Last time:
"Why did I have to know you?" he groaned as he fell back on his pillows, wiping furiously at his eyes.
In the back of his mind he saw the words he's written, translated to Japanese like magic, and as powerful and meaningless as ever: "I don't know how, but I love you, Bulma Briefs…And always will…"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The scene couldn't have been more beautiful and terrible. 18 and Maris had been shopping for baby gifts for Bulma and Chi-Chi, when they got bored and decided to see what Vegeta was up to. They hadn't seen him in a few days, and intended to ask him a few choice questions. But when they opened the door, they were in for the surprise of a lifetime.
"Get the fuck out," Vegeta demanded, wiping roughly at his eyes, hoping against all odds that they didn't see the tears.
"Vegeta, are you alright?" 18 asked, taking bold steps forward. She sat cautiously on the bed beside him, half-expecting him to shove her off.
"I'm peachy," he snapped.
"Vegeta, you ca—" Maris began, but was cut off by him.
"She loves me and she knows I love her, and still its not good enough!"
They stared at him as if he'd just shot someone in front of them.
"She needs trust too, Vegeta." Maris said after a long pause.
"Yeah," 18 added, placing a gentle hand on his leg. This time he did push her away. "And she doesn't trust you at all."
"It isn't trust in me that she needs."
The girls looked to each other, then back to Vegeta.
"She doesn't trust herself if she takes me back," he elaborated. He wiped at his eyes again, livid because they wouldn't dry.
"How so?" Maris wondered out loud.
"She doesn't trust that she can be truly happy and completely forget who I used to be. She thinks she'll always hate me somehow in the back of her mind, and that terrifies her…I want her back, but not like that!"
"And she wants you back." 18 said.
"No she doesn't."
"Yes, she does," they said in unison.
Vegeta's head snapped in Maris's direction, then to 18. His lips turned down and he looked away.
"You're lying. If she wanted me back—"
"Are you dense?" 18 snapped. "She's stubborn, you baka! She has talked about nothing but you since the moment you two met! The other day she told 17 that she wanted you back, but she was scared and stubborn. Stubborn just like you…No wonder you make such a good pair. Kami!"
"Did you say you love her?" Maris asked, just realizing his statement that brought about the topic of conversation.
"What? Do you need it spelled out for you! I. Love. Her. Ok!?"
"And you've told her this?"
"Of course I have," he grunted. "You think that'd make a difference. But no."
"What about Hitomi?"
"What about her?"
"What do you even have with her?" 18 asked. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere," he sighed, leaning back. "I dumped her this morning."
"Good," she said with much contempt. "I never liked her. You two only ever went out for something to do."
"What do you think it was about this time?"
"You were trying to make Bulma jealous," Maris said, narrowing her brow. Both Vegeta and 18 looked at her with slightly wider eyes. Seeing Maris angry was the 8th wonder of the world. Making her mad was a death wish.
"I was not," Vegeta snapped after a moment. "Not intentionally."
"Well—" Her voice and eyes softened. "—it's over now. I suggest you find Bulma as soon as possible and beg her to take you back, because she deserves no less."
Vegeta lowered his eyes and scowled at his hands. They were so right it scared him, and yet he didn't know if he had it in him to do what it took to get her back. Ever since he realized he was in love with her, he'd felt this indescribable weakness coursing through his veins. He hated feeling weak in any way, but there was no way he could know that the weak feeling was a direct result of his fear to love. He coupled love with pain and weakness, and therefore his mind told him he was weak; and now he was angry.
"Go home," he finally said, not looking up. "There's nothing more to say."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"What am I supposed to do?" Bulma sighed, easing into his embrace. Just being near him made her smile; so familiar and caring. Like home.
"I don't know, sweetie," he said. He gave her a loving kiss on the forehead, then took a step back and held her out at arms length. "But I know you, and this is nothing you can't handle. There's never been a challenge you couldn't overcome."
"I just feel like giving up, you know?"
