Then He Kissed Her
VII.
Bulma and Vegeta still stood in the doorway of the kitchen, glaring at a very confused Goku.
"What is it?" Goku asked, looking from them to the table which once held tons of food.
Vegeta made a deep growl, "Kakarot! I want to begin our training now! Outside!" was all he said as he huffed back out.
Goku stood up quickly and ran after him, followed by Gohan.
"Thanks for the food, Bulma! It was great!" Gohan called back politely.
Bulma didn't respond, just turned back to the kitchen table that now held nothing but empty bowls piled up. She sighed at how much time she spent into cooking everything…only for it to be gone within ten seconds.
"Guess I should clean up and figure out something else to make for later…I know Vegeta's going to be even more cranky." Bulma said to herself before picking up dishes and carrying them to the sink.
Back outside, Vegeta was slowly advancing towards Goku. His eyes narrowed and dark, they showed he was ready to begin.
"I have to say, Kakarot, that I am quite glad you came over. I've been wanting to show you the improvement of myself and right now seems like the perfect time from my mood." Vegeta explained, lifting a few inches off the ground.
Goku only smiled, "Great! I always love a good challenge, but…" he looked down at his son, "Gohan is the one that should be training the most, so…you don't mind if he joins in, do you?"
Vegeta snorted, "Your brat is hardly a challenge to me. Either you and I fight or you might as well just leave."
"Well…" Goku tried to think of a reason so Gohan wouldn't feel left out.
But Gohan spoke up first, "Vegeta, I can fight on my dad's side! That way, you can train with him and me and get twice the challenge." He said, knowing Vegeta wouldn't be able to turn down an offer like that.
Vegeta just stared down at him as he floated higher and higher. Once he reached about twenty feet from the ground, he stopped, "Fine, but don't blame me if you can't handle it, got that?"
Gohan nodded happily as he levitated up to the air with Goku.
Vegeta unfolded his arms and pulled them back, getting ready to dive forward, "Ready…"
Goku got down into his fighting position, too, "Set…"
"GO!" they both said at once as they flew towards each other, locking elbows as soon as they came in contact, throwing one another off quickly. Vegeta lunged forward again, only to be flipped over Goku's head, spinning a couple of times before being able to stop. He turned back around to see Goku facing him once again. They began flying in circles around each other, Vegeta smirking at him evilly and Goku just grinning. Before either of them knew it, they were back at each other's throats again.
Off to the side, Gohan still stood off the ground. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Well, this doesn't seem fair."
So, knowing he would get pulverized if he decided to join in their fight at the moment, he watched the two adults fight furiously.
This only lasted about two minutes before Vegeta and Goku began throwing ki blasts, often missing the other for it to go off in the distance. Gohan smiled, happy that he would get a little dodging practice.
Gohan lasted awhile, but once he looked down and saw Bulma come outside, he lost his concentration, "Bulma, no! Go back inside!" he tried to warn her.
"Huh?" she asked stupidly.
Gohan tried to stay in front of her for the time being, but when a ki blast jarred his arm, he flew off to the side, yelping in pain.
Soon after that, another blast went towards where Gohan used to be but now where Bulma stood wide open. She gasped and covered her face with her arms, remembering how she saw all the fighters do to keep from getting harmed.
Bulma waited and waited, but she never felt anything touch her skin. After a moment, she peeked through her arms to see Vegeta standing in front of her.
She let out a deep breath and took a step towards him, "Oh, thank you, Ve—."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded her before she could finish.
Bulma furrowed her eyebrows, "Me?! What the hell do you think you're doing throwing all those energy blasts right in front of my home?!"
Vegeta growled at her, "You knew damn well that we came out here to train! I was just wondering what was going through your mind when you came out here and put yourself in danger!"
"Well, for your information, I came out to ask you what you wanted me to make you for whenever you get done training!" Bulma yelled, taking a step closer to him.
As they bickered back and forth, Goku watched from the air, soon accompanied by Gohan, who was holding his slightly injured arm.
"You okay?" Goku asked, never leaving his eyes off of Bulma and Vegeta.
Gohan only nodded.
"You should still know better than to interrupt me while I'm training, woman!"
Bulma's eyes flashed, "Fine then! I won't make you anything, so I hope you starve when you come back in, expecting to find more food!"
"It's your fault you let Kakarot eat here! If it wasn't for you, I would have already eaten and we wouldn't have to worry about any of this!" Vegeta yelled, beginning to clench his fists.
