I don't own DBZ. That said, yes I know, another B/V fic. But I just couldn't help myself. I love this couple.
Chapter 1: Endings and Beginnings
"What was I supposed to do Bulma? We've been together for twelve years and you still won't sleep with me! I'm a man damnit! I have needs!" Yamcha yelled back at her.
Bulma stood, just staring at his chest. She didn't know what to do next. Yell, cry, throw something. She felt numb. Empty. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and hollow.
"They say why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. I guess this cow wasn't worth buying, huh?"
"I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment baby." He sighed.
"But you'd have been more than happy to screw around. I've waited for years on you Yamcha. Through all the broken dates and promises, just praying that you would be ready soon. So we could finally be a family. Have a family. But I see now that was all just wasted time. I just wasted the last twelve years of my life on a foolish little girls dream." A tear silently slid down her cheek.
Vegeta stayed in the shadows outside the kitchen door. He had heard them fight so many times he'd lost count. But this one sounded different somehow. Not that he cared, but he couldn't help listening. He just struck it up to the old saying of know one's enemies.
"Maybe in a few more years. After this android stuff is over-" he started but she held up her hand to silence him.
"No. Not this time. I can't do this anymore. I have myself to think about and I'm not going to sit around while you're off screwing any girl that turns your head." She took a breath to steady herself. "You should go now. Maybe after awhile I'll be able to just be your friend, but right now I just need time to let this absorb."
"But baby!" he stammered. She had always forgiven him and taken him back.
"Please go, or I'll have Vegeta show you out."
Yamcha's temper flared at the mention of the Saiyan. "So! You'll sick your lap dog on me, huh? I knew there was something going on between you two!"
Vegeta gritted his teeth. He would be only too happy to blast that sorry baka into the next dimension.
"I have never been unfaithful to you. And you know Vegeta well enough to know he would never be anyone's lap dog. But he hates you enough to throw you out for any reason. Now please go!"
Vegeta heard stomping, the door slammed, and then a car engine start and drive off into the night. He peeked through the door to see her standing behind the couch. Her shoulders trembled violently as she cried. He took a step forward, not knowing quite what to do, but he was saved from having to figure it out when Mrs. Briefs entered the room. She led Bulma to the kitchen table and sat her down.
After her heart wrenching sobs ceased, she poured them both a hot cup of tea and sat down next to her. "You're gonna be o.k. honey." She patted her arm.
"But- it's really over th-this t-t-time. Oh mama! How c-could he do this to m-me?" she sipped absently at her tea.
Her mother sighed. "It just wasn't meant to be sweetie. But ask yourself a question. Are you more upset at loosing Yamcha, or the idea of being married and having your own family?"
They sat in silence for a while. Bulma sniffed and hiccupped.
"I'm scared."
Vegeta grinned at this. For the woman to admit to a weakness was humorous. He had seen her face up to dangers that would send most running for their lives. She was by far one of the bravest humans he had encountered yet.
"Scared of what honey?"
"Of being alone." She whispered. "Of never having someone to love me."
Vegeta's eyes widened. Something was rearing up in the back of his mind. Tugging at his conscience for attention. He violently slapped it down.
"Hmmm. I think you should talk to Vegeta, dear." Her mother said thoughtfully.
Bulma and Vegeta both blanched visibly.
"W- what? Why on earth would I want to talk to that egomaniac about this?" she looked at her mother as if she had lost her mind.
"Oh, don't be so hard on him dear. He's a nice boy, and if you would just pay some attention to him, you'd see how alike the to of you really are."
"I'm like Vegeta? Oh Kami! Am I really that bad?" she wailed.
"In a way, yes. He's very lonely too."
Vegeta's brows furrowed together. What would that dimwit know about how he felt.
"He'd be the last person I could ever talk to. He hates me."
"Now what makes you say that?"
"He's always picking fights with me! Threatening me."
Mrs. Briefs laughed. "I've heard you start a few fights with him too, dear. But did it ever occur to you that it's the only way he knows how to communicate. Its not that he doesn't like you, he just doesn't know how to act." She sipped her tea. "Maybe you two could help each other out."
"Help him? Mama the man is the most difficult person on the face of this planet. He has no feelings for anyone except his crazy hatred of Goku."
"I think your wrong there. He has feeling just like everyone else. Just think of all those years he spent with that monster, uhh.."
"Freeza." Bulma supplied.
"Right. It was drilled into him to be the way he is. One can only act the way one has been shown to. But now he's here with us. We're his family now, and if he would open his heart he would see that he has friends here also. I think he has been hurt so much in his life, he's just afraid to let himself feel."
Bulma sighed, " He'll never change mama."
"It wasn't that long ago that, that nice Piccolo was the same. But with Gohan's help and friendship, he's turned out to be a very sweet man."
Bulma smiled. Only her mother would be silly enough to refer to Piccolo as 'sweet'. But she was right. He had changed through friendship. "I just don't know mama. One wrong word and he's liable to send me into the next dimension."
She laughed. "Don't you think he would have done that by now if he really wanted to."
"Well, I guess I have given him more that enough excuses to do it. What is it you see in him?"
"Well, other than the fact he's really handsome and has a body that just makes you melt, I think he's really a good person at heart. He just needs help finding it within himself." She smiled at her daughter. "And I think you saw that in him, too, or you wouldn't have asked him to stay here. And he wouldn't have excepted."
Vegeta stood in the darkness. Shaking. He had never been so angry and confused in his life. Nor had he ever felt so welcome. The woman's idiotic mother had said he was family. He scoffed at the thought. He didn't need a family, nor did he want one. Folding his arms he levitated himself to the roof, where he sat, staring up at the starlit sky.
Bulma entered the kitchen. Her mother had the table set and was flipping the forth batch of pancakes onto a platter.
"Morning dear!" her always cheerful voice greeted her. "Didn't sleep well, huh?" she took in her daughters unusual appearance. Bulma never set foot out of her room unless every hair was in place and her makeup and clothes were just so. She was dressed in an old baggy tee and an even baggier pair of shorts. Her hair was pulled back in a haphazard ponytail and she didn't have a stitch of makeup on.
"I think I drifted off at some point." She poured herself a cup of coffee and looked around the room. "Where's Vegeta?" The Saiyan was always sitting at the table, impatiently awaiting his food.
Hope your enjoying this. As usual, please R&R so I'll know if I should even bother to continue. I'm still working on Fate of One, Fate of Many, so it may be awhile before I can get more chapters up. Thanks!!