[She's really pretty.]

Vegeta was sitting on the veranda's steps when Oika came up behind him and pushed a note into his face. He scoffed at the note but shrugged after that as he remained his back to her, continued to muse at the happenings of the past three weeks and how he needs to settle this awkward little dispute between him and Bulma.

Seeing that he wasn't responding fully to her presence, Oika sat down next to him. She looked at him from the sides only to find him staring into the evening sky. How quickly the sky had turned dark. The stars were already shining brightly on the higher part of the black mass while the remaining sunlight smudges far into the horizon.

The silence dragged on awkwardly but none of them would make a sound until Vegeta rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh to the ruffling and scribbling sound of a note being written. He wonders how someone can be so silent yet noisy at the same time.

[You love her, don't you? You don't have to lie to me, Prince Vegeta. I can tell. I am mute, not dumb. Everyone can see that Bulma and I resemble each other greatly apart from certain outstanding features. Only you and I knew what had almost transpired between us, and well, between you and me, you have controlled yourself quite well and I respect you for that.]

"Control... hmph!" he scoffed as he turned to look away from Oika. If he has good self control, he wouldn't be so smitten with the human earthling.

[I know she loves you too.], and she smiled sadly.

Vegeta could only stare into Oika's eyes, wanting desperately to believe that to be true, but it couldn't be. Bulma hated him! Loathed him and despised him!

[I saw it in her eyes. To her, I am no more than a rival. But I am a woman as well and I know that the only way she can have a peace of mind with me is that you would have to make the first move with her. To show her that she is the one that you want, unless... she is not the one who you want after all.]

Gripping onto the paper, a distant look crept to Vegeta's face. He makes the first move?! How?

[Just spend time with her. You'll know what to do from there.],with that written, Oika smiled at him as she stood from her spot and walked towards the house, leaving Vegeta with thoughts of Bulma hanging in his head.

----

Bulma jerked from her sleep, her face was stinging badly, thus causing her to wake up painfully on one side of the cheek. Sitting upright, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slowly traced her hand on the stinging cheek. Only then she realised she must have dozed off in front of the computer.

'Great. Now I have keyboard face!' she whined while rubbing her temporarily ugly, stamped face.

She turned to look at the time and was startled that it was already close to midnight. She didn't realise that her 'little' nap had taken this long and now she's not only missed lunch, but dinner and supper as well. She was starving.

As she reached the kitchen, a note was stuck onto the fridge door, stating that there are sandwiches on the table if she wanted to eat. Her mother was worried that she wouldn't bother prying her eyes away from the monitor to eat so she took the initiative to make her stubborn but dedicated daughter something light and easy on-the-go to eat.

After gobbling down a sandwich or two, Bulma thought she would take a quick shower before heading back to the GR to continue her work. Stretching her limbs as she walked towards the staircase that leads her upstairs, she stopped short as she saw something, or rather someone sitting and leaning his elbows on the steps of the veranda. She frowned and rolled her eyes as she noticed the raving flamed hair in the dark.

However, as she was about to turn towards the stairs, Vegeta's head moved as he leaned his head back to face the sky above and let out a deep and loud sigh. Feeling rather curious and slightly worried for the man before her, she slowly tip-toed towards the seemingly troubled prince.

"There's no need to creep up behind me, woman," said Vegeta quietly, but loud enough for Bulma to hear from the living hall while he turned his head to the side to look at the startled woman behind him with the corner of his eyes.

"Sit." He demanded. Perhaps a little too demanding than he had intended to.

Frowning a little deeper, and unbelievingly, she obeyed him. Bulma walked up to him without breaking eye contact and sat quietly next to him. As they sat in silence having another one of their staring competition, unbeknownst to the other, feelings of all sorts were swelling deep inside both of them, threatening to burst out into an uncontrollable ocean of emotions.

Unable to stand the intense glare of his dark eyes, Bulma fidgeted nervously and looked away; curling her legs up to her chest to wrap her hands around it. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes, willing the emotions to leave her system, but she soon realised they never will.

Bulma thought that she should leave and go on with what she has initially been 'demanded' to do by his royal highness. She didn't mind at this point because she didn't want to be in the same room with Vegeta as the tension between them now had begun to build rather rapidly.

Opening her eyes, she stood up and was prepared to walk away when suddenly she felt a hand grabbed onto her wrist. It wasn't a hard grip, in fact it was gentle and... insisting. Bulma tensed but felt compelled to stay, but at the same time, she was afraid.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a tone that Bulma has never heard before. It sounded sad and filled with... unexplained emotions. Bulma knew that this was one of those moments where she will never get to see from the proud prince again if she did not respond to it, so she loosen up a little bit and left her hand hanging in his.

"I'm going to see what else needs finishing up for the GR. By tomorrow, we can refuel the tank and--"

Before she could finish her sentence, Vegeta pulled at her roughly to seat her next to him, hip by hip.