"I've never known you to give up anything. Especially not something as important as this. B, you love him. Love like that doesn't happen everyday, and if you get hurt in the process, then that only proves how much you love him that you'd put yourself in that position…I think if you don't, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
"I know." She cast her eyes at the ground, forcing her tears to obey.
"Besides, I don't want you hanging around my house everyday when you're fifty. I love you, but—"
"Shut up, Yamcha," she laughed, looking up, her eyes glistening. He gave her a sad smile, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"Tsuki agrees with me, you know."
"About what?" she asked, her head resting on his shoulder.
"That you should tell Vegeta exactly how you feel. Rejection is the worst that could happen, but at least you can say you were brave enough to try, even with all the odds stacked against you."
"I'm not afraid of being rejected," she said quietly. "I just…I don't know…I wish I knew how this was all going to end."
"Would it help if I gave you my point of view about what he must be feeling?"
"Shoot."
"When I cheated on you, I felt the deepest regret imaginable. When I looked at the girl in the bed beside me and didn't see you, I wanted to puke. And then when I told you I couldn't bear to look at you. Every time I thought about you I cried. I cried myself to sleep every night before you finally talked to me again."
"Yamcha?" she interrupted, pulling her head back.
"Hmm?"
"Get to the point."
"Sorry," he sighed. "The point I'm trying to make is that you can't know what Vegeta feels about all of this. You want to believe that he's this horrible person, but do you see me as a horrible person? Do you think about what I did every time you look at me?"
Bulma frowned and shook her head. He was absolutely right. It was like it never happened.
"I believe that he truly loves you, as much as I loved you. And I still love you, I always will, but with us it's different." Bulma wiped her eyes and nodded. "And with you and Vegeta, it could be such an amazing thing…Just think about that some before you make any irrational decisions. He could be hurting just as much as you are."
"There's a big difference between you and him though, Yamcha."
"What?"
"The way he cheated," she sighed, the pain ebbing at her heart. "When you cheated, it was like it was meant to happen somehow, like I said before. We were never meant to be together forever. And you felt horrible the moment you realized your mistake…But with Vegeta…He was so proud of what he'd done. He called me and made sure I knew. He told me he used me and that he had no remorse, that he'd planned it from the beginning and I was his little ignorant fool…He lured me to him by pretending to be a different person, and now he's that different person again…I don't know what to believe. I want to give him another chance. I want to take him back and have that feeling, but then I'd still be thinking, in the back of my head, that he hurt me more than once and he's fully capable of doing it again. He enjoys hurting people…"
"Why couldn't he have changed? Is it so hard to believe that you had such an effect on him that you changed him for the better?"
Bulma laughed bitterly.
"I'm serious. You told me before how hard he took his father's death. That moment shaped him for the rest of his life. He didn't know how to love, so he probably hated the idea of it. But then you happened and you confused him and when he found himself in love and settled down, he panicked. He cheated so he didn't feel so alien."
"I'm glad he has at least one person that believes that."
"Bulma," Yamcha sighed, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You'll understand it someday. If you truly love him, you'll understand. I've hardly met the guy, but I always knew there was something about him when he was with you. He looked at you the way I used to look at you."
"Would it make you feel better if I promised to think about it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he laughed. "Now come on. Tsuki's probably already at the theater."
"Alright. Just let me go grab my coat. It's always so cold in there."
"K. I'll be in the car."
Bulma raced back inside, or at least walked as fast as someone in her condition could, completely missing the note on the bulletin board next to the door in frantic scribbles: Call Vegeta—Emergency!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vegeta held his mother's hand gently, the gentle rhythm of the heart monitor his only source of comfort. It had been three hours since the incident, since he called Bulma's house, desperately in need of her help and consolation. It turned out that her father, Dr. Briefs, was the only one in the housing complex. He rushed Vegeta and his mother to the hospital as fast as he could.
They were just in time to barely save her life.
"I should have paid more attention to you," he sighed, giving her still figure a loving kiss on the forehead.
"Vegeta," came a familiar, yet strange voice. It was Dr. Briefs, a man he barely knew who quite possibly shaped the rest of his life the day he gave Bulma Green Dragon tickets. And now he's saved his mother.
