Couples Retreat

Chapter 5

Vegeta felt a sense of relief as Bulma changed the subject. He had no idea what she was talking about with this dipping business, but he was thankful to seemingly moved on from the more difficult topic of conversation. He had to admit, as painful as it was it did feel good to tell her his side of things and see it eased some, not all, of the pain he put upon her. But he was hurting badly deep down after seeing how his past decisions hurt the ones he loves.

"No, I am not familiar with that term." he said, leaning back in his chair.

"What do you mean you don't know what it is?" Bulma teased. "It's swimming somewhere hidden minus swimsuits."

"So... regular swimming?" Vegeta said trying to understand. "Every time I went for a victory swim on a freshly conquered planet with a nice body of water, I never wore clothes either."

"No, you goof! It's riskier, it's more... intimate, when it's done between a couple." she coyly added. "And there's something about the risk of being caught too, that makes it all the more exciting!"

Vegeta looked to his right and to his left.

"And who exactly is here to catch us in this act?" he scoffed. "There's no one on this planet besides us."

Bulma scratched the back of her head.

This man... he can never just stop thinking and enjoy the moment, she thought.

"Of course, no one's here Vegeta... It'd be different if we tried this on Earth. Obviously, there's more people that could catch us. Did you notice that I'm putting an emphasis on the intimacy part? Get it now, genius? Do you get why I wanna try it with you now?" Bulma responded with some mild annoyance. "I am not surprised you don't know about swimming like this though. I bet you never did this with a girl before me."

A sly grin spread across Bulma's face. As complicated as Vegeta was, she always knew some ways to needle the Saiyan Prince.

"Gah..." Vegeta grumbled as he clenched his fist and looked off to the side. "Do you really think I had time to go going around and swimming with girls? I know that all the females on the worlds I conquered were too intimidated by my strength anyway! My status as an elite warrior contributed to their lack of self-confidence to be in the presence of a specimen like me."

"It sounds to me like you're the one intimidated by the mere act of swimming naked. " Bulma continued to needle him. "I'm a little surprised, the Prince of all Saiyans, this badass warrior and he's afraid of going into the water with a girl."

Vegeta's grip tightened on the chair.

"You shut up! I do not know ANY fear." Vegeta spat.

"Then show me. Maybe you just don't want to see me naked..." Bulma playfully replied, kicking off her sandals under her chair.

"...You know as well as I do that, I ALWAYS want tha-" Vegeta was hit in the face by Bulma's black tank top. She quickly pulled it off and flung it at him as he was in the middle of his sentence. She got out of her chair and stood up clad only in her purple bra and beige shorts for now.

"Then let's find out if you're scared or not." Bulma said with a wink. She started jogging to the lake down the grassy hill away from the dirt clearing where their ship and camping chairs sat. A bit flustered, Vegeta remained in his chair. Bulma raced to the beach shore and unclipped her bra next and slid the straps off her shoulders, tossing it on the sand behind her as Vegeta watched. The mix of fresh lake air felt cleansing on Bulma's pale skin. She stretched out her arms and took in the pleasing sensation of the air against her upper body. The air on her skin was surprisingly refreshing. She pulled down her shorts and her purple panties next at the same time, tossing them with the rest of her clothes before stepping into the water.

A way back, Vegeta enjoyed the view of his wife as she stood ankle deep in the lake now completely nude. He had been trying to bury all of his negative feelings as he tried to get up. Each thought a dark cloud in his mind.

This is about her now, making her happy. Not me. I've been too selfish for too long. That's why I came along in the first place. For her.

How many times has she had to put the pain I inflicted on her aside?

I need to do that now, I need to put myself aside, I need to give her a vacation that she'll love.

I need to give her some joy, some good memories for once, something to be happy about.

I've done nothing but give her the opposite of that.

She is the only one in the universe who frees me from pain.

All she has shown me is kindness and compassion as long as I have known her.

She did all this for me without asking.

Why do I do nothing but give pain to her?

Why does she put up with me?

Vegeta finally stood up; this was no time to get lost in his own thoughts. Bulma was waiting for him. He had to cover up and bury the black stains in his mind. Inevitably, they'd resurface but for now he couldn't waste time on them.

He took his flannel shirt off next throwing it next to the pile of Bulma's clothes. He set his shorts, socks and shoes aside next. He began to step into the water as Bulma submerged herself in deeper, disturbing the stillness of the waters with her.

"As stupid as this concept may seem, it may not be all too bad if it yields a view like this." Vegeta muttered as he watched her pale, feminine form begin to submerge into the water completely then come up to the surface, brushing her soaked teal locks of hair to the side of her bare shoulders. Seeing Bulma's body in the deep blue of the lake was like looking at art, it was the visual distraction Vegeta needed from the invasive thoughts.

The water was a bit cold, as expected for a forest lake but not freezing. Bulma decided to completely dive deeper down to help her body acclimate to the water. She emerged and once again pushed her wet, teal locks of hair to the side.

