Vegeta on a White Stallion? Not likely... - Chapter 8 - B-POV
I awoke the next morning to a dull pain on my lower back, opening my eyes just in time to see the ground rush up to meet my face.
Ouch.
Rubbing my nose, I blinked wearily, trying to figure out exactly where I was. The carpet in MY room wasn't this color... Gradually the sleepiness left and I realized that I was on the floor in my living room and the T.V. was still on. The noise was too much of a distraction for my still slow-processing mind, so I blindly searched around for the remote on the top of the coffee table and clicked the power off when I found it. Suddenly I realized WHY I was in the living room. I'd been watching some action movie with Vegeta the night before, since that was the ONLY thing he would watch on that "stupid box." I must have fallen asleep on the couch. But...I remembered Vegeta still being there as I dozed off... He must have left me there! Why that lousy, good-for-nothing...ARGH! If it had been anyone ELSE, say, Yamcha for example, they would have carried me to my room. Not that I expected Vegeta to do that, but he could have AT LEAST woken me up or something!
Silently fuming and grumbling to myself, I stood up and began to make my way to the kitchen for some coffee-
-only to stop short when I noticed Vegeta's still-sleeping form lying on the couch.
Wait... Thoroughly confused, I could only cock my head slightly and stare at him, blinking in wonderment at how relaxed he looked just then. Last time I saw him sleeping was back when he had blown up the gravity room, and he'd been plagued by nightmares that night, so I'd never seen him this...peaceful looking. He was facing the T.V., one arm thrown across his face while the other was curled up at his side, and his legs were sprawled out at the other end of the sofa. There was even a soft snore coming from-
My thoughts stopped short and I jerked my gaze back to his legs. His legs, taking up the whole couch, sprawled out everywhere...me, waking up to a dull throb in my back and the ground in my face... He'd kicked me off! And he didn't even realize it! Wasn't he supposed to always be aware of his surroundings? Maybe he was faking...
I kneeled in front of his face, peering into his shut-eyes closely, looking for any sign that he might actually be awake. I noticed nothing, and warily began poking him in the shoulder.
"...Vegeta?" I whispered, trying not to wake him up if he really WAS asleep. I had no such luck. One second I was staring at a relaxed, peaceful face, the next I was staring wide-eyed up into angry looking eyes. "AACK! Hey! V-vegeta! What's the deal!" I exclaimed, tugging at the hand that was currently around my neck. Vegeta blinked once bewilderedly, before removing his hand and glancing around the room. He regained his bearings quicker than I had, I noticed, as realization and remembrance soon dawned in his eyes. He sat back gradually, apparently failing to realize that he WAS straddling my waist.
"What do you want, woman?" he asked gruffly, crossing his arms and peering down into my face.
"I was just wondering if you were awake or not, geez..." I mumbled, rubbing my throat with my right hand. Damn it, if he left any bruises... He scowled.
"Did it LOOK like I was awake?"
"Well you kicked me off the couch! I wasn't sure!" I said defensively, all of a sudden realizing how silly that sounded. Above me, he blinked.
"And you thought I MEANT to? It's not like I'm constantly fighting 24/7, you know," he growled.
"I know that!" I snapped back at him. "It's just...I mean...oh, nevermind," I sighed agitatedly. "But now my nose hurts! If I end up having a bruised nose to match the ones around my neck-" I started heatedly, before Vegeta interrupted me.
"Your neck's not bruised," he grumbled, pulling my hand away from my throat as if to make sure. "You're fine, stop being such a baby."
"A BABY! I'm not being a baby! It hurt, damn it!" I exclaimed angrily.
"It amazes me that such weak creatures have managed to survive this long," Vegeta said, finally standing up and walking towards the kitchen. "You humans are pathetic." I growled to myself and pushed myself off the ground, brushing the invisible dirt off my clothes.
"We are not pathetic. We just happen to use our brains more than our brawn."
"Maybe YOU do. Now what's your excuse for the rest of the planet?" he asked, sparing a glance towards me as he searched for something edible in the back of the fridge.
"They don't NEED an excuse! We've obviously got SOMETHING going for us, seeing as how we've survived longer than-" I stopped myself short as Vegeta glared at me. After all, I REALLY didn't want to get him angry.
"Don't even THINK to compare this lousy mudball of a backwash planet to MY home. They don't even come close," he growled dangerously. I only turned my nose up at him.
