sigh as he also nodded, "Yes, woman…I like it."

This seemed to make Bulma happy since her smile grew wide, "Great! I won't mind making breakfast for you then since you won't insult me about my cooking anymore!"

Vegeta frowned, "Right…just don't make anything out of your range."

Bulma nodded, "Okay," after that, they went silent except for Vegeta's noises as he stuffed his face. She decided to ask him a question, even though she knew what the answer was going to be, "So, Vegeta, what are you going to do today?"

"Train," was his simple response.

"Ah…well, how about we go shopping?" she asked.

"I don't shop!" he exclaimed as though that was the biggest insult he ever got.

Bulma looked out her window, "Yeah…you're right, it looks like it might rain today, so how about we watch some movies? I have some really good action ones you might like…but I also got romance and comedy and…"

As she went on and on, Vegeta got up from the table, done with his meal, and put his plate in the sink.

"And horror and drama and…"

But before she could say another type of movie, Vegeta was hovering over her, one hand on the back of her chair and one hand on the table. When she noticed this, she shut up and looked at him.

He gave his evil smirk down at her, "I'm going to train today."

And with that said, he left the kitchen and she heard the door slam as he went outside.

She still sat in the same position she was in when she was looking up at him, then shivered, "Oh, those butterflies!"

**********

Just as Bulma had said, it did rain all day, so she used this time to catch up on some of her work for Capsule Corp., since Vegeta was training nonstop.

After four hours of working though, Bulma decided to stop. She always did feel lazy on rainy days. So after that, all she wanted to do was lay on her bed, listening to the radio, and counting the number of lines on her ceiling.

During this time, Vegeta was always hard at work, not wanting to take any breaks. He already had quite a few bruises and blood streaks on him, though, from all his vigorous blasts in the gravity room.

But he did stop once he felt a ki coming from outside the room and he had to look to see who it was. It was too weak to be Kakarot's and too strong to be Bulma's. When he saw who it was though, it didn't surprise him that it was Yamcha. Vegeta saw him walk into Capsule Corp. since the door was always unlocked when he was outside training.

He chuckled after Yamcha was out of sight. He doubted he would do anything and besides, Bulma could take care of herself. So, once again, he went back to his training session.

Back inside, Bulma was annoyed that her radio station kept playing so many commercials.

"Come on! Play some songs already!" she yelled at the box, about to change the channel when her favorite song came on.

Bulma smiled and rolled on her back again, putting her arms behind her head, "Finally!"

Soon, she began singing along and didn't notice any other sound around her:

"He kissed me in a way that I've never been kissed before, he kissed me in a way that I wanna be kissed forever more…"

After she sang this verse, she heard her doorknob jangle a little and sat up in bed, turning down the radio, "Vegeta?"

She was smiling, really expecting it to be him, but instead…Yamcha walked in.

Her smile faded as fast as it came as she scowled at him, turning off her radio, "What do you want, Yamcha? Why are you here?"

Yamcha shut the door behind him and walked towards her, "I only want to talk, Bulma."

His face held an innocent look, but Bulma knew not to fall for it.

"Talk about what?" she asked nastily.

Yamcha took a deep breath as he grabbed her desk chair and sat in it, looking her in the eyes, "I just want to know what I did wrong is all…"

Bulma groaned, "As if you don't know! There are SO many things you did wrong! For starters, you cheated on me!"

He looked taken aback, "Cheated on you? When? How?"

She ignored his questions, "Secondly, you wanted to sleep with me before I wanted to!"

"I--," Yamcha tried to start.

But Bulma laughed sarcastically, "And three's a charm! After I said I wanted to be married first, you just asked me to marry you out of no where! Not for love, but for sex!"

By this time, she was standing up, fists clenched at her sides, and face red with anger.

As Yamcha took this all in, he shook his head, "Bulma…babe, you got it all wrong! All those things I can explain…"

When he didn't go on, Bulma screamed, "Then start explaining!"

Yamcha tried to reach for her hands, but she pulled away. He decided to have it at that.

"First of all…how do you think I was cheating on you?"

Bulma glared at him, "Well, the half empty perfume bottle in your car kinda helped."

He looked confused at first, trying to remember what she was talking about. Then it dawned on him, "Oh! You mean that perfume bottle on the passenger side of my car," he laughed shortly, "Bulma, that's Chi-Chi's. She needed a few things from the store and since she didn't feel like walking, she asked me for a ride. And every time you asked me if I was seeing someone else, I always said no…why didn't you believe me?"

