By: Kichi
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ or any of the
characters.
A/N: Kichi done fucked up and posted a
lemon before not realizing that Vegeta was fucked up! D'oh!
Here is the new version all fixed up.
Chapter 9 - The Drug of Choice
Bulma stared at
him for a moment in blank surprise.
"Why don't you hate
me Vegeta?"
"I don't know!"
She didn't know what
to say. Obviously he was uncomfortable with the whole issue, but
if she let it drop now she'd never be able to bring it up again.
"I don't know why I
don't hate you either." She said. Vegeta lifted his eyes to gaze
at her. She could see her own confusion reflected in his eyes.
"Although I should. You tried to kill everyone I care about.
But for some reason…" she trailed off unsure of what to say. "Maybe
it's because I'm curious about you. I want to know what kind of a
person you really are."
"You know exactly what
I am, woman."
"No." Bulma said firmly.
"Your personality. Not the face of Frieza's little servant." She
abruptly realized her mistake when any emotion other than anger vanished
from his face. His eyes narrowed as Bulma's hand flew to her mouth.
Oh shit. Bulma! You moron!
"How dare you." He
hissed, arms reflexively crossing. "Frieza's little servant." He
repeated through clenched teeth. "You fucking bitch. I should
kill you." Bulma gasped as Vegeta's hand clamped down on her shoulder.
His fingers bit deep into the flesh, instantly bruising muscle. Her
mouth opened to scream but all that came out was a tiny squeak of terror.
Vegeta pushed her down until she was lying prone on the mattress.
"How dare you say such things to me? Who the hell do you think you
are? Do you know what I went through all those years and yet you
think you can simplify it and brush it all away like it was nothing more
than a job!" he said quietly. Bulma whimpered in pain and fear.
She was more afraid of his calm demeanor, she almost wished he were screaming
in her face instead.
"Vegeta I'm sorry!"
she gasped. His features quickly morphed from anger to disgust.
"You little liar!"
he hissed. "You think I'm stupid? You only apologize because
your afraid I might hurt you." He gripped her shoulder harder and she couldn't
stop the choked cry that escaped. Instantly he released her and turned
away. Bulma felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks and she tried
to bite back the whimpering sobs that threatened to tear loose. But
the pain was intense, she knew her collarbone was most likely broken.
She couldn't lift her arm at all. She rolled onto her side and curled
into a ball, sobbing quietly.
Vegeta grimaced.
She deserves it. Let her cry! He thought angrily. But
at the same time he was also ashamed of his reaction. True, her words
were foolish and amazingly painful to hear, but he should not have hurt
her. She was defenseless against him. It was unfair of him to hurt
her and just basically wrong. He knew that. She was a
weak girl for shit's sake. Even if she was a stupid bitch for calling him
'Frieza's little servant'. The fucking nerve of her. But he
couldn't stand to hear her crying. It was doing something to him,
but he couldn't tell what. All he knew was that he wished she'd stop
crying.
Why didn't he just
get up and leave her there? It was pointless though. He could
hear her anywhere on the ship. It wasn't really large at all.
Only just big enough. But he didn't know what to say to make her
stop. He surely wouldn't apologize. She didn't deserve it.
He'd only given her back some of the pain she'd just given him. It
was an even trade.
He quickly stood and
suddenly everything grew strangely dark.
He opened his eyes and
saw Bulma staring down at him, her eyes wide and frightened and still shedding
tears.
"Thank Kami Vegeta!"
She cried. "I didn't know what to do!" He felt incredibly exhausted
and sweaty. His heart was pounding furiously and he had to take several
deep breaths before he could raise his head. "Are you ok?" she asked
biting her lower lip nervously.
"What happened?" he
croaked. His throat was dry and tight and he began to cough.
"Can you get up?" she
asked gently. He felt a sudden flash of annoyance from her display
of concern, but at the same time he was nervous. What the hell had
happened? He sat up, unable to suppress a groan as dizziness assailed
him. He felt her trying to pull him to his feet and he shoved her
away and after a moment lurched to his feet unaided. As soon as he
reached his full height he staggered and nearly fell, but Bulma wound her
arm around his and led him to the bed.
They sat down and he collapsed onto the
mattress with an audible sigh. Bulma frowned at the sweat on his
brow. His face was alternating between dull red and pasty white.
What was wrong? Goku was a Saiyan and as far as she knew, he'd never
been sick.
