What have I done?
She quickly slipped on her shoes and ran out of the tent.
"Vegeta!"
She looked over at Goku's tent as someone undid the zip from inside. A few moments later and Goku came running over to her.
"Bulma? What's up? Why all the yelling so early in the morning?"
"Have you seen Vegeta?"
"What? Didn't he come and see you?"
"Oh kami yeah."
"And?"
"And, and he saw this."
She lifted her blouse up slightly and showed him the bruise.
"Oh kami Bulma what happened?"
"What do you think happened Goku? Come on, I know you're not the smartest guy in the world but surely you can work this one out!"
"Krillin?"
"No!"
"17?"
"NO!"
"Oh no…not…?"
"Yep."
"The bastard! If I get my hands on him!"
"Goku listen to me. Vegeta knows, well at least I hope he knows. And I wouldn't tell him. I…I…yelled at him Goku. I just wanna find him now and tell him I'm sorry. I just want everything to be ok between us, even if that means he's goes off and beats him up."
"I heard him walk off towards the river."
"Thanks Goku."
"B, be careful. Vegeta can get pretty wild when he's angry."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine."
She flicked her hair behind her ears and ran off through the forest. The sun beat down on her already sweaty body, her clothes clung to her uncomfortable, causing her to stumble often. She picked herself up quickly and carried on running to the river.
"Vegeta…"
Her love for him is what her drove to go further. She was out of breath and gasping for air.
I really need to work out more…I'm so unfit.
She smiled when she saw the river ahead of her and heard the water splashing against the rocks. She ran the final yard and out into the sunshine. She bent down and placed her hands on her knees while she recovered her breath. She raised her head slowly, panting for breath, and then she saw him. Sitting on one of the rocks, facing the river. She walked over to him slowly and sat down next to him on the rock.
"Hey."
Vegeta kept his eyes on the river. He didn't even flinch when Bulma placed her hands on his knees and stood in front of him.
"Vegeta please talk to me. I'm…sorry about what happened. I was…shocked. And scared. I shouldn't have yelled at you…Vegeta?"
She stared into his eyes, but he looked away from her.
"Vegeta…please…I love you."
She felt him move slightly and he moved his eyes to meet hers.
"Who hit you?"
"Do I really have to answer that? You already know who it was."
"Who hit you?"
"Vegeta, you know who hit me."
"Who hit you?"
"Fine. It was……Yamcha."
Bulma broke into sobs as she fell on her knees in front of him. Vegeta broke out of his statue-like state and lowered himself to her side. He traced the outline of her jaw with his fingers. It did nothing to please her. He ran his hands through her head and lowered his mouth to her neck, only to have her move away.

"Woman…"

"Don't. Just leave me alone."

"What?"

"I just want to be alone."

"Fine."

Vegeta stood up and stalked in the direction of the forest. Bulma raised her head with a sniff as he walked away.

"No wait. Stay."

He turned on his heels at the sound of her voice and walked back to her side, before resting himself on the ground.

"Now am I leaving or staying?"

"Staying you dumbass. I need you."

Vegeta smirked and ran his thumbs under her eyes, trying to clear up the flowing tears. Bulma put her hands round his wrists and looked up at him with her crystal, blue eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so weak. I hate being weak in front of you."

Vegeta widened his eyes at her and slipped his arms round her waist, pulling her onto his lap. She took his shirt in her fists and rested her head in the crook of her neck. He ran his hands over her hair repeatedly.

"I do not think you are weak. You are the strongest person I know. Besides myself."

Vegeta smirked as she smacked him playfully across the chest.

"You have a right to be like this now. That bastard. I'll kill him."

"No! You have to promise you won't go after him!"

Vegeta glared at her. She had stopped crying now and was staring back at him, pleadingly.

"Promise me!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't promise that. I promise not to kill him but that doesn't mean I wont hurt him."

"Vegeta please! Do this one thing for me. I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Well, I can't think of anything off the top of my head but I'll probably think of something later."

"Does that mean you wont hurt him?"

"Can I threaten him?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't hurt him."

Bulma smiled at him gratefully.

"Thank you."

"Hmph."

She wrapped her arms round his shoulder's tightly and rested her head back on his chest and smiled as she closed her eyes. Vegeta looked down at her with a smile of his own. He held her head closer to his chest as she drifted away.

Sleep woman. Tomorrow…I have some questions for you.

