Chapter 12

Last time:

"Haven't activated the artificial gravity. Seems that's screw up number one that you have to fix…" Vegeta snickered.

"Okay, who gives a shit if shipboard gravity isn't working as long as your precious GR is? Can't it wait till I'm recovered from takeoff?" Bulma yelled at him. Then she clasped her head because of the splitting shard of red pain jamming through her conscious mind.

Vegeta's white-gloved hand caught hold of her, then set her upright. Bulma felt her stomach squirm because all of a sudden nothing seemed the right way up. Was the earth falling away at a rapid pace, and was the ceiling really the ceiling, or the floor. Her stomach swam and she covered her mouth. "Oh Kami... I'm gonna be sick…"

On with the story!

Rolling his eyes, Vegeta went to get the tool kit, and a number of clean rags. He buckled the heaving woman into her seat and went to fix the gravity himself before she made even more of a mess. He barked something in a language unfamiliar to her, and she blinked up at him. A horrid smell filled the enclosed space of her helmet till Vegeta undid the clasps and freed her.

"Oh no, I'm so embarrassed…"

"I'm used to you doing disgusting things woman," Vegeta sighed, picking her up and dragging her over to the stairs leading down to the lavatory. "I suggest you go clean up and get out of that suit. The gravity seems to be working now…"

"What did you just say a minute ago? It's no coincidence the gravity just kicked on…"

"I'll tell you after you clean that puke off your face, and rid us of that smell," Vegeta said a bit less gruffly than usual.

"Oh no…"

"The things I do for your weakling race," Vegeta snorted, realizing her shaky legs wouldn't steadily hold her weight. Holding his nose he carried her quickly down to the lavatory.

Bulma felt much better as the shower water blasted against her. Vegeta had been nice enough to help her off with the puke-ridden pressure suit. Promptly he had thrown it into the garbage disposal unit and demanded she not emerge from the bathroom till she'd taken a long hot shower. Waves of nausea abated, and Bulma felt more herself with the application of strawberry scented body shower gel.

She was just lathering her hair when she heard a clank. "Who… what's that?" she demanded, picking up her shampoo bottle. Nothing, and Bulma sighed as she convinced herself that it was just Vegeta playing mind games. What had he just said that coincidentally activated the gravity. He had said that he'd routed the ship to verbal command in event of an emergency. Wasn't the failure of artificial gravity an emergency? If so, what had caused it?

Bulma rinsed her body and hair free of suds, and sighed. All the mess and stink of her former humiliation spiraled down the drain. Another clank just outside made her yelp. She turned the shower off, and grabbed her towel to hold over her. A low moan reached her ears, and she yelped at the sound of footsteps.

"Vegeta?" she asked. "Don't mess with my head…"

No answer. Bulma groaned and grabbed the shampoo bottle, pushing open the door. Silence marred only by the hum of the antigravity engines reached her ears. She blinked, feeling fresh air evaporate the water from her body. Something instinctive told her that she wasn't alone, and that it wasn't Vegeta. Shaking, she stepped outside the bathroom, and heard steps coming steadily closer. Low moans and groans echoed distantly, and she swore they sounded nothing like Vegeta's voice. Rather more high pitched than his deep voice.

"Come on, this isn't funny!" Bulma called. "Enough already! Haven't you caused me enough humiliation?"

A hand reached out, grabbing her shoulder. Bulma screamed, bringing the shampoo bottle down hard on something. Hands grasped her wrists and she saw a very confused Vegeta standing there, holding her wrists in his white-gloved hands. "Are you crazy, woman?" he growled. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I could have broken your neck!"

"Vegeta!" she gasped, never so glad to see him in her life. "I swear you'd better stop the jokes now, cause it isn't funny!"

"What are you babbling about woman?" he demanded, letting her wrists go.

"I heard something, like voices… someone in pain…" Bulma said, glancing up at his unconvinced face.

"Your imagination," he snorted. "I was just in the GR. Apparently your repairs miraculously were unaffected…"

"Thanks bunches," she sighed.

Vegeta cocked his head to the side, nostrils flaring. He let out a low growl. Bulma felt fear reaching her heart, and stepped closer at the sign of his scowl. That defensive anger only came when he sensed danger with his enhanced hearing and smell. "Shut up," he hissed.