"And just HOW do you know I was going to say Vegeta-sei? MAYBE I was talking about NAMEK!" I walked over and tried to push him away from the refrigerator, but he didn't budge. "Ok, do you want breakfast or not?" I asked, jerking my head around to glare at him. Agitatedly I blew I few strands of hair out of my face. Vegeta only stared at me for a few minutes, before brushing by me on his way to the table.
"You WEREN'T talking about Namek," he said darkly, and sat down at the table in as bad a mood as I had ever seen him. Oh, way to go, Bulma. Ruin the day before it even begins! I continued to rebuke myself as I pulled some eggs and bacon out of the fridge.
"Um...so, how about I try eggs again today? Maybe this time I won't burn them, huh?" I asked cheerfully, though it sounded forced even to my own ears. Vegeta scowled at me. I sighed. "Look, Vegeta, I didn't mean it. And I stopped what I was saying, didn't I?" Gah, I HATE having to apologize, even if I didn't actually say sorry. He just stared at me. "Oh, would you stop glaring at me like that! It wasn't even that big a deal! Kami-almighty..." Angrily I whipped out a bowl and began to crack eggs, getting more than one piece of shell into the gooey yellow mix. I completely missed the smirk that Vegeta directed at my back.
& & & &
What started out as a not-too-great morning only turned into a really bad afternoon as the day wore on. Well, I guess it went from a not-too-great morning to an ok midday before turning into a good/fun lunch, and THEN plummeting into a really bad afternoon...or something like that. And it basically came down to the fact that as strong as Vegeta is, and no matter how good looking he may be, he's really just a complete moron. To be blunt. I mean, you think he would have known better! Or at least listened to me! Kami, the man has an ego big enough to satisfy the entire planet, not to mention it's surrounded by walls of haughtiness and I'm-better-than-thou feelings, but he COULD listen to me once in a while! Geez! It's not like I'm completely stupid and I'm just taking a wild guess when I say-
Whoa, ok Bulma, calm down. Deep breaths...
Sorry, got a little ahead of myself there. Guess you might want to know what I'm talking about before I go on ranting about the injustice of it all, huh? Well, it was like this.
As I'd said, it was really warm out, even in the morning when we left. It immediately brightened my outlook of the following hours, as I'd been dreading our little "outing" since breakfast. Vegeta, being the stubborn, arrogant jackass that he usually is, refused to travel in one of my air cars since we weren't going near any populated area. Of course, we could have just as easily walked, but whatever. And I, being the brilliant genius that I am, brought along my capsules, just in case. Hey, never leave home without 'em, right? Anyhow, Vegeta apparently had no qualms about carrying me, so off we flew. And good Kami, I was scared to death. Yes, I've flown with Yamcha plenty of times before, but I think Vegeta flew as fast as he possibly could, just to spite me. That of course meant that we made it to my hideaway in about thirty seconds.
"THIS is the 'really nice place' you were referring to?" Vegeta growled out, setting me on my feet as we landed. I frowned slightly, missing the feeling of his arms around me, even if I'd been about to shit my pants. Walking away from him a bit, I glanced around. We'd landed beside the beach, just where the grass meets the sand. Behind me was a big open field, spotted with dandelions, and in front a large lake expanded outwards. The water was as still as it could possibly get, almost like glass as it showed a reflection of the surrounding trees on its surface. There was still an early morning mist rolling off of it, and other than the deep breathing of the saiyan behind me, I could only hear birds chirping.
It was beautiful.
No wonder Vegeta hated it.
"Yes, Vegeta, this is where I used to spend my summer days when I was younger. I'd just drag an encyclopedia down here with me and be gone for hours." I sighed wistfully, memories coming back to me. Back before I knew aliens really did exist, much less on MY planet. I turned slightly to look at Vegeta out of the corner of my eye. He was glaring into the forest on our right, as if willing a bear or something to come charging out so the peace would be broken. "You can go train over there," I said, gesturing to the field. "Tear it up as much as you like, just make sure none of your little beam attack thingies hit ME." He barely spared me a glance before stomping off towards the said area. I shrugged. Whatever.
A few hours later, my portable radio was nearly blown to smithereens, not to mention I nearly DIED, as a stray beam, I swear it was purposely directed there, crashed into the ground mere feet away from me. As any sensible woman would do in a near-death situation, I screamed.
"HOLY SHIT VEGETA! What the HELL do you think you're DOING? You could have KILLED me you ASS-HOLE!" I shouted, jumping to my feet and shaking a fist at the annoying figure hovering above me. He only crossed his arms and stared haughtily down at me.