Vegeta's eyebrows knitted together as he thought of the arguments yet to come. He carefully picked Bulma up in his arms as he stood up and slowly made his way back to the campsite.

Next morning

Bulma basked in the warmth of Vegeta's body. She groaned as he slipped his arms round her waist. She nuzzled her face into his shirt and breathed deeply.

"Hey you."

Vegeta hugged her tightly before moving away from her and staring in her eyes. He sat upright and she stared at him, confused.

"Vegeta?"

She sat up and, crossed her legs and leant her elbows on her knees. Vegeta smiled at her mentally.

"Why didn't you tell me he hit you?"

"What? I thought we were past all that."

"We've barely even started."

"Oh…ok…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno…I guess…I knew you would get angry…and I…I…dunno."

"You were scared to tell me. Right?"

Bulma locked onto his eyes and saw that he was being very serious about it all. She started fidgeting and playing her nails.

"Yes…"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why were you scared to tell me?"

"I dunno…well…when you get angry…you're pretty scary Vegeta…I was scared you would go after him."

"I've got every right to go after him! Why do you still want to protect him?"

"I don't know! Vegeta, he was my first boyfriend. Even if he did cheat on me it doesn't mean I want him hurt."

"You still have feelings for him?"

"What?"

"Answer the question!"

"Well…I dunno…"

"You do know!"

"So what if I do?"

"So is that a yes?"

"I never said that!"

"Well say it because I know it's true!"

"Fine! Yes! I still have feelings for Yamcha! There! You happy now?"

With a growl Vegeta stood up and stormed out of the tent. Bulma pushed herself off the ground and ran out of the tent. She grabbed his hand just as he passed the make-shift camp fire. He turned round and glared at her.

"Let me go."

"No! I'm not letting you run away from this one Vegeta!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"When ever we have an argument or I tell you something you don't want to hear you go off! You never stay and finish the argument! Well I'll be damned if you're not gonna finish this one!"

"Woman let me go, or I'll make you!"

"Only if you promise to not run off!"

"I wouldn't run from you!"

Bulma slowly slid her hand off his wrist and he turned to face her fully. Bulma stood her ground.

"Why are you so angry? I only told you what you wanted."

"How would you like it if I confessed to you that I still had feelings for my ex?"

"Can you blame me? Vegeta he was my first boyfriend! You can't expect to just forget about him like that!"

"He hit you!"

"You think I didn't notice! Thanks for the broad cast Mr obvious!"

"Don't mock me woman! When did he hit you? It wasn't there the night before we left and I was with you all morning!"

"Ok, well you remember when I stopped off to get food supplies?"

"Yes!"

"And I came back all tearful?"

"Yes! Hurry up with the story woman!"

"Well, I wasn't crying because I was gonna miss my family like I said. I was crying because he had hit me. He was in the shop, I was walking back to the car and he snuck up on me. He pulled me round the side…"
Flashback

"Thanks."

Bulma handed the money to the cashier and made her way out of the shop with her bags. She was humming to herself cheerfully, she didn't even realised the sound of footsteps behind her before someone had grabbed her arms and was pulling her down the alley by the side of the shop. She struggled in his grip and tried to scream but was too scared to release any noise from her mouth. She was pushed against a wall and the shopping fell form her hands.

"Shit! There were eggs in there! If they've broken you are in so much trouble…"

She finally realised who was holding her against the wall, and who's body was far too close to her own for comfort.

"Y…Y…Yamcha?"

"Hey princess."

"What are you doing here? How did you know I would be here?"

"I followed you. You didn't think I was going to let you leave for god knows how long without getting my revenge do you?"

"Yamcha please just let me go."

"Now you see princess, I can't do that. Not without a kiss goodbye."

Bulma turned her head away as Yamcha tried to catch her lips.

"Yamcha don't! Go away please and I won't tell anyone you were here."

"You won't tell anyone anyway."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because if you do, I'll make you regret it."

"How's that?"

"Glad you asked."

He brought his hand back and swiftly forward again, meeting skin contact with her abdomen. Bulma shot her hands to it and keeled over in pain. Yamcha stood over her smirking.

"See you later princess."

Bulma watched in agony as Yamcha walked away whistling.

Slowly, she picked up her bags and walked back to the car, tears stinging her eyes.

End flashback

"He tried to kiss you!"

"Yeah…"

Her reply was mumbled but he heard it perfectly.

"The bastard!"

"Vegeta stop it! See, this is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!"

"So you want him to carry on hurting you and abusing you? Cuz that's bloody well what it sounds like!"

