CHAPTER 16- Surprises
Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z.
Sorry this took so long, but I've been out having a life, and I wasn't sure where to go with the story next, plus I'm not sure anyone is even reading this story any more! If you are reading and do want me to continue, let me know by writing to me at angeloutoftime@another.com
Any way, on with the story.
He didn't know how it had happened; he had gotten worried when Bulma didn't come home by dinnertime that day. He had given in to his "soft" side and gone out to find her and drag her home, getting directions from his loyal subjects he had headed for the woods to find her. What the idiots hadn't told him was why she had gone into the woods in the first place. Vegeta expected that she'd got herself stuck in a tree somewhere again, but when he got to her he saw what she had been looking for. He growled as he saw them both sitting cross-legged in the clearing, smiling and talking. He got close enough to hear them and then crouched behind a tree to listen, not even considering curbing his curiosity for a moment. He heard her laugh, a musical sound. She was talking about what she missed most in from her life.
"… TV, I need some mindless entertainment right about now!! Ya know, some soap operas, a few talk shows, I always used to watch those, working for my dad it was easy to get time off to watch day time television when I wanted, especially seeing as I was his best worker, I am the smartest woman on my planet after all!" Bardock had nodded happily, despite not having a clue what she was talking about. He found her animated enthusiasm contagious even when she spoke about earth things which where alien to his saiya jin mind. Behind his tree, Vegeta smirked at her arrogance, although he did not doubt that she was pretty smart compared to other human females. "… and I miss my lab, I have countless projects that I haven't finished! That's probably why they put me in limbo, so I could realize just how much unfinished business I have back home!" she continued and then looked up at the sky "let me see, what else do I miss? Hmmmm…" Vegeta had been considering coming out from behind his tree, he felt faintly ridiculous and it wasn't as if they were talking about anything he couldn't be a party to. Just as he stood up, planning to fly up and appear above them, making Bardock feel foolish for not having sensed him, she continued "… YAMCHA!" she cried, "How could I forget Yamcha???"
"What's a Yamcha??" said Bardock, scratching his head in a very Goku-esque manner.
"Yamcha is my boyfriend back home" Bulma beamed cheerfully, both Vegeta and Bardock's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets
"Boyfriend???" said Bardock
'BOYFRIEND?!?!' Vegeta screamed inwardly
"Yeah, ya know, we go on dates, he buys me flowers, that kinda stuff"
Vegeta couldn't listen to any more; he flew back to the house with a sickly feeling in his stomach.
Now he sat in the kitchen a month later, while she was out somewhere with Bardock. The tension in the house had been palpable the last few weeks, and Vegeta estimated that there where still at least three months to go until they could leave, allowing a month for Bulma's friends to find the dragon balls. Vegeta briefly wondered how Bardock could stand to spend time with the woman, knowing that he could only be her sloppy seconds, that was no way for any saiya jin with pride to live. He wasn't sure how to feel, he no longer felt jealous of Bardock, other than that he didn't know whether o feel stupid or angry. He thought of every time he had had the faintest inkling that she felt the same way about him as he did for her, every sway of her hips as she strutted away from an argument, every little affectionate wink she gave him, much to his anger, every peace sign, every smile, everything. He didn't know whether he had read the situation wrongly or if she had just been leading him on, if he was a weakling and a fool or if she was a cruel slut. He couldn't imagine either to be true, and so he was left baffled, he didn't do baffled well.
Bulma meanwhile was miserable. That day when she had nearly forgotten to mention Yamcha, she had realized that she hadn't missed him at all after the first two months in limbo, and now she didn't imagine seeing him as a major priority when she was finally revived. If anything, it made her realize that she had a stupidly large crush on her moody, arrogant, dangerous, grumpy-at-best house mate. She had been building up the courage to tell him that day, when she had come home to find him in the mother of all foul moods. Since then she hadn't found the courage, or the opportunity, to tell him. She could do nothing but stand by and watch as he glared at her like she'd killed his entire race, like she was the lizard man that he used to talk about, every single time she tried to speak to him. Even saying something as innocent as "what do you want for dinner?" got a growled reply and a door slammed in her face. How else could she feel but miserable? Every day she felt his rejection and realized that her feelings ran deeper than a crush, and every day he got more and more distant, disinterested and silent.