Vegeta looked up and gave him a firm nod.
"I finally got a hold of Bulma." He walked all the way in the room, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. He handed one to Vegeta, then took a seat at the foot of the bed. "I didn't tell her what happened. I felt it was more appropriate for you to tell her. Yamcha is driving her over…She's hysterical."
"What did you tell her?" Vegeta asked, his eyes drifting towards his unconscious mother.
"That your mother was rushed to the Emergency Room a few hours ago, and now she's in the ICU…She has a very strong bond with your mother."
"I'm aware," he sighed.
"Vegeta, if there's something you need to talk about, I can talk."
Vegeta shook his head slowly.
"Is it something you'd rather discuss with Bulma?"
No answer.
"Alright." Dr. Briefs stood and placed a gentle hand on Vegeta's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Vegeta. You may have done some bad things in the past, but I can see you want to be as good as you've always had the potential to be. Bulma could see that good. That's why it was so easy for her to love you. As far as I'm concerned, you're my son."
Vegeta looked up at Dr. Briefs and gave a small nod. He waited for him to leave before he grabbed his mother's hand again.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma raced through the halls of the sterile hospital, her eyes blurry and her heart pounding. She couldn't remember a time she'd been more terrified.
She took a sharp corner and spotted her father down the hall, his head hung, sitting in a chair against the wall. She picked up speed and came skidding to a stop in front of him. He didn't even see her coming.
"Where is she?" she blurted out frantically, her cheeks stained with tears. Yamcha came running in behind her five seconds later.
"There," Dr. Briefs answered solemnly, pointing at the door he was sitting across.
Bulma pushed open the door and walked slowly into the room. Her chest burned, and when she saw Vegeta sitting there, his hand clutching his mother's, her soul ached too.
"How is she?" she asked cautiously, approaching the bed gradually.
"Alive," Vegeta answered without looking up. From where she stood, she could see his eyes were red and swollen.
"How are you?" She was now standing right beside him.
"I've been better," he said hotly.
Bulma bit her bottom lip nervously.
"She tried to kill herself."
"What?" she baulked, her hands shaking as she clutched the guardrail. "T-T-Tell me you're joking."
"I wouldn't joke about that shit," he spat. "I needed you, Bulma."
"Vegeta, I'm sorry I couldn't be here with you," she whispered, her eyes welling with tears again. "If I knew, I'd have been here in a heartbeat. I'd have held your hand through it and told you everything would be fine. I'd have kept a straight face just so you didn't cry any more…Vegeta…I…I wish I could have been here."
Vegeta shrugged his shoulders, looking at her for the first time since she entered the room. There was such a deep sadness in his eyes, Bulma couldn't even begin to comprehend it.
"She never could deal with losing my father," he said after a long pause. "She hasn't even kissed another man since then." Bulma pulled up a chair beside Vegeta, placing a hand on his. "When she came home from the store today she was really upset. We'd gotten in another fight before she left, so I figured she was still fuming…Then she said she saw 'him' in the grocery store…the man responsible for my father's death. He'd been in prison, and then moved away when he got out. I can't begin to image why he was there," Vegeta said with disgust. "That asshole had no right being there…He…He smiled at my mother, looked her directly in the eyes and smiled…She ran up to her room after telling me. When she didn't come down for a phone call, I went to get her…She couldn't handle it. All the stress I've caused and her issues with 'him'…I thought she was dead…" He took a deep, shaky breath and looked to his mother. "They had to pump her stomach to get all the pills out."
"I wish there was something I could do," Bulma sighed.
Vegeta glanced at her, then back at his mother. For a moment, Bulma thought he might say that what she could do was take him back, but he only shrugged. There was no doubt in her mind that that's what he was thinking. She didn't understand why he didn't.
A soft knock at the door caught their attention.
"Excuse me," came the sweet voice of a nurse. "I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over in five minutes."
"Thank you," Bulma said, and stood to push the chair back to where she got it. "Do you want a ride home?"
