Chapter 18: Progress?

'Beep, beep. Beep, beep.' Bulma groaned and opened her eyes, staring at her alarm clock. 3.30 a.m. She groaned again and tried to open her eyes, but they snapped shut and she could not physically force them open. She shivered. Having stayed up till 10.30 the night before, Bulma had only got five or so hours sleep. Boy was she regretting it now.

Bulma, with her eyes still closed, swung her legs over the side of the bed and clasped her hand to her mouth as she let out a small scream.

It was freezing. The cold bit at her toes and she shuddered. Who knew it was so cold at this hour of the morning? She sprinted for the door of her shower, banging into a couple of things because she still had her eyes closed.

Bulma turned the shower on and flicked the fan switch, before splashing cold water on her face, making her scream, and going back into her room. Bulma snorted as she looked at the flare jeans and halter neck top she had inteneded to wear. Way too cold for that! She pulled out a pair of black and purple striped long-johns, grabbed her flare jeans, a poly prop undertop, a random, long sleeved top and a wool jersey. On the way back to the bathroom she grabbed a pair of thick woollen socks.

Vegeta grunted and punched Kakarot (the punch bag, remember?) It was quarter to three in the morning, and he felt wide-awake. When Kevin had left for work at half past two, it had woken him. He'd dressed in his usual jeans and t-shirt, but was wearing a hidden poly prop top underneath.

He finished mutilating Kakarot, and decided to go and get some breakfast. That'd take him 'til half past four. He pulled on some socks, mopped the sweat off his head with a towel and went upstairs.

Six bits of toast, a box of Chex and two cans of peaches later, Vegeta headed upstairs to pack. He dug his sleeping bag out of his closet, a drink bottle from under his bed, a small backpack, a lighter (even though it said matches), a book he had to read for English called The Power Of One, and his other item; a cell phone. Even though they weren't allowed electrical things, there was no way he was going without his phone. He always ended up needing it for one reason or another.

Bulma was bringing the pot and torches, so he was done. Except for food. Vegeta checked his watch. 4.45. Time to pack the food.

'Ring, ring. Ring, ring.' Goku groaned and picked up the phone.

"Ullo?"

"Goku, is that you? Are you still in bed? It's quarter to five! We have to leave in three quarters of an hour!" Chichi's voice sounded on the other end of the phone. Goku was suddenly wide awake.

"Er, yeah sure I remembered. I'll ah, see you at school!" He hung up the phone and rushed around his house, getting dressed and eating breakfast. Chichi had convinced him to pack his gear last night, and for that he was thankful.

"Quarter past five dammit!" he yelled as he burst out the door. Throwing his bag in the boot, he sped off to school.

"18, c'mon. We have to get up. It's 4.45." 18 groaned and rolled over, looking up at Krillin.

"What! Why didn't you wake me up before?" she asked him irately.

"Settle. You only have to get dressed and eat. I've packed both our gear and the stuff's in the car. Your breakfast is on the table when you're dressed." 18 smiled and swung herself up off the floor. Krillin had stayed the night so they could go to school together the next day, and they'd slept on the floor.

"Thanks Krillin. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Half an hour later, when they were both dressed and fed, they climbed in Krillin's car and drove to school.

"Oh shit!" Bulma yelled. She had just stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed, to see the luminous alarm clock on her drawers, displayed 5.20.

"Shit, shit, shit," she muttered, grabbing her bag which she'd packed last night. . Flicking her bedroom light off, she practically jumped down the twenty nine stairs. She was feeling far to nervous to eat breakfast then so grabbed an "Up and Go" breakfast drink for later and flew out the door, climbing into her car and speeding to school.

"Bulma Briefs?" silence. The teacher looked around, frowning. "Has anyone seen Bulma?"

"She'll be here," Vegeta yelled. The teacher glared and continued.

"18 Gero?"

"Ar," came 18's reply.

"Chichi Mau?"

"Present."

"Vegeta Ouji?"

"Damn straight I'm here."

"Goku Son?"

"What oh me? Yeah I'm here. I think………."

"Krillin Tashi?"

"Yeah."

"I'm here as well, Miss!" came the voice of Bulma, as the blue haired girl ran into view. Vegeta laughed. He knew perfectly well she was only late because she'd spent hours in the shower.

