DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I WILL finish the Price of Power I am just taking (another)
break from it.
************
“Woman?” he said softly. There was no response. “Bulma?”
a whisper. He gently caught her chin and tilted her face towards
his. She was sleeping! And he knew if he screamed HER name and woke
HER up, he would never hear the end of it. “Damn you.” He hissed,
picked her up, and carried her out of the gravity room and into her house.
*************
He planned on just dumping her on the couch and then going up to his own room, but instead he carried her up the stairs and to her room. He gently placed her on her bed and watched her in silence as she sighed and mumbled in her sleep. Cold moonlight spilled through the window giving her an ethereal beauty. Vegeta stared in awe. Kami she was beautiful! She looked so peaceful as she slept. He didn’t know how long he stayed there but he knew he should leave lest his presence should awaken her. He shook his head and quickly exited the room; the onna was going to drive him crazy. Just being near her confused and excited him. He sighed deeply and trudged to his room.
Sleep eluded Vegeta for hours. He could think of nothing but Bulma
and the thought angered him. It was bad enough that she constantly
nagged and annoyed him throughout the day, but now she invaded his thoughts
at night. If he didn’t get the proper amount of rest he wouldn’t
be able to train the next day. At this rate I’ll become a super
Saiyan in about 50 years. Vegeta thought with a frown. He pushed
his pillows onto the floor and kicked half of his covers off. He
was so tired but every time he closed his eyes he could only think of Bulma
and the tears she’d shed earlier.
Damn her! He cursed silently. Her words kept echoing through
his head.
“Do you want to be alone the rest of your life?” when he’d been with
Frieza he’d been alone quite often. He should be used to it by now,
but somehow he wasn’t. It’s this damn planet and these insane humans.
He thought. They have no concept of privacy and they can’t handle
being alone for more than five minutes. Somehow, in the year that he’d
been there, he’d grown accustomed to Bulma and he family always bugging
him. If he happened to avoid everyone for a few days he did sort
of feel alone. But worse than that was the fact that he was the only
true Saiyan left. Sure there was Kakarotto. But he was an Earth
Saiyan, and so was his son. They had no clue what it was like to
live on Vejiitasei. The only thing that they had in common with Vegeta
was their strength and blood. But other than that… nothing.
Could that be what was bothering him? Vegeta frowned, abruptly sitting
up. Obviously he wasn’t going to get any sleep soon.
He quickly stood and threw on a pair of black boxers that Bulma had
bought for him and headed to the kitchen.
After eating nine ham sandwiches Vegeta still was not tired.
He sighed, plopped down on the couch, and turned on the TV. He flipped
through the channels for about five minutes before he settled on the food
network. He listened to the chef rattle on about eating healthy for
about five minutes when his eyelids began to feel heavy. He yawned
and grabbed a knit blanket at the end of the couch and wrapped it around
himself, snuggling into its warmth. In seconds he was asleep.
He woke the next morning, more tired than usual. He cursed Bulma
for also invading his dreams for the third night in a row. He looked
around and realized he was still in the living room on the couch.
“This is ridiculous.” He mumbled rubbing his eyes. He remembered
the dream clearly. He had been looking for her in a house he’d never
been to, filled with people he’d never met. He kept catching glimpses
of her but as soon as he got close, she would disappear. But as in
all dreams, he was incapable of doing anything about it.
With a resigned sigh, he rolled off the couch and staggered to the
bathroom.
Bulma sat in the kitchen drinking coffee when she saw Vegeta enter the
kitchen. She noticed his rumpled appearance and the fact that he
was only clad in a pair of black boxers she’d bought him.
“Rough night?” she asked, the corner of her mouth curling up in a half-smile.
Vegeta internally groaned when he heard her voice, but said nothing.
He plopped down in the chair across from her and glared.
“Get me some food.” He mumbled. Bulma was about to snap back
a reply but decided against it when she noticed his face was drawn and
pale. She frowned and placed a plate full of eggs, little sausages and
hash browns before him. She sat back down and grabbed her coffee,
studying Vegeta as he ate.
He looked like death warmed over. She’d never seen him look so
pale. His expression was clearly of confusion and he looked more
than a little upset. She’d never seen emotion so clearly on his face
but he didn’t even notice her scrutiny. He wasn’t even looking at
her. He just stared down at his plate as if it fascinated him.
He suddenly put his fork down and stood. Bulma noticed his food wasn’t
even gone.
“Are you ok Vegeta?” Bulma asked frowning. He turned and looked
at her, a blank expression plastered on his face.
“Yes.” He said flatly and headed to his room. Bulma bit her lip,
worried. He didn’t even yell at her for asking? What the hell was
wrong with him? Was he still upset about last night? Was he
that pissed at her for dragging him to Kame House that he didn’t even want
to fight with her? Or was he sick? He certainly looked like
he was. She’d never seen him look so rough, but he was a Saiyan,
he couldn’t get sick, could he? In all the years she’d know Goku,
she never once seen him sick.
She quickly stood and decided to follow Vegeta. She walked to
his door and tapped on it.
“What?” came a muffled groan from inside.
“Vegeta.. it’s Bulma.”
“No shit!” he snapped. Bulma frowned but held her temper in check.
If he really was sick he was bound to be really crabby.
“Uh.. May I come in?” there was silence for over a minute. She
was about to leave when he yelled: “Fine!” She grinned triumphantly
and strolled on in.
He was curled up in bed, the bedside alarm/radio playing quietly.
He yawned loudly as she walked in.
“What’s wrong with you?” Bulma asked noting once again his pale face.
“You look sick.” Vegeta sat up and faced her his mouth drawn in a scowl.
