Chapter the sixth

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any other trademarked materials in this fanfiction.

As the evening wore to an end, it got closer and closer to nighttime without Vegeta noticing as he and Bulma fooled around, kissed, and even touched each other in places lovers shouldn't touch. But, Vegeta didn't know the heap of trouble he was getting himself in, as he foolishly didn't watch the sun going down.

* * * * *

"WHERE IS HE?" Freeza yelled, sending Zarbon tumbling back a few feet. Vegeta had been gone too long, and was now staying longer than Freeza had said he could be gone. "I'm going to kill him!" He shrieked.

"I'm sorry Lord Freeza . . . Do you want me to go out and look for him?" Zarbon asked, hoping to calm his Master. When Freeza got mad, ANYONE could die.

Freeza breathed deeply for a few minutes. "Sure. Go out and find him. And when you DO find him . . . Tell him that he will start to listen to me, and that he's on ration for two weeks, then bring him to me. I need to . . . talk to him. Talk to him up close." Freeza growled, stalking out of the room.

Zarbon gulped. He knew what Freeza meant by 'talk to him up close.'

* * * * *

Vegeta broke away from Bulma's kiss. "Woman . . . I'm getting kind of hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" He asked.

Bulma smiled and nodded. "Oh sure." Her make-up was smeared from making out with Vegeta, and he had make-up all over his face. Bulma dug out some chips for him. "Does Freeza not let you eat or something? Because if he doesn't, always come to me. I'll give you something to eat."

Vegeta smirked, and was about to dig into the chips, when something hit him. It was dark outside! He dropped the chip in his hand to the ground in fear. "No . . . Oh, No . . ."

Bulma leaned forward. "What's wrong? Is something wrong?" She asked.

But Vegeta didn't answer her. Instead, he pulled her to her feet by her wrist.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Bulma demanded.

Vegeta pushed her away. "Hide!" He exclaimed, pushing her again. "Hide, please! Run away, try to get somewhere safe, just don't stay here—"

Bulma stopped listening about there. She realized the expression of fear on Vegeta's face as he tried to push her away and she immediately knew that something was up. "What's the matter?" She asked, squinting her eyes up. She tried to slip her arms around his waist, but instead he grabbed her face and kissed her as hard as he could.

"RUN!" He ordered, more firmly now. "He's coming! Zarbon's coming!"

Bulma leaned in and kissed Vegeta. "But I don't want to leave you here! He'll beat you for staying out late, you know that he will—" By now she had burst into tears. "I don't want you to have to take that alone, Vegeta . . . Please . . . Run with me . . ."

Vegeta pulled her off of him and shook her. "Listen to me, God Dammit! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! If I try to run, he'll only make the beating worse on me. You're helping it by running. It'll help me just to know that you're gonna be safe." He wiped her tears off of her cheeks with his thumbs. "Believe me, Okay?"

Bulma stared at him, still crying. "But Vegeta, I can't live with myself knowing that I hurt you—"

All of the sudden, they heard a British accent say, 'VEGETA!'

Both of their heads snapped up.

"SEE!" He screamed at her. "What if he sees you? Then, not only will he beat me but he'll kill you!" He started trying to push her away, but she stood her ground. Vegeta was horrified when he saw Zarbon burst through the trees, with a mad look on his green face. Vegeta gulped. "Uh—Hi—"

"Don't give me that, Lord Freeza is standing on his head!" Zarbon said.

*Why isn't he inquiring about Bulma? * Vegeta thought. When he looked over where Bulma had been standing, she was gone. She had run! Vegeta smiled.

"I don't possibly see what you're so happy about. Lord Freeza is going to beat the hell out of you." Zarbon said. "But, I'm going to get to you first." He slapped Vegeta across the face, making Vegeta's head go flying to the side and stay there.

Vegeta clapped a hand to his cheek. "I'm damn right tired of this!" He cursed, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "You're going to pay this time!" He kicked Zarbon in the stomach as hard as he could. He was so mad that he couldn't see straight!

Zarbon was surprised. After twenty years, Vegeta had the nerve to throw blows back at him! Zarbon smirked. "Vegeta, that was not smart." He said, stepping forward. "Not smart at all."

Before Vegeta could react he was in a chokehold by Zarbon.

"I'm going to take you back to Lord Freeza, and if I have anymore lip out of you than you're dead, you hear me?" Zarbon asked. He lit a ki blast up in his hand. "And I'm sure that Lord Freeza wouldn't mind if I killed you, because I think that's what he was going to do."

Vegeta didn't try to fight very much anymore. "Just take me back to Master Freeza." He ordered.

