DISCLAIMER: No, for the last time, I do not own DBZ or any of its
characters. I'm just this for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others. So
since I don't own, nor do I have any money, suing is just out of the
question. MOVE ON!
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Summary: A chain of dramatic events leave Bulma thinking, will she notice what her life's been missing all along? Will she leave Vegeta and run into the arms of someone else, or will she forgive him? And with the changes going on, how many marriages will be put in danger?
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AN:
As always, major thanks to those of you who read this story and take the time to review it. MONSTER thanks to Goku, my little muse!! Without him, I don't think I would know where this story is going. ^____^ Thanks again Goku, this chapter wouldn't be out here if it weren't for you. I kinda drew a blank after last chapter.... ::smiles nervously:: So of course, thanks to Goku and all of my precious readers, which isn't many. But either way thanks to all of you.
Also sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than usual to get out. I've started school now .. A girl can only dream.
Happi reading to all of my readers, and enjoy reading as much as I do writing this fic. Remember to leave meeh a lil luv on your way out, and thank you, come again. ^___^ Now without further rambling from me, chapter four.
~LadyB AKA Bulma Briefs
~*~
Word 411:
Demo- but
Baka- idiot
Onna- Woman
------
Broken Beyond Repair
Rated: R
Chapter Four: Nothing to his eyes, just an object.
Written by: The Brilliant Lady Bulma *formally known as LadyBulma24*
-----
"Yes Kakkarot," A third voice chimed in, gruff and enraged. "What the fuck is going on here?"
Neither of the accused victims had the slightest idea of what to say, how to say it, what do to, or how to do it whenever the action came to mind. That was of course, if a mode of action ever did come to them. Out of sheer instinct, Goku wrapped his arms tighter around Bulma; the deed had earned him something he had subconsciously expected. The mere sight of Vegeta sent her into a frenzy of traumatized quivering, causing both members of the guilty party to waver faintly. A helpless quarry of amnesia or not, in the back of her mind the very scared Ms. Bulma Briefs could hear the voices of wounded angels, crying out to her: 'This is the man that hurt you. Broke you. Left you broken beyond repair.'
As if an omen of the lord above them, the sky thundered, shaking the house down to its very core. Just when the storm was letting up, Vegeta had to show up, and if that was not enough to satisfy his destructive need, all of hell was at his back. Forgotten was the rising morning sun, the environment residing outside of the walls of Capsule Corp. was better off existing in the heart of the hours of darkness.
"Vegeta," Alleged Goku, attempting to masquerade his astonishment. "What are you doing here?"
The prince before them both scoffed royally, "This is my home." Vegeta placed unneeded emphasis on the word 'my'. "I have rights to be here."
Goku could not bring himself to say another word for the other Saiyan was right, this was indeed the home he shared with his wife. The woman that currently was found entwined in his arms. "Rights are yours, no doubt about it, but with those rights come forth a large amount responsibility." Frustration fortifying his statement. "Where have you been?"
"You sound like the baka!" Vegeta snorted, lifting his hand broadly to temporarily point at Bulma without the slightest hint of care. "So pipe down! I'll be the one asking the questions here Kakkarot. What the bloody hell are you doing here in my home?" Vegeta's words were a sharp retort of the tongue, a double-bladed sword of fidelity, a contrast to the sight his raven eyes observed. The ultimate accomplishment of unfaithfulness, his woman and her best friend, the very same man that he considered his greatest adversary. After a few seconds flew by them, Vegeta turned is narrowed eyes to the point where they were nearly invisible. "Do not make me repeat myself!" He roared.
It seemed that the deafening lexis Vegeta had chosen was tuning out the claps of thunder originating miles away from them. Not knowing what else to do, Bulma lowered her hands from Goku's face and brought her arms around his sturdy décolletage, burying her tear-stained façade in the sanctuary of his shoulder. The demons in Vegeta's head began to play tricks on him, muttering things to him and pointing things out that he might not have found disturbing otherwise. He smirked elusively, it was amazing to see the clarity that came with psychotic jealousy. Had the woman always resorted to that third-class baka as if he were her savior and lord whenever times got rough? Had Kakkarot always touched her as if she were made of sugar and glass? Had he been blind to this all along? Rage pumped through his veins replacing his blood with abhorrence intended toward Kakkarot.
Goku could feel the way Vegeta was looking at him, just as easily he could read the thoughts his prince was having. It was precisely that effortless for Goku. "I am here for Bulma," he spoke never once looking up from Bulma's still shaking figure. "Because you cannot be."
In a snap of golden inferno, the ebony warrior became a fuming demon. "Do not tell me what I can and cannot do for my onna Kakkarot! You know nothing of these things, obviously. Here you are troubling yourself over a problem that is mine, while your own marriage falls to shambles." The indifference of Vegeta's expression shot through Goku like a knife. "Unhand my onna." Goku blinked; not my wife, lover, or mother of my children, but straightforwardly declared as his woman. Had that man no emotions?! Was he blind to the way Bulma shook everytime he parted his mouth to deliver a verbal blow to the chest at either of them?
"Just great, what are you doing here?"
Every head in the room crooked to the open door, where a lavender youth stood glaring knives at his father. Behind his the leg of his blue jeans, stood a miniature Bulma, his sister and his liability.
"I'd hold my tongue if I were you brat." Vegeta fiercely glared at the boy possessing many of his quality, at the moment they appeared nearly identical with the face of resentment serving as their mask.
