Last time:
"I beg to differ," he sighed, shoving away her hands.
She hadn't the faintest idea of what he was talking about, and yet she could not bring words to pass her lips. He was drifting further and further away and she was powerless to stop him.
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"Forget it," Vegeta suddenly said, standing and walking towards the door. The conviction he'd had only moments before was completely gone. His instincts and Saiyan nature were beginning to bombard him and he wanted nothing more than to be alone; and to get some food of course. "Well, what're you waiting for? I refuse to wait all night for you."
"This isn't over just like that, Vegeta!" Bulma yelled. There was something going on in that dark crevice of a mind of his, and she intended to get to the bottom of it. "What did you mean, 'You beg to differ'? I refuse to go anywhere without an answer."
"Then you plan on staying on Fewskm until the end of your days?" he scoffed, not budging an inch. He subconsciously kicked himself for opening his mouth. He made a mental note to never speak his mind again, especially in the heat of an argument.
"You meant that I am keeping us apart, didn't you?" she hissed. "Right, because I'm the one who refuses to acknowledge the existence of love. You hit the nail on the head, Vegeta."
"Must you do this?" he sighed. "If you were listening you'd know the answer to your damn question."
"You're jealous of Senju then, is that it?"
"Don't degrade me with such insults. Those were not my words."
"Yes, but that's what you meant. You're angry with me because you think there's something going on between me and him. Kami, I've figured you out. Lowly, base jealousy. How unattractive. I despise jealousy."
"That's very well and good for you woman, but I am NOT jealous! You give yourself far too much credit. Men only want you for your pretty face and open legs!"
Bulma lunged at him, and it took all his strength to keep from throwing her against the nearest wall. He wasn't so caught up in his anger that he would accidentally harm her and the child forming inside.
She dropped to her knees, a heavy mood swing sweeping in. She was beyond caring that he saw her cry.
"Get up. I'm taking you back to Furto's home."
She didn't move.
He lifted her off the floor, cradling her the way he'd done some many times now. She made no protest at his actions, though refused to give any sort of response. They were to Furto's soon after, walking inside in silence. Vegeta ignored those who spoke to him and headed straight for the kitchen. Bulma wept in the doorway, allowing herself to be guided into Furto's room by Jemalin. She didn't utter a single word and curled into a ball on the bed, soon enveloped in a warm, comforting sleep. Jemalin would ask her what happened in the morning.
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Bulma sat in the corner of a large room, surrounded by scraps of metal and multi-colored wires. At breakfast that morning she'd asked if she could be taken to see some Fewskm scientists or technicians, or whoever worked with technology on the planet. Furto informed her that a group of Fewsks lived not to far away in a sterile building much like those on Earth. It had glass windows and steel beams for support, and the entire structure was laced with electricity. And being that their sun blazed so fiercely during the day, the scientists harnessed its power with great solar panels; their only source of energy, and it was quite abundant.
Furto had brought her to this giant metal building directly following breakfast. She had explained to him, and Jemalin, about the fight and begged to be taken to the scientists for relaxation. She said that only when she was learning new things, or working with technology, that her mind would be at ease.
She quickly found out, however, that the Fewskm scientists were quite behind on technology, and therefore she opted to simply build a random machine from small parts; all scraps that the scientists weren't using of course. They were very compassionate and quick to allow her to do as she pleased. As of now she'd been in that spacious sterile room for more than eight hours. Her mini replica of a Rymron, complete with remote controlled moving limbs, was nearly finished. It took her longer than normal, for the tools she was using were completely foreign and not so easy to figure out. But that didn't stop her.
She looked down at the metal Rymron and a sudden wave of sadness washed over her. Her belovéd Rymrons were now living on a Fewsk farm some ten miles in the "country". Furto's cousin, Azhar, had been more than happy to accept the rambunctious bunch of critters, promising to take excellent care of them. She missed them immensely.
Now the Rymron was complete and so she sat in that corner, making it move with the remote control, oblivious to the world around her and the fact that she'd been there for so long. Of course Furto knew exactly where she was and would come get her soon enough. But she was glad for this time away. It had been so long since she'd worked on something that it was like taking a nice hot bubble bath after a day of hard work.
