Hope Lost

Two weeks passed with Bulma still suffering from nightmares, but over time they became less consistent and she was finally able to sleep through the night. She could only give credit to Vegeta for helping her recover from the trauma of her attempted kidnappings. When her nightmares woke her up she would go to his room and sleep with him for the rest of the night. Sometimes, when she couldn't seem to escape her dreams she would wake up only to find Vegeta in her bed holding her close to him. She didn't know why he did it. She liked to think it was because he cared for her, but she couldn't help but think he did it for his own benefit of being able to sleep without her screams waking him up.

Either way, by the end of the two weeks after Vegeta returned to Capsule Corporation Bulma was no longer afraid to go to bed. She wasn't completely free of nightmares yet, but she knew she would be eventually. Until then, she had Vegeta to give her security. He never mentioned what he did for her, so she stayed silent about the matter as well. She was happy enough knowing he did it for her without her parents or anyone else knowing too. And she definitely wasn't going to say anything and make him change his mind about doing it again.

Vegeta was already eating breakfast one morning in mid-August when Dr. Brief shuffled in, reading his morning paper as was his daily routine. He sat down at the table across from Vegeta and started sipping his orange juice. He lowered his paper when Mrs. Brief set a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him.

"Can you believe this, dear? It seems someone has found what looks to be some sort of alien spacecraft near West City," Dr. Brief reported. He turned the page of his newspaper to continue reading the interesting article.

Vegeta dropped his fork, but neither of the Briefs seemed to notice. He looked across the table at the old scientist, but his newspaper was raised, blocking his view of his face. There was no way. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat. "Alien spacecraft?"

Dr. Brief nodded and lowered his paper enough to see the usually stoic boy staring at him wide-eyed. "Yes, it's really quite fascinating. Looks like only one person could travel in it at a time. Darn thing's busted up though. The government's confiscating it to study."

"Why?"

"Oh, I suppose they want to cover it and tell the world it was a hoax like they always do."

Vegeta frowned and turned his gaze back to his meal. He suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. If the humans were taking his space pod away somewhere, how would he ever get it back? He didn't know where it was being taken and that was likely confidential information that only the fattest cats in the government would have access to. There was no way he was ever going to be able to find out where it was being taken. Maybe there was still hope. Maybe it was still in the field and no one had actually moved it yet. He could kill anyone who came near it. But wouldn't that essentially give his identity away? He didn't want that. Not to mention he would have to guard it every hour of every day from there on out to make sure they didn't come for it while he was away. That would make finishing repairs impossible as he would have no way to gather supplies.

He returned to his schooled stoic façade and picked at the rest of his food, not really eating it. 'That's just great!' he raged. 'If those fool humans take my pod then I'll have no choice but to wait for someone to get here and take me back. That's going to be at least another six months. I can't wait that long. If I do there's no way I'll survive the beating the lizard will give me when I finally get back.'

"Vegeta, my boy, are you alright? You look a little pale."

Dr. Brief felt like the boy's obsidian eyes were boring holes through his heart when he lifted his gaze. He had never seen so much helplessness and despair in his life. He had never seen someone look so utterly broken. But why did he see it in Vegeta? Why at that moment?

"I'm fine," Vegeta muttered. He sighed and pushed his half-eaten breakfast away and rose to his feet.

"Are you sure, sweetie?" Mrs. Brief asked. She saw the same look in the boy's eyes that her husband did. It was haunting.

Vegeta nodded as he walked across the kitchen to leave. He'd spent months working on his damned space pod and then the idiot humans up and took it from him before he could even get it functioning properly! He knew he would ordinarily be seething with fury, but at the moment all he could feel was the numbness that resulted from a pure lack of hope. He was really going to die when this was all said and done. He was going to be killed before he was ever given the chance to become strong enough to save himself and his comrades and avenge his race. There was no doubt in his mind that the humans sealed his fate.

"Maybe you should go rest awhile," the blonde woman said. "Go sit in the living room and I'll bring you something to drink."