Vegeta looked out the window and gave a sad smile. It was pouring now.
"No," he said. "I'll walk."
"But—"
"I'll walk," he said more sternly. "Good-bye Bulma."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma sat quietly on her bed, watching the rain fall in fat droplets. It'd been raining for three days straight, and showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Mrs. Ouji had been home from the hospital since yesterday, but she was too weak for company. The doctor's ordered her to stay in bed, only allowing Vegeta to see and care for her.
Twice already, Bulma had called the Ouji residence, only to get the machine. It was nearing ten o'clock; the rain made the night look alive.
She grabbed the phone and dialed Vegeta's number. It rang three times, then the answering machine picked up. She sighed painfully and hung up the phone. All she needed was one minute to tell Vegeta how she felt.
And then, in an incredibly irrational act, Bulma grabbed her car keys and ran out of her room, leaving her jacket behind. She was just big enough to make it extremely hard to drive, but there was nothing that could stop her now.
When she reached Vegeta's house, all but one light was out. She stepped out into the rain, cupped her hands around her mouth, and screamed, "Vegeta!!!"
She smiled when the porch light came on.
"Bulma!" Vegeta snapped. "What the hell are you doing out here? You're going to get you and the baby sick!"
"I love you!" she called back, the rain washing away her tears of sadness and joy. She couldn't have come up with a more perfect moment.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
---Chapter 15! Damn, I'm really mean, huh? :P How was that? Good? Bad? Too extreme? Don't worry, I'll explain more about Mrs. Ouji later. She's not psycho! I swear!
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ReviewsMore Chapters)
Next time: The rest of that scene…doo doo doooooooooo! Believe me, it's something to look forward to!
Note: A lot of people have mentioned the "Neighbor Boy" stories in comparison to the "Green Dragon" stories. I do agree they are slightly similar, but other than having the same characters and it being a high school fic, I don't see the big comparison. In the "Green Dragon" stories, Vegeta cheats on Bulma on purpose, not on accident like in the other story. Also, there are no excuse siblings, the drama is different, and much, much more! Heehee :P
"Why did I have to know you?" he groaned as he fell back on his pillows, wiping furiously at his eyes.
In the back of his mind he saw the words he's written, translated to Japanese like magic, and as powerful and meaningless as ever: "I don't know how, but I love you, Bulma Briefs…And always will…"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The scene couldn't have been more beautiful and terrible. 18 and Maris had been shopping for baby gifts for Bulma and Chi-Chi, when they got bored and decided to see what Vegeta was up to. They hadn't seen him in a few days, and intended to ask him a few choice questions. But when they opened the door, they were in for the surprise of a lifetime.
"Get the fuck out," Vegeta demanded, wiping roughly at his eyes, hoping against all odds that they didn't see the tears.
"Vegeta, are you alright?" 18 asked, taking bold steps forward. She sat cautiously on the bed beside him, half-expecting him to shove her off.
"I'm peachy," he snapped.
"Vegeta, you ca—" Maris began, but was cut off by him.
"She loves me and she knows I love her, and still its not good enough!"
They stared at him as if he'd just shot someone in front of them.
"She needs trust too, Vegeta." Maris said after a long pause.
"Yeah," 18 added, placing a gentle hand on his leg. This time he did push her away. "And she doesn't trust you at all."
"It isn't trust in me that she needs."
The girls looked to each other, then back to Vegeta.
"She doesn't trust herself if she takes me back," he elaborated. He wiped at his eyes again, livid because they wouldn't dry.
"How so?" Maris wondered out loud.
"She doesn't trust that she can be truly happy and completely forget who I used to be. She thinks she'll always hate me somehow in the back of her mind, and that terrifies her…I want her back, but not like that!"
"And she wants you back." 18 said.
"No she doesn't."
"Yes, she does," they said in unison.
Vegeta's head snapped in Maris's direction, then to 18. His lips turned down and he looked away.
"You're lying. If she wanted me back—"
"Are you dense?" 18 snapped. "She's stubborn, you baka! She has talked about nothing but you since the moment you two met! The other day she told 17 that she wanted you back, but she was scared and stubborn. Stubborn just like you…No wonder you make such a good pair. Kami!"
