Chapter Six: Mixed Emotions
Nazomi stood back, staring out of the doorway as Vegeta's ki trail glared brightly in the night sky, slowly fading as he flew away.
She stood there for a moment, then turned to look at Bulma, who was standing in the middle of the room, still breathing heavily.
Without warning, Bulma fell to her knees, sobbing violently.
Chi-Chi and Videl rushed to her sides, trying to comfort her as Bra stood in shock, not wanting to believe what she'd seen, as did most of the remaining people in the room.
"No... I need to be alone for a minute," said Bulma, shrugging them off and walking into the kitchen.
Nazomi glanced back at the door one last time before slowly walking into the kitchen, motioning for everyone else to stay back. She sat across from Bulma at the table, gently resting her hand on Bulma's forearm.
"Are you alright?" she whispered, her orange eyes full of concern.
"No... but I will be," said Bulma defiantly, glaring through her tears.
*A/N: You know what...? You were right, V.J... that panic attack really would've been more Chi-Chi's forte... Valerie scratches the back of her head and frowns Well, what's done is done, next time I'll try to keep it more to her personality...*
"Well... Bulma, you really didn't give him much of a chance to explain," said Nazomi quietly, an apologetic look on her face.
Bulma suddenly looked horrified.
"Explain what, exactly?" cried Bulma, looking appalled. "He cheated on me! There's nothing to explain! He's just a bastard son of a bitch..."
Pain began to fill Bulma's eyes, the last few words of her sentence coming out in whispers. She buried her face in her hands and began weeping again, and Nazomi rubbed her arm gently, full of sympathy for her.
"Well... if you noticed, he did call you Bulma," said Nazomi, biting her lip. "I can't even remember the last time he's said your name. Usually he just calls you 'woman'."
"He was probably trying to sound innocent," said Bulma, sniffing and wiping her eyes.
"Well... Vegeta may not be the most innocent guy in the world, but I really don't think that he'd do anything like this to you on purpose."
"Really? Why is that?" asked Bulma sarcastically, massaging her temples and trying to control her tears.
"Because he knows that Goku would go after him for hurting one of his best friends like that, along with the rest of us."
Bulma stared at Nazomi for a moment, then gave a small laugh.
"Huh? Are you smiling?" asked Nazomi, peering a Bulma and grinning.
Bulma laughed again, and nodded slowly.
"See? You don't believe that he's guilty, either," said Nazomi, leaning back in her chair.
"Well... I still don't completely think that he wasn't cheating on me, but until I know the truth (if there even is a truth) I can't think of another explanation for him kissing another woman and then smiling about it."
Nazomi nodded in agreement, but still frowned.
"Well... I still think that there's another side to this story," said Nazomi, getting up, "and I'm going to find out what it is."
Bulma looked up at her, confused.
"I'm going after him."
Bulma sighed and closed her eyes, a few more tears escaping them, but said nothing to stop her.
Nazomi gave her a sympathetic smile before blasting off, still inside of the house, and out the still open front door.
~-^-~*~-^-~*
Vegeta flew as fast as he could, letting the air whip around him.
His vision suddenly began to cloud with tears, but he knew that it wasn't the vicious thrashing of the on-coming air stinging his eyes that caused them. It was Bulma.
'Why would you ever think that?' he thought sadly, more tears welling up in his eyes. He blinked them back furiously, and landed.
Looking around, he discovered that he was in the city park, small white tables and benches placed beside a white, iron gate, facing the ocean. The surface of the water looked like black, liquid mercury as the lights from the city across the harbor shone on it, the reflection on the water rippling and warping the shapes and colors of the buildings.
Breathing deeply, Vegeta sat down on one of the benches and buried his hands in his hair, staring at the gray cobblestone sidewalk beneath him.
His breathing suddenly turned ragged, his breaths coming in short gasps, and he suddenly broke down, tears streaming from his closed eyes.
"You're not even worth it."
The memory of his last few moments with her burned in his mind, causing more tears to escape.
*Hey, look... I know that it's really OOC of him (out of character) but he just lost Bulma! give him a break!*
"Get out!!!" she screamed now, her entire body shaking with fury. "I never want to see you again! EVER!!!"
He whimpered, remembering the look in her eyes, the look that told him that she'd meant it.
He suddenly smiled sadly, knowing that if Bulma never found out the truth of what happened, he really wouldn't ever see her again. He knew this because he'd found out, as soon as he'd met her, that she was one of the most stubborn women he'd ever met - one of the qualities that had attracted him to her in the first place. She was just like him.
If anyone had ever told him before he'd left Frieza's main base, he thought sadly, that forty years after landing on earth he'd be completely at the mercy of some blue-haired human woman, crying and whimpering like a child who'd gotten cut, just because she wouldn't take him back, he probably would have laughed in their face - then kill them for thinking that he'd ever become so weak.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stood up, walking around the small tables, his hands in his pockets.
