Chapter Forty-One: I was only worried
Authors notes: I NEED FANART!! ^_^ If anyone out there would like to be really nifty and extra-kewl and do a 'Time enough to be with you' fanart (of anyone/anything you like!) I would LOVE IT! I would post it on my website, as my fanart section is a little empty. Anyway, anyone who'd like to, give me a shout! I'd really appreciate it!
Arigato!
"Sssoil sssamplesss?" Strifelon raised one thorny eyebrow and looked suspiciously at Bulma. "What in the world would you need with sssoil sssamplesss?"
Bulma squirmed from where she sat in her chair. She had come to visit Strifelon with the intent to get the questions she had wanted to ask off her chest, and, of course, to get the Psytrim. Koru and Arden were already there, Vegeta had said he would arrive shortly. None of the three Storkrin's in the room had asked as to the origin of the faint bruises and scratches on her clothing. Spider was waiting outside.
Bulma shrugged in reply to Strifelon's question. "Well, I don't recall if I've ever told you, but back at home, my father is the head of a very powerful corporation." She paused. "He designs robots and machines. He's great with anything. The fact is, he works with a team of very intelligent scientists, who just might know how to somehow mass produce the Psytrim."
Strifelon paused in his work. "You know what you asssk, Bulma, my dear." He was dividing the two bottles of liquid Psytrim into small glasses for Bulma and Koru. Bulma could read it on Koru's face; she was almost jumping out of her chair.
She nodded. "I know, I know, you think that if we brought attention to you, the scientists would want to suddenly know everything about you, your race, and your planet." She leaned forward on her elbows and made a wry grin. "Strifleon, believe me, Earth has seen so many damn weirdo's I'd bet my life that nothing would interest them that much anymore." She caught the roll of his eyes and giggled. "No offense."
"None taken."
"Good." She beamed. "Strifelon, think about it. If this could work.it could mean the uprising of your once glorious and thriving race! R'haksin would flourish! I'm sure there's some way that my father could design a machine capable of sending it back to you. The path from Earth to R'haksin is already memorized well by Vegeta."
He seemed to consider it. "It isss a dangerousss risssk. I would dissscusss it with The Council, firssst." He looked at Arden, who shrugged with a smile.
"I think it isss a great idea, Ssstrifelon." He said honestly. "What do we have to loossse?"
"It could work, Strifelon. Humans could triumph where you have failed."
With a groan, he seated himself at the table, across from her. "The Psssytrim will be ready tomorrow, my dear. Onyx hasss moved acrossss R'haksssin to be away from hisss father, and I am a tired sssoul." He regarded her solemnly with his ruby eyes. "Ssso much hasss happened."
"I know, believe me, -I- know." She sighed, and impulsively took his hand in her own. "But just imagine."
He looked wistful. "I have."
Just then, the door to Strifelon's underground cavern clicked and opened, sending a dim red light down the stairs. Everyone's head turned toward the source and saw Vegeta descending the stairs. He had a strange look on his face.
"What the hell happened to Spider?" was the first thing he said. He looked at Bulma, noticed the tears in her clothing, the smudges of dirt on her arms and face. His entire visage darkened, and Bulma knew that he knew.
"I.have no idea." She put her arms up in a half-hearted effort. "Just one of those crazy growth spurts."
Strifelon seemed to notice the tension and cleared his throat. "Here you are, girlsss." He smiled, and handed them the bottles. Koru and Bulma exchanged huge smiles.
"Drink it at 10:00," he looked at Bulma, "Which would be your Earth time, and then go to bed right after."
They nodded. "We will."
"Come back to me tomorrow, to tell me how you feel. I will alssso need to do sssome tessstssss."
Bulma got up from the table. She smiled at the three Storkrin's and turned to the Prince, who was scowling deeply. "I guess we'll see you all tomorrow." She said. "Thank you, Strifelon. Sleep well Koru."
"Oh, I will." Koru grinned, and slung an arm through Arden's.
Bulma wished she could do the same.
Of course he knew.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" he roared into her face. His chest was heaving, and his eyes were burning coals of rage. "Did you honestly think that lame excuse would work on me?"
They were standing in the kitchen. Bulma was covered in dust and clumps of dirt that crumbled that dropped off every time she shifted her body weight. Spider stood beside her, dwarfing the both of them in size and stature, with his tails between his legs, whimpering in fear of his enraged Master. Bulma didn't know what to say. It was useless arguing. It -was- her fault, after all, she had been fairly stupid about the whole thing. She stood before him in the kitchen; her usual passion for verbal sparring matches was dwindling by the minuet.
