Chapter five – blood

I saw my evil day at hand. The sun rose dim on us in the morning,

and at night it sank in the dark cloud, and looked like a bowl of fire.

~ Black Hawk

Vegeta suppressed a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature. He could see nothing through the smoke, but it was impossible not to pick out the unmistakable sense of an all too familiar ki on the horizon, one that was like a cold metal tang inside his mouth. Somewhere deep inside his mind was screaming at him, but now, nothing was real except the icy knowledge that he was here again, back to finish what he started.

He had recognised the battlefield with a sinking feeling in his heart. The red dirt, the smoke filled air, the screams – all of them were etched in his memory more clearly than any other planet he had been to. This had happened before. The presence of the powerful ki in front of him was confirmation of his fears. He knew what was coming next, and there was no way he could stop it.

Someone was tugging at his arm. Vegeta shook the sensation off irritably, still focused on the approaching menace.

Frieza.

The name echoed around his head, calling out old nightmares brought to life. Memories of pain and humiliation mixed with dread of the all to predictable future, blurring his mind with icy fear. The presence beside him tugged again, harder. Vegeta spun round hand raised to knock the unwelcome interference away, then hesitated. It was a girl.

No, not a girl. A woman, with blue hair and fear written in her eyes.

"Vegeta, what are you doing?" she screamed at him.

Who is she? he wondered. What was she doing here?. A sense of displacement grew in his mind as the woman tugged harder at his arm again This isn't right. I've seen her before somewhere…but where?

She looked desperately into his eyes, urging him to do something. Not move. He couldn't move. He was coming for him, and all Vegeta could do was wait. So why did the strange woman want him to move?

Vegeta opened his mouth to tell the woman to get lost, when he was arrested by her eyes. Deep blue eyes…

"Bulma!" he said suddenly.

Bulma looked irritated. "Who did you think it was, baka? Stop stuffing around! We have to get out of here!"

Bulma. Vegeta stared at her as the memories rushing back. How could he have forgotten?

The onna who had offered him a home at Capsule Corp. They had been arguing, no, fighting in front of Capsule Corp. He had been that fool Yamcha. Then the world had changed, and they were here.

This wasn't real – this was just a dream. He looked around, sensing the presence in the distance, and also three more ki levels, much closer and tinged with the red of blood lust. For a moment he tried to will himself out of the sequence, but to no avail. It seemed as if he would just have to play along with this little dream-trap for now. But that didn't mean it had to go the way he remembered it. He was much stronger now then he had been then. A smirk curved his lips, and he flared his ki, ready for a fight. .

As if in answer to his thoughts, an energy beam shot out of the smoky darkness towards him. Vegeta snapped his head to the side, and it barreled past him to be lost in the darkness. It was immediately followed by a flurry of blows from the first of the three fighters. Vegeta pushed Bulma roughly, the force sending her sprawling to the ground out of his way. With her clear, he could use both hands to defend against the sudden attack. As he was preparing to beat the shit out of the soldier in front of him, a soldier attacked him from behind, drumming a tattoo of blows into his kidneys and spine.

Vegeta leapt into the air and spun, his foot slamming into the throat of the attacking soldier. The man behind him attempted to jump into the air as well in order to meet his attack, but Vegeta was down on the ground beside him before he could take off to gain the added advantage of fighting in the air. Vegeta caught a blow headed towards his stomach, and twisted the man around by his arm, going down on one knee and to drive his elbow into his solar plexus The man staggered, then lunged forward to grab Vegeta's neck in a fatal chokehold. Vegeta pulled his arms down to his side as he surged forward, kneeing him painfully in the groin. This sent him stumbling backwards, gasping in pain. Before he could recover, Vegeta leapt and span in the air again to land a solid kick to the side of his head. The man collapsed like a pole-axed steer. Vegeta darted back from him warily, in case he was merely faking unconsciousness, but the challenge of a fight was pumping adrenaline now through his body, and it felt good.

