Ok people. Sorry it took me a few days to get this chapter out. I rewrote it. If it's not what you think it should be, well, sorry. It is my version!^_^ Plus, Vegeta slips a little. I'm just feeling mellow I guess.
Disclaimer: don't own DBZ blah,
blah, no money, yada yada!
Chapter
4 Desperado
Chichi sighed as she pulled the covers down and climbed into bed. She looked over at her husband, who was unusually thoughtful, staring at the ceiling.
"Goku?"
"Yes, Chichi?"
"I'm really worried about Bulma. You wouldn't
believe the conversation we had today."
"Oh." He turned on his side and propped up on an
elbow, looking at her.
"I think this breakup has really freaked her out.
She actually talked to me about that.. that man." She frowned.
Goku looked confused. "Yamcha?"
She looked annoyed. "No. Vegeta."
He smiled. "You're kidding! What did she say?"
"She said that he had changed since he'd been living
at Capsule Corp. and then she actually compared him to a lost little boy! Like
he was some poor thing that deserved pity." She shook her head.
"Hmmm."
"I'm afraid that she's in shock or something. I
think you should talk to her and straiten her out. I mean, that horrible little
man tried to kill you and my baby!"
"Do you think she likes him?"
"I believe it goes beyond liking him. She might as
well have feeling for a rock, for all the affection that man could ever show
her." She huffed. "I'd like to box Yamcha's ears. What's wrong with that idiot
anyway?" She turned an unamused face to her husband who had begun to laugh.
"That's great!"
Her eyes widened, "What is?"
"That Bulma likes Vegeta! I think they'd make a
great couple. They would be good for each other." He tried to catch her as she
fell off the bed.
"WHAT?! Have you lost your mind! This is Vegeta
we're talking about! He wants to kill you!" she yelled. 'And I fed him dinner'!
"Aww, Chichi, don't be silly. Vegeta doesn't want to
kill me, he just wants to beat me up to prove he's stronger than me."
"Oh, is that all. Ha, silly me!" she folded her arms
giving him her best 'your insane' stare.
"Well, you have to look at it from his point of
view. He is the prince of the Saiyan's, and well, it hurt his pride when I
became a Super Saiyan." He tried to calm her down. Vegeta had really worked him
over today, and he really didn't want to have to catch it from his wife.
"His point of view? Well, excuse me for not seeing
the point of view of a mad man." She climbed back in bed. "So, why is it the
great Super Saiyan thinks Bulma hasn't lost her mind for liking a murderer?"
"Because, he likes her too." He missed as she fell off the bed for the second time. "Honey?"
Bulma sat in the lounge chair on the patio. The radio blaring out her favorite CD. She adjusted her sunglasses and sighed. It had been weeks since she had spoken to Vegeta. Since they had come home from the Son's, he only came out of his gravity room late at night to eat and sleep, then he was up training again before she awoke.
She was feeling sorry for herself, she had to admit. The loneliness was starting to get to her. It had been almost a month since she had broken up with Yamcha, and she was beginning to wonder if his cheating and broken promises were worse than being alone. A single tear slid down her tanned cheek.
Vegeta was dodging his own ki ball that was bouncing around the gravity chamber. He was training hard, the gravity indicator reading 410. He had blown up his training capsule several months ago and nearly killed himself, but Mr. Briefs had made some serious improvement to the pod. But he was still careful about how much energy he put into his blasts now. He didn't know what was worse. Being blown up or having to listen to that insufferable Chikyu woman rant about breaking her equipment.
He finally caught the ki ball and extinguished it. Drenched in sweat, he settled on the floor and wiped his face with a towel.
"What is that insidious racket!" he growled as his sensitive ears picked up Bulma's stereo. He reached up and dialed the gravity back down to normal earth.
Opening the door, he stepped onto the lawn, looking around. His eyes fell on the source and he smiled inwardly.