Zarbon smiled. "All in good time. But let me warn you . . . you'll have to tell him what you were doing here out in the woods instead of looking for Dragonballs." He then flew off, with Vegeta.

* * * * *

Bulma had been watching from afar behind a tree. She was crying, and had wanted so badly to go after them. But she knew there was no point. Vegeta would just be even more miserable if she were to die, like he had said. So she had just sat there and watched. *How could someone live like that? How could someone let that happen to them? * She thought, beginning to cry even harder.

But what could she do about it, a weakling human girl that didn't know how to fight?

*Goku. * She thought, bringing a smile to her face. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Goku! Goku can help Vegeta!" She said, throwing the capsule to her flying machine and climbing inside.

* * * * *

"Goku!" Bulma called when she got to her house.

Goku immediately ran up to her to see if she was okay. "Where were you?" He asked. "We were so worried! I was afraid the Saiyan kidnapped you or something!" Before Goku could react, Bulma had grabbed him by the shoulders.

"No, but it's about the Saiyan that I need to talk to you about!" Bulma screamed in Goku's face. "He needs help, he needs help—"

"Whoa, Bulma, calm down! What do you mean?" Goku asked. By the look in her eyes she looked downright hysterical.

"He needs help, Goku! He's in a bad situation! I was with him today, and—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa back up! Why were you with that Saiyan? Are you freaking crazy?" Goku asked. "You don't need to be fooling around with him. He's double-crossing!"

"No he's not once you get to know him, Goku. Three people are abusing him. Three aliens, I mean, named Freeza, Zarbon, and Dodoria." Bulma said. "And you could help him get away, couldn't you?"

Goku shrugged. "I don't know who these people are. I don't know if you're sane right now, either, so why don't you go and lay down? I'll bring you some ice water and then you can think about what you're saying." Goku said reassuringly. "The Bulma that I know would never fool around with that Saiyan."

"But Goku . . . I fell in love with him."

Goku froze stiff, taking in what she had just said. *Fell in love with him? Has she been taking drugs? * He thought. He turned around to face her. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "You must be temporarily insane, so I'll just go and get your parents." Goku started to walk away.

Bulma reached out and grabbed his arm. "I am not insane, I know what I'm talking about, and I know that I love him. And the Goku that I know would not let someone die that I love so very much. Someone who loves me back." She said. "He's a good man, who needs help, and if you won't get him help, I'll get him help myself. He's beaten like a rag doll, Goku!" She screamed the very last sentence.

Goku just blinked at her.

"And . . . If you help him . . . He won't have a reason to be evil anymore. It's his master that makes him be evil." Bulma finished. She then walked up to Goku, starting to cry. "Please, Goku, help him."

Goku stared at her even longer. *How could I help him? * He thought. *He . . . He's killed so many of our friends . . . Piccolo . . . Yamcha . . . Tien . . . But Bulma loves him . . . *

"Please." Bulma whispered once more.

Goku stared at her a while longer before slowly shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Bulma, But I can't. I can't help him; he's killed too many people for me to help him. He's a murderer, he deserves what he gets." He said this sternly. "If you were dense enough to fall in love with him . . . that's your problem."

Bulma barely knew what she was doing when she slapped him across his face so hard that it rocked to the side.

Goku brought a hand up to his face. "Bulma, now . . ."

"I don't want to hear your excuses. You're a selfish man, Goku! Yes, he's made a couple of mistakes; I'll admit that. But he risked his life for ME, Goku! He's saved my life twice, and I'll help him by myself. I don't need you." Bulma then turned her nose up in the air and walked off the other direction. *I'll go out tonight, and I'll see him . . . and I'll save him. * She thought. *Vegeta and I both will get rid of Freeza. *

Thinking this, she packed a couple blankets and pillows to go camping outside close to the space ship so she could see him.

* * * * *

After a terrible beating, Vegeta lay on his cot bleeding all over the place, bleeding profusely. The pain was horrible; so horrible that it took all of his will power not to cry.

This time, it had been all three of them. Freeza, Zarbon AND Dodoria. They all three had been beating the hell out of him, asking for an answer. But he hadn't given it to them to save Bulma. He refused, and now he was paying the price. Bleeding out his ears, eyes, mouth . . . everywhere. But at least he had saved Bulma from this. If they would have caught Bulma with him they would have taken her prisoner or killed her. Both were horrible ways to die, and Vegeta had stopped that from happening.

As Vegeta was sitting there and thinking about what Bulma was doing just then and how he'd ever get to see her again, Freeza walked into his quarters without even knocking. "You're pathetic, Vegeta." He growled.

