Vegeta on a White Stallion? Not likely... - Chapter 6 - B-POV
Bulma's POV again!
"Damn it, Vegeta! I told you not to train so hard!"
"I wasn't! This lousy machine of yours can hardly handle HALF of my energy. How am I supposed to train when it keeps breaking down!" I sighed in defeat. As much as I hated to admit, he was probably right. Hardly a week after he'd started training seriously again, Vegeta had caused the control panel in the gravity room to overcharge twice already. Not only was it extremely annoying, but it made my work look bad. "At least I haven't blown it up yet," Vegeta continued haughtily. Well, that was true.
"Well, just give me a few minutes. This type of thing really isn't that hard to fix." And it wasn't. All that had happened was that his energy had overloaded the circuitry in the panel, causing it to short-circuit. All you had to do was reconnect a few wires and such. No problem. I began working on it, and in case you didn't know, I get really into whatever I'm doing, and kind of forget about everything else around me. Well, that happened again as I completely focused on the wires I was working with, but I gradually became aware of a presence really close to me, and paused. Glancing over my shoulder, I was startled to see Vegeta standing right there, closely watching what I was doing. Dude, when had he gotten so near to me? "Um, do you mind not standing so close like that?" I asked, jabbing him lightly in the chest with a wrench. "It's hard to concentrate when someone's staring over your shoulder" He blinked and stepped back slightly.
"Well, I figured that if I watched what you were doing, then next time you wouldn't have to 'waste your time' fixing it. Besides, it's a waste of my time to have to go get you so you can do it," he said, crossing his arms. He spoke with that "I have another great idea" attitude, and his look was something close to "you know I'm right because I'm always right." And damn it, he WAS right. If he could learn to fix the gravity machine, then I wouldn't have to do it anymore. Still...
"You think that YOU could fix this?" I asked incredulously. He scowled at me.
"Well not right NOW," he said as if the answer was obvious. "But if I WATCH then I should be able to figure it out." I considered for a few minutes, and then gave in.
"Fine, just don't bother me or anything," I said, turning back to the control panel. The fact that he was standing so close to me I could deal with. Even though I could feel his hot breath on my neck and he was sort of leaning into me unconsciously while peering over my shoulder, I was ok. I sort of got a little nervous though, with his eyes watching my every move, and my hands started trembling a little. Still, I could deal. It wasn't that big of a problem. But when he started sniffing me, yeah, SNIFFING, I lost it. Well, not right away, because I could tell he was trying to do it discreetly, but it eventually got really annoying.
"Ok, do I smell bad or something?" I finally exclaimed, turning around abruptly. He blinked and tried to look confused, but I saw right through it. "Oh don't play dumb. I could hear you sniffing me," I said, watching as he glanced away nervously. Then he crossed his arms again.
"You don't smell bad," he said, answering my first question. "Just...different. I happened to notice it." I blinked and ran a hand through my hair trying to figure out what he meant. Then something hit me.
"Were you smelling my hair?" I asked.
"Hai."
"Oh! I started using a new brand of shampoo a couple days ago," I said, waving a hand dismissively. "Does it smell bad or something?" Vegeta cocked his head to the right a little.
"...No," he answered. I narrowed my eyes.
"Well does it smell good?" Come on, I couldn't go around using shampoo that smelled funny! Vegeta shrugged, and then with an abrupt subject change, he pointed to the panel behind me.
"Were you going to finish?" he asked gruffly. "The androids will be here soon and I can't even go Super Saiyan yet." I rolled my eyes.
"We still have like, two and half years, Vegeta." But I turned around and continued anyway. By the time I'd finished, Vegeta had gotten bored with watching me and was off in the corner playing martial arts with his shadow or something. Go figure. I knew he wouldn't stick around to see how it was done. That just meant that I'D have to fix it again if it broke. Damn. "I'm done, Vegeta," I said on my way out. "Just hold out for another week or so until my dad gets back, and we'll upgrade it for you, ok?" He grunted. I watched him for a few seconds, waiting to see if he might mutter his thanks or something, but I got nothing. I didn't think I would. "You could say thank you or something you know," I said testily. Vegeta threw one more punch, and then turned to me. He smirked.
"Why? It's your fault the damn thing can't handle my power." I growled.
"Well I can't help it that you're so freakin' strong!" I yelled, and then instantly regretted it. Kami, like Vegeta needed another ego boost. His smirk widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but I spoke before he could. "Why do you think I never let Goku use this thing?" I walked casually out of the room, ignoring Vegeta's angry sputtering. "By the way, we're ordering in tonight!" I called out as the door slid shut behind me. I heard a muffled "WOMAN!" from inside, and laughed. Vegeta's so easy to piss off.