"You're an idiot, Bulma! I have gone though so much bullshit for you, and you go off gallivanting and nearly fuck up the whole mission!"
"I've gone through bullshit, too!" she screamed back.
"Do you think I don't know that?" Vegeta roared, his voice collapsing on her own and driving the force out of it.
Silence. Bulma could feel her tears coming, and now Vegeta was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his unruly hair, the muscles in his arms bulging. She stared at the ground.
'Why do you care?" she asked in a tiny voice. "You don't care about anything."
He turned back to her. "I -didn't- care about anything, until I met you." He said in an icy tone. "I liked it better that way."
She froze. "Is that such a bad thing?"
He didn't say anything. She hadn't expected him to.
Bulma sniffed loudly and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She brushed past him, trying hard to ignore the way his body tensed and seemed to lean into her own when she did. "Fine. I'm a fucking idiot. A diseased, insane idiot." She turned to him. "And you're a cold, unfeeling bastard."
With that, she turned and fled down the stairs toward the basement, Spider in tail-tucked tow. Vegeta stood in the middle of the hallway, waited until she was out of earshot, and punched a good-sized hole through the wall.
Bulma stared miserably at the invention she had made for Koru.
It wasn't working, and she -had- to finish it before she left. Otherwise, there would be no point to its existence. She had already made her half of the machine, but Koru's still had some adjustments. She sighed and leaned back in her chair, odd parts scattered on the floor at her feet. Spider sat at her feet, too afraid to be around the rampaging Prince, was her guess.
It occurred to her that she had not particularly thought about her friends and family back home. They -must- think she was dead. After all, when she had not reached her father on the communicator (which had malfunctioned, and she had not had the parts to repair it) what else would they have thought? It was fairly obvious, after all.
Bulma's thoughts turned to Yaumcha. Was he already parading after some other woman? She sighed. The answer to that was most definitely yes. She didn't care, though. After all, she and Vegeta were a couple now, weren't they?
Weren't they?
With an angry noise, Bulma realized she was crying. She tried to wipe the tears away but they finally spilt from her eyes in a flooding river, obviously meaning to have come out earlier. She was too stressed out; too much was happening lately. She put her head down on the table and cried to herself, loud, pulling sobs, for nearly an hour.
Vegeta heard the door click open, the rest of the Roctorn's scrambling to see who was entering. Bulma's scent flooded the room instantly. He knew it was her long before she had even touched the doorknob. He lay still and waited for what she would do.
"I'm about to drink what we came here for." She said in a tiny whisper of a voice. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hear her, which would have been the point. Yet a Sayajin heard her instantly, which was also the point. He felt a flood of guilt.
There was a moments pause. "I didn't think you would care." She sighed, and he heard her unscrew the cap of the bottle. He could hear the liquid sloshing around inside.
"I suppose I was just hoping against hope." A pause. "I do that a lot with you."
Vegeta tried to ignore her. It wasn't working out so well.
"I know what I did was stupid, Vegeta. But what you did was also stupid. Sure, you were supposed to get angry with me, but you weren't supposed to bury your feelings again." He could hear the strength returning to her voice. "You've proven to me that you have feelings, and feelings for me. So I won't stand for this."
Vegeta smirked in spite of himself. Here she was, the little minx, trying to force a reply out of him by directly attacking his angry nerve endings. He sat up from where he lay and stared at her. She was shadowed in complete darkness, but he could see her well enough.
"I can do whatever I damn well want to do, woman. Just because I may have feelings for you does not mean that I have to show them."
Bulma lifted her chin. He could see the familiar anger in her eyes.
"Say you love me." Bulma whispered after a pause.
Vegeta said nothing.
Bulma slowly extended her arm, the bottle in hand. Vegeta's eyes watched as she slowly tipped the bottle forward. She meant to pour the liquid out.
"Don't threaten me, woman." He said in a low, dangerous tone. "And do not be stupid again."
Bulma's hand was trembling. The liquid sloshed around inside the bottle, precariously close to the neck. She knew he could grab the bottle out of her hand anytime he wanted to. She did not even realize what she doing.
"I love -you- Vegeta, but I want you to love me, too. I cannot live in a relationship with you if you will not tell me you love me."
Vegeta's jaw was set. "I cannot do something that I." he struggled, through gritted teeth. "I -will- not admit to something that I do not feel."
Bulma's eyes flared. "YOU DO FEEL IT!" she screamed at him, and the liquid nearly spilt from the neck. "And I won't be denied it!"
"Why are you doing this?" he yelled back. "You are being foolish!"