"Oops?" he offered sarcastically, that oh-so-annoying-yet-incredibly-handsome smirk appearing. I growled, or did the best impersonation of one that I could, and tried to calm my breathing while brushing the dirt that had landed on me off my body, which, by the way, was clad in only my bikini. Hey, I said I was going tanning, remember?
"Goddammit, Vegeta... You did that on purpose!" I accused, pointing at him. He dropped out of the air, landing swiftly on his feet in front of me, and propped his hands up onto his hips.
"Duh," was the only reply he gave me. I opened my mouth to shout at him again, only to actually acknowledge his reply and deflate slightly.
"...Oh..."
"I'm hungry. Where's this food that you said you'd bring?" I bristled angrily at that.
"You know, you could have just ASKED that in the first place! All this blowing up of things really isn't my style," I snapped at him, but nonetheless pulled a capsule out of my bag. "Stand back," I demanded, before throwing it onto the ground in front of us. One minor explosion later, there was a huge feast set out before us, causing Vegeta's eyes to widen a little. "I told you I'd bring a lot of food, didn't I?" I asked, smirking.
"You did outdo yourself, woman. I must admit, I am impressed." Oh, hooray for me, I got Vegeta's approval! Right... I voiced this sarcastically, but was ignored as Vegeta had already begun to eat. My stomach grumbled at the site of all the food, so I gave up on getting a tan for a while, and sat down to eat with Vegeta.
"See Vegeta, this wasn't so bad, was it? Aren't you glad you came with me?" I asked him, picking up a turkey sandwich.
"Your mother cooked all of this, didn't she? It's actually edible," Vegeta remarked, completely ignoring my question. I smiled. Who did he think he was kidding? He knew that I knew my cooking was terrible.
"That means you're having a good time," I said, smugness evident in my voice. He finally looked at me.
"I didn't say that, I said the food was edible! You're getting mixed messages."
"Right, whatever you say, Vegeta." He was quiet for a moment, obviously irked that I wasn't being baited into an argument.
"I pretty much destroyed the field, hope you don't mind." Oh, and he sounded SO concerned when he said that. Yeah right. I did chance a look at what was left though, almost afraid of what I would see. Turned out it wasn't TOO completely awful. It was...well...it was pretty much a big hole in the ground now. I turned back around and gave Vegeta a slight smile, shrugging. His frown deepened.
"You look horrible in that outfit, you know," he tried again, grinning evilly. I guess he figured if anything would set me off, it would a comment about my looks. Well, that USUALLY was the case...but not today. I grinned; at least I knew he'd seen my suit.
"Mhmm."
"Especially with your hair all messed up now. And there's dirt in it. It looks like a bird was trying to make a nest out of it." Eww, there was dirt in my hair? Pfft, I didn't care at the moment. I have to say though, it took some will not to giggle at Vegeta's efforts.
"I'm glad you're scrutinizing me so carefully." Vegeta frowned again.
"I killed Baldy." THAT caused me to choke on my drink and I nearly spit it out again. When I was able to breathe again, I started cracking up. "Finally, a reaction," Vegeta muttered, glowering at me darkly. Right, a reaction...but not the one he wanted.
"S-sorry," I got out through my laughter as it died down. I wiped a stray tear from my eye. "Hoo-boy. Hehe. So ya killed Krillen, huh? When's his funeral?" And his glare intensified. "What?" No reply. "So, my hair really looks that bad, huh?" I asked, running a hand through it.
"Yes, it's hideous." He just wouldn't give up! Whatever, he was NOT goading a fight out of me.
"I guess I'll have to wash it out then. It's your fault though... Hey, wanna go for a swim? I don't know if the water's warm enough tho-" I got cut off abruptly as Vegeta swiftly picked me up. Next thing I knew, I was hovering in his arms out above the middle of the lake. Oh hell no... "Vegeta, what the hell are you doing?" I asked warily. He smirked at me.
"You said you wanted to go swimming."
"Yeah, but the water's probably freezing right now."
"Your point?"
"Look, let me put it this way," I said quickly as I felt his grip on me loosening. "You drop me, you find a new home."
"DROP you? Now THERE'S an idea. It hadn't even occurred to me, honestly." Hmm, can we say...BULLSHIT!
"Vegeta, please, w-what if it's so cold it shocks me and I can't swim and then I drown? Huh? Goku would kill you and then you would never reach Super Saiyan! We wouldn't want THAT, now would we?" I said rapidly, really starting to panic.
