By: Kichi
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ but at the same time, I make no money off writing this. So logically, suing is pointless, yes?
A/N: I want to say thanks to Vegeta
Otaku for helping me out with some ideas for this chapter
Chapter 8 - I don't know why I like You
There was something
about outer space that repelled, yet fascinated at the same time.
It was dismal and appeared empty - like himself on first glance he suspected.
But the universe was unimaginably filled, even after everything the Kold
empire had destroyed. He suspected that he would never find a place
to call his own. The only place he'd ever called home was Vejiitasei.
There were other planets with high gravity, but did they look the same?
Did they have twin suns, golden during the day, deepening to a blood-red
hue towards dusk? Was their sky a pale yellow that faded to rusty
orange and purple by night? Would any place have trees as tall and
grand as Vejiitasei? He thought back to childhood, staring up at
those massive trunks and towering boughs. And the oceans. Shimmering
like liquid gold, and the fish, their scales seemingly made of diamond
for they sparkled and reflected light like those stones which Zarbon had
so loved to wear.
It was an impossible quest,
it seemed, to find somewhere remotely similar to his former home.
The endless void of space seemed more familiar now, and he hated it.
He was drawn from his
thoughts by his tail of all things. He'd never had his tail removed
and the newly-generated limb was a strange experience. The nerves
felt like they were tingling and his tail would begin to thrash about on
its own as it was doing as he stared at it.
He'd never realized how
important it had been until it had been cut off. Never had he felt
such humiliation! The last link to his home, utterly destroyed. Perhaps
the onna knew who had robbed him of it in the first place, but would she
tell him?
He snorted in derision.
She had better! He thought angrily, he'd only saved her ass twice.
At least he thought so. He wasn't sure what had happened the first
time she'd gotten in a scrape with one of Frieza's men. He'd only
arrived just in time. At least he thought so. She didn't speak
of it. But then, he didn't expect her to.
And besides, his tail
was back. Who cut it off really didn't matter that much, somehow
he would get that information out of her. The onna was infuriatingly
talkative. She was bound to let a few things slip.
A sudden piercing scream
tore him out of his reverie, He leapt to his feet and was outside
the bathroom door. He could hear the onna's panicked screams and
frantic hammering on the door. He grasped the handle and surprisingly,
it wouldn't budge. Bulma screams grew louder and he frowned as he
wrenched the door from its hinges. Before he could drop the thick
slab of metal, Bulma had leapt into his arms, half-mad with panic. And
half-naked! He could feel her entire body quivering as she cleaved to him.
Her skin was amazingly soft and smooth. He could feel hot tears rolling
down his neck as she buried her face in his throat. Oh shit.
He tried to ignore the sudden rush of desire and sought to discover what
had sent her into such a pitiable state. His eyes swept through the
bathroom. What the hell? He wondered in bewilderment. He saw
it, and jumped back about ten feet.
"What is that?!" He cried,
unable to hide his astonishment and disgust at the eight-legged horror
that skittered across the floor towards them.
"It's the biggest spider
ever born!" Bulma fairly shrieked in his ear. He winced at the pain
caused by her high-pitched squealing.
"Spider?" he murmured.
It was an unfamiliar being, and he was utterly repelled by it. He
couldn't say he hadn't seen disgusting insects before, but they hadn't
been as big as this! The largest bug he'd seen had only been a foot
in length at the most. Bulma sniffled and peered over his shoulder
at the creature still advancing as Vegeta backed away.
"Kill it!" she cried.
"Step on it!" Vegeta laughed.
"Step on it!? Are you
insane? I'm barefoot!" He raised a hand and Bulma gasped as it began to
glow with ki.
"No Vegeta! The
ship! You have to.. step on it or something! Don't shoot it
you'll breach the hull and we'll be sucked into space!" Damn her
for being right so often! But he didn't want to touch it! The
spider creature suddenly crouched and leapt straight at them! Bulma's
panicked scream easily covered Vegeta's strangled gasp of alarm as he leapt
back.
"Shit." He hissed.
His back was to the wall and at least two of its eyes were staring right
at him. He wanted to kill it, but how? He felt like a pitiful
coward, but the thing was sickening to look at. He couldn't imagine
touching it! A shudder raced up his spine that mirrored Bulma's trembling.
He raised a small bit of ki and pointed one finger. Just enough to
kill the thing - then before he could fire it spat a long spray of liquid.
He felt it splash his leg and watched in amazement as the floor began to
burn from the liquid trail. He fired the small blast right between
the two biggest eyes as it lurched forward again. It fell to the
ground and shuddered all over before it stiffened and lay quiet.
