A/n: New chappie! Woo hoo! I just wanted to let you guys know that there is a bit of talking in this one, but it gets good (I hope!) anyway, just a reminder that I'm not going to be able to download in a little while, so don't be disappointed if I don't download in like two weeks, ok? That's all! Read & Enjoy
Warning: AC, AL, Profanity. Mature readers only.
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Them…
Fame
It was six o'clock in the morning and Bulma lay wide awake in her bed staring at the man aside her; the man she was starting to feel deeply for. She sighed, barely, so not to wake him up. The reason behind her unusual concern was the truth that was starting to become clear in her head as well as in her heart. She was feeling for him and it was something more than just pure lust and infatuation. She was happy. He made her happy. She allowed herself to become vulnerable and depend on someone to make her happy. Not that she wasn't without him cause she was. But not like this. She felt so happy she could take on the world. It scared her. Vulnerability had always meant weakness for her. The fact that she was really falling for him was a weakness she saw in herself. He had the power to hurt her, the upper hand was his. She had given it to him. She feared that the most.
Bulma decided to scoot up on the bed resting her back against the bed rest while pulling her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees then turned to look at the man still asleep aside her…
His mouth opened and closed in small circles as he took in small amounts of breaths and let them out slowly. His face was truly beautiful. That angry scowl he was always wearing there weren't even traces of it when he slept. He looked like an innocent baby in a deep sleep. His back was exposed to her his arms holding the pillow close to his face. She smiled. His well-defined slim but strong muscles showed; the result of endless hours of training she guessed. How they stayed contracted even when he was deeply relaxed was something she truly loved to marvel about. Up his arms and down to the end of his spine, she loved every inch of them. They were just perfect.
The bed sheets barely covered the well-formed features of his rear and she was glad he wore underwear when it came to sleep. He was perfect. In every way she wanted he was perfect. Vegeta squirmed a little and she tried to be as quiet as she could breathing lowly and slow trying not to wake him. If someone were to ask her what one of the best experiences of her life was this would be one. Rest her head on her knees, embrace her arms around them and watch him sleep before sunlight broke in. The moment was almost magical. There wasn't any sun but it wasn't dark either. Somewhere between dawn and real morning where the sky took a light blue color that reflected soothingly on his face, his body and everything he was without saying a word at all.
She sighed. If he wasn't so cold and insensible she wouldn't mind running a hand down his back so she could caress his soft skin. She could satiate her coldness with the warmth of his body, taking his essence in her fully. But there were barriers that didn't let her do so; the persistent invisible walls of his past that didn't let her trust in the actions that her mind displayed. Who Vegeta was before she met him hadn't really worried her until now. She thought about what Krillin had said over and over…
"… he's half a better man compared to what he used to be…. Should we owe it to you?"
Half a better man compared to what he used to be. Half a better man. The words struck her as uncanny. Why would he be half the better man now? Who was he before? He asked her not to believe those stories but those stories had to be true if he was half the better man now. Who was he then? Who is he now? How did he acquire such a reputation?
Bulma looked at the alarm clock. It was six fifteen. Time to wake him up. The blue haired woman ran the back of her tender hand down his cheek. Vegeta frowned before opening his dark eyes a depth that gave way to her ocean gaze. He blinked sleepily looking at her exhaustedly. She smiled
"You have to be in your room before your mother comes in" she said in a tone that sounded more like a whisper. Vegeta swallowed
"Let her find me here" he whispered with his lips against the pillow closing his eyes to go back to sleep. Bulma ran her fingers through his black flame-like hair waking him up again
"It won't be good if she finds you here. You know that" she said. Vegeta took in a breath then lifted his body up by doing a small pushup
"So you say everyday" he stood from the bed. Bulma stared at him as he pulled a navy blue sweatshirt over his head. He turned to her
"Who's driving?" he asked scratching his eye with a hand while his other hand covered his private area erected due to the time of the morning
"I'll drive. We need to get you to the clinic before the effect of those drugs wears out" she said. Vegeta frowned at her. She knew he was mad about her taking him to the clinic. What he didn't know was that the doctors of this clinic were trying to develop a new medicine that could repair bones instantly no pain or months of recovery. All they had to do was go in to repair the bones manually. The medicine was efficient enough for the patients to recover in a day or two. The pain from the stitches and the swelling could go away in just hours!
