Bulma's point-of-view...
Whatever rocky, semi-friendship we had started to form crumbled sometime after the whole lightning incident. Vegeta never really told me what happened out there, but as soon as he recovered - ok, so it was the next day - he threw himself into his training more seriously than ever. It was rare that I saw him from then on out. He came in for meals, but even then he didn't eat with the rest of us. I know he DID eat, because there was always food missing from the fridge, so I'm assuming he ate late at night. That, or early in the morning.
Then again, with him, those times might just overlap...
In any case, that was how he spent his life. Eat, sleep, train, grunt at me whenever we happened to pass each other in the hall. I didn't have a real conversation with him for at least a month.
And he definitely wouldn't be taking anymore days off for "relaxed" training.
Hmph.
Anyway, my birthday came about in July. Now, usually I have a huge party and invite all my friends, and blah blah blah, you know, cake, balloons, bands, the whole spiel. The past two years, though, I guess we'd all been a bit preoccupied. Come to think of it...I hadn't had a big party in years...anyway! I didn't have a big party that year either.
My parents were really nice about it, as always. They still bought me presents, made my favorite breakfast, so on and so forth. They even had balloons up. Heh, I was touched, really, but I was a little on edge. Hell, I'd been on edge ever since Vegeta stopped talking to me! I didn't like how he was ignoring me, and while I knew he wasn't doing it purposely, it still irked me.
So, I did something stupid. Anything to get his attention, right?
Wrong.
But I'm dumb like that. I took what could have been short and simple and made it long and painful. Downright hurtful, even. Though I didn't mean a word of it.
I should have learned I could never REALLY win in an argument with Vegeta.
& & & &
I awoke slowly that morning, letting my eyes adjust to the dim light pouring through my windows and trying to figure out what had roused me from my deep sleep. It was someone tapping on my door.
"Bulma, honey?" I heard my mother's voice call, muffled through the wood. I groaned. "Are you awake? Bulma?"
"M'up, mom," I mumbled, sliding further beneath my blankets. Middle of July or not, I still slept beneath my nice, toasty quilt.
"What was that?"
I sighed agitatedly, pulling the blanket off my head. "I said I'm UP," I bit out, a little louder. I heard a squeal of excitement from my mother, and I could feel my brow furrow in confusion. Then the door swung open and my mom very nearly bounced over to me.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart!" she cried, throwing her arms around me as I sat up. "You're father's downstairs making your FAVORITE breakfast, isn't that nice? How did you sleep?" she continued to ask, smiling at me through her ever-closed eyes. I didn't bother answering her questions, I was still busy trying to comprehend what she'd said at first.
It was my birthday already?
"Goodness, you slept long enough, didn't you? Come on, come on, get up! You have to open your presents. I bought you a new outfit that I think you'll just love!" my mom tittered on. I snuck a glance at the clock, surprised to see that it was already 11:17. Then her words caught up with me once more.
"A new outfit?" I asked meekly, eyes going wide. My mom, though I love her dearly, canNOT pick out clothes for me. I swear, I think she believes I'm still in kindergarten or something.
Sure enough, a little later as I prepared to get dressed, I had to stare in horror at what she bought.
Come ON, mom.
Pink and purple went out AGES ago.
Especially pink tank tops, purple hair scrunchies, and matching pink and purple plaid skirts.
I had to stand there for a while trying to pretend it was somewhat cute...
It wasn't working.
Luckily, I would only have to wear this once, today, and then shove it in the back of my closet with the rest of my plaid and polka dot clothes. Ugh.
As I was doing my hair, I seriously considered putting it up in a sideways ponytail and then bouncing off to the nearest high school to see if I could pass as a student...
Nah.
A little while later, after eating the breakfast so lovingly prepared for me, I was on my way to the living room to lounge about lazily and do nothing all day. I never work when it's my birthday. See my grin? Heh, when you're the president of a billion-dollar company, you can pull stunts like that.
So, I was halfway through the door when Vegeta decides to grace us with his presence for the first time in months.
