I hope this chapter satisfies all of you who were so irritated with the stopping point I had selected. Enjoy!
Say, did anyone figure out what I had changed in Chapter 1? I haven't had any bites yet, so seriously, if you know, you could get a custom-tailored story out of it.
*----------*----------*
Bulma turns to me and, twisting her still-held arms out of her way, leans into me, kissing me. Shocked, I can only stand frozen as she moves her lips against mine. Finally, after too long and too short of a time, she pulls away and shouts up the corridor, "If all monkeys are as good as he is, then yes!"
Our watchers howl with glee, and, thankfully, the one seems to drop the conversation. I do hear another yell, "I knew that she was protesting too hard!"
"What are you doing?" I growl at her once I've recovered.
"Playing up," she whispers with a giggle.
"Well, don't!" I hiss at her. "This is hard enough for me as it is!"
Anger flares into her eyes and face, but a second later only her eyes show her temper; her face is turned up in a seductive smile. "Sorry I'm not good enough for you, Prince!" she hisses.
I'm suddenly very tired of this protracted game, and want only to bull through it and be done. I release her arms and scoop her up into a carry, then dump her on the bed. Putting my body between her and our watchers, I lie down and cover us both with a blanket.
"You're still wearing your armor," she says and reaches for the buckle on it.
"You're not helping!" I growl as loudly as I dare at her. "We need to delay as long as we can."
"But they have to buy it too," she answers softly, undoing the straps. "So off goes the armor."
Disgruntled, I toss the armor across the cave, listening to it clack into the darkness. "Happy?"
"Gloves too, and then I will be," she murmurs to me, running her hands over my shoulders.
"Woman," I moan and she looks at me sharply, obviously startled by the dual pleading and warning in my voice.
For a second, I think she'll relent, but then she grabs the middle finger of each glove and yanks on them. "Gloves off!" she insists as they slide away from my hands. I could have stopped them, but I seem powerless to protest her desire to remove the clothing between us. I try to remember that she's just playing, but the desire that is building in me is too great. To help my temptation, I dig my fingers into the mattress, feeling them sink in to the first knuckle.
Next, she reaches up and touches my hair. I hold myself still, afraid to move or start anything. If I touch her, I might lose control. If I don't, I may go mad. "Interesting texture," she murmurs as she runs her fingers through it. "Stiffer than Goku's."
The mention of Kakkarot's hated earth-name makes me tremble with jealously. "How do you know what his hair feels like?" I snarl angrily, visions of her rubbing her fingers over his locks as she is doing to mine now dance in my mind.
She rolls her eyes at me. "I met him when he was barely out of diapers. He needed a bath and had never been introduced to soap. Chill," she answers. She leans up and sniffs my shoulder. "But you bathe. You smell like home."
"I use your parents' soap," I answer, trying to remove the heat from my voice.
"And like I've been curious about your hair, I've also been curious about this," she murmurs, and kisses me again. I want to break it; we are on uncharted ground now and I don't know where it is going. But the pretense is needed, and I let her continue to kiss me – not true. I join the kissing with an zeal born of long-held desire and need.
She pulls back from me, a content smile on her face. "And the third thing has been satisfied too," she murmurs, and I frown down at her.
"What?"
"This," she hisses, and thrusts her hips against me. I had known that I was aroused by her touch, but such an intimate movement takes my breath away with a gasp. "You are a red-blooded male, you seemingly cold-hearted prince."
"You belong to Yamcha," I growl, surprising myself with my continued chivalry.
"I thought that you might take advantage of this situation," she murmurs, quirking an eyebrow at me.
I blink at her, unsure of what to make of that statement. "Not really, woman," I say, somehow keeping my voice flat and calm.
Anger flares again in her eyes, and she snaps, "Sorry I'm not a Saiyan, Your Majesty! Sorry that I'm just a lowly human, Your Highness! Sorry that you can barely stand to touch me, Your Ass-ness!"
Every word is exciting me; every snarl is a come-on. With a growl, I kiss her and roll her under me again, my hands stroking her sides as the small part of me that still has control is careful where I touch her.
"Vegeta," she whispers when I stop, her voice trembling slightly as she strokes my hair. She doesn't say anything more, and I notice the distant ki signatures, closing on our location.
"Scream, woman," I hiss. "The others are closing, and I want you to provide a distraction for them."
Bulma throws her head back and screams wordlessly as I thrust my clothed hips against hers under the blankets; I can only imagine how bad this would look to Yamcha. The hoots from the watchers climax and now I hear the discussions of bets.