"Hn." He barely heard her suggestion as he walked out the door. His senses were fading as he retreated into the depths of his mind. It was safe there, unlike the universe he lived in. It was the only place he could find solace when everything else played against him.

Moving like a zombie he crossed the hall and went into the living room and threw himself down on the couch face down. 'I should have worked faster. I should have had it finished by now, but I wasted too much time. I allowed the girl to distract me too many times. I knew better. Damnit, I knew better, but I did it anyway!'

He was broken out of his thoughts when he felt someone gently shaking his shoulder. "Here you go, honey. I brought you some water. Are you sure you're feeling alright? You look like you might be getting sick."

Vegeta accepted the glass of water from Mrs. Brief and sat up to slowly nurse it. It wasn't helping anything but at least it took his mind off his predicament. "I'm fine," he repeated.

Mrs. Brief sat down on the couch next to him and ran her slender fingers through his thick mane of hair. "It's ok to tell me if something's wrong."

"You wouldn't understand," he murmured.

The blonde woman put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him to her chest in a comforting embrace. He found himself surrounded by her scent, the scent of cinnamon and sugar clinging to her clothes. "I know I might not be as smart as my husband and Bulma," she said firmly, "but give me some credit. I can tell something is bothering you, sweetie."

He shook his head, refusing to tell her. He felt her sigh as she accepted his refusal to speak and felt a twinge of guilt because he wasn't allowing her to offer comfort. Still, he didn't make any attempts to move away from her. He inhaled her scent and filed it away in his memory. He would always know her now. She was part of his pack, even if he couldn't stay with her forever.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes, Vegeta never removing himself from the arms of Mrs. Brief. She kept running her hand through his hair and didn't seem at all surprised when she heard the faint rumblings of his purr.

"Are you feeling better now, honey?"

"I told you I'm fine," Vegeta grumbled. Still, he made no move to get away from her. When she tried to gently move away he brought his arms around her and held on tightly. He hardly knew what he was doing; he just knew he didn't want her to leave him.

Mrs. Brief could feel her heart breaking for her young houseguest. She could take his callous attitude, the way he distanced himself from others, and his subtle insults. She understood that he was strong and independent for his age, and she respected that. What she couldn't stand was to see him feeling so lost that he would be reduced to clinging to her and burying his face in her bosom like a frightened child during a thunderstorm. Even worse was that she was unable to comfort him.

The loquacious blonde was at a rare loss for words as she held Vegeta. She rubbed his back and started humming a lullaby that always calmed Bulma when she was upset. She was torn between feeling pity for him and joy that he was finally opening up in some way to her. She wished it were on different terms, but she knew that he was a very troubled child and was likely going to be battling inner demons for quite a while. More than anything she hoped she and her family could help him defeat them.

Minutes ticked by as they sat in the living room. Time didn't matter to either of them, though. Vegeta was silent and unmoving unless Mrs. Brief shifted her position and he clung to her tighter. She was his grounding. As he lost himself in his inner turmoil she kept him from slipping into insanity. He wasn't going to let that safety leave him.

Mrs. Brief sighed and reached over to the table next to the couch and picked up the remote control. "Here, honey, why don't we watch some TV? That'll cheer you up."

She turned the television on and saw that it was on one of the major news stations. She knew most news was bad news, so she started to change the channel when Vegeta's hand shot out and gripped her wrist. "Leave it."

The woman shrugged and set the remote down. If he wanted to watch the news she wasn't going to stop him.

Vegeta originally hadn't been interested in watching any television. He never found it very amusing when Bulma roped him into watching it with her and the few times he sat down to watch it with the elder Briefs they were always watching either the news or weather reports, none of which concerned him. But this time he was interested because there on the screen he saw his own space pod with a horde of humans wearing white suits and gas masks surrounding it, presumably examining it for any signs of extraterrestrial life.

"Oh, my," Mrs. Brief said, "is that the alien thing in the paper?"

