"Vegeta? What's wrong?" I asked with concern. I never saw him cry before. He sat up and vigorously wiped his tears with the back of his hand. I sat up too, pulling the blanket up to my collar bone. Why would he cry? I leaned over and gave him a hug...but he gently pushed me away.
"I hate myself! I hate everything!!!" he bawled out.
"Vegeta! Get a hold of yourself! Everything's alright...I'm here..."
The rain went on and on, the lightning giving an eerie glow which englufed the candles' flickering lights. Through the downpour, I could here my heart beating against my chest. Vegeta relaxed and I managed to hold onto his hand.
"This shouldn't have happened..." he whispered hoarsely. I swallowed. He was regretting that he had made love with me. Does that mean...he never loved me at all and just used me to satisfy his physical desires? I pulled my hand away from his.
"I...I'm sorry..." was all I could say, as I began to choke back my own tears. Try as I might, the dam overflowed and I began sobbing furiously. I felt Vegeta's arms around my shoulder and his warm breath on the back of my neck.
"It's not that...that I didn't want this to happen, Bulma..."
"What do you mean?"
He kissed the back of my neck and it sent tingles down my spine. I felt his hand sliding down my shoulders, caressing my body. Then, he jerked away.
"There I go again!" he slapped his forehead and bent down.
"What? Why? I can't understand you..."
"I hate myself! I hate myself for killing my parents...and most of all..." he looked at me again, with those dark, sparkling, tear-filled eyes. He suddenly threw his arms around me and brought his lips to mine.
"Most of all..." he continued, "I hate myself for loving you and ruining your life..."
My eyes widened. My mouth gaped in awe. He loves me! Tell me I'm not dreaming!!!
"B-but...you said...you said you didn't..."
"I couldn't bring myself to tell you," he whispered, as we slowly sank back on the bed. "I...I never had a female tell me how she felt. In our planet, love was obsolete. For royalty like me, a mate is handpicked by my predecessor...my father. Love was forbidden..."
"But we're not in your planet..."
"Exactly...and by letting such feelings grow, I have ruined you..."
I peered into his sad eyes. My tears began to flow too.
"No...you didn't ruin me. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Vegeta! What happened between us was my desire too! In a way, we both ruined our lives...but in a sweet passionate way. What did we lose besides our virginity?"
Vegeta stayed silent. Then, a thought came to my head.
"Vegeta, am I the first girl you've taken to bed?"
"Yes..." he answered without hesitation, "the only girl I've taken. I was ten when my planet was destroyed so I never got to puberty the time female saiyans existed."
Destroyed?! He never told me that! Then I recalled what he had cried a few moments ago. What did he mean he killed his parents? Vegeta seemed pretty surprised...as if he's said something he shouldn't have.
"Vegeta..." I pulled myself closer to him, "would now be the right time for you to tell me everything?"
He was silent for a while. Slowly, he nodded and began relating his story.
"As you may already now, I was the prince of the most powerful empire in the entire galaxy...the Saiyan empire. I was an only child...like you...and like you, I had everything I wanted. I had the attention of both my parents. I thought we were a happy family...but it wasn't so. As I had told you, mates are handpicked and love was obsolete. The same was true for my parents. My mother was only handpicked by my grandfather. I was not a fruit of love but a fruit of physical yearnings. My parents hated each other, competing for almost everything especially for me. They both spent too much of their time for me that Frieza became upset..."
"Who's Frieza?"
"He was the alien who took over our world. In truth, my father wasn't the ruler of the empire but was only something like a...puppet."
"I see..."
"Shh...let me finish. Frieza almost killed my father, accusing him for neglecting his responsibilities. My father was furious with Frieza too, but he couldn't kill him because that alien was far too powerful. And so, he brought his hate upon my mother. They argued that night, each accusing one another for displeasing Frieza. I had been outside the door and saw...saw how my father brought his strong hand upon my mother...killing her..." Vegeta paused and held back his tears. I gasped at the very thought of it. How cruel!
"I was only ten then...I hated my father for what he did! I wanted to fight back! I trained hard for it. Soon, I began blaming myself for what happened. If I had not been so selfish for attention, maybe they both just left me alone and Frieza wouldn't have threatened my father. Do you see the connection?! It had been my fault! And...a few days later, Frieza assigned me to take over this one planet. That was the day that alien destroyed my planet, along with every saiyan living there..."
I gasped once more. With a childhood like that, Vegeta must've been so beaten down by trauma!
"Why did he destroy your planet?" I managed to ask.
"He thought we were becoming too powerful. He saw that I was getting too powerful too and was afraid that we would reclaim our empire from his grasp. The destruction of my planet had been my fault! If I hadn't been showing off in front of Frieza, maybe he wouldn't have destroyed my planet! See?! Everything had been my fault!!!" tears overflowed from Vegeta's eyes as well as mine. I now realize how lucky I had been. Sure my parents don't spend enough time with me...but they love me and each other deeply. Vegeta cried some more and I embraced him tightly, cradling him. He buried his face on my shoulder.
"It wasn't your fault, Vegeta...stop blaming yourself for everything. You shouldn't hate yourself because...I love you. You're not something to be despised..." I kissed the top of his forehead.
"W...what did you say?" he asked.
"I love you...I love you very much...you don't have to feel unwanted anymore..."
He suddenly brought his face against my bossom and I shuddered at the feel of the electrifying kiss he had brought there.
"When I first saw and touched this bed, it reminded me so much of my mother's death bed that I had to sleep on the floor..." he whispered.
"Huh?! But I saw you sitting on the bed every breakfast or dinner!"
"I only sit when you come in...but now, I guess I'm over that. This bed will forever remind me of you and the moment we've shared together..."
"Vegeta..." I moaned, as he peeled the blanket away, revealing my nudity. He moved his knees in between my thighs and bent down towards my waiting lips.
"Bulma..."
Never had I realized how my name sounded so wonderful in Vegeta's lips. I opened up to him... welcoming his love. Everywhere he touched me brought chilling tingles up to me, making my cheeks rosy. Once in awhile, we would whisper how much we loved each other. Then, I gave him a french kiss. He jerked his head back and I laughed.
"What was that?!"
"That was a french kiss..."
"Hmm...I kind of liked it..." and he bent down to give and recieve kisses. When we had spent ourselves, we separated, sweaty and tired.
"Don't let this night die, Vegeta...hold me...hold me please..." I begged, when he started to turn his back towards me.
"Okay..." he brought his lips to mine, and in the circle of his strong arms, I fell into a deep slumber.