Chapter 8 – Runaway

Bulma couldn't believe it. Sitting down at the Capsule Corp breakfast table, watching the Z Warriors bustling around her, preparing their morning meal, Bulma had never before felt so detached from them. She had become so close to Vegeta over the past few months, but now it felt as if she didn't even know him.

Sighing sadly, Bulma cast her mind back to that morning. After telling her of their new bond, Vegeta had cruelly told Bulma about his disgust with himself, bonding with someone as weak and pathetic as her. He had looked positively repulsed just thinking about it, and went on to label their friendship a farce. The icing on the cake, though, had been his last comment: "Well the sex was hardly brilliant. I'd hoped for better for my first screw."

Bulma was suddenly dragged from her thoughts by the sound of Vegeta's voice. Looking annoyed, he narrowed his eyes at her, glaring. "Are you deaf, woman?" he demanded, "I said 'Pass the milk', you stupid bitch!"

"Here!" Bulma shouted, slamming the milk jug down on the table in front of him, causing it to spill onto his trousers. "I hope it CHOKES you!"

The Z Warriors all stopped and stared as Bulma stood up quickly, he chair falling over with a crash behind her, and stormed out of the room.

Tears poured down Bulma's face as she threw clothes into a case, not even bothering to fold them.

'I can't stay here! Not now!" She thought angrily, closing her case, her breath catching in her throat as she continued to sob. 'Even if I threw him out, there'd still be memories. I just want to go away, and never see him again. Never see any of them again.'

Grabbing a device, rather like a digital watch, but with no numbers on display – a ki disguiser – Bulma attached it roughly to her wrist, breathing in deeply in an attempt to calm herself. They'd never be able to find her now. It would be as though she had dropped off the planet. As soon as she pressed the button on this small device, Bulma's Ki would disappear – the Z Warriors would assume she was dead.

Dropping a small envelope on the bed, and taking one last look around the bedroom she had shared with Vegeta, Bulma walked quietly out the room, and crept out of the house.

Vegeta suddenly gasped, jumping up from his seat on the sofa, his eyes wide and fearful. The Z Warriors all looked up at him in shock.

"Vegeta, dude," Krillen said, staring at him, "What's up?"

"BULMA!" Vegeta shouted, screaming in panic. Ignoring Krillen's question, he started running up the stairs towards his bedroom, the Z Warriors following him.

"NO!" he cried, his eyes darting round the room as he entered. "It can't be. Not Bulma. Please, Kami, not Bulma."

"Vegeta!" Goku cried, stepping into Vegeta's line of vision. "What's wrong?"

"Bulma's ki's disappeared." The Saiyan prince responded simply. "She's dead."

Then, noticing the envelope on the bed, Vegeta stepped past Goku, who was struggling to detect his friend's ki. Picking it up with shaking hands, Vegeta took the note from inside, and read:-

Dear Vegeta,

You'll probably be wondering where I am by now, although I doubt you care. Well, let's just say I've done you a favour. You were so repulsed by our bond, so disgusted, it hurt more than anything I've ever known. You can't be bonded to someone if they're dead.

You hurt me so much, more than any knife or ki blast ever could, and I don't think I can take it any more. I can't live with this pain any longer. I'm tired, Vegeta.

I'm tired of loving and having it thrown back in my face. I'm tired of being used. I'm tired of feeling like a slut. Do I really deserve to be punished, just for loving you?

I wish you'd beaten me. I wish you'd hit me, slapped me, stabbed or shot me, even. A multitude of wounds to the flesh would have caused me less pain than this wound to the heart.

All my love, from the Other Dimension

I love you

Bulma

Xxx

Vegeta felt his knees give way, and he fell onto the bed where he and Bulma had made love just hours before. Now though, his whole world was crashing around him. The Z Warriors were staring at him, open-mouthed, with tears down their eyes and running down their faces, having read the note over his shoulder.

But Vegeta didn't care, or even notice. Only one fact could penetrate his muffled brain. Bulma was dead. Bulma had killed herself, taken her own life to end the pain that he had caused. Because of him, Bulma was dead.

As the note dropped from his stunned hands, Vegeta realised that he was never going to see her again. Never again would he look up to see her beautiful face smiling at him. Never again would he wake up early, just in time to watch her sleeping. Never again would he hear her call him babe and pretend that it annoyed him. He was never again going to feel her snuggle close to him on a cold night, or hide her face in his chest as they watched horror movies, or rest her head on his chest, like a pillow.

Finally, giving in to his grief, Vegeta started to sob. Forfeiting his pride, the pride which had, ultimately, cost Bulma her life, Vegeta sat in front of the Z Warriors, and he sobbed, hot, burning tears coursing down his face as he wept for the love he had lost.