She wondered subconsciously if Vegeta knew where she was, or even cared. But she figured that Furto or Jemalin told him of her whereabouts and he'd probably shrugged or grunted and said nothing more about it. She could just see him standing there and not giving a damn as to whether she was off building stupid machines or lying mangled in the middle of the desert.
Her mind drifted back to the fight she and Vegeta had had the night before. He'd been so passionate, so convicted to his cause, and then, out of nowhere, he shrank back into his shell and refused to say another word about it. It was so plain that he had so much to say, that the words were itching to get out, and yet he suppressed them as if they weren't there. And the fact that his only worthy memory of them together was their sleeping together? It was enough to almost bring on another wave of tears and muted cries. How could nothing else mean an ounce to him? How could he be so shallow as to only think about sex? Was she really nothing more to him? Had he been right? Is that all she ever was to all the men she'd ever dated? Maybe that's why she'd taken it so hard when he said it.
"Bulma."
"Hey Furto," she sighed, walking the little Rymron over to bump into his sandaled feet. He laughed at this, though she sensed his concern. He was too smart to venture into her sadness just yet.
"Dinner will be served shortly. I know you've missed lunch, but I couldn't bother you until I was sure you'd had enough time to yourself. I see that you've made a little keepsake to take with you back to earth. It's very remarkable."
"Thanks," she said, climbing to her feet and scooping up the Rymron and remote control. She thanked the other scientists for allowing her to stay and promised to return sometime before she went home. "I only needed some time to think, Furto, that's all. I very well might want to go back tomorrow, or the next day. My thoughts couldn't be settled in such a short time." She glanced at his face as they walked in the warm night air. The trip was short enough to take by foot, only taking less then a half an hour. "It's hard, you know? He's right there, right THERE, and I can't do a thing to bring him to me. He's so cold and distant and, well, he's so Vegeta. It's a wonder that I didn't start falling for him before the trip, but I guess maybe I could have been. I don't know. He was hardly ever around back home. I never really got to know him until we were trapped on a ship for half a year. Funny how things like that happen. Six months or so ago I was content without love, without Yamcha, without anything. I only saw Vegeta as a nuisance and a jerk, someone to fight with occasionally, and now, now I've fallen in love with the cruelest, meanest, most dangerous criminal in the universe. He's killed more people than I can imagine; there's so much blood on his hands that it won't ever come clean; and yet I still love him, I still crave to be in his arms, so close to him, so close to that careless murderer. I'm in love with a murderer. Ha! Now there's an all round knew blunder for me!" she scoffed. "He actually said that the only thing worth remembering about this whole trip was when we slept together!…I should have guessed as much before I asked such a stupid question."
Furto had been listening to her in silence, nodding once and awhile, but never interrupting. He knew it was what she needed, to spill out her heart as she wanted. When he was positive that she wasn't going to continue, he began his comments.
"It truly is a remarkable thing that you can love someone such as Vegeta," he said. She didn't respond, only listened. "It takes a lot of strength and courage to even come close to loving someone like him. Most people never get close enough to criminals, as you said, to find anything in them but cruelty and hatred. But you, with your undying life-spark, have found something in Vegeta that no other could have possibly found, because he found it in himself too just as soon as you did. He never knew it was there, never suspected it, never wanted it. He was born to hate, born to kill, born to do anything but love. And then you came along and all the rules were shattered and he struggled to find the pieces, struggled to make sense of it all and find the man he once was. The man he found was most likely not who he was before, forever transformed by a simple Earth woman…There is something so great buried deep inside of Vegeta and you're the only one who can bring it out. It's fighting to stay in, but your strength is unmatchable for this battle." He sighed deeply and glanced over at Bulma. "You must remember how very difficult it must be for him. Never has anyone, not even his own parents, shown him any sort of affection remotely close to love. He's so utterly lost and confused on the subject that he hides from it. But he's slowly beginning to see what good can come from it…I overheard him having a discussion with Golana this afternoon about the half-Saiyan child you are bearing. He confessed, without knowing I was present, that he was happy for the child. He didn't use those exact words, but that's what I gathered from what he said, and I'm sure that's what Golana thought too…And about him only wishing to remember your being together in bed; I believe that what he meant to say, or more to the point, what he actually felt, was that the only moment he wanted to remember was when he had you as his own. All other moments you were either fighting or he was saving you from the Denj-sa attacks; hardly anything I would want to remember either. He wants to remember when he held you close to him, so close that he could smell your hair and know that no time soon would you two be separated."