Vegeta could only nod. There, on international news, was his space pod. His only ticket off the mudball planet. Taken away from him. He snarled as he watched the humans inspecting what was his. What right did they have to go and take that? Didn't they have the sense to think he might still need it? The fools! They claimed anything they found as their own. Conflicting emotions started raging through him as he watched. Fury and shock. Depression, helplessness. He clenched his fists and tried to calm himself.

Mrs. Brief reached out to him, but this time he flinched away. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

Vegeta's tail – now bristled – uncoiled from his waist and beat against the couch. The only sound for a few minutes was the news in the background and the even rhythm of his tail smacking the furniture. Vegeta glared at the television while he took a deep breath and released it slowly. "What interest do they have in that thing?"

The blonde shrugged and turned her attention from Vegeta to the news report. "They probably want to hide it."

"What for?"

"The government doesn't want to scare people, so they cover up any signs of aliens."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. Stupid, naïve humans. Did they really think they were alone in the universe? How ridiculous. The universe was filled with hostility. He knew that better than anyone as both a victim and tool of that hostility. Were humans really willing to risk their own safety by denying the existence of extraterrestrial life instead of learning what they could to protect themselves if their pathetic little planet was ever invaded? Not that he believed they could come up with any weapons strong enough to defend themselves against Frieza's army.

He wondered how many other aliens ended up stranded on Earth because of the meddlesome humans. The way Mrs. Brief talked his space pod wasn't the first 'sign' of alien life. That revelation only served to make him more irritated with them. Weakling fools that the humans were, they were a devious lot.

"So they're going to waste the opportunity to learn from it?" Vegeta asked. He couldn't care less about the humans bettering their primitive technology by studying his pod, but he was starting to get an idea on how to get it back in his possession. The faint glimmer of hope was still there.

"I suppose so," Mrs. Brief answered. She crossed her legs and rested her elbow on her knee with her chin in her hand. "What a shame. I bet my husband could figure it out and replicate it. Imagine what we could do with that technology!"

Vegeta didn't care what they could do. "Isn't there any way he could obtain that thing and study it?"

Mrs. Brief tapped her chin with her finger as she thought. "We might be able to pay them off if we agree to keep it under wraps."

Vegeta sighed dramatically. "I doubt he'd think it's worth it."

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Brief exclaimed as she rose to her feet. "I'll go talk to him right now!"

The young saiyan sat, dumbfounded. His plan actually worked. He smirked as he listened to the continuing news story. If Dr. Brief had any influence at all in the world – and he did – then there was a good chance he could get his pod. There might also be the chance that the scientists at Capsule Corporation could finish the repairs for him. He hated to use the Briefs like that, but he had limited options. He couldn't let his only way off the planet slip from his grasp.

His eyes shifted to the door when he heard someone coming in. He saw the blue-haired girl, still wearing her pajamas and rubbing the last grains of sleep from her eyes. Seeing who it was, he turned back to the TV. His space pod was being taken out of the back of a large military vehicle into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory.

"What you watching?" Bulma asked as she sat down next to the flame-haired saiyan.

"News."

"That's boring."

"Hn."

Bulma read the headline scrawled across the screen and her jaw dropped. "Oh my Kami! Vegeta, is that a real alien spacecraft? There's no way! Aliens aren't real!"

Vegeta snorted as he tried not to laugh. 'Aliens aren't real? She's had one living in her home for almost five months. Apparently the government has done a good job of convincing people that things like this are all hoaxes.'

Bulma was abnormally quiet as she watched the news with Vegeta. She was fascinated by the prospect of superior alien technology. She was thinking along the same lines as her mother, imagining what would be possible to learn from it. She leaned forward, eyes locked on the television and hands on her knees.

"If that's real," she whispered to herself, "I've got to get my hands on it."