He set Bulma on her feet
and only then did his mind register the agonizing pain. With a sharp
gasp he fell on his butt, almost on his tail! Bulma dropped to her
knees and tried to pull him up.
"What is it?" For
a moment, all her could do was stare at the silky white material covering
Bulma's breasts as pain shot in jolts up and down his leg. She checked
him over for injuries and gasped in shock when she saw the angry red welts
on his shin. The bloody shorts had not covered any of the area that
had been hit. "How did this happen?" Bulma gasped.
"It spit on me." Vegeta
growled through clenched teeth. She gently touched the smallest wound
and his whole body jerked, a small groan of pain issuing from him.
She gasped as the skin pulled away from that faint touch and blood began
to ooze freely.
"Shit!" Bulma gasped.
"Come on. Let's get up." Vegeta took a deep breath and stood,
but as he tried to take a step forward the pain caused him to stumble and
nearly black out. Bulma was pushing him up with all her strength,
her small hands planted firmly on his chest. She could see him struggling
and a swift ache shot through her heart. They half-stumbled over
to the bed and fell onto the piled up covers in a heap. He groaned
and rolled onto his back at Bulma's request and she ran back to the bathroom
carefully avoiding the smoldering spider carcass on the floor. She
found the first aid kit, disinfectant, towels and antibiotic cream and
dashed back to Vegeta.
He was sitting up, staring at the blood oozing
down his leg with what could only be described as morbid fascination.
She stood riveted as he swiped some of the blood off of his shin and licked
it off his finger. Utterly vampiric he seemed, with those sharp canines
she'd glimpsed earlier when he'd laughed at her. And the way he'd drank
his own blood, she shuddered. He was so unlike anyone she'd ever
met. And at times he scared her, like right now. His eyes lifted
and he studied her as well. She was jolted from her daze by his piercing
eyes. Eyes that seemed to strip her bare to her soul leaving every
fault and weakness exposed to his inscrutable gaze. He was a mystery
to her, one she wanted desperately to understand.
She sat down beside him
and took a clean, white wash cloth and soaked it in the peroxide.
She began to clean the wounds as gently as possible. But Vegeta seemed
to be blocking the pain out. He had a very small frown and he appeared
lost in thought. She continued to dab at the three flaming scorches
and the clotted blood wiped away to reveal angry little holes. She
winced as the peroxide cause the wounds to bubble, but Vegeta didn't seem
to mind. She would have been bawling. She gently blew on his
leg and noticed that he jumped visibly.
"Sorry." She murmured,
thinking it had somehow hurt him. He said nothing. She covered
each gash with antibiotic cream and put gauze pads over them. Then
she taped them onto his virtually hairless leg. But the lack of hair
didn't surprise her. Goku was the same way. Must be a Saiyan
thing, she mused. "There. Does it feel better?" He
blinked, coming out of his daze and peered down at his leg.
"Yes." He admitted quietly,
with a faint touch of awe in his voice.
"Good." She said with
a smile. The smile instantly faded and she groaned, slapping her
forehead. Vegeta eyed her curiously, wondering what had changed her
demeanor so quick.
"What is it, onna?" he
asked. Bulma didn't miss the tone of his voice and for a moment she
almost forgot the problem. Kami, he sounded almost.. nice.
"That." She pointed with
a grimace of disgust at the dead spider. Oh. That.
He'd thought for a moment that she'd realized she was almost naked in front
of him. He surely had not forgotten. Almost as if she sensed
his thoughts she looked down at herself and her face turned crimson.
"I-I'll be right back." She murmured and scurried to the bathroom.
Damn it. Vegeta thought with
a rueful smile. He had hoped she wouldn't notice. Besides why
did she care? She been in that state of undress for awhile now, what
made her suddenly so shy? And how had she made those ugly wounds
stop hurting so fast? And without the regeneration tank? He
was disrupted from his thoughts by the sound of the water running.
She was showering. The thought brought a vivid mental picture
and he groaned again as the thought instantly aroused him.
"Damn it!" He snapped.
This was so unfair! Why did he have to be trapped in a space pod
with a hot prude? He growled angrily, his hand grasping a handful
of hair and tugging lightly. And why did he want her so bad?
She was a weak human! She still had slight bruises on her face from
Dora! He sighed, the argument was always the same, but now it sounded half-hearted.
And it was. Why did he try to lie to himself? It was pointless
and he knew it yet he still persisted on trying to make himself think something
else. But then he'd been doing it for a long time, or at least, trying
to.
