'Face to Face'

Chapter Twelve: Under the Cover of Darkness

'You are the one,

You'll never be alone again.

You're more than in my head,

You're more.'

Shiny Toy Guns: You Are The One

Vegeta kissed Bulma back fiercely, anger and desire mixed together; pumping through his veins. He was furious at her father for pointing him out so obviously, and he had just managed to leave- he hadn't bothered to question why yet- before he killed the bunch of them on the spot. Then she had followed him, practically wafting the scent of sex at him and pressed her soft curves and soft lips against him and he had given in. Memories of Vegetasai, his father, his intense desire to destroy Frieza had somehow dissipated into a boiling pit of lust, and some strange, previously untouched, part of him wanted Bulma to realise it all…his loss, his desperation, his… anger. He felt a sudden burst of fury that seemed to take over his control and he shoved her back harshly, not even hearing her gasp of surprise, and squashed her against him even tighter, roughly grabbing her hip with one hand and her nape with the other, pulling her head back so she was forced to look up at him, her neck and most of her chest exposed. He growled at her, baring his teeth, a sudden desire to crush anything in his path clouding his mind.

Bulma tried to catch her breath, her heart still pumping madly, and she stared back at him in confusion and apprehension. He had gone- in few seconds- from almost emotional to rough and fierce. He was staring at her intently, but something suddenly seemed different about him- his face seemed harder set than before, his eyes seemed to dance manically, his lips seemed so cruel and angry. She felt- for the first time in a long time- a tiny swell of panic as he pressed further into her, and his hands seemed to heat up, and she realised, her panic spiralling, that he was actually powering up. She was too stunned to speak, and she struggled silently in his grip, but he did not move and she realised he wasn't even looking at her, he was just staring in her direction, not taking her in, too suddenly engrossed in his fury to acknowledge her properly.

"Vegeta!" she cried out suddenly, as his hands started to burn against her skin. He let her go, startled, and then with a frightening twist of his mouth, flung her away from him. Bulma stumbled back a few steps and stared at him, her mouth agape, eyes welling with frightened tears.

"You will not speak of this again." His voice was like ice and Bulma stepped back, completely, utterly confused and hurt and unable - in the slightest - to figure out what the hell had happened to him. "Get out of here." He turned his face to hers and in the shining moonlight he looked demonic. Bulma scampered away, her heart now skittering out of fear, and she pulled the long skirt of her dress about her knees and fled from the balcony and the hall.

Bulma curled up in her bed and finally – after a hasty undressing and wash- allowed herself to think back to the balcony. She tried to pinpoint a moment, anything, that could have caused Vegeta to go from almost affectionate and sharing to the frightening, almost bestial bomb of fury. She shuddered slightly as she remembered his eyes- I swear I saw a flash of red. He looked like a demon. She stared out at the full moon and pulled her covers about her with a shudder. Oh kami, what the heck just happened to him?

The sun shone brightly through the rain and Bulma let a small, sad smile cross her lips as a rainbow appeared in the sky. She wished briefly that she still believed it was magic, rather than the light shining through the raindrops, that caused the rainbow to appear. She leant back into her pillow and for what seemed like the millionth time that morning she thought over what had happened with Vegeta the night before. She clutched her mug between her hands tighter and frowned. What the hell happened? Something triggered him…he just seemed to just lose it suddenly. She remembered leaning up to kissing him, remembered the feeling of being in his arms, of looking up at the half-covered full moon, and she sighed, before letting out a shudder as she remembered how nastily he had had pushed her away, the moon having come out from behind the clouds to spotlight on him eerily…

Oh shit! That's it! The full moon! The moment it came out from behind the clouds his body must have been triggered into the Oozaru form! That's why he was so- well not emotional but near enough- and then went to Mr. Fucking Furious! She sat bolt right up and clapped a hand to her head. Heck, I can't believe I didn't realise that sooner! Gosh, she thought back to when Goku used to transform and how dangerous he was, I guess since his tail was cut off it won't make him transform, but it obviously still has some sort of effect…I wonder if he's ok?

She scrambled out of bed and headed for her shower, determined to check up on him. It wasn't his fault after all, he can't control the effect it has on him…besides; before all that things were going great…he hugged me. He needed me, and he wanted me.

Vegeta woke with a sudden grunt and looked around the room, startled and confused. He frowned when he saw the sun shining and glanced at the clock on his bedside table…it was 9.00am, which was well past his normal wake up time. He scowled and sat up quickly, groaning when his head seemed to spin wildly. He closed his eyes briefly. What the fuck…? Then he remembered it had been a full moon the night before, and he scowled again and stood up suddenly. He couldn't remember much of the night before, the full moon- despite not having a tail- still messed with his mind a fair bit and his memory was hazy except the detail of feeling extremely pissed off. He vaguely remembered going to the Briefs' ball. What rubbish. I don't need to waste my time remembering what was no doubt a completely idiotic night. I need to get on with my training. He clambered into his training gear and headed for the Gravity Chamber, deciding to eat one of the few ready made meals in there rather than stop for breakfast with Bulma. No doubt she'll just delay me further. He briefly wondered if he had hurt anyone last night, or hurt her, and felt a tiny trickle of panic in his stomach.

