Couples Retreat

Chapter 10

With the entrance to the tent open, it was much easier for the gentle light of morning to reach the sleeping couple inside than it had been the previous night when they took refuge in a cave. Bulma groaned softly as the light shone on her and pulled her out of her deep sleep. She tried to fall back asleep, not wanting to leave the warm embrace of her husband just yet she but was unable to fall asleep. It took a lot more to wake Vegeta up, he was still lying dormant and unaffected by the morning sun.

I don't think I've ever seen him sleep this sound, Bulma thought. Or sleep in past me...

Normally Vegeta was the first one up out of the two at home, beginning his training well before the sun rose. It seemed the relaxation of their trip had finally got the best of him. Bulma wiggled out of his arms and smiled as she watched him breathe in and out.

He deserves to sleep in once in a while...

Bulma stretched her arms out and yawned as she walked out and looked over the cliff at the forest and rivers below as the first light of the morning began to shine upon them. It was clear outside once again and while the temperature was a little brisk it was nothing compared to the coldness they had to endure the day before. She headed back to the supplies by the tent and dug out a machine similar to the cider machine, this one was used for coffee as she began to start the device and get her first morning brew of the day.

Eventually, Vegeta finally stirred and woke up. He slowly trudged out of the tent and headed over to Bulma who went back to the edge of the overlook, enjoying her coffee.

"Look who finally decided to get up!" she greeted him cheerfully and planted a kiss on him as he sat with her. "Good morning, sleepy head."

"Ugh. I slept for too long... " Vegeta grunted as Bulma handed him a mug of coffee. "How many hours did I waste sleeping?"

"Oh hush, you didn't waste any time. You're on vacation, remember?" Bulma teased. "I think you just experienced something called getting a good amount of sleep, which is why you slept in. You'll figure this leisure thing out one of these days..."

Vegeta began to sip on his coffee as the two enjoyed the tranquility of the morning.

"So, for today, I'd like to go on a hike back to the ship. I want to see what's in the woods down there!" Bulma said after she took her final sip of coffee. "Then maybe we can go for one more swim, with no threat of another storm to worry about this time of course."

"Why don't we just fly back?" Vegeta asked flatly.

"Because as much as I love having you fly me around, I can't see all the details of the forest or get lost inside of it from up in the air." Bulma replied. "Can you start packing everything up? I'm going to get changed."

Vegeta nodded as Bulma head into the tent. All he really had to pack up was the small refrigerator and the cider and coffee machines, they all fit inside a large, heavy-duty knapsack. Shortly after he finished, Bulma emerged from the tent in a white tank top with a blue bikini top underneath, dark gray hiking shorts and a pair of brown hiking sandals.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" she said excitedly. "Since you're stronger I'm going to need you to haul everything you packed plus the tent."

"Gah... woman, do I look like some pack mule to you?" Vegeta grumbled as he folded down the tent and began wrapping up the sleeping bags.

"That's the price you pay for being a million times stronger than me!" Bulma responded. "Besides, carrying all this heavy stuff and hiking, it'll be just like training! At least the closest you'll get to training while you're on vacation."

"HA!" Vegeta snorted as he finished getting the camping supplies packed and stood up. "Because carrying a few 'heavy' knapsacks is the same as training at high levels of gravity, right?"

Bulma shook her head as the two began to leave where they had camped. It was good to see his sarcasm and confidence returning after how vulnerable he had been last night. Not that she didn't want him to be vulnerable, she did but she could tell a weight had been lifted off him if he back to was acting self-assured like normal. More importantly, it meant he wasn't fixated on past guilts and mistakes. Despite acting like his usual self, she knew he was also moving forward at the same time.

The two started down the steep hillside and slowly entered the forest below. It was significantly warmer out now. Bulma mapped out a path on her GPS function on her phone to get them back to the ship. It would take them a few hours to get back, which was fine with Bulma who was in awe of the tall pine trees, some of which were gigantic. It was hard to believe just a day ago they were hiding inside a hollowed-out area in one of the giant trees from the storm. Vegeta was taking in the sights as well as the two began to enter the forest and the flat, pine needle covered terrain.

"What's the purpose of hiking?" He asked. "Even for a human, I don't understand how this proves to be any sort of substantial challenge."

