Inevitability

Chapter Nine: Eternal Darkness

Bulma hoped she had not heard right. She had to. Her ears just had to be lying to her. But they weren't, yet again. Her disappointment in having not good hearing was going to be much more less than the disappointment of having her own father making her put up with Vegeta. Again. It was just... Not fair!!

"WHAT?!" The lavender haired girl finally found her voice and used it for what she had been planning to do the whole afternoon. It wasn't as if the whole situation with Vegeta's behavior wasn't strange and her own attitude as well, but now she found out he was going to be her... bodyguard! Again!!!

"I think you heard me darling." Her father's smile stretched at her dropped jaw and wide eyes. He shifted his gaze to the boy in question and he had a stern expression and refused to let any emotion show on it, even if it cost him his life, the King might have presumed.

"Why me?" He muttered. King Briefs would've thought it was a rhetorical question, when the explication of these words told him it wasn't. "Don't you have any elite royal guards or something?!" His voice sounded irritated, however. He seemed ... insulted by what the King wanted from him when he could have from people that have sworn loyalty to him. "You let me guard your own daughter, your flesh and blood?! I'm Frieza's cruelest killer, the bloodiest mother fucking murderer!!" He exclaimed, gritting his teeth together. "And you are trusting me your heiress?"

Bulma's eyes fell. She knew Vegeta was strong, yes. She knew he was a killer, yes. He had been even back then, almost nine years ago. But... Her father was really willing to trust her to him, him, of all people. She always had Goku and Radditz by her side. She was well aware of the fact Radditz had healed completely.

"Not to mention my, what you would like to call, 'breakdown'. I have been out cold for the last week. What will you do if I decide to shut off while your daughter's in danger? What will you do if I don't really do what you tell me? Because I'm certainly not obliged to do anything else than what Frieza has told me." The proud Saiya-jin warrior crossed his arms over his muscled chest. To his fascination, the king only chuckled heartily.

"Oh, my dear boy." The Prince growled. "How would I make you do such a thing before having some more information? I would never let someone I would never trust, or not even having a way of controlling them take care of my daughter." Vegeta's eye twitched. "Let me explain it to you both. I have talked with Lord Frieza about your.. condition." He did not want to insult the short tempered boy any further, for he was not sure what the consequences might be. "He told me it was like a defense system of your body. He said you were regenerating from all of the battles you have lead the last few months." Vegeta snorted at that. Last few months his ass. More like last few years.

"I took the hint you were going to be one hundred percent when you wake up. Then Bulma's personal maid Chichi told me about my princess' accident with that unknown man." Vegeta cringed when he remembered that idiot clutch to Bulma before he was knocked out cold. Or at least, this was the last thing he could remember right about then. "Neither of Bardock's sons have been anywhere even near her at that time. But soon Chichi saw that man getting away."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yada, yada, yada." The heiress interfered. She was not in the mood for her father's babbling anymore. "All that matters is that I'm stuck with him," she pointed at Vegeta's chest, "again!" She fumed. "Daddy, I told you I can handle things myself."

"Like you did with Jeice?" The Saiya-jin chuckled.

"Oh?! So you know that bastard?" The young man's features darkened. Well, that did it this time. "I bet you were the one that wanted me raped. Damaged. Whatever!" She stormed out of the throne room, leaving both males stoned on their places. With a slight nod of his head and a heavy sigh, Vegeta exited after her. He had no choice. He could imagine what Frieza would have commanded when figuring out about his rejuvenate. He growled deeply.

Well, since he had to do it, there was no escaping it. Another growl was emitted from his throat.

He was stuck with that no-good-at-growing-up wench. Again, as she politely pointed out herself.

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Bulma was still on a rampage as she practically flew past Radditz by the throne room. He was obviously sent by his father with some package or whatever it was - she didn't actually care - and stopped in mid step as he saw the expression on her face. Yeah, go ahead and gawk; never seen me angry, Bulma thought fiercely as she ran back to her room and collapsed on her bed. Great. Just great. She was being treated like a little kid yet again!

She heard another door close and she assumed mister High-and-Mighty had gone after her. She would've been flattered if she wasn't obsessed with trying to figure out a way to get back at her father.

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By the time for dinner, the princess had found at least how to set him off as well. That smirk that was ever so evident on his face when he was saying that she had to be guarded by that idiot of a Saiya-jin ex-Prince made more than just boil her blood. It made her whole being shake in fury, but she did not show that to him. She would not have given him the pleasure of doing so.

