Body Disclaimer: u know the drill..

A/N: hey guys! thanx heaps for the great reviews and all, lets just hope that the rest of the story lives up to it....

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IS IT LOVE? :

COPING

flash

white walls blinding light bustling people rattling trays -

blackness.

flash

meal time worried faces heaps of flowers talking everyone talking too much -

blackness

flash

concerned doctor blood tests parents there older sadder lost their daughter but I'm here not lost can't escape the

blackness

***

Swimming through the chaos that was her mind, through the sucking blackness of her subconscious, finally she opened her eyes.

~Fuzzy. The world's gone fuzzy. (gag) UGH!! What is that down my throat??!! I can't breathe! Help I've gotta get it off!~

"Calm down honey, you need that to breathe. No, shhh, just calm down. I know it feels weird but your lungs were collapsed by the pressure of the crash - you'll die if you take out the tubes."

~I was in a crash? Huh? I don't remember - hold on. There was a truck, I didn't see it cos I was thinking. Thinking about what? Thinking, thinking~ "VEGETA!! Where - where is he? Where's my Vegeta?" She was beginning to get agitated, seriously worrying the nurse, so she called in Bulma's parents to try and calm their frantic daughter.

"Honey! Oh I'm so glad you're awake! Do you realise you've been asleep for almost a week? Everyone's been asking about you. Your friends have come every day to check up on you; oh we've all been so worried!" As her mother raved on and on Bulma searched the crowd surrounding her bed, not finding the only face in all the world that could make her feel better at that moment.

"Mum, where's Vegeta?" At the looks on her family's faces she knew. He had gone, and was not coming back. She had driven him away - she who knew how he hated and feared all signs of weakness. And now she was weak herself. He would never love her now.

***

The fake smile on the nurse's face was killing her. Bulma knew that despite what she was saying her recovery was going very badly. She couldn't even find the strength to wheel her chair up a tiny ramp for crying out loud! "I CAN'T! I'M HOPELESS!" In her frustration Bulma struck the nurse a smarting blow on the cheek, not caring at all that it brought tears to her eyes.

"I think we've had enough for today, hm? Lets just get you back to your room now..."

"NO!!!" The roar not only interrupted her carer but the entire rehab room, but Bulma was beyond caring. She turned her chair around and stormed out of the room, racing across the grass until a wheel caught on a stick and she fell.

"Fuck you Kami! Why did you have to do this to me? WHY?!?! Why why why why?" She punched the ground with each 'why' to emphasise her anger. She knew she should get up, knew she should apologise to the nurse, but she just couldn't find the will. All she had ever wanted in life had been stripped from her, and she just couldn't give a flying pig's ass if she hurt anybody else with her actions.

'Hey Bulma! What are you doing down there?" She groaned as she recognised Goku's voice, thinking: ~Why do I have to deal with that simpering fool now?~ - completely forgetting the fact that Goku was one of her closest friends. He slipped his huge hands under her shoulders so as to lift her up but she just swatted his hand away, retorting, "I can get up on my own, thank-you-very-much!" Her friend merely nodded and tried not to wince as he watched her strain and struggle to pull herself into the chair.

"Miss Briefs, you really must decide so that we can devise a rehabilitation program for you. If you choose the crutches you will be slow and cumbersome, but you will be able to manage stairs - with practise, of course. You will be able to manage flat terrain much easier if you choose the wheelchair, but you will not be able to go up or down stairs. It's your choice."

~God he sounds so mundane! It's as though he's talking about the weather or something, not the rest of my life! And what will that be? Either walking on crutches and dragging my legs behind me like an afterthought or being stuck in a chair for the rest of my days! Why couldn't I have DIED in that crash?~

"Doctor, can't I have both? The chair for most of the time and crutches for stairs? I could encapsulate whichever I'm not using at the time, so it wouldn't be any problem to carry both..." Her voice took on a pleading note - she had to have options, and she would NOT become a burden to her friends and family.

"Hmm, well that's actually a very good idea. I'll tell the physio's that. Hmm; yes..." He kept on muttering as he walked away.

***

She had been asleep, but something had woken her. A sound, a feeling of utter dejection more powerful than even she had felt when she realised she would never walk again. This feeling came from inside, and without knowing how she knew, she was certain that it came from Vegeta. She whispered, "My prince...." as a tear slid down her face.

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For days he had flown and flown, flying till he could fly no more and yet still he did not stop. Only now, when he had not enough energy left to even blink, did he stop. Actually he more fell out of the sky than stopped, but he was so exhausted that the pain of crashing through several layers of tree branches didn't even register.

Upon awakening he screamed his frustration to the unresponding wilderness; bayed and howled his pain and anger at the cruel ways of the world. "How can this be???!!!" Turning his face skywards he screamed, "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT YOU FUCKING BASTARD! Punish me for the wrongs I did, but not her; not her. I loved her." Head in hands, Vegeta wept as he had never wept before, knowing that he could never love her now.

***

As days turned into weeks Vegeta slowly lost his sense of humanity, lost his senses altogether. He was hungry so he hunted wild animals, twisting their necks and taking bites from their sides. His hands were rust-coloured from old blood, his mouth hung open at the thought of more. He lay in wait, stalked his prey and then sprang chasing it hunting it down eating from it while it struggled hopelessly against immovable arms; and as his jaws dripped with thick red blood he yelled his defiance, his bloodlust, to the world.

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ok so i know that was short, but i've got the others written too, so it's not that bad. And please don't kill me cos i made bulma not able to walk, but it has to be that way for the story - read on and you shall see.....