"I was right… you do hear it…" Bulma shivered. Distantly echoed the low moans, and she moved even more closely to him, shivering wet. Shower water dripped on the floor, as Bulma glanced around anxiously.

"Come out and show yourself," Vegeta said loudly. "You cannot escape me, whoever the hell you are… I'm in NO mood for games."

Footsteps and clanks echoed as Vegeta glanced anxiously around. His fangs bared as he raised his hand. Bulma let out a squeal of fright, jumping close to him at the bangs and clanks. To his added frustration, the human female had thrown her arms around his neck, pressing her body close to his.

"Vegeta I don't wanna die!" she wailed.

"Quit your whining girl, and be quiet!" he hissed. Her grip on his chest tightened, and he tolerated it, simply because he knew it was the only thing that would keep her from screaming. He tensed as something softly hit the floor, and he saw the scrap of blue cloth that had wrapped around the woman's wet body. Moisture soaked through his clothes when he felt her shivering body pressing to his. Realization dawned that she had just stepped out of the shower, and she was likely going to throw a fit when she realized her state of undress. Grunting, he turned her front so it was tucked tightly against his chest, and covered her bare back with his arm, keeping his hand just around to cover her rounded bottom. Bulma pressed her face tightly into his shoulder, arms wound tightly around his torso.

He leaned down and yanked the towel up, and Bulma screamed. He transferred it to the hand that held her bare hip, and used it to put between his gloved hand and her skin. "Show yourself!" Vegeta snarled, holding the squirming woman tightly to him.

Two figures rounded the corner, and Vegeta's fist glowed blue with his ki. Bulma screamed that ear-piercing scream that caused Vegeta to grit his teeth. In a fluid motion he pushed her away, wrapped the towel around her nude body, and restored enough decency so she wouldn't smack him for being a hentai, when it wasn't his damn fault she forgot to put on a robe when dashing out anyway.

"Uh, I'm dead," groaned one suited figure, while the other shorter one leaned on him.

"You are dead, you fucking bastards," Vegeta growled at them. "Do you know what Saiyajins do to stowaways on a ship?"

"Oh Kami Vegeta!" Bulma wailed.

"Bulma… what's he done to you?" groaned one of the suited figures.

"You can take those stupid space helmets off, before I blast you to the next dimension, and have two minutes to explain WHY you interfered in my business…"

"What the hell?" Bulma gasped, turning to face the shocked expressions of Krillen and Yamucha.

"Um… Bulma, we were just… um worried and um…" Krillen scratched his head, blushing bright red.

"You two are obviously up to something… and we arrived JUST in time…" Yamucha growled, glaring daggers through his profusely flushed face.

"What the fuck are you going on about! You two jerks scared the SHIT out of me!" Bulma screamed at them. "I'm going to kill you both!"

"Leave that pleasure to me, woman," Vegeta smirked. "I've been looking for an excuse to get rid of you two weaklings…"

"Now wait a minute Vegeta… we were just worried about her… and um…" Krillen stammered.

"You… you two…" Yamucha spluttered, hiding his hand before his face. "What's the meaning of this Vegeta… you let her go this instant you pervert!"

"Go put some clothes on woman," Vegeta said as he spun around and blocked her body with his, a move that registered at the edge of her infuriated brain.

"What?" Bulma gasped, and then let out an ear-piercing scream as she hid behind Vegeta. "I'm naked… get AWAYFROM ME YOU PERVERTS!"

"Stop screaming and put some clothes on, woman," Vegeta snarled at her. "While I deal with these two stowaways…"

"You two are FINISHED!" she screamed, racing down the hall in the direction of the room.

"Ouch…" Krillen groaned.

"You have thirty seconds before I blast you into hell…" Vegeta said in a voice of steel, fixing them both in a smirk. "So make it good…"

"You… and her…"

"You humans are the ones with the sick minds. I wasn't the one making the woman scream out of her mind… when I decided to poke my nose into someone else's fucking business," Vegeta snarled at them. "I might just throw you both out into space and make you WALK home!"

"Now Vegeta… don't be hasty," Krillen said.

"I… I…" Yamucha gasped. "What…"

"Buddy, I don't think we have any room to talk," Krillen whispered. "We're sorry Vegeta… we didn't actually think you'd launch the ship… and when we woke up, it was too late…"

"So you WERE spying on me, you insects," Vegeta snorted, thrusting his hand before both of them. Krillen and Yamucha leapt back as his ki flared. Slammed against the wall, they were shackled in his sphere of energy around their wrists and legs.