Suddenly Vegeta raised one arm, screaming, and swung it down through the table, breaking it to pieces. He turned and did the same to the row of tables behind him, occasionally letting a small ki blast loose and destroying everything in sight..
He suddenly froze and looked over what he'd done. Remembering where he was, he sucked his teeth and walked over to a nearby tree and leaned his back against it.
He tried to keep his mind on what he was going to do next.
He didn't know anyone else on the planet except for the rest of the Z Warriors, and they all were probably furious with him, all of them believing that he was cheating on Bulma.
*A/N: The author of The Problem With Romance (sorry, I forgot what her name was) made a good point the other day - the whole bond thing is just something that was made up by one author and was copied and copied over and over until so many people believed it to be true in the series that it became fact. I was thinking about that for months, actually... I've never heard anyone talk about it in the series, so I thought that it was fake.... hey, the same thing is true with that "Saiyajin Love Bite" thing! I - oh, I'll shut up.*
But he still didn't understand why Bulma would jump to that conclusion - he'd already told her about their bond, and he'd explained again and again, not only to her, but to anyone who'd asked him that when someone was bonded to someone else, they couldn't live without that person, and that they would never love anyone else.
Do you realize
I can't sleep without you
Think without you
Eat without you
Speak without you
Be without you
I can't even breathe without you
I can't feel without you
Deal without you
Spend without you
My whole world is upside down
Don't wanna go out
'Cause I can't ride without you
Feel like I'm gon' die without you
Vegeta sighed. After all that he went through, trying to figure out what he wanted more, she'd accused him of cheating on her and kicked him out of the house...
Vegeta, with an almighty war cry, suddenly turned toward the tree he'd been leaning on and punched it as hard as he could.
He hissed with pain as his knuckles began bleeding, cut against the tree bark. At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the tree fell over, making a strange moaning noise as the roots cracked and were pulled out of the ground.
He looked down at his bloody hand, then realized what was happening.
Whenever a saiyajin lost someone that they were bonded to, they began to lose their strength. Their energy would be slowly drawn out, causing them to become weaker and weaker... for some saiyajins, they would become weaker mentally, slowly going insane, or others would become weaker spiritually - gradually losing their will to live. Whichever way, they would die without their mate. For Vegeta, he was slowly becoming weaker physically.
Cursing, Vegeta walked back over to the bench and sat down, burying his hands in his stiff, unruly hair once again.
"Well damn, what happened here?"
Vegeta looked up, startled, to see Nazomi standing near on of the few untouched tables and looking over the area, which was covered in pieces of the wooden furniture.
Scowling, though he wasn't angry, Vegeta looked back down at the pavement.
Nazomi looked down at him sympathetically and then walked over to the bench, standing next to him.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked teasingly, her voice quiet.
"No... but I must warn you that I've been having some violent impulses recently," said Vegeta quietly.
"Well obviously," said Nazomi, having just spotted the fallen tree. "But I'll take my chances." She sat down next to him, folding her arms and powering up slightly to keep herself warm.
"Alright, Bulma's not hear to scream your head off. What really happened?"
Vegeta looked up, surprised.
"You mean you don't think that I cheated on her?"
Nazomi shook her head, smiling.
"That would be taking too much of a risk. You'd have the entire Z Militia on your ass. They're all friends with her... except for my dad," she said suddenly. "But he'd still go along just for the fun of beating you up."
Vegets gave a small smile and put the palms of his hands together, tapping the tips of his index fingers against each other.
Sighing, he began.
"...Remember... a couple of week as ago? When that ki appeared?" he said quietly.
"Mm-hmm."
"That ki... I said I didn't know who it belonged to, but I knew exactly who it belonged to," he said softly. "Her name is Clarice-"
"The one you mentioned to Bulma back at CC?"
"Yeah... she's a really good friend of mine-"
"How good?" asked Nazomi suddenly, an intrigued look on her face.
Vegeta stared at her for a moment, then scowled at her and turned away.
"That's none of your business."
"Aw, c'mon! Tell me!" she cried. "I'm the only one that believes you, so you at least owe it to me to tell me everything... You said that you never had any friends back then, so what was she? I won't tell anyone else, I swear. I'll even pinky swear, damn it."
Vegeta sat, not saying a word.
"Fine. If you won't tell me," said Nazomi persistently, "I'll guess. Was she really just your friend?"
Vegtea sighed through his nose, closed his eyes, and shook his head slowly.
"Um... best friend?"
He shook his head.
"Girlfriend?"
He suddenly looked as tough he were getting annoyed, but shook his head.
"What, then?"
At first, he didn't move, but he turned to Nazomi and raised his eyebrow.
"You mean - whoa," said Nazomi, laughing.