"Shut up, fag. It's not my fault I'm late!" Bulma pouted, standing next to him.

"Oh so it's not your fault you take long showers?"

"No it's no- wait. How did you know I took ages in the shower?"

"Woman, you're so predictable. You don't need to be a genius to figure out your simple mind." Bulma stuck her lip out.

"I'm so cold," she moaned, rubbing her arms. Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"Pussy," he muttered.

"Shut up!" she yelled. "I'm only wearing three layers!" Vegeta snorted.

"Pussy," he repeated, but pulled off his leather jacket and swung it over her shoulders.

"Vegeta? Are you sure? Aren't you cold?"

"I don't get cold, woman. I'm not a softy like you." Bulma smiled and stood on her tiptoes, whispering in his ear.

"Thanks, 'Geta." He hmphed and turned his attention to the teacher.

"Right I want you all to put your gear in the bus, and then get in yourselves," Mrs. Jockem yelled. Everyone made for the bus, but Vegeta pushed to the front, making room for him and Bulma.

"Thanks," she smiled. Vegeta growled. "Oy, we should go and sit in the little compartment thingy at the bottom of the bus." Bulma indicated to a separate room with six seats in it, underneath the main part of the bus. Vegeta nodded and they opened the door and climbed in.

"Wow, these buses are flash," Bulma smiled. She took a seat facing forwardsand Vegeta sat himself next to her.

A few moments later they were joined by Krillin and 18 who sat on Vegeta and Bulma's left, and Chichi and Goku, who sat on their right.

After a few grunts from the engine, it kicked in and the bus started moving.

"Great, I'm off to spend a day and a night in the wilderness with nothing but a loud mouthed bitch for company," Vegeta muttered, folding his arms. Bulma smiled and placed her hand on his leg, squeezing it.

"Oh, Veggie. That's not what you really think is it?" Bulma cooed. Vegeta glared and Bulma laughed, and then turned to her friends.

It took Vegeta a moment to realise her hand was still on his leg. Not that he minded it or anything, it just felt funny.

"So what'd you guys bring as your extra item?" Bulma asked them.

"I brought a knife," Krillin muttered.

"Yeah, I brung a pillow!" 18 laughed.

"Yeah, that's what me and Goku brought," Chichi told them. Goku nodded in agreement.

"What'd you bring Vegeta?" Bulma asked, still not noticing her hand was on his leg.

"My mobile," he grinned.

"You're not supposed to bring electronics, 'Geta," Bulma laughed.

"And?" Bulma sighed.

"Well I brought a box of capsules," Bulma smiled.

"Good thinking, woman," Vegeta nodded.

They spent the next hour of the trip talking about random things. Bulma slept, snuggling up to Vegeta. This didn't go unnoticed by the other four, who grinned to themselves. Vegeta didn't notice them because he was trying to beat the top score on his phone for Snake.

At 8.00 they pulled into the lodge. There was much thumping as the bus unloaded and 18, Krillin, Goku and Chichi all climbed out, leaving Bulma and Vegeta alone.

"Bulma," he whispered, shaking her slightly. "Bulma, we're here." She didn't move. Vegeta shook her harder. Still no movement. A devilish thought crossed him mind. He looked down at her head, leaning on his arm. He bent his head a little, and kissed her softly on the cheek.

Bulma's eyes flew open and she spun around to look at Vegeta. He grinned and she turned beet red.

"Vegeta!" she screeched. He laughed. Bulma's smile disappeared at once and she looked at Vegeta.

"What?" he asked.

"N-nothing. It's just that that's the first time I've heard you laugh for real in a long time." Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

Bulma stood and stretched. She then bent over, kissed Vegeta on the lips, whispered, 'right back at you,' and walked out.

Vegeta shook his head, and found himself placing his fingers on his lips. He scolded himself and then left the compartment.

He saw Bulma leaning into the baggage room of the bus and slipped up quietly behind her and jabbed her in the side. She shrieked and snapped up, banging her head on the lift up door. Vegeta snorted and laughed, clutching his stomach and bending over as Bulma rubbed her head.