Trunks balled his hands into iron fist at his side, careful not to damage his sister. If he brought hurt to his sister, then he would be no better than the man he was forced to identify as his father. "Well you're not me," Trunks held onto his sister, pushing her behind him. "If you were, you'd be around a hell of a lot more."
The volume of the room was rising, the space decreasing. Bulma glimpsed up out of one of her eyes, unhurriedly she allowed herself to open the other. To her, the room had become one undersized chamber of apprehension and wrath coming from each of its inhabitants.
"Your irrational mother spoiled you, brat. A mistake you will live your life regretting." Vegeta did not seem to care if the individual before him was the incarnation of his first seed; to him anyone in his way would be taught a lesson.
Trunks sneered. "She might have spoiled me, but you were never around to stop it were you?" He watched his father congealed with brutality responsively. The look in Trunks' eyes dared Vegeta to say something, anything, to prove him wrong.
And his father did just that, however, not in the embodiment of words, rather the prince chose actions. In a blur of gold Vegeta had brought his hands up around the neck of his son, lifting the much taller half-Saiyan up by the neckline. This brought Bulma up from Goku's arms, wanting to rush out and do something. But Goku would not let the distraught creature out of his arms, knowing that if she were to interfere at the moment, Vegeta would hurt her too. That was something that Goku was not going to allow to happen, he would gladly destroy the one entitled the prince of their dead race before that occurred. Bulma could only sit helplessly in the arms of her best friend, examination the face of her son, the way it took on a tint as lavender as his hair when his father applied more pressure to his throat. Tears welled up in Bulma's eyes but she was not the only one expressing her hurt in the form of tears. Her daughter, Bra, stood in the doorway, hands trembling and tears running down her face at an incredible pace.
"T-t-t-Trunks-Kun!!"
Her cries went unaided, like mother like daughter. Bra looked around; her large blue eyes handed to her by her mother filling with more tears than confusion. Sure, a father had never really been something she could depend on as she grew into the girl she had become, but were all of those lies really true? Was the man she knew as her father actually a cold-blooded murderer? Was he a monster? She quaked, then not knowing what else to do, Bra ran to the bed where her mother and Goku sat restraining her at full speed. "MAMA!!"
The thick haze of amnesia lifted from Bulma's mind for a moment, allowing passage to some clarity. "Bra, honey." Bulma felt Goku let go of her long enough to warp her arms around the small version of herself. "It's alright, we'll be fine..."
"D-d-demo...what's wrong with d-daddy...."
Bulma winced at the melodic innocence of her daughter's voice. So young, so ingenuous, so completely clueless. Her arms tightened around Bra, trying her best to calm her child. At that very moment Bulma's body responded to a pair of arms around her, she found that Goku had fixed his hold on her as well. Responsively, the blue-haired woman welcomed such intimacy; knowing in the back of her mind it was for her own protection. Bra noticed the change in her mother although her childish mind thought nothing of it.
"I don't know, love." Bulma focused her big blue eyes on the actions of her murderous husband. Terror lapped around those orbs, she could do nothing but watch the golden devil squeeze the life from their first born son. The thought, not to mention the fact, that the being before her was her husband sickened the woman in Goku's arms immensely. But what could she, or any of them for that matter, do to stop the Saiyan prince? Absolutely nothing.
"He's going to kill him." Muttered Bulma absently, forgetting momentarily about the presence of her daughter.
"N-nani?!" the cries of the child came sharp, nearly incoherently. Bra was worried for her older brother.
Goku observed. "No, he's not."
Bra's influential ears perked up.
"Yes!" Her face became set in determination
There came a sigh of desperation from Bulma. How could Goku be so optimistic about Trunks' well being when the poor boy looked as ashen as his mother had earlier been? Whatever made Goku so damn carefree, Bulma wanted some. With the events having taken place lately, it was enough to drive anyone to such levels of desperation. She wanted so much to believe that truly everything would work out for the best, however, watching one's first born child have a close encounter with death never really did much for hope. Bulma shut her eyes, lay her head back, and groaned.
What a day....
Just when Goku took notice of uncharacteristic sense of calm that began to govern his best friend, peace was shattered. In an abrupt uproar of drywall debris and super-human strength the two blue-haired females were as alter as a military soldier. The sight before them convinced the onlookers that they had missed a step. No, not only a step had they missed, but a whole damn latter of proceedings leading up to the current happening. Somehow, Trunks had overthrown the death-grip coming from his father, gaining the obvious upper hand. Trunks was now the one handing out the glares down at his father, his aquatic eyes were as narrow as they could go.
"Seems the baka onna did do something right." Sneered Vegeta, bringing his gloved hand up to rid his lisp of a ribbon of crimson blood. "Here I was thinking that I would have to kill you."
Trunks took a few steps away from the man he was shamed to call father; up reaching his desired distance, Trunks spun around. "I guess growing up without a father has its perks." His lavender locks became prisoners of the wind, bending to its ministrations.
Momentary waves of disgust flowed through Vegeta's system. Such a waste of obvious Saiyan power in the body that yielded eyes with such human emotion. The irony of it was down right comical. "Weak and a liar."
Bra hopped away from her mother, relocating herself at the foot of the bed, which brought her much closer to Trunks. She lowered her head to the confinement of her red fabric dress when it was obvious that Trunks ignored her presence. Bra sighed.
"Liar?" The inquirement took on a mocking tone of voice. "Are you trying to tell me you were around?"
Crossing his arms on his chest classically, Vegeta spoke, "I am."
