Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or any of its characters so if you don't like it, lump it!!!



It was yet another sleepless night at Capsule Corporation for Vegeta. The fourth one in a row to be exact. Bags had begun to for under his cold eyes. He stood awake in the doorway, watching her sleep, making sure she wasn't disturbed. She just lay there, the moonlight resting on her body, making it seem as if she were glowing. He never took his eyes off her, He couldn't. Not while the world seemed so threatening and cold. He had to make sure that no harm came to this woman.
Vegeta hated the fact that he had the urge to watch over her every night. He hated what she was doing to him. It was an unknown feeling that burned through his soul like fire out of hell, charring his insides, making him weak. He shuddered at the thought. 'Weak ', It was everything he didn't want to be, but he couldn't help it. Every night he told himself, 'I'm not going! Not tonight, not ever!' but somehow he always found himself watching over her, like some weak watchdog.
'That's it' he thought. 'I'm leaving. I need sleep'. He to leave. He was halfway down the dark hallway when he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong with me?!" he growled at himself. With that he spun around and returned to the doorframe of Bulma's room. He gazed at her, letting his eyes adjust to the dark again. She hadn't moved since the last time he looked. 'Still perfect' he thought, not daring to blink.

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Bulma opened her eyes briefly, then closed them again because of the brightness. She sighed and shifted to face the door. She opened her eyes just in time to see a shadowy figure leave the frame of her door. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. "What?" she said still staring at the doorway. Deciding to believe it was her imagination, Bulma stuck her feet out from under the covers and moved into a sitting position. She shivered. 'It's so cold' she thought and looked at her bed. Someone had draped a blue comforter over her during the night. 'Mom?' she thought, still looking at the comforter, wondering who had put it there. She stretched and yawned, then checked her watch. 8:03.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the gravity machine churning and whining. 'Humph' she thought, narrowing her eyes, 'someone slept in'. Vegeta usually got up to train around 5:00. He must have not had his usual amount of caffeine.

Bulma stood up and made her way to the kitchen. She made coffee and a Bagel for herself and set out a few boxes of cereal for Vegeta. She opened the morning paper and began to read, sipping her coffee as she did.
"Morning" she said as her mother walked in, not taking her eyes off the paper.
"Morning dear" said her mother, who sat down too. After a few minutes, Bulma and her mother heard a small explosion from the other end of the house.

"Oh my," said Bulma's mother, "Looks like Vegeta won't be in a good mood this morning."
"He's never in a good mood any morning," said Bulma. 'Oh great. Now I'm gunna have to fix that. I was planning to go out with Yamcha tonight!' she thought angrily as she snapped her paper and continued to read. Sure enough, moment later, Vegeta came storming into the kitchen, small tares in his clothes, a bloody nose, and an extremely tired and irritable look on his face.
"Good morning, Sunshine," said Bulma in a mocking tone, never letting her gaze away from the newspaper. Vegeta just growled and opened a box of cereal.

"Oh! Vegeta dear! You look terrible!" Exclaimed Mrs. Briefs when she spotted the dark lines under his eyes. "It looks like you haven't slept in days! Maybe you should go to bed after breakfast!"
Vegeta growled. "I have training to do," he said gruffly. "I don't need any sleep." With that, he continued to scarf down cereal. Bulma rolled her eyes. 'Idiot' she thought, 'one of these days he's going to kill himself'.
Vegeta got up and walked out of the kitchen, limping slightly. Bulma and her mother watched him go.
"If he wasn't a saya-jin, I swear he'd need medical attention," exclaimed Bulma's mother. "He's been in so many fights and explosions! It must have done some long lasting damage."
"I say, if Vegeta needs anything, it's a good kick in the ass," said Bulma frowning. "He can be such a jerk!"
"Well dear, he's probably got a reason to be so mean and uptight all the time. His home planet did get destroyed and all of his friends and family were killed. Wouldn't you be upset if that happened to you?"
Said Bulma's mother, stirring more sugar into her tea, "If you ask me, he looks more sorrowful than angry."
Bulma's frowning face turned into one of pity. She had never really paid any attention to Vegeta when he wasn't arguing or eating (she found it extremely amusing when he ate). 'Wow, he must really be lonely.' she got up and walked out to the back balcony of Capsule Corporation, thinking about Vegeta and his race.
She looked out into the gigantic garden that made up her back yard. It was full of flowers that were losing their petals and turning brown, but she still thought it was beautiful. She had played there when she was young with Goku and Krillin. Goku was the only other one of Vegeta's kind. 'Poor Vegeta' she thought. The only other Saya-jin left didn't understand anything about being one. Vegeta must be really really lonely.

