Disclaimer: I do not own any part of DBZ.

Chapter 18: Pains of Passion

Vegeta watched as Bulma left for the mall.

'Now to get back to my training,' he thought.

He entered the Gravity Room and set the controls to gradually increase in increments of 50x Earth's normal gravity, topping off at 500x. By the time it reached 350x, the sweat was pouring off his brow. Vigorously, he punched and kicked the air, trying to relive some of the pent up frustration that was building inside him

Bulma raced off to the mall, first stop was the stationary shop. After encapsulating her car, she bee lined it to the store. As she walked in, she spotted Abigail behind the counter. She motioned for Bulma to come over there. When Bulma reached the counter, Abigail had pulled out an elegant cream colored box.

"Hello, Abigail. Are my invitations and such ready?," asked Bulma.

"Yes, Ms. Briefs. Everything is in this box."

She lifted the lid off the box, revealing what was inside. Everything from the invitations, to the envelopes, to the Thank You cards were in there. Bulma pulled one of the invitations out and looked at it:

Time has changed so many things

One thousand years of the past

But it never touched the power

Of a true love meant to last

Bulma Briefs

And

Prince Vegeta

Request the honour of your presence

At their marriage

On April 22

At 10:00 a.m.

Capsule Corporation main grounds

"It's absolutely beautiful," she exclaimed.

She then pulled out one of the envelopes that the invitation would go in. On the front of it was the crest. The outline was in the shape of an oval. It was divided in half horizontally. On the top was a crown, on the bottom was the great ape. The outline was gold with a black background. Each emblem was also in gold.

"Perfect."

Abigail rang up the total, "That will be $450.00."

Bulma swiped her debit card through the reader, signed her receipt and then thanked the more than friendly sales lady. Before leaving the store, she pulled out one of the invites and filled it out addressed to Angelo. Now it was time to go get the wedding clothes and accessories.

Bulma walked into the store, noticing the beautiful blue evening gown in the window. The color of it matched her radiant dark blue hair and eyes. She had to have it. Angelo had been in the back supply room. When he returned to the front of the store, he saw Bulma ogling the dress. Before she could see him, he slipped back to the supply room. Flipping through several of dresses done in that same style, he came across one in her size. Of course, he found shoes to match as well. He snuck back up front, this time, she saw him.

"Hey, Angelo, Whatcha up to, no good?"

"You know it. I guess you're here for clothes?"

"Yep."

"I'll be right back," he said as he turned and left once more for the supply room.

As Bulma waited she started noticing she was becoming very tired and hungry. She would be glad to get home. Normally, she could out shop the best of them, not today though.

Angelo emerged with several plastic wrapped hangers. She walked over to the display rack where he placed them.

"OK, I believe everything is in order. First, here is the wedding gown."

She looked at it closely. All alterations had been done. Next, she examined his cape. It was stunning, and on him it would be even more so.

"OK, looks like everything is…..wait, what is this. Angelo, I didn't tell you that I wanted this dress."

"I saw you looking at it as you came in just now. Please accept it as a gift for the bride."

She threw her arms around him.

"Thank you, thank you so much. I absolutely love it. By the way, I have something for you."

"What might that be?"

She reached in her purse and pulled out the invitation. She handed it to him.

"Go ahead open it. It's just an invitation to the wedding. Remember, I said you were invited."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Well, gotta go. I'll see you there."

Bulma took the hangers and carefully encapsulated them. Thank Kami for her inventions. She exited the mall, popped the capsule containing her car. After she climbed in, she sped off to Capsule Corp.

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After a couple of hours of rigorous training, it was time for a break. He walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. He was so thirsty that he downed the bottle in one big gulp. He leaned back against the counter, again allowing his thoughts to take over.

'There was a 50/50 chance it would work. It was worth the risk, after all, her happiness was worth it.'

He turned to the fridge, opened the door and grabbed out several items to make him some sandwiches. After he ate, he wanted to relax a little. He went in the living room area and laid down on the couch, a short nap before his afternoon training would be good.

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Bulma entered the main house at CC finding her mother sitting at the kitchen table. The poor woman liked to have had a heart attack when she saw her daughter.

Rushing over to Bulma, and throwing her arms around her she said, "Are you alright? We've been so worried about you?"

"I'm fine, mom. Where's dad?"

"Are you sure your OK? You look tired, dear."

"Yes, mom, I'm sure. So, where's dad?"

"He's out in his lab."

Bulma having had to pry herself free from her mother's grip, took off in the direction of the labs. She turned and yelled out to her mother, "We'll talk more later."

She entered her father's lab and found him working on some new serva bots.

"Hi, daddy."

"Hey, pumpkin. How you feeling?"

"I'm Okay."

"So what happened? Vegeta said you had collapsed from exhaustion."

Trying to find a good response, her genius brain kicked in.

"I guess it's from all of the wedding plans, the new house, you know just everything."

She thought, 'That sounded pretty good.'

Then her father asked the inevitable.

"So, why didn't he just put you in the regeneration tank? I would have thought that would have worked better than anything."

'Damn, he has a point. What am I going to say now?'

Just then Vegeta walked in.

"What are you doing here Vegeta?," she asked.

"I came to inform the old man that his regeneration tanks are broken and need to be fixed."

Bulma stood there thinking, 'Boy, isn't that a co-inky dink.'

"You know, we were just discussing that. Why didn't you just put me in the tanks to recoup.?"

"Because woman, I just said they were not operational."

Something didn't seem right to Bulma, but she decided now was not the time to pursue this.

Dr. Briefs spoke up, "I'll be up after diner to have a look. Can't be too serious, they're fairly simple machines."

"Very well," was Vegeta's only response.

He turned and walked out of the lab, glancing back briefly to see her.

'It won't be long now. I should know soon if it worked,' he thought.

If she hadn't known better, she thought he had stopped to look at her.

'I must be tired. Now I'm imagining things.'

"Well, daddy, I'm leaving. I'm going to see if mom's got anything to snack on."

"Take care sweet pea. The big day is just around the corner."

Bulma walked back to the kitchen, by now she felt like she could eat a horse. Her mother noticed the strange look on her daughter's face.

"Bulma, dear, are you okay?"

All Bulma could think about was food. So much so, that she didn't even hear her mother. She walked over to the fridge and opened the door. There on a plate were three huge beef roasts, they were to be cooked later for diner. She could not control herself. She reached in and grabbed one of the pieces of raw meat. She sank her teeth into it, tearing it to shreds, devouring every last piece before grabbing a second one. She was not satisfied until all three roasts were gone. She licked the blood covering her hands and arms like a cat cleaning itself after a meal.

Bulma's mother looked at her in shock. What was wrong with her daughter? She knew of the previous incident that had initiated the change in her hair, eyes and other features. But this was different. This was not normal. Bulma looked up and noticed the way her mother was staring at her.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Bulma, do you realize that you just ate three whole raw beef roasts?"

Actually, Bulma had not gave it a second thought until her mother said something about it. A look of fright washed over her face. She ran out the door screaming, "What is wrong with me?"

She ran for quiet a ways before finally stopping to catch her breath. She bent over placing her hands on her knees, her breathing was very erratic. Suddenly a pain pierced her stomach. She grabbed her stomach, wrapping both arms around her mid section. As she fell to her knees, she let out a blood curdling scream. She lay there collapsed on the ground, unable to move.

A/N: Evil laughter fills the room, MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Boink! Hey watch it!

Splat! Hey quit throwing vegetables.-- Sorry for the cliffy, will try to have next chapter up soon. TTFN!