The day seemed to fly by. Bulma had gone in another desperate search for Vegeta, but seeing the flashes of numerous ki balls from the Gravity Chamber she decided against it. She headed to her lab and spent the day working on the destroyed bot, scanning it over and over for any signs of what exactly set it off. She was looking through her father's notes when she spotted an equation that seemed slightly off. She couldn't work out what was wrong with it- since, technically it wasn't wrong- it just seemed odd, the formula wasn't one she was used to and she wondered why her father had used it.

She frowned as she noticed the reflection of the setting sun in her computer screen and – after marking the page she was on and saving her data- she shut it down and headed for the dinner hall, her mind too full of sums and stats to even notice Vegeta sat at the table as she walked into the kitchen and begun to make herself a cup of coffee.

"Playing around in your lab again?"

Bulma started, and spilt coffee on her hand, "Shit. Ow!" She spun around and spotted Vegeta, raising an eyebrow archly. She felt like she hadn't seen him in years and he was some sort of ex-boyfriend she would never forget. Does he even care about last night? She stared at him silently, before turning to run her hand under the cold water tap, trying desperately to sort out her frantically whirring mind. Questions were spinning around her head- Should I say something? Should I ignore him? Should I pretend nothing happened? She kept her hand under the tap and said nothing.

Vegeta watched her for a while, his curiosity growing with his irritation. Why is she ignoring me? Why is she so tense? "The ball was ridiculous." His voice was laced with disgust, but it was mostly to bait her. She lost her temper easily and he wanted to get her speaking.

Bulma's temper- predictably- flared. "You asshole! You could have hurt me last night! And you haven't even apologised!" she spun around and glared at him.

Vegeta said nothing. How could I have hurt her? What is she talking about? He tried to sift through his foggy memory but nothing sprung to mind.

Bulma's eyes narrowed, "What the hell was your problem?!" Why are you yelling? You know he couldn't control it! It's not like he did it on purpose!

Vegeta stared back at her, and her blue eyes locked on his dark ones, the former filled with confusion and hurt. His eyes flickered for a moment, not long enough to show the remorse he suddenly felt, but Bulma seemed to know he did anyway. She tore her eyes away and sipped at her coffee.

"Don't you remember?" she whispered softly, looking up at him again, her face and eyes now kind and curious.

Vegeta scowled. "What nonsense are you talking about now?" he crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"The moon affected you, didn't it? That's why you told me those things, and then…" she trailed off and looked into her mug.

How does she know about that? Does it still affect Kakarot? Did I hurt her? What the fuck happened? Why does it still affect me? I want my memory back! He let out an angry growl, annoyed he couldn't even remember most of the night.

Bulma glanced up as the noise rumbled from his throat, "You didn't hurt me. You just, well," she chuckled lightly and Vegeta stared at her, "you caught me off guard. You were very rude actually." She added primly and the indignant look on her face caused Vegeta to let out a snort of dry amusement.

"You're lucky I didn't kill you woman."

This time, Bulma grinned, "I'm sure I am." She turned back around and poured the remnants of her coffee in the sink. "I'm calling a take-out tonight. What do you want?"

"You're not cooking?" Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest again, this time petulantly.

Bulma rolled her eyes, "I've had a long day. And I'm not your damn maid. If you don't want take-out, cook for yourself." She picked up the phone and dialled the number of her favourite restaurant, delighting in her celebrity and charm that allowed her to sweet-talk such exclusive places to deliver to her door. I can get everything I want. Vegeta scowled at she tossed the menu at him. Including you buddy.

Vegeta grunted as Bulma bid him goodnight, and stalked straight off towards his bedroom, ignoring the desire to turn back and take her right on the hallway floor. His senses were still askew and heightened because of the moon, and he swore her smell was ingrained in his nostrils, tantalising him and arousing him to such an extent that he could barely control the erection threatening to burst loose. He undressed and climbed into his bed, glaring at the moon. For fuck's sake. I bet Kakarot doesn't have this problem…he snorted…that's because Kakarot is too fucking idiotic to even feel desire, how his woman ever got him down to have that moronic child I'll never know. His mind instantly flashed up an image of Bulma. Well he doesn't have her hovering around all the time. He hasn't had her breasts pushed against him, he hasn't tasted her lips, he hasn't touched her…suddenly Vegeta's mind reeled off an image of Goku and Bulma together and his stomach twisted with rage. Has he touched her? If he has it just gives me more reasons to kill the clown. He growled aloud, that is the most disgusting thing imaginable- Kakarot touching her. Or even the weakling laying his hands on her. His stomach twisted violently again and he involuntarily ripped his pillow. He knew that Yamcha and Bulma would have had sex, but the thought actually made his blood boil, and he wanted nothing more than to kill Yamcha and then demand to know if Bulma had ever been with Goku. If so, well, he'd kill him too, then he'd show her exactly who should be touching her, tasting her…the thought of her taste got his erection springing up and his mind wandered, fantasies of Bulma sending his control to hell as he curled a hand around himself and pumped his fist up and down, all the while images of Bulma burned into his mind.