Bulma spent the rest of her day inside, fixing the gravity machine. She was on her back underneath the machine, swearing as a drop of oil splattered onto her face. She fumbled around for a wrench, found one, and tightened a few bolts. After several hours, it was finally ready to be used again. She sighed and slid out from beneath the machine. Wiping her forehead with a stray bandana, she walked out the back door into the cool night air of the garden.

"Ten thirty" she mumbled to herself as she checked her watch. She had been working for nearly thirteen hours. She gazed up at the stars, each giving off their own iridescent light. After a moment, she looked around the garden and spotted Vegeta. Standing with his eyes to the heavens, he seemed to be searching for something. The moonlight reflected off of his sharply chiseled body in a way that she could see his chest calmly rise and fall. After a moment, His stone cold eyes shifted to meet hers. He narrowed his eyes, then continued to stare off into space.

Not knowing quite what to do, Bulma walked toward him. She stood next to him and looked up.
"What are you looking for?" She asked, feeling as if she needed to say something. Vegeta gave a faint growl and looked at her.
" Do you see that bright orange star right next to the moon?" he asked. Bulma looked up found it, then nodded.

"A little to the left of that is where Vegeta-sei would have been." he said. Bulma looked up at him. She could just barely see a faint trace of angst on his angry face.
"Do you ever get lonely Vegeta?" she asked. Vegeta looked at her, apparently confused.
"What do you mean 'do I ever get lonely'?" he growled. Bulma looked to her feet and shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, you don't have a home planet anymore and you and Goku are the only Saya-jins left. I just thought you might get lonely sometimes," she said, looking up at him again.
"Why do you care?" He snapped, giving her a look that could stop a train. Losing her feeling of pity for Vegeta completely, Bulma frowned at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Well you don't have to snap at me Mr. uppity! I was just asking you a simple yes or no question!" she said loudly.
"Well maybe you shouldn't be so nosy!" he retorted. Bulma's face turned red with anger. 'How dare he talk to me like that!'

"You are such a Jerk Vegeta!" yelled Bulma. "I bet if you could have done something to save your planet and your people, you wouldn't have!!!" Vegeta's expression quickly changed from anger to angst. Eyes closed he looked to the ground, his hands balled into painful fists. Then, without another word, he took off flying toward the Capsule Corp. mansion. Bulma stood with her eyes wide in shock. 'Had Vegeta just shone some form of sensitivity?' Standing there, she puzzled until the alarm on her wristwatch sounded. It was 11:00. Sighing, she walked back up to the mansion to go to bed, feeling more pity for Vegeta than she ever had before.

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Vegeta sat on his bed, with his door closed, face buried in his hands. Trying his hardest to keep back tears.
Not allowing himself to watch Bulma sleep tonight, he got into bed and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Vegeta had a dream that night. Sitting in the cargo hold of Freiza's ship, he watched with horror through a window as thousands of saya-jin warriors gathered around Vegeta-sei's atmosphere. Led by some low class saya-jin name Bardock, they began to fire ki blasts at the ship. Then he saw Freiza, looking down at the warriors maliciously. He saw Freiza create an enormous ki blast at the tip of his finger. He could hear his young voice screaming no, pressing his nose against the window, unable to blink. Freiza sent the ki blast toward Vegeta-sei. First he saw the blast incinerate the thousands of warriors who had gathered to protect the planet, then he saw the blast actually hit the planet. All at once he heard billions of agonizing screams, all in one horrible chorus. He heard himself screaming something in the language of Vegeta-sei that meant, 'please no, its all my fault!' but it was too late. There was an awesome explosion, and all that was left of the planet Vegeta-sei was a field of debris. "NOOOOOO!!!!" he heard his younger self scream. He then bolted upright in his bed, finding that he too was screaming no, shaking and drenched in cold sweat. He put his hand to his mouth to muffle the scream. He looked over at the clock next to his bed. 3:09. He got up and walked down the dark hallway to Bulma's room just as he had done several nights before. He stood in the doorway, letting his eyes adjust again. He smirked as he watched her toss and turn feverishly.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who's having a bad night for once," he whispered to himself as he watched her move. Suddenly, he heard her say something, but he couldn't quite make it out. Quietly, he crept up next to her to hear better.

"I'm sorry..." he heard her say faintly as she turned her head, "I'm so sorry..." Vegeta couldn't take her eyes off her. She looked so disheveled and beautiful at the same time; he felt it would be painful to look away. "What do you mean?" he asked her under his breath. Without warning, Bulma Screamed and opened her eyes. Vegeta screamed too. Fear set on her face she looked over at him.

"Oh Vegeta!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him, "I'm so sorry for what I said about you!" Eyes wide with confusion, Vegeta managed to pat her awkwardly on the head, then gently return the hug.
"Can you ever forgive me?" she managed to say in a horse whisper, tears running down her face.
"Er...yeah...sure" said Vegeta, not quite sure what to say to a crying Chikyuu woman.
"Oh thank you!" she sobbed.

