Disclaimer: blah didi blah blah
Chapter 14
"Hah!!" Bulma threw a ki blast into the air, then instantly threw another one at a faster speed, exploding them in the sky. "I don't throw my ki blasts fast enough with my left hand...," she thought to herself, flying into the sky where the ki blasts had hit each other. She stretched her left arm back, feeling the tight muscles under her skin expand and contract; she marveled at the power. She was in complete control over the muscles in her body. There wasn't a single movement that she made that caused her to lose her balance...not a stretch unplanned, not a breath unexpected. It was exhilarating. Before, when she was human, she only had control over her mind, and even that had its limits. Her Saiyan training had taught her how to control her whole being, helping her unlock things inside of her that had never been before. Her ki was a big thing that she didn't quite understand before, but while she had been training for the last week, it occurred to her how awesome an awareness of ki was. Not only was it a measure of physical strength...at least for her. She found herself able to measure mental prowess, able to read fears, able to find weaknesses. It gave her a small advantage, even over her strong, learned teacher. She wasn't able to completely read his mind, but she could sometimes tell what he was feeling by the energy of his ki. "Speaking of the devil," she thought as she felt him approach. She turned slowly, lowering herself to the ground.
Vegeta growled as he looked for the woman. "Look for the Woman!" he repeated for himself, "Not a Saiyan for more than a month, and she already hides most of her ki!" He shook his head, and walked into the back yard, behind the gravity chamber. He heard a wind above him, and looked up into the sunset. There she was, her blue hair flowing in the sunlight, her compact body floating downward toward him, as if she were a gift from above. "Kami..." he gasped to himself, eyes wide at the sight. She approached him slowly, adding to the heavenly affect. His mouth gaped a bit as he watched her, wide-eyed, as she landed before him, softly hitting the ground. She looked at him, and he stared at her, taking in her essence. Her skin was especially luminescent in the sunset, reflecting a gentle orange glow from the departing sun that collided with the blue of her hair and eyes. "Even her eyelashes are blue,..." he noticed absently. Bulma said nothing, but after a moment raised her eyebrow in a look of confusion. Vegeta caught himself. "Damn woman..." he thought again as he closed his mouth and hardened his features. "It is nearing the evening," he said, stating the obvious.
"Obviously," Bulma said pointedly, refusing to be shaken by his previous demeanor. Although he was the teacher, she didn't quite trust him fully...there was always the possibility that he would exploit any sign of weakness. The worst part of it was, somewhere deep inside, she wanted to trust him. She couldn't quite explain why..."It's because he's teaching me," she tried to convince herself, knowing it was much deeper than that. "I suppose I'll stick with the stern façade for now," she thought, not knowing what else to offer.
"There is something that we must do, and it must be done tonight," Vegeta said, drawing her from her reverie. "Come with me." Vegeta looked into her eyes and offered her his open palm. Bulma eyed his hand suspiciously, not quite sure of whether to take it or not. "Woman, take my hand," Vegeta growled, growing impatient. Bulma looked into his face, but did not take his hand. "What is it?" Vegeta exploded, grabbing her shoulders, "Do you fear me?"
"I fear no one."
"Then why won't you take my hand?"
"I don't trust you. Trust and fear, they are different, you know."
"Trust me?? You don't trust me? Why is that? What in Kami have I ever done to earn your distrust, Woman?"
Bulma cast her eyes down. Her first thoughts were of him taking advantage of her weakness for him. "I can't say that," she scorned herself, "We were just using the tactics of battle...he was using my weakness..." Her eyes suddenly returned to his face, and for a moment, she saw disbelief and felt, through his ki, a bit of hurt. It surprised her, but she said evenly, "You fear that I will be better than you, and you'll do anything to stay on top."
What was this? "Damn...," Vegeta thought, "She caught my only fear...I'm training her too well." He lessened his grip on her shoulders and his hands drifted to the sides of her arms, almost tenderly, as he softly said, "Know this, woman. I will never do anything to harm you. Never." He looked deeply into her eyes to show how serious he was.
Bulma was breathless at Vegeta's declaration. "He looks so sincere...I want to trust him so badly," she thought, her mind warring. "Will you come with me?" Vegeta repeated, breaking her train of thought. He held his palm out to her and looked into her eyes. "Like onyx...," she thought, and felt her fingers slip in to meet his. His expression changed; it was a cross between satisfaction, happiness, and that will to keep emotionless, but nonetheless, Bulma noticed it as they flew off into the sunset.