Of course Vegeta didn't trust doctors in general. They always diagnosed him with something and ended up repairing his entire body. He despised them in every possible way but there was no escape from this one. It was Bulma behind it this time and his chances of getting away with it were basically slim to none. Bulma raised her brows at him
"I don't want to hear it-"
"All they talk is bullshit-"
"It's not bullshit. This is the last time I'm explaining to you that they are certified doctors-"
"Oh and I give a shit-"
"We're going anyway. Why are we having this conversation again-?"
"Who says we're going-"
"Vegeta I will not be the woman of some drug addict-"
"It's one more game-"
"And it could mean your entire career as a football player. I know you're smarter than that" she finished. Vegeta grunted then turned to jump out the window in order to make it to his room before his mother checked on him. Bulma frowned
"You forgot something" she said upset. Vegeta stopped, turned, and walked around the bed then leaned into her and kissed her lips shortly. Bulma smirked
"Be out by seven" she kissed him one last time then left him to go to his room before his mother freaked out about him being missing. The lady would call the police if that was the case not to mention the tragedy and emotional breakdown that she would go through…
School - 7:30AM
"Hey" a voice greeted behind Raditz's open locker door. He didn't have to guess twice to know who it was. His expression changed from relaxed to dreadful and miserable as he closed the door to look at the woman behind it
"What do you want?" he asked rudely. The blonde woman giggled sliding a strand of her hair behind her ear as she held some books in her free arm
"Well good morning to you too!" she said joyfully "I just wanted to make sure that you're well informed on this thing. I'm going to pick you up at five so you better be ready-"
"I have practice" he cut her off with the excuse. 18 rolled her eyes
"Like I said, I'm going to be over by five-"
"I'm serious-"
"Cut the crap Raditz. I had cheerleading practices when I helped you out last year, it was the worse try out scenario ever and I still managed to do it. Don't you think you should be doing the same for me now?" she asked. Raditz frowned
"I don't want to do this shit" he said almost complaining. 18 gave him a fake pout
"Aw too bad" she tsked "you're only gonna walk down the passageway so you can model new trends. Plus you're amazingly attractive I bet there'll be magazines that will wanna sign you right away! How about it? An NFL football player and a model that's like the most totally awesome thing that can ever happen to you" she squealed. Raditz blushed. That he was attractive, he knew. That someone came up to him and bluntly told him so too embarrassing to let it roll by. 18 noticed the redness under his eyes. She pinched his chubby cheeks with her small fingers
"Is that you blushing? How cute is-"
"Stop it" he pushed her hand away. 18 giggled
"I can't believe I made you blush. Yet another addition to my blackmailing sources. You're amazing!" she exclaimed. Raditz frowned
"Whatever" he mumbled looking like a shy little kid. Just then Chichi made her way to them
"Hey guys" she greeted with a cheerful expression. 18 and Raditz turned to her
"Hey" said 18 "did you just get…why are you so happy?" she changed the question. Chichi snapped
"Today is Goku's birthday!" she exclaimed with a big bright smile. 18 widened her eyes amazed
"It…it…is?" asked 18. Chichi frowned
"You forgot didn't you?"
"…"
"18! We've been planning this party for weeks now! I can not believe you totally forgot!" said Chichi frustrated. 18 shook her head
"I didn't forget" she said guiltily. Chichi rolled her eyes
"Whatever. It's at my house. God forbid if it was at yours. Can you make it?" she asked. 18 breathed in
"Well…Raditz and I had to go to…to…" she snapped her fingers as if trying to come up with something. Raditz noticed and came into the conversation
"We have to go to this…uh…this…um…car…" he stammered watching the cars drive by through the opened doors of the school. 18 continued
"A car convention-"
"Yes! A car convention!" Raditz agreed
"A car convention?" Chichi raised a brow
"Yeah!" the pair said at the same time
"How long is this 'car convention' gonna take?" Chichi asked suspicious. She could sense a lie when she heard one. It wasn't too hard to figure out these two. They were horrible liars
"Oh, don't worry! We'll be there before the cake is cut" 18 assured. Chichi rolled her eyes
"I hope so. Anyway, I wanted to show you how I arranged the party. Come on" she said walking a few steps ahead of 18. 18 turned to Raditz
"So this is like a secret kind of thing, right?"
