**OMG! I've been rereading DCT and I cannot believe how...CORNY it is becoming! *sigh* The one thing I wanted to avoid as an author...I guess I've failed. Oh well, it's too late to fix all of the storyline, so I've decided that my newest fic, Better Times Are Coming is going to be almost NOTHING like DCT. Hn...maybe I can prevent the later chapters of DCT from becoming sappy and crappy too...I'll try. Okay, I'm sorry that posting has been delayed, but I DO have school and family and friends and a boyfriend, basically, I've got a life now *sob* You all know the drill, more reviews = more chapters. So plz R&R ANY of my fics that you've read, it's called being POLITE! Rambling is done. JA!**

Chapter 21:
Uh-Oh! More Problems Arise...

Bulma gasped as the pressure was suddenly relieved from her delicate frame. Her sky-blue eyes popped open and focused on the male responsible for saving her.

"VEGETA!" she screeched, sitting up quickly and wrapping her arms around the surprised Saiyan's neck as tears flooded down her pale face. She regretted doing it as soon as she felt the unbearable pain from her bruised bones. The woman whimpered and lay back down softly, Vegeta's hands gently guiding her.

"Never...do that...again..." he choked out, still short of breath. Bulma's eyes widened as she saw his right hand rise into the air slightly. Was he going to hit her? Why would he do such a thing, given her already injured body? He could kill her if he smacked her hard enough!

Vegeta saw Bulma's sudden alarm and slowly brought his hand down to cup the left side of her face. She closed her eyes in fear as he put his other palm on her right side and leaned his face towards hers. No, he obviously wasn't going to hit her...just bitch at her and verbally berate her while holding her head so she couldn't escape.

The woman was shocked when he lowered his lips to hers and began the process of kissing her tiny mouth. Bulma's eyes opened somewhat to see his gazing at her gently, reassured, she again closed her orbs and kissed him back.

**You scared the shit out of me, woman.** came Vegeta's voice in her head as their kiss continued.

**I scared the shit out of myself.** she admitted, lightly raising her head to get more into the intimate gesture he had initiated.

**Hn. If you ever do that again...** he began, unsure as to his true point.

**Don't worry, I won't. I may be foolish sometimes...** mental chuckling on his part. **But there's no way in hell I would ever risk my life like that again. What if my Prince isn't there to save me next time?**

**I'll always be here, because you are mine. And I don't allow anything harmful happen to my property.** Vegeta grunted, kissing her harder.

**AUG!** Bulma's psychic voice cried out in disgust as she drew her head from his and broke the kiss.

"Woman, what the hell is the matter with you?!" Vegeta demanded aloud.

"Is that all I am to you? Some sort of thing that you've claimed as your own?! That is horrible!" she exclaimed angrily, turning her head to her left and refusing eye-contact with the Saiyan warrior.

"Why are you making such a big deal about it, dammit?! You belong to me, you are my mate mentally and soon shall be so physically as well! It's not a difficult concept to understand!" he roared back, moving from where he had hovered over her during their "meeting."

"I do not belong to you! I never have! This bondage crap was a simple mistake is all! You are not my master, and I am not some two-bit whore to you! I have a life and a love, and neither include YOU!" she screamed, her emotions causing tears to drip from her flushed face.

"There you are wrong. You do belong to me, you are my prostitute if I so want you to be, and I am your life now!" he growled, his fiery temper rising.

"NO! I'D JUST AS SOON GO BACK TO YAMCHA THAN SPEND MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE WHORING SOME FILTHY, MURDERING, SEX-DRIVEN, MONKEY-ASSED PRINCE!" Bulma yelled.

"WOMAN! YOU WILL LEARN TO HOLD YOUR TONGUE IN MY PRESENCE OR I SHALL HOLD IT FOR YOU! I AM YOUR GOD, YOUR KING, YOUR LORD, AND YOUR MATE NOW AND WHAT I SAY GOES!" Vegeta snarled.

"No." Bulma retorted simply.

