Tenshi and Akuma

Chapter 12

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Disclaimer: I own everything; worship me! No, really... I don't own anything... T.T

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It had been four days. Bulma sat upright on her bed, staring at the wall in front of her. Anyone who had seen her could safely say that she would have memorized every curvature, design and crease in the wall's design, but in all honesty, she hadn't. She hadn't been staring at the wall, but straight through it rather. Her eyes had long-since glazed over and it was as if the wall wasn't even there. She hadn't slept, she hadn't eaten. When she was not crying, she was simply glaring into space.

Her parents and her friends were worried sick about her. They feared her mourning over the death of Vegeta would kill her, as well. Her door creaked open and her mother stepped inside quickly.

"Bulma?" she questioned, holding a tray with a bowl of soup in her hands. Her daughter's eyes did not show any recognition nor did she move an inch. She sighed and walked up to the bed where Bulma was sitting. She sat the tray down on the bedside table and shook her daughter gently. Bulma slowly looked up, shaking ever so slightly.

"Here, eat something or you'll become ill!" her mother chirped, trying to sound cheerful for Bulma. The blue-haired angel shook her head, muttering that she wasn't hungry.

"But you haven't eaten in four days!"

Bulma shrugged. "Neither has he."

Her mother knew who 'he' was and she shivered with an uncomfortable feeling washing over her. "Honey, I could never know how you must feel, but starving yourself won't bring Vegeta back."

Bulma scowled. "I don't care if I starve to death, mother."

"Don't say that! I'm sorry he died, but I don't want you to die, too!" She was taken aback when her daughter stood angrily.

"You don't know! You don't understand!" Bulma screamed. Her mother sighed sadly and nodded.

"You're right, I don't," she said quietly, looking down. She heard her daughter sob painfully. She looked forward to see Bulma with her face in her hands, crying quietly. The Prodigal One sank to the ground and banged her fist on the floor.

"It's all my fault... I just want him to come back, mom!"

The older angel held back a sob of her own and crouched down next to her daughter and pulled her close. "I know you do." Bulma buried her head into her mother's chest and cried.

~*~

Juunanagou stood as Bulma's mother entered the room. "How is she?" he asked concerned.

"She mourns a great amount," she replied slowly. Juunanagou looked down sadly.

"I wish there was something we could do to make her feel better." He groaned. He pounded his fist into the coffee table and the glass top shattered to pieces. He smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I'll get you a new one," he said apologetically. Bulma's mother smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's okay, dear." They both look up sharply as Bulma's door opened and she silently stepped out. No one questioned her as she went to the door. They knew she needed some air and time to herself.

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Vegeta's father carried his son's eternally-sleeping body into the small temple which was lit dimly by a few candles. Turles, Radditz, Kakkarot and a few other A Class demons followed him inside, their heads bowed low in both respect and sorrow. The older man gently set his son down upon the stone tablet in the center of the room. Radditz handed forth Vegeta's sword and it was placed in Vegeta's hands upon his chest.

"Why?" his father asked in disgust. "Why would you kill yourself over that... that angel, Vegeta?!" He shook his head and about-faced to leave the temple. Turles watched him leave before walking up to Vegeta's temple. Only the most sacred and powerful of demons were given their own temple upon their death. And only the cream of the crop had a stone tablet to lay upon through their trip to the Underworld and throughout the rest of their eternal slumber. Vegeta was one in a million for each temple-receiver before him had been buried in their temple, their bodies hidden from everyone, after their deaths.

"Vegeta..." Turles trailed off, running his hand over the magnificent sword. He closed his eyes sadly and walked out of the temple. Kakkarot took one last glance at Vegeta before stumbling out of the temple with his head down. Radditz watched them go before finally approaching the stone tablet.

"Hey, buddy," he whispered, patting his cousin -- and best friend's -- arm. "Unlike those buffoons, I understand why you did what you did. Women are such enigmas, yeah?" He chuckled to himself and kneeled down in front of the tablet which sat up three feet. He rested his arms on it and put his head inside his folded arms.

"I just wish it wasn't you, man. You... and those stupid brothers of mine... are the only people I could really trust in this world. These demons will stab you right in the fucking back if it's convenient for them, you know?" He looked up at Vegeta's silent form and the corner of his lip raised.

"I wish there was something I could do to bring you back. It's almost impossible to do though when a demon or angel dies, it seems..." he trailed off pathetically. He cocked his head to the side. "But even if you did magically wake up, you'd be back at square one. I know you didn't want to kill her, did you?"

For some reason, Radditz was extremely disappointed that Vegeta wasn't answering him. He bonked himself on the head. "Duh, Radditz, he can't answer you," he muttered to himself sarcastically. He looked at the open door to the temple as he heard soft footsteps. His eyes widened in shock and he quickly stood.

"What are you doing here? How'd you get past the guards?" he questioned, still recovering from his surprise. He sighed at the dry stain marks on the girl's face.

"Turles and Kakkarot helped me," she replied quietly and put her head down. She suddenly felt very out of place. Radditz seemed to notice this.

"Bulma, is it? Come over here," he told her and motioned for her to join him by the tablet which held Vegeta's body. She slowly walked over and a tear which turned into a diamond tumbled down her creamy cheek. Radditz glanced at the diamond and absently thought that she must be rich with all of the crying she had probably done by now. She paid the jewels no heed, however.

She gently ran her fingertips over his lips. She then brought her fingers up, kissed them, then returned them to his cold lips. Suddenly, she broke down into tears. She covered her face as she mourned the loss of her loved one. Radditz looked away uncomfortably.

"I'll let you alone," he said before leaving the temple.

"Why'd you go, Vegeta?" Bulma whispered, not even realizing that Radditz had left. She stood up from her curled up place upon the ground and laid down on the stone tablet next to him. "I miss you..."

She glanced in his hands at the wonderous sword once again. "You died by this sword for me." She ran her fingertip over the blade; it drew blood. She sat up on the tablet and stared at the sword as if in a trance. The angel slowly removed it from his grasp and turned it every which way in her hands. Its long, sharp blade gleamed in the sunlight seeping in through the entrance way.

Bulma looked upon Vegeta's closed eyes again before returning her gaze to the sword. "Maybe we'd have a chance in the afterlife," she murmured as she got a firm grip on the sword. She shakily raised it up into the air, the blade pointing diagonally down. Swiftly, the Prodigal One plunged the blade deep into her stomach. She cried out in agony before falling lifelessly on top of her love. The sword tumbled to the ground.

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Radditz, Kakkarot and Turles all looked up in unison as they heard a scream of pain come from within the temple. They looked at each other and seemed to think the same thing. They each darted inside, scared of what they had a feeling they would find. Kakkarot was the first to enter and he gasped.

"Oh... my..." Turles trailed off, his eyes scanning the crimson liquid which seeped out from beneath Bulma and Vegeta's bodies and onto the stone floor. Radditz looked down and shook his head in pity. It was a shame it had to be this way.

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Bulma's mother shot awake in her bed as a searing pain ripped through her stomach. "BULMA!" she screamed. Her husband awoke as she fled the bed and ran out the door. She focused on her daughter's lifeforce, but was devastated to realize that she could not find it. It didn't exist anymore.

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I bet you REALLY want to kill me now, don't you? ^^; Don't despair yet! I think it's somewhat obvious of how this fic will end; some of you have even guessed already. However, nobody has guessed on how I plan on going about it exactly. So stay tuned for the next chapter; it will be the last.