"Yeah"
"Ok just making sure" she confirmed and with that she was out of the tall male's way. He frowned again
"What a pain in the ass…"
Clinic - 7:30AM
"Vegeta Ouji?" a doctor came out to the waiting room with a white clipboard on hand. Both Vegeta and Bulma stood and walked to the man. He had white hair and wrinkly skin with transparent eyeglasses that covered his otherwise bright blue eyes. The older man reached his hand out to Vegeta
"Hi I'm Doctor Ross. I'll be the one in charge of your surgery" he said politely. Vegeta made no attempt to greet back. He just stared at the man skeptically. Bulma shook hands with the man
"Hi I'm Bulma his girlfriend" she greeted "he has a problem trusting people" she explained a little embarrassed. The doctor shook his head
"Don't worry about it. Happens all the time" he smiled "now if you'll follow me" he turned and headed to a room inside their building. Bulma looked at Vegeta angered
"You are unbelievable!" she mouthed the words while he smirked in amusement…
Back to School
"…so when everything is settled I'll call Krillin and he'll bring Goku in. The beer will be on a keg behind the couch in the middle of the living room and there'll be loudspeakers all around in the room. The middle is for the people that like to dance-"
"How many kegs of beer did you buy?" 18 asked. Chichi thought for a second
"I bought like eight. Do you think that'll do-?"
"I'll get two more on our way there don't worry about it. Who did you invite?" asked 18. Chichi breathed out
"I didn't want to invite the football team because you know how they get when they drink. They act like jungle animals that have just been placed in a modern civilization. But they're his friends you know? And I want him to have a great time with people he knows-"
"Hi honey" Goku interrupted the girl's conversation embracing his strong arms around Chichi's waist giving her a small peck on the cheek
"Hi honey" Chichi tousled his hair softly "are you excited about your birthday?" she asked turning to meet his face. He smiled sheepishly
"Sure am!" he said excited. Chichi nodded
"Good" she embraced her arms around his neck "happy birthday" she kissed him sweetly Goku returning the gentle kiss. 18 scoffed
"Gag me with a spoon" she said sardonically turning around and leaving the couple getting down to business.…
As she walked down the hallway with a bunch of books on her hands she failed to notice the people walking around her. That, of course, meant Krillin who was just coming out a teacher's room. The couple crashed against each other 18's books flying across the floor
"God is not this humorless" said 18 with dullness kneeling down to pick up her stuff. Krillin kneeled down as much as he could to try and pick up the books with her. He noticed that the books were all on English lit clearly for the test they had next week on Tuesday. He furrowed his brows
"Not that I care anymore but have you ever heard of 'over preparing' for a test?" he broke the tense silence. 18 sighed
"As opposed to not preparing at all? I prefer staying ahead of the game" she said with a dry tone. Krillin shook his head
"No wonder you needed the time" he said with irony. 18 looked up at him
"Krillin isn't gonna be one of those horribly awkward 'hope-boy-didn't-mean-all-those-hurtful-things-he-said-during-the-break up' moments" she cleared out. Krillin shrugged his shoulders
"And I wouldn't want it to be. I'm not sure when 'boy-feels-guilty-about-the-things-he-said-to-girl-even-though-she-was-busy-doing-far-more-important-things-that-kept-her-from-staying-with-boy' dialogue would kick in" he replied in the same tone as hers. 18 agreed
"Fair enough" she raised her nose high in the air both her and Krillin standing straight. They stared at each other
"I have a class now. I need my books" said 18 referring to the books on Krillin's hands. Krillin placed them on top of the bunch she had on her hands already
"You better run" he said leaving immediately after that. 18 rolled her eyes
"What a prick…"
Clinic - 12PM ß - note: big change of time ß -
"Hey" Bulma greeted as the effects of the anesthesia started to wear off on Vegeta bringing him back to Earth slowly. Respiratory tubes came out his nose an IV fluid infused in the vein of his right forearm