"He told me that men only want me for sex. What's that say about your theory?" There was nothing malicious about her words. She only wanted an answer.
"He's Vegeta. He was angry. He said the first thing that came to his head that would cause you the most pain because that's how men like Vegeta fight. He wanted to ensure that he would win and the argument would stop. Only problem is it forced a deeper gap between you two, a gap he's been trying to close ever since it was started…He wants you as his mate, Bulma."
"Yes, and I want love. Is that so hard to ask? Wouldn't you want the same? You said yourself that you didn't want to go back and get Jemalin because you feared she didn't love you. It's the same thing, Furto. I want what all others want. I want love and I can settle for no less."
They walked in silence the rest of the way home. Furto felt he'd failed Vegeta in a way, not being able to bring her closer to him. He knew Bulma had been right. There was no sense in their being together if both didn't feel love. And though Furto knew that Vegeta did most certainly love Bulma, without the words from his lips, she would never know and therefore never be truly happy.
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Several days went by and Bulma and Vegeta passed little or no words between them. Bulma was still immensely hurt by his words that she now felt were completely true, and Vegeta was simply being Vegeta. Furto and Jemalin were shut up in Furto's room, busy preparing the Elpinosus in its finally days. Tomorrow the cure would be ready; tomorrow Bulma could breath easy and not fear death knocking down the door.
It was very late, Bulma guessed around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and she and Senju were alone in the central room, playing a very complicated Fewskm game. It was sort of like chess, though the moves were different and the board was made up of circles that were elevated an inch or so. All the circles were the same size and color, except for the one in the center, which was three times as wide and a fraction taller. The pieces were either square blocks or triangles, one set of twenty pieces was blue, the other was a tan color, and the object of the game was to bring as many pieces to the center circle as possible; though the moves were precise and semi-complicated and your opponent could knock you from a "platform" if their move brought them to one you were on. Bulma learned quickly, and after several games, was soon creaming Senju. One game she won with sixteen of her pieces in the center, while Senju only barely rescued eight.
"Would you look at that!" Bulma cheered. "I beat you again. Senju, I really insist that you try. I need a challenge."
"You know very well that I'm playing to my full potential, Miss Earthling. Now let's play again. I shall avenge my fallen men!"
"Right, like you did the last five times?" she laughed, giving way to a small cough.
"Are you alright? Do you need a glass of water?"
"No," she laughed. "It's only a tickle in my throat, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
"Let me feel your forehead."
"I said I'm fine. If I didn't have an attack all this time, then I certainly won't have one now when the cure is only hours away."
"I insist on the water then," he said stubbornly and exited the room. Bulma only laughed at his concern, and gave another cough; this time there was a deep pain in her abdomen. She ignored it. No, not possible.
Senju returned moments later and handed her the glass of lukewarm water. She drank it, though wished it could be colder. The cough didn't fade however, as she had hoped, and only caused Senju more worry. He insisted on examining her, though she refused to end the game for something "so silly".
"But Bulma!"
"But nothing, I am perfect-per—" She cleared her throat. "I'm perfectly fine. Now stop worrying. I'm not going to die." And just as she finished her sentence, a trickle of blood escaped her lips and splashed onto the board. "Of course," she snarled, seemingly more angry that the attack was coming now, rather than coming at all. It was a front, of course, to hide her fear, and she allowed Senju to bring her to Furto's room where they would be near to the cure and have adequate supplies. Once there he demanded that Jemalin find Vegeta and bring him there, ignoring Bulma's protests that she didn't want to see him.