It scared the shit out of me, as he pretty much appeared out of nowhere.
I was standing there, hand over my chest and trying to catch my breath when I noticed his eyes running up and down my form. I grinned smugly and was about to comment on it, but he beat me to it.
Crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe, he raised an eyebrow at me. "You do realize that outfit clashes horribly with your hair, right?"
The smug grin fell right off my face.
"Well thank you, Mr. Fashion," I said sarcastically, propping my arms up on my waist. Vegeta smirked and nodded his head once, as if saying, "you're welcome." I made a disgusted sound in the back of my throat, but immediately felt the need to explain the reason for such a horrid choice of clothes. "My mom bought these for me," I said lightly, tossing my hair over my shoulder.
"Your mother still buys your clothes?" Vegeta asked incredulously. "Kami forbid you have ANYTHING that looks somewhat decent."
I didn't know if that was a compliment or not, so I decided to ignore it.
"No, Vegeta, I buy my own clothes. It's just that it's my birthday today, so she got this as a gift for me." I did a slow turn for him. "She thinks I'm turning five." Vegeta blinked and let out a short bark of laughter, before pausing.
"Your birthday?" he asked, frowning slightly.
"Uh-huh."
"I thought it was next week." Again, I wasn't sure if this was the truth or not, but this was the longest conversation we'd had in weeks, so I didn't care.
"Nope, it's definitely today."
"Oh." There was an awkward pause in our talking, which was strange, as it had never occurred before. Then I just had to go and open my yap.
"Well?" I said suggestively, eying his muscled form and finally noticing that he had just come from the GR.
"Well what?" he replied edgily, as if getting tired of our talking.
"Well, aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?" I chuckled lightly, but Vegeta's eyebrows furrowed.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because it's my birthday!"
"Yes, we've been over that already."
"Well, that's what you do on earth when it's someone's birthday. You say 'happy birthday!'"
"Hn. Another stupid human tradition. Tell me, what exactly does it accomplish?" I blinked at him.
"Um...well, nothing really, except make the person feel good..." I paused. "It's just the polite thing to do!"
"Heh, I'm NOT polite."
"Believe me, I know."
"Watch your mouth, woman."
"Oh, so we're back to the woman thing, now?" Somewhere along the line, our voices started rising. "What, you're already too high-and-mighty to grace us with your SAIYAN presence anymore, but now you don't even acknowledge our names!"
"That's right," Vegeta growled. "Is that a problem?"
"Yes! Need I remind you, Ve-ge-ta," I started, punctuating each syllable in his name, "you are a guest in this house."
"Whatever." He tried to walk past me, but I stepped in his path. "WHAT do you WANT?"
"YOU are intolerable, Vegeta!"
"Oh, big word. Don't overwork your brain."
"I'm a genius, remember? I can't 'overwork my brain.'"
"You'd be surprised. Now, you're interrupting my training, get out of my way." Vegeta tried to move around me again, but I wouldn't budge. "Don't make me hurt you," he threatened.
"You wouldn't dare," I nearly hissed at him. His balled up fist suddenly lit up with energy. I could feel the heat from where I was standing, and it only got hotter as he slowly walked toward me, eyes hard and cold.
"Is that a challenge?" he whispered fiercely. I lifted my chin a notch and continued to stare him straight in the eyes, though I was pretty sure he could hear my heart pounding frantically. "DON'T tempt me, woman." He let the energy extinguish from his fist, clearly expecting me to move, but I stood my ground defiantly. He looked at me exasperatedly, and for some reason I noted that he was only inches away from me. "Have you gone insane? What ARE you trying to accomplish?"
Hmm, what had we started arguing about? Oh yeah.
"Wish me happy birthday," I said to him through clenched teeth, forcing back a wince at how petty that sounded. He blinked at me, and then narrowed his eyes.
"Why? So you'll feel good about yourself? Isn't that the point of the whole thing?" His low voice was rumbling about me and I went weak at the knees. He was pissed at me, I could tell, but there was an underlying confusion in his voice, as if he didn't quite understand why I was being so stubborn about this.