Trunks then handed the prince the shock her never expected; the youth erupted in hysterical laughter. "Now you're just a bold-face lying bastard."
The prince dropped his arms from before his stone-solid chest, seemed the brat was full of surprises today. "Are you blind?!"
Contemptuously, Trunks displayed the perfect amount of recognition. "Of course father," He spat the final word with heave resent. "How could I have forgotten?" They all listened, curious to where this was going.
Trunks continued. "You were always around."
Vegeta smirked. "Finally you see reason brat."
This time, it appeared Trunks had not taken offense to the older Saiyan's comment. Rather, a heredity smirk dawned on his lips. "You were always around for a quickie."
Bulma's eyes widened as her mind struggled to register the words having been said. "Trunks!"
"You see her as nothing!" Trunks proceeded with his accusations, ignoring his mother's plea. "You don't deserve her! You-"
Vegeta lowered down to the normal dark state he possessed then he silenced Trunks the best and only way he knew how. A sharp blow to the jaw suppressed Trunks in mid-sentence. "Silence boy."
A side of Trunks no one in the room had ever seen began to shine into the inhumanely white room in a flash or rage. Turquoise flame pored from his eyes, the luminosity of the sun from his hair.
"Stop it...."
The father and son glared at one another.
"I dare you." Vegeta taunted Trunks. "Prepare a death wish."
In a maddening scream and a blinding exhibit of lights, Trunks' fury reached its peak. "I'm going to make you regret the damage you cause her!"
"Please," small sobs rained elsewhere in the room. "Kami make it stop..."
Vegeta laughed sinisterly. "I'd love to see you try brat."
"End all the pain."
Goku brought up his gentle hand from Bulma's shoulder to the back of her head. He smoothed away her sweated bangs. "It's ok Bulma." At his touch, she relocated herself in his arms, now resting her head under his own.
"Hold me?" she asked timidly. "Stop the hurt?"
"Of course." It made senses to him as to why such a sight would have shattered her already delicate mind. Her beloved son and her...well...Vegeta, fighting. How could someone expect her to be ok? The poor woman, her body shook like a motorized object, in pure terror. Any more shaking and he figured she could pass for a machine. She hid her face in his shirt.
"Bulma's scared."
Sadly, that was when Goku realized her condition was getting worse, on the contrary route he had hoped for. She had started speaking of herself in the third person tense. To humor her, he smiled brightly and patted her head. "Goku will protect Bulma."
Bulma blinked up at him under the vale of her angel-blue eyelashes. "Why?"
His smile softened. "Because we-"
"Because you just can't mind your own damn business."
They both glimpsed to the far left; Vegeta's attention was now on them. "Kakkarot I warned you." And the prince was anything but pleased.
Trunks panicked. "Get back here you-"
"SILENCE!" Vegeta brought his hand up in the air and made a movement, Trunks doubled over in pain.
Bra seemed as frightened as ever, her mind in a state of pure anxiety. She ran up to her brother in a ruffle of skirts and a flash of blue. "TRUNKS!!"
Weakly, the boy forced a smile onto his lips. "Hey sis, w-wanna do your b- big brother a f-favor?"
All at once, he watched her face light up like a Christmas tree. "Yeah!"
"O-ok then," he conveyed his hand up to touch her head. "Wait for me in your room. I'll be r-right there."
"OTAY TRUNKS!"
And with that, she disappeared happily from the room that evil lived in. Once he was sure Bra was long gone, Trunks slowly made his hand reach up to his chest, coughing up a long stream of blood. The boy fell to his knees, one hand clutching at his chest. Whatever it had been that his father had done t him, it sure had hurt. Trunks looked up a few seconds later; his eyes met Bulma's over the room.
"N-no mom, I'm fine." He struggled to get up before she thought the worse from him. By the time he had found his feet once more, it was too late. A look of sheer horror passed Bulma's face. Her eyes filled with unshed tears.
"T-Trunks' hurt." Bulma mumbled emptily. When no one paid her any mind, Bulma buried her face behind the aqua lace of her hair.
"On your feet Kakkarot." Vegeta hissed, watching the younger Saiyan cradle his wife in his arms.
Goku sighed, knowing where this would lead. "Vegeta, you're not-"
"I said, get up!" A roar of fury escaped his lips while a surge cut through him. The source? Vegeta smirked, what else could be causing his anger? "Now, get up."
"I don't want to fight you, Vegeta." Replied Goku.
Vegeta derided at his rival. "We're way past idiotic conversing. Time to take action!"
There came a shake of the head from Goku. "We do not have to resort to violence."
To their dread, Vegeta began to make his way to the bedside Bulma and Goku shared, stopping short a couple of feet. "Hand over my onna then!"
Bulma watched on in revulsion while her keeper loosened his hold over the contours of her body. She gasped loudly.
"There," Declared Goku. "if she wishes so, she's free to leave."
Light from the sun spilled in the room, setting it ablaze. The soft shadows danced in every nook and cranny as the men observed Bulma. Vegeta eyed the woman with the most care. He watched the way her disoriented eyes shoot from person to person in the room, the way her frame shook. He could only guess it was a conditioned reaction to the sudden lack of heat around her; he growled. Dam her, damn the third class baka as well.
"Well?" Vegeta alleged roughly. A few minutes later, his son stood to his right, a mirror image with different coloring.
"Mom?"
To the surprise and disappointment to both Trunks and Vegeta, Bulma still refused to move. Rather her eyes shot across the distance that felt like miles to her, meeting a pair of gentle oxford eyes. There after, she made a ruffling dash of covers into the arms of her choice. A hiss of rage followed closely.
Bulma lay her head on Goku's lower chest, having wrapped her peachy arms around his perfectly sculpted torso. "H-he scares me, Goku." Bulma buried her head into his shirt, as if she closed her eyes her fear would vanish. "Goku protect Bulma?" Her voice broke.
It took even Trunks a few instances to chronicle what was going on. He was not the only one who watched as Goku regained his balance, sitting up after the rush impact of Bulma returning into his arms. Vegeta cursed a few words in his native tongue, then took a few steps closer to the 'happy couple'. Bulma began to tense up noticeably.
"Hai Bulma." Responded Goku, his eyes locking with Vegeta's over her head. "I'll protect you," there was a pause, their glare intensified. "From anyone."
An enraged appearance adorned the face of the raven-haired prince. He would not be mocked, no would he be denied.
"Get up." He transported his arms over the bed, winding his fingers tightly around Bulma's shoulder. She shot her eyes open wide in responsive shock. Fear soon crept its way into her system replacing her astonishment. The fear, Vegeta resentfully noticed, was of him. "Come on, onna."
Bulma's arms were literally pried off of Goku, her hands taking fists full of the covers with her, like a cat refusing to go within 3 feet of water. In the end it was all utterly useless, Vegeta held her at his wicked mercy. He gave her a cold smirk, then wrenched her frail body into his arms. Underestimating his strength, her face fell into his stone-hard chest, holding her hands over her head in his own. Upon finding herself in his arms, the first thing that came into her mind was to fight him off. Bite him, kick him, do anything to get away from Vegeta....anything her mind shouted at her. Bulma took her right arm out of his hold and swung, causing Vegeta to move back a few steps.
Goku and Trunks expected there to be anger in Vegeta's eyes as a result to his wife's prior action. Yet what they found lingering in the obsidian eyes was amusement. His nose trickled up softly, the remains of his face moving to accommodate the display of humor in his eyes. Without warning, he busted up in a fit of menacing laughter, as if he had just heard the most humorous thing in the world.
"Foolish onna."
Then the laughter ended, the expected fury shinned through, the sun after the storm. Only this time, it was scalding, burning, and the embodiment of heavenly hell. Bulma shivered, trying to mask her obvious fear. Something inside of her was shouting, run! She would have loved to run, had she control over her own body.
"V-ve...."
Two fingers were placed on her lips, silencing her. "Hush onna. No more talking from you." His words scared her, but not as much as his next action. Vegeta wound his arms around Bulma, pulling her up to him. "I'd much rather you not do much more talking. We have things to deal with later."
Trunks cleared his throat.
Goku watched on.
Bulma....did nothing....
"So say ja'ne to the baka and tell your son to leave."
Under the harsh glare of her husband it was hard for Bulma to do anything. She knew that a good wife had to be adroit to all of these things, especially the wife of a Saiyan prince. But for some reason her strength failed her all at once. She sighed heavily, lifting her chest with a deep breath.
"Trunks.... please... leave."
Trunks balled his hands into fists. "FINE!" he glared at his father. "But if I hear anything sounding anywhere near her screaming, I'm coming in here."
Vegeta scoffed. "Yes, yes we know, you'll play hero."
There came a glare from the lavender youth. "That's right. So watch it, Vegeta." Then he was gone, as if he never had been in the room in the first place. His presence lingered in the room for what seemed like an instant and then it too had left, leaving Bulma alone in her fears.
With her son gone from the room, she felt something in her tell her that Vegeta was about to take things on a bit more different. She shuttered lightly under his arms, knowing that this was something she could not get out of no matter who was there to help her. The fear was written in her eyes, eyes that had suddenly aged years beyond counting. From his fair distance away from Vegeta and Bulma, Goku met her scared blue eyes over their space. It hurt him, cut him like a knife to his soul, to see her so helpless. Goku turned his hands into fists then reached one hand out to touch Bulma's covered shoulder.
Vegeta watched his rival move to touch his onna, seemed like the baka never learned. "Don't you ever touch my onna! Is that clear Kakkarot? She is MINE, I OWN HER! Touch her again and I'll rip your spine through the barrels of your third-class ass!"
That was it. Those were the words that sent Goku over the edge, braking the damn of anger he had long since started holding in. Goku gently took hold of Bulma once more and pushed her to the side, the bed braking her fall. Bulma looked up at her savior and Vegeta, what happened from here would all be history in a matter of seconds. She couldn't tare her eyes away, would Goku really snap?
Instead, Goku walked closer to Vegeta, leaving a few inches between them, and then he spoke. His lips hardly parted, omitting a dangerously low hiss to his prince. "Vegeta, Kami knows I'm not an angry man and I try not to be. But if you ever, ever again, in your life refer to Bulma as nothing more than an object," Goku moved in, narrowing his eyes at the shorter Saiyan. "I'll be the one doing the spine-ripping."
Vegeta managed a laugh. "You'd go against your blood, your heritage, your destiny, and even your prince over a simple baka onna?!" A laugh came from the prince once more. "She's nothing! She's just a common baka wh-"
Bulma felt her eyes blur with unshed tears, so that's all he really saw her as. The room was covered in a blanket of silence, Vegeta never getting to finish his statement. Bulma opened her eyes that had previously been shut. The silence was shattered like glass falling from the floor. That's when they all heard it, that's when it happened. That's when Goku sent his hand flying across Vegeta's face and he brought his knee to his prince's chest.
