A/N: just to clear things up, for the sake of this story, senzu beans do not exist. i repeat, senzus do not exist.
.... now that we've got that cleared up....
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IS IT LOVE? :
PROGRESS
"FUCK OFF!!!!!" Bulma swiped at her astonished mother, landing a smarting blow on her cheek. "I can do this myself! I will!!"
"Shhh, all right darling, do it yourself." Over the weeks Mrs Briefs had come to realise that above all else, her daughter hated to show any sign of being weakened by her injuries. Still it made her heart ache to watch her baby struggle and strain to get herself out of the bath tub.
Bulma was almost there, almost out, when she slipped and slammed her chin hard against the edge, biting her tongue and making it bleed. "AARRGGHH!" She let out a wild scream as she hit the wall in anger. "I HATE THIS! I HATE IT!!! Why can't I just be able to do things by myself? Why?" This last was more plea than angry cry, and brought her mother down to hug and comfort her.
"Shh, sweetheart, shh. You're so brave, so wonderful at coping with all of this. I know it's hard, but we're all so very proud of you. Come now, will you let me help you up?" Shamed at her inabilities Bulma hung her head and nodded.
***
"Yes ma'am, Miss Briefs, right away." The terrified messenger boy hurried out of her sight as she sighed, knowing it was time to go home. She wasn't afraid to go home, but since Vegeta left it just didn't feel whole, didn't feel like home anymore. "Where could he be?" It was just a whisper but it carried with it all her love, all her torture at being parted from him.
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.......deep in the forest the beast stopped its frantic stalking around its tiny cage. It was now a man - a dishevelled, haunted man - and he wept as his heart cried out in an agony to echo its mate's......
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She cried herself to sleep now, every night. It used to be only occasionally, when she remembered the feel of his lips against hers or his delightfully warm embrace; now instead of getting better with time the pain was worse every day, tearing her apart with its ferocity. She couldn't work out what it was but she knew that somehow it was connected to Vegeta, and that it was slowly killing her.
At first no one could tell the difference, but slowly all of Bulma's friends and family realised that with every passing day she grew more solemn, more old. She shrank in on herself and forgot how to laugh, forgot how to feel. For a while she remained just emotionally effected, but then her body started to fail her. Because her legs were paralysed they became infected first, but then other parts of her were caught up by the disease. She was rushed to hospital but the doctors were not optimistic. They didn't know what was causing it but with each day her condition worsened, until she was comatose. At least then it stopped, but they didn't think she would ever recover.
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Goku was torn. He needed to be here, with Vegeta, so that he could learn to be human again, but he had heard about Bulma and was worried that he knew exactly what was happening. And if he was right the future did not look good. Unless he could cure Vegeta, of course.
He sighed. That was much easier said than done. Some days the Sayajin prince would be completely oblivious to the world and thoughts of men, and then other days he would have spurts of memories and periods of sanity. But always, always, he would become a beast again within an hour.
Goku had quickly discovered not to mention Bulma's name unless he wanted to seriously damage his friend - once Vegeta had merely rampaged and tried to break free, another time he had tried to kill himself. One thing that he did react well to, though, was sparring. (surprise surprise). Goku had built a paddock-like enclosure so that he and Vegeta could fight without Vegeta going crazy and trying to escape. During these sessions the man-beast was more man and less beast, his age old desire to best Goku bringing back memories of his training and with them, memories of his sanity.
It was one such day, where Goku and Vegeta were circling each other in the arena, that Vegeta remembered how to fly. He had been in wolf mode at the time, but in springing for his foe's tender throat he felt the wind rush past him and he remembered. Of course, in remembering he flew right past his mark and kept on going up into the sky, but it jolted him out of his feral state and brought with it a flood of memories of his training, his childhood, and how he had come to be here on earth. (the shock of which brought him crashing back down to earth, but hey, you can't have everything)
From then on he became better, and every day he was sane for longer than the day before. HE had even progressed so far as to be able to have conversations with Goku, and although he still flinched at the sound of Bulma's name, hearing it did not send him diving into the pit of insanity as it used to.
Goku had gone home to discuss something with ChiChi, leaving Vegeta alone with his thoughts. He still had trouble dealing with some issues, like Bulma, but he no longer turned into an animal. He was sitting on a rock, just as he had been sitting for the whole five hours Goku had been gone.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the thoughts out of his head. He wanted to run, wanted to escape into welcome oblivion, but he couldn't. That part of him was gone forever, and so he was stuck with the image that was torturing his mind and soul:
Bulma.
"I love her." His shoulders slumped in despair. "I love her but at the same time I hate her. I can't bear to stay away but I can't bear to even think of how weak she's become. No!" This word he spat out, "NO! I don NOT love her! I can't! Love is weak, she is weak. Haha! That's it! You cannot love her! It's not love you're feeling but some other stupid feeling that must be repressed. YES! I can go home now! I've worked it out!" But no matter how loud he screamed it, no matter how joyously he danced around, one small treacherous part of him begged to differ. It had quite a different view of things. It was the part of him that told him he was needed at home, that he would lose everything if he didn't go there right now.
***
At the Son house things were tense, but this did not stop ChiChi from cooking up her famous storm. No matter that her newest house guest had until recently been a wild beast, or that he had at one stage tried to kill her husband and son. Still he was a hungry mouth to feed, and ChiChi could never refuse a man her food.
After all three males had wolfed down their share of the wonderful stuff Goku took Vegeta aside and spoke to him.
"I know you might not want to hear it, but she's my friend and so are you and so I've got to say it. Bulma's in hospital again." Vegeta stiffened slightly but showed no other reaction. "She's in a coma. She might even die, they're not sure. I know you've been getting some strange flashes - I've seen them, so don't try to hide it. Well she's been doing strange stuff too. Like when I first had you in that cage occasionally I'd see her look at one of us as though she was about to eat us, or I'd see her eyes cloud over like yours were..." Vegeta was shaking his head and backing away, but he knew the truth of what Goku was saying. "You are, aren't you?" It was said in wonder, but also in fear for his friends. If it was so, and he seriously believed it was, then there would be some rough times ahead of them. Well, some rougher times at least.
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Bulma shuddered and shook on the bed. She was there, buried deep within her subconscious; but even that far down she could feel him near her, feel the beat of their combined hearts that neither one could deny. At his touch her condition instantly began to improve, her body and soul finally having what it had so desired.
Goku sighed and left the room. ~So it's true.~ He was worried for his friends but there was nothing he could do now. The next move on the board was Vegeta's.
The Sayajin prince sat beside her bed, hating and loving at the same time the sleeping woman in front of him. Sighing, he shakingly reached out and stroked her face as a single tear slid down his cheek.
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well that's the fourth chapter, and next one'll be here soon. i think the next one will be the last one, so prepare yourselves!! tehehe....