Chapter 2 - Crime and Unusual Punishment
 

 Bulma had been reaching for the phone to call the police when Goku and Vegeta walked in.  She had been planning on shopping when she'd gone out to the garage and saw that her favorite care had been stolen.  But the expression of fear and dismay on her friend's face made her forget the car for a moment.
"Goku, what is it?" she asked, not really wanting to know what made him look so pathetic.  She knew from experience that whatever it was had to be bad.
"Bulma, your car-" he fell silent when Vegeta's elbow rammed into his ribs.  But it was too late.  Bulma felt the blood draining from her face.
"My car-?" she began hollowly.
"I took your car." Vegeta snapped, glaring at her as if it was her fault that the idea had come to him in the first place.  "He snapped the steering wheel-"
"It was his fault he blew up a helicopter and killed-" Goku began loudly before Vegeta cut him off.
"He made us crash, everything would have been fine-"
"Your full of shit-" Goku gasped, his eyes bulging.
"You lying ass pirate-"
"Wha-? Screw you! You-"
"BASTARDS!" Bulma suddenly screeched and dashed from the room.
"Good job, baka." Vegeta hissed.
"This is all your fault!" Goku cried.
"You’re the one who broke the steering wheel!"  Vegeta shouted.
"YOU STOLE THE CAR!" Goku bellowed.  Seconds later Bulma dashed back out and stood glaring at them with something small, silver, and cylindrical in her hand.  She put it to her lips and blew.  Goku and Vegeta's eyes snapped shut and their hands shot up to their ears.  They both cried out in agony and slumped to their knees before the enraged woman.
Without so much as a pleased smirk Bulma slipped the dog-whistle into her pocket.
"Now you pricks listen to me and you make sure you understand what I'm about to say."  She snarled, glaring at them.  Her fists slowly clenched and unclenched in her attempt to control her fury.  "Listen, that was my favorite car-" Vegeta opened his mouth to say something as the Saiyans struggled to their feet but was abruptly silenced by Bulma's middle finger a mere inch from his face.
"That was MY favorite car. I never said either of you could borrow it.  And how dare you assume that everything here is at your disposal?" she snapped at the Saiyan no Ouji.  She smiled briefly when he lowered his eyes and bit back whatever he and planned to say.  "I don't care why you wanted to use it, you should know by now that you should ask me for these kind of things.  Which had you done so I probably would have let you drive it with no problem.  But instead you had to go behind my back and STEAL it.  Very princely." She mocked.  Vegeta bit his lower lip and could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment.  There was no surer form of torture than well-deserved guilt.
"And you." She snarled, her piercing gaze leveling on Goku who visibly flinched as she addressed him.  "You just went along with it.  You had no complaints until something bad happened, I know it.  I know you.  You just went right along with him, probably didn't even think twice about where the car came from-"
"No! Bulma I-" Goku began.
"SHUT UP!"  She screamed as loud as she could.  Goku and Vegeta both flinched at the high piercing tone and fell into a sulky silence.
"You both are assholes.  Just because my family has money doesn't mean you can destroy our things without consequence.  I had to buy that car with my own money.  What would you know about that, Goku?  You've never worried about money a day in your life although you should.  And you-" she switched her gaze to Vegeta, ignoring Goku's confused stare.  "What did I do to you to deserve this?" she cried her eyes beginning to water.  Vegeta grimaced and tried to look elsewhere, but Bulma snagged his ear and tugged violently.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!  How dare you ignore me!"  He looked about to speak again, but Bulma quickly shook her head, her hands reaching out, fingers hooked into claws, but she reigned in her temper and let her hands drop, though Kami knew she wanted to claw his eyes out and spit in the empty sockets.  Vegeta understood the gesture well enough, and she detected a faint amount of remorse on his features, if you could see past the red flush across his cheek bones.  "You of all people have no right to fuck with MY STUFF.  Don't I feed you and fix that god damned gravity chamber whenever you ask?" she yelled.  Vegeta said nothing, merely stared at her trying not to look embarrassed as possible, but could not get rid of the scarlet flush across his face.  Whether it was because she was yelling at him like a child or because Goku was there to witness it she didn't care.  It  was good that he was suffering even somewhat.
"Don't I?!" she cried.
"Yes." He mumbled.  Bulma grit her teeth, she wanted to hit him so hard.  In fact she'd never been so angry with Vegeta as she was right then.  She knew damn well Goku was the least guilty in the whole affair, but Vegeta...  He was going to learn one way or another that she was through with his arrogance and indifference.  She was sick as hell of the way he treated her and now her own personal property.
"Why do you do this then?  Why do you treat me like a piece of shit?  Why?!" she cried unable to stop the moisture from building up in her eyes.  Goku was trying to fade into the background and froze when Bulma switched her gaze to him.  "Leave Goku!" she snapped and he bolted to the door without even a good-bye.  Vegeta was staring at his feet again and she slapped the bottom of his chin forcing him to stare at her in astonishment and growing anger.
"Now listen-" he began.