~*~
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All comments, flames, suggestions, anything else, are welcome. ^_^
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Summary: A chain of dramatic events leave Bulma thinking, will she notice what her life's been missing all along? Will she leave Vegeta and run into the arms of someone else, or will she forgive him? And with the changes going on, how many marriages will be put in danger?
-----
AN:
As always, major thanks to those of you who read this story and take the time to review it. MONSTER thanks to Goku, my little muse!! Without him, I don't think I would know where this story is going. ^____^ Thanks again Goku, this chapter wouldn't be out here if it weren't for you. I kinda drew a blank after last chapter.... ::smiles nervously:: So of course, thanks to Goku and all of my precious readers, which isn't many. But either way thanks to all of you.
Also sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than usual to get out. I've started school now .. A girl can only dream.
Happi reading to all of my readers, and enjoy reading as much as I do writing this fic. Remember to leave meeh a lil luv on your way out, and thank you, come again. ^___^ Now without further rambling from me, chapter four.
~LadyB AKA Bulma Briefs
~*~
Word 411:
Demo- but
Baka- idiot
Onna- Woman
------
Broken Beyond Repair
Rated: R
Chapter Four: Nothing to his eyes, just an object.
Written by: The Brilliant Lady Bulma *formally known as LadyBulma24*
-----
"Yes Kakkarot," A third voice chimed in, gruff and enraged. "What the fuck is going on here?"
Neither of the accused victims had the slightest idea of what to say, how to say it, what do to, or how to do it whenever the action came to mind. That was of course, if a mode of action ever did come to them. Out of sheer instinct, Goku wrapped his arms tighter around Bulma; the deed had earned him something he had subconsciously expected. The mere sight of Vegeta sent her into a frenzy of traumatized quivering, causing both members of the guilty party to waver faintly. A helpless quarry of amnesia or not, in the back of her mind the very scared Ms. Bulma Briefs could hear the voices of wounded angels, crying out to her: 'This is the man that hurt you. Broke you. Left you broken beyond repair.'
As if an omen of the lord above them, the sky thundered, shaking the house down to its very core. Just when the storm was letting up, Vegeta had to show up, and if that was not enough to satisfy his destructive need, all of hell was at his back. Forgotten was the rising morning sun, the environment residing outside of the walls of Capsule Corp. was better off existing in the heart of the hours of darkness.
"Vegeta," Alleged Goku, attempting to masquerade his astonishment. "What are you doing here?"
The prince before them both scoffed royally, "This is my home." Vegeta placed unneeded emphasis on the word 'my'. "I have rights to be here."
Goku could not bring himself to say another word for the other Saiyan was right, this was indeed the home he shared with his wife. The woman that currently was found entwined in his arms. "Rights are yours, no doubt about it, but with those rights come forth a large amount responsibility." Frustration fortifying his statement. "Where have you been?"
"You sound like the baka!" Vegeta snorted, lifting his hand broadly to temporarily point at Bulma without the slightest hint of care. "So pipe down! I'll be the one asking the questions here Kakkarot. What the bloody hell are you doing here in my home?" Vegeta's words were a sharp retort of the tongue, a double-bladed sword of fidelity, a contrast to the sight his raven eyes observed. The ultimate accomplishment of unfaithfulness, his woman and her best friend, the very same man that he considered his greatest adversary. After a few seconds flew by them, Vegeta turned is narrowed eyes to the point where they were nearly invisible. "Do not make me repeat myself!" He roared.
It seemed that the deafening lexis Vegeta had chosen was tuning out the claps of thunder originating miles away from them. Not knowing what else to do, Bulma lowered her hands from Goku's face and brought her arms around his sturdy décolletage, burying her tear-stained façade in the sanctuary of his shoulder. The demons in Vegeta's head began to play tricks on him, muttering things to him and pointing things out that he might not have found disturbing otherwise. He smirked elusively, it was amazing to see the clarity that came with psychotic jealousy. Had the woman always resorted to that third-class baka as if he were her savior and lord whenever times got rough? Had Kakkarot always touched her as if she were made of sugar and glass? Had he been blind to this all along? Rage pumped through his veins replacing his blood with abhorrence intended toward Kakkarot.
Goku could feel the way Vegeta was looking at him, just as easily he could read the thoughts his prince was having. It was precisely that effortless for Goku. "I am here for Bulma," he spoke never once looking up from Bulma's still shaking figure. "Because you cannot be."
In a snap of golden inferno, the ebony warrior became a fuming demon. "Do not tell me what I can and cannot do for my onna Kakkarot! You know nothing of these things, obviously. Here you are troubling yourself over a problem that is mine, while your own marriage falls to shambles." The indifference of Vegeta's expression shot through Goku like a knife. "Unhand my onna." Goku blinked; not my wife, lover, or mother of my children, but straightforwardly declared as his woman. Had that man no emotions?! Was he blind to the way Bulma shook everytime he parted his mouth to deliver a verbal blow to the chest at either of them?
"Just great, what are you doing here?"
Every head in the room crooked to the open door, where a lavender youth stood glaring knives at his father. Behind his the leg of his blue jeans, stood a miniature Bulma, his sister and his liability.
"I'd hold my tongue if I were you brat." Vegeta fiercely glared at the boy possessing many of his quality, at the moment they appeared nearly identical with the face of resentment serving as their mask.
