The next morning, Bulma sat at the kitchen table, staring dreamily into the air. She had been stirring her coffee for about five minutes now, thinking about last night. Yamcha didn't have much time for her lately, but he still was a great lover. Although… Bulma frowned. Yamcha had been training heavily since Goku had told them all about those androids. The first days without him had been hard, but for the last few weeks she had been wondering if she really needed him as much as she had thought. She hardly missed him at all. Maybe I…

A gruffy voice dragged her out of her thoughts.

"Woman, are you still sleeping? Where the hell is my breakfast?"

She sighed and raised her eyes, meeting Vegeta's angry gaze.

"I'm sorry, Vegeta. I didn't expect you here for another two hours," she said, trying not to let his rude manners upset her.

He grabbed a chair and let himself fall onto it. "If it hadn't been for your nightly exersises," he watched Bulma blush, "I woulnd't have been here for another two hours!" Vegeta snapped.

Bulma got up and walked over to the fridge, desperately trying to hide her embarassment. She rummaged through the bags and boxes, looking for something to prepare rather quickly.

"I really can't imagine what that little Human weakling could possibly do to make you scream that loud," the Saiyan Prince added, never taking his eyes off her.

She froze. But he wouldn't get her, not this time.

"I'm not interested in that anyway. But I won't have my food being affected by your loss of sleep due to your so-called 'lovemaking'."

Bulma took a deep breath and began to count inwardly. One, Two, Three, Four…

"Not that your cooking would be that great. I've seen dog food that looked better."

She spun around, holding a large bag of frozen pancakes in her hand.

"You ungrateful BASTARD!" she yelled. "If you don't like eating my food, then perhaps you should finally do your own cooking! This," she pointed, "is the microwave oven, this," she tore the bag open and tossed the pancakes into the oven, "is how you put things into it, and this," she slammed the door shut and hammered onto the keys of the control panel, "is how it STARTS!" she screamed, storming out of the kitchen.

Vegeta looked after her, then turned and watched the 'microwave oven' with slight interest. It seemed to indicate a countdown. Six, Five, Four, Three…

Bulma was in the hall, feeling slightly uneasy, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then she heard the faint bing of the microwave oven. Have I told him how to open the…

~SCREEEECH~

"Vegeta!!" she screamed, running back into the kitchen. At the door she stopped as if she had run against a wall. The microwave oven was… broken… although Vegeta obviously hadn't paid much attention to the door. It seemed that the Saiyan always opened things at their top. From the mess that was left of the machine, she looked over to Vegeta. The Saiyan Prince sat at the kitchen table, a large pile of pancakes in front of him, his face completely innocent as he ate.

"Ve… ge… ta… get OUT!!"

He picked up his plate and walked calmly out of the room, past the furious woman. Outside, he grinned. That little woman really could save his day.

***

A few weeks later.

Vegeta watched with a frown as the woman absent-mindedly threw some more peas into the frying-pan. She had been unusually quiet for the last few days, but he had ignored that. It wasn't his business, was it? He didn't mind the woman's problems, but now his meals began to suffer under her strange behaviour, and that wasn't right. Yesterday, we had scrambled eggs with tomato and sunflower seeds... Wasn't even that bad, but I wonder what the hell this is going to be!

Whatever this was, it had to be finished. Bulma took two plates, and handed him his after putting a good deal of the… whatever… onto it. Then she sat down and began to eat, not even looking at what she was shoveling onto her fork. Vegeta stared at his plate. Peas, mushroom, and was that… yes, definately banana, and something that looked like chili pepper… lots of something that looked like chili pepper. He put down his fork.

"Woman."

Bulma raised her head.

"What do you think this is? You call that a breakfast?" He pointed towards her plate.

She looked down, for the first time seeing what she had been frying. Oh my… is that banana?

The Saiyan saw her blush.

"So what's with it? You've been doing this kind of stuff for days now. Think it will stop soon?" he wanted to know.

"I'm sorry, I… I'm not myself, you know," came the answer.

Vegeta's frown deepened. "You damn sure look like always, woman, so how can you not be yourself?" he demanded.

"You know… Yamcha and I broke up… it was my idea… and he didn't object…" Bulma tried to explain. "But somehow… now I know that he's gone, I miss him…" her voice trembled.

"So your little Human won't come here anymore?"

Bulma shook her head.

"Good. At least I can sleep now without you two disturbing me."

How can he…! How...

"How can you be so insensitive!" she yelled, throwing her plate at the surprised Prince. "Get out, GET OUT NOW!!"

"I haven't had my breakfast, woman!" he growled.

"WELL, SEE IF I CARE ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN BREAKFAST, YOU STUPID BASTARD!!" Bulma screamed on top of her lungs.

Vegeta fled, if only to escape the noise that hurt his sensitive ears.

***

Not even half an hour had passed when he came back inside, his stomach rumbling from hunger. As he entered the kitchen, he was surprised to find the woman exactly where he had left her. She sat at the kitchen table, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders trembling. Is she crying? he asked himself. Somehow, the mere thought annoyed him. Until now, she had proven to be unusually brave for a Human, especially when it came to withstanding him. He watched her small figure with disgust.

"Woman, I'm hungry," he declared.

Bulma looked up. Her lower lip trembled, but her eyes were dry. She managed a smile.

"Yeah, me too. How about some pancakes?" she asked, getting up.

The Saiyan just snorted, grabbing himself a chair. He looked at her with reluctant respect, as she started to prepare them both a meal. Perhaps she is stronger than it seems. And this time, the food was even edible.

***

The mighty Prince of all Saiyans – there were at least two remaining – was having a great day, although he'd never have admitted that. Just to train, to deal with the ever new surprises Bulma would eventually add after every time of him breaking down the gravity room, that was… well, it was fun. Something he had never known while working for Frieza. In those days, the only joy had been killing, destroying, and killing even more. It had been great, it had even been amusing some times, but it hadn't been fun. This feeling was different. Of course, he did train to be prepared for the androids, and yet…

Vegeta was breathing heavily, firing another ki blast into the blue. The nearest wall absorbed it perfectly. This new energy collector of Bulma's saved his blows and turned them into electricity. He grinned. So he kind of was doing his own cooking, or at least powering the kitchen. Sweat ran down his face as he tried a harder blast. And there it was… Let's see you block something like that, Kakarott! He was just about to power up for another shot, as he heard a faint sizzle. He spun round, just in time to see pure energy discharge itself in a thick bolt from wall to control panel.

Uh-oh, was his last thought before the world exploded.

********

A/N: to be updated weekly because of the changes i intend to make. about the first half is going to remain mostly the same as before, but the second bit is going to be altered – drastically, since i never really liked it anyway. ^-^ so, stay tuned, and review, please.