Of course, if she thought about it just for a second in the middle of her childish attitude, she would've realized her father wanted only the best for his child. And as much as she hated admitting it and not that she would ever admit it without trying to imply it as a sarcastic remark or a biting insult, Vegeta was the best man found around here for fights. Or at least that much was known.

How did she get targeted all of a sudden?! Before Frieza and his 'monkey boy' got here, she had a peaceful life. Well, as peaceful as it could possibly ever be. And now she felt so paranoid. Not that she was afraid of the red skinned guy. She felt like she could punch the life out of him right now. Yet she did not know how she would feel tomorrow.

Shaking her head, Bulma kept on working on her project that was still in the planning and calculating phase. Not that she minded. If there was something better than science, it was science on a comfy bed and a nice fluffy pillow under the back.

The lavender haired minx had awfully enjoyed shooing ChiChi off and earning a lecture from the smaller girl as she refused to go to dinner. Again. The regal was getting this loathing feeling of deja vu the whole day. Maybe it was because of the repeating actions she took... Could be.

Science was fine. Projects were super. But the disturbing silence around her room was.... more than uncharacteristic. She was used to having people walk around, doing their jobs, but it seemed that today everyone had a break or something. She wondered what could be up with such a sudden vacation for all the servants... Oh well, she better get back to the project, for it wouldn't be finished for the next month even if she kept that pace up.

Bulma red the words scribbled over the top of the paper she was calculating on: "Whatever you want!" She felt her stomach flip. Anything she wanted? But what did she want? What did she want that she couldn't get if she tried hard enough? What did she want that could be delivered to her only by magic or whatever that thing did? What she wanted could be never brought back, or so she had understood. What she wanted was lost forever and she did not really feel ready to bring it back. Then... What was the use of this object she was trying her best the last few months to create? What use would she have from creating it, finally?

Love? Attention? That was no wish. And she could have those any time she wished for them. She had friends. She had parents. She had everything she could ever want. She had power. She had beauty. She had money. She had a planet. She had a race. She had what a girl would die for even to have the chance of getting it for one day. And there was still something terribly missing. Something in her heart, probably. Something missing in the one thing she deserted so long ago. For who could she possibly love herself? What use of having a heart?

Yet, she was friendly to the people that didn't really know her. Of course she had learnt her lesson in politeness. And she understood it clearly. Being a princess was harder than the girls with clouded air heads thought. She had to be nice to everyone. It was very much clear to her that not all of her people liked her. Like she mentioned before, she was often envied for her cherubic appearance. Though, if they only knew... Well, if they knew, they wouldn't take her attitude seriously.

She sighed and set her pen down, putting her head on her crossed over the desk hands. Why, oh why did she have to be haunted by this ghost?! Ever since that day, it hadn't left her head. It was stronger than her. It was better than her in any possible way. It was more than she could ever be, perhaps. She did her best and did not become even half as good as it, for it gained more through the years. Bulma would never reach it. Not in a life time.

She often thought about her deceased maid. She was like a second mother to her. Seeing her die made the remaining part of her soul shatter completely. She could declare she was very much soulless now. A living nothing, as she liked to put it. Nothing and no one could ever put her out of her misery of being alone, not capable of loving and being loved and far exceeded by a phantom from her worst nightmares. And the worst part was that the nightmare had materialized. Why, oh why did she have that luck?!

Taking a grip on herself, the cerulean eyed heiress left for the door. A fight was all she needed about now to put her spirits up. Or at least so she thought as she opened the neighboring door.

The room itself was very much empty at first sight. That was until you notice the opened balcony door. She smirked evilly and relaxed her shoulder against the sliding glass door leading to the additional space above her garden. She giggled mentally at her possessiveness over the Palace gardens.

"You're disturbing my meditation." She could never mistake that stern gruff voice. When she thought about it more carefully, she found out that it was way better before. Well, after all, back then he was still a teenager.

"I felt like having a verbal spar." The princess' face stretched into a coy sly grin as she continued to stare intensely at the young man before herself.

"Well, I don't. Besides, you have what could be considered an eternity of verbal spars. After all, 'you're stuck with him again', aren't you?" He spat venomously, still refusing to open his onyx eyes and look back at her.