"It's not all about physical activity." Bulma began. "It's about being allowing yourself get away from the modern world and all the distractions that come with it so that we can get take time to appreciate the things we take for granted while we're living our busy lives. It's nice to enjoy simple things like fresh air instead of city air and all these pretty views. Sometimes we need to get lost in nature. Besides, hiking may not be a challenge for you, but it is for most people."

"Hmph, I got a name for those people. Weaklings." Vegeta said as Bulma rolled her eyes. "You say 'get lost' in nature, I thought we were trying to avoid getting lost."

"Not literally getting lost, genius." Bulma laughed. "It's an expression. It means more like getting immersed in all this scenery, so much that we forget about whatever issues in our lives that are bothering us."

"I suppose I can understand that." Vegeta muttered as he tried to take in the sights and sounds around him.

I suppose I must at least attempt to try this appreciating nature thing she's talking about... he thought as he breathed in the mountain air. What am I supposed to appreciate specifically here?

Despite the sun being fully out, the thick forest blocked out most of it. It was almost like being inside a giant green tunnel of trees and other plants. The trees seemingly went up into the heavens with their immense height. The two went deeper in, admiring the giant pine trees and wondering how they stayed inside a day ago. Bulma noticed a river in the distance that was starting to veer off the course she set on her GPS device. This piqued her curiosity.

"Hey," she started tugging on his arm to get his attention. "I wanna see where that river goes! Let's follow it."

Vegeta nodded as they diverted off their path and began to follow the river. Fortunately, there was enough clearing in the brush directly next to the river for the two to walk and try to follow where it goes. As they followed the fast-flowing azure gleam of water, Bulma hooked Vegeta's arm under her own and rested her head next to his firm muscles as the two continued to walk.

"Hmmm, you're awfully affectionate today, aren't you, woman?" Vegeta said stifling a smirk. He couldn't deny he enjoyed being on the receiving end of the affection.

"What can I say?" Bulma replied as she enjoyed the moment. "I think the both of us have released a lot of tension the last two days, in more ways than one... I feel much less stressed about us and everything than I did before we left to come here. I hope you feel happy too..."

"...I am..." Vegeta admitted quietly as Bulma gripped his arm tighter. For a man with such pride and seeming aversion to leisure, it meant a lot to hear him say that short sentence and it meant even more to see him at ease.

"Good..." she said softly as the two continued to walk down their path.

The river began to widen, and the sounds of the rushing waters grew louder.

"It's so strange how there are no animals here. Not even birds." Bulma remarked.

"Yes, I suppose the furious storms prevent any creature from surviving here." Vegeta inferred. "I do not miss their annoying chattering anyway. I find it to be very distracting!"

"Distracting from what exactly?" Bulma asked.

"Why, it would be distracting from appreciating the sights around me!" The Saiyan Prince exclaimed back.

"Vegeta..." Bulma began. "Did you just admit that you ARE appreciating the sights around you? Have you finally figured out the purpose of nature walks?"

Vegeta stopped walking and stared ahead blankly. He did just admit he was enjoying the sights around him. On one hike he unknowingly gave in to the beauty around him and he didn't even realize it, after not understanding the purpose now he finally understood.

"I...it's-" he sputtered, unsure how to process what he had just learned. "Damn it, let's just keep walking!"

Bulma giggled as they started to enter a rockier area of the forest. She loved playfully getting him worked up. After a few more minutes of walking, Bulma stopped abruptly, hearing a sound in the distance. It sounded like whooshing, falling water.

"Is something wrong?" Vegeta asked as she unexpectedly stopped walking with him.

"I think...I hear something..." Bulma said as she ran ahead with excitement. Vegeta trailed behind, confused as to why she was acting this way. Bulma ran up the rocky embankment as she got closer to try and figure out the source of the sound. As she reached the top she looked down past the cliffside foliage and mountain flowers, awestruck. It appeared that the river they followed lead to a large waterfall. It dropped down about the length of a small building in height. Not a huge dropoff, but still made for an impressive sight watching the clear water fall into a cyan pool below.

Vegeta finally caught up to his wife as she quietly took in the view of the falls cascading down.

"Sorry I ran off, I just got so excited." Bulma said once he came up to her. "I've always loved waterfalls, ever since I was a girl. Isn't it pretty? I wish we could make it down to the base, but it looks too steep to get down there."

"Ha! Don't you remember who you are with?" Vegeta asked with a grin. He scooped up Bulma and jumped off the cliffs as she screamed in terror, temporarily forgetting about his ability of flight. The two landed at the opposite side of the falls, as Bulma slumped out with her heart racing.