"I'll be off the planet before he finds out," Vegeta replied, grinning evilly once more. His eyes were twinkling with amusement though, and that caused me to pause, searching his eyes. He blinked once, his arms tightening just slightly around me as he noticed how quiet I'd gotten and how I was staring at him. Apparently he was uncomfortable with my scrutiny, if the light blush along his cheeks was any clue. I smiled at him, raising one of my hands (I'd been holding onto his arm for dear life) to rest behind his neck. He tensed up, eyes widening the smallest degree. "What-" he began to ask, but I interrupted him, placing a finger on his lips. He just stared at me, completely baffled.
"Shhh," I murmured softly, sitting up a little and barely, just barely brushing my lips across his cheek before I completely shocked him-
-and pushed myself out of his arms. By the time he registered what had happened, I was already breaking through the glassy surface of the lake. My mind, however, was on anything but the cool water. Damn it, Bulma! I wasn't supposed to be coming onto to him like this! I was dropping WAY too many hints. I wanted HIM to come to ME...which was an unlikely event in itself. I suddenly realized that if I even had a chance with Vegeta, I would have to be alive, and that required breathing, which required air for my burning lungs. I broke through the top of the water, gasping for air and finally noticing how cold the water was. I was surprised to find that...it wasn't. Cold, I mean. It was still cool, but a lot warmer than I'd thought it would be. I glanced up, looking around for Vegeta, and found him still floating where he'd been before. I took the liberty of, once again, acting like nothing had happened.
"Are you coming in, Vegeta? The water's really warm!" I yelled up to him.
"I think I'll pass!" he yelled back down, sounding very annoyed. I grinned. Good.
So anyway, I think we've made it up to the "good/fun lunch." Are you wondering how it plummeted into a "really bad afternoon"? Well I was just getting to that. Remember the portable radio that was only briefly mentioned earlier? Well, it suddenly started spouting off warnings of severe thunderstorms in the area, probably within the hour. Severe meaning the whole deal - heavy rain, thunder, lightening, and large hail. Perfect, an early summer storm. My little swim was done and over with by then, and Vegeta had gone back to training, so I was the only one that heard the warning. It was fine with me, I was about ready to go back home anyway. There wasn't any food left for dinner. Vegeta, however, had other plans.
"Vegeta, would you just LISTEN to me for once!" I screamed at him, trying to convince him to come back with me. I'd already packed everything up.
"Woman, no little STORM is going to harm me! You can go back, I'M going to continue my training!"
"Damn it, Vegeta! It's not JUST a storm. It's a SEVERE THUNDERSTORM! There's going to be lightening and you're out parading around in an open field! Should I just HAND you a metal stick!" I was getting frustrated. Why couldn't he listen to me? Just once! "And there'll be hail too!"
"Hmm, let me think, I've survived ki blasts, will a chunk of ice hurt?" Vegeta asked sarcastically. "I think not. Just be on your way, I'll come back later." Apparently wanting to have the last word, he turned around and blasted off, not giving me a chance to reply. Well fine. If he wanted to get killed, then so be it.
Four hours later, I wasn't angry anymore. I was more worried than I'd ever been in my life. The storm had been just what the weather warnings had said. Severe. I could see branches scattered all across Capsule Corp.'s lawn, and there was even a huge tree laying across our driveway. The hail had left dents in the one car that we'd forgotten to capsulate, and it was still raining lightly. There was no sign of Vegeta. The storm itself had ended almost an hour and a half ago, and it was beginning to get dark. I swore to myself that if he didn't show up soon, I was going to call Goku, and I KNOW Vegeta would have hated me for that.
An hour later, that's just what I did.
"Moshi moshi," I heard Chichi greet cheerfully over the phone.
"Chichi? It's Bulma."
"Oh hey Bulma! How have you been?" Wow, I guess it HAD been a while since we last talked.
"I've been fine... Look, I don't want to sound rude, but I've got a problem. Can I talk to Goku?"
"Oh sure, hold one second." I heard her yell for Goku before she spoke to me again. "Can I ask what's wrong? You sound upset."
"I'll tell you later, I promise."
"Alright, I'll hold you to that. Here's Goku."
"Thanks, Chichi."
"No problem. Bye, Bulma." I nodded, forgetting for a second that she couldn't see me.
"Bulma?"
"Oh Goku, thank Kami!" I cried out, bursting into unexpected tears. My parents, who were both worriedly sitting at the kitchen table, glanced up at me. I vaguely heard my mom tell my dad how she hoped Vegeta was all right, but I ignored her. Rapidly I gave Goku the straight facts about what had happened, leaving out anything that might have made the situation awkward. No sooner had I finished talking that I heard my parents gasp. I whirled around, thinking Vegeta might have just staggered in the door or something, but I spun straight into Goku's chest. I yelped and dropped the phone, but Goku caught it before it hit the ground.