He had almost convinced
himself that what he'd been doing for Frieza had been a favor to everyone.
The weak deserved death, even though they'd never done anything to him.
He threw his hands up in disgust.
Coward. He
thought bitterly. Scared of a girl with virtually no ki. But
it was the power she could wield over him. He'd fallen victim to
it before when he was much younger and far more foolish. And the
end result of that relationship- if what they'd had could be called such-
had been a square shot in the pills as far as Vegeta was concerned.
And he felt that slicing his throat would be preferable. Better to
die a failure than a pussy -whipped failure.
The last thing he needed
was another person who had the power to hurt him. Physically, she
couldn't do a thing. Unless she caught him off-guard. Besides,
physical pain was something Vegeta was very used to. No matter how
intense. He had been beaten to death, after all. But she could
hurt him in other ways…
Pure disgust rippled across
his face. There was only one thing that was worse.
Betrayal.
No. Being stupid
enough to trust someone. The only way someone could betray you was
if you trusted them in some way.. He wouldn't be stupid enough to
do that again. He closed his eyes tight as if attempting to banish
the memories that tried to be recognized.
No! I'm just
going to get pissed off and for what? He mentally chided.
Still, memory returned as his mind always took a delight in torturing him.
With a bitter sigh he fell back on he soft pillows and blankets.
How old had he been when he'd been fool enough to care for someone?
Seventeen? The corner of his mouth slid up when he reflected back on his
younger self. What an angry little bastard he'd been. The human
onna thought he was scary now? He almost laughed. Back then
he was lashing out at everyone he could. His mouth had been incredible.
Loud and quite creative. His vocabulary of disgusting things to say
was not as vast as it had once been. Several times he'd managed to
disgust people so much that they completely forgot what they meant to harass
him about in the first place. He scared people away before they ever
saw him fight. Sometimes intimidating people with his mere personality
had its own rewards. And he liked it that way.
But then one day Radditz
had informed his prince of a girl who was just like him. Kila was
her name. As scary as the thought seemed, he was definitely curious.
And a few weeks later, they met.
It had been fate, cruel evil fate had brought
them together that day. And at once he liked her. Even though
he tried not to. She had been a cute girl, a year younger than he.
But she was more unstable than the Saiyan no Ouji, which he often found
surprising. Her temper would escalate radically, but Vegeta didn't
care at the time. She was in his power, she could do nothing to hurt
him. He was far superior to her in every aspect, there was no way
she could ever bend him to her will.
But as the months passed
in deep space there were less planets to purge. The only thing to
do was train and fuck. Which they did every chance they got.
In the beginning. As the months wore on they saw each other less
and less and Vegeta couldn't figure out why. And he also couldn't
really figure out why it bothered him.
It was then, perhaps that
he'd realized that he'd grown accustomed to the things he'd gained from
their affair. He'd liked having someone to talk to when he was bored.
Especially someone who agreed with him often. He'd liked having somewhere
to go, someone to fuck. It had been nice..
But after a year it ended abruptly and Vegeta
still had no clue why. He assumed she just got sick of him and didn't
know what to tell him when he'd thought about it nearly two years after.
He didn't want to think about what she'd done. It was stupid, yet
he'd been completely embarrassed and utterly hurt.
He thought back. Those last few moments
were so jumbled. They had been arguing over what, he couldn't even
remember and she had slapped him across the face. That had been bad
enough, but it had been in front of several witnesses. One
of them being Kuui, who had laughed very loudly.
Needless to say, Vegeta's reaction had been
to freak out in a big way. She repeatedly ordered him to leave with
a barely concealed smile as he'd demanded to know what the hell was wrong
with her. Perhaps it wouldn't have bothered him so much if his father
hadn't liked to throw plates at his defenseless mother when he was a little
brat. Something inside him had totally snapped at her careless disrespect.
He'd never done anything similar to her even though he was mocked by Frieza's
men for treating her like something valued.
But at that moment he
couldn't think of anything except… Why? In his rage he'd brought
his fist down on a large glass table and was badly cut by broken shards.
Kila then had begun to yell at him for breaking the table.
And of course, it was
before regeneration tanks had been thoroughly tested so he'd ended up getting
ten stitches in his arm. He still had the scars. There were
three of them.
What really burned the
most was that he'd done nothing about it. He'd never talked to her
again. At least, not intentionally. A few times he saw her
and each time they grew more and more hostile towards each other.
The last time he saw her, she was with another man, roughly two years after
they stopped seeing each other.