& & & &
Living with Vegeta that first year was interesting. Sure he'd stayed at Capsule Corp. for almost six months while waiting for the Namekian dragon balls to be reactivated, but he was in his room 24/7. Seriously. We had to bring him his meals, and back then he didn't train in the gravity room. I think he was trying to avoid all the Nameks. But anyway, what I'm saying is that he was totally confused over the season changes. Apparently Vegetasei didn't have such profound seasons. Basically it was a mix between summer and fall, without all the color-changing trees. When he'd stayed with us before, it was during the fall and winter, but we had an extremely warm winter that year. We got virtually no snow, just rain. It was pretty lousy. We were supposed to get a lot of snow this year though, and I couldn't wait. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons for many reasons. There are a lot of trees on our property, so fall is absolutely beautiful when they all change colors, and I've always loved snow during the winter. Plus, there are quite a few holidays and all.
Sometime in October, I think, when everything was beginning to change, I was taking a walk through the woods on our property. It was starting to get dark, though it wasn't even eight yet. When I came into view of the main buildings again, one of the first things I noticed was that the gravity room was off. I've become very good at picking out that sound. Anyway, I glanced over at it, and saw Vegeta standing in the doorway glancing around warily. He was only in his training shorts, and had a towel draped around his shoulders. He had to have been cold, because I was all bundled up in my coat and I could still feel the cold wind biting at me. It was unusual for it to be so cold already, but like I said, that winter called for a lot of snow. I walked over to him to see what he was doing, and stopped a few feet in front of him. His eyes snapped to me suddenly, and he took in what I was wearing.
"Aren't you cold?" I asked, rubbing my hands together. I think my teeth were beginning to chatter.
"No, not really," Vegeta answered. He glanced back up at the trees. "What's going on?" he asked. I blinked. At the time, I didn't know he had no clue about the different seasons and all.
"What do you mean?"
"The trees," he said, pointing at them. "Why are they changing colors?" I brushed my hair back from my eyes, and glanced upwards.
"It's fall, they always change colors." Vegeta lowered his hand slowly.
"Fall?"
"...Yeah. Autumn. You know..." I couldn't think how to describe it in simple terms. "The leaves change colors, they fall off the trees, then in snows..." I trailed off. At that moment, a big gust of wind came, blowing some leaves off a tree near us. Vegeta snatched one out of the air and looked at it.
"They ALL fall off?" I giggled then; he looked so cute, staring all confused-like at the orange and red leaf. It was funny. Of course, HE didn't think so. "What's so funny?" he demanded. I managed to squelch my laughter, and cleared my throat.
"Uh, yeah, they all fall off," I said, skirting around the other question. He ignored it.
"What's snow?" My jaw dropped.
"What's SNOW?" I exclaimed incredulously. "You've never seen snow before?" Vegeta just shook his head. "Weren't there different seasons on Vegetasei?"
"No. It was pretty much the same all year round, and there weren't many trees," he answered. I smiled brightly.
"Then you're going to love it here this year!" I said happily. I couldn't help it, I was excited for him.
"I was here LAST year at this time," he reminded me. "I don't remember anything special happening."
"Yeah, well, last year was a fairly warm winter." Just then another gust of wind came, and I caught Vegeta shudder a little. "Oh, come on!" I said, grabbing his hand. I dragged him towards the house. "You're gonna get sick if you stay out here dressed in that. You might want to start dressing more warmly now, because it's going to get really cold and-"
"Woman!" Vegeta growled, yanking his hand out of mine. "I don't get sick. I never have before, and I won't now." I huffed, but didn't dare argue. If that's what he wanted to believe, then fine. I turned away and walked into the kitchen. Vegeta followed me, and happened to glance over at the clock in the room. He did a double take. "It's only 7:30?" he asked. I watched him walk over to the window to stare out into the already dark night, and smiled a little. He's just like a little kid sometimes, I swear.
& & & &
Ok, I know what you're thinking. Back there, when I said he was cute, and now I'm saying he's like a little kid. You shouldn't be surprised though, because you already know we end up together, right? But yeah, it's true. I was falling for Vegeta, and I knew it. It was extremely hard for me to admit it to myself, but I grudgingly did after a while. I don't know what it was about him. He's like a giant mystery. Big and tough on the outside, clueless on the inside. Sometimes he can be...somewhat civil, but most of the time he just gets on your nerves. And he's got an awesome body; all he needs is a personality adjustment. But then again, if he acted any different, he wouldn't be Vegeta. Gah, now I'm getting all mushy. Bleh. Anyhoo, when I came to this realization that I had a...I don't want to say crush, so...a THING for Vegeta, I decided that I wasn't going to a damn thing about it. That's right, nothing. There was no way I was going to risk being made a fool out of if I did something and he totally rejected me. No way in hell. If he ever started to care about me, then he could take the initiative and come to me. Huh, riiiiight. Like he would ever care about me THAT way. The more I started to like him, the more edgy he got around me. It was strange.