"Where are we?" Vegeta asked barely conscious
"We're at the clinic. A team of doctors had to hold you down so they could instill the general anesthesia. After that the operation went through successfully" she said. Vegeta looked at his surroundings
"I'm gonna puke" he said weakly. Bulma put the book she was reading down and stood from the chair aside his bed
"It's nausea" she said "the aftereffects of the anesthesia doses they put on you" she caressed his face with a tender hand
"You look cute when you sleep. I got to watch you for almost four hours" she smiled. Vegeta groaned
"When am I out of here?" he asked. Bulma stroked his arm now
"In a few, I have to take you home so you can sleep for the day and-"
"I have practice today" he cut her off. Bulma breathed out
"You're in no stable condition-"
"I have to be before four" Vegeta insisted. Bulma shook her head
"You're not gonna be, Vegeta, it's just not humanly possible. That new medicine they tried on you should get you ready to go in like a day or two. All you have to do is wait at least until tomorrow. You'll be completely rehabilitated AND able to perform to your full abilities then" she said. Vegeta's eyes rolled to the back of his head which indicated he was still kind of unconscious. Bulma ran her fingers through his hair
"Go back to sleep" she started softly watching as the stubborn male closed his eyes slowly. She continued to caress his hair "you're being silly" she leaned in and kissed his cheek. She wished he would open his big black orbs again just so he could look at her one more time; just so she could admire the light that shone through his eyes every time they looked. But he was gone. The drugs had him on a different planet…
Lunch
"I had quite an encounter with Krillin" 18 said joining Goku, Chichi and Raditz at their usual 'clique's' table. Chichi cleared her mouth with her napkin
"Really? Did you guys talk?" she asked. 18 rolled her eyes settling her stuff on the only open spot near her friends…besides Raditz
"Of course not, I basically told him that I wasn't going to feel sorry for him and he told me that he wasn't gonna feel sorry for me either which is fine by me. I'm not gonna make of this some tragic break I can't get over of. People look up to me. I'd be a disgrace if I let it affect me. I'm not gonna wallow feeling and looking like shit" she said. Chichi stared at her amazed while Raditz and Goku continued with their food
"Well that's something I've never heard you say before" Chichi said surprised. 18's nose was high in the air
"It's my survival rule" she smiled prideful. Raditz scoffed
"Sure. And I was born yesterday" he said sarcastically. 18 frowned at him
"Ok what is that supposed to mean?" she asked annoyed. Raditz shrugged his shoulders
"You both are always saying you won't get back together and after a while you always…"
"..end up back together" the threesome said in unison. 18 slid a strand of her hair behind her ear narrowing her eyes at the couple in front of her then at Raditz
"F-Y-I" she started "this time is different" she insisted. Chichi raised a brow
"How is it different?" she asked actually interested to know. 18 opened her mouth to speak but it took her a while to figure out what it was that she wanted to say
"I…me and Krillin are over for good this time. I… I don't want him back" she lied "I don't feel the same for him anymore" she added to her lie. The threesome rolled their eyes and looked away obviously not believing a word she had said. She tried convincing them
"It's true. I swear. This time there is nothing that can bring us back together" the blonde assured. Chichi continued with her food while Goku and Raditz devoured theirs
"We totally believe you" said Chichi with irony. Bulma made her way in unexpected for the crew
"Oooh there's Bulma. I haven't seen her the whole day" said Chichi
"I haven't seen Vegeta either" 18 added to Chichi's statement. The minds began to wonder around the table as she made her way to them
"Hey guys!" she greeted with her usual striking smile. Chichi was first to speak
"Hey where've you been all day?"