Vegeta just lay there, bleeding.

"I ought to kill you."

A single tear slipped from Vegeta's eye. Before he could help himself he was begging helplessly for mercy. "Please, PLEASE, no more, don't beat me anymore!" He begged. "I'm already bad enough . . . it's taking all that I can to talk to you right now . . ." He heard Freeza's icy chuckle again. Freeza was laughing at his pain.

"Vegeta, I come here having no intention on beating you anymore. You've had enough, don't you think?" He asked, brushing his long tail under Vegeta's chin affectionately.

"With all due respect, master . . . why are you in here then?"

That icy chuckle again.

"Did you ever think that maybe instead of hitting you I wanted to talk to you about something? A man to man chat, what do you say to that?" Freeza asked, not exactly in a nice tone. His tone was taunting, as if anything could set him off and make him kill Vegeta.

"But . . . I know what you're here to talk to me about." Vegeta moaned. "And it's something that I can't answer. You're going to ask me why I wasn't looking for a Dragonball . . . and I still refuse to tell you. You can kill me if you want to."

Freeza scowled at Vegeta. *That little worm. * He thought.

"No, what I was going to tell you is this. You aren't aloud out of this ship anymore except for with Zarbon or Dodoria in close range. It's nighttime, yes, but you may not sleep outside today. You may never sleep outside again. You're to stay in here, do you understand me?" Freeza demanded.

Vegeta felt a lump in his throat. He was about to cry.

"Yes, Master . . ." He moaned. *No more outside means no more . . . Bulma. * He thought. He hoped Freeza would leave before he started to sob helplessly. But, when he was about to do this, he got an idea.

"Okay, Vegeta, that's all I wanted to say." Freeza sneered. "I'll leave you alone now."

He then left the room, giving Vegeta enough time to put his plan into place.

Vegeta sat up and admired the thick puddle of blood his body had made around the cot. He smirked. *Yes . . . There's enough here. * He thought. He went over to the blood and took one of his gloves off, so the blood wouldn't bead up. He then stuck his hand in it and rubbed it around, around and around, grimacing as his stomach churned and protested at having his hand in blood.

When he had his hand soaked in the desired amount of blood he stood up and went to the tiny window. He took his bloody hand and made a handprint in the top right corner of the window, just to catch Bulma's attention. He then took his finger and wrote this message below that with the blood, 'I'M HERE.'

Vegeta stood back satisfied with his work. *She's got to see that, she just has too. * He thought hopefully. *And she'll help me, like she promised she would. * He then sat down below the window and waited for Bulma.

* * * * *

Later in the night, Bulma woke up at her watch alarm. She was camping out in the desert not very far from Freeza's space ship, where her Vegeta was. She just hoped that he was outside or somewhere she could see him, because she didn't want to have to go inside unless she absolutely had to. But she would if that was the only way to see her lover.

*It's go time. * She thought, standing up and packing her sleeping bag back up into a roll. She put it on her back and threw the capsule to her flying machine. It popped out and she climbed inside.

When she reached Freeza's ship, she sadly did not see a sign of Vegeta. Fear immediately hopped into Bulma's throat at the thought of going inside of the ship. {Sarah loves clay Aiken!} *I don't want to go in there, what if I get captured? * She thought. But all of that left her mind when she thought about Vegeta, and what might be happening to him inside of that ship. *I'm going to. For Vegeta. * She thought.

She landed her flying machine and slowly got out. "Vegeta? Are you out here?" She called. Hopefully, he was somewhere around and with his sensitive ears could hear her. But Vegeta didn't come rushing at her calls.

"Please don't be in there . . . And more than that, please don't be hurt." Bulma said outloud to herself. She ran a full circle around the ship before realizing that Vegeta just wasn't anywhere outside.

After a while of sitting and sulking, she happened to glance up and notice a message on the window, a message written in something crimson. Like blood. But, Bulma couldn't read it because of how high up the message was. She was about to turn away and go back to her ship, but then she thought about Vegeta. What if it was his message, begging for her help? She sucked her ship back up into the capsule, and then threw the capsule again at the window so that it formed right beneath the window, where she could climb up it and read the message.

After a lot of climbing, Bulma finally got high enough to read the message. She figured it was Vegeta's writing, because why would it be written in blood? He had gotten beaten, and she was quite sure of it. Her Vegeta had been beaten again.

Bulma swallowed up her tears and stood tiptoed on the flying machine. She looked into the window and there, huddled up and frightened, was Vegeta. But he was so bloody and beaten up that he was hardly recognizable. Bulma sobbed very loud, so loud it caused Vegeta to perk up.