They had been flying for almost an hour at a pace that was close to Bulma's top speed. She was glad she clasped Vegeta's hand after all, for if she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to keep up. She tried to pay attention to the scenery that passed below her, but soon found herself in a new, unrecognizable place. "Vegeta, are we landing soon?" Bulma called, but suddenly felt Vegeta stop and pull her next to him. "Yes, we're landing over there...see?" Vegeta pointed to a large field surrounded by high rocks. "Looks like a good place for a fight..." Bulma chuckled, but Vegeta remained solemn. "Not a fight, woman,...you shall see. Let's land, and I'll explain."
Vegeta touched ground first and looked around. He was very nervous. He looked up to the sky and saw that the time was soon to come. "I better explain quickly," he thought, and walked to where Bulma touched ground. "Bulma," he said, using her name, "let's sit on the ground."
"Okay..." Bulma said shakily. It would have been different if he'd had called her Woman, or even baka...but he used her real name. "This must be serious," she thought.
"Bulma," Vegeta began, "you are Saiyan. By some twist of fate and a dabble in genetics, you have been given the gift of the blood of my race. As of now, you've fulfilled every expectation that a Saiyan should achieve...almost."
"Almost?"
"Yes. There is but one thing that you have yet to do as a Saiyan. And it refers to your tail."
"My tail?" At its mention, Bulma's tail began twitching around nervously.
"Yes, your tail...and the moon. Do you remember seeing Goku transform?"
Bulma's eyes opened widely. "Transform? Transform?? Oh no," she said, dropping her voice as understanding crept into her head. She raised frightened eyes at Vegeta. "I have to transform."
"Yes, you do. And you will. Tonight."
"Tonight? Are you crazy?? I'm not transforming tonight!" Bulma was shaking with dread, remembering the terror she felt the first time she watched Goku turn into a huge, strong monster with enormous power.
Vegeta stood up and pulled Bulma to her feet. Walking behind her, he placed his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder, shocking Bulma, but comforting her at the same time. "You must. I have brought you here so you will not cause much damage...tonight will be overcast except for a small span of time. It will not be long, I assure you. Bulma, trust me. To be fully Saiyan, to understand, you must do this."
Bulma shuddered again. "Vegeta, you don't understand!" Her voice trembled as she turned to look at his profile over her right shoulder. "The first time I saw Goku...Goku...he...we almost died!" She was terrified, and made no attempt to hide it. "Bulma, Bulma..." Vegeta stroked her arms and her back tenderly, then moved his hands to her face. "You must. I will stay till you transform, and I will be here when you return. For now, just look at the moon. It is beautiful tonight..."
"The moon..." Bulma trailed off, becoming transfixed by the luminescent orb that floated above her. "That's it," Vegeta whispered into her ear, "that's it."
He stayed with her as long as he could, but when he felt her body grow tense and begin to sprout hair, he flew at top speeds to the edge of the large circle of rocks, leaving Bulma in the center to find herself in the moonlight. "I hope she'll stay here and not try to go anywhere else," Vegeta thought. He avoided looking at the moon, as he felt it reflect down on him. Instead, he watched Bulma as she transformed. As long as he could remember, when he transformed, he didn't feel nor remember anything. For a while, the same seemed to go for Bulma, until her body began to grow...for she threw her head back and gave a roar that seemed to tell of pain and regret, of sadness and of remorse. Vegeta covered his ears and felt exactly what Bulma was feeling as the sound ripped through the air to meet his body. The shear force of the sound waves blew the tall grass completely horizontal. When the sound had stopped, Vegeta looked up to see a mammoth brown monkey-like creature, gasping and breathing and reeking of power, strength, and angst. It's eyes, oddly enough, were not red, but a blue tone, giving the creature a less evil appearance, replacing the evil with cold. The creature looked soulless as its blue eyes shined and surveyed the surroundings in search of something to destroy. Vegeta cast his eyes quickly toward the sky. "There will only be a few more minutes, then she will be normal again."
He watched as Bulma's transformation pummeled boulders into powder and uprooted oak trees with little effort. He heard the furious bellows as the animal pounded at the rocks, the trees, and the ground, at anything it possibly could. He lowered his ki as low as he possibly could and hid behind the rocks, so as not to bring the monster's wrath out of the circle. "Bulma is in there," he thought, "and I didn't lie when I said I'd never hurt her." His mind clouded for a moment at his embarrassment of his prior expression of how he felt. "I don't think she could tell what I wanted to say, but I know she felt something...Damn her, there's no reason I should feel any differently about her...Kami damn her, though, because I do..." He had tried to tell himself that it was because she was Saiyan, because she was beautiful, because she was anything but the truth...she was connected to him, deeper than anyone could tell. Simply by speaking to him on a daily basis, sharing her thoughts, training with him, she unwittingly earned Vegeta's respect, affection, attraction, and eventually..."Damn her, I love her," he said as he stared at the monster in the field.