"Of course not! But I can deal with it on my own! You don't have to protect me all the time, I'm a big girl!"

"Well that bruise is proof enough that you can't!"

"Is that what you're so mad about? That he hit me? Cuz I don't think it is."

"What are you on about now? I'm bloody furious he hit you!"

"What else is wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"You've never been this mad before Vegeta! Your dad hit me and you didn't get this mad! Is it cuz I said I still have feelings for him?"

"No!"

"Then what is it?"
"Do you realise this is our first fight, ever?"

"Then lets make it mean something! Tell me what's going on."

Vegeta slumped down on one of the huge logs surrounding the fire and sighed defeatedly. Bulma sat down next to him and put her hand on his thigh, disappointed when Vegeta moved away slightly.

"Vegeta, just tell me."

"How could you still have feelings for him?"

"Ah. So that's what this is about. Vegeta, it's hard for me to just forget him. Yamcha was the first guy who I actually believed loved me. We were going out for ages. Ever since we were little, teachers used to see us walking around together and say we would make the cutest couple when we grew up. You can't expect me to just forget a relationship that had lasted that long."

"I didn't ask you to forget the relationship, I asked how you could still have feelings for him. After everything he's done."

"I…don't know. Yamcha was a big part of my heart. When he hurt me…I just took it because I knew when he was sorry he would be the sweetest guy on the planet. And that I loved about him. After he hit me, he would realise what he had done and be so sorry it was heart breaking. He always came up with new ways to say sorry. Even though he hurt me, he loved me more. And I truly loved him back. I can't just get rid of feelings like that."

"So you still…love him?"

"Truth?"

"Truth."

"Yes. A little bit. But not enough to even think about ruining my relationship with you. I value our relationship more than anything in the world."

"I've got one more question."

"And that is?"

"How could you be scared of me? After everything we've been through."

"Oh…is that why you're so mad?"

Vegeta turned his head away from her, but she saw him nod slowly. She reached round and turned his head to face hers. She let her hands slide down his cheeks, to his neck and down his chest onto his lap.

"Vegeta, I'm sorry if I hurt you when I said that."

"Did you mean it though?"

"Did I mean it? In some ways, yes, I meant it. When you're angry you can be pretty scary. I know you don't mean to be, and I know you would never, ever hurt me. I don't mean to be scared of you, but…when you get really angry, you get this…look…on your face…and it looks so much like the way you're father looked on the night of the dance. I hadn't noticed it until I met him…"

Vegeta looked into her eyes, full of shame, misery, love and sorrow.

"I've always tried to be as different from my father as possible…all this time I guess I was just like him…"

"No! That's so not true Vegeta! You anything but like him! From what I've heard from you and what I've seen, he's never shown compassion towards anybody, but look at you and me. I know you love me because you've told me so. And you would never even think about hitting the ones you love. You are no where near like your father, and you know that."

"I don't mean to scare you."

"I know…I know."

"I would never wanna scare you, or hurt you. I love you too much."

"I love you too."

Bulma brought his head closer to hers, willing for him to close the inch gap between them, showing her that everything was ok. To her relief, he did. He moved close to her and pressed his lips to hers. She sighed in relief and wrapped her arms round his neck.

"Awww."

"Shhh!"

Chichi playfully hit Goku round the head. He pouted and closed the entrance of their tent, where they had secretly being spying on Bulma and Vegeta from.

"What was that for?"

"Do you know how angry Bulma would have gotten if she knew we were spying on her? Not to mention Vegeta!"

"Guess you got a point there…sorry."

"Why can I never stay angry at you?"

"My charms?"

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh."

Chichi crawled over to him and snuggled down in his arms.

"That was their first fight."

"Yeah. I can't believe how well Bulma stood her ground."

"I can. She's never been one to back down from a challenge. I can't believe Yamcha though…he abused her? She never told me."

"Me neither. She must really trust Vegeta to tell him."

"Well duh! He is her boyfriend after all. Girls always trust their boyfriends more than anyone else."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"So you trust me more than anyone?"

"Of course I do you big goof."

She leant up and kissed him, on the lips, full on. Goku lay down, pulling her down with him. A confused look came over his face and he pushed Chichi away a bit.

"Chi?"

"Yeah?"

"What does rhetorical mean?"

Chichi laughed lightly before kissing him again. Goku instantly forgot what he was talking about and got lost in the feel of his girlfriends skin touching his.