The Second Worst Thing
Chapter 1: Fear Me!
By senzubean
I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.
Authors Note: For three years I resisted the temptation! But I've gone and done it. I wrote a Bulma &Vegeta get together fic! Because, apparently, all Vegeta fans must do this, lest they not be real Vegeta fans. And I am a real Vegeta fan! So there! I hope it is at least somewhat original because I think every possible scenereo must've been done already.
Sorry I wrote this instead of finishing "The Princess" My roommate and Marie are both slavedrivers! I thought the red hot pokers were a little much though. On a plus note, this story is finished. Woohoo. Enjoy!
Bulma stared blankly at the columns of text filling her view. She half expected the newsprint to disintegrate under the glare originating from across the breakfast table. Calmly, she lowered her paper and met the cold, onyx eyes of her houseguest, who was fast wearing out his welcome.
"You can't still be hungry." She said.
"Hmph."
The answer was slow in coming and was devoid of the condescending smirk that usually accompanied it. Bulma noted the change but was too frustrated to be impressed. He'd been staring at her like that for a good half hour now.
"What do you want, Vegeta?"
The saiyan prince stood then walked right past her.
"When I want something, I'll tell you." He replied authoritatively as he exited the house.
Bulma clenched her fists around her newspaper and gritted her teeth. She turned her attention to the window and watched the cocky saiyan enter his precious gravity room.
"Asshole!"
Vegeta stood in the threshold of his training capsule and observed all of his high tech equipment, most of which had been provided by Bulma. They were important tools, his key to unlocking the power of the legend, which Vegeta was positive he had inside of him. Yet, he did not eagerly bound to this priceless equipment today. Sweat rolled down his face and the vein near his temple swelled beneath his skin. He clenched his fists then embedded one into the wall of the capsule, distorting the metal considerably.
"I don't have time for this kind of distraction!" Vegeta yelled as if to remind himself. He didn't need reminding but he still could not avoid this diversion. The act of violence, meant to snap him out of this disturbing state of mind, failed miserably and only worsened the situation. He continued to stand there, sweating and edging to the brink of aneurysm.
"What is wrong with me?"
An hour later, Vegeta was pacing the floor vigorously trying to understand why.
It was all but incomprehensible to the Prince. This should not have been possible. He was a warrior. A cold-blooded killer. For more than twenty years his person had been all but inhospitable to any other emotion besides anger and its variants. He had no compassion, love, or respect for anything or anyone but himself. He had no time for that kind of bullshit.
Given that all of these things were true, Vegeta had no clue as to how this 'idea' had eeked it's way into his brain. There was one thing he did understand with crystal clarity, this idea had to go.
The Prince of all Saiyans could not fall in love.
Especially not with that woman.
Somehow, he had to nip this in the bud. He had to dig himself out of the ever deepening hole of hormones, for that was exactly what it was, a very bad case of raging hormones.
Nappa had explained this concept to him once. At the time, Vegeta had thought the commander to be touched in the head. Unlike the majority of teenage males of any species, girls were the last things on the Prince's mind. Defeating Frieza overshadowed everything. Nappa had warned him that if he left his 'natural urges' go unsatisfied they would accumulate, overtake him, and then make him insane.
"Keep your mind off of my 'natural urges' and concentrate on not being an idiot!" Was what Vegeta remembered saying to Nappa. Who would've guessed that he'd actually be right about something? There was no logical reason why Vegeta would be naturally attracted to that know- it -all earthling unless a surplus of hormones were altering his judgment. These new emotions he was feeling had to be a by-product of insanity.
Vegeta could come up with only one solution. He had to determine what it was about Bulma that set his hormones afire, and take measures to reverse the effect she had on him.
Two minutes later, he was in her lab.
"Woman!" he announced his presence in his most arrogant tone of voice. The authority and sheer authority of that one word pleased him greatly.
I would have made such a good king.
Bulma swiveled her office chair around to confront him. The look on her face was one that was blatantly un-intimidated.
"What?" she snapped at him.
Vegeta blinked. He hadn't actually planned this confrontation out, and he was at a loss as to what to say. That look on her face was making it impossible for him to think about anything other than how attractive she was when she was pissed.
"I haven't got all day!" She added.
Vegeta looked around as discreetly as he could, trying to spot something, anything that he could hassle her about. A mass of junk, a training bot he'd destroyed the afternoon before, lay on the table just beside Bulma's computer.
"Training equipment." He blurted out. He quickly regained his composure and set his face in a demanding scowl. "I need new training equipment."
"I just put new training equipment out there this morning." Bulma replied.
"I want better ones."
"Better ones?" Bulma erupted. "You haven't even used them yet!"
"How would you know that?" Vegeta yelled back defensively.
Bulma turned back to her computer. "You're not exactly quiet when you train. I didn't hear a peep out there all morning."
Vegeta's eyebrow quivered in ascending fury. How dare she dismiss him like that!