To be honest, I wasn't so sure myself, so I only gave him a slight nod. He grinned, but there was no humor in it whatsoever.
"Well then in that case, by all means..." He bowed to me, folding one arm across his chest and sweeping the other out in a graceful gesture. And this wasn't just your average, polite-type bow. This one was mocking in its depth, Vegeta's back far past parallel with the ground. "Happy. Birthday. Bulma." His voice was hard and his eyes harder as he stood straight again, glaring at me.
He seemed to have gotten a new angry look, because this glare chilled me to the bone, whereas I'd gotten to the point where I could ignore his other one.
He went to move past me, and this time I stepped aside, letting him. My hair had fallen in my eyes but I didn't bother to move it. Vegeta paused when he was directly beside me and spoke again, his tone filled with a sort of fake humor, anger bellying it.
"You should have the honor of knowing, as my beautiful hostess, that you're the first person I've bowed to since Kakarot stole my right to kill Frieza." He smiled that mocking grin, the one that had no truth in it whatsoever, and moved past me into the kitchen.
I could feel my cheeks burning as I clenched my fists; in anger, embarrassment, shame...I wasn't sure. Maybe all three. I knew he had never bowed to Frieza out of honor for the tyrant. He'd hated the guy, bowing to him had been a blow to his pride and he'd never done so seriously.
I was quite aware of what he was telling me.
For some reason, I didn't enjoy the rest of my birthday.
& & & &
Pretty pathetic, huh? But that was just the start of it. Trust me, that was not the painful argument I was referring to. That'll come soon enough.
That was the start of it though. From then on out, Vegeta didn't even grunt at me anymore. I wanted to apologize to him more than anything, but my own pride wouldn't let me. I ignored him as effectively as he ignored me. I buried myself in my work, sleeping and eating less. I was pretty much in a bad mood at all times of the day.
I guess I was morphing into Vegeta.
Well, not really.
That went on for nearly three months. It may have been closer to two and a half, I don't know.
And then one day, the GR broke.
& & & &
"Woman!"
The voice startled me, as I hadn't heard it in a long time. I didn't slow in my walk, though. If anything, I sped up. I did NOT want to talk to that stupid, mangy, good-for-nothing, ugly-
"WOMAN!" A hand landed on my shoulder and I nearly screamed as I was turned around and shoved up against the wall. "When I talk to you, you listen, got it?" Vegeta was growling to my face. I met his eyes angrily.
"I'll listen if I want to," I said defiantly, doing that chin-raising thing and gazing at him coolly. Vegeta ignored me.
"The GR's broken, you have to fix it." He released my shoulder, clearly expecting me to run of to the said machine.
Ha.
I think not.
"I don't HAVE to do anything," I tried to growl back at him. I'll admit my growl was pretty pathetic. Vegeta turned slowly to look at me.
"What did you just say?" he asked calmly, and I immediately got nervous. Vegeta? Calm?
"Uh, I-I said I don't have to do anything," I said quickly, trying not to cower into the wall behind me. I don't like being around a calm Vegeta. Crazy things could happen... Vegeta actually chuckled at me. I knew that couldn't possibly be a good thing.
"Bulma, Bulma, Bulma," he chided. "You don't seem to understand. When I say to do something...you do it!" he continued, pinning me with that cold glare and dropping all signs of amusement. I think it may have been his mocking use of my name, but suddenly, something sparked in me.
I got pissed.
"No, Vegeta. I don't think you understand," I said flatly, standing up straight and pushing my face in front of his. "I don't have to do a damn thing for you, you FUCKING DUMBASS!" I screamed at him. He actually seemed startled for a second before his face hardened again and he opened his mouth to retort. But I cut him off. "NO! You listen to me, Vegeta, and listen good. I offered you a home here, and you accepted. You've been here for two years, in which we have fed you, clothed you, given you a place to train, all for nothing! We didn't ask for a damn thing in return!"