"Ass," she muttered, grabbing her bag and chucking it at him. She then grabbed his and chucked that at him as well. "For that you can carry my bag as well," she muttered and then stalked off, followed by a grinning Vegeta.

"Alright, here we are. Now there are only a couple of things I need to tell you. The forest is the boundary. It is 9000 acres large and you are to walk for at least an hour before you set up camp. Now get cracking," Mrs. Jockem yelled. There were a few groans from the students and they all picked up their bags, making their way into the forest.

"See ya in a day or so," Bulma yelled back to Krillin, 18, Goku and Chichi as her and Vegeta disappeared into the bush.

After fourty five minutes of walking, Bulma collapsed.

"Oh, I'm not made to walk this far," Bulma moaned. She opened her bag and pulled out a drink bottle, sucking on it.

Vegeta, who had barely increased his pulse rate at all, looked back at her.

"Woman you are so unfit it's insulting." Bulma glared at him.

"Well my bag's heavy," she pouted. He laughed.

"Well capsualise it!" Bulma dropped her water bottle.

"You might want to pick that up, you're losing all your water."

Bulma picked up her water bottle and placed it in her bag, then dug around for the capsules. She found them and capsualised her bag. With a satisfied sigh, she stood, before her knees buckled and she collapsed again.

"Oh, 'Geta. Carry me?" Bulma asked. He could tell she was only kidding, but just to spite her, he walked over and picked her up.

Bulma shrieked and started slapping his chest, as he slipped his arms under her arms and legs.

"Put me down," she yelled.

"You asked me to carry you," he told her.

"I wasn't serious! Please, put me down." Vegeta smirked. She really needed to work on her phrasing.

"Fine." He pulled his arms away and Bulma fell on her ass, in the wet yellow and orange leaves.

"You faggot!" she yelled, grabbing his ankle and pulling his feet out from under him. He gave a loud yell before he was on his back. He groaned as he felt Bulma climb on top of him.

"I said put me down, not drop me," she glared. Vegeta groaned.

"Get off me, woman!"

"Make me!"

"You wanna back that up?" Bulma gulped.

"N-n-not really," she laughed. Vegeta suddenly flipped her and pinned her arms above her head with one of his arms and placed the other on her stomach.

Vegeta looked at her. She looked so beautiful. Her blue hair was spread out and had leaves all through it. She was smiling and her blue eyes were shining.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had leaned down and placed his lips on hers, locking them in a passionate kiss. Bulma was a little shocked at first and made to pull away, but felt herself responding. She pressed into his kiss and breathed in deeply as she felt his tongue slide into her mouth.

Vegeta loosened his grip on Bulma's arms and let her sit up. Her hands slid up his sides and came to a halt on his cheeks, pulling him into her.

They eventually broke apart, both breathing rather hard. Bulma licked her lips, smiling. Vegeta looked at her and smirked.

"You enjoyed that," he told her. She laughed.

"Oh, and you didn't?"

"Did I say that?" Bulma smiled. Vegeta stood up, brushing the leaves off himself. He extended his hand to Bulma and helped her up. She dusted herself off and picked up the capsules that had fallen out of her pocket in their little 'brawl.'

They picked up their stuff and walked in silence for a while, a little closer than they had before.

"Vegeta what was that?" Bulma asked suddenly.

"I-I don't know," he admitted. "I-I don't know what came over me."

"It-it-it was me as well. I-I encouraged you." Silence again.

"Did you enjoy that?" she asked.

"I-I guess so. Did you?"

"Well, yeah."

They said nothing else for a long while.

"We'll set camp up here," Vegeta told her. Bulma nodded and chucked the capsules on the ground.

"Right. There's a thicket over there that we could cover in (think Bambi styles). I'm sure there'll be something we can use."

"There's only room for one though," Vegeta told her. Bulma grinned.

"Got a problem with that?" Vegeta shook his head and dumped his bag.

"You get a fire going, I'll find something to cover the shelter in with. It smells like its gunna rain," he added, looking up at the sky though you couldn't see it through the treetops. Bulma nodded and Vegeta disappeared.

A couple of hours later he returned, dragging a whole lot of giant branches and dead greenery behind him. Bulma had managed to get a small fire going, and had her knees drawn up, feeding it.

