True Pain

Disclaimer: Coffee is very good when you want to write... And I don't own DBZ, etc.

By: Selenity Jade (Jadesama@aol.com)
Thanks: Mia Skywalker and Lynz for Beta-ing!

Chapter Two: I Hate You!

Glancing up from her magazine, Buruma sighed softly. Her gaze turned towards the window, sighing again when she saw the large gravity capsule rock from another blast. She glanced below the large ball-like ship to find her ex-boyfriend staring up at it.

She sighed for the third time, this time irritably. All this stress was definitely not good for her. First, Vejiita left to spar with Goku a few months ago, returning looking like he had been hit by a large truck, and after that all he did was train. Train himself until he could no longer move. He never left the gravity room unless he was about to pass out from hunger, or fall on his face from lack of sleep. He'd go days, weeks, without food or sleep. It had gotten to the point where she constantly worried about him. But every time she approached him, he shoved her away. Violently. He cursed at her, glared hatefully at her, and avoided her whenever he could. She was beginning to wonder what the hell had happened to him when he had sparred with Goku, but knew that he wouldn't tell her.

She glanced out the window at her other problem. Her former boyfriend was out there training in the yard. She had no idea what had possessed her mother to allow him to live there again. But he had taken her up on it, and she almost felt like he was stalking her! She thought that was possibly part of Vejiita's problem, not that he would admit it. He hated Yamucha, which wasn't anything knew as he hated all humans, but Vejiita was treating the scarred warrior even worse than how he was treating her lately. And to think she had finally gotten him to trust her just a bit. Maybe open up a tiny amount and to let her in, if only a little. Now, it was worse than when he had come to stay with them in the beginning. She sighed once again.

"Buruma-chan!" her mother called happily for her, entering the large living room. "Look what I got today! Aren't they so pretty? I bet you're lonely with all the boys – especially Yamucha-chan and Vejiita-chan – training, so I thought I'd cheer you up with some yummy cakes!"

Buruma rolled her eyes at her mother's antics and replied to her without thought, "I'm not hungry, Mom."

"What? Are you sick, dear? Or are you just feeling left out because they aren't paying attention to you?" her mother chattered on.

"Mom!! That's not it! I'm just not hungry!"

"Buruma, they're so pretty. Come on, just one," her mother coaxed.

Buruma, having known from experience that her ditzy mother would not give up, finally gave in. "Fine, Mom," she said, reaching out and taking one with whipped cream on the top. Just as she was about to bite into a large explosion sounded, shaking the house, causing Buruma's nose to dip into the cake's top. She blinked in shock for a second before realization hit her.

'The gravity room!'

Gasping, she stood up and ran out of the house, easily catching up with Yamucha who was also running in the direction of the decimated gravity chamber. When she saw the rubble, she gasped in worry. "Oh, no. Vejiita!" she called, rushing forward to dig through the mess. 'Please, please, please, be okay. You just had to overexert yourself, didn't you, baka Saiyajin. Please, Vejiita...'

Suddenly, a hand appeared in front of her knocking her back into Yamucha's lap. Vejiita's top half suddenly appeared as the stubborn Saiyajin pulled himself out of the destruction. His dark eyes were barely open, his breath coming out in harsh pants, and his bare chest and legs covered in scratches, bruises and blood. She stared at him in worry and fear as he shakily pulled himself out of the rubble.

"Are you alive?" she asked him, deeply worried.

He growled quietly, spitting out, "Of course I am!" He levered himself to his feet, glaring angrily at her.

Frowning, she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and screeched at him, "You idiot! Look what you did! You nearly destroyed my home!"

He glared at her angrily, and suddenly fell onto his back. "Vejiita!" she exclaimed, rushing forward. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder, gently lifting his head and shoulders off the ground.

"Leave me! I need to keep training!" he snarled softly, just barely keeping conscious.

"Vejiita! You're too injured to train right now!"

"Are you giving me orders now? I am a Saiyajin; I can handle it! I have to get stronger than Kakarotto!"

"Vejiita, you can't. Besides, the gravity chamber is completely useless right now. You have to rest!"

"I take orders from no one!" he hissed, pulling himself out of her arms, and falling face first onto the ground. Buruma gasped and leaned over him worried.

"Vejiita?" she asked softly. Feeling for a pulse, she was relieved to find one, but scared at how shallow it was. She turned to the gaping Yamucha. "Go get my dad!" she snapped angrily. He nodded and took off running.