Soon she was coughing up the iced blood. It poured from her mouth like a fountain into a wooden bowl that Senju held under her chin. She filled three bowls before the fear really started to register. She could very well die right then and there and so close the being cured! What had Vegeta said? That the next attack would kill her? Was that the dull pain she felt coursing through her? Was it death? Was she dying?
Vegeta ran into the room, startled by Bulma's appearance—which would have caused her to faint; she was white as a sheet and looked dreadfully thin—though his face quickly changed to that of anger.
"The cure is hours within your reach and NOW you have an attack!" he hollowed. Oh how plain his fear was to all the others. "How dare you do this to me!"
"To you!" she sputtered, spraying bits of frozen blood down her front. "Oh right Vegeta, because I planned on dying this morning." She had more to say, but couldn't around the slushy blood that was quickly filling her mouth. When it was back down to a trickle, though she knew it would come back soon, she said, "I cannot believe these are going to be our last words to each other."
"You cannot die," he huffed, coming towards the bed, though stopped a few feet away. Never had he seen someone look so sickly and near death with disease. "I will not let you."
"How very noble Vegeta, but incase you haven't noticed, I'm having my fatal attack as we argue! And the Elpinosus isn't finished!" Senju urged to her stop yelling, to ignore Vegeta even, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. "I am dying right here in front of you and all you can do is yell at me!"
"What more do you want from me? I'm not the healer! They are!" He pointed frantically at Furto and Senju, and Golana who had since entered the room. He was losing his inner battle quickly. His anger was leaving him. The realization that Bulma could not make it was bombarding him like a million asteroids. "You cannot die," he repeated, his words beginning to show some emotion. Bulma would have noticed the tremble in his voice had she not been so angry.
"You know, all I ever wanted was to be with someone whom I loved and who loved me back," she sighed, spitting a mouth full of blood into the bowl. Her glare was icy, yet her heart yearned to run into Vegeta's arms. "And I found half of what I wanted, but you could never give me the other half. And not because it wasn't there, but because you refused to believe that such a feeling existed, so even if you did love me you would never tell me. You're so unbelievably selfish it makes me sick to think that I love you so deeply."
"Woman," he sighed, finally coming to sit beside her. He was breaking and the pieces were being stolen away, sucked into the same vortex that was pulling at Bulma's life. "You are so unfair in all your arguments. You don't see with clarity. You yell and howl that I cannot return your feelings. You call me selfish, but you are the selfish one." The anger began to rise in him again and he turned away so not to fall victim to her searching eyes. "I wish only for you, Kami damn it! I want no other female, no other creature, no one else for my own, but you! I would die if I could to keep that horrific disease away from you! I would kill anyone who dared threaten your life; dared even look at your crossly! I've done all this for you; found you the cure, brought you from planet to planet, cared for you when you were having attacks, and still you feel that I am not worthy enough to be your mate! I have nothing more to offer you woman! I've given you more than I've given any creature alive or dead and still you beg for more! Isn't it enough that I would die for you? Isn't it enough that I would kill for you? Isn't it enough that I sit here now at your side and tell you all of this?" He sighed deeply when she didn't answer. "You're the selfish one, not I."
He glanced back at her, stunned when her face was no longer cold and harsh, but sad and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She ignored the blood that was staining her shirt and pants. She wanted to say something. She opened her mouth, but the words were caught and her voice was gone. With great pain she mouthed, "I love you. Good-bye Vegeta," and closed her eyes.
He starred at her limp body for a moment, unsure of what to do. The tears were on his cheeks now and he cared not that those in the room were witness to his breakdown as he cradled Bulma in his arms.
"The cure is finished," Furto said solemnly, not being able to hold back his pain. "I'm so sorry Vegeta. I loved her too."
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---Chapter 29!! Holy Kami! What the hell! She's dead! She'd DEAD!? Well, only I know what comes next. And don't be so sure that you can guess it. I dunno, maybe you can. But don't be angry with me and be on the lookout for the next chapter. I'm not done here. Not by a long shot.
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Reviews=More Chapters)
Next time: Is she really dead? Can they bring her back? AHHH!!