Trunks balled his hands into iron fist at his side, careful not to damage his sister. If he brought hurt to his sister, then he would be no better than the man he was forced to identify as his father. "Well you're not me," Trunks held onto his sister, pushing her behind him. "If you were, you'd be around a hell of a lot more."
The volume of the room was rising, the space decreasing. Bulma glimpsed up out of one of her eyes, unhurriedly she allowed herself to open the other. To her, the room had become one undersized chamber of apprehension and wrath coming from each of its inhabitants.
"Your irrational mother spoiled you, brat. A mistake you will live your life regretting." Vegeta did not seem to care if the individual before him was the incarnation of his first seed; to him anyone in his way would be taught a lesson.
Trunks sneered. "She might have spoiled me, but you were never around to stop it were you?" He watched his father congealed with brutality responsively. The look in Trunks' eyes dared Vegeta to say something, anything, to prove him wrong.
And his father did just that, however, not in the embodiment of words, rather the prince chose actions. In a blur of gold Vegeta had brought his hands up around the neck of his son, lifting the much taller half-Saiyan up by the neckline. This brought Bulma up from Goku's arms, wanting to rush out and do something. But Goku would not let the distraught creature out of his arms, knowing that if she were to interfere at the moment, Vegeta would hurt her too. That was something that Goku was not going to allow to happen, he would gladly destroy the one entitled the prince of their dead race before that occurred. Bulma could only sit helplessly in the arms of her best friend, examination the face of her son, the way it took on a tint as lavender as his hair when his father applied more pressure to his throat. Tears welled up in Bulma's eyes but she was not the only one expressing her hurt in the form of tears. Her daughter, Bra, stood in the doorway, hands trembling and tears running down her face at an incredible pace.
"T-t-t-Trunks-Kun!!"
Her cries went unaided, like mother like daughter. Bra looked around; her large blue eyes handed to her by her mother filling with more tears than confusion. Sure, a father had never really been something she could depend on as she grew into the girl she had become, but were all of those lies really true? Was the man she knew as her father actually a cold-blooded murderer? Was he a monster? She quaked, then not knowing what else to do, Bra ran to the bed where her mother and Goku sat restraining her at full speed. "MAMA!!"
The thick haze of amnesia lifted from Bulma's mind for a moment, allowing passage to some clarity. "Bra, honey." Bulma felt Goku let go of her long enough to warp her arms around the small version of herself. "It's alright, we'll be fine..."
"D-d-demo...what's wrong with d-daddy...."
Bulma winced at the melodic innocence of her daughter's voice. So young, so ingenuous, so completely clueless. Her arms tightened around Bra, trying her best to calm her child. At that very moment Bulma's body responded to a pair of arms around her, she found that Goku had fixed his hold on her as well. Responsively, the blue-haired woman welcomed such intimacy; knowing in the back of her mind it was for her own protection. Bra noticed the change in her mother although her childish mind thought nothing of it.
"I don't know, love." Bulma focused her big blue eyes on the actions of her murderous husband. Terror lapped around those orbs, she could do nothing but watch the golden devil squeeze the life from their first born son. The thought, not to mention the fact, that the being before her was her husband sickened the woman in Goku's arms immensely. But what could she, or any of them for that matter, do to stop the Saiyan prince? Absolutely nothing.
"He's going to kill him." Muttered Bulma absently, forgetting momentarily about the presence of her daughter.
"N-nani?!" the cries of the child came sharp, nearly incoherently. Bra was worried for her older brother.
Goku observed. "No, he's not."
Bra's influential ears perked up.
"Yes!" Her face became set in determination
There came a sigh of desperation from Bulma. How could Goku be so optimistic about Trunks' well being when the poor boy looked as ashen as his mother had earlier been? Whatever made Goku so damn carefree, Bulma wanted some. With the events having taken place lately, it was enough to drive anyone to such levels of desperation. She wanted so much to believe that truly everything would work out for the best, however, watching one's first born child have a close encounter with death never really did much for hope. Bulma shut her eyes, lay her head back, and groaned.
What a day....
Just when Goku took notice of uncharacteristic sense of calm that began to govern his best friend, peace was shattered. In an abrupt uproar of drywall debris and super-human strength the two blue-haired females were as alter as a military soldier. The sight before them convinced the onlookers that they had missed a step. No, not only a step had they missed, but a whole damn latter of proceedings leading up to the current happening. Somehow, Trunks had overthrown the death-grip coming from his father, gaining the obvious upper hand. Trunks was now the one handing out the glares down at his father, his aquatic eyes were as narrow as they could go.
"Seems the baka onna did do something right." Sneered Vegeta, bringing his gloved hand up to rid his lisp of a ribbon of crimson blood. "Here I was thinking that I would have to kill you."
Trunks took a few steps away from the man he was shamed to call father; up reaching his desired distance, Trunks spun around. "I guess growing up without a father has its perks." His lavender locks became prisoners of the wind, bending to its ministrations.
Momentary waves of disgust flowed through Vegeta's system. Such a waste of obvious Saiyan power in the body that yielded eyes with such human emotion. The irony of it was down right comical. "Weak and a liar."
Bra hopped away from her mother, relocating herself at the foot of the bed, which brought her much closer to Trunks. She lowered her head to the confinement of her red fabric dress when it was obvious that Trunks ignored her presence. Bra sighed.
"Liar?" The inquirement took on a mocking tone of voice. "Are you trying to tell me you were around?"
Crossing his arms on his chest classically, Vegeta spoke, "I am."
Trunks then handed the prince the shock her never expected; the youth erupted in hysterical laughter. "Now you're just a bold-face lying bastard."
