Separate Beds

By FireDragon

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A big hug to everyone who has at some point reviewed this story!

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The silence before the Storm

Bulma buried her head under the sofa pillow, her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was blocked and running, she had a sore throat and her head felt fuzzy.

~ God, this flu hits you hard,~ she thought miserably trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep, ~ I can unlock the secrets of an ancient maths equation, but a simple cold gets the better of Bulma Briefs.~

She rolled over on the indigo puffy couch and reached for the remote control, switching on the television made her ears ring but she was too depressed at the moment to care.

Hurricane Catherine has just stuck the northern borders of west city, damage reports show us that

A pretty blonde was saying, Excessive damage has been caused to down town residents, citizens are advised too...

The news report was interrupted by the kitchen door opening, Bulma dear, her mother said, I'm just going to pop down to the chemist to get you something for that sore throat of yours, call if you need anything the numbers on the fridge.

Bulma rolled her eyes, she had long ago memorised all of her friends and families' phone numbers in case of an emergency,

Yes mum, she managed to croak, before snuggling down into the depths of the sofa.

Her mum began to pull the door closed, but then she remembered what she had wanted to say.

Vegeta's outside dear, but he's busy training so I don't think he'll bother you, there is some food in the kitchen if either you or he is hungry.

She smiled a care free smile and pulled the door to, I'll meet up with your father later, and I should imagine that we'll both be back by 7.

Bulma heard the back door slam and then the revving of a car in the drive way, she turned her attention back to the T.V, the pretty blonde had been replaced by a middle aged man who was saying,

And that's all from us, see you soon. Accompanied by a lot of music, Bulma stared at the screen without actually registering anything, she was left in the house alone, Vegeta was outside training, but she was alone with a proved murderer, Bulma groaned and huddled under the blankets so that only the top of her blue head could be seen, she muttered hoarsely, just great.

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Training, Vegeta decided was not for the weak, he was unable to fathom why on earth that weakling Yamcha even dared to try, the same went to those pathetic friends of his.

He expertly dodged a laser beam swung at him by a large (and updated) battle driod, sneering at the machines incapability to catch him he swung at it aggressively venting the moments anger onto the layers of steel micro chips and titanium.

The device crumpled into pieces before his eyes, the moments satisfaction disappeared as it hit the fractured floor with a loud clatter, it was replaced by a cold empty feeling of loneliness.

His wrist itched with a burning sensation that implied that someone or something was pressing a red hot iron into his skin. Pausing from his strenuous activities he turned towards the window, the sky was flecked with grey splodges of cloud and the sun had taken on a watery appearance as though it was to tired to do anything.

A mildly aggressive wind was blowing through the trees, closing his eyes and allowing the noises to calm the pandemonium of emotions going on inside of him, his mind wandered back to his childhood on Vegitisie (however you spell that!) .

The way the wind had blown through the trees of the Imperial palace before.....
He stopped and opened his eyes half in alarm and anguish, the memories were to painful and better left suppressed and he recognised the signs of the weather to be the warning of a.......

His trail of thought was interrupted as his stomach gave a loud rumble in protest of not being fed.
He yanked the gravity door open moodily, furious that they expected to fetch is own meals today.

His wrist began to burn again, the same sensation as he'd had the other night and the night before and the night before that, he didn't want to think about it, this was to much for him to handle.

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~ I wonder why he's like that ? ~ Bulma though staring up at the living room ceiling, there was a large damp patch spreading across the ceiling,
she turned her head towards T.V an old black and white film was playing about ballroom dancing.

~ You think he didn't have a soul, but that's impossible isn't it ? ~ she leaned over to scratch her wrist with a grimace.

She watched the nearest couple waltz across the screen, they moved rhythmically with a simultaneous pulse.
They seemed to be staring into each others eyes with inward content, she wanted to feel that way so often but had never achieved that state of mind.

~ Why not ? ~ she asked herself angrily, ~ What's wrong with Yamcha ? ~
She stood up determinedly, tying her blanket around her waist, flicking her hair out of her eyes and drawing herself up to her full height.
She placed one hand around her invisible partners waist, and the other around his shoulder.

~ I'm sure, ~ she thought confidently, slow dancing with her imaginary accomplice, ~ That all he needs to break down those walls is to know that he's not always alone. ~
She paused in the middle of a twirl to agitatedly scrape at her wrist.