Note: Sorry for the delay…
"I beg to differ," he sighed, shoving away her hands.
She hadn't the faintest idea of what he was talking about, and yet she could not bring words to pass her lips. He was drifting further and further away and she was powerless to stop him.
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"Forget it," Vegeta suddenly said, standing and walking towards the door. The conviction he'd had only moments before was completely gone. His instincts and Saiyan nature were beginning to bombard him and he wanted nothing more than to be alone; and to get some food of course. "Well, what're you waiting for? I refuse to wait all night for you."
"This isn't over just like that, Vegeta!" Bulma yelled. There was something going on in that dark crevice of a mind of his, and she intended to get to the bottom of it. "What did you mean, 'You beg to differ'? I refuse to go anywhere without an answer."
"Then you plan on staying on Fewskm until the end of your days?" he scoffed, not budging an inch. He subconsciously kicked himself for opening his mouth. He made a mental note to never speak his mind again, especially in the heat of an argument.
"You meant that I am keeping us apart, didn't you?" she hissed. "Right, because I'm the one who refuses to acknowledge the existence of love. You hit the nail on the head, Vegeta."
"Must you do this?" he sighed. "If you were listening you'd know the answer to your damn question."
"You're jealous of Senju then, is that it?"
"Don't degrade me with such insults. Those were not my words."
"Yes, but that's what you meant. You're angry with me because you think there's something going on between me and him. Kami, I've figured you out. Lowly, base jealousy. How unattractive. I despise jealousy."
"That's very well and good for you woman, but I am NOT jealous! You give yourself far too much credit. Men only want you for your pretty face and open legs!"
Bulma lunged at him, and it took all his strength to keep from throwing her against the nearest wall. He wasn't so caught up in his anger that he would accidentally harm her and the child forming inside.
She dropped to her knees, a heavy mood swing sweeping in. She was beyond caring that he saw her cry.
"Get up. I'm taking you back to Furto's home."
She didn't move.
He lifted her off the floor, cradling her the way he'd done some many times now. She made no protest at his actions, though refused to give any sort of response. They were to Furto's soon after, walking inside in silence. Vegeta ignored those who spoke to him and headed straight for the kitchen. Bulma wept in the doorway, allowing herself to be guided into Furto's room by Jemalin. She didn't utter a single word and curled into a ball on the bed, soon enveloped in a warm, comforting sleep. Jemalin would ask her what happened in the morning.
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Bulma sat in the corner of a large room, surrounded by scraps of metal and multi-colored wires. At breakfast that morning she'd asked if she could be taken to see some Fewskm scientists or technicians, or whoever worked with technology on the planet. Furto informed her that a group of Fewsks lived not to far away in a sterile building much like those on Earth. It had glass windows and steel beams for support, and the entire structure was laced with electricity. And being that their sun blazed so fiercely during the day, the scientists harnessed its power with great solar panels; their only source of energy, and it was quite abundant.
Furto had brought her to this giant metal building directly following breakfast. She had explained to him, and Jemalin, about the fight and begged to be taken to the scientists for relaxation. She said that only when she was learning new things, or working with technology, that her mind would be at ease.
She quickly found out, however, that the Fewskm scientists were quite behind on technology, and therefore she opted to simply build a random machine from small parts; all scraps that the scientists weren't using of course. They were very compassionate and quick to allow her to do as she pleased. As of now she'd been in that spacious sterile room for more than eight hours. Her mini replica of a Rymron, complete with remote controlled moving limbs, was nearly finished. It took her longer than normal, for the tools she was using were completely foreign and not so easy to figure out. But that didn't stop her.
She looked down at the metal Rymron and a sudden wave of sadness washed over her. Her belovéd Rymrons were now living on a Fewsk farm some ten miles in the "country". Furto's cousin, Azhar, had been more than happy to accept the rambunctious bunch of critters, promising to take excellent care of them. She missed them immensely.
Now the Rymron was complete and so she sat in that corner, making it move with the remote control, oblivious to the world around her and the fact that she'd been there for so long. Of course Furto knew exactly where she was and would come get her soon enough. But she was glad for this time away. It had been so long since she'd worked on something that it was like taking a nice hot bubble bath after a day of hard work.