She was in a bikini, sunning herself. That stupid machine, a CD player, he thought that's what it was called, turned up to a decibel above even human tolerance, blaring out right beside her head.
He didn't understand the song, not to any great surprise, he didn't understand a lot of the strange stupid customs on this planet. Something about a desperado, and fences and coming to one's senses, or some such drivel. (Ok I know Chikyuu isn't Earth and that the Eagles don't exist there, but the song lends meaning to the story, so just pretend. And if you don't know this song, shame on you.)
He walked over to where she sat, his shadow falling across her. "Turn down that horrible noise before I blast that infernal machine!" he shouted. An evil smirk crossing his face as she jumped about a foot out of her chair causing her glasses to land crooked across her nose.
She looked up at him through a bloodshot cerulean blue eye. "Dammit Vegeta! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
He shrugged, "Oh well. One can always hope now." He looked at her face. The strange feeling he got when he looked at her fluttered in his stomach. Then he noticed she'd been crying. Again. "What's wrong with you now woman? Don't you ever do anything but cry and bitch?"
"What I do is none of your business monkey man!" she jumped up and poked him in the chest with her finger. Let him blast her if he wanted. Anything was better than the way she felt at the moment.
He looked a little surprised for a second, looking at the small red mark her nail had made on his chest. Was she insane!
"And its not noise! Its music, my favorite music. You should listen to this one in particular. It's you to a tee."
"Humph. I have no intension of listening to your stupid noise." He was trying not to let his gaze slide down her bikini clad body. What in the world did she think she was doing displaying her body in such an open fashion?
"Well, I really don't care what you do, as long as you stay out of my way." She flipped her hand through her long blue hair in a dismissing gesture, knowing that would infuriate him more than any words, and walked back into the house.
He stared at her retreating figure for a moment. Gritting his teeth. 'She actually dismissed me like a common servant. How dare she. Well, she will regret it, I'll make damn sure of that.' He thought, then his stomach growled loudly reminding him he hadn't eaten since yesterday. 'I'll deal with her later.' And he headed to the kitchen.
Mrs. Briefs looked up from her magazine, "Oh, there you are dear. Would you like for me to fix you a nice lunch?"
He was startled by her voice and gave her an irritated nod. He had forgotten that they had come back a couple days ago from their vacation.
"So, how was everything while we were gone?" she asked as she rummaged through the refrigerator and pulled out a huge package of ham.
Vegeta sat down at the table to await his lunch, wishing she would just shut up and leave him in peace. He grumbled an incoherent reply. But the insufferable woman just prattled on about her vacation. He put his chin in his hand and sighed. 'Why me?' It was turning into a long day.
Later
that night.
Vegeta lay in his bed, fuming. "Who the hell does she think she is? Weak, stupid little female." He turned on his TV and absently flipped through the channels. He quickly became bored with it, seeing that most of the channels had those ridiculous infomercials, with people lying about how good a certain product was. Reaching over he picked up a set of headphones from the nightstand. He had swiped the disc Bulma had been listening to when she had stomped back into the house after their argument. Laying there with his hands behind his head, he listened to the one she had referred to as her favorite.
His face softened somewhat as he really listened to the words. This was how she saw him? He felt his chest tighten slightly. 'He wasn't lonely' he scoffed. People only got in the way of his objectives. He didn't need anybody, hadn't needed anyone since…
His mind drifted back to the conversation he had overheard. Her dimwit mother saying that he was lonely, and then she had actually called him family. Like he would ever consider being part of a pathetic common Chikyuu family. He was a prince. Prince of a race of beings that would control the universe. Prince of… an obliterated race. His only subject, stronger than he was. And an imbecile at that. Throwing the headphones aside he opened his window and flew around to the other side of the house, landing on her balcony.
The door was open to let the warm summer breeze in. Stepping in, his keen eyes had no trouble spotting her in the dark room.
She was lying on the bed, asleep. Flat on her back, one arm thrown up beside her head. Her long hair spilled over the pillow like a blue waterfall. He watched her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. She was wearing the same baby blue nighty she always slept in. It exposed her long slender legs, that had kicked the covers off.
He groaned inwardly. How many times now had he done this? Watched her sleep, listed to her dreams as she seemed to talk as much in her sleep as she did while awake.
He had started doing this after the fight with Yamcha. He frowned at the thought of the idiot. It had seemed a better avoid her during the day, seeing he had no idea how to handle her bouts of crying, and seeing him had only seemed to annoy her more.
His frown deepened as he thought of how that ass had treated her since he had come to live there. He was obviously to stupid to know a good thing when he had it. A confused look passed over his dark features. Why had he thought that? Bulma was a whiny, bitchy, weak human woman. But she had taken him in when he had no where else to go. Built him a gravity room to train in. Fixed him food and had on several occasions attempted to have a conversation with him. A little pang of guilt hit him and he cursed himself for feeling such a weak emotion.
Bulma stirred in her sleep and rolled over. The action caused the nightgown to ride even farther up her body, exposing a well rounded behind. He sucked in his breath and stiffened. Kami, she was beautiful!
He stared intensely at her, as if a sign would suddenly appear and flash him the answer to why he always felt so strange around her, he heard her begin to mutter in her sleep. He frowned. It was usually something about an invention or she began crying about something that fool human was doing to her in her dreams, but then she uttered something that almost made him fall backwards in shock.
"Vegeta…" she sighed, a smile playing on her pretty young face.
He froze, wondering what on earth she could possibly be dreaming about him that would make her sigh and smile. 'Probably my death.' He humphed. She was quiet for the next hour, so he returned to his own room and laid down.
His own dreams were fitful. Filled with images of earth things he didn't understand nor wanted to.
He awoke the next morning with a headache. Looking at the clock he crawled out of bed and headed for the shower. It didn't help. Moping his way to the kitchen, he saw breakfast had been over with long ago. He rummaged through the fridge before abandoning the thought of food. He didn't know how to prepare anything.
Frowning, the thought that he actually needed theses stupid humans to survive flitted through his mind. "Ahhhg!" his ki flared for a moment. "What the hell is happening to me?"
Storming out the door, he walked across the compound to the office quarters. Ignoring the stares from the employees he made his way to Bulma's office.
She was sitting at her desk, typing furiously at her computer and talking on the phone.
He stood quietly in the doorway, watching and listening.
"What! What do you mean its gonna take another month!?" pause. "No, that's not good enough! You promised me those performance reviews would be on my desk last week!" pause. "Do I need to come down there?" pause. She smiled a smile that made a shiver go up Vegeta's spine. "That's what I thought. Now get me those reports!" she slammed the phone down and reached for her mug of coffee. "Blahh! Cold."
A young red haired woman stepped up to her desk with a fresh cup. It was obvious this was a common occurrence for she had been ready.
"Thanks Toma, I just can't seem to get to it before it gets cold." She laughed.
The girl smiled knowingly. "No problem, boss." She looked up seeing Vegeta in the doorway. "Uh, who's the sinister looking hunk, Bulma?"
"Huh?" Bulma turned and strangled on her coffee. "V-Vegeta, what are you doing here?" she asked, noting that he looked tired.
"I need some of that stuff you have for pain." He looked around the office before settling his dark gaze back on her.
She jumped up, frightened. Vegeta asking for a pain killer. He must be dying! "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she examined him from head to toe.
"Get a grip woman! I have a headache that won't go away, and I can't concentrate on my training!" he barked in his usual gruffness.
She frowned, her blue eyes flashing angrily. "A headache! I thought it was something serious! Just take a Tylenol."
"I couldn't find it, stupid! Plus there's no food prepared!" he exploded.
"Do I look like your personal chef and nurse? I have a business to run here Vegeta!"