"Yeah" 18 continued "we haven't seen you OR Vegeta today" she pressed. Bulma held her silence pensive. Of course there had to be speculation between these two girls. She should've known better than to miss half a day of school with Vegeta at the same time. It only made their almost 'public' relationship even more substantial. This was getting tiring. No matter how clear the truth came out of her mouth these girls reproduced it with great complementation meaning they added and take away stuff to make the story completely adverse to the original one. She sighed. Nothing to pay attention really except that she was only wasting her time whenever she explained what truly happened. It just wasn't the same inside their heads and it was never going to be
"I took Vegeta to the clinic so he could get his ribs fixed-"
"Where is he now?" Chichi interrupted. Bulma sighed. There she goes again. Her mind was probably writing off something else already
"I took him home. He wasn't feeling well because of the anesthesia and stuff-"
"So he had drugs again?" 18 asked this time. Bulma nodded
"Yes but it was for the surgery-"
"Ohh" both girls nodded in unison. Goku breathed profoundly
"Ahhhh the food was great!" he said excited rubbing his bloated belly "so how's he doing now?" he asked. Bulma nodded
"Fairly good" she took a seat beside 18 "he was kind of sore because of the stitches. I just came here to excuse him and myself from classes and get all the homework for today. I guess I'll get some food while I'm at it" she figured. Goku nodded
"I see. I hope he gets better soon" he said. Bulma smiled
"Thank you. I'm sure he'll be back by tomorrow. You guys don't have to worry" she assured. The group continued to eat lunch in a strangely hypocritical environment…
Bell Rings - Back to Bulma's house
"… they were probably talking about our whereabouts the whole day" Bulma and Vegeta laid comfortably in bed her head on his stomach as she played with one of his hands entangling her fingers between his own. He shook his head
"Those bitches do nothing but talk shit" he said. Bulma stopped playing with his hand resting her body on her elbow as she stared into his eyes
"Tell me the truth. What happened with you and 18?" she asked
"Why do you want to know?" Vegeta frowned. Bulma sighed
"I dunno it just seems she has a particular attitude towards me. I mean it's not like I really cared when they kicked me off their little 'cheerleading squad'" she mocked "but she's always gossiping around about me and about us and it really bothers me" she said
"Tell her to fuck off" Vegeta quickly suggested
"Vegeta" Bulma rolled her eyes smiling "don't be mean. They're women too and women like being respected" she said. He shrugged his shoulders
"Whatever" Bulma continued "I don't think we should spend five minutes on them. They aren't that important" she scooted closer to him laying her head on his shoulder while crossing her leg across his
"We need to do our homework for today" she kissed his cheek "oh and all our teachers hope you get well soon and Goku and Krillin and Raditz and this guy named Jeremy and-"
"Woman I got it. I'm only out for a day" he cut her off. Bulma smiled
"I know. I just wanted to let you know that there's a lot of people that think you're special-"
"They need me for the national title. Of course they want me to get better soon" he said confidently. Bulma lift her head off his shoulder
"You honestly believe that?" she asked running her fingers through the lines on his chest. Vegeta nodded
"It's true" he affirmed. Bulma tsked
"Nonsense. I think a lot of people find you special regardless of your talent" she said sounding positive. Vegeta shrugged his shoulders carelessly. Bulma cupped his face in her hands capturing his lips in a soothing kiss
"I know I do" she smiled at him kissing his lips again. For the rest of the afternoon the couple decided to make out…again. The doubts were still there. Who was he before her? It was too hard to ask him. She didn't want old scars to tear open again. But someone had to know. Maybe with more information she could ask him about everything of all. For now she just had to trust who he showed he was. He had not given her a reason for her to do otherwise and she wasn't going to be unfair… not with him. She already felt too much…
End of Ch. 13. Well, what did you think? This is it! Now, hopefully, it'll only take two days before I update again. I'm sorry, Sorry, sorry, SOOOOORYYYY, sorry if it takes more than a week. You can relay on the fact that I'm going to have the chapters finished, ready to be uploaded. So as soon as humanly possible I WILL update. Let's hope its not forever! I want to thank everyone that support the story. I brought in all the characters! YaY! interesting stuff my mind is developing right now. Hmmm…. Stay tuned for the next chapter which will be coming out soon! I hope! Take Care
Love;
PL