In all actuality, I could care less about giving him these things. We could certainly afford it, after all.
"I'm saving your fucking planet in return!" Vegeta yelled right back at me.
"Goku can save the fucking planet!"
"Kakarot's supposed to die!"
"HE HAS THE MEDICINE!"
"He'll die anyway! YOU CAN'T CHANGE FATE!"
"Well then you'll die too, so WHAT'S THE POINT!" I paused for a half-second here, before shaking my head and bringing up a hand to shade my eyes. "No, you know what? You should already BE dead." That threw him off for a second.
"And what exactly are you referring to?" he growled, taking a half-step closer to me so that our chests were touching.
"You don't get it, do you?" I asked, chuckling coldly and lowering my hands so that I could stare at him with eyes of ice. "You're here by accident," I bit out as harshly as I could, still talking in an eerily quiet voice. "When we wished for everyone who was killed by Frieza to be brought back to life, you just happened to be included. No one wished you back specifically, and nobody would have. You were too weak to kill Frieza, you died by his hand, and your precious KAKAROT had to bury you."
What the HELL was I saying! Stop, Bulma, STOP!
But I didn't, the words were coming of their own accord. I was using the one thing I KNEW Vegeta had a sore spot about, and I was hitting him hard.
"You. Were. Dead. You didn't turn super saiyan, you didn't beat Frieza, and you weren't missed. You were dead, buried, and done with." I crossed my arms and stared at him coldly. "Nobody wanted you back, you're only here because of a misworded wish. You weren't wanted then, you're not wanted now, and quite frankly, I doubt you'll ever be wanted. You're only excess baggage that has to be stored somewhere, and that somewhere happens to be MY house. I don't have to do ANYTHING you tell me to."
Kami, did I have a death wish or something?
Vegeta wasn't talking, so I continued on.
Very. Stupid.
"Kami, you're an accident! I can't believe I allowed you stay at my house this long! Hell, I don't even know why Frieza kept you around so long, you're such a god-damn nuisance! Your own father didn't even want you, handing you off to Frieza like he did. Are you even his son? I bet you're even an accident on your mother's behalf-"
Ok, everyone go "oooooooh"...
BIG mistake.
One second I was babbling out insult after insult, half in fear now as I realized that I could quite possibly die because of my stupidity...
The next second I was very nearly being killed.
Vegeta had me up against the wall, hand around my neck not allowing any air through. His eyes were filled with a smoldering anger so intense that I'd never seen anything like it before. And I'm fairly certain he almost went super saiyan, if the gold sparks shooting out around him were any clue. His energy was dancing in flames around him, burning against my skin.
I almost fainted from lack of air, when suddenly, he stopped.
That was it, he just...let go.
I was scared shitless.
He turned away from me slightly, arms crossed and form shivering slightly. Then he turned back...and stared at me with dead eyes.
I froze.
Kami, what had I done?
"You're right," he said tonelessly, tightening his grip on his upper arms. "I'll leave, no questions asked." He turned away from me again, arms dropping and hands balling up into tight fists. "Thank you for your hospitality, I'm sorry I was such a burden," he continued coldly. I couldn't turn to look at him. My hands were still pressed against the wall behind me, and I was amazed that I could actually breathe. "I wish your planet luck in its upcoming battle." What? "With any luck, it will survive and you will all DIE." Ah, that's what he meant.
I glanced at his retreating back out of the corner of my eye, not fully comprehending what was happening. But then he paused again, and for some reason his words brought me back to my senses.
"I guess that purple-haired brat won't be sired if I'm leaving, if indeed your assumptions about me being his father are true. Which, being the great genius that you are, it has to be the truth right?" Kami, the sarcasm was just dripping from his voice. "Strangely enough, I don't feel any remorse for him."
And then he was gone.
:whistles innocently: Hehe. Right, so unfortunately that's the last pre-written chapter I've got, so there's going to be a longer wait from here on out. But don't worry, new updates should be...er...somewhat soon:)
-Maxine