It had been on a tourist
planet that Frieza sent all of his soldiers to every so often. Vegeta,
Nappa, and Radditz had been utterly drunk after celebrating Radditz's 500
point raise in power after being badly defeated by one of Zarbon's "friends"
and they celebrated the fact that Radditz had stepped out of the tank and
within fifteen minutes had found his aggressor and beaten the shit out
of him.
And then she was there, walking past him
every so often. Radditz begged him not to make a scene. But
he'd waited far too long for revenge. He'd even begun dreaming about
killing her, so heavy was it on his mind. His hatred for her was
stronger than their lust for each other had once been. And he followed
her, grabbed her by her throat, slapped her in the face, threw her to the
ground, and even managed to spit on her before roughly twelve other guys
pulled him away.
He thought he'd be happy
after that. But he wasn't. Another year passed and he realized
that he still hated her as much as he ever did, if not more. And
it bothered him. She wasn't worth his anger or his hate. All
she deserved was a miserable lonely existence. But he got her deserved
fate instead.
Afraid of another similar situation, Vegeta
withdrew more and more. And if his quietness wasn't a good enough
indication of his desire to be alone, then he said it well enough with
his fists.
Anger was getting harder and harder to provoke
in the young Saiyan. He closed himself off from his emotions by ignoring
them as if they didn't exist. And then when he was pushed too far
he would explode in a violent fury that rarely left survivors.
Frieza seemed to sense
when he was near his limit each time, for Vegeta found himself on
several purging missions in a row when he was close to having what Frieza
termed his "Little tantrums".
But they were anything but little.
Several times Nappa and Radditz had been forced to find aid from Frieza
in stopping Vegeta's furies before he destroyed himself with his own power.
Without fail, Zarbon would arrive and put Vegeta into a coma. Radditz
and Nappa were against anything involving Zarbon, but he made sure he didn't
kill the Saiyan no Ouji, and the elder two Saiyans didn't have the strength
to stop Vegeta or the will to make him listen to reason.
No one did. When
he hit that plateau of rage he couldn't be talked down. Everything
that angered him came bursting out in a blinding explosion of ki.
And when it was all over, even after the regeneration tank, Vegeta was
exhausted for at least a few days.
He wasn't anywhere near
that level of rage now. He despised Kakarotto and Frieza. He
hoped they were both floating in dead space in bits and pieces. But
that wasn't really on his mind so much. As far as he knew they were
both dead. He was bitter about the idea, but not completely infuriated.
He was even more bitter that Frieza had ended his life. But he had
expected it to happen for years and years, even more so after he had disobeyed
Frieza and went in search of the accursed Dragon balls.
And he hated the fact that he'd asked Kakarotto
to finish Frieza in his stead. Had he known someone would actually
wish him back to life, he'd have kept his mouth shut. He also hated
not knowing how the fight had ended, if it even had. He sighed wearily.
Being angry all the time was like breathing it seemed. When was the
last time he'd been even slightly content? A picture of the onna
standing outside the regeneration tank came to him suddenly and he shivered.
That had not been what
he'd expected to think of. And it was the only thing that was really
causing him stress at the moment. This hateful attraction to the
onna… Bulma. The attraction he dearly wished he didn't have.
The thought was altogether horrifying.
He'd liked what he'd had
with Kila. They really didn't care about each other but they had
a very sexual relationship. That was all it was. Sex.
No more, no less. But for some reason he didn't think the onna would
agree to something like that.
"GAAH!" he snapped, throwing
his hands up. What the hell am I thinking? She is way too fragile
and why do I even want to? I'm just horny or something! He mentally
berated. The water from the shower stopped and Vegeta realized he
would have to get rid of the spider carcass before she got out of the bathroom.
Why should I? He
thought. She's the big baby that's scared of it. He
shook his head as he shot several low-powered blasts at the remains turning
them to ashes. He did find it repulsive, might as well get rid of
it.
Bulma emerged from the
shower clad in the one clean towel in the bathroom. She realized
that he father had made nothing for washing laundry. If she wanted
clean towels, or any clean clothes for that matter, she'd have to wash
them with shampoo in the bathtub and let them drip dry.
It sounded like too much work to her. She at least had to have clean
underwear though, she thought with a sigh. Maybe she should have
taken some servo-bots with her. She looked at the small digital clock by
the bed. 6 pm. She didn't even know what time she'd woken up
at. She remembered the discussion she and Vegeta had had before the
whole spider incident:
"I can't imagine what
that would be like." Bulma marveled. "To be stronger than anyone,
and so young too!" She noticed the odd look that Vegeta shot her and her
awe turned quickly to unease when she saw fury alight in his eyes.