The moon finally darted behind the clouds and the creature that was Bulma froze in its place, beginning to shrink back to normal size. Vegeta flew to her side immediately. Her body was tense and her skin was pale in the moonlight as she curled up in a ball on the ground, her transformation finished. Vegeta picked her up and held her closely as the chilled wind brushed over her nude skin. "Clothes," Vegeta groaned as he realized what he forgot. Now he would have to deal with her nudity..."That's a dangerous thought," Vegeta said aloud, and stripped himself of his tee shirt and put it on Bulma. It hit above her knees and covered the rest of her body, but it didn't exactly dismiss the distraction. The woman was curled on his lap, unconsciously grasping around his neck, head resting on his shoulder. He felt her soft skin and brushed her hair off of her face. At his touch, Bulma began to wake..
"V...Ve...Vegeta..." she breathed, beginning to shake again. Her eyes suddenly flew wide open and she found herself looking into the deep black pearls of his eyes, and finding something that she never expected to find there...it was almost foreign...tenderness. She jumped up to her feet, not completely awake, and began pacing. Vegeta was at her side, arm around her shoulder holding her hand. Suddenly, she turned to him and said, "I felt myself changing...it hurt so much... I'm glad I did it, but I never want to do it again."
"She felt the change?" Vegeta questioned in his mind, but chuckled to her, and picked her up. "I think you've done enough for tonight. Let's go home."
So, whaddya think? I titled this chappy "The Transformation", because not only does Bulma have her first monster experience, Vegeta, in his realization of his love for Bulma, transforms into the man she needs him to be...now only if she'll figure it out! How do you like it?
Drop me a review! Please! Pretty please!
Wanna join my mailing list? Specify in your review, place your e-mail address in the review, or e-mail me privately at songbird333@adelphia.net.
As always, thanks, everyone, for the support you've shown me! I luv everyone for it!
Chapter 14
"Hah!!" Bulma threw a ki blast into the air, then instantly threw another one at a faster speed, exploding them in the sky. "I don't throw my ki blasts fast enough with my left hand...," she thought to herself, flying into the sky where the ki blasts had hit each other. She stretched her left arm back, feeling the tight muscles under her skin expand and contract; she marveled at the power. She was in complete control over the muscles in her body. There wasn't a single movement that she made that caused her to lose her balance...not a stretch unplanned, not a breath unexpected. It was exhilarating. Before, when she was human, she only had control over her mind, and even that had its limits. Her Saiyan training had taught her how to control her whole being, helping her unlock things inside of her that had never been before. Her ki was a big thing that she didn't quite understand before, but while she had been training for the last week, it occurred to her how awesome an awareness of ki was. Not only was it a measure of physical strength...at least for her. She found herself able to measure mental prowess, able to read fears, able to find weaknesses. It gave her a small advantage, even over her strong, learned teacher. She wasn't able to completely read his mind, but she could sometimes tell what he was feeling by the energy of his ki. "Speaking of the devil," she thought as she felt him approach. She turned slowly, lowering herself to the ground.
Vegeta growled as he looked for the woman. "Look for the Woman!" he repeated for himself, "Not a Saiyan for more than a month, and she already hides most of her ki!" He shook his head, and walked into the back yard, behind the gravity chamber. He heard a wind above him, and looked up into the sunset. There she was, her blue hair flowing in the sunlight, her compact body floating downward toward him, as if she were a gift from above. "Kami..." he gasped to himself, eyes wide at the sight. She approached him slowly, adding to the heavenly affect. His mouth gaped a bit as he watched her, wide-eyed, as she landed before him, softly hitting the ground. She looked at him, and he stared at her, taking in her essence. Her skin was especially luminescent in the sunset, reflecting a gentle orange glow from the departing sun that collided with the blue of her hair and eyes. "Even her eyelashes are blue,..." he noticed absently. Bulma said nothing, but after a moment raised her eyebrow in a look of confusion. Vegeta caught himself. "Damn woman..." he thought again as he closed his mouth and hardened his features. "It is nearing the evening," he said, stating the obvious.