"I want new training equipment now!" Vegeta yelled. This was not up for discussion. She had to learn to submit to him.
"No!" Bulma screamed right back. "Now get lost! The longer you bother me the longer it'll be before I make lunch!"
"IF YOU DON'T MAKE ME NEW ONE'S I'LL DESTROY YOU!"
"THEN YOU WON'T BE GETTING ANY AT ALL OR LUNCH EITHER!"
Vegeta snarled viciously at her.
Bulma turned back to her computer, tossing a mass of silky turquoise hair over her shoulder, and calmly replied. "I'm not afraid of you, Vegeta."
Vegeta snapped out of his rage. That was it! She really wasn't afraid of him. He gaped at her as she typed, completely ignoring him.
"Go break your new equipment, then we'll talk about replacing them." She said as if she were dealing with a spoiled kid throwing a temper tantrum in a toy store.
Silently, he turned and left. He stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall.
That damned woman isn't afraid of me in the least? Why does that turn me on? He side glanced at the doorway as to make sure that Bulma didn't see the state she'd put him in.
This needs to stop, but how? Antagonizing her had failed miserably. He needed another solution. What would make her totally un-attractive to me? Vegeta thought about it for a second or so. Well, if I was impressed by her fearlessness of me, then I would be un-impressed if she started to fear me. Now, how do I go about scaring that woman?
His eyebrows arched evilly and a devious smirk passed over his lips. He swung back into the doorway and fired a blast at Bulma's back. Her computer exploded into a million bits. Bulma screeched at the top of her lungs. She jumped out of her chair and faced the Saiyan, who was chuckling evilly. Her face looked as if it would change from surprise and confusion to terror at any second. Vegeta laughed gleefully in his head.
Problem solved!
"HOW DARE YOU!" Bulma screamed. Vegeta's stomach fell. That was not something a petrified person would say. "IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU DESTROY HOURS UPON HOURS OF MY HARD WORK WHEN YOU BREAK THOSE STUPID SPARRING BOTS, BUT NOW YOU'VE STARTED TO DESTROY MY PERSONAL THINGS TOO!"
Vegeta decided to try his plan one more time. He shot another power ball, this time disintegrating her desk, along with a good chunk of wall. Bulma turned around and looked at the bright blue sky and the now scorched lawn. She screamed at the top of her lungs again. Unfortunately for Vegeta, the scream was distinctively the product of rage.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU DESTROYING MY HOUSE?"
"It's your own fault, woman! If you would stop being so dammed insubordinate and submit to me..."
"SUBMIT TO YOU? IN YOUR DREAMS SHORTY!"
"WHAT?" Vegeta bellowed. Had she just called him what he thought she did?
"Look at this!" Bulma stated as she looked at the now gaping hole exposing her lab to the outside world. "This will take forever to fix! I'll never get anything done in here!"
Vegeta couldn't believe that this was happening. He had missed hitting her both times by a matter of inches and she wasn't even frazzled. She was actually more concerned about the state of her laboratory than the fact he had just made an attempt on her life. This woman was completely amazing. She looked danger right in the eyes, and then taunted it. She would not submit to her obvious superiors. She was completely insane.
She's like a damned saiyan!
"I should just kill you!" Vegeta spat. That's the easiest way to solve this ridiculous problem!
Bulma planted her hands on her hips and glared.
"Go ahead. I dare ya."
At that point, Vegeta retreated from the room. Bulma blinked, flabbergasted at that reaction. She was expecting him to yell some more at least. Seconds later she heard the door to the guest room he sometimes slept in slam.
Bulma stood there wondering why he had retreated like that. Then a bird flew into the room through the hole in the wall and started to encircle her head, squawking and flapping in her face. Bulma realized that this had been just one of the many annoyances Vegeta had caused since she had made the unfortunate mistake of asking him to live with her family. At this moment, she had absolutely no idea as to why she had felt sorry for that asshole in the first place. This was the last straw. This time he would be punished.
Vegeta lay on his bed with his face buried in his pillow.
She dared me to kill her. She had to dare me into considering killing her, and then I didn't! I couldn't kill her!
He jumped off the bed and looked around.
I'm acting like a damned idiot and wasting precious time!
He marched out of the room intent on going straight back to his gravity room.
"I'll just have to ignore her."
A loud explosion rocked the house and thick black smoke covered all the windows. Vegeta took notice of it but wasn't concerned. Not until he got outside.
The gravity room had been reduced to a smoldering mass of scrap just like Bulma's computer and laboratory wall. Bulma walked right past Vegeta, who's jaw looked like it could touch the grass any second.
"What did you do?" He exclaimed.
"You're not the only one who can blow stuff up."
Bulma left him shocked and appalled on the lawn.
The gravity room had long stopped smoking when Vegeta finally spoke. "I'm going to ask the old man to fix it." Vegeta decided. "I have to avoid that woman at all costs."