As the months rolled on into December and all, the snow came that I had so been looking forward to. Vegeta's reaction to it was pretty funny, lemme tell ya. He'd been training, duh, as usual. I was outside raking up the last of the leaves that had fallen. I usually don't, but I was bored, and there was such a small amount that it didn't really bother me. Plus, I've always enjoyed jumping into the piles. Who doesn't? I'd had some of the younger Nameks doing it with me last year, and before that it was always Yamcha, Goku, or my parents. I have good memories of that; of course most of my memories with Goku are good ones. Vegeta caught me jumping in a pile one time, and though it didn't really bother me, he thought it was the strangest thing in the world. He'd walked off mumbling about stupid human customs. But this day, the little pile of leaves was too small to jump into, and it was sort of like a final signal that fall was over. In fact, not two seconds after I thought that, it started snowing. Well, not SNOWing, more like FLURRYing. Whatever it was, I was excited as hell. Despite the cold, I began dancing around trying to catch the small snowflakes on my tongue. I was so preoccupied that I actually didn't hear the gravity machine turn off for once. Imagine my surprise, and extreme embarrassment, when I twirled smack into Vegeta, who had been on his way inside but stopped to watch me. I was glad for the cold then, because I don't think he noticed my already red face flush even more.
"Uh...h-hey Vegeta. What's up?" I asked, trying to make it look like dancing in the snow was normal.
"Is this was I missed last time in your little human ritual? You rake the leaves, dance around them, and THEN jump into them?" Vegeta asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.
"It's not a ritual, Vegeta."
"So what, pray tell, were you doing? Besides trying to look like an idiot, which by the way, you were doing a very good job of." Ooh, the first thing he'd ever told me I was "very good" at, and it was looking like an idiot. Go me.
"I was just excited, that's all," I snapped, losing my patience. He raised an eyebrow.
"About what?" I didn't answer, just pointed up. He followed my finger, and for the first time noticed the little white specks that were falling harder by the minute. His eyes widened a little. "What the..."
"Snow," I said, looking at his bewildered expression. "THAT is what snow is." He glanced down and watched as the snowflakes melted as soon as they landed on his bare arms. Yeah, BARE arms. Stupid baka wasn't wearing a shirt. At least he had sweat pants on though. I pulled off one of my gloves and ran my hand through my hair. It was damp because of the snow, and I was started to get really cold. "I'm going inside," I said, turning towards the house. Vegeta followed me quietly, still looking all around as the snow began to stick to the ground. "You want some hot chocolate?" I asked, peeling off my jacket and throwing it over the back of the chair. He nodded, shivered slightly because his skin was still damp, and sat down in one of the chairs at the table. I smirked. I'd gotten him hooked on the stuff (hot chocolate) after it'd started getting cold out. He never asked for any, but it's the one thing he'll never refuse if you offer it. I set a mug down in front of him and sat down in the seat across from him. He was still looking out the window.
"How long does this last?" Vegeta asked abruptly.
"Does what last?" I asked, sipping my hot chocolate.
"This weather," he replied, picking up his own mug. He downed the drink in like two gulps. "Make me some m-"
"Yeah yeah," I said, picking up the cup before he could finish speaking. I'd been expecting that. "It'll be cold like this for almost four more months or so." Vegeta glanced at me sharply.
"Four months?"
"Yep." I gave him the refilled cup, and he grunted. I guess that was supposed to mean thanks or something.
"It didn't get cold on Vegetasei," Vegeta grumbled, sipping his drink this time.
"Really?" I asked. It wasn't too often that he actually spoke of his home planet.
"No, it was fairly warm all year round." He shivered again.
"Well then why don't you go put a sweatshirt on or something," I suggested.
"I wasn't implying that I was cold; I haven't been on Vegetasei since I was five. The temperature here doesn't bother me."
"But you're shivering," I pointed out, frowning.
"I'm fine woman!" Vegeta growled, pushing his now empty mug away from him. Man, I was still working on my first. I glanced out the window and continued sipping. I knew what was coming next: some comment telling me to stop worrying about him. "I don't need you worrying about me!" I smirked. See? "It only-ah-AH-AHHCHOO!" I swung my head away from the window to stare at Vegeta in shock. He'd just sneezed! I don't think I'd ever heard him do that before. His hand was covering his mouth, and his eyes were wide with this puzzled look in them.