Vegeta quirked an eyebrow at her comment. Would she really be able to figure it out? Could she repair his pod as easily as she repaired his scouter? He knew she was a genius. She was imaginative and seemed to be able to figure out the function of about anything. She had already taught him more than he would have been able – or willing – to teach himself. He didn't really have the patience for it. Maybe the humans finding his pod was actually a blessing if Dr. Brief could acquire it from the government. They wouldn't know it was his and they would fix it for him. It all depended on if it ever got to Capsule Corporation.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard Mrs. Brief running into the room giggling and clapping her hands. "Oh, this is so exciting! He's going to call the government and ask to pay for it. He has some powerful connections, it shouldn't be too long before it's ours!"

Bulma looked up at her mother. "What are you talking about, Mom?"

Mrs. Brief's persistent grin broadened as she pointed to the TV. "That, honey. Your father is trying to get it instead of letting it go to waste in an old government warehouse."

"Really?" Bulma jumped up and raised her fists in the air. "Alright! Dad is so awesome!"

Vegeta, after hearing the promising report, stopped listening to the Briefs and returned his attention to the TV. It would be his again. He was going to get it back. He watched with mild interest as the humans figured out how to open the hatch. He smirked when they jumped back as it opened as if expecting a little alien to leap out and rip their throats open. He supposed that wasn't so unreasonable. Had he been inside it, he may have done just that. Then one of the men got inside the pod to snoop around more.

When the camera zoomed in to show what the human was doing, Vegeta felt a surge of panic. The fool was tampering with the control board. He prayed to whatever deity would listen that his pod didn't have the safety mechanism in working order. He didn't know what all was working or not working at the time. He wished he had one of the newer models that he could use a remote to activate and bring to him, but he knew that would be useless as the pod was still not fully functional and the fuel line was currently disconnected.

He felt his heart stop when the worst thing that could possibly happen happened. The idiot human flipped the wrong switch, triggering the safety mechanism to prevent tampering or unauthorized use of the pod. It self-destructed in a small fireball. His rising hopes crashed to the ground. It was gone before he ever had the chance to get it back. He cursed his bad luck.

"What just happened?" Bulma shrieked when she saw the explosion.

Mrs. Brief put her hand over her mouth. "It – it exploded. Oh my."

Several men ran over with fire extinguishers to put out the flames. As the smoke cleared, the viewers could see a pile of mangled and twisted metal scattered around the area. There were no signs of the man who had been inside.

"It's gone?" Bulma muttered. "It's gone! No!"

Vegeta's eyes glazed over as he retreated into himself. Reality was too much to bear. He sat on the edge of the couch, completely rigid, staring at the TV without really seeing. Slowly, his hands clenched into fists as he stood. His tail dropped limply from his waist as he turned and strode out of the room without a word. He had nothing to say. His death sentence had just been issued. He was as good as dead.

"Vegeta? Honey? Don't worry, it'll be alright," Mrs. Brief said as he silently moved past her. She wasn't rewarded with any acknowledgement.

"What's wrong with him?" Bulma asked once he left the room.

Mrs. Brief shook her head sadly. "I think he really had his hopes set on us being able to get that thing. He must be terribly disappointed."

"Why would he have cared about it so much?" Bulma wondered aloud.

Vegeta went into his room and fell face down on his bed. He hoped he would suffocate in his pillow. His will to live went up in flames along with his space pod. It was gone as were his hopes of survival. He didn't move from his place for the rest of the day. He was glad he had the foresight to lock his door when Bulma and her mother periodically came to check up on him. He didn't want to be bothered by anyone. When his room was filled with the darkness of night he closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep. Any nightmare he could have would be a welcome reprieve from the horror of his present reality.

He slept fitfully that night. His mind was mucking through all his worst memories, bringing them to life as he slept. Each memory would play like a movie until it reached the point where he gratefully lost consciousness, then switched to the beginning of a new memory. Each subsequent scene of his past was worse than the last as the night dragged on. He tossed and turned until he was twisted up in his covers and coated in a layer of cold sweat. He fought and cried out in his sleep until the walls shook with his roars of pain and fury. With his imagined suffering his ki rose until a blazing aura surrounded him and objects levitated in his room.