Bardock, meanwhile, had started afresh in his friendship with Bulma, all his old feelings forgotten, he even managed to comfort her on occasion when the prince had been particularly harsh, although he wasn't exactly great at it, most of their conversations followed the same pattern. Bulma would describe Vegeta's latest assault on her pride, and Bardock would scratch his head and reply
"He's just angry"
To which Bulma would reply with a shaky voice
"But what did I do?"
To which Bardock could only reply
"I have no idea, but it must have been bad"
And then she would cry, and he would pat her clumsily on the back and feel awkward.
Today though Bulma had a plan. She had decided to find out what was going on once and for all. Basically she planned to find a way to force him to speak to her, and then use the only rule of limbo to her advantage. He couldn't lie, no matter what she asked him, and if he couldn't get away he would have to reply.
The only problem was that, yet again, she had to find a way to stop an angry saiya jin from leaving the house. She thought about threatening to tell kami not to revive him, but she knew that she would want him revived no matter what, so she'd have to lie to say that herself. Before she could decide what to do, she found herself walking through the back door into her kitchen. He got up from his seat at the table as she entered the room and prepared to leave her presence, leaving her with an icy glare. Before he could leave he heard her speak
"Stop right there mister sulky!" she called
'Mister sulky?? What was that Bulma?' she thought to herself, but realized she couldn't afford to think about that right now. He turned to face her with a look of absolute confusion in his eyes
"What did you just call me?" he hissed, Bulma shuddered
"Um, Mister Sulky… but I could call you mister sulky pants if you'd prefer your full name!" she retorted, realizing that her insults couldn't get much worse.
Vegeta rolled his eyes
"Pathetic woman!" he growled
"I know, but it got your attention" she smirked.
"And now, I'm leaving" he turned to do just that
"Don't go Vegeta!"
"I'll do what I please woman!"
"But, I need to speak to you about something!" she whined pathetically
"Whatever it is I'm sure I don't care!" he barked as he reached the living room door and stalked inside, slamming the door.
Bulma wasn't about to give up though. She ran to then closed door, knowing that it would be locked
"Fine! I'll just shout it through the door shall I??" she screamed, high on pure adrenaline
There was no response, she persevered "I love you, you big dumb goon!" she screeched at the top of her lungs.
Inside the living room, Vegeta was furious; he flung the door off its hinges and screamed
"You lying slut! You say these things to me when I know you have a weakling boyfriend back on your pathetic home planet with the rest of your weakling race!!"
Bulma blinked at his insults, his words where harsh could feel no hatred in them. She knew she had him where she wanted him, now the questions could begin, and she knew just where to start
"Vegeta, are you jealous?"
He stopped dead, his eyes went wide as he realized he couldn't lie, and would have to admit that he, the prince of the greatest warrior race in the known universe would have to admit he was jealous of a human man he had never met.
"Yes" he growled, against his will he found the word had formed in his mouth
Bulma was overjoyed, but she controlled herself for once, for the sake of Vegeta's pride.
"You don't need to be," she said softly
Vegeta growled and threw himself down on the couch, not liking the sentimental tone this conversation was taking.
"Really Vegeta, I don't know how you found out about Yamcha, but really that isn't a serious relationship. We met when we were just kids, we're good friends but if I'm honest, I haven't given him a moments thought for over eight months now, until the other day when I suddenly realized that I don't think we'll be going out for much longer after I get back, if at all. That really depends on you."
Vegeta felt his anger fading, against his will. He would rather have stayed angry than give in to this sickening display of emotion. He realized, though, that if he didn't take this opportunity he would only be shooting himself in the foot.
"I don't want you to see that man any more" he replied
"Well I'm afraid I can't avoid being around him, we share the same friends, but if you behave yourself I won't go out with him any more" Bulma replied with a smile and a wink.
Vegeta smirked
"Fine, it's a deal" he stood up abruptly with the intention of going to train, but suddenly realized that she was standing by the door, and so he really aught to do something affectionate on his way out.
'I don't want to overdo it and give her the wrong idea though…' he thought
Bulma meanwhile watched his confused expression, wondering what on earth he could be thinking. Before she even knew he'd moved he was kissing her like he'd been waiting to do it all his life, she thought she was about to collapse from surprise, and from excessive butterfly-in-tummy syndrome, when he broke the kiss, smirked at her shocked expression and promptly left the house to go god knows where to do god knows what, just like any other day.