A cry came from Bulma's direction. Vegeta spun around to see a third fighter with a choke hold on Bulma's neck. She was struggling desperately, but the fighter's superior strength held her in place easily. Her eyes were turned towards him with a hopeless expression in their blue depths. Vegeta started forward with an oath to deal with the soldier when he felt a blow to the back of his neck that drove him to his knees. He rolled as he hit the ground, and came up to see the man he had left behind on his feet, blood oozing from the side of his face where Vegeta's steel-capped boot had hit. Before Vegeta had regained his balance, faster than light the man punched him in exactly the same place, putting the whole force of his body behind it. Vegeta hit the ground with force, displacing earth and rock as he drove into the ground. As he gathered himself to rise, agony lashed through his face and it felt as if the fighter had shattered his cheekbone. There is no pain he told himself, driving his mind to channel away the discomfort until after the battle. He saw the fighter approaching to finish him off, and instinctively went into a tuck position. He grabbed hold of the fighter's arms as he leant down and used his feet to propel him over himself and onto his back. Vegeta rose onto one knee, and fired a small shot of ki that hit the fighter in the stomach. The man collapsed, blood coughing out of his mouth, and died. Vegeta let himself breathe for a moment, when am image of Bulma sprung to his mind. He whirled around. The third man had dragged Bulma a little distance away, and now had the woman on the ground, groping viciously at her waistband. Bulma was trying ineffectually to beat him off with her arms, but he simply batted them away. When a chance blow caught him on the cheek, he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head, ripping the flimsy fabric of her shorts from her body his other hand.

A red mist covered Vegeta's eyes at the sight, and he sprang towards the pair faster than thought. With one blow, he kicked the soldier on the chest, forcing his neck to snap back with the sickening sound of crunching bone. Another savage kick tossed the now limp body away from Bulma's quivering form lying helpless on the ground.

Bulma's eyes were screwed tight, and fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Angry red scratches were visible down the side of her face, and on her legs and stomach where the fighter had ripped away her shorts. Her lower clothing was in shreds, and Vegeta felt a strange twisting inside as he looked at her injured form. The sight of her bruised and violated body triggered a reaction inside his head. For a moment, he could see another vision superimposed over Bulma. A small dark haired boy, curled on his side, trembling with fear and shame.

He crouched down beside her, carefully avoiding touching her as he waited. She didn't move, almost rigid on the ground with terror. Precious seconds passed, and Vegeta could hear more of the rampaging soldiers draw closer to their position. Common sense told him that he should leave the girl and get the hell out of here. The fighters that were coming were above average, and while he could handle them, they had numbers in their favour. It was putting himself in serious danger to remain here. Yet still he waited, unmoving beside the shivering body of the blue haired woman. His instincts screamed at him to run, but another deeper instinct told him it was more important for him to stay. His mind flickered back, an unpleasant memory that lay just out of reach. Of crying, alone in the dark, shame clawing at him in a way that somehow hurt more than the marks on his body.

His mind flinched away from the memory, and he was suddenly aware that Bulma had relaxed. Her eyes were open now, and she was looking at him, terror still etched on her face.

"Are…is he gone?" she asked him, her voice barely more than a whisper. He nodded slowly. She sat up, her hands going protectively to the remains of her clothing, trying to cover herself back up. Vegeta stood and turned away, using his senses to detect the presence of the enemy. They were close, perhaps too close for them to escape.

"Get up," he said to Bulma over his shoulder. "We must leave now."

Bulma struggled to her feet, warned by the underlying current of tension in his voice. However, as she stood up, her pants fell down. With a squeal, Bulma tried to pull them up again, but the flimsy cotton of her shorts had been ripped like paper by her assailant. Vegeta watched her efforts for a moment, then scowled in frustration. Modesty was not something they could afford right now. He was uncomfortably aware of the familiar ki on the horizon.

Striding over to the body of the dead soldier, he stripped the loose pants from his body, and offered them wordlessly to Bulma. She recoiled as if he had handed her a snake.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"Change into these."

"I'm not wearing those!" she said disgustedly. "They've got blood on them."

"Its either that or you go as you are," Vegeta told her impatiently.

Bulma tried once more to adjust her shorts so that they covered her body decently, then gave up and grabbed the pants Vegeta still held out towards her. She stood there, holding them at arms length as if she was afraid they would bite her. Vegeta glared at her.

"Why are you just standing there? Did you lose your wits as well as your pants?"

"I am not wearing a dead man's clothes!"

"At the moment, you are not wearing anyone's clothes. Fastidiousness is a luxury. Hurry up and change, onna. We must leave."

Bulma went red. "Well I'm NOT getting changed with you here!"

Vegeta looked at her scornfully. "I suppose you think it is a better idea for me to leave so more soldiers can come back and finish the job." He snorted. "Fine, then, if that's what you want." He turned and made as if to leave.