"What happened?" Vegeta
repeated, his voice thick and harsh.
"You kinda' had a seizure."
Vegeta's eyes flew open and he struggled to sit up.
"What?" he whispered.
"How are you feeling
now?" She asked trying to stay calm. He didn't answer. "How
many fingers am I holding up?" she asked holding up three.
"Three." He snapped.
"I didn't hit my head… Did I?"
"When you fell you
hit the back of your head pretty hard. That's when you started twitching."
Bulma said absently stroking his cheek. He flinched away.
"Leave me alone!" he
hissed.
"No way! You
just passed out. I don't even know if I should let you sleep!
Have you been eating?" Vegeta's face turned a dull red.
"Yes." He ground out.
"What about your leg?
Does it hurt?" she asked, ignoring his anger for the moment. He stared
down at his injury and saw that the bandages were completely soaked with
blood. And indeed, it was throbbing painfully. In fact, the
pain grew steadily worse until jolts of agony were shooting up to his hip.
His leg began to twitch spasmodically.
Bulma assumed his silence
meant 'yes'. She glanced at the bandages and gasped, noting the blood.
She searched for the medical kit and brought it forth. She pulled
off the old dressings and dropped them in disgust when another layer of
skin peeled off with it.
"Oh God." She hissed.
It had only been about a half hour since the spider attacked him and yet
the wound looked horribly infected. Red lines shot underneath the
flesh and she could see disgusting pus oozing from the holes. "Oh
God." She murmured.
She reached into the
medical bag and poured alcohol over the wounds. She heard a choked
gasp and Vegeta suddenly shoved her bruised shoulder. The alcohol
flew from her grasp and she couldn't stop the pained cry that tore from
her lips. She clenched her shoulder as it throbbed dully. Then
she felt Vegeta's hands on her, pulling her onto the mattress next to him.
"I'm sorry." He said
softly, his cheeks stained pink. Bulma blinked in amazement, the
pain instantly forgotten. Had he just… apologized? He abruptly
staggered to his feet and headed towards the refrigerator leaving Bulma
staring numbly at his retreating figure. He returned moments later
with a small towel filled with something. He sat down next to her
and placed it on her bruised shoulder. It was full of ice.
He lay back with a
sigh. Bulma was silent for a long time. She gazed at the wound
on Vegeta's leg and noticed that the blood was hardening and turning almost
black. The ice felt good on her shoulder. Perhaps Vegeta did
have a heart after all. Was it possible that he regretted hurting
her even after what she'd said?
"Vegeta?" she said
softly.
"Hm?" he murmured,
sounding half-asleep.
"I really am sorry
about what I said. I wasn't thinking at all. I do that sometimes.
I wasn't apologizing to save my ass either. I shouldn't have said
that." Silence. For long moments all she could hear was his
breathing and then she heard the mattress creak as he sat up.
"I… regret injuring
you. I knew better." Was all he said.
"You already apologized.
I accept it."
"You did as well, I
assumed it was expected." Bulma smiled faintly and turned to look
at him. Her smile faded once she turned. His face was stark
white, even his lips were pale.
"Are you ok?" she gasped
before she could stop herself.
"We have to land soon."
He panted. "My body isn't fighting this poison." Poison?
Bulma wondered frantically.
"I set our course a
few days ago. I checked our position last night, we're about a day
and a half away." She said, softly, trying to cover the panic in her voice.
"Fine." He murmured
and lay back closing his eyes. Soon she heard his breathing slow
and glanced back to find him asleep.
She quickly rose, keeping
her ice in place and headed upstairs.
She watched stars race
past as their next destination came into view. It was a tiny pink
planet from what she could see, but it grew and grew as the drew near and
she wondered just how large the surface was.
But her mind was more
on Vegeta then their destination. First, she was concerned about
his health. He'd mentioned poison. She'd thought the spider's
venom was merely corrosive in nature, but if it was toxic in another respect…
it was a good thing he was Saiyan and healed fast or he could very well
be dead right then.
Second, she was concerned
about his behavior. His earlier anger hadn't surprised her.
The fact that she'd survived it had. And then he had apologized to
her and even went so far as to give her ice in an attempt to stop bruising.
The ice had melted long ago and she had to admit, although she was still
stiff from the cold, she didn't hurt half as bad as she would have.
Obviously he regretted his actions, but why? Why did he care if he
hurt her or not? Then she remembered the comment that had started
the whole incident.