She wondered subconsciously if Vegeta knew where she was, or even cared. But she figured that Furto or Jemalin told him of her whereabouts and he'd probably shrugged or grunted and said nothing more about it. She could just see him standing there and not giving a damn as to whether she was off building stupid machines or lying mangled in the middle of the desert.
Her mind drifted back to the fight she and Vegeta had had the night before. He'd been so passionate, so convicted to his cause, and then, out of nowhere, he shrank back into his shell and refused to say another word about it. It was so plain that he had so much to say, that the words were itching to get out, and yet he suppressed them as if they weren't there. And the fact that his only worthy memory of them together was their sleeping together? It was enough to almost bring on another wave of tears and muted cries. How could nothing else mean an ounce to him? How could he be so shallow as to only think about sex? Was she really nothing more to him? Had he been right? Is that all she ever was to all the men she'd ever dated? Maybe that's why she'd taken it so hard when he said it.
"Bulma."
"Hey Furto," she sighed, walking the little Rymron over to bump into his sandaled feet. He laughed at this, though she sensed his concern. He was too smart to venture into her sadness just yet.
"Dinner will be served shortly. I know you've missed lunch, but I couldn't bother you until I was sure you'd had enough time to yourself. I see that you've made a little keepsake to take with you back to earth. It's very remarkable."
"Thanks," she said, climbing to her feet and scooping up the Rymron and remote control. She thanked the other scientists for allowing her to stay and promised to return sometime before she went home. "I only needed some time to think, Furto, that's all. I very well might want to go back tomorrow, or the next day. My thoughts couldn't be settled in such a short time." She glanced at his face as they walked in the warm night air. The trip was short enough to take by foot, only taking less then a half an hour. "It's hard, you know? He's right there, right THERE, and I can't do a thing to bring him to me. He's so cold and distant and, well, he's so Vegeta. It's a wonder that I didn't start falling for him before the trip, but I guess maybe I could have been. I don't know. He was hardly ever around back home. I never really got to know him until we were trapped on a ship for half a year. Funny how things like that happen. Six months or so ago I was content without love, without Yamcha, without anything. I only saw Vegeta as a nuisance and a jerk, someone to fight with occasionally, and now, now I've fallen in love with the cruelest, meanest, most dangerous criminal in the universe. He's killed more people than I can imagine; there's so much blood on his hands that it won't ever come clean; and yet I still love him, I still crave to be in his arms, so close to him, so close to that careless murderer. I'm in love with a murderer. Ha! Now there's an all round knew blunder for me!" she scoffed. "He actually said that the only thing worth remembering about this whole trip was when we slept together!…I should have guessed as much before I asked such a stupid question."
Furto had been listening to her in silence, nodding once and awhile, but never interrupting. He knew it was what she needed, to spill out her heart as she wanted. When he was positive that she wasn't going to continue, he began his comments.
"It truly is a remarkable thing that you can love someone such as Vegeta," he said. She didn't respond, only listened. "It takes a lot of strength and courage to even come close to loving someone like him. Most people never get close enough to criminals, as you said, to find anything in them but cruelty and hatred. But you, with your undying life-spark, have found something in Vegeta that no other could have possibly found, because he found it in himself too just as soon as you did. He never knew it was there, never suspected it, never wanted it. He was born to hate, born to kill, born to do anything but love. And then you came along and all the rules were shattered and he struggled to find the pieces, struggled to make sense of it all and find the man he once was. The man he found was most likely not who he was before, forever transformed by a simple Earth woman…There is something so great buried deep inside of Vegeta and you're the only one who can bring it out. It's fighting to stay in, but your strength is unmatchable for this battle." He sighed deeply and glanced over at Bulma. "You must remember how very difficult it must be for him. Never has anyone, not even his own parents, shown him any sort of affection remotely close to love. He's so utterly lost and confused on the subject that he hides from it. But he's slowly beginning to see what good can come from it…I overheard him having a discussion with Golana this afternoon about the half-Saiyan child you are bearing. He confessed, without knowing I was present, that he was happy for the child. He didn't use those exact words, but that's what I gathered from what he said, and I'm sure that's what Golana thought too…And about him only wishing to remember your being together in bed; I believe that what he meant to say, or more to the point, what he actually felt, was that the only moment he wanted to remember was when he had you as his own. All other moments you were either fighting or he was saving you from the Denj-sa attacks; hardly anything I would want to remember either. He wants to remember when he held you close to him, so close that he could smell your hair and know that no time soon would you two be separated."