"Obviously," Bulma said pointedly, refusing to be shaken by his previous demeanor. Although he was the teacher, she didn't quite trust him fully...there was always the possibility that he would exploit any sign of weakness. The worst part of it was, somewhere deep inside, she wanted to trust him. She couldn't quite explain why..."It's because he's teaching me," she tried to convince herself, knowing it was much deeper than that. "I suppose I'll stick with the stern façade for now," she thought, not knowing what else to offer.
"There is something that we must do, and it must be done tonight," Vegeta said, drawing her from her reverie. "Come with me." Vegeta looked into her eyes and offered her his open palm. Bulma eyed his hand suspiciously, not quite sure of whether to take it or not. "Woman, take my hand," Vegeta growled, growing impatient. Bulma looked into his face, but did not take his hand. "What is it?" Vegeta exploded, grabbing her shoulders, "Do you fear me?"
"I fear no one."
"Then why won't you take my hand?"
"I don't trust you. Trust and fear, they are different, you know."
"Trust me?? You don't trust me? Why is that? What in Kami have I ever done to earn your distrust, Woman?"
Bulma cast her eyes down. Her first thoughts were of him taking advantage of her weakness for him. "I can't say that," she scorned herself, "We were just using the tactics of battle...he was using my weakness..." Her eyes suddenly returned to his face, and for a moment, she saw disbelief and felt, through his ki, a bit of hurt. It surprised her, but she said evenly, "You fear that I will be better than you, and you'll do anything to stay on top."
What was this? "Damn...," Vegeta thought, "She caught my only fear...I'm training her too well." He lessened his grip on her shoulders and his hands drifted to the sides of her arms, almost tenderly, as he softly said, "Know this, woman. I will never do anything to harm you. Never." He looked deeply into her eyes to show how serious he was.
Bulma was breathless at Vegeta's declaration. "He looks so sincere...I want to trust him so badly," she thought, her mind warring. "Will you come with me?" Vegeta repeated, breaking her train of thought. He held his palm out to her and looked into her eyes. "Like onyx...," she thought, and felt her fingers slip in to meet his. His expression changed; it was a cross between satisfaction, happiness, and that will to keep emotionless, but nonetheless, Bulma noticed it as they flew off into the sunset.
They had been flying for almost an hour at a pace that was close to Bulma's top speed. She was glad she clasped Vegeta's hand after all, for if she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to keep up. She tried to pay attention to the scenery that passed below her, but soon found herself in a new, unrecognizable place. "Vegeta, are we landing soon?" Bulma called, but suddenly felt Vegeta stop and pull her next to him. "Yes, we're landing over there...see?" Vegeta pointed to a large field surrounded by high rocks. "Looks like a good place for a fight..." Bulma chuckled, but Vegeta remained solemn. "Not a fight, woman,...you shall see. Let's land, and I'll explain."
Vegeta touched ground first and looked around. He was very nervous. He looked up to the sky and saw that the time was soon to come. "I better explain quickly," he thought, and walked to where Bulma touched ground. "Bulma," he said, using her name, "let's sit on the ground."
"Okay..." Bulma said shakily. It would have been different if he'd had called her Woman, or even baka...but he used her real name. "This must be serious," she thought.
"Bulma," Vegeta began, "you are Saiyan. By some twist of fate and a dabble in genetics, you have been given the gift of the blood of my race. As of now, you've fulfilled every expectation that a Saiyan should achieve...almost."
"Almost?"
"Yes. There is but one thing that you have yet to do as a Saiyan. And it refers to your tail."
"My tail?" At its mention, Bulma's tail began twitching around nervously.
"Yes, your tail...and the moon. Do you remember seeing Goku transform?"
Bulma's eyes opened widely. "Transform? Transform?? Oh no," she said, dropping her voice as understanding crept into her head. She raised frightened eyes at Vegeta. "I have to transform."
"Yes, you do. And you will. Tonight."
"Tonight? Are you crazy?? I'm not transforming tonight!" Bulma was shaking with dread, remembering the terror she felt the first time she watched Goku turn into a huge, strong monster with enormous power.
Vegeta stood up and pulled Bulma to her feet. Walking behind her, he placed his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder, shocking Bulma, but comforting her at the same time. "You must. I have brought you here so you will not cause much damage...tonight will be overcast except for a small span of time. It will not be long, I assure you. Bulma, trust me. To be fully Saiyan, to understand, you must do this."