"Sorry about that!" he exclaimed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I really need to learn to warn people before I do that." I was clutching my chest in a desperate attempt to calm my racing heart, and could only glare at him.
"Well," I said when I could talk again, "can you find him?" Goku smiled.
"Oh sure! I just need to concentrate on his ki. You really don't notice stuff like that unless you really focus on it, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure Goku. Just...do it now, ok?"
"Oh, right. I'm sure he's still out there training, Bulma. Nothing to worry about!" He said that in full confidence, however, half a second later, a worried look crossed his face. "Shit..." he breathed out, and I froze. Goku RARELY cussed.
"What? What is it? Goku, what's wrong?" I asked urgently. He glanced at me.
"His ki's really low. He's still alive, but I think he's probably unconscious."
"Well come on then! We have to go to him!" I exclaimed, grabbing Goku's arm. "Do the teleport thing, hurry!"
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying, calm down Bulma. Dr. Briefs, do you think you can go to a med-lab or something so I can concentrate on you and teleport us there when we get Vegeta?" Goku asked, completely calm with the situation. I never dealt well with things like this.
"Oh, yes, yes of course. Good plan m'boy," my father said, and then quickly got up and scurried out of the room. The last thing I heard before Goku and I fazed out was my mother wailing, "Poor Vegeta!"
We appeared back in the field I was at earlier, but I couldn't see anything because it was so dark. Goku powered up to Super Saiyan, allowing his gold glow to bask the area with light. I glanced around and quickly spotted a huddled form on the ground a few feet away.
"Vegeta!" I gasped, and immediately ran to him. Damn it, if he would only LISTEN to me. Goku wasted no time following me and before I knew it we were fazing into the same med-lab Vegeta had stayed in before. Powering down, Goku knelt down in front of Vegeta.
"His ears are bleeding," he said, looking at the sticky, red trail down the side of Vegeta's face. "Or they were, anyway. I can't tell if they are anymore or not."
"It looks to me like he got struck by lightening," I heard my father say, coming up behind us. "And it's the only thing that really makes sense. Look, his hair is singed a little." ...The only thing that really makes sense? It didn't make sense AT ALL to me. How could a little bit of lightening knock out a saiyan? I would have thought they were too strong for that. Glancing at Goku, I noticed his slightly confused expression, as if he didn't exactly understand it either. My father knelt down then and stuck a shot in Vegeta's arm, most likely a sedative to keep him out for a while. Vegeta groaned slightly. Goku, however, screamed in fear.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! NEEDLE! GET IT AWAY!"
"GOKU! Calm down! Dad, put that thing away!" I ordered, and he quickly did so, looking startled.
"Uh, eh-heh, sorry..." Goku smiled sheepishly again.
"No problem. Now, can you get Vegeta up on the bed?"
& & & &
An hour later, Vegeta was all cleaned up and sleeping in the med-lab while Goku and I stood off to the side of his bed, talking. We heard a groan from Vegeta, so naturally I quickly went over to him. Once again I missed another smirk that was directed at my back, only this time it was from Goku.
"Vegeta?" I asked softly, smiling when he blinked and squinted his eyes.
"Bulma?" I nodded.
"Mhmm." He growled suddenly.
"Why is Kakarot here?"
"Oh hey, would you look at the time? Chichi's gonna kill me, gotta go!" Goku said, quickly teleporting away before Vegeta got too mad.
"You really did a number on yourself, y'know that?" I asked him, smirking. He just stared blankly at me. "Well, I guess it was actually Mother Nature that did a number on you..." He still didn't say anything. "I told you to come back with me, didn't I? You should have listened. I AM a genius you know, and you KNOW I was right." The only response I got this time was a slight narrowing of his eyes, as if in confusion. "So...what happened exactly? Do you remember? Goku and I couldn't figure out what might have knocked you unconcious." I waited several seconds for him to answer, but he didn't, and I was getting annoyed. "Vegeta, what's your problem?" I asked, narrowing my own eyes angrily and propping one of my hands up on my waist. He still just stared at me. "Damn it Veg-"
"Bulma," Vegeta said quite loudly, cutting me off and sounding very serious about whatever it was he was about to say. "Would you mind telling me why thehell this constant buzzing in my head won't go away?"
Shit...
Er...lol, yeah. Next chapter up soon!
-Maxine