"Don't get sick, do you?" I said sarcastically. Vegeta pulled his hand away from his mouth and growled.
"I sneezed, woman. That doesn't mean anything. It was probably dust or something. Kami knows how often you clean this place."
"It's cleaned everyday, Vegeta," I snapped. That man really knows how to set you off. He shrugged.
"Not by you."
"Well it's still cleaned."
"I'm hungry, woman." I opened my mouth to retort, but then realized he'd totally changed the subject again. I hate it when he does that!
"My mom's cooking tonight," I said after a short pause. Vegeta nodded and left the room, leaving me to pick up his cup. He can't even take two steps and put in the sink. I swear, I don't know what I see in him sometimes...
The next morning, I was up earlier than usual, eager to see how much it had snowed. Turned out we had almost eight inches on the ground, and it was still coming down lightly. I totally skipped breakfast and got dressed in record time, rushing out the door decked out in my snow gear. It wasn't even THAT early, but I noticed that Vegeta was still asleep. Either that, or he wasn't training yet, which I doubted. When he finally did grace us with his presence, I was halfway done building a snowman in the front yard. Vegeta just kind of stood in the doorway, staring at everything. When I glanced back at him a few minutes later, he was STILL looking at everything.
"Hey Vegeta!" I called out to him. No response. I went over to stand in front of him, and he still didn't notice me. "Um...helloooo?" I waved a hand in front of his face, and his gaze suddenly focused on me.
"Is this the...SNOW that you spoke of?" he asked. I smirked.
"It sure is."
"What is it?" Oh Kami, I don't know why, but the way he asked that question, with that same deadpan expression, and the fact that it's such a trivial thing, I couldn't help snickering a little. I mean, it wasn't HIS fault he'd never seen snow before, but still...
"It's...it's frozen water," I said through my laughter. He raised an eyebrow.
"Is it? Like ice? Because it certainly doesn't look like it."
"Well, it's like CRUSHED ice, I guess." Vegeta scooped a little bit from off the railing, and stared at it as it began to melt in his hand. "See? It melts into water," I pointed out. He nodded after second, and dried his hands off on his pants, which was when I noticed what he was wearing - black Adidas (A/N: don't own 'em) pants with the white stripes down the sides, and a white wife-beater, yeah, the little tank top things? Oh well, at least it was a shirt.
"What the hell is that?" Vegeta asked suddenly, pointing to my halfway done snowman in the front yard. I blushed a little.
"Oh, ah, that's a, um...snowman..." I mumbled. This time he snickered at me.
"A snowman? It looks more like a big lump of snow than a man to me."
"Well I wasn't finished yet," I said indignantly. Then an idea occurred to me. Not a very good one, mind you, but an idea nonetheless. "Wanna help me finish it?" He looked at me like I'd turned Super Saiyan on him.
"Heh, yeah right." I crossed my arms and glared at him.
"Fine, be that way." I turned around and began stomping back to my snowman, but abruptly turned back to Vegeta. He looked like he was trying to find a way to get to the gravity room without stepping in the snow. He could have easily flown though, so I might have been wrong. "Hey, Vegeta!" I called. He glanced over at me. "Open the closet right in the doorway real fast, will ya?" He gave me this look that said, "why should I," but did so anyway. He stuck his head back outside again.
"What did you want?"
"There should be some gray sweatshirts in there. The type that have hoods and zip up." Vegeta disappeared again, and then re-emerged with a sweatshirt in hand. "Good, now put it on!" He blinked, and then glared at me.
"Woman, I do not need a sweatshirt! I am not cold! STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME!" he bellowed. I just smiled sweetly at him.
"Put the damn sweatshirt on, Vegeta, and then take it off when you get to the gravity chamber," I said through clenched teeth. "You can keep the sweatshirt, you'll be needing it. And no flying or powering up outside when there's snow on the ground!" I added as an afterthought. "I don't want it all to melt and turn my yard into a giant mud hole!" I turned away again before Vegeta could yell back at me, and out of the corner of my eye saw him shrug the sweatshirt on and stomp off to the gravity room. Even from where I stood, I could hear him grumbling about "baka earth women." It made me smirk, and I began working on my snowman again. Maybe I could get Yamcha to come by and help later. At least he'd be decent company... Oh yeah! I heard one last thing as the gravity room's door slid shut: Vegeta sneezing again. Stupid saiyan.
Ok, so maybe not so much plot, lol. :)
-Maxine