"Aw, you didn't get hurt by my words, now did you?" Cooed Bulma mockingly trying to stretch her hand as to squeeze his cheek between her fingers like she would do to a child crying or so when her hand was caught by a still trying to ignore her Vegeta.

"Your bullshit cannot possibly 'hurt', as you referred to it, me. But it seemed it could do some kind of mental damage to your black haired brat of a friend." Bulma froze in midst trying to snap her hand out of his grasp as it was then roughly tossed back at her. She cursed as she continued to think what ChiChi might have said.

"Shit...."

"You could have not possibly forgotten that you are interfering in my meditation, could you?" The Saiya-jin spat again, his dark eye brows narrowing over his closed eye lids.

"Why is it so dark around here?"

"Do you have a problem with it?!"

"Black is not my type of color... And how can you see anything in this obscurity?"

"How can you still be here after the second time I warned you?"

"Why do you answer every single one of my questions with one on your own if I'm bothering you so much?" He remained silent this time. She thought he would. Probably didn't know for himself or just realized his mistake. "Does darkness make you forget?"

"There's nothing I regret in my life."

"Liar." She spat almost viciously. Had he forgotten all he said a week ago? "Have you even been hugged?"

"Excuse me?" The question caught him off guard.

"Do you know love?" Well that certainly he did not expect from her of all people.

"Do you enjoy your pathetic little moment of superiority?"

"So you do admit that I'm superior." Her expression was priceless for such a grin could be barely described with words.

"Do you hold this satisfaction of this just because you are mad at my superiority over everything else you do?" Ow, that cut rather deep, I'd say.

"Excuse me?" Well, it was her turn to say that. It sounded utterly corny but she could care less at the moment.

"Is that why your ki dropped all of a sudden a moment ago?" She decided to ignore the 'ki' remark for she had no idea what that was and she tried to concentrate on getting back at that bastard. She wanted a verbal fight, not another wound in the psyche.

"Well, I certainly am glad that at least I'm not a brainless killer."

"You love to rub it in, don't you?"

"You do too, as far as I'm concerned. After all, the almighty Saiya-jin prince is best suited for destruction and conquering all over the Universe as Lord Frieza's toy. Is that what your victims ask? 'Are you the most loyal one to Frieza?' You must be quite known for all these years." She found herself sent to the ground by a rather hard slap across her cheek.

"Don't ever mention my race again. They are none of your goddamn spoilt concern." He muttered as he brushed past her rising form. Her beautiful cerulean orbs were still wide in shock. Never before had she been hit like that. Never before had she felt so... guilty? And what for?

"Is that why everything around you is so dark?" Silence. "Is that why you do not want to get related to anyone emotionally anymore?" More silence. "Is that why you're afraid of me? Is that why you like torturing me like this?!" Vegeta's dark as the night eyes shifted sharply at her form from the his position on the bed.

"Torturing you?" He hissed as his spandex outfit brushed against the silky covers of his bed. "Torturing you?!" He repeated disbelievingly. "You are in a huge mistake if you think yours is torture."

"Then why don't you tell me what torture is?!" She snapped back at him. "Prove me you're not scared of me! Prove me I'm wrong! Then and only then will I say that you are right!"

"Your approval is not what I'd call a goal in my life." He snorted and threw himself back on the bed as she approached him herself. Her eyes had been flashing daringly at him. He decided against scaring the daylights out of her for the moment. She still hadn't bothered him enough to do so. Since when had his patience become so stretched?

"Then what is your goal in life? What do you want from it? What is that which you're so eager to cover in your past? Will it ruin your reputation about now?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're interested in me." Her eyes narrowed again. Why did he just dodge her questions so easily?!

"So what if I am?!"

"As much as I'd love to disappoint you, I must tell you that my past, my present and my feature hold the key word - my. They are and will never be none of your concern." So, that princey boy thought he could just shake her off like that? He was in a deep, deep mistake if he thought so.

"Oh, so it's not me, but my 'concern' that scares you so much." And what she expected came as if she had ordered it.

"I am not afraid of anything that has to do with you."

"Well, you don't show that pretty well, I'd say." Her smirk obviously set him on fire again. His temper was not something one could just toy around with, for one would risk not only one limb. She hoped he would avoid hitting her again. Even though it was more of a reminder about who she was dealing with than a gesture to hurt her. Yet that didn't prevent her cheek from reddening.