“Sick? Why?” he demanded as if she’d just insulted him.
“You face is white. I’ve never seen you look so pale. Are
you feeling all right?” Vegeta snorted, but kept his eyes on her as she
sat down at the edge of his bed.
“I’m fine!” he snapped.
“Then why are you still in bed? Normally you would have been training
hours ago. Are you sure your okay? Or are you just saying it to get
me to leave?” a sly smile spread across Vegeta’s face and she had all the
answer she needed. She glared at him for a moment, her blue eyes
flashing, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
She said nothing, simply turned and left slamming the door behind
her.
“Asshole.” She spat as she stormed down the hall.
“Bitch.” Vegeta mumbled. But the onna was right. He should
be training. He slowly climbed to his feet and got dressed then headed
to the gravity room.
“What an asshole!” Bulma cried. She was furious. All
she ever got from Vegeta was aggravation, even when she was trying to be
nice. She needed to vent her frustration somehow. She picked
up the phone and called ChiChi.
“Moshi moshi!” ChiChi answered brightly.
“Hi ChiChi.”
“Oh! Hello Bulma! How are you?” Bulma frowned at that.
“I’m pissed off!” she replied tersely.
“Oh? What’s wrong? Boy trouble?” Bulma snorted.
“More like monkey trouble.” She heard ChiChi giggle on the other end.
“Is Vegeta giving you trouble?”
“Well, not trouble, he’s just always being a dick.”
“What did he do?” ChiChi asked, her cheerful voice dropping in concern.
“Well, when he came dome for breakfast he looked like shit, I mean,
he looked sick. His face was all white and he didn’t even finish
his breakfast. And then he went back up to his room to sleep again I guess.
So I went to see if he was ok and he was in bed, still white as a ghost
and I asked him if he was ok and he said he was fine. But I could
tell something was up so I said: ‘Are you just saying that to get me to
leave?’ and he gave me this really shitty smile. You know?” she sighed.
“Yes. He’s a prick Bulma. Why don’t you kick him out? You
don’t need that crap. If you want I’ll tell Goku to kick his butt
if he gives you any trouble.” Bulma laughed.
“I don’t know. He is a jerk, but he’s never actually done anything
to me.”
“What are you talking about?” ChiChi fairly shrieked in her ear.
“He insults you every day, that is emotional abuse.” Bulma suddenly
pictured herself telling Vegeta that he was emotionally abusing her.
He could almost hear his mocking laughter. She giggled. “What?”
ChiChi snapped. “Why are you laughing?”
“I was just picturing Vegeta’s reaction if I told him that.”
“Tell me what?” Bulma screamed throwing the cordless up in the
air and whipped around to see Vegeta gazing at her curiously. He
caught the phone as it was about to crash down on Bulma’s head. He
put it to his ear. “Who is this?” Bulma paled as she heard ChiChi
yelling on the other end. She wanted to crawl under a rock when Vegeta
smiled. Oh Kami, what is she saying? She wondered as his smile turned
into a huge grin. He suddenly began to laugh, he tossed the phone
to Bulma and left, cackling in delight all the way to the gravity room.
Bulma brought the phone to her ear with shaking hands.
“ChiChi?” she whispered, her voice quivering. “What did you say?”
“I told him to be nice to you. I told him that he is a guest
and should show proper respect, that’s all.” Bulma frowned.
“Then why was he laughing like that?” ChiChi shrugged.
“How should I know? You know him better than anyone, except for maybe
Goku. Bulma! He’s suck a jerk! How could you stand to live with him?”
“Well…. I don’t know. If he wasn’t here my life would be a lot
easier. But…” she suddenly pounded the table with her fist.
“I don’t know!” ChiChi frowned again.
“Come on Bulma. There has to be some reason you let him treat
you like that. Are you a masochist or something? Or do you think
he’s cute?”
“What?” Bulma cried. “No!”
“No, you’re not a masochist or no, you don’t think he’s cute?” ChiChi
prompted. Bulma blushed furiously. She was thankful she was
on the phone and not sitting in front of ChiChi.
“I am NOT a MASOCHIST!” she snapped.
“Ah HA!” ChiChi crowed. “But you DO think he’s cute! Admit it!”
“N-no! not at all!” Bulma cried.
“Liar!” ChiChi squealed. Clapping her hands in delight.
“No!” Bulma cried, her face bright red. “It’s not true!”
“Bulma. It’s okay!” ChiChi said. “He would be cute if he smiled
once or twice.”
“Y-you think so?” Bulma squeaked.
Vegeta sat outside the door listening to the whole conversation. He didn’t know what had possessed him, but the fact that they obviously were talking about him made it too hard to resist. He wondered what the blue-haired onna was yelling about. He pressed his ear to the door to hear better.
“Sure!” ChiChi replied. “He’s got a cute face, a nice body, too bad
he’s such a dick head.” Bulma laughed.
“That’s true. If he wasn’t such a jerk he’d have women falling
all over him.”
“Women like you maybe?” Bulma blushed again.
“Maybe. But come on! We’re talking about Vegeta here. You
know it will never happen.” ChiChi sighed.
“True. And besides. He is a killer. Bulma you should
stay away from him. If you don’t want to kick him out that’s fine,
but just be careful.”
“Yeah. Your right ChiChi.”
Vegeta sat outside the door. He felt so… well pissed off for one,
but he also felt guilty for some reason. Was Bulma really considering
kicking him out? He thought back on all the times they’d fought.
As far as he was concerned it was all in good fun. Yesterday had
been the first time he’d actually made her cry and he’d felt bad about
it, but what was he to do? Apologize?
“HA!” he snapped and quickly strode to the gravity chamber.
TO BE CONTINUED……