Buruma rolled Vejiita over, placing his head in her lap. She brushed a soft fingertip over his brow lightly. "Vejiita, damn you..."

~~~

Buruma gazed worriedly down at the incapacitated Saiyajin no Ouji that lay in the bed in front of her, an oxygen mask connected to his handsome face. "Dad, is he going to be okay?"

"I think so. It's a damn miracle he survived, but he did. Give him a week or two and he'll be just fine, Buruma." With that, the doctor and her crying mother left the room.

Buruma stared at him a moment longer before sighing and turning away. After a few steps, his soft, gruff voice stopped her.

"Kakarotto," he called softly in his sleep. "I will be stronger!"

Buruma stared at the growling and disturbed Saiyajin worriedly, a strange feeling of sympathy and concern welling up within her. Watching him call out his rival's name in his sleep in that gruff, despair-filled dream he was having brought tears to her eyes, which she quickly blinked away.

She walked softly back towards his bed side, kneeling beside him as he dreamed, muttering out his rival's name over and over again. Buruma put a soft hand on her forehead after a while and felt him still slightly in his sleep, a less violent expression than usual appearing on his face. Still disturbed, but not so pained. She brushed her hand over his widow's peak lightly before standing up and sitting in the chair by the bed. She laid her head on her arms at the desk, and watched him mutter softly under his breath while he slept. And before she realized it, she had drifted off herself.

~~~

Gasping, Vejiita snapped awake from his nightmare. His eyes were slightly unfocused as he remembered his dream and what had transpired prior to that. He then allowed his head to fall back onto the pillow with a sigh. After a moment, he realized he felt a ki in the room with him, and glanced over to find the blue-haired female asleep beside his bed.

'What is she doing here? And why the hell didn't I feel her before?!' He watched her sleep for a long time, as it was actually soothing. Not that he could have moved much to begin with anyway.

As if sensing his eyes on her, she moaned softly in her sleep and blinked open her clear blue eyes. She looked a bit confused at first until she suddenly sat up with a gasp and looked over at him. To her shock, she found the Saiyajin no Ouji staring at her.

For a long moment, neither said anything. Vejiita gazed at her searchingly, his eyes guarded. "Why?" he croaked out.

She didn't pretend to misunderstand him. She leaned back in the chair, watching him as she answered, "Because."

He shot her a glare through the obvious pain in his eyes.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly. "Because, baka, I care about you."

Blinking, he scowled at her. "What the fuck for?!" he snarled at her, trying to lift himself from the bed.

She glared at him, stood up, and gently pushed him back to the bed with a hand on his chest. He was too weak to even resist. "Because I just do."

He grasped her slender wrist in his large hand, his grip still firm, and pulled her hand from his chest. "Why can't you just leave me alone?!" he moaned.

"What?!" she asked in surprise.

He didn't release her hand as he glared at her. "Don't fucking care about me!"

Sighing, she looked at him with wide, concerned eyes. "Vejiita. You can't stop how I feel. I was scared to death you were going to die!"

Blinking, he yanked slightly on her arm causing her to fall onto his chest roughly, and he winced in pain. When she tried to pull away, he squeezed her wrist warningly. "You should concern yourself with other people like that baka human that's staying here. I don't need or want your damn emotions!"

She shrugged, staring at him. "Tough."

A soft growl emerged from his throat. "Onna, I don't want it!"

She snorted. "Again, tough. You're getting it anyway. Everyone needs someone to care about them. Even you, Vejiita!"

He glared at her hatefully. "I did pretty damn well without someone caring for me before!"

Sighing, she gave him a soft look. "Yes, you did. Remember when you said that together, we aren't so alone?"

"Hn," he grunted suspiciously.

"Well, I decided something, baka. I don't care what you've done in the past, I don't care how evil you *think* you are, and I don't care what everyone else thinks, but damn it, Vejiita, I will be your friend!"

She frowned at his shocked expression, and gave him a good glare. "You tolerate me more than the others, and damn it, Vejiita, I will be your friend."

"I don't want to be your friend!" he snarled.

Grimacing, she pulled away from him slightly, but his grip stopped her from moving too far. "Why not?" she snapped.

He growled and placed a hand on the back of her neck, forcing her face to him. "Because," he hissed, "I hate you!"

And with that, he roughly kissed her.

~~~

AN: AND that gravity room explosion was the one in the anime, just so you all know. I had yet to blow it up in ANY of my fics, so *shrugs*

Lovies!