"He told me that men only want me for sex. What's that say about your theory?" There was nothing malicious about her words. She only wanted an answer.
"He's Vegeta. He was angry. He said the first thing that came to his head that would cause you the most pain because that's how men like Vegeta fight. He wanted to ensure that he would win and the argument would stop. Only problem is it forced a deeper gap between you two, a gap he's been trying to close ever since it was started…He wants you as his mate, Bulma."
"Yes, and I want love. Is that so hard to ask? Wouldn't you want the same? You said yourself that you didn't want to go back and get Jemalin because you feared she didn't love you. It's the same thing, Furto. I want what all others want. I want love and I can settle for no less."
They walked in silence the rest of the way home. Furto felt he'd failed Vegeta in a way, not being able to bring her closer to him. He knew Bulma had been right. There was no sense in their being together if both didn't feel love. And though Furto knew that Vegeta did most certainly love Bulma, without the words from his lips, she would never know and therefore never be truly happy.
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Several days went by and Bulma and Vegeta passed little or no words between them. Bulma was still immensely hurt by his words that she now felt were completely true, and Vegeta was simply being Vegeta. Furto and Jemalin were shut up in Furto's room, busy preparing the Elpinosus in its finally days. Tomorrow the cure would be ready; tomorrow Bulma could breath easy and not fear death knocking down the door.
It was very late, Bulma guessed around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and she and Senju were alone in the central room, playing a very complicated Fewskm game. It was sort of like chess, though the moves were different and the board was made up of circles that were elevated an inch or so. All the circles were the same size and color, except for the one in the center, which was three times as wide and a fraction taller. The pieces were either square blocks or triangles, one set of twenty pieces was blue, the other was a tan color, and the object of the game was to bring as many pieces to the center circle as possible; though the moves were precise and semi-complicated and your opponent could knock you from a "platform" if their move brought them to one you were on. Bulma learned quickly, and after several games, was soon creaming Senju. One game she won with sixteen of her pieces in the center, while Senju only barely rescued eight.
"Would you look at that!" Bulma cheered. "I beat you again. Senju, I really insist that you try. I need a challenge."
"You know very well that I'm playing to my full potential, Miss Earthling. Now let's play again. I shall avenge my fallen men!"
"Right, like you did the last five times?" she laughed, giving way to a small cough.
"Are you alright? Do you need a glass of water?"
"No," she laughed. "It's only a tickle in my throat, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
"Let me feel your forehead."
"I said I'm fine. If I didn't have an attack all this time, then I certainly won't have one now when the cure is only hours away."
"I insist on the water then," he said stubbornly and exited the room. Bulma only laughed at his concern, and gave another cough; this time there was a deep pain in her abdomen. She ignored it. No, not possible.
Senju returned moments later and handed her the glass of lukewarm water. She drank it, though wished it could be colder. The cough didn't fade however, as she had hoped, and only caused Senju more worry. He insisted on examining her, though she refused to end the game for something "so silly".
"But Bulma!"
"But nothing, I am perfect-per—" She cleared her throat. "I'm perfectly fine. Now stop worrying. I'm not going to die." And just as she finished her sentence, a trickle of blood escaped her lips and splashed onto the board. "Of course," she snarled, seemingly more angry that the attack was coming now, rather than coming at all. It was a front, of course, to hide her fear, and she allowed Senju to bring her to Furto's room where they would be near to the cure and have adequate supplies. Once there he demanded that Jemalin find Vegeta and bring him there, ignoring Bulma's protests that she didn't want to see him.