Bulma flushed. "I didn't mean that!" she said. "Just… at least turn around or something, okay?"

Vegeta scowled at her until she made it clear that she wouldn't move until he turned around. Rolling his eyes at what he saw as an illogical waste of time, he turned around and studied the horizon. Behind him he could hear Bulma rip the rest of her shorts off and throw them away. He felt a sudden urge to turn around. Memories of her body as he had seen it that quick second as he disposed of her attacker flashed before his mind, and he flushed slightly, glad that Bulma couldn't see him. Ruthlessly he squashed his unruly thoughts, and concentrated instead on searching for any ki signatures within his radius. Away to the north he could feel the presence of a small band of fighters, their aura's tinged with blood lust. They were approaching rapidly, and Vegeta cursed the delay. The two of them should have been out of here as soon as he had killed the third fighter. Now, the soldiers were possibly too close for him to be able to avoid confrontation, dragged down as he was by the presence of Bulma.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he thought rapidly, then he gave a mental shrug. What happened here could not hurt him, as long as he remembered that this was a dream. He would have to keep the onna with him in order to retain his memories. Vegeta was still dismayed to realise how close he had been to succumbing to the suggestions of fear in the memory. No, he couldn't leave Bulma behind now, lest he lose control over his mind completely. A tiny voice in the back of his mind whispered that maybe he had another reason for keeping her close, but he ignored it.

The sense of Frieza's presence was still on the horizon. Vegeta decided to avoid that confrontation at least. He was much stronger now than he had been, but something told him he wasn't ready to meet Frieza again just yet.

Vegeta turned again to see Bulma, decently clothed now, even if the pants were way to big for her and the rip in her shirt caused it to hang open at the neck, displaying a pretty white shoulder. Bulma noticed his gaze, and self consciously pulled her shirt up so that it covered her upper arm.

"Well, are we going to get out of here, or what?"

For reply, Vegeta picked her up and flared his ki, taking off swiftly into the sky. Bulma squealed at the suddenness of it, her arms reflexively clinging to his neck tightly. Vegeta sped up, and her arms spasmed, almost choking him.

"Stop that," snapped Vegeta. "I wont drop you."

Obediently, loosened her death hold a little bit, so he could at least breathe properly. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and he noted with satisfaction that her shirt had slipped down again, and was dangerously close to falling off altogether. He smirked. So much for modesty.

~*~*~*~

Jalen swore.

"We almost had him!"

It was frustrating. Vegeta had been so close to succumbing to the mind-trap when the presence of Bulma in her present-day form had triggered his memory. Now, Vegeta was aware of the trap, and it most probably wouldn't be long before he figured out a way to break free. Jalen sat in front of the monitor, his hand hovering over the disconnection switch. Something was definitely wrong with his plan. Remmy had confined Vegeta to the world of Athus, but his physique had not changed. Vegeta's morphic memory should have asserted itself once he was inserted in the timeline, but the no ouji still appeared to be his adult self.

It was that damn woman, he decided. Bulma had somehow managed to follow Vegeta as Remmy had jumped to his mind. While she was still with him, it would be impossible for Vegeta to be completely taken into the dream, for she would act as a constant reminder that what passed was not real. No, they had to find a way to separate the two of them, or Vegeta would break free of the tenuous grasp Remmy held over his consciousness before they had the evidence they needed.

Jalen looked over at Remmy, who was staring into nothing with an intent expression on his dog-like face, concentrating on the mind link he was maintaining with the saiyan. If only the woman would stray far enough away from Vegeta that he could disconnect her from the mind-trap.

"Remmy, can you hear me?"

A long ear twitched in acknowledgement, the creature being too preoccupied with his mental labours to spare time for a proper reply.

"Listen. That damn woman is triggering his memory. At this rate, he is going to will himself out of the dream before he finds Alaria. You need to find a way to separate them. Can you do that?"

Remmy's expression grew pained, but he flicked an ear in affirmation anyway.

"Good boy," Jalen said warmly. "The sooner we do this, the sooner we can find out what he did to Alaria. That is all that matters."

~*~*~*~

Vegeta alighted in a clearing beside a small brown creek a safe distance away from the battle. He dropped Bulma unceremoniously on the ground as soon as his feet touched the earth. She scrambled to her feet, annoyed at his manner and opened her mouth to berate him again, when she caught sight of his cheek properly for the first time.