Bulma woke when she heard the boy in the room next to hers screaming at the top of his lungs. She cringed and covered her ears before she noticed her room shaking. It didn't feel like any normal earthquake. She bounded out of bed and ran down the hall to Vegeta's room. She tried the knob, but it still wouldn't budge. She screamed and flew back into the wall behind her when a bolt of electricity shocked her through the doorknob.

Shaking the tingling out of her hand, she crawled to his door and started beating on it with her fists. "Vegeta! Vegeta, what's wrong? Let me in!"

She didn't hear her parents approaching over her own screams combined with Vegeta's agonized cries and the shattering of glass and objects crashing against the walls. She gasped when her father pushed her aside and tried his hand at turning the knob. He had as much luck as his daughter, so he started slamming his shoulder into the door in an effort to break it down.

Mrs. Brief rushed to her daughter and held her in her arms as she watched her husband trying to get into Vegeta's room. It was proving to be a difficult task. She was terrified with all the shaking, the noise, and the heat she could feel coming from behind the door. If she hadn't known any better, she might have thought there was a fire in Vegeta's room. But she had a feeling that wasn't the case. The problem was with Vegeta. She could hear his screams and winced whenever his voice broke into sobs.

"Mom, what's going on?" Bulma squeaked.

"I don't know, honey. It'll be ok though. Don't worry." She shrieked when she heard the door breaking and a gust of wind blew through the hall, knocking them to the floor and tearing the decorations off the walls.

Despite the obvious danger, Bulma scrambled to her feet as soon as the door was open and ran into Vegeta's room. She gasped when she saw him lying on the floor with a strange, ethereal light seeming to come from his body. She ran over to him and knelt down next to him, wary about touching him as she remembered what happened last time he was having a bad dream when she woke him up. As close as she was to him, she could feel heat coming off him in waves. She felt like her skin was burning as she reached out to him.

"Vegeta? Are you awake? Vegeta, what's wrong?"

She jerked her hand away from him as soon as she touched him. She knew she was burned that time. She hissed in pain before sticking her finger in her mouth. So she couldn't touch him and she still wasn't sure if he was awake or not. At her touch, brief though it was, he curled into a tight, trembling ball. She was at a loss for how to get through to him. She couldn't touch him and he didn't seem to hear her.

Bulma dropped to the floor and covered her head when she heard the glass of the balcony doors shattering. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she cautiously raised her head to peek at the boy next to her. He hadn't moved at all. 'I've got to help him. I don't care what happens.'

Taking a deep breath, the blue-haired girl threw herself at her friend and wrapped her arms around him. The heat of his body was painful, but she held on valiantly.

"Vegeta!" she screamed, "You have to wake up!"

"Let go of me!"

Bulma gaped at him in shock, not sure if he was really addressing her or someone in his hellish dream. "No."

"I said let go!" Vegeta broke free of her embrace and shot across the room. He slid down the wall and huddled in the corner.

The girl frowned and stood up, her blue hair whipping around in the hurricane-like winds. She forced one foot in front of the other over and over until she had marched to where the saiyan was curled on the floor. She was beyond terrified of what was going on in the room, but she didn't let that bother her as she knelt down in front of him and drew her hand back.

"I'm sorry, Veggie, but I have to do this." She clenched her hand into a fist and threw it forward. Surprisingly, he didn't block or dodge, so her punch hit him in the intended target: his right eye. She barely had time to retract her arm before his eyes opened and she was met with a pair of blazing obsidian eyes giving her a gut-wrenching death glare.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelled when he saw who his assailant was.

The winds, which Bulma had hoped would die down when he woke, only grew stronger as his anger deepened. Her punch wasn't that painful, but her audacity and betrayal were more than he was willing to endure. No one attacked the Prince of all Saiyans when he was asleep! Especially not some weakling girl from a backwater planet. He snarled at her, his long canines seeming to glow with the rest of his body as he smoothly raised himself to his feet.

"This!" she screamed in defense, waving her arms around to indicate the chaos in his guest room. "I did it because of this!"

Vegeta's dark gaze, to her relief, turned from her and scanned the room. It was night, but there was a blue light illuminating the room. He immediately realized it was his aura. That also explained how it was that furniture was defying gravity and why there were great gusts of wind blowing out the broken balcony doors. Remedying his mistake, Vegeta fought to regain control of his power, containing it within himself until his aura died out and everything in his room crashed down on the floor.

He looked down at the girl who was still kneeling on the floor in front of him. Her face was in her hands and her body was shaking. He caught the scent of tears and managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. They were engulfed in darkness again since he had extinguished the source of artificial light that had been present moments before.

His tail fell from his waist and coiled around Bulma's wrist and pulled her to her feet. She hardly noticed as she fell against his chest and buried her face in the crook of his neck, still crying. He was no longer too hot to touch, but her skin felt like it was still burning. It was horribly painful, which was in part why she was crying. Vegeta wrapped one arm around her waist to keep her from falling back down on the floor when her knees buckled.

"Girl, what is wrong with you? You're fine."

Before she could answer he directed his attention to the door to his room where Dr. and Mrs. Brief were standing, watching the scene play out before them. Their hair was mussed from the wind, but they were in otherwise good condition. Vegeta was relieved that he hadn't inadvertently hurt them while he wasn't aware of himself.

"It hurts," Bulma whimpered. "When I touched you, it burned."

Vegeta sighed and held her shoulders as he pushed her away from him. "Let me see your hands."

She wiped the tears streaking her face before holding her hands out, palms up, for him to see. She flinched when he took her hands in his own, half expecting his skin to be burning hot again. They were warm, as usual, but not anything out of the ordinary. He turned her hands over in his, then lifted one to his nose and sniffed her palm. There was a faint scent of dead, burned flesh, but nothing too serious. It was minor. Even after his assessment of the state of her skin, he continued sniffing her palm and wrist, learning her unique scent. He knew her scent would change a little over time because she was still a child, but he would still be able to recognize it when she was an adult if he cared to. It smelled faintly of strawberries ripened in the sun with an underlying saltiness that was a perfect combination of the old man and the crazy blonde woman.

He must have spent too much time memorizing her scent because Bulma started giggling and pulled her hand away. "What're you doing? Am I going to live, doctor?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're fine. You can stop whining."

Bulma huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Fine. So would you mind telling me exactly what the heck happened in here?"

"Yes."

She took a step closer to him, effectively keeping him from escaping without going through her. It wasn't that she didn't think he could, but she didn't think he would. She knit her brows and tapped her toes as she waited for a decent answer to her question. He was stubborn, but so was she. And right now she was determined to get answers. What happened wasn't natural. There had to be some reasonable explanation for it.

The quiet room resonated with the sound of his low warning growl. Vegeta didn't like her getting in his face like she was. He had no desire to explain how his room was turned into a disaster zone. Bulma could feel the vibrations of his growl moving through her body and shuddered. Still, she wasn't giving up because of a little intimidation.

Hearing the growl and seeing the furious expression on Vegeta's face, Dr. Brief rushed over to his daughter and pulled her away from the boy. "Now, now, dear. You can ask as many questions as you'd like tomorrow. Why don't you go back to bed and get some rest?"

Despite her protests, he guided his daughter out of Vegeta's guestroom and returned her to her own bedroom. He tucked her into bed and kissed her cheek before going back to the room where Vegeta and his wife were still standing. His wife was distraught about the sad state of the room, but that was the least of his concerns. Like his daughter, he was curious about what went on to make such strange events unfold, but he was willing to wait until the boy was in a somewhat better mood before he started asking questions.

"Come with me, son," Dr. Brief said gently, putting his arm around Vegeta's shoulders as he started walking out of the room. "You can stay in another guestroom until this one is cleaned up a bit."