"Grrr... don't ever do that again! I thought I was gonna die!" Bulma said dramatically.

"Well don't say that you want to jump down when you know DAMN WELL that I can fly!" Vegeta countered. Bulma wasn't angry for long as soon as she realized they were down at the base, giving her a view she thought that she had no chance of seeing. It was different seeing the sparkling blue water of the pool below the falls up close. Bulma sighed.

"You're right Vegeta. I guess thinking I was going to fall to my death was worth it for this view." Bulma snarked playfully. "I think I'm going to go for my swim here, I'm beat from the hike already!"

"Hmph! And I haven't broken a sweat." Vegeta responded. "Despite carrying the weight of all these items, being your pack mule..."

Bulma put her backpack down and started to pull off her tank top revealing her blue bikini top underneath. She pulled down her shorts and was wearing matching blue string bikini bottoms underneath. She slowly tip toed into the water and was submerged waist deep, relishing in the cooling sensation on her skin.

"Care to join me? Or do you wanna just stay there like a weirdo?" Bulma teased. Vegeta shrugged and took his shirt off to join her. His mesh shorts would serve as swimming trunks for now. Bulma floated up as her husband got closer to her.

"We don't have to swim around, I'm content just staying here." she said as she looked up towards the sky.

Vegeta nodded, he had to admit that while he wasn't sweating, he was getting warmer from the walk, and it did feel refreshing to stand in the water.

"When I went camping with my folks, swimming was what I looked forward to the most." Bulma reminisced. "We had a spot we'd go to every year; it wasn't anything too fancy, just a basic campground in the woods on the outskirts of West City. But it had a lake hidden on the grounds just like this one and I could never wait to get to it... I must've drove Mom and Dad crazy with how long I'd stay in the water!"

Bulma swam up and sat down on a submerged rock as she brushed her wet hair to the side.

"Did you have any spots like this when you were growing up?" she asked Vegeta. "You know, somewhere you felt free and safe?"

"Yes..." Vegeta answered as he stared off across the lake. "I did, but of course it's gone now with the rest of the planet."

"What was it?" Bulma asked, genuinely curious.

"The Cemetery of Kings..." Vegeta responded. "It was the burial ground for all generations of the royal family. Each deceased king got an ornate mausoleum to lie in and other family members were laid to rest next to their respective king."

"That's a little morbid, isn't it?" Bulma remarked.

"Perhaps... but even as a child, I felt the protection of my ancestors and a sense of my family's history. As if I was in the presence of their spirits. " Vegeta said as he continued to look off. He hadn't revisited these memories in a long time, and he found himself wandering around in the cemetery again, but this time in his own thoughts.

"I remember my father would show me all the graves of our fallen ancestors... he would tell me who they were in the lineage and what they did as king, if they were a strong ruler or not... he told me that I'd rest there some day too, after I reigned as king and inherited the planet and took over the rest of the universe... of course that would never happen...I wouldn't even be coronated as king...and now all the history of the cemetery is gone, eradicated in my planet's destruction."

"You Saiyans and your history..." Bulma responded as she reclined back in the water some more. "Seriously though, I'm sorry that you lost a place that was so important to you..."

"It's fine. Only a fool dwells in ruins." Vegeta said, returning back to the present in his mind as well. "As I said earlier, onto the next battle. We must move on. That is the way of my people."

"I think that's the closest thing I've heard to a happy childhood memory from you, and it's about a graveyard no less." Bulma joked. "Do you have any more?"

Damn, Vegeta thought. Do I have any other pleasant memories from my youth? I want to tell her everything as I promised but I don't want to ruin her good mood with some memory of bloodshed and battle. There has to be something else...

"I can only think of one other..." Vegeta started. "And that was another location now long gone, the Royal Gardens."

"Saiyans' memories go farther back than you humans. I can remember being a year or two old... My earliest memory is in the Gardens. My mother... she would walk me through the Garden paths every evening, it was like our ceremony to end a day, just me and her. She would hold me and walk me around the Gardens before we went to bed."

Bulma could tell Vegeta was getting lost in this particular memory. She was also taken aback by his mentioning of the Queen. This may have been the first time Bulma heard him say anything about his mother. She listened intently as he continued.