"Yeah, look what it
got me!" he snapped bitterly. He turned back to the window and said
nothing more.
Was he still angry about
that? He didn't look angry. In fact he was straight staring
at her with an odd look in his eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
she asked. "Does your leg still hurt?" he shook his head and
looked away, his jaw clenching. While his head was turned, Bulma
snagged her cotton robe and dropped the towel. She quickly threw
her robe on tying the sash tight. She searched through her capsules
and popping one open to pull out a silky white pair of panties. She
glanced over her shoulder to see if Vegeta was looking.
He wasn't. In fact
he had one hand covering his eyes and she could see a vein standing out
on his throat.
Interesting.
She quickly pulled her panties on. She padded across the
floor to the bed where he sat. she laid her hand on his shoulder
but was unprepared for his reaction. He immediately flinched away,
his head whipping around to face her. For a moment she was sure she'd
seen fear flash briefly through his eyes. She held her hands up in
a gesture of peace. He visibly relaxed, his expression grew clouded
and he looked away towards the two small portholes in the hull. She
sat down next to him. He shot her a suspicious glance before returning
his gaze to the tiny stars that swept past.
"What's wrong Vegeta?
Are you sure your leg is ok? Those wounds looked pretty gross." She
saw him frown and he turned to regard her with confusion.
"Why do you care?"
she frowned. Why didn't he trust her? Like she could actually
hurt him.
"Because. You've
saved me twice. Actually three times." she said, indicating the black
scorch on the floor. "You haven't done anything to hurt me physically,
and I-"
"What does that mean?"
he cut in. "What did I do?" he said his eyes narrowed. She
blinked.
"N-nothing, really!" she
stammered. He'd said a few careless words and had hurt her feelings,
but that was fine with her as long as he didn't kill her.
"Don't lie to me." He
said, his voice flat and unnerving.
"W-well, you said some
mean things, but as long as you don't kill me-"
"I'm not going to kill
you!" he snapped, his face slightly pink. "Why would I bother to
save your ass if I wanted you dead?"
"I know Vegeta.
I know you can't fly the ship." She said calmly, trying to be the voice
of reason.
"I could fly the ship
if I wanted to-!" he stopped abruptly, his face definitely pink.
Bulma's eyes nearly popped out of her skull.
"Then-" her throat closed.
Vegeta turned his back to her, but she noticed his tail lashing angrily.
What did he mean? What in Kami's name was he saying?!
Did he accidentally admit that he didn't want to be rid of her? That
he maybe even somewhat liked her? She had to say something!
His face was getting redder by the second, but he was still there.
She had to say something.
"Does that mean you don't
hate me anymore?" she asked, trying not to sound to hopeful and failing
entirely. He tilted his head in her direction.
"Why would you think that
I hate you?" Ha. She almost laughed.
"Well, you haven't exactly
made me feel like I'm worth more than a tool. Although you did save
me, but I always assumed you did it because you couldn't fly the ship.
I'm not saying you should act all nice because I know at least that that's
not the type of person you are. But you could acknowledge me as a
person, regardless of my strength. I know you were raised to believe
that strength is most important, and I know you believe that. But
I don't." she sighed. "Forget it. It doesn't matter."
By the time she had stopped speaking he had turned around to face her again,
a puzzled look on his face. "The only other reason you could value
me is because I am a girl and we're alone together." She felt, rather
than saw him stiffen. She gazed at his face and was surprised to
see that he looked angry and uncomfortable at the same time. She
sighed. She had hit the nail on the head it seemed and it appeared
that Vegeta knew it. Although he had avoided watching her undress.
And she knew many who would not pass up that chance. Had it been
out of respect? No. He didn't respect her in the least.
"Shut up." He snapped
glaring at her. "Have I ever tried to take advantage of that?"
she frowned. He hadn't so that meant two things: either he wanted
to and was apprehensive about attempting for fear of rejection. Or
there was a whole other reason that he valued her for. That last
thought led her nowhere. Or he was gay. She almost smiled at
the thought. Naah..
"Well I can't figure it
out then. Or you. I wish I could. Why don't you hate
me Vegeta?" she asked softly, lifting her head to gaze into his eyes,
which she couldn't help but notice that they were full of barely-veiled
emotion.
"I don't know!" he cried.
TBC…
A/N: Don't be mad people. I had to end it there.
Chapter 9
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