The cave entrance explodes with sudden light, and I cradle Bulma beneath me as much as possible. When the burning and the rumbling ends, I yank her up and push her toward the ladder, yelling, "Climb out and hide! We'll find you after!"
I take only long enough to see that she is obeying me before I turn toward the battle, an eager grin covering my face. I see Kakkarot blasting away at the bulk of the Tr'dalack while his brat is covering his back, his face tight with concentration. I have only time to see Krillan and Piccolo fighting side-by-side when I hear Bulma scream behind me. I twist and dash back to her.
She is wrapped in a curtain of living shadow, and I curse as I belatedly recognize a Kriskark, the legendary Shadow-wraithes. Insubstantial creatures of darkness, they don't fully exist in this world, which makes them hard to hit. Sometimes they are there when your fists touch them; sometimes they are not there, and your strike passes through them harmlessly like through smoke. The best way to fight them is with an area attack, but he's holding Bulma within him.
I see her form go fuzzy and insubstantial in the dark cloudiness of the Kriskark's body; I know that some of the old legends claim that Kriskarks can pull people into their shadow-land with them. "Bulma!" I shout, as I realize that the old legends must be true. With horror, I realize that I don't know how to stop it, or how to save her.
I do the only thing that comes to mind; I leap for her fading body, reaching for her through the creature. For a horrible second, I think that I'm too late, that I've passed through them both, when one of my reaching hands grabs what feels like a cotton shirt. I close my hand and pull it toward me, grabbing the body within when it reaches me.
It is Bulma, shaking and screaming as the forces of the Kriskark rip at her, trying to remove her from this world. "Hold on!" I scream to her. "Don't let go of me!" And I focus on keeping in touch with the earth as I cling to her, and she to I.
I think of her mostly; she is the only thing of joy to be found here for me. I picture her standing in front of the unfinished gravity room, her face set in a proud scowl as the sun lights her hair with highlights of blue flame. I envision her bouncing down the stairs, her face beaming as she greets someone – I pretend it is me. I see her bent over her computer, her face as focused and serious as any warriors' in battle. And I see her, safe, here on her home.
The world breaks into painful shards, and Bulma and I scream together as the world fades further for both of us. I do the only thing I can think of, my last resort; I pour chi into my aura, pulling up and releasing energy as fast as I can. The world shatters again, but it seems closer, as suddenly my vision flashes with gold. I feel my power soar, but I relentlessly shove it out, pulling more from within, desperate in a way that I have never been before. The world fragments again in a blinding sparkle of gold, and I release all of my power in one mighty blow.
All is dark, but I can feel her in my arms, and that is all that matters. I try to blink, but I realize that my eyes are shut; opening them, I see the cave. Did I do it? I try to move, but my arm refuses, feeling as if I have no strength. Suddenly a hand grabs my shoulder and pulls me onto my back, and my fear for Bulma finds the strength to raise my hand, glowing with a tiny amount of chi power.
Kakkarot throws his hands into the air and says, "Whoa, Vegeta! I'm just trying to help you."
"I don't need your help," I grind out, ashamed to hear how weak my voice sounds. Bulma is cold and still, and I only know she is alive because her heart beats against my chest. "Can you get her out of my way? Her weak body probably needs a doctor."
"And you don't," Krillan says from behind Kakkarot. His tone is sarcastic.
I ignore him as Kakkarot lifts her out of my arms. Then, staring at Krillan, I pull myself to my feet. "No, I don't," I say pointedly. My voice sounds stronger, too.
"You came close," Kakkarot says suddenly, nodding at me. "Next time, you'll have it."
I sneer at him, but my heart jumps with hope. There is only one thing that he can mean.
"You saved her!" Kakkarot's brat shouts with a grin. "You're a hero, Vegeta."
I glare at him, prepared to put him in his place, when Krillan speaks up. "I guess you are, at that," he says. "Thanks for saving my friend." His voice is reluctant, but there is gratitude there, too.
I snort derisively and stomp away to the battle-torn cave entrance. But the brat's words ring in my head, "You saved her!", and I can feel nothing but relieved pride, and a bone-deep tiredness that I haven't felt since I was a child.
A shadow falls over me. I look up with a sense of trepidation, expecting to see Montidulein or one of his men. All that fills my vision is the business end of a chi blast. I raise my arm to snap it away, but I can tell before I've begun to move that I'm going to be too slow. My existence flares into a blinding, burning heat, and then all is dark.
When I wake up, she is gone.
*----------*----------*
End of Part I – tune in again for the exciting Part II!