"Vegeta, what happened to your face?" she said instead, appalled. His cheek was lacerated where the soldier had hit him, and blood was dripping from his jaw to soak into his uniform. Vegeta looked round at her, then raised his hand to touch his face, as if he had only just realised he was hurt. Scowling, he wiped his arm across his cheek to mop up the blood, unable to control a grimace at the pain of touching it.

"You have to clean that or it will get infected." Bulma looked around helplessly for a moment, then reached down and tore a strip of fairly clean cloth from the bottom of her shirt. She blushed when the rip went a little too high, but now wasn't the time to be concerned about that. Running over to soak the cloth in the creek, she returned and went up to Vegeta, raising her arm to his face to try and clean it.

What happened next came to fast for her to register. Vegeta caught her wrist before it had even travelled halfway. His fingers tightened, and she dropped the cloth with a cry. Abruptly he released her, and caught the cloth before it could fall in the dirt. Shoving her slightly, he stepped back.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he said, anger in his voice.

"What is the matter with you?" said Bulma, irritated. "I was going to try and clean that cut on your cheek."

Vegeta scowled. "Dont touch me, onna," he said curtly. "I can take care of myself."

"No, you can't," said Bulma. "Your cheek needs proper cleaning or it will get infected, and you can't do that without a mirror. Which, may I remind you, we are in short supply of right now."

The sound that came out of Vegeta's throat was close to a growl. "I can take care of myself!" he said loudly.

"No, you can't!" yelled Bulma back at him. "Now swallow your stupid pride and let me help you."

"I don't need your help!"

Bulma sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine, Mr Independant. Consider it as returning a favour then."

"For what?" he snapped, clearly still suspicious.

"For saving my life back there, baka! Or has the injury muddled your brains so much that you dont remember our little scuffle with the soldiers."

Vegeta fell silent, his eyes narrowed as he stared at her. Bulma brought herself to meet his gaze, determined she would win this fight. Their eyes met in a contest of wills, and Bulma was startled to see the emotions battling in his dark eyes. She maintained the gaze while marveling to herself that anyone could ever describe Vegeta as unemotional. His face was as expressionless as ever, but the depth of fire in his eyes was breathtaking.

Carefully, without breaking eye contact, she reached forward for the cloth. He let her take it this time without argument. Reminded of why they were fighting, she tore her gaze from his, and concentrated on his injury. The abrasion on his face was large, and Bulma was alarmed to see dirt embedded in the wound, along with a mass of dried blood. She found a clean cloth, and gently applied it to his face. She looked up at him swiftly, expecting an exclamation of some kind. The alcohol must have burned his hand cruelly, but he didn't make a sound. Obscurely encouraged by his silence, Bulma gingerly began dabbing at the laceration, trying to clean away most of the dried blood and dirt. A muscle jumped in his cheek, but otherwise he made no sound. Bulma felt her respect for the saiyan go up a notch. Yamcha would have been rolling around on the ground screaming by now. Vegeta merely sat there, apparently ignoring the pain as he stared into her eyes.

She finished cleaning it, and, satisfied that infection would not set in, she rinsed out the cloth in the creek. Coming back at last, Bulma looked up again and saw that his eyes were still on her. There was an indecipherable expression on his face.

She looked down at the ground, then back up at him. "Thank you," she said softly. "For saving me back there. I..I thought that he had…that he would…"

Vegeta cut her off by reaching out and touching her face, lightly tracing the long scratches left by her assailant. Bulma shivered under his touch, then scolded herself for reacting so.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low and unusually soft. "He didn't."

"I know."

Vegeta continued to stroke her face, and Bulma could not control the shiver this time. His fingers were warm and soft against her skin. Bulma wondered about that fleetingly, then remembered his ever present white gloves. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest as he gazed at her, his eyes a mix of curiousity and something else. Impulsively she leaned into his caress, stepping forward closer to him.

"Well, isnt this cozy," came a cold voice from behind them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh-oh! Next time in Aishiteru, Bulma and Vegeta get split up, which does not bode well for Vegeta's memory. Will Vegeta be able to maintain his mind, or will the dream drive him crazy? And will we finally get to meet Alaria? Find out in the next chapter of Aishiteru. ^_^

Yay! Two chapters in two days ^_^ Special thanks to outtadaloop, DBZ Fanfiction Queen Bebi_Mara_Jade and Lilac Cherry Blossoms for reviewing the last chapter. Here's the next one for you. Expect chapter six on Wednesday ^_^ Til then, hasta luego!