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Vegeta pulled the back door open aggressively, he was hungry and damn him if he should train on an empty stomach, the kitchen was empty, but the lights were on,
~ Were is that annoying woman when you need her? ~ He thought angrily to himself, opening the fridge and peering inside, ~ don't they understand what I'm trying to do? ~

There was a large plate at the bottom of the fridge labelled Vegeta'.

The food was cold and Vegeta was in no mood to heat it up himself.

Fuming he threw the plate on the side board with a clatter, he reached for the kitchen door and aggressively yanked it open with a bang, raising his eyebrows at what he saw inside the sitting room.

Bulma bored of her fluffy prison was now watching a movie with ballroom dancing; she was standing in the middle of the room, with her blanket draped around her waist for a gown, and she dancing with an invisible partner.

There was about a 30 second pause, Vegeta's eyebrows were raised so high that they were disappearing into his hair line,

~ This cold must make her delusional. ~ He thought to himself with some amusement, she was standing frozen with her hands around her imaginary partner looking caught between amusement and embarrassment.

Looking her up and down he began to take everything in about her appearance, she was not wearing any slippers the edge of some small pink toes could be seen underneath the fuzzy border of the blue blanket, accompanied by long legs and a small waist, and her pyjamas had yellow primroses and daises decorating the silky white material.

Her long blue hair was cascading down her small shoulders, it wasn't in any particular style, and in fact it was sticking up in several places, smirking nastily at her he couldn't help thinking that she looked prettier than he had ever seen her before.

Bulma giggled self consciously to herself; she had some sort of idea that she looked ridiculous but at that precise moment she didn't really care.

Her head felt woolly and her thoughts were cloudy, she supposed to herself later, she wasn't sure what made her do it, but laughing she walked across the room to where Vegeta was standing with a skeptic look on his features.

Smiling boldly into his mask like features, she laced her fingers through his and placed one of his hands on her hip and the other on her shoulder.

His eyes drifted awkwardly from her face to where her hands were laced through his, his eyes came to rest on the binding on her left wrist, ~ I wonder if.~ began to think to himself before asking the obvious question.

What are y-? he began to say, by the sound of his voice he obviously thought she was insane, Bulma turned her head towards the T.V to check they were in the correct position, and she began to dance.

The backwards and forwards motion was strangely comforting, his grip was firm without being painful, and she noticed he had a tendency to do that.

Her left wrist still had the bandage on it were he had hurt her the week before, it itched angrily, like it had been doing all week, she had supposed at the time that it was getting better but now she wasn't so sure.

She had noticed that Vegeta also wore a plaster on his left wrist around the same area, although at the time this occurrence didn't seem peculiar.

Grinning, she looked up into Vegeta's face, his mouth wasn't pulling any particular expression, but his eyes seemed to be displaying some sort of inward battle, it almost seemed like pain.

He stopped allowing her to lead him, his arms dropped to his side, motionless.

She began to feel awkward, ~ What on earth am I doing? ~ she wondered to herself, ~ This crazy! ~

His eyes had become emotionless and bitter again, she realised she still had her arms around his waist, she began to move away from him, she never left his eye contact.

As she moved away she saw that something underneath the surface of that cold composure snap and was replaced with a surge of aggression, with one swift movement he had placed both of his hands on her shoulders and had pushed with surprising force in such a swift movement.

Don't touch me woman! he yelled at her as she fell backwards onto the floor, Bulma winced and quickly replaced her physical and emotional pain with rage.

How dare you! she hollered back at his, feeling her cheeks flushing pink, Why the Hell did you do that you jerk? fighting

the tears; which were creeping into her eyes.

He bent over to where she was lying on the floor, those black eyes staring straight back into hers, ~ An empty void. ~ Bulma thought and shivered, he was beginning to unnerve her.

He pulled her left wrist out from behind her back, his eyes never leaving hers he began to undo the bandage that was tied around her left wrist.

The skin under the bandage began to burn with a surprising force, Bulma winced, she tried to pull her hand away but he held it there with little effort.

As the last parts of the binding fell away, she let out an audible gasp when she saw what was lying underneath it.



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Hah! Cliff-hanger, so ppl but I gotta go now, please rd and review.

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