Soon she was coughing up the iced blood. It poured from her mouth like a fountain into a wooden bowl that Senju held under her chin. She filled three bowls before the fear really started to register. She could very well die right then and there and so close the being cured! What had Vegeta said? That the next attack would kill her? Was that the dull pain she felt coursing through her? Was it death? Was she dying?
Vegeta ran into the room, startled by Bulma's appearance—which would have caused her to faint; she was white as a sheet and looked dreadfully thin—though his face quickly changed to that of anger.
"The cure is hours within your reach and NOW you have an attack!" he hollowed. Oh how plain his fear was to all the others. "How dare you do this to me!"
"To you!" she sputtered, spraying bits of frozen blood down her front. "Oh right Vegeta, because I planned on dying this morning." She had more to say, but couldn't around the slushy blood that was quickly filling her mouth. When it was back down to a trickle, though she knew it would come back soon, she said, "I cannot believe these are going to be our last words to each other."
"You cannot die," he huffed, coming towards the bed, though stopped a few feet away. Never had he seen someone look so sickly and near death with disease. "I will not let you."
"How very noble Vegeta, but incase you haven't noticed, I'm having my fatal attack as we argue! And the Elpinosus isn't finished!" Senju urged to her stop yelling, to ignore Vegeta even, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. "I am dying right here in front of you and all you can do is yell at me!"
"What more do you want from me? I'm not the healer! They are!" He pointed frantically at Furto and Senju, and Golana who had since entered the room. He was losing his inner battle quickly. His anger was leaving him. The realization that Bulma could not make it was bombarding him like a million asteroids. "You cannot die," he repeated, his words beginning to show some emotion. Bulma would have noticed the tremble in his voice had she not been so angry.
"You know, all I ever wanted was to be with someone whom I loved and who loved me back," she sighed, spitting a mouth full of blood into the bowl. Her glare was icy, yet her heart yearned to run into Vegeta's arms. "And I found half of what I wanted, but you could never give me the other half. And not because it wasn't there, but because you refused to believe that such a feeling existed, so even if you did love me you would never tell me. You're so unbelievably selfish it makes me sick to think that I love you so deeply."
"Woman," he sighed, finally coming to sit beside her. He was breaking and the pieces were being stolen away, sucked into the same vortex that was pulling at Bulma's life. "You are so unfair in all your arguments. You don't see with clarity. You yell and howl that I cannot return your feelings. You call me selfish, but you are the selfish one." The anger began to rise in him again and he turned away so not to fall victim to her searching eyes. "I wish only for you, Kami damn it! I want no other female, no other creature, no one else for my own, but you! I would die if I could to keep that horrific disease away from you! I would kill anyone who dared threaten your life; dared even look at your crossly! I've done all this for you; found you the cure, brought you from planet to planet, cared for you when you were having attacks, and still you feel that I am not worthy enough to be your mate! I have nothing more to offer you woman! I've given you more than I've given any creature alive or dead and still you beg for more! Isn't it enough that I would die for you? Isn't it enough that I would kill for you? Isn't it enough that I sit here now at your side and tell you all of this?" He sighed deeply when she didn't answer. "You're the selfish one, not I."
He glanced back at her, stunned when her face was no longer cold and harsh, but sad and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She ignored the blood that was staining her shirt and pants. She wanted to say something. She opened her mouth, but the words were caught and her voice was gone. With great pain she mouthed, "I love you. Good-bye Vegeta," and closed her eyes.
He starred at her limp body for a moment, unsure of what to do. The tears were on his cheeks now and he cared not that those in the room were witness to his breakdown as he cradled Bulma in his arms.
"The cure is finished," Furto said solemnly, not being able to hold back his pain. "I'm so sorry Vegeta. I loved her too."
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---Chapter 29!! Holy Kami! What the hell! She's dead! She'd DEAD!? Well, only I know what comes next. And don't be so sure that you can guess it. I dunno, maybe you can. But don't be angry with me and be on the lookout for the next chapter. I'm not done here. Not by a long shot.
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Next time: Is she really dead? Can they bring her back? AHHH!!
Note: Sorry for the delay…