He didn't hate her,
and he didn't know why. She stared blankly out into space.
Why didn't he hate her? Sure, she'd tried her best to be polite,
but it was only because she'd been afraid of him. Now she didn't
really feel that scared of him at all. She was still a little nervous
around him, but she felt certain that he wouldn't kill her. And she
was almost positive that he would try not to hurt her again, if only so
he wouldn't have to apologize to her again. It wasn't much, but it
made some of the tension that she'd been feeling since they had first met
start to drain away. And for that she was thankful.
He is cute.
She found herself thinking. Even if he was still slightly-scary.
He could of used a hair cut, that was for sure, but she found herself wondering
how he looked when he smiled a genuine-smile, or how he laughed, and what
he liked to do besides fighting (if anything). She was also deeply
curious about his past. He'd said that his planet had been destroyed.
He'd mentioned that Nappa had raised him. But he'd said nothing about
Frieza. And of that she was most curious. What had it been
like for him to grow up under Frieza's wing? All she knew of Frieza
was that he was evil. That was a pretty vague description. Obviously
he was evil. He sent others to destroy whole civilizations for him.
And that could be the least horrible thing he'd ever done.
She shuddered at the thought. She
could only faintly imagine the abuse Frieza must have dished out on his
minions. Physical or psychological, either way, someone with that
kind of power wasn't likely to be kind to his troops. From the way
it sounded Frieza hadn't even needed them at all. I he could easily
beat Vegeta to death, the same Saiyan who had very nearly decimated her
own planet, he could obviously destroy whatever he wanted with ease.
Vegeta had said that Frieza had destroyed his planet after all.
No wonder Vegeta was
so angry all the time.
She sighed again as
the pink planet grew larger and then glanced at the clock. It was
almost midnight. She stiffly rose to her feet and descended the stairs
to check on the Saiyan no Ouji. The thought of venom coursing through
his system didn't really bother her too much. She'd seen Goku get
bitten on the cheek by a coral snake, and he hadn't had any reaction at
all except to whine for about an hour.
But then again, that
was a tiny little snake compared to the mammoth spider… She chewed
her lips as she drew near the bed. His breathing was coming fast
and labored. Definitely a bad sign.
"Shit!" Bulma swore.
I should have checked on him sooner! What was I thinking?! She mentally
berated herself. She flicked on the lights and noticed right away
the unhealthy flush across Vegeta's cheek bones. She gently pressed
her fingertips above his collarbone and felt a thunderous pulse beating
rapidly.
"Vegeta." she said
loudly. He didn't move. She shook his shoulders roughly.
"Wake up!" she slapped him lightly on the cheeks and then harder
as it brought no reaction. She called his name again, each time louder
than before. She even went so far as to scream his name right in
his ear. He twitched, his eyelids fluttered, but nothing more.
She ran to the bathroom and filled a cup with cold water. She dashed
back to his side and emptied the cup onto his face. He twitched again
and his eyelids began to flutter again. A soft groan issued from
his lips and she watched as he seemed to struggle to open his eyes.
His head tossed a bit and she clamped her hands on his shoulders again
shaking him.
"Vegeta!" she snapped.
His eyes clenched shut and he groaned, for a moment his eyes opened,
then rolled back in his head, and slid shut. "Damn it!" Bulma cursed,
shaking him harder. Vegeta groaned again, his eyes finally sliding
open and darting around the room finally stopping on Bulma's face.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded and sat up
rubbing his eyes and taking several deep breaths.
"Thirty minutes until
planet fall." The monotonous computer voice intoned. They both ignored
it.
"I thought you weren't
going to wake up. Are you sure your ok?" she asked. Vegeta
said nothing, merely nodded. "Well we have to go upstairs and strap
in or we'll go flying. And I don't care what you say, you look like
hell and I hope for your sake that this planet has regeneration tanks."
Vegeta lurched to his feet and walked unsteadily to the stairs. Bulma's
brow creased in worry. The venom from the spider had to be potent
to affect a Saiyan. She suspected that a mere drop would have killed
her. Obviously it was affecting Vegeta but how much she couldn't
be sure. He hadn't complained of anything yet, only given that one
ominous statement that had been her only indication from him that something
was wrong.
"We have to land
soon. My body isn't fighting this poison."
She had to admire him
though. Yamcha would have been bawling like a baby as soon as he
was sprayed with that corrosive saliva. Vegeta hadn't even flinched.
It was becoming clear to her that his strength was far more than physical.
The landing went smoothly
and Vegeta had informed her that the atmosphere was comparable to Earth.
They had landed about 20 minutes walking distance from a rather impressive
city in the midst of a sprawling rain forest.
They stepped out of
the ship and Bulma was never more relieved to smell fresh air in her life
instead of the ship's recycled air. She took several deep lungfuls
and slowly opened her eyes. The view was magnificent. They
stood atop a sheer cliff and below them flowed a twisting river.
The vegetation was so thick she could see no path of any kind.
Not even the opening of an animal trail. But they were up several
hundred feet above the river and her eyesight wasn't the greatest from
staring at computer screens for hours.
"How are we going to
get there. The forest looks pretty impenetrable."
"We'll fly." Vegeta
said quietly. She glanced at him and was slightly alarmed to notice
his pallid complexion.
"Are you sure?" Bulma
asked. Vegeta's eyes met hers and then blazed a trail down her body
and back up. She shivered at the intensity of his gaze.
"Of course." He snapped,
his voice loud and full of venom. She blinked in surprise and stepped
back but her foot kept going down and she tried to throw herself forward
but she was just going backwards and down-
"Ow!" Bulma shrieked
as her hair was almost torn out of her scalp. Fingers bit into her
shoulder and the pressure on her scalp vanished. Another hand gripped
her arm and pulled her up.
"What the hell, you
stupid woman! Did you suddenly forget you were standing on a cliff?"
Vegeta bellowed. Bulma barely heard him over her rapid breathing
and thundering pulse. She felt tears well up in her eyes and clenched
them shut, turning her head away from him.
Vegeta stopped his
tirade when she looked away and her whole body tensed. It was then
that he noticed her shaking like a leaf. He stared down at her as
she knelt on the ground. Was she going to cry? He hoped not.
If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was the sight of her tears.
And then he heard it. a little sniffle, and he saw her trembling
increase. And he also noticed how she desperately tried to hide it.
"What wrong?
Your hair is fine." He said half-joking. The truth was that he felt
a bit awkward. He didn't want her to cry, because he had no clue
what to do. It didn't even occur to him that he wasn't supposed to
care if she cried or not. That voice was getting ignored more and
more often. But even so, that part of him still fought for control.
Bulma stiffened for
a moment and he saw her shoulders quivering harder. Damn it.
he thought rubbing his forehead. Now what? She finally
turned to face him, slowly as though reluctant to meet his gaze.
And he grimaced when he saw that, indeed tears were streaming copiously
from her eyes.
"Thank you Vegeta."
she said softly. Vegeta took a step back, he felt his cheeks burning
and no witty reply would come to mind.
Bulma saw the flush
on his pale cheeks and suddenly felt her tears evaporate. She sniffled
once and stood with a wavery smile. "We can go now." Vegeta
frowned and began to power up for flight. His energy enveloped them
for a brief, beautiful moment and just as abruptly it flickered and vanished.
"What is it?" Bulma murmured. Vegeta shook his head, his expression
bitter and angry.
"I don't have enough
energy to fly." He growled.
"Oh. Well that's
okay. I have one of my capsule bikes I'm sure."
"I doubt that will
get us to the bottom of this cliff."
"Yeah, but can't you
just jump off the cliff and stop yourself right before you hit?"
"No! I just told you!"
he yelled louder. "I can't!" it was unfortunately the truth, as far
as Bulma could see. It seemed that even his anger took away his strength.
"Maybe we should just
get back on the ship and fly it to the capital-"
"So they can take it
away from us and dismantle it?"
"What else can we do?"
Bulma said softly, desperate the rein in her temper. She could
see the unhealthy flush across Vegeta's cheek bones, and his eyes gleamed
feverishly.
"I don't know." He
said softly, his calm returning in a blink. And just like that his legs
gave out and he collapsed face first onto the ground.
"Oh Kami!" Bulma gasped
and immediately dropped to his side. It was then that she heard several
clicks, like ammunition loading. "Shit." She hissed through
clenched teeth. She would never forget that sound. She had
at least ten guns pointed at her back.
"Stand up and put you
hands behind you head."
Oosh! Evil Cliffhanger! I'm good at those though!
TBC!!!!!!!!
Chapter 10
Fanfiction
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