"Fuck...she swims with such grace... like a mermaid." Vegeta thought as he watched her swim more.

She swam farther away from the shore and looked back at her husband.

"What's taking you so long?" she called out to Vegeta who was slowly walking into the lake himself. "Is it too cold for you?"

"Woman, I swam in freezing cold rivers to make my way to battles on ice planets! This is NOTHING to me!" Vegeta yelled back as Bulma chuckled. He thrust down into the water to show how little it bothered him, attempting to reach the bottom of the lake. He descended to the lowest point of the body of water then shot back up right next to his wife. Bulma smiled as Vegeta emerged from the water. His normally dark, spiky hair was weighed down from the water. Bulma twisted in the water and started to lie supine and float out farther into the lake. Vegeta copied what she was doing and laid with her to join her in floating. The water seemed to be freshwater but was easier to float in than on Earth, perhaps due to gravity of this new planet. Much less effort was required, and one could float out for miles it seemed once they were lying properly on the water.

"This is really nice, isn't it?" Bulma said quietly as she reached her hand through the water and grabbed Vegeta's hand.

"I suppose." Vegeta replied as he closed his eyes. Bulma could tell that now he was more relaxed; this was another first for her to witness. He had no choice but to relax now. She closed her eyes as well as the two continued to float out farther. The sun slowly started to dip behind the horizon, casting an orange hue upon the water as Bulma's pale, slender form glided near the more t muscular form of Vegeta. Slowly, some clouds started to roll in throughout the sky.

Looking over at her husband, Bulma dipped back into the waters and swam closer to him. She abruptly splashed up on him, and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her pale breasts against his chest and pulling him closer to her.

"I know this is only the first day here, but I am starting to feel better already. Our talk...and being in the water... I needed this. I needed to just be with you somewhere pretty like this. I wasn't sure how this was going to go...but I have a really good feeling this will be a great trip." Bulma said to Vegeta as she held on to him, relying on him to float. Vegeta looked into her blue eyes. He couldn't help allowing a half smile to form.

"Thank you for coming here with me, Vegeta." Bulma gently added as she put her arms behind Vegeta's neck and pressed her lips against his in for a long kiss in the middle of the water as he put his arms around her lower waist. When Bulma opened her eyes, she noticed more clouds than the last time she paid attention to the sky. It was clear before but now it seemed to be less sky, more clouds. Darker too. Vegeta noticed some concern appear on his wife's face.

"Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Oh, no. I'm fine." Bulma replied as she collected herself. "It just looked so pretty earlier, but now there's clouds in the sky. I thought I mapped out the weather for this trip and it was supposed to be clear all week..."

"Hmmm...perhaps it's time to head back to the ship then." Vegeta said, also looking at the darkening sky as Bulma nodded.

"Yeah... I'm starting to get cold."

The shore looked tiny to the two and the ship looked like a miniature model from their distance out on the lake. Vegeta considered flying back but why waste his energy on such a short distance?

Bulma felt more and more uneasy the closer the two got to the shore and the darker the clouds got. The wind was picking up too over the water. Suddenly, the undeniable crashing sound of thunder roared overhead and drops of rain began to fall.

"Shit!" Bulma exclaimed. By now, both Bulma and Vegeta could stand on the shore, although they were still mostly submerged in the water, and they started to quicken the pace to get back to the ship. The rain was falling heavier now. As they both stood knee deep in the water, a bolt of lightning struck the sand in front of them on the beach stopping the couple in their tracks. Before they had a chance to process what they just saw another bolt struck another side of the beach.

Right before they emerged from the water, a third, larger bolt struck the pile of their clothes on the beach causing a small fire on the sand.

"You gotta be FUCKING kidding me!" Bulma cried angrily. "That was my favorite pair of shorts!"

"Come on!" Vegeta shouted as he grabbed Bulma's wrist and picked up his pace. He might be able to survive lightning striking the water, but he wasn't sure if Bulma would.

Not even a few seconds after they were completely out of the water several more bolts of lightning crashed down on the lake at once, causing an eerie white glow. Things had gone from concerning to dire. In addition to heavy rain and lightning, the wind was starting howl faster now. Bulma felt had Vegeta not been hanging on to her wrist she might be blowing away. Finally, the two were a short distance from the ship so they slowed down. The sky flashed white once again, and a streak of lightning now struck the ship, causing the front door to retract back into the ship to the pair's horror. A second, third and fourth bolt struck the ship in quick succession and the engines started to hum.

Soon the thrusters were activated, and the ship blasted into the sky unmanned, shooting through the storm clouds as the two stared at the sky as cold rain poured on them, both in a state of shock. As streaks of lightning fired off around them, they realized they now had no ship, no food, no clothes and no way off this planet. It seemed that their peaceful trip had quickly turned into a nightmare.