"I still remember all of the plants, the rows of flowers... the arboretum... and the glow of the setting sun. My mother and I went for walks in the garden every day... that is until we had a visitor in our garden waiting for us one evening...Frieza...that was my first encounter with him. He showed up to claim me for assessment, to see just how good of a solider I would be for him. But in retrospect, I can see that he only wanted to take me as a political move. To show my parents and the rest of the planet that he had dominion over all of the Saiyan race. If he could take the Prince of Saiyans from the King and Queen on a whim, he could do anything he wanted to the rest of the population. And at an early age, this was the first thing Frieza took from me... my parents. They didn't know if or when I'd ever be brought back."

This was all new information to Bulma. She had no response besides sympathy. This story gave a lot of insight into Vegeta. The closest thing he had to a good first memory was tainted and his relationship with his parents, the first people that should love him was distorted by outside forces. From this moment onwards it seemed as if he was a stranger to kindness.

"I was brought back after a night away." Vegeta continued. "But my mother never brought me for any garden walks after that. I don't think she was the same either after the terror that Frieza instilled in her... As for my assessment, there wasn't one. I was just thrown into a dark room for the night... alone..."

"I'm so very sorry Vegeta." Bulma finally said as she looked down in sorrow. "That's all so tragic. You didn't deserve that to happen to you at such a young age..."

"No, I'm sorry." Vegeta replied sharply. "I didn't intend to bring the mood down. You probably wanted to hear a good memory, not... that..."

Bulma reached under the water and wrapped her hand around Vegeta's index finger.

"Don't apologize." She began. "I want to know everything, remember? I don't want anything you to hold anything back, no matter how heartbreaking or horrific it may be... I hate knowing that happened to you, but I hope you feel better letting that out and telling someone else about it."

"Somewhat, maybe." Vegeta responded as Bulma tightened her grip on him. The two sat in the azure water a little longer in silence aside from the sound of the falls. Bulma looked over in their direction.

"I wonder if there's anything behind the falls." she thought to herself. She decided the swim for the day was coming to an end and stepped out of the water onto the sandy shore as Vegeta followed. As he began to dry himself off, Bulma kept looking at the falls.

I wonder what Vegeta would do if I snuck off and hid up there... no it's too high...I can't...

And he just told me that heartbreaking story about being separated from his mother, he doesn't need me to go missing after telling me that... I can't start being that insensitive after being so hard on him for how he's been insensitive...

"What do you keep staring at, woman?" Vegeta asked catching Bulma lost in thought as he dried off with a towel from one of the large backpacks.

"Oh..." she said as she turned around. "Just the waterfall, it's so pretty and I wish I could see what was behind it. I bet no one's been behind it as long as the planet has existed."

"Perhaps your wish will be granted sooner than you think." Vegeta smirked as he picked up Bulma over his shoulders as she cried out in surprise and sped over to the falls. After soaking himself and Bulma under the surge of water falling from above, the two found themselves inside the enclosure behind the waterfall.

"Ah!" Bulma cried as she squirmed. "Put me down!"

Vegeta set her down and she stumbled onto the wet sand.

"What did I say about grabbing me and flying off without any warning?!" she spat at him with her hands on her hips. "You really..." Before she could continue scolding her husband she took in the unusual sight. Bulma had never been behind a waterfall or considered to think what this view would look like. She looked down and had a view of the entire lagoon they had just swam in plus the clear sky above, an angle that would have been impossible to see had Vegeta not flown them in.

"You know what? Never mind Vegeta." Bulma started, the striking field of vision erasing any annoyance she had. "You get a pass for doing that... for now. Let's just sit for a minute then we can head back to camp."

Bulma sat down and just sat in silence, listening to the rushing water in front of her and soaking in the scene in front of her as Vegeta joined her for a few moments.

"We're going to be the only two people to ever share this view here." Bulma remarked as she took in the moment. "Think about it, no one has really explored this planet, and this is such an obscure location here behind the falls. Who is to say anyone else will ever find this place?"

"Really?" Then that would mean I'm the first to do this." Vegeta replied playfully as he gently turned Bulma to face him and caressed her lower jaw before slowly pushing his lips against hers as the two closed their eyes. Bulma pulled away after a moment, pleasantly surprised as she opened her eyes.

"I didn't think you had a romantic bone in your body." she said, blushing and holding her hand over her mouth. "Sometimes I guess even a genius like me likes being proven wrong."