DISCLAIMER: Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama, Bird Studios/Shueisha, FUNimation, etc… (notice my name is not in there anywhere)
Chapter 2
Bulma decided the best
thing to do was to ignore Vegeta. Which was easy enough, except
when she wanted to sleep. He still had not risen almost seven hours
later and she bleakly wondered what she would do. Her eyelids had
been drooping for the last hour and she needed a nap.
But she definitely did
not want to sleep next to Vegeta! Even if it was the only bed.
She wished that those guys hadn't destroyed HER ship. It had three
beds.
Damn it! She didn't
want to sleep next to Vegeta! She was already attracted to him.
It was bad enough that she had to keep reminding herself that she loved
Yamcha, her first and only boyfriend.
But she was so tired!
She was tired of staring out into space and thinking about…Vegeta!
She frowned and sat up
straighter. This whole time! She'd been thinking about nothing
but Vegeta and the conflicting emotions he caused in her. What the
hell was going on? Was she crazy? Vegeta most likely hated
her as much as she feared him. But for the moment he needed her,
and she needed sleep.
Making up her mind about
something, regardless of its significance, was somewhat of a relief to
her. She got up and went to the lower floor trying to ignore the
fact that Vegeta did look really cute, even with his crazy hair.
She stopped at the foot of the bed.
"Vegeta!" She yelled loudly.
She was almost sorry when he instantly sat up, his eyes wide and alarmed.
His eyes darted back and forth as if he'd forgotten where he was.
When he realized she was there she was faintly surprised to see relief
in his gaze. But the moment was gone quickly and he glared at her
in irritation.
"What?" he groaned, his
eyelids drooping as the shock wore off. He yawned and stretched and
for a moment Bulma couldn't reply, only stare at the perfectly sculpted
physique in front of her.
"I need to sleep." She
said quickly, before she got caught gawking. The irritation on his
face deepened quickly into anger.
"So fucking go to sleep
then!" he yelled. "Why did you have to wake me up? I just fell asleep!"
"I want to sleep in the
bed! You've slept nearly eight hours!" he frowned.
"So sleep. I'll
be sleeping too. What's the big deal?" he said softly.
He yawned again and lay back down.
Bulma growled in anger.
He obviously wasn't getting out of bed. The prick. And she
wasn't going to sleep on the damn floor. Did he sleep all the time?
She took off everything but her black bodysuit and crawled into bed next
to him. She considered sleeping opposite of him, but she knew she
kicked in her sleep and she didn't know if he did or not. She'd rather
not get kicked in the face. She'd never be beautiful again if she
survived.
Vegeta slept already beside her, his breathing
deep and even. She sighed and tried to get comfortable, but wasn't
sure how.
She was dismayed to realize
that she would be most comfortable snuggled up with someone or hogging
up the whole bed. She could do neither and so began to toss and turn.
After getting tangled in the sheets and having to get out of bed to get
untangled (and accidentally seeing Vegeta's quite bare and very nice butt)
she lay flat on her back wrapped in the one thin sheet she'd managed to
pry from Vegeta's death-like grip.
Then, without warning, Vegeta rolled over
onto his stomach and his arm flung across her waist. She froze as
if she'd just seen a snake. He was only an inch away now and snoring
very softly. And she knew that snoring didn't go away until it got
so loud that it was a damn miracle it didn't wake the source.
"Shit." She hissed.
What to do? Should she try and move his arm and risk his anger when
he woke and saw them like this? Would he be angry? Probably.
Just go to sleep Bulma.
Go to sleep. Just close your eyes and worry about it tomorrow.
Worry about Vegeta and Goku and everyone else tomorrow. Right now
YOU need sleep. And that's all that matters right now. Not
Vegeta, not Yamcha, YOU.
GO TO SLEEP.
She tried. She let
the phrase repeat in her head over and over until the words themselves
ceased to make sense and sometime after she slipped into Dream.
He woke to find the onna
in his arms. She was pressed to him. Every curve of her body
molded to his. Her arms were wrapped around him. And he was
holding her tight. For the space of several deep breaths all he could
do was stare.
She was beautiful!
Why? Why did she have to be so beautiful? It almost hurt to
look at her. How could someone like her not be a pleasure slave?