She didn't do anything, just stared at him, "Well then…why were you having such a hard time talking to me at dinner?"

Yamcha looked down for a second, then looked back up at her, "I…was nervous."

Again, Bulma's face became hot, "Nervous?! Nervous about what?! That I'd find out you really were cheating on me!?"

He shook his head frantically, "No, no, no! That's not it at all Bulma! You're not giving me a chance to explain!"

"Well, then explain faster!"

Yamcha took a deep breath, wanting to get it over with, "I was nervous because I was planing on asking you to marry me that night. I was taking you up to that hotel room, to try to be romantic about it. I was just going to…make out passionately with you for awhile," he blushed while saying this, "then once that was going on for awhile, I was going to ask you to marry me. I just wanted some privacy for the both of us, Bulma, I mean it, I didn't even know you thought that way."

He paused then, letting her take it all in. After a few moments, her face began to drop from her scowl, "So…what you're saying is…you never cheated on me and you just wanted to make a romantic proposal?"

He nodded.

"But…but why didn't you tell me that night?" Bulma asked, feeling somewhat ashamed.

Yamcha stood up, holding her hands now that she didn't pull away, "Because I wanted to surprise you…but you ran out too fast before I could do anything."

Bulma slumped her shoulders and looked down at their hands together, "Oh…oh, Yamcha, I'm so sorry. I feel like an idiot now."

"Hey…" he lifted her chin up with his finger and smiled at her, "It's understandable."

With that, he leaned down and gave her one of his most gentle kisses on the lips. He pulled away quickly though.

"So…heh," he blushed again, "even though it's not that much of a surprise now…" he put his forehead against hers, "Will you marry me, Bulma?"

She smiled at him, "Yamcha, I…I…" but then her smile faded, "I can't."

She let go of his hands and took a step back.

Yamcha's eyes widened from his shock, "No? B-but…but why? Do you still have doubts? Because I can—."

Bulma shook her head, "No, it's not that, it's just…" she bit her lip and looked down at the floor.

"Just…?" Yamcha tried to urge her to continue.

She took in a wavering breath and looked back up at him, "I don't love you anymore, Yamcha."

At that moment, Yamcha stuttered over a million words he wanted to say at once, but never succeeded on any of them.

Bulma felt tears brim her eyes, her heart going out to him, "I'm so sorry…" she covered her mouth to stop from sobbing.

'Why does there always have to be drama somewhere in my life?' she thought, 'Can't it just stop at a certain point? I look into his eyes and see his hurt…his pain, but what can I do? It's not my fault how I feel…but oh, how I wish he won't make a big deal out of this…'

"Wha-why don't you…" he couldn't even finish his sentence.

She breathed in a brave breath and put her hand on his shoulder, "Yamcha…I will always love you as a friend…I just feel that I don't know you anymore. I hardly see you from your training, and after what happened a couple of days ago…even though it wasn't you fault, I just made myself fall out of love…"

Yamcha looked around her room as a distraction as to not look at her, but as he spoke, he finally looked her in the eyes, "Bulma…all I wanted to do that night was to make that the best night of your life…I never wanted all this to happen."

Bulma nodded, "I know that now, Yamcha, it's just…well…I guess even before that night, I was kinda of…falling out of love. We have broken up time and time again…we have been together for many years and have had some really great times," she smiled, "but it just isn't the same any more…don't you feel that way, too?"

He shook her head, "I don't…"

"I think you do," she said quickly, "you just don't want to face the facts that it can be over just like that. But Yamcha…you have to move on. I have…"

She felt a tear spill down her left cheek as she talked more and more and she saw his own eyes begin to glisten.

But Yamcha was brave, "Yeah, but…do you have someone to move on with?"

Bulma took a step away from him after this question, "I…"

Yamcha never took his eyes off her, "You love him…don't you?"

Right away, Bulma knew he was talking about Vegeta. She didn't know how to respond though…was she really ready to tell anyone her knew found secret? And would it be Yamcha who knew first? She guessed she had no choice…

She hung her head low, "I…I do."

She looked back up to see him shaking his head in disapproval, "I can't believe this…" he turned around, but quickly turned back towards her, "I can't believe YOU!"