"AND YOU'RE BEING STUBBORN!" she cried, her voice hoarse. Her knees buckled, and Vegeta saw the oncoming disaster. He leapt out of bed and grabbed her before she fell, clutching the bottle in one hand and her in the other. He placed it on the nightstand and dragged her toward the bed.
"Woman, calm down." He said as she flailed uselessly against him.
"Why do you deny me so much?" she cried, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt in her hands. There were tears pouring down her cheeks. Vegeta feared that she was going to drive herself into another emotional frenzy. He narrowed his eyes and held her fists gently, forcing her into his lap. She was facing him, her face a mask of frustration, exhaustion and sorrow. He set his jaw and shook her, gently but forcibly, and she sucked in her breath, staring back at him.
"I do not deny you any more than you have earned, Bulma." He said in a low voice, meant to calm her. "I know that I have opened myself up to you more than I have opened up to myself. I have given you a part of me that no one else has ever glimpsed." He held her eyes with his own. "You have frightened me enough already with these feelings, woman, can that not be enough? Will you not settle for less? I am a man devoid of emotion, until now. I was a boy raised on hate. My mind cannot keep pace with this." He sucked in a breath and looked away fleetingly. "You are my mate, and that I have not denied you."
"But I want you to love me, as I love you."
I do, Bulma.Vegeta said silently. But I cannot tell you.
Instead, knowing it was the only way to calm down her hysterical sobbing, he pulled her against him. She leaned fully into him, hiccuping and sniffling all over the back of his warm shoulder. Vegeta closed his eyes and began to rock her, having seen it before on television. He did not know if it would work, but he would try anything to prevent another attack of Forae, or worse. Miraculously, after only minutes, Bulma's crying had subsided into tiny little quivering sighs. Her hands came up around his neck and he inhaled deeply the scent of her skin.
The scent of his mate.
"Come on now, you have to drink this." He pulled her away from him and picked up the bottle. She took it, shamefully, and tipped the bottle to her lips. She hurriedly drank the liquid and then handed the empty bottle back to him.
"You are a cured woman." He said softly.
Then, together, they lay down in the bed. Vegeta wrapped the sheets around her shoulders and pulled her body against his own, and, just for this once, began to softly stoke and play with strands of her hair.
After all, he was a man raised on cruelty, but she was a woman who deserved much better.
It was only a matter of courage.
Authors notes: I NEED FANART!! ^_^ If anyone out there would like to be really nifty and extra-kewl and do a 'Time enough to be with you' fanart (of anyone/anything you like!) I would LOVE IT! I would post it on my website, as my fanart section is a little empty. Anyway, anyone who'd like to, give me a shout! I'd really appreciate it!
Arigato!
"Sssoil sssamplesss?" Strifelon raised one thorny eyebrow and looked suspiciously at Bulma. "What in the world would you need with sssoil sssamplesss?"
Bulma squirmed from where she sat in her chair. She had come to visit Strifelon with the intent to get the questions she had wanted to ask off her chest, and, of course, to get the Psytrim. Koru and Arden were already there, Vegeta had said he would arrive shortly. None of the three Storkrin's in the room had asked as to the origin of the faint bruises and scratches on her clothing. Spider was waiting outside.
Bulma shrugged in reply to Strifelon's question. "Well, I don't recall if I've ever told you, but back at home, my father is the head of a very powerful corporation." She paused. "He designs robots and machines. He's great with anything. The fact is, he works with a team of very intelligent scientists, who just might know how to somehow mass produce the Psytrim."
Strifelon paused in his work. "You know what you asssk, Bulma, my dear." He was dividing the two bottles of liquid Psytrim into small glasses for Bulma and Koru. Bulma could read it on Koru's face; she was almost jumping out of her chair.
She nodded. "I know, I know, you think that if we brought attention to you, the scientists would want to suddenly know everything about you, your race, and your planet." She leaned forward on her elbows and made a wry grin. "Strifleon, believe me, Earth has seen so many damn weirdo's I'd bet my life that nothing would interest them that much anymore." She caught the roll of his eyes and giggled. "No offense."
"None taken."
"Good." She beamed. "Strifelon, think about it. If this could work.it could mean the uprising of your once glorious and thriving race! R'haksin would flourish! I'm sure there's some way that my father could design a machine capable of sending it back to you. The path from Earth to R'haksin is already memorized well by Vegeta."
He seemed to consider it. "It isss a dangerousss risssk. I would dissscusss it with The Council, firssst." He looked at Arden, who shrugged with a smile.
"I think it isss a great idea, Ssstrifelon." He said honestly. "What do we have to loossse?"