"Vegeta, what--?

"Why do you always talk so much, woman?" he snarled but his expression was one of amused. "Be silent."

Bulma was quick to obey as she deliberately shut her mouth while looking into the eyes of the prince, carefully and cautiously. She was confused and slightly curious with Vegeta's sudden behaviour. Is he being... playful?

Letting out a sigh, Bulma turned away from him and looked towards the garden. Placing her hands on her now stretched knees, she turned to look up into the midnight sky. Pondering into the dark mass, she wonders what Vegeta went through when he was in space for the past three weeks, or how he had met Oika.

"Vegeta," she called to him, softly and gently as she struggled for the right words to say in order to keep their conversation a civil and decent one. She didn't want him to bring up the topic of her telling him to leave.

"If the fuel in the ship wasn't low..." she paused, the next words were on the tip of her tongue but she didn't know if she would want to hear his answer.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow while eyeing her with a frown plastered on his face. His impatience was rising as his curiosity caught up with him.

"Out with it, woman."

Bulma dropped her head, her eyes staring blankly at the grass that was growing just below the bottom steps. Frowning hard as she bit the insides of her bottom lip, she took a deep breath and turned to look at Vegeta in the eyes.

Their gaze were locked, neither of them turned to look away as they tried to outstare one another.

"Would you... return?" she tensed as the words finally left her lips. She held on to the breath that she took in earlier as she waited for his answer.

All Vegeta could do was stare back at her with a look that she couldn't define. He couldn't find the answer to that. Would he have returned if it's not for the shortage of fuel? Or would he have returned at all?

"Forget it, I-I didn't mean to ask that," said Bulma nervously as Vegeta took a little bit more time than she would like to sum up an answer to that question of hers.

"I would," he answered as he scowled at her sudden change of attitude. "I guess," he shrugged as he wasn't even sure of the reason behind his answer. Of course, he would've returned but the reasons were to fight the androids and test his strength and of course, to have his final battle with Kakarot to redeem his pride. But, were those the only reasons?

He turned to look into Bulma's eyes. His expression softened when he saw that small smile played on her lips, but he knew she was more than ecstatic inside. In fact, she must be blooming with happiness. He scoffed with a smirk on his face and turned away from her for second before looking back at her again. He stared into her eyes and slowly traced his gaze down to her lips longingly.

Bulma noticed his stare as her heart started to race, remembering their first kiss. She closed her eyes tight, trying to calm her emotions. Bulma admits to herself that she was indeed very happy to hear that he would return. It didn't matter the reason why he would, but he would. And that's all that matters because that meant that as long as he's back, she would be able to right the wrongs that she's done, and then she will finally have the chance to tell him how she really felt for him. Even if he doesn't respond to her feelings the way she hoped he would, well, she could tell herself that at least she tried. After all, a leopard can't change its skin, but Vegeta is a breathing, intelligent, living being who is able to think and fend for himself. There is no way that he can be that emotionless to not react to the feeling of being wanted, needed, or loved.

"I was 16," she suddenly started as she tried to ease the tensed situation between Vegeta and her by changing topics. "... when I started venturing out, looking for the dragon balls just to make a wish."

Vegeta's brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes, completely annoyed with the sudden change of atmosphere. He frowned at her and closed his eyes, but listened on anyway as he leaned back on the steps with his elbows, turning his head to the sky above, wondering how women can be so noisy at every hour, every day, and every night.

"I always had a knack for getting myself into deep shit, but I always thanked God that I had... Goku by my side," she smiled and continued, "We were always striving and striving, pushing ourselves to the limits where danger knows no boundaries, just to get our hands on the dragon balls. Enemies from all over the world were always on our tails, threatening to kills us but we always managed to fight them off."

"Weaklings," he scoffed.

"Perhaps," she paused as a distant expression crept on her face. "But I always had a certain liking to danger," she turned to him. "It... excites me and... brings me to the pinnacle of... of everything. I guess I believe that my love for danger had always led me to unexpected miracles."

Vegeta opened his eyes and turned to look at Bulma when she finally stopped talking. In his mind, he wondered about the reason behind of her tale. Why she had told him? Does it mean anything? She said something about gathering the dragon balls and pushing herself to the limits, and what for? Her possible death in exchange for a wish?

"What was your wish?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes, mentally cursing himself as he quickly closed his mouth when that question slipped out unintentionally. He didn't want to ask her anything, but he was curious.

Bulma continued to look into his eyes, her blue eyes staring intensely into his ebony ones, searching and hoping to find a tinge of emotion in there, but all she saw was the usual stoic expression of his.

"I wished," she started, her voice gentle and smooth as she looked longingly into his eyes, capturing and locking him in place with her alluring gaze.

"... for a prince of my own."