"Yamcha, please…" she shifted her weight to her left side.

"No, Bulma really! And you accuse me of cheating! HA!" he chuckled mockingly.

Bulma shook her head, "I wasn't cheating on you! I only found this out yesterday!"

Yamcha went right up to her face, "But we weren't even broken up yet!"

"I…I found that we were," she stated.

"Oh…oh, I see!" Yamcha said sarcastically, "I'm just so easy to get over, that you just forgot about me in a heartbeat and go after that no good--."

"Don't you dare say anything bad about Vegeta," Bulma hissed through her teeth.

Yamcha held up his hands as if he were under arrest and began backing up towards the door, "Fine…fine, you know, I won't. I'll just leave you and your prince alone. You won't have to worry about seeing me around to bother you anymore."

By the calm way he said all that, it made Bulma quiver. That didn't sound like the Yamcha she knew at all and she didn't like it one bit.

"Yamcha, no…that's not what I meant at all…" Bulma tried to settle him down.

"I don't care anymore!" Yamcha said, mocking her from what she said earlier on the phone.

He turned around and walked out her door, slamming it behind him.

"I still want to be your friend, Yamcha!" Bulma tried to call after him…but heard no response.

She sat down on her bed, bewildered. She went over the whole scene in two seconds in her head before she buried her face in her pillow and burst into tears.

**********

It wasn't until about two hours later that Vegeta finally got done training. He walked into Capsule Corp. with a towel around his neck, wiping his face with it.

"I think I'll take a shower before I go ask that woman what that weakling wanted…" he said as he walked up the stairs and went into his room for a shower.

His shower was very quick, he was anxious to hear from Bulma.

From this thought, he growled at himself, "Why do I even care?! It's none of my business and it's not like it's that interesting either!"

But nonetheless, he hopped out of the shower and put on his loose pants that he wears to bed. He walked down the hall to where her room was and knocked on the door loudly.

"Come in, Vegeta…" he heard her choked voice from inside.

He opened the door and automatically said, "So…what did your boyfriend want?"

Bulma looked up at him, her eyes still a little puffy from her crying and he stopped his next sentence.

She shook her head, again embarrassed from crying in front of him, "He isn't my boyfriend anymore…he's not even my friend," she said lowly.

Vegeta walked towards her, "What did he do now?"

"Nothing," she sniffed, "Nothing and that's the whole point right there. He…he never cheated on me."

The explanation popped into Vegeta's head, "Oh, I see. He wasn't cheating on you, but once he found out that's what you thought, he became mad at you."

Bulma wiped her eyes with her fingers, "Something like that…here's the story in brief detail: See, he came in and asked what he did wrong. I thought he was just playing dumb, so I told him, but then he explained everything clearly," she looked up at him, "He only wanted to marry me that night…nothing else."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow as he sat in the chair Yamcha once sat in earlier, "Nothing else?"

She shook her head, "No…but when he came over today…I felt really ashamed but…but I told him I didn't love him anymore and he took it out of proportion somewhat…I just feel so horrible! He only wanted to make me happy and here I am, breaking his heart."

"Well…just think of it this way," Vegeta commented, "as a bad relationship gone bad," he laughed at his 'joke.'

Bulma looked back down at her carpet, "It's not funny, Vegeta…once he knew I've gone on with my life and has gotten over him…that's when he began flipping out and left…he didn't even want to be friends anymore…and he accused me of cheating, though I see where he's coming from a little bit…I didn't want to have anything to do with him either what I thought he was."

Vegeta looked surprised, "How could you be cheating?"

She blushed a little, "Well, it's just something I admitted, but that's not important!" Bulma made another sob as fresh tears came to her eyes, "I-I always see movies where a couple breaks up…and they seem to hate each other afterwards…" Bulma squeezed her eyes shut to let the tears spill, "I was just hoping we would be different…"

Having said that, she put her hands over her face, as so Vegeta wouldn't see her cry, even though he already knew she was, so what was the difference? She didn't know at that moment.

He didn't know quite what to do, but he felt helpless just sitting there, watching her mourn. And he hated feeling helpless! Even if it involved something like this…and after all, it was he who made her say all this again and it was he who wanted to know about her personal life and it was her who was willing to tell it to him.

Vegeta got up from his seat and sat beside her on her bed, slowly putting a hand on her shoulder. He wasn't expecting her to do anything else besides cry, but he was proven wrong.