"It could work, Strifelon. Humans could triumph where you have failed."
With a groan, he seated himself at the table, across from her. "The Psssytrim will be ready tomorrow, my dear. Onyx hasss moved acrossss R'haksssin to be away from hisss father, and I am a tired sssoul." He regarded her solemnly with his ruby eyes. "Ssso much hasss happened."
"I know, believe me, -I- know." She sighed, and impulsively took his hand in her own. "But just imagine."
He looked wistful. "I have."
Just then, the door to Strifelon's underground cavern clicked and opened, sending a dim red light down the stairs. Everyone's head turned toward the source and saw Vegeta descending the stairs. He had a strange look on his face.
"What the hell happened to Spider?" was the first thing he said. He looked at Bulma, noticed the tears in her clothing, the smudges of dirt on her arms and face. His entire visage darkened, and Bulma knew that he knew.
"I.have no idea." She put her arms up in a half-hearted effort. "Just one of those crazy growth spurts."
Strifelon seemed to notice the tension and cleared his throat. "Here you are, girlsss." He smiled, and handed them the bottles. Koru and Bulma exchanged huge smiles.
"Drink it at 10:00," he looked at Bulma, "Which would be your Earth time, and then go to bed right after."
They nodded. "We will."
"Come back to me tomorrow, to tell me how you feel. I will alssso need to do sssome tessstssss."
Bulma got up from the table. She smiled at the three Storkrin's and turned to the Prince, who was scowling deeply. "I guess we'll see you all tomorrow." She said. "Thank you, Strifelon. Sleep well Koru."
"Oh, I will." Koru grinned, and slung an arm through Arden's.
Bulma wished she could do the same.
Of course he knew.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" he roared into her face. His chest was heaving, and his eyes were burning coals of rage. "Did you honestly think that lame excuse would work on me?"
They were standing in the kitchen. Bulma was covered in dust and clumps of dirt that crumbled that dropped off every time she shifted her body weight. Spider stood beside her, dwarfing the both of them in size and stature, with his tails between his legs, whimpering in fear of his enraged Master. Bulma didn't know what to say. It was useless arguing. It -was- her fault, after all, she had been fairly stupid about the whole thing. She stood before him in the kitchen; her usual passion for verbal sparring matches was dwindling by the minuet.
"You're an idiot, Bulma! I have gone though so much bullshit for you, and you go off gallivanting and nearly fuck up the whole mission!"
"I've gone through bullshit, too!" she screamed back.
"Do you think I don't know that?" Vegeta roared, his voice collapsing on her own and driving the force out of it.
Silence. Bulma could feel her tears coming, and now Vegeta was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his unruly hair, the muscles in his arms bulging. She stared at the ground.
'Why do you care?" she asked in a tiny voice. "You don't care about anything."
He turned back to her. "I -didn't- care about anything, until I met you." He said in an icy tone. "I liked it better that way."
She froze. "Is that such a bad thing?"
He didn't say anything. She hadn't expected him to.
Bulma sniffed loudly and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She brushed past him, trying hard to ignore the way his body tensed and seemed to lean into her own when she did. "Fine. I'm a fucking idiot. A diseased, insane idiot." She turned to him. "And you're a cold, unfeeling bastard."
With that, she turned and fled down the stairs toward the basement, Spider in tail-tucked tow. Vegeta stood in the middle of the hallway, waited until she was out of earshot, and punched a good-sized hole through the wall.
Bulma stared miserably at the invention she had made for Koru.
It wasn't working, and she -had- to finish it before she left. Otherwise, there would be no point to its existence. She had already made her half of the machine, but Koru's still had some adjustments. She sighed and leaned back in her chair, odd parts scattered on the floor at her feet. Spider sat at her feet, too afraid to be around the rampaging Prince, was her guess.
It occurred to her that she had not particularly thought about her friends and family back home. They -must- think she was dead. After all, when she had not reached her father on the communicator (which had malfunctioned, and she had not had the parts to repair it) what else would they have thought? It was fairly obvious, after all.
Bulma's thoughts turned to Yaumcha. Was he already parading after some other woman? She sighed. The answer to that was most definitely yes. She didn't care, though. After all, she and Vegeta were a couple now, weren't they?
Weren't they?
With an angry noise, Bulma realized she was crying. She tried to wipe the tears away but they finally spilt from her eyes in a flooding river, obviously meaning to have come out earlier. She was too stressed out; too much was happening lately. She put her head down on the table and cried to herself, loud, pulling sobs, for nearly an hour.