Zarbon had once commented that Frieza would have sold him as such if he'd
had no fighting ability. He shuddered at the memory. That and
something else. He didn't dare want to admit it though. Even
to himself. But the mind and the body are sometimes two different
beings. And right now, the body was reacting to the stunning girl
in his arms. But his mind was chaos.
He quickly released her,
rolled out of her grasp, and gracelessly onto the floor in a tangle of
sheets and blankets. He winced as pain shot up his spine after landing
on his ass and the still-sensitive stub where his tail used to be.
That thought sent a chill through his veins that immediately killed all
desire.
His tail. His poor
tail. He'd almost forgotten. It still hadn't grown back and
he was wondering what the hell was taking so long. It had been over
a month since he'd lost it. Almost two. He sat up and glared
at Bulma as if she'd been the perpetrator. But he expression quickly
softened as he watched her sleep, blissfully unaware that he'd thrown himself
out of bed upon waking.
Why was he attracted to
her? She was loud and weak. True it had been over a year since
the last time he'd had sex. But he'd only been awake for about eight
or nine weeks of that whole time. He and Nappa had slept a year away
in the pods on the way to earth. It was strange. He didn't
even know how old he was anymore. Not that it mattered how old he
was. But so much time wasted! It was a miracle their muscles
hadn't atrophied on the way there.
The stasis chambers contained
in each pod literally stopped time, on the other hand. Maybe his
chronological age was older but in reality he was only about twenty-eight.
Not even in his prime yet. Not for many years.
Not for the first time
he was grateful that his train of thought had the habit of switching tracks
rapidly. He got up and headed to the bathing chamber and took a quick
shower.
The onna was still asleep when he emerged.
He found a pair of baggy shorts of a dull sand color and put them on.
But it was the only article of clothing he could find. It didn't
matter really. His combat uniform was destroyed. He didn't
even want to look at it. Especially not the small hole from Frieza's
killing blow. He shivered at the memory and sat down on the bed.
Sudden nausea swept through him and he couldn't account for the sensation
at first. It dawned on him that he couldn't remember the last time
he'd eaten! The realization made the pain in his stomach intensify
as if to add proof to the thought. He sighed, knowing what would
happen if he didn't find food immediately and grabbed the woman's ankle
and began to shake her.
"Onna!" he demanded.
She moaned, rolled over and tried to burrow into the mattress it seemed.
"Get up!" he yelled, shaking her harder.
"Leave me alone!"
came the muffled reply.
"No! I need to eat
right now!" he shouted. She suddenly sat up, like a marionette pulled
by strings.
"There's food in the fridge!
Leave me alone!" she said pointing. His eyes followed her arm
and spotted a large, white rectangle. She flopped on her back and
curled up again.
"Bitch." He muttered and
quickly made his way over.
There was food inside.
But barely enough. He groaned in misery. What the hell would
he do? Eat it all and let the onna starve? Who would fly the
ship? His stomach roared as if to say he had no choice in the matter.
Which he didn't. He knew he couldn't figure out how to fly the ship
himself. He usually could at least, but he'd gotten a glimpse of
some really strange marks on the controls and he had no clue as to what
they said.
So he ate as fast as he
could, knowing that eating fast made you full faster. He ate half
of what was left after Goku's earlier feast and then headed upstairs to
see if he could figure out where they were. If he could figure that
out maybe he could find one of Frieza's bases to raid. After all,
Frieza's strongest men were all dead. He was the strongest now.
But the thought didn't even bring a touch of pride. It didn't matter.
He no longer served Frieza and Kakarotto had become a Super Saiyan.
He had failed to avenge
his people. And even worse than that, he'd failed to avenge himself!
All he'd dreamt of for the past twenty years was killing Frieza.
Now what would he do? He had nothing to strive for. The only
hope he had was that Kakarotto lived. Then he had a chance to make
everything right.
Somehow he would obtain
Super Saiyan and kill Kakarotto. He would beat him inch by bloody
inch. He would make him scream! He stared at the stars without really
seeing them. He didn't see anything until everything went out of
focus. His eyes were filled with hot, shameful tears.
He growled and angrily
wiped them away. After all that sleep he was still tired. But
he couldn't crawl back into bed with her. When he'd woken to find
her in his arms, pressed against him.. he groaned as his body swiftly repeated
its earlier response.
"What the hell?" he snarled.
There was no way he could think about this! She was far too weak
anyway. But the thoughts were too tempting! He shook his head
angrily. It wouldn't really have mattered if she wasn't so
fragile.. he mused. It wasn't like he'd ever been with a Saiyan female
before. They were all wiped out when he was pre-sexual. He
only had vague memories of any Saiyan females.
He glared out into space
as though the lonely stars offended him. His Cupid's bow mouth was
turned down at the corners. But recognition soon dawned in his eyes.
Not far to the right side of the ship was a solar system that Frieza had
conquered years ago. He was amazed. He remembered how Frieza
and his older brother Cooler had fought over the system, sending dozens
of each of their men to kill each other for it.
He remembered a mission
he and Nappa had undertaken to this very system not three years ago.
It had been slightly unnerving. Their pods were unarmed and until
the reached planet-side, they were completely vulnerable. They very
idea of such vulnerability had not sat well with Vegeta or Nappa.
A flight of Frieza's pods had just been destroyed en route to this system.
He tried to recall the largest life-supporting planet. A large planet
with purple skies and a pale blue sun. Dori-Gilar. Its sun
was called Avica. The moon was named Justiple. Its people
were long dead, but they had been called… Dokai-jinn's.
The planet had been rich
with minerals and full of animal and plant life. It had the potential
to easily support any army. Cooler hadn't even really wanted it,
but his and Frieza's rivalry had made it all the more appealing.
Was Cooler there now though? Did it even matter to him that this
planet was free? Or was he still his usual, asshole self? Refusing
to take what he didn't have to steal or fight for?
He hoped, for their sake.
The thought of having to fight his way through an army did appeal to him,
but the onna could not take care of herself in such a place. She
could easily be killed, and then how would he get to…
Where exactly was he going?
What was he going to do now? Maybe he should just destroy any resistance
and begin his campaign to rule the universe now? He sighed and tugged
his thick, dark-brown locks. For some reason the thought was distinctly
unappealing. It was a surprising revelation. But he really
had no desire to rule anymore. It didn't seem right. Something
about the whole idea made him feel as if Frieza was again breathing down
his neck. Like he only wanted to rule everything to spite his former
master.
How glorious it would have been though!
To have the strength to oppose Frieza, take all he claimed as his own,
and THEN destroy the cross-dressing lizard when HE saw fit. When Frieza
had nothing and no one to do his dirty work for him. That would truly
be great.
A soft, wistful smile graced his features
for a moment, but quickly faded. He had to wake the onna and make
her change the direction of the ship. At their present course they
would pass the system in a half hour. He headed downstairs.
Bulma fought waking.
She burrowed under covers and pillows until she felt two strong hands grasp
her ankles and drag her - not ungently - out of bed.
"Get up and change the
ships course and you can go back to sleep for awhile." Vegeta commanded.
There was a strange note in his voice that made her sit up. He looked..
pale, unhappy. More so than usual. But she wasn't going to
do his bidding without a fight. She was no slave.
"Piss off! Why can't
you do it? Are you illiterate?" she snapped peevishly. Vegeta
blinked in surprise. Was she giving him attitude?
"Bitch, get your fat ass
out of bed!" he growled. He was almost unnerved when she leapt out
of bed, her face a delicate pink, her eyes flashing.
"Fuck you, Vegeta!
I'm not your little servant girl! Learn how to read!" he looked highly
offended.
"I know how to read, bitch!
I can't read that slop you call writing! It's illegible! If we don't
stop here we won't have enough food to make it to your precious Chikyuu!
Do you want to starve to death before you get home?" she gave him
a strange, secret smile and again he felt almost intimidated.
"The only one who will
starve will be you, Saiyan." She hissed the last word as if it were a curse.
He scowled darkly.
"Your right. I'll
kill you before that happens though." She rolled her eyes and he
felt the urge to slap her. But instead he smiled. "Just do
it. You want to get home don't you?" she shrugged and glared
at him one last time as she headed up the stairs and to the controls.
He stood riveted in place for several minutes. That human… she was
too Saiyan! It was startling! Her anger had almost been palatable.
He had felt it like the heat of the sun. He was caught between admiration
and dread. He was already attracted to her! This only added
to that, making everything that much more difficult.
TBC