He folded his arms across his chest, staring back angrily, then his hands shot out grabbing her arms, pulling her roughly against him with a squeak.
Her nose only inches from his, she stared into those fathomless black eyes. Noting for the hundredth time how handsome he was, in an evil sort of way.
"I don't know how to prepare food. I would ap..appreciate," he growled out through gritted teeth, "your assistance."
She blinked. This was the closest the proud prince had probably ever come to saying 'please help' in his life. How could she turn him away.
"O.K." she whispered. Being so close to him was making her normally logical brain go bonkers.
"Good." He released her and left for the house.
Bulma sighed, smiling to herself. She turned to her secretary who was staring, open mouthed. "I'll be back in a little while." She hurried after the warrior, wondering how long before the rumors started circulating around the office.
Vegeta ate his fifth plate of pancakes and eggs. His head was already starting to feel better.
"Oh, I just love to see a man with a healthy appetite!" Mrs. Briefs giggled. "Bulma, dear. You treat this one right. He's a real catch!" she winked at her daughter.
Bulma dropped the plate she had been picking up off the table. It shattered on the floor. Her eyes fell on Vegeta who was looking somewhere in-between agitated and embarrassed.
"Mother!" she hissed at the happy blonde, who scurried from the room.
"Catch! What am I? A fish?" he grumbled. "Besides, it isn't permitted for a female to choose a mate. Especially if he happens to be the royal prince of Vegetasai." He cut his eyes to her.
She was picking up the pieces of plate. "Well, picking a mate here is a decision of both the man and the woman. Women aren't something you can just pick out at a convenient store, ya know!" she tossed the plate into the recycler.
"One doesn't just pick a woman on Vegetasai. The women have to prove they are worthy to bare our heirs by proving their strength in the mating fights. Only the strongest survive and then, they might be chosen. If their lucky." He smiled as he saw her face darken in anger. The time had come to teach her a lesson in respect.
"They had to fight over you? If that isn't the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. A woman fighting for the right to Maybe be chosen as the unfortunate victim of such male egotism." She began to attack the plates in the sink.
"Saiyan women considered it an honor and privilege to participate in the games." He stepped up behind her, pinning her to the sink. "When a Saiyan takes a mate, it's for life. Or at least until he gets tired of her and sends her worthless hide to the next dimension." He breathed in the scent of her hair, amazed that it made him shiver.
She squirmed around to face him, intending on giving his arrogant body a shove, but all thought left her when she looked into his face. He was smirking, but in a more sensual than angry way. Their noses touched. Her breath caught in her throat.
Before she even knew what happened, she pressed her lips against his, wondering at how soft they were. She felt him tense, but he didn't pull away.
It was a short, soft kiss, quite plain by most standards, but it shook both of them to the core.
"Why did you do that?" he backed away, a confused but suspicious look on his face.
She blushed furiously, and stammered. "I-I don't know. I guess you looked like you needed it."
He crossed his arms again. His favorite stance, "I need to train." He stated flatly and fled the room.
Bulma just stood there and stared at the spot he had just occupied. A slight smile creased her lips. "Well. At least he didn't vaporize me." She turned to finish the dishes, and started humming her favorite song.
Vegeta leaned against the wall of his gravity room. He touch his lips. What was it she had done? Kissed ? He was pretty sure that's what they called it. He saw it all the time on that stupid picture box. He'd even seen Bulma doing it to that idiotic human man. They didn't have such a silly custom on his home world. It was a show of emotion, weakness. But then why did it make him feel so full of energy? Power? And it had felt… good.
"Ahhhg! Stop it! She's just a weak human female! Stop letting her get to you like this!" he powered up and began a furious training session, which lasted far into the evening.
end
of chapter 4
hey, did this tie in alright? This was actually another story I had started, but I just made it my chapter 4. it's late and I'm kinda bleary eyed, so sorry if it doesn't fit right. Please R&R!! thanks.