"It's twelve o'clock," she told him. Vegeta nodded. "I'm hungry," she added. Vegeta dragged over a log for them to sit on. Bulma decapsualised her bag and looked through it for her pot. She found it and filled it up with water from her bottle and stuck a packet of 2 Minute noodles in it.

"Er Vegeta?"

"What?"

"How are we going to heat the water?" Vegeta frowned.

"Honestly woman, do you have no survival skills."

"No," she said simply.

"Well go find two big sticks that look like sling shots. They have to be long." Bulma nodded and disappeared into the woods. Vegeta looked around for a thick, long stick. He found one and took it back to their camp. Bulma still wasn't there, so he decided to go and look for some dry wood they could use as firewood.

He crafted a sled out of bendy willow and dragged the wood back on that. He stacked in next to the thicket. He grabbed huge armfuls of branches and covered the wood with them.

Bulma had returned by this time and she handed the sticks to Vegeta.

"Did you bring anything I could use as a hammer?" he asked. Bulma bit her lip.

"You could use the torch as long as you don't damage it." Vegeta nodded and caught it as she chucked it at him. He banged the sticks into the ground on either side of the fire. They were approximately the same height, so he grabbed the pot that, thanks to Bulma's initiative had a handle connected to the pot, and threaded the stick through the handle, before placing the ends of the stick in the 'Y' part of the sticks.

"Perfect," he muttered. "But you'll only be able to use the middle stick once, it'll burn completely away." Bulma nodded and grabbed some of the wood from under the leaves, placing them on the fire.

"Will it go out over night?" she asked.

"If it rains. If not, we'll just put lots of wood on it and it should survive the night."

Bulma sat on the log, looking into the distance. Over the top of the giant trees she could see a giant rocky cliff. She'd go for a look there tomorrow.

Over the next seven hours, Bulma and Vegeta read some of their books, polished offsix packets of noodles between them and fed the fire occasionally.

"Man, it's been a long day," Bulma muttered. Vegeta nodded. The sky was almost pitch black and it was starting to spit.

"C'mon. We'd better get into the thicket. It's going to rain." Bulma nodded and put some more wood on the fire and packed up their things. She chucked them inside then looked at Vegeta. He barged over and shoved her out of the way, landing her on her ass. He then got on his knees and crawled into the thicket. Bulma glared after him, but crawled in without a word.

The thicket was rather low, Vegeta couldn't sit cross-legged, because his head touched the top, so he lay down and Bulma curled up next to him. They lay there for a while, not talking.

"I wonder how the others are doing?" Bulma asked. She felt Vegeta shrug against her.

"Who really gives a shit?" he asked.

"I do."

"Well you're just a loud mouthed bitch, so you would."

"I take offence to that."

"Really? I didn't think you were smart enough to realise what an insult is?"

"What's with the insults? You were being so nice today." Vegeta could tell she was joking.

"Was I? Well count it as a passing phase."

"It's eight o'clock." Vegeta said nothing.

"Woman. You know what?"

"No, what?"

"You're so ugly."

"What! Vegeta, you-" she rolled over to face him. Up until now, her back had been against his front.

"Shut up. You're extremely ugly, you're loud, you're a bitch and you're bloody annoying." Bulma gaped, fury etched all over her face.

"But even though you're all of that, I want to ask you, will you go out with me?" Bulma opened and closed her mouth several times. She grinned.

"Yes. Yes." Vegeta grinned and leaned in, kissing her passionately. Bulma kissed him back, and ran her hands over his body.

They fell asleep an hour later, Bulma snuggling into Vegeta's chest and his arm placed protectively around her shoulders.

"Stupid bitch. How dare you make out with him in public? He was mine until you came along, mine!"

"You're right, he was so yours!" her friend agreed.

"Will you help me get him back?"

"Sure, I hate Bulma so yes I will help you."

"Fine then. You'd better watch out bitch. 'Cause I'm coming for what's mine." She turned off the torch and lay down to sleep, her dreams filled with horrible ideas of torture.

Next Chapter: As they say in the movies, next time you will witness (or read) a startling event. How will this affect our new couple? Oh, and it has nothing to do with her.

Author's Note: OK, this is the longest chapter yet. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Bulma and Veggie are finally together sigh or are they?

Kaibun