"Did you say you love her?" Maris asked, just realizing his statement that brought about the topic of conversation.
"What? Do you need it spelled out for you! I. Love. Her. Ok!?"
"And you've told her this?"
"Of course I have," he grunted. "You think that'd make a difference. But no."
"What about Hitomi?"
"What about her?"
"What do you even have with her?" 18 asked. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere," he sighed, leaning back. "I dumped her this morning."
"Good," she said with much contempt. "I never liked her. You two only ever went out for something to do."
"What do you think it was about this time?"
"You were trying to make Bulma jealous," Maris said, narrowing her brow. Both Vegeta and 18 looked at her with slightly wider eyes. Seeing Maris angry was the 8th wonder of the world. Making her mad was a death wish.
"I was not," Vegeta snapped after a moment. "Not intentionally."
"Well—" Her voice and eyes softened. "—it's over now. I suggest you find Bulma as soon as possible and beg her to take you back, because she deserves no less."
Vegeta lowered his eyes and scowled at his hands. They were so right it scared him, and yet he didn't know if he had it in him to do what it took to get her back. Ever since he realized he was in love with her, he'd felt this indescribable weakness coursing through his veins. He hated feeling weak in any way, but there was no way he could know that the weak feeling was a direct result of his fear to love. He coupled love with pain and weakness, and therefore his mind told him he was weak; and now he was angry.
"Go home," he finally said, not looking up. "There's nothing more to say."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"What am I supposed to do?" Bulma sighed, easing into his embrace. Just being near him made her smile; so familiar and caring. Like home.
"I don't know, sweetie," he said. He gave her a loving kiss on the forehead, then took a step back and held her out at arms length. "But I know you, and this is nothing you can't handle. There's never been a challenge you couldn't overcome."
"I just feel like giving up, you know?"
"I've never known you to give up anything. Especially not something as important as this. B, you love him. Love like that doesn't happen everyday, and if you get hurt in the process, then that only proves how much you love him that you'd put yourself in that position…I think if you don't, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
"I know." She cast her eyes at the ground, forcing her tears to obey.
"Besides, I don't want you hanging around my house everyday when you're fifty. I love you, but—"
"Shut up, Yamcha," she laughed, looking up, her eyes glistening. He gave her a sad smile, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"Tsuki agrees with me, you know."
"About what?" she asked, her head resting on his shoulder.
"That you should tell Vegeta exactly how you feel. Rejection is the worst that could happen, but at least you can say you were brave enough to try, even with all the odds stacked against you."
"I'm not afraid of being rejected," she said quietly. "I just…I don't know…I wish I knew how this was all going to end."
"Would it help if I gave you my point of view about what he must be feeling?"
"Shoot."
"When I cheated on you, I felt the deepest regret imaginable. When I looked at the girl in the bed beside me and didn't see you, I wanted to puke. And then when I told you I couldn't bear to look at you. Every time I thought about you I cried. I cried myself to sleep every night before you finally talked to me again."
"Yamcha?" she interrupted, pulling her head back.
"Hmm?"
"Get to the point."
"Sorry," he sighed. "The point I'm trying to make is that you can't know what Vegeta feels about all of this. You want to believe that he's this horrible person, but do you see me as a horrible person? Do you think about what I did every time you look at me?"
Bulma frowned and shook her head. He was absolutely right. It was like it never happened.
"I believe that he truly loves you, as much as I loved you. And I still love you, I always will, but with us it's different." Bulma wiped her eyes and nodded. "And with you and Vegeta, it could be such an amazing thing…Just think about that some before you make any irrational decisions. He could be hurting just as much as you are."
"There's a big difference between you and him though, Yamcha."
"What?"