The prince dropped his arms from before his stone-solid chest, seemed the brat was full of surprises today. "Are you blind?!"
Contemptuously, Trunks displayed the perfect amount of recognition. "Of course father," He spat the final word with heave resent. "How could I have forgotten?" They all listened, curious to where this was going.
Trunks continued. "You were always around."
Vegeta smirked. "Finally you see reason brat."
This time, it appeared Trunks had not taken offense to the older Saiyan's comment. Rather, a heredity smirk dawned on his lips. "You were always around for a quickie."
Bulma's eyes widened as her mind struggled to register the words having been said. "Trunks!"
"You see her as nothing!" Trunks proceeded with his accusations, ignoring his mother's plea. "You don't deserve her! You-"
Vegeta lowered down to the normal dark state he possessed then he silenced Trunks the best and only way he knew how. A sharp blow to the jaw suppressed Trunks in mid-sentence. "Silence boy."
A side of Trunks no one in the room had ever seen began to shine into the inhumanely white room in a flash or rage. Turquoise flame pored from his eyes, the luminosity of the sun from his hair.
"Stop it...."
The father and son glared at one another.
"I dare you." Vegeta taunted Trunks. "Prepare a death wish."
In a maddening scream and a blinding exhibit of lights, Trunks' fury reached its peak. "I'm going to make you regret the damage you cause her!"
"Please," small sobs rained elsewhere in the room. "Kami make it stop..."
Vegeta laughed sinisterly. "I'd love to see you try brat."
"End all the pain."
Goku brought up his gentle hand from Bulma's shoulder to the back of her head. He smoothed away her sweated bangs. "It's ok Bulma." At his touch, she relocated herself in his arms, now resting her head under his own.
"Hold me?" she asked timidly. "Stop the hurt?"
"Of course." It made senses to him as to why such a sight would have shattered her already delicate mind. Her beloved son and her...well...Vegeta, fighting. How could someone expect her to be ok? The poor woman, her body shook like a motorized object, in pure terror. Any more shaking and he figured she could pass for a machine. She hid her face in his shirt.
"Bulma's scared."
Sadly, that was when Goku realized her condition was getting worse, on the contrary route he had hoped for. She had started speaking of herself in the third person tense. To humor her, he smiled brightly and patted her head. "Goku will protect Bulma."
Bulma blinked up at him under the vale of her angel-blue eyelashes. "Why?"
His smile softened. "Because we-"
"Because you just can't mind your own damn business."
They both glimpsed to the far left; Vegeta's attention was now on them. "Kakkarot I warned you." And the prince was anything but pleased.
Trunks panicked. "Get back here you-"
"SILENCE!" Vegeta brought his hand up in the air and made a movement, Trunks doubled over in pain.
Bra seemed as frightened as ever, her mind in a state of pure anxiety. She ran up to her brother in a ruffle of skirts and a flash of blue. "TRUNKS!!"
Weakly, the boy forced a smile onto his lips. "Hey sis, w-wanna do your b- big brother a f-favor?"
All at once, he watched her face light up like a Christmas tree. "Yeah!"
"O-ok then," he conveyed his hand up to touch her head. "Wait for me in your room. I'll be r-right there."
"OTAY TRUNKS!"
And with that, she disappeared happily from the room that evil lived in. Once he was sure Bra was long gone, Trunks slowly made his hand reach up to his chest, coughing up a long stream of blood. The boy fell to his knees, one hand clutching at his chest. Whatever it had been that his father had done t him, it sure had hurt. Trunks looked up a few seconds later; his eyes met Bulma's over the room.
"N-no mom, I'm fine." He struggled to get up before she thought the worse from him. By the time he had found his feet once more, it was too late. A look of sheer horror passed Bulma's face. Her eyes filled with unshed tears.
"T-Trunks' hurt." Bulma mumbled emptily. When no one paid her any mind, Bulma buried her face behind the aqua lace of her hair.
"On your feet Kakkarot." Vegeta hissed, watching the younger Saiyan cradle his wife in his arms.
Goku sighed, knowing where this would lead. "Vegeta, you're not-"
"I said, get up!" A roar of fury escaped his lips while a surge cut through him. The source? Vegeta smirked, what else could be causing his anger? "Now, get up."
"I don't want to fight you, Vegeta." Replied Goku.
Vegeta derided at his rival. "We're way past idiotic conversing. Time to take action!"
There came a shake of the head from Goku. "We do not have to resort to violence."
To their dread, Vegeta began to make his way to the bedside Bulma and Goku shared, stopping short a couple of feet. "Hand over my onna then!"
Bulma watched on in revulsion while her keeper loosened his hold over the contours of her body. She gasped loudly.
"There," Declared Goku. "if she wishes so, she's free to leave."
Light from the sun spilled in the room, setting it ablaze. The soft shadows danced in every nook and cranny as the men observed Bulma. Vegeta eyed the woman with the most care. He watched the way her disoriented eyes shoot from person to person in the room, the way her frame shook. He could only guess it was a conditioned reaction to the sudden lack of heat around her; he growled. Dam her, damn the third class baka as well.
"Well?" Vegeta alleged roughly. A few minutes later, his son stood to his right, a mirror image with different coloring.
"Mom?"
To the surprise and disappointment to both Trunks and Vegeta, Bulma still refused to move. Rather her eyes shot across the distance that felt like miles to her, meeting a pair of gentle oxford eyes. There after, she made a ruffling dash of covers into the arms of her choice. A hiss of rage followed closely.