Vegeta suddenly glared. "Do you want to know the truth or not?"
"Oh, um.. sure."
Sucking his teeth, Vegeta got back to his story, just needing to tell someone what was going on.
"Well.... Clarice and I got separated when we were sent on separate missions in different galaxies. After Vejitasei was destroyed, we lost all contact with each other. She eventually heard about what happened, got the Dragon Balls together, and wished the planet back. And now... my father sent her after me to bring me back. So..."
He sighed again, massaging his forehead with his hands.
"She found out about Bulma, Trunks, and Bra," he said, leaning back in the chair now and looking down at his palms. "And... I didn't want to go back, but she couldn't just give the mission up completely, so she gave me two weeks to think about it and decided whether I wanted to go back to Vejitasei or not. And I... I decided to stay here."
Vegeta again leaned forward and buried his hands in his hair, his elbows propped on his knees.
Nazomi sat back in shock, too taken back to speak. He was mister "I'm the Prince of the Saiyans!".
"...Man, you're gonna make me start hittin' you with tables and stuff." said Nazomi suddenly.
Vegeta looked up suddenly, looking horrified.
"What?"
"You made me wanna cry. That is too sweet, man."
Sighing, Vegeta crossed his arms and propped his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground.
"What am I going to do...?" he whispered to himself.
"Well... I guess I could talk to her," said Nazomi. "I'll tell her what happened... "
"And if she doesn't believe you?"
"......We'll think of something," she said quietly before standing up and squeezing his shoulder. "Look... Quite frankly, I don't think that she's in the mood to believe anything right now. I'll talk to her sometime this week. And I know you would probably like staying out in the wilderness more, but if you need anything,, you can stay at our place.... I'm sure my mom wouldn't have too much of a problem with it if I explained to her what happened. And my dad needs someone decent to spar with... he's still training me, and I wouldn't stand a chance against him in a real battle."
Vegeta nodded slowly, but didn't say a waord.
Squeezing his shoulder again, Nazomi powered up slightly and levitated for a moment before taking off into the sky.
~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~
A/N: I know that a lot of people don't read the song parts and just skip right over them, but PLEASE read this one! This song matches Bulma and Vegeta so well...and not even for the fic itself, in general! You could use this song for anything that has to do with them... so read it and tell me what you think! ^_^*
Bulma wiped her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. She'd looked the door to her office and sat in the large, brown leather chair, weeping. She'd been lying when she told Nazomi she'd be fine.
She wasn't about to deny it, she loved Vegeta... and there was nothing that could get rid of that love, unfortunately, she thought to her self.
But sometimes he just pisses me off so much! she thought, then suddenly smiled sadly at a few memories of their worst fights.... their fights weren't really all that bad, they never really had any base to them... neither of them were always too mad about it, but made a big deal anyway. It was a common game they always played with each other. But then, there were times where they would get really angry and not speak to each other for days... but the make-up sessions were always nice, she thought with a smile.
No matter what you do you drive me crazy
I'd rather be alone
But then I know my life would be so empty
As soon as you were gone
I'd like to run away from you
But if I were to leave you I would die
I'd like to break the chains you put around me
And yet I'll never try
She sighed. What was she going to do? Life would never be the same without him... and what hurt most was that wanted him back. She hated him for making her go through this type of pain... but she loved him with all of her heart and soul.
Impossible to live with you
But I could never live without you
For whatever you do / For whatever you do
I never, never, never
Want to be in love with anyone but you
You make me sad
You make me strong
You make me mad
You make me long for you
Wait. Was it because of the fights that he had cheated on her? Was it because he couldn't stand it anymore and needed someone else...?
Choking back her tears, Bulma got up and walked over to the large windows and looked out over the city, noticing her reflection in the clear glass. Uncrossing her arms, Bulma reached out slowly, then let her press against it's double.
Slowly, she let the tips of her fingers move along the reflection to her face, then let her nails scuff across her visage.
"Damn you, Vegeta," she said, tears streaming freely down her face now.
I hate you
Then I love you
Then I love you
Then I hate you
Then I love you more / I love you more
For whatever you do / For whatever you do
I never, never, never
Want to be in love with anyone but you
I never, never, never
I never, never, never
I never, never, never
Want to be in love with anyone but you
But you
So that's the end of Chapter six! I'm sorry, I know it was pretty short... but I'll try to make the next chapter longer to make up for it.
In case you like the song, it's called I Love You Then I Hate You by Celine Dion and some opera dude, I'm sorry, I don't know his name. Alls I know is I like the song a lot... and that ain't not bad. ^_^ (Quote: Bart Simpson)
So what's gonna happen? Will Bulma and Vegeta ever get back together? How? What'll happen to Clarice? How does everyone else feel about the situation? Will Clarice find out about what happened between Bulma and Vegeta? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z: The Legends of Chaos!