Bulma woke up suddenly, sweating and scared, and she gasped out as she struggled to get out of her quilt. She squinted into the darkness and sucked in a big, long breath, trying to calm her nerves. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, the nightmare she'd been having came back to her.

Vegeta was encased in flames, his eyes wide in anguish as Bulma stood, horrified, frozen to the spot. He let out a roar of pain that shook her to her core, and she leapt forward, the flames scorching her skin as she tried to reach him, save him, pull him free. But as she was nearing the flames leapt up wildly and something was pulling her back. She screamed as almost all of Vegeta's body burned and then all she could see was smoke and all she could smell was burning and all she could hear were Vegeta's roars.

Bulma choked back a sob and flicked on her lamp, shakily wiping her brow. She climbed out of bed and sucked in more long breaths. It was just a nightmare. Get a grip Bulma.

She straightened out her silky slip, and padded across the cool wooden floor, slipping quietly out of her bedroom and into the hallway, making for the kitchen to get a glass of water. She was nearing the stairs when a resounding groan echoed throughout the hallway. Startled, she spun around on the spot, eye wide and alert, her heart racing. Moments later, the sound came again and Bulma froze and strained her ears, before realising that it was coming from Vegeta's room. Her horrible nightmare still fresh in her mind, she bolted to his door, and pushed it open- momentarily surprised it was actually unlocked- and almost tumbled through in her haste. A gruff grunt came from his bed, and she froze hesitantly, suddenly realising her stupidity. Oh you loon Bulma, he's fine, he's just sleeping. But he grunted again and tossed in his bed, and curiosity gripped her. She tiptoed to his bed, jumping away a little as he thrashed around violently and she realised he was having a nightmare. She watched silently as he continued to move and groan, and her hand reached out, as if of it's own accord, to placate him in some way when he seemed to sense someone there, and he sat bolt upright, hand at her throat and rolling her over to pin her on the bed quicker than she could even get out a gasp of surprise.

"What the hell are you doing woman? I could have just blasted you into infinity." He growled, his eyes glinting furiously, his grip loosening at her throat but not entirely falling away.

Bulma stared back at him, still surprised, but also aware of his body pressing into her, and she gazed back, mesmerised by his onyx, hot gaze.

Vegeta stared back, waiting for an answer, when she swallowed and he felt the movement down her throat and her chest and he realised he had her pressed into bed. He felt strangely breathless as she gazed up at him, her red lips parted, and her breath a soft whisper on his face, and becoming uncomfortably aware of her soft curves under him, he sat up and moved away so quickly it was as if she had hurt him. Ha, as if, the woman couldn't get a touch on me. He sneered derisively, but his stomach still fluttered strangely.

Bulma sat up slowly, still slightly breathless, and he turned his head to her as she perched up next to him, feeling as if his intent gaze was leaving a trail of fire across her skin. She stayed silent and he looked away, and she felt the sudden urge to wrap her arms around him. And again, as if of their own accord, her hand rose up and she curled her fingers over his broad shoulder, as her other arm slid across his bare torso and she curled into his side, pressing her cheek to the side of his neck, a hiss of delight escaping from her lips as her palm pressed flat against his stomach.

Vegeta started slightly at her touch and bristled at the thought that she had caught him off guard- again- but he didn't move away, and slightly shaking, but heartened, Bulma sat up, curling into him tighter and pressing herself against his side wordlessly. Vegeta froze. She was wrapped around him again and his body tingled and seemed to electrify with desire. He stayed still, determined to control himself, but then she let out a little sigh, his name, "Vegeta," slipping through her lips so alluringly, that he couldn't even try to stop his body from turning into her, or stop his arms from encircling her waist, hoisting her up and plonking her in his lap, so her legs wrapped round his waist and she was face to face with him.

MWAHAHAHA. Cliff-hanger. I hope you like it?! Review and review and review please?! :D Thanks a ton.

Just a warning: the next chapter is going to be an NC-17 + rating so if you don't like things that graphic then I'm sorry but you might want to skip the chapter!

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