Vegeta heard the door click open, the rest of the Roctorn's scrambling to see who was entering. Bulma's scent flooded the room instantly. He knew it was her long before she had even touched the doorknob. He lay still and waited for what she would do.
"I'm about to drink what we came here for." She said in a tiny whisper of a voice. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hear her, which would have been the point. Yet a Sayajin heard her instantly, which was also the point. He felt a flood of guilt.
There was a moments pause. "I didn't think you would care." She sighed, and he heard her unscrew the cap of the bottle. He could hear the liquid sloshing around inside.
"I suppose I was just hoping against hope." A pause. "I do that a lot with you."
Vegeta tried to ignore her. It wasn't working out so well.
"I know what I did was stupid, Vegeta. But what you did was also stupid. Sure, you were supposed to get angry with me, but you weren't supposed to bury your feelings again." He could hear the strength returning to her voice. "You've proven to me that you have feelings, and feelings for me. So I won't stand for this."
Vegeta smirked in spite of himself. Here she was, the little minx, trying to force a reply out of him by directly attacking his angry nerve endings. He sat up from where he lay and stared at her. She was shadowed in complete darkness, but he could see her well enough.
"I can do whatever I damn well want to do, woman. Just because I may have feelings for you does not mean that I have to show them."
Bulma lifted her chin. He could see the familiar anger in her eyes.
"Say you love me." Bulma whispered after a pause.
Vegeta said nothing.
Bulma slowly extended her arm, the bottle in hand. Vegeta's eyes watched as she slowly tipped the bottle forward. She meant to pour the liquid out.
"Don't threaten me, woman." He said in a low, dangerous tone. "And do not be stupid again."
Bulma's hand was trembling. The liquid sloshed around inside the bottle, precariously close to the neck. She knew he could grab the bottle out of her hand anytime he wanted to. She did not even realize what she doing.
"I love -you- Vegeta, but I want you to love me, too. I cannot live in a relationship with you if you will not tell me you love me."
Vegeta's jaw was set. "I cannot do something that I." he struggled, through gritted teeth. "I -will- not admit to something that I do not feel."
Bulma's eyes flared. "YOU DO FEEL IT!" she screamed at him, and the liquid nearly spilt from the neck. "And I won't be denied it!"
"Why are you doing this?" he yelled back. "You are being foolish!"
"AND YOU'RE BEING STUBBORN!" she cried, her voice hoarse. Her knees buckled, and Vegeta saw the oncoming disaster. He leapt out of bed and grabbed her before she fell, clutching the bottle in one hand and her in the other. He placed it on the nightstand and dragged her toward the bed.
"Woman, calm down." He said as she flailed uselessly against him.
"Why do you deny me so much?" she cried, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt in her hands. There were tears pouring down her cheeks. Vegeta feared that she was going to drive herself into another emotional frenzy. He narrowed his eyes and held her fists gently, forcing her into his lap. She was facing him, her face a mask of frustration, exhaustion and sorrow. He set his jaw and shook her, gently but forcibly, and she sucked in her breath, staring back at him.
"I do not deny you any more than you have earned, Bulma." He said in a low voice, meant to calm her. "I know that I have opened myself up to you more than I have opened up to myself. I have given you a part of me that no one else has ever glimpsed." He held her eyes with his own. "You have frightened me enough already with these feelings, woman, can that not be enough? Will you not settle for less? I am a man devoid of emotion, until now. I was a boy raised on hate. My mind cannot keep pace with this." He sucked in a breath and looked away fleetingly. "You are my mate, and that I have not denied you."
"But I want you to love me, as I love you."
I do, Bulma.Vegeta said silently. But I cannot tell you.
Instead, knowing it was the only way to calm down her hysterical sobbing, he pulled her against him. She leaned fully into him, hiccuping and sniffling all over the back of his warm shoulder. Vegeta closed his eyes and began to rock her, having seen it before on television. He did not know if it would work, but he would try anything to prevent another attack of Forae, or worse. Miraculously, after only minutes, Bulma's crying had subsided into tiny little quivering sighs. Her hands came up around his neck and he inhaled deeply the scent of her skin.
The scent of his mate.
"Come on now, you have to drink this." He pulled her away from him and picked up the bottle. She took it, shamefully, and tipped the bottle to her lips. She hurriedly drank the liquid and then handed the empty bottle back to him.
"You are a cured woman." He said softly.
Then, together, they lay down in the bed. Vegeta wrapped the sheets around her shoulders and pulled her body against his own, and, just for this once, began to softly stoke and play with strands of her hair.
After all, he was a man raised on cruelty, but she was a woman who deserved much better.
It was only a matter of courage.