"I cannot find myself understanding how my race's pathetic wipe out could get you, Princess I-am-better-than-thee, interested." She seemed to be understanding better than he would expect the hidden hints in his words, that he himself had not noticed adding.

"So it's the way your race had been destroyed that pisses you off so much?" He growled in fury. Her voice appeared so annoying to him all of a sudden. "I heard they were warriors. It must've been really embarrassing for the whole race to cease its existence and its Prince to live on as a toy to its destroyer." He grabbed her by the hand, pulling her down on the bed in sitting position as he could glare directly in her eyes and he could avoid speaking loud about the topic, as if the walls had ears for it too.

"You won't leave me alone until I tell you, will you?" His hiss was louder than she imagined from such close range with her ear.

"I won't even if you do."

The prince's eye brow quirked at her words. It was strange, hearing this from her, of all people. He could not admit to himself that eight years ago he found himself trying to protect the stainless child from the impurity of Frieza's spacecraft and the people, if you can possibly call them that, that it carried. And now, all of a sudden, after hinting and acting as if his presence itself was below her own, she tried to convince him that she actually cared. Or so her fooling achieved to let him realize.

"It's dark because it makes me remember." He muttered finally letting go of her wrist. Bulma thought that her hand was going to go purple when he finally did.

"Most people do things to forget."

"Well, I don't want to forget." Vegeta's words were spat as if she was ruining the mood with her talking. So she just shut up and gave him time as to continue with his 'story' or whatever he was going to say. But as he did not, she urged him further.

"What are you trying not to leave forgotten?"

"Have you ever had the feeling that the black is not only black?" Wha'?

"What?"

"Have you seen the darkness around you in a different shade after a hard day? Lighter? Brighter? Redder, if having a fight? I do. Darkness is not simply darkness. It's stained. It's stained in thick crimson color. The color of blood... The silence penetrating my ear drums with forgotten screams and cries from my past. The ones I have been ignoring when killing..." The proud male's voice trailed off as he collapsed against the mattress of the bed he had been given.

"You mean you regret your deeds?"

"I never said that." Then what was he saying? Why did she always have to pull the words out of his mouth?!

"You're just impossible, you know that?" His smirk startled her and nearly made her cheeks redden from the position in front of him she held.

"I know, I try." She laughed at his remark. She had not laughed sincerely ever since they stole the food this day. But even then had Bulma felt so... light-headed. And so empty. The eternal darkness that seemed to surround this man's entire appearance made her shiver to the core of her being. It sent a chilling feeling down her spine that made her feel so discouraged all of a sudden.

"And here I thought my childhood was ruined." The princess' mutter reached the Saiya-jin's ears and made him give a meaningless frown.

"What do you mean? You're still a child."

"I'm turning eighteen next week, you idiot."

"That's not what I meant."

A long silence stretched over them until Bulma broke it again. "What am I supposed to say?"

A frown was evident on the prince's lips and his expression darkened as she could actually see in the dim lightening of the premise. "You're not supposed to say anything. You're expected to leave."

"Well, I won't."

More silence.

"Would you enjoy it if your race was brought back?" He didn't explode like last time. But he didn't react in any other way either. His onyx eyes were just pinned on the wall before him as if it was the most miraculous thing in the world, that deserved more and more of his attention with each passing second. She took that as an affirmation.

"It's a good thing for you that I'm in a good mood."

"I thought you were depressed." Her face fell. Well he knew what was the right thing to say in any situation, alright. Note that she was still the Sarcasm Queen.

"Shut up." He chuckled as her back was facing him as she exited his room, resuming her work on her project. Well, maybe she did have what to wish for...

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Was the long wait worth it? Well, I actually wrote all of it in one day, but, feh. So... What do you think?

And, yep, I know ChiChi is out of character and I'm going to do my best in fixing her, but she's still thirteen so... yeah. You got the idea. She's still changing, you know, puberty and stuff.

Reviews are highly appreciated. Very highly. Very, very highly, since I'm in a fucking mood ruiner that are the fucking exams... Please, tell me what you think about the fic. Sympathy for me is not really needed. Thoughts on fic and notes are very, very highly appreciated.

Thank you for reading and I will try to get another chapter up as soon as I can, since my next exam is in three days... And I have to study... Sorry if there are any mistakes, too much repeating of 'she' or 'he' or both, or whatever... I'm sorry for anything that ran wrong in the chapter... And again, thank you for reading.