"Actually it's you who started this stupid fight! You yelled at me first!" Bulma screamed, poking his chest with her index finger hard, though it didn't faze him.
Vegeta smacked her hand off of him, "That's because you could have been killed! Or worse…injured severely!"
"Well, I—," Bulma blinked, thinking about what he said, "Wait, I think you mean that to be the other way around."
He shook his head, "No. If you got hurt, you would blame me and keep this annoying grudge for days! At least if you died I wouldn't have to worry about that!"
Bulma gaped at him, "I can't believe you! I'm sorry I took up a couple seconds of your time for you to save my life!"
A chuckle escaped his lips, "You don't have a life to be saved!."
Even from up in the sky, Goku and Gohan could tell Bulma was now steaming. They knew their fight would go on and on, so after a tilt of their heads in the direction of their home, they flew off.
"Yeah, right Vegeta! Look who's talking! You're the one that never had a life 'cause you were a slave all through your childhood! At least I was free and could do stuff on my own!" Bulma said, already regretting what she was saying but trying not to show it.
That is, until she saw sadness flash through his eyes. Her eyes soon settled into sadness too, the anger leaving them quickly.
"Vegeta…I'm sorry, I didn't mean—," she tried to say.
"Forget it," Vegeta said before crossing his arms over his chest again.
But Bulma still tried to apologize, "No, really…I didn't want to say—."
"I said forget it!" he screamed this time, turning around, only to find that Goku and Gohan were no longer there, "Great! Now look what you've done! You've scared them off! Figures that's all your good for…"
Vegeta said the last part under his breath, but Bulma still heard it, "Listen, Vegeta…I know you have a reason to be mad at me now, but—."
"Would you just shut up!" he yelled, spinning around to face her with what seemed like nothing but hatred in his eyes, "I told you to forget it, what part of that don't you understand?!"
Bulma opened her mouth to just try and apologize, but stopped herself quickly, knowing there was no reason to. She clamped her mouth and looked down at the ground, "Do you…still want anything? I can make it…"
"No, I think I'll manage on my own." He said before flying away from Capsule Corp.
Bulma watched him go and felt tears spring to her eyes, "Vegeta…I didn't mean it…I didn't mean to start yelling at you for saving my life…"
She went back inside and made every single piece of food she could find in the house…just in case Vegeta decided to come back and was still hungry. Cooking everything was the only thing that got her mind off of everything…even if she didn't know how to cook something.
Actually, she hardly concentrated on anything, as the only thing that kept repeating through her mind was how sorry she was for saying such a horrible thing to him…
"And he trusted me…"
Vegeta flew over millions of trees, often doing a side-spin to look up at the bright blue sky, watching as he passed birds up. He didn't know exactly where he was going, he just knew he didn't want to hang around Capsule Corp. at the moment.
He didn't know what possessed that woman to say what she did, but for some reason…it hurt. No one was ever able to hurt him by saying cruel things, even if they were of his past. But when she said it…it cut deep, enough to make him want to burst into tears if it wasn't for his pride.
And what made him make love to her the night before? Sure, he wasn't the most civilized person in the world, but he still didn't just take any girl that offered herself to him. Even if she was gorgeous.
He could've sworn there was a strong bond between the two of them, though. As soon as he bit into her neck, he felt like he knew her better then any other, things she never even told him yet.
All those nights they talked…seemingly to understand the other fully, feeling what the other was feeling, seeing what the other was seeing. He felt able to tell her anything and think that it was okay…because some people out there was able to look at him the same afterwards…like Bulma.
His past was long gone though! Why was he worried about it now?
…Because ever since that first night when Bulma realized he was having a nightmare and she was there to comfort him…he never had one bad dream of his past since.
Would that change tonight because of what was said?
Probably…but hopefully not.
Should he go back to Capsule Corp. or just spend the night out in the woods?
Good question…
He stopped talking to himself in his head after he got sick of listening to both sides of the situation. Vegeta growled lowly as he powered up even more and flew faster, the trees only becoming a big blur now.
"And I trusted her…"
**********
Later that night, Bulma finally got done cooking everything she could find and was now up in her room, brushing through her thin hair on her bed. From where she sat, her vanity mirror was right across from her and she kept looking into her own eyes, seeing all the pain in there.
She sighed and laid the brush down beside her, "Great going, Bulma! You've lost two great guys…and it's all because of you," she said lowly, glaring at herself in the mirror.