"The way he cheated," she sighed, the pain ebbing at her heart. "When you cheated, it was like it was meant to happen somehow, like I said before. We were never meant to be together forever. And you felt horrible the moment you realized your mistake…But with Vegeta…He was so proud of what he'd done. He called me and made sure I knew. He told me he used me and that he had no remorse, that he'd planned it from the beginning and I was his little ignorant fool…He lured me to him by pretending to be a different person, and now he's that different person again…I don't know what to believe. I want to give him another chance. I want to take him back and have that feeling, but then I'd still be thinking, in the back of my head, that he hurt me more than once and he's fully capable of doing it again. He enjoys hurting people…"
"Why couldn't he have changed? Is it so hard to believe that you had such an effect on him that you changed him for the better?"
Bulma laughed bitterly.
"I'm serious. You told me before how hard he took his father's death. That moment shaped him for the rest of his life. He didn't know how to love, so he probably hated the idea of it. But then you happened and you confused him and when he found himself in love and settled down, he panicked. He cheated so he didn't feel so alien."
"I'm glad he has at least one person that believes that."
"Bulma," Yamcha sighed, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You'll understand it someday. If you truly love him, you'll understand. I've hardly met the guy, but I always knew there was something about him when he was with you. He looked at you the way I used to look at you."
"Would it make you feel better if I promised to think about it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he laughed. "Now come on. Tsuki's probably already at the theater."
"Alright. Just let me go grab my coat. It's always so cold in there."
"K. I'll be in the car."
Bulma raced back inside, or at least walked as fast as someone in her condition could, completely missing the note on the bulletin board next to the door in frantic scribbles: Call Vegeta—Emergency!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vegeta held his mother's hand gently, the gentle rhythm of the heart monitor his only source of comfort. It had been three hours since the incident, since he called Bulma's house, desperately in need of her help and consolation. It turned out that her father, Dr. Briefs, was the only one in the housing complex. He rushed Vegeta and his mother to the hospital as fast as he could.
They were just in time to barely save her life.
"I should have paid more attention to you," he sighed, giving her still figure a loving kiss on the forehead.
"Vegeta," came a familiar, yet strange voice. It was Dr. Briefs, a man he barely knew who quite possibly shaped the rest of his life the day he gave Bulma Green Dragon tickets. And now he's saved his mother.
Vegeta looked up and gave him a firm nod.
"I finally got a hold of Bulma." He walked all the way in the room, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. He handed one to Vegeta, then took a seat at the foot of the bed. "I didn't tell her what happened. I felt it was more appropriate for you to tell her. Yamcha is driving her over…She's hysterical."
"What did you tell her?" Vegeta asked, his eyes drifting towards his unconscious mother.
"That your mother was rushed to the Emergency Room a few hours ago, and now she's in the ICU…She has a very strong bond with your mother."
"I'm aware," he sighed.
"Vegeta, if there's something you need to talk about, I can talk."
Vegeta shook his head slowly.
"Is it something you'd rather discuss with Bulma?"
No answer.
"Alright." Dr. Briefs stood and placed a gentle hand on Vegeta's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Vegeta. You may have done some bad things in the past, but I can see you want to be as good as you've always had the potential to be. Bulma could see that good. That's why it was so easy for her to love you. As far as I'm concerned, you're my son."
Vegeta looked up at Dr. Briefs and gave a small nod. He waited for him to leave before he grabbed his mother's hand again.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bulma raced through the halls of the sterile hospital, her eyes blurry and her heart pounding. She couldn't remember a time she'd been more terrified.
She took a sharp corner and spotted her father down the hall, his head hung, sitting in a chair against the wall. She picked up speed and came skidding to a stop in front of him. He didn't even see her coming.
"Where is she?" she blurted out frantically, her cheeks stained with tears. Yamcha came running in behind her five seconds later.
"There," Dr. Briefs answered solemnly, pointing at the door he was sitting across.
Bulma pushed open the door and walked slowly into the room. Her chest burned, and when she saw Vegeta sitting there, his hand clutching his mother's, her soul ached too.
"How is she?" she asked cautiously, approaching the bed gradually.
"Alive," Vegeta answered without looking up. From where she stood, she could see his eyes were red and swollen.
"How are you?" She was now standing right beside him.