Bulma lay her head on Goku's lower chest, having wrapped her peachy arms around his perfectly sculpted torso. "H-he scares me, Goku." Bulma buried her head into his shirt, as if she closed her eyes her fear would vanish. "Goku protect Bulma?" Her voice broke.
It took even Trunks a few instances to chronicle what was going on. He was not the only one who watched as Goku regained his balance, sitting up after the rush impact of Bulma returning into his arms. Vegeta cursed a few words in his native tongue, then took a few steps closer to the 'happy couple'. Bulma began to tense up noticeably.
"Hai Bulma." Responded Goku, his eyes locking with Vegeta's over her head. "I'll protect you," there was a pause, their glare intensified. "From anyone."
An enraged appearance adorned the face of the raven-haired prince. He would not be mocked, no would he be denied.
"Get up." He transported his arms over the bed, winding his fingers tightly around Bulma's shoulder. She shot her eyes open wide in responsive shock. Fear soon crept its way into her system replacing her astonishment. The fear, Vegeta resentfully noticed, was of him. "Come on, onna."
Bulma's arms were literally pried off of Goku, her hands taking fists full of the covers with her, like a cat refusing to go within 3 feet of water. In the end it was all utterly useless, Vegeta held her at his wicked mercy. He gave her a cold smirk, then wrenched her frail body into his arms. Underestimating his strength, her face fell into his stone-hard chest, holding her hands over her head in his own. Upon finding herself in his arms, the first thing that came into her mind was to fight him off. Bite him, kick him, do anything to get away from Vegeta....anything her mind shouted at her. Bulma took her right arm out of his hold and swung, causing Vegeta to move back a few steps.
Goku and Trunks expected there to be anger in Vegeta's eyes as a result to his wife's prior action. Yet what they found lingering in the obsidian eyes was amusement. His nose trickled up softly, the remains of his face moving to accommodate the display of humor in his eyes. Without warning, he busted up in a fit of menacing laughter, as if he had just heard the most humorous thing in the world.
"Foolish onna."
Then the laughter ended, the expected fury shinned through, the sun after the storm. Only this time, it was scalding, burning, and the embodiment of heavenly hell. Bulma shivered, trying to mask her obvious fear. Something inside of her was shouting, run! She would have loved to run, had she control over her own body.
"V-ve...."
Two fingers were placed on her lips, silencing her. "Hush onna. No more talking from you." His words scared her, but not as much as his next action. Vegeta wound his arms around Bulma, pulling her up to him. "I'd much rather you not do much more talking. We have things to deal with later."
Trunks cleared his throat.
Goku watched on.
Bulma....did nothing....
"So say ja'ne to the baka and tell your son to leave."
Under the harsh glare of her husband it was hard for Bulma to do anything. She knew that a good wife had to be adroit to all of these things, especially the wife of a Saiyan prince. But for some reason her strength failed her all at once. She sighed heavily, lifting her chest with a deep breath.
"Trunks.... please... leave."
Trunks balled his hands into fists. "FINE!" he glared at his father. "But if I hear anything sounding anywhere near her screaming, I'm coming in here."
Vegeta scoffed. "Yes, yes we know, you'll play hero."
There came a glare from the lavender youth. "That's right. So watch it, Vegeta." Then he was gone, as if he never had been in the room in the first place. His presence lingered in the room for what seemed like an instant and then it too had left, leaving Bulma alone in her fears.
With her son gone from the room, she felt something in her tell her that Vegeta was about to take things on a bit more different. She shuttered lightly under his arms, knowing that this was something she could not get out of no matter who was there to help her. The fear was written in her eyes, eyes that had suddenly aged years beyond counting. From his fair distance away from Vegeta and Bulma, Goku met her scared blue eyes over their space. It hurt him, cut him like a knife to his soul, to see her so helpless. Goku turned his hands into fists then reached one hand out to touch Bulma's covered shoulder.
Vegeta watched his rival move to touch his onna, seemed like the baka never learned. "Don't you ever touch my onna! Is that clear Kakkarot? She is MINE, I OWN HER! Touch her again and I'll rip your spine through the barrels of your third-class ass!"
That was it. Those were the words that sent Goku over the edge, braking the damn of anger he had long since started holding in. Goku gently took hold of Bulma once more and pushed her to the side, the bed braking her fall. Bulma looked up at her savior and Vegeta, what happened from here would all be history in a matter of seconds. She couldn't tare her eyes away, would Goku really snap?
Instead, Goku walked closer to Vegeta, leaving a few inches between them, and then he spoke. His lips hardly parted, omitting a dangerously low hiss to his prince. "Vegeta, Kami knows I'm not an angry man and I try not to be. But if you ever, ever again, in your life refer to Bulma as nothing more than an object," Goku moved in, narrowing his eyes at the shorter Saiyan. "I'll be the one doing the spine-ripping."
Vegeta managed a laugh. "You'd go against your blood, your heritage, your destiny, and even your prince over a simple baka onna?!" A laugh came from the prince once more. "She's nothing! She's just a common baka wh-"
Bulma felt her eyes blur with unshed tears, so that's all he really saw her as. The room was covered in a blanket of silence, Vegeta never getting to finish his statement. Bulma opened her eyes that had previously been shut. The silence was shattered like glass falling from the floor. That's when they all heard it, that's when it happened. That's when Goku sent his hand flying across Vegeta's face and he brought his knee to his prince's chest.
~*~
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