"No....?! NO?! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE PRINCE OF THE SAIYANS IN SUCH A DISRESPECTFUL WAY?! I SHOULD-" he began, only to be cut off by the smaller female.

"You should what? Huh, Vegeta? WHAT are you going to do to me this time? Hit me? Continue bitching at me about how I am now your property? Or...or are you going to be even worse than that? Are you going to be like Frieza and rape me? A smaller, weaker species than yourself, are you going to rape me just because I piss you off and refuse to be your personal harlot? So tell me, Vegeta, what are you going to do to me? Because it can't hurt me any more than you already have. Why don't you just rip my heart out of my damn chest? Just take it out and stomp on it like you have been doing, trample it. Do whatever you want, but it can't cause me pain worse than the agony I'm feeling right now. You kiss me, then threaten to kill me. If this is love, then I want no damn part of it. You don't even know what you want from me. A good lay? Nah, not your style. Just steal my heart from me and leave me to die already! It's what you always do. Hurt, leave, and never return. As far as I'm concerned, you are dead to me. You died on Namek, and that is where you are still in my eyes. I'd thought, no I'd HOPED, that you'd changed, I knew I'd come to love you the first time I saw you. Even if you were some psychopathic murderer at the time, I knew that you were the one destiny had set aside for me. I only wish that you felt the same way, but it's now painfully obvious to me that you don't. You don't care, you never have. People are not belongings, Vegeta. If you loved me, then you would know that. You are no better than Yamcha, and maybe I should just go back to him because he at least PRETENDED to love me. I can't survive with a cold man as my lover, I need warmth. Or one day I won't wake up, I'll be as dead as you inside...only then, no one will care to attempt to help me like I've been trying to do with you. I'll be lost, and all because I had to go and fall in love with the man who knew nothing nor cared nothing of that sacred passion. So do what you want with me, Vegeta, because I don't care anymore. I don't care." Bulma ended, struggling to her feet and opening her arms, glaring at him viciously as hundreds of painful emotions swirled in the depths of her azure eyes.

'Where the hell did all that come from?' Vegeta thought in surprise, he'd had no idea she felt that way. That she was so depressed that she was actually considering go back and giving herself to that cheating bakayaro of an ex-boyfriend came as an unpleasant shock.

The prince was at a loss for words, and actions. He was unsure of how to respond.

"I only have one request." Bulma began again, tears streaming down her cheeks; half from the immense ache of her bruised and fractured bones, the other half from her emotional torture. "If you rape me, please kill me after so I don't have to feel this pain anymore. I can't stand it, it's too hard to live with such a burden on my back. It's too hard..."

Vegeta's eyes widened at her desperate plea. She wanted to die? She was just going to give up on life like that? He'd had no idea how far into this depression she had sunk, but the obvious was staring him square in the face. And he felt obliged to comply with her entreaty.

A/N: Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! The tormenting author has struck again! Evil cliff-hanger huh?! Ooooo I just love doing this! So, is Veggie-head going to end Bulma's pain? Is he going to kill her? What will happen if he does? Will they ever live happily ever after?! Why are my fingernails breaking? Why do we have to go to school for almost half our lives and work the rest? How come girls have more shit to deal with than boys? Why is my dog chasing shadows? Why are you still reading this? Why am I babbling? Oh yeah, just to annoy you! *Dodges flying fruit, fists, and stones* HAH! YOU MISSED ME! NEE-NER NEE-NER NEE-NER! WHAT THE HELL. . . ?! *Attempts yet fails to get out of the way of a huge, rotten pumpkin* Gee, thanks! Now I've got icky pumpkin juice in my eyes! Hmm, I think I'll be lazy and quit writing for a month. *Gets thrown into highway by angry readers* Kami, fine fine! I won't torture you guys for a whole month! Now leave me be, I've got vehicles to taunt! *Hops around cars,
trying to avoid getting hit* Sayonara suckers! *Large semi heads straight for her* Oh shit... PS: Sorry that this chapter was so corny...I'll try to prevent it from ever happening again, Scout's Honor! Yes...I am an ex-girlscout...*sweatdrop* how embarassing...