She shook her head menacingly, feeling and seeing her eyes narrow, "I hate you."
Then, for some reason, she crawled across her bed and picked up her phone to dial a very familiar number. She listened to the phone ring two and a half times before someone picked it up.
"Hello?" the voice asked.
"Hi! Yamcha…it's me," Bulma started, twisting the cord around her finger nervously.
She heard silence on the other end and didn't know if he was still there or not, "Hello?"
"What do you want, Bulma?" Yamcha asked, not rudely really, just exasperated.
Bulma felt her face heat up as she was suddenly at a loss of words, 'Why did I call him in the first place?!' she asked herself.
"Nothing really…just wanted to know what you were up to," she started.
Yamcha sighed, "Just watching some TV."
"Oh…did you want to do anything? Go get some pizza or go to the arcade or something?" Bulma looked down and traced flowers from her bed sheets with her finger.
Silence again, "No…I really don't, Bulma."
Bulma sat up straight, "Come on, Yamcha! I want to make up for hurting you…you know I never wanted to!"
She heard him snicker and mumble: "Yeah right…"
"I mean it! I want to do something…with you. I still want to be your friend." Bulma tried to explain.
"Why don't you go out with your prince charming?" he asked rudely.
Bulma bit her lip, "Well…he's kinda mad at me right now…"
"Big surprise there…" she heard him mumble sarcastically.
She tried her best to ignore that comment, "So…what do you say? Do you want to?"
Yamcha sighed and was quiet for a few minutes before finally replying, "Fine. If you really want to, I'll go."
Bulma smiled, "Excellent! So, where do you want to go?"
"I don't care."
"Well, how about my first suggestion? Feel up to pizza?"
"Sure."
"Okay, see you there in a couple minutes, all right?" she stood, excited that he accepted her offer.
"Yeah, bye Bulma," and with that, he hung up.
She clicked off her phone too and smiled, "Well…it's a start. After I make up with Yamcha…I'll try my luck on Vegeta."
Bulma went over to her closet and began rummaging around quickly to find something to change into, "That should be pleasant…I'll be lucky if he doesn't blast me…this time on purpose!"
She shook her head clear of this thought as she pulled out a yellow tank top and jean Capri's. She changed then hopped down the steps, landing in the kitchen to see all the food she made.
Bulma grabbed a piece of paper from the side counter and wrote on it:
Vegeta, I don't know if you're coming back, but if you're reading this right now, I guess you have. I went out for awhile, I'll be back later. Until then, help yourself with anything here. Love, Bulma.
She quickly skimmed her little note before leaving it face up on the kitchen table. She grabbed a capsule and ran outside, remembering to lock the door behind her. Bulma threw the capsule, seeing a big cloud of smoke come up. After the smoke cleared, a motorbike appeared as she hopped on it, speeding off towards the pizza place.
Bulma got there in record time, putting her vehicle back inside the capsule. She walked through the double doors to see a bunch of teenagers in one corner, shoving pizza in each other's faces, and to see some older couples in another corner, talking quietly. She decided to sit right in the middle of the two groups, so she would be able to hear Yamcha when he was talking to her, yet still have some noise if an awkward silence came about.
As soon as she sat down, a young waitress came over to her with a notepad in her hand.
"What will it be?" she asked, getting the pen from behind her ear.
"I'll just have one large pizza with extra cheese and two Pepsi's, please." Bulma ordered for the both of them, even though Yamcha wasn't even there yet. She knew what he liked, so she didn't feel guilty about it.
Their Pepsi's soon came, the waitress looking at her weirdly, like both of the drinks were hers. Bulma played with her straw a lot, as so she wouldn't drink the whole glass before Yamcha got there.
But as the clock ticked, she soon found she drank three quarters of her drink. She sighed. Where was he? Did he stand her up?
As soon as she thought about this, she saw the waitress setting the pizza down on the table.
"Umm…did you want one or two plates?" she asked.
Bulma held up two fingers, leaning over the waitress to keep her eyes on the door. The waitress put down two plates then left. She stared at the door for a whole two minutes before her eyes lowered sadly to the pizza.
Maybe she shouldn't have even tried to be friends again with Yamcha…she should've thought about what she was doing before just picking up the phone.
Before she could think one more thing, she felt the table shift a little and heard someone slide into the seat across from her. As soon as she saw who it was, her face brightened.
"Yamcha! I'm glad you came!"