Vegeta shook his head once they were in the hall. He moved out of Dr. Brief's reach and started for the stairs. "Don't bother. I don't need to sleep anymore tonight anyway." It was, in reality, two hours before he usually got up, but he had no desire to return to sleep. He was wrong when he thought reality was worse than his dreams. They only served to remind him of what he already had to live through and he knew that was nothing in comparison to what he could expect once he got back to the lizard. And in his dreams, he couldn't even disconnect his mind from his body as he was brutally beaten. He was painfully aware of every single blow as they landed on his battered body.

The scientist and his wife watched as the boy descended the stairs and turned the corner to go in the direction of the indoor garden. Seeing he had no interest in getting more sleep, they turned and went back to bed. Dr. Brief was concerned about what he witnessed; he knew the things that he saw were directly related to something Vegeta was doing, but he had no idea what it was or how to explain it. Mrs. Brief, on the other hand, wasn't thinking at all about the outward manifestation of Vegeta's pain. All she could think about was how to help the troubled boy so he wouldn't have such awful nightmares. She had never seen or heard anything as heartbreaking as Vegeta roaring in pain and running from her daughter's gentle touch.

Bulma laid in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. She rolled over at least fifty times trying to find a comfortable position, but she simply wasn't tired anymore. Well, her body was but her mind was completely awake and refused to sink into the sweet oblivion of sleep. With a frustrated sigh she kicked her blankets off and walked out of her room. She walked down the hall past Vegeta's room and saw that he wasn't inside. Shrugging, she continued through the hall and went downstairs to find something to occupy her mind until she would inevitably get tired enough to sleep again.

It was frustrating for her; she'd slept the whole night until Vegeta woke her up. She didn't blame him, but it was still aggravating to have a good night's sleep interrupted after being plagued with nightmares for the past few weeks. She supposed it was justice that she was woken up by his screams when she had been waking him up numerous times over the past two weeks.

The blue-haired girl shuffled through the halls of the compound until she reached the indoor garden. She pushed the doors open and went inside, not expecting to find anyone else in there. She was startled when she saw a bright flash of light and then Vegeta crashed into the ground a few feet from her. She screeched and backpedaled away from him. She watched in awe as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees and shook his daze from his head, then rose to his feet and dusted himself off. She wasn't sure he heard her or knew she was there until his onyx eyes locked on her.

"H – Hey, Veggie. What're you doing here this time of night?"

He snorted. "I could ask you the same thing, girl."

"Oh. Right. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Hn."

"What's your excuse?"

"Training."

She supposed that explained why his body just went careening through the air and landed roughly on the ground. How he didn't seem to be fazed by that was unfathomable. She would have been crying, but he shook it off as if it were nothing. She knew he was strong, but sometimes she thought he was indestructible. It was inhuman.

"Can I watch?"

"No."

Bulma frowned. "Why not? Maybe I could learn something by watching you train."

"I doubt that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"You couldn't see anything anyway. Go back to bed, girl."

"What's the real reason you don't want me here?"

Vegeta pinched the bridge of his nose and walked away from her. His tail flicked behind him as he left her behind. Her questions never ceased. He had to get away from her before he lost control of himself and did something he would regret. Like killing her.

"Vegeta! Come on, what's the deal?" she called after him.

He spun around on his heel and snarled at her. "I want to be left alone!"

Bulma took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with him before he whirled around and disappeared into the trees. She knew there was something big eating at him, but there was probably no way to get him to tell her about it. She yawned and walked out of the garden. If he didn't want her in there then she would respect his wishes for the time being. She had plenty of time to pester him in the morning. She went upstairs to her room and collapsed on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling and didn't fall asleep until the first light of dawn was streaking in through her balcony doors.

A/N: Well, it looks like Vegeta is stranded on Earth after all. So he's going to have to wait for the team Frieza sent to get him, right? Not good. So I really need to hurry up and get writing more. I'm working on chapter 33 now and it's taking me forever. I hit a bit of a roadblock in my writing that took me forever to work through. Oh well. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming, please?