Bulma shuddered again. "Vegeta, you don't understand!" Her voice trembled as she turned to look at his profile over her right shoulder. "The first time I saw Goku...Goku...he...we almost died!" She was terrified, and made no attempt to hide it. "Bulma, Bulma..." Vegeta stroked her arms and her back tenderly, then moved his hands to her face. "You must. I will stay till you transform, and I will be here when you return. For now, just look at the moon. It is beautiful tonight..."
"The moon..." Bulma trailed off, becoming transfixed by the luminescent orb that floated above her. "That's it," Vegeta whispered into her ear, "that's it."
He stayed with her as long as he could, but when he felt her body grow tense and begin to sprout hair, he flew at top speeds to the edge of the large circle of rocks, leaving Bulma in the center to find herself in the moonlight. "I hope she'll stay here and not try to go anywhere else," Vegeta thought. He avoided looking at the moon, as he felt it reflect down on him. Instead, he watched Bulma as she transformed. As long as he could remember, when he transformed, he didn't feel nor remember anything. For a while, the same seemed to go for Bulma, until her body began to grow...for she threw her head back and gave a roar that seemed to tell of pain and regret, of sadness and of remorse. Vegeta covered his ears and felt exactly what Bulma was feeling as the sound ripped through the air to meet his body. The shear force of the sound waves blew the tall grass completely horizontal. When the sound had stopped, Vegeta looked up to see a mammoth brown monkey-like creature, gasping and breathing and reeking of power, strength, and angst. It's eyes, oddly enough, were not red, but a blue tone, giving the creature a less evil appearance, replacing the evil with cold. The creature looked soulless as its blue eyes shined and surveyed the surroundings in search of something to destroy. Vegeta cast his eyes quickly toward the sky. "There will only be a few more minutes, then she will be normal again."
He watched as Bulma's transformation pummeled boulders into powder and uprooted oak trees with little effort. He heard the furious bellows as the animal pounded at the rocks, the trees, and the ground, at anything it possibly could. He lowered his ki as low as he possibly could and hid behind the rocks, so as not to bring the monster's wrath out of the circle. "Bulma is in there," he thought, "and I didn't lie when I said I'd never hurt her." His mind clouded for a moment at his embarrassment of his prior expression of how he felt. "I don't think she could tell what I wanted to say, but I know she felt something...Damn her, there's no reason I should feel any differently about her...Kami damn her, though, because I do..." He had tried to tell himself that it was because she was Saiyan, because she was beautiful, because she was anything but the truth...she was connected to him, deeper than anyone could tell. Simply by speaking to him on a daily basis, sharing her thoughts, training with him, she unwittingly earned Vegeta's respect, affection, attraction, and eventually..."Damn her, I love her," he said as he stared at the monster in the field.
The moon finally darted behind the clouds and the creature that was Bulma froze in its place, beginning to shrink back to normal size. Vegeta flew to her side immediately. Her body was tense and her skin was pale in the moonlight as she curled up in a ball on the ground, her transformation finished. Vegeta picked her up and held her closely as the chilled wind brushed over her nude skin. "Clothes," Vegeta groaned as he realized what he forgot. Now he would have to deal with her nudity..."That's a dangerous thought," Vegeta said aloud, and stripped himself of his tee shirt and put it on Bulma. It hit above her knees and covered the rest of her body, but it didn't exactly dismiss the distraction. The woman was curled on his lap, unconsciously grasping around his neck, head resting on his shoulder. He felt her soft skin and brushed her hair off of her face. At his touch, Bulma began to wake..
"V...Ve...Vegeta..." she breathed, beginning to shake again. Her eyes suddenly flew wide open and she found herself looking into the deep black pearls of his eyes, and finding something that she never expected to find there...it was almost foreign...tenderness. She jumped up to her feet, not completely awake, and began pacing. Vegeta was at her side, arm around her shoulder holding her hand. Suddenly, she turned to him and said, "I felt myself changing...it hurt so much... I'm glad I did it, but I never want to do it again."
"She felt the change?" Vegeta questioned in his mind, but chuckled to her, and picked her up. "I think you've done enough for tonight. Let's go home."
So, whaddya think? I titled this chappy "The Transformation", because not only does Bulma have her first monster experience, Vegeta, in his realization of his love for Bulma, transforms into the man she needs him to be...now only if she'll figure it out! How do you like it?
Drop me a review! Please! Pretty please!
Wanna join my mailing list? Specify in your review, place your e-mail address in the review, or e-mail me privately at songbird333@adelphia.net.
As always, thanks, everyone, for the support you've shown me! I luv everyone for it!