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After the crying in the night incident, Bulma and Vegeta generally tried to avoid each other. Bulma, not quite sure what to say to him, decided it would be better if she didn't say anything at all and vice versa for Vegeta. When the gravity machine broke, she fixed it. When Vegeta got hungry, she cooked for him, but other than that, they avoided each other's presence at all times...well, except for Vegeta, who still (but he still didn't know why) stood guard at her door during the night.

Vegeta walked into her room and knelt down beside her bed. Still asleep, Bulma sighed and shifted a bit. Bringing his hand gingerly to her face, he brushed a stray lock of hair away. 'Still perfect' he thought, smirking a little as he stroked her soft cerulean hair. After a moment, he sat down on the floor next to her bed and leaned against her bureau. 'What the hell am I doing?' he asked himself silently as his eyes slowly closed and he drifted off into the first peaceful sleep he had in days.

Bulma awoke the next morning to find a saya-jin prince fast asleep next to her bed. She stared at him dumbstruck for a moment, deciding whether to scream or to wake him up the more pleasant way. 'Wow' she thought, 'he looks so much more at ease when he's asleep. And he did. The angry limes on his face had almost completely vanished and he was no longer frowning, but his eyebrows were pulled toward the center of his face, just as they had always been. She pitied him once again. 'Poor Vegeta. Even in your sleep you're angry.' Deciding not to wake him, she got up and left her room. Vegeta woke up some time later and looked up, expecting to see Bulma still fast asleep, but she wasn't there.

"Kuso!" he cursed himself. "How could I have let her see me!?" He got up and ran to the kitchen, planning to make up some kind of an excuse for being there in the middle of the night.
"Woman, I..." he began as he entered the kitchen, but the only people who were there were Bulma's mother and her fathers pet kitten (yes! its Kitty! no story is complete without Kitty!^^)

"Looking for Bulma, Vegeta dear?" asked Mrs. Briefs, looking up from her coffee and smiling. "She went out earlier this morning over to Goku's house. She won't be back till around noon."
Vegeta growled loudly and flew out the back door toward Goku's house at top speed. 'If Kakarot finds out about this I won't hear the end of it' he told himself, putting on an extra burst of speed. He scanned the ground below, hoping to find Bulma before she got to Goku's house. Suddenly, he felt her ki very close. He sailed to the ground and tried to sense it again. He found it even closer this time.
"Woman!?" Vegeta called out and waited for an answer. None came. He sensed her ki again. This time it was dropping. Running toward the direction of her ki, he called again. "Woman!!?"

"Vegeta..." he heard a faint cry from behind. There she sat, in the front seat of a wrecked Capsule Corp. car, holding her hand to her head, trying to steady herself. Vegeta ran over to her.
"What happened?" he asked gruffly. She snorted. "What does it look like?" she asked faintly. "I crashed the car."

Her eyelids drooped and she wobbled in her seat. Vegeta held her shoulders to keep her from falling.
"Try to stay awake. You might have a concussion." he said as he picked her up and took off into the air.
'Damn' he thought as he looked around. 'I'm going to have to take her to Kakarot's place since it's closest.

He touched down in Goku's front yard with Bulma still in his arms. He ran up to the door and banged on it three times with his foot.
"Open up Kakarot!" he snarled. The door opened and Gohan stood looking up at Vegeta, gawking.

"Hi Vegeta" said Gohan timidly. He turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Dad!"
"What?" he heard Goku call back. "Vegeta's here and he looks like he's got a problem!" Gohan called.
"WHAT!?" he heard ChiChi scream in the background. "Who gave that man our address!?"
Goku then appeared through the door, still in his pajamas.

"Hiya Vegeta! What's up?" he asked. His jaw dropped when he saw Bulma almost unconscious. "ChiChi!" he called to his wife who came bustling in with a frying pan held menacingly in one hand.
"What in Kami's name is going on out here!" she yelled. Her jaw dropped too when she saw the state Bulma was in. "Oh my!" she exclaimed. Rushing forward, then dragging Vegeta into the house. "What happened!?"

"Car wreck." Vegeta replied, setting Bulma down on the couch. "I suggest you use that...er...Telephone thing and call those doctor people."
ChiChi called the paramedics and they rushed Bulma to the hospital, accompanied by Goku and Vegeta.


LALALALA!!!!! CLIFFHANGER!!!! heh heh. Sorry, but I want to know how good it is before I write more. If you don't think its any good, I understand. If you think its good, THANK YOU. if you think it's so-so, that's good too. ^____^ Please R&R!!! I'm not writing more until I get a good handful of reviews!!!