"Bulma?" Vegeta muttered. He looked around for her, before finally remembering the message he'd written on the window for her to find. He smiled a little bit when he looked up and saw her crying face in the glass, pounding on it and asking for him to wake up.

He quickly flew up to the glass. "Bulma . . . I'm sorry I wasn't outside! Freeza banned me from ever going outside except for with Zarbon and Dodoria!" He said, almost sobbing himself at the sight of Bulma's crying face. "You don't have to cry about it, Bulma . . . We'll find some way to get this glass out so I can come out there with you, there are just probably people guarding the door so I don't get out."

Bulma sucked up her tears. "They beat you again!" She sobbed some more. "But this time worse than ever, why can't they ever leave you alone?"

Vegeta wiped his eyes. "Never mind that now. Just . . . is there any way out there to open the window? I can see Freeza not putting a way in here, but he might have out there. I'm not gonna break the window because then Freeza would know I was out."

Bulma slightly smiled as she searched the window pane for a button or latch, running her hands over it and getting them dusty and cut up. Finally, her hand came across a little latch on the windowpane.

"I found something Vegeta!" She exclaimed.

"That's nice! Now OPEN IT!" Vegeta said sarcastically.

"Sorry." Bulma muttered, trying to lift the latch. She tried with all of her brute force, but she couldn't unlock it. "The God Damned thing won't unlock, Vegeta! It's all rusty or something." She said. She banged on it with her fist, even chewed on it with her teeth. But the latch just wouldn't give in to her will power. She grew frustrated and started to cry again. "Oh, Vegeta, it's stuck!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Try harder before someone sees you!" He demanded. "If someone were to see you, I couldn't help because they've got me locked up in here!"

Bulma grabbed her pocketknife and began to pry at the metal, rusty latch. "Come on, you son of a bitch! Open!" She cursed.

Vegeta waited somewhat patiently inside his room, which now reeked the copper smell of blood. He was praying that it would open up somehow. "Bulma, hurry, please! Zarbon or someone's lobule to hear me talking and come in here!"

"Then quit talking silly!" Bulma pried at the latch some more. She tried everything that she could possibly try on the latch, but it would not open. Her tears grew louder and more frustrated. "Vegeta, there's no way to get you out but to break the window!"

Vegeta growled. "TRY HARDER!" He screamed.

Bulma started to try harder and eventually, she felt the latch give under the pocketknife and go up. A slow smile broke across her face.

"Now open it, please, hurry!" Vegeta shouted.

Bulma put her hands on the edge of the window and tried to lift it up. It slowly slid up, with a squeaky noise that made Vegeta cover his ears. Finally, the window was all the way up. Even though the window was on the small size she thought that maybe Vegeta could go through. After all, he was a small man.

Vegeta stepped back a couple of feet and then flew at the window as fast and as hard as he could. He went through; but not without accidentally bashing his head on the windowpane. He grabbed Bulma off of the top of the flying machine and flew her to the ground, where he started to kiss her.

Bulma kissed him back. She could taste the blood all over his face and neck, and felt the deep cuts and wounds with her tongue. But she didn't care. He was Vegeta, and she would have eaten motor oil for him.

"Vegeta . . . I tried to get you some help." She told him as they broke away from each other's kiss. "I tried to get you some help from Goku, but he said he wouldn't. He said you've killed too many for him to help you, and he's so selfish—"

Vegeta gave her a kiss to shut her up. He tried to hide the disappointment in his voice as he spoke. "That's Okay. I'll . . . WE'LL . . . find a way to get me out of here. But for now . . . it's better like this."

"What do you mean it's better like this? You're bleeding horribly!" Bulma said, pointing out the blood all over her body and in her hair from snuggling on him. "You can't go on like this. You just can't, nobody should have to live like this. I'LL help you get away from Freeza by myself. You and I will get you away together."

Vegeta smirked. "That's gallant, woman, but I think we should lay off for now. Let's go somewhere else before Zarbon or Dodoria sees me out here." He flew off with Bulma, carrying her to someplace where he was sure Zarbon or Dodoria couldn't see them.

Yo! Next chapter, Zarbon discovers that Vegeta has left his room, and also discovers the flying machine up against the wall, and knows automatically whose it is, which means he knows that Vegeta didn't kill Bulma! Thankfully, Freeza won't believe him though!
Zarbon finds the general place where Vegeta is at, but Vegeta surpresses his ki and Bulma and he hide from Zarbon . . . and I won't tell you anymore! You'll have to wait to find out!

-Luv, luvssaintbernards