"Vegeta, we didn't… we were just worried about BULMA!" Krillen yelled.

"Let us go… what are you going to do to Bulma!" Yamucha wailed.

"Shut up, and be glad you're still breathing…" Vegeta hissed, and turned to leave them shackled to the wall by his ki.

The Prince of Saiyansgrabbed the blue robe and went to find the woman, who was still screaming and ranting in one of the rooms. "Stop that horrible noise woman! You're acting like they saw something of consequence!"

"Shut UP you pervert!" Bulma screamed, throwing something in Vegeta's direction. He let the bottle smash inches near his head.

"I just came to give you your robe you crazy bitch!" Vegeta yelled back, throwing it in and slamming the door. "It wasn't my fucking fault you rushed out of that bathroom naked! Besides, I'd go blind before I'd look at your hideous body!"

"What did you say?" Bulma screeched, yanking open the door, and thrusting her head out into the hall. She tied the sash of the blue robe tightly, hiding her trembling body behind the door. Blue eyes sparkled with outrage.

"Are you deaf, woman? I said I'd go BLIND before I'd subject myself to the hideous sight of your ugly body!" Vegeta repeated, glaring right back at her. "Now shut up and let me think!"

"You are an ASSHOLE!" Bulma screamed.

"Calm down you crazy bitch! I didn't see ANYTHING… and not that I give a shit what you do or don't wear to cover your hideousness, whatever virtue you imagined was concealed from those cowards…" Vegeta yelled back at her. His face flushed crimson as he averted his gaze from her with a hand over his face.

"You did or did NOT want to see me naked?" she yelled.

"You baka humans are the ones with stupid taboos about covering your ugly bodies, not me," Vegeta snorted, turning his gaze away. "Besides, you were clumsy enough to drop that flimsy drying cloth and expose yourself. Was I thinking about that, no?"

"I'm sorry Vegeta, I'm just so ANGRY!" she apologized.

"I don't want your fucking apology," Vegeta snarled. "Did I ask for it?"

"I… um… thanks for… um… hiding me then," Bulma breathed, exhaling her anger in a long puff that hit him in the face. "But right now, I can't think straight… just WHAT the hell were they doing on the ship…"

"That's what I'd like to know…" Vegeta snored. "Now will you stop screaming! I've got enough headaches already without having to be deafened as well as blinded by your…"

"Krillen and Yamucha… you aren't going to kill them are you?"

"You desired it, for you claim they saw your hideously naked body, and as such…"

"No Vegeta dammit! I mean I'm angry cause I don't like men looking at me naked…"

"Why should you be ashamed of showing other ugly humans your body if it's equally ugly?" he snorted. "One thought you had something WORTH hiding the way you recoiled!"

"Thanks bunches Vegeta," she breathed, trying to grip her anger. "But there's lots you have to know about our culture… don't tell me you like people leering at you…"

"I don't unless I wish it to be so. Is that why you're angry… because they saw you in a moment of weakness?" he smirked.

"Yes, dammit," she said. "To see a woman naked… is to see them… vulnerable…"

"Now you know why I hate public displays of weakness," Vegeta answered.

"Just don't kill them, okay? I'm mad, and they deserve to get the piss scared out of them… but don't kill them…"

"I'll try to restrain myself," Vegeta snickered. "But I think that they did wet those space suits when they saw me about to blast them into oblivion… I suppose that will be a sufficient punishment though I do want to throw them into space…"

"You are evil," she said. "But I'd have the same desire…"

Vegeta smirked as she burst into laugher, and her expression turned decidedly sinister. To see that malicious grin cross her face was a welcome sight, even if it was fleeting. IT seemed the blue haired wench had a mean streak to her that he could reach when necessary. Perhaps she wasn't the goody two shoes he thought was so nauseating after all.

"You can lock them up and keep them sweating," she said.

"Already done. I'm going to leave t hem shaking in their boots while I decide their fate," Vegeta cackled.

"Do so with my blessings…"

"As if I need YOUR consent to do anything on MY ship… you dumb bitch…"

"Bastard, remember who fixed this ship!" Bulma retorted.

"Get some clothes on, wench…" Vegeta spat back, grinning as he dodged the incoming hairbrush.