"I've been better," he said hotly.
Bulma bit her bottom lip nervously.
"She tried to kill herself."
"What?" she baulked, her hands shaking as she clutched the guardrail. "T-T-Tell me you're joking."
"I wouldn't joke about that shit," he spat. "I needed you, Bulma."
"Vegeta, I'm sorry I couldn't be here with you," she whispered, her eyes welling with tears again. "If I knew, I'd have been here in a heartbeat. I'd have held your hand through it and told you everything would be fine. I'd have kept a straight face just so you didn't cry any more…Vegeta…I…I wish I could have been here."
Vegeta shrugged his shoulders, looking at her for the first time since she entered the room. There was such a deep sadness in his eyes, Bulma couldn't even begin to comprehend it.
"She never could deal with losing my father," he said after a long pause. "She hasn't even kissed another man since then." Bulma pulled up a chair beside Vegeta, placing a hand on his. "When she came home from the store today she was really upset. We'd gotten in another fight before she left, so I figured she was still fuming…Then she said she saw 'him' in the grocery store…the man responsible for my father's death. He'd been in prison, and then moved away when he got out. I can't begin to image why he was there," Vegeta said with disgust. "That asshole had no right being there…He…He smiled at my mother, looked her directly in the eyes and smiled…She ran up to her room after telling me. When she didn't come down for a phone call, I went to get her…She couldn't handle it. All the stress I've caused and her issues with 'him'…I thought she was dead…" He took a deep, shaky breath and looked to his mother. "They had to pump her stomach to get all the pills out."
"I wish there was something I could do," Bulma sighed.
Vegeta glanced at her, then back at his mother. For a moment, Bulma thought he might say that what she could do was take him back, but he only shrugged. There was no doubt in her mind that that's what he was thinking. She didn't understand why he didn't.
A soft knock at the door caught their attention.
"Excuse me," came the sweet voice of a nurse. "I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over in five minutes."
"Thank you," Bulma said, and stood to push the chair back to where she got it. "Do you want a ride home?"
Vegeta looked out the window and gave a sad smile. It was pouring now.
"No," he said. "I'll walk."
"But—"
"I'll walk," he said more sternly. "Good-bye Bulma."
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Bulma sat quietly on her bed, watching the rain fall in fat droplets. It'd been raining for three days straight, and showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Mrs. Ouji had been home from the hospital since yesterday, but she was too weak for company. The doctor's ordered her to stay in bed, only allowing Vegeta to see and care for her.
Twice already, Bulma had called the Ouji residence, only to get the machine. It was nearing ten o'clock; the rain made the night look alive.
She grabbed the phone and dialed Vegeta's number. It rang three times, then the answering machine picked up. She sighed painfully and hung up the phone. All she needed was one minute to tell Vegeta how she felt.
And then, in an incredibly irrational act, Bulma grabbed her car keys and ran out of her room, leaving her jacket behind. She was just big enough to make it extremely hard to drive, but there was nothing that could stop her now.
When she reached Vegeta's house, all but one light was out. She stepped out into the rain, cupped her hands around her mouth, and screamed, "Vegeta!!!"
She smiled when the porch light came on.
"Bulma!" Vegeta snapped. "What the hell are you doing out here? You're going to get you and the baby sick!"
"I love you!" she called back, the rain washing away her tears of sadness and joy. She couldn't have come up with a more perfect moment.
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---Chapter 15! Damn, I'm really mean, huh? :P How was that? Good? Bad? Too extreme? Don't worry, I'll explain more about Mrs. Ouji later. She's not psycho! I swear!
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Next time: The rest of that scene…doo doo doooooooooo! Believe me, it's something to look forward to!
Note: A lot of people have mentioned the "Neighbor Boy" stories in comparison to the "Green Dragon" stories. I do agree they are slightly similar, but other than having the same characters and it being a high school fic, I don't see the big comparison. In the "Green Dragon" stories, Vegeta cheats on Bulma on purpose, not on accident like in the other story. Also, there are no excuse siblings, the drama is different, and much, much more! Heehee :P