"NO!" she screamed.  "I'm sick of listening to you!  You are going to listen to ME!  You are the one that fucked up, not me!  You deserve what I have to say and a hell of a lot more!  How dare you try to give me any of your shit now!  Tell me what I did to you.  What did I do to deserve this?" At that his eyes narrowed dangerously.  Bulma stared back defiantly.  He had no right to be angry with her at all!  Absolutely none.  Her anger was completely justified.  He was the asshole who had destroyed her favorite car.
"Listen to me.  I didn't intend to wreck your car-"
"Then why did you take it?"
"Because I did want to piss you off." He answered plainly.  Bulma blinked and the glared at him.
"Why?  What did I do to you, Vegeta?"
"Your too nice to me."  He said softly.   "I don't want you to be."  Bulma felt as if she'd just hit a wall.  What the hell-?  She was too nice to him?  How was that possible?  Most of the time she was barely civil at best.  And even then…
As if he could see her mind working, he took a step back and switched his gaze to the street outside and the myriad cars that sped past.
Why didn't he want her to be nice to him?  How fucked up was that?  Was that why he was so rude and insulting all the time?  But it still didn't explain why..  Why didn't he want anyone to show him the least bit of kindness, what the hell was wrong with him?
"I don't get it Vegeta.  You had to destroy my car to do that?  You were doing well enough every day with your damn insults!" she shot back, trying to goad a response out of him.  He didn't even look at her or change expression.  He looked too calm, and even a little depressed.
"Everyone who has ever gotten close to me has been killed." He sighed.  He looked as if he wanted to say more, but abruptly shut his mouth and shook his head.
"Oh." Bulma said.  She was still upset about her car.  But she was too confused to really think about it at the moment.  He didn't want her to be nice to him.. Because anyone who did was killed..?  "What are you talking about?  Why were they killed?  By you?" she said, wanting to sneer, but couldn't.
He suddenly turned on her, glaring at her furiously.
"No! You idiot!  Frieza killed them!  How the hell was I supposed to be a good killer if I had friends?" he snarled.  Then he scowled at her as if she'd done something completely offensive and stupid, and turned away.
"Oh." Bulma mumbled.  It was starting to make sense, in a really twisted way.   But then, did that mean that he didn't want anything bad to happen to her if he was even bothering to push her away?  If he didn't care about her at all, then he wouldn't care how she acted toward him.  Especially if he was convinced that some harm would befall anyone attempting to treat him decently. So did it mean that he liked her in some way?
For some reason Bulma felt herself blushing.  Vegeta watched her with a guarded expression as if waiting for her usual frenzied outburst, and was a little unsettled when he saw the flush race over her cheeks.
What had happened?  First she had wanted to gouge his eyes out with a red-hot poker, and now she felt guilty?  But this couldn't go on.  She wouldn't allow it.
"Vegeta, no one is going to do anything to me for being nice to you.  Frieza is dead."  She saw with a pang in her heart that he winced at the mere mention of his former 'master'.
"How do you know that?  There are still plenty of other's out there who would love to see me dead if they knew where I was." He turned away from the window fully facing her, staring deep into her eyes.  His hands fidgeted behind his back and she held her breath, not daring to interrupt him.  "What if they found out I was here?  Just the fact that I am living here would be enough reason to harm you.  You invited me here.  You never had to but you did so that makes you suspect." He said with a small smile.  "Even if I hadn't worked for Frieza there are plenty of other's that hate Saiyans because we could take what we wanted instead of bargaining for it."  Bulma didn't know what to say to that and as if sensing her indecision, he turned away.  Bulma stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Vegeta, I don't care.  This is stupid.  You don't have to worry about that.  No one can stop me from treating you how I like." She said stubbornly.  "Especially not you.  Although I don't even see how you could think I am nice to you, all we ever do is argue." She said.  Vegeta smirked at that.
"You don't get it.  I had to do all sorts of things to eat.  Just to sleep!  If we had any time off we usually trained until we couldn't move.  I can do whatever I want pretty much here and all I have to do is wait for your mother to cook.  I don't really have to do anything that I don't want to.  It's.. kinda weird." He sighed for a moment and scratched his ear.  "I'm sorry your car got wrecked Bulma." He said gazing at her with a strange, half-smile.  "I.. shouldn't have taken it." he said quietly, his eyes looking anywhere but at her.  She could see his cheeks turn pinks again.
Bulma frowned.  Not sure what to say or do.  But she had to do something.  He'd apologized.  That was what she wanted, wasn't it?  But her victory felt hollow.
"I forgive you." She said softly, with a smile.  "If you wanted to drive though, all you had to do was tell me.  The truth is.." she felt herself turning a bit red.  "I can't really say no to you, and it's not because I'm afraid of you." She stopped and raised her eyes to his faintly surprised gaze.  "Because I'm not."  She grinned, quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran out of the room as he stood there, eyes wide, cheeks pink and utterly confused.

The End!  (For Real this time!)
 
 

Yayy!!  It's a happy ending sort of.  And I guess you might want to know what happens next, but don't count on it!  Because it really is the last chapter of this fic!