As soon as she felt his touch, she didn't care how much she would humiliate herself in front of him. She turned his way and leaned against him, burying her face against his bare chest.

His eyes widened as he made a bewildered sound, he looked down at her, his arms outspread.

As he looked at her, he saw her small form shake from all her sobbing and uncontrollable pressure building inside of her.

Vegeta slowly put his arms around her, hardly touching her, "Woman, calm down, you're going to hurt yourself."

Upon hearing his command, she settled down some. To anyone else, his voice may sound dreadful, but to her, it was like a melody. She began to realize the position they were in and again blushed. She loved the feel of his arms around her, even though they were hardly touching her skin. She loved the way his voice sounded so close to her ear, even though it wasn't a whisper. She loved the way he seemed to care so much, even though he tried not to show it.

She loved the way he was who he was.

She slowly took her hands away from her face as though she thought that if she moved, he would go away.

Bulma snuggled her one hand between her chest in his and lay her head on his lower shoulder. Her other hand slid up his chest and to his shoulder, then back down his arm, ever so lightly with her fingertips. She watched her hand slide over him, feeling mesmerized by the look of it.

Vegeta, on the other hand, began breathing heavier, not quite sure about the sensations he was having right then.

"Your skin got tight…" Bulma said softly.

He looked down at her, realizing she said something, "What?"

Bulma looked up at him for a second, then watched her hand again, "Your skin got tight...you got goosebumps."

"Oh…" he chuckled, "Is that good?"

She smiled, "It means that you're enjoying me doing this…"

Vegeta then held his breath. Did he really want the woman to know he liked this? The first few nights they spent together, they didn't even touch…except for when he was fixing her wrist. But it was nothing like the moment. Should he just get up and leave before the stupid emotions caught up with him? No! It doesn't matter…he could always control himself! Besides…he didn't think he would be able to lift himself up.

Bulma lifted her head up to look at him again. This time, it seemed like she never was crying.

He looked down into her eyes and again, his eyes widened. He saw the same soft and compassionate look she gave him the night before.

'No! That's impossible…this woman can't be falling for me! It's absurd…crazy!"

But this thought soon popped out of his head as he saw her leaning closer to him. He seemed to know what was coming, but had no will to stop it.

Before either of them knew it, Bulma's lips were as close to his as they could be without touching. She whispered his name before slowly leaning up the rest of the way to have their lips meet for the first time.

Right away, Vegeta decided to push her away, but to his astonishment, she wouldn't budge.

"What the…why can't I push her away?! I know I'm so much stronger than her!"

But he soon found out that he wasn't pushing her away…but pushing her towards him, kissing her back all the same as she was to him.

After a few more moments, he finally managed to push her away a couple centimeters.

"Bulma, no…" but even as he said that, he knew it didn't sound convincing.

She shivered noticeably in his arms. Oh, how she loved hearing him say her name, she didn't get to hear it too often. She was beginning to think that woman was her name.

She was so unaware of what she was doing, it was scaring her. Usually, if she was in this kind of position with someone, it was made very clear to her. But…it just seemed like it wasn't her body moving…for once it was her heart telling her what to do and not her head.

Bulma ran her hand down the side of his face, looking into his confused eyes. To the rest of the world, they were just endless black pits that held nothing but hatred. But to Bulma, they showed an eternity of emotions all locked inside of his body.

Vegeta moved his hand to the back of her neck once he saw her leaning towards him again. He knew what he had to do. But his mind was still in a twirl…how did this simple human have the nerve to kiss him?! It was completely absurd, yet before he knew it, he felt her soft lips against his again, this time with more passion behind it.

He couldn't help but kiss her back, as her desire seemed so deep. Vegeta let out a low groan as he had to bring up enough strength to knock her on the back of her neck. He felt her body jerk from the surprise, but then quickly fall limp as she was knocked out.

He slowly and gently (or as gently as he could) lifted her off his body and laid her down on her bed. He covered her up with a couple of blankets, then stood straight up again, still looking down at her.

'I'm sorry, Bulma…' he consciously thought, 'it just isn't worth it.'

He wiped a strand of hair from her face, but pulled back quickly. He shook his head, still confused from everything that happened. He made an exasperated grunt before walking out of her bedroom, closing the door behind him, but not looking back…