TITLE: Vertigo
AUTHOR: Kichi
DISCLAIMER: Akira Toriyama
created Dragonball Z and all it's characters. I'm writing this
for fun not money. Besides, I don't get any money for writing
this anyway. Also, [email protected] gave me
permission to write this.
SUBJECT: It's a one-shot based
on something that piqued my interest in her fic, "Forgotten tears of a
warrior"
PAIRING: None
RATED: R for grossness (not
really but most people don't want to read about being really sick and
messed up), drug-making (heheh), and swearing.
NOTES: This is for the
November Challenge on [email protected] The point
of the challenge is to write a fic without dialogue.
ARCHIVED:
www.geocities.com/kichisama666/index.html
He was
trying to kill himself. It was the only plausible
explanation. After the incident with the gravity room he had
stayed in bed as long as he was forced to and not a second
longer. How did he think he was going to heal if he didn't get
some rest? She watched him stagger out of the infirmary and head
towards the gravity room with a grimace of anger. When she tried
to talk some sense into him, he roughly told her to fuck off. She
snarled in annoyance and stepped aside and watched as he hobbled
outside. She shook her head in disgust and headed to her lab.
She had to
put and end to his self-torture, and there was only one way she could
think of to do it.
She called her friend Azusa, a
girl she'd met while clubbing with Yamcha. She worked in the
medical field and was the only one who could help her accomplish the
task. She asked Azusa for some heavy sedatives, and even though
she knew she probably shouldn't have, she explained the whole situation
(omitting, of course, the fact that he'd originally come to Chikyuu to
destroy it) to the girl on the other end of the phone. She smiled
as Azusa sputtered in shock and finally calmed down enough to think of
a combination of drugs capable of knocking out an alien with a superior
tolerance.
Bulma
explained about the one time she'd seen him drunk after he'd first come
to earth, and how he'd downed three bottles of Jack without
flinching. They sat on the phone for another half hour trying to
think of an appropriate combination of drugs that would knock him out
long enough for his body to heal.
Then all
they had to do was get into Bulma's labs and run tests based on all the
physiological information she'd gathered on him the day before when
he'd been lying in a coma.
They hung
up and Bulma made herself a sandwich as she waited for Azusa to
arrive. She walked over to the kitchen door and stared out at the
Gravity capsule on the lawn. She had luckily built another one to
keep ready for just such an occasion. She wished she wouldn't
have. It had taken her two weeks to build it and it would have
been more than enough time for Vegeta to rest and heal. She could
put up with his bullshit while he complained about waiting. She
bit her lip, suddenly angry with herself for being an
overachiever. It had only taken a day to clear the rubble that
had been the last GR, and Vegeta had been unconscious the whole
time. And as soon as he'd opened his eyes, there'd been a brand
new GR just sitting out there. It was like dangling a muffin in
front of Yajirobe. He couldn't resist.
She'd given
him a piece of her mind earlier about his apparent need to kill himself
training. He'd been surprised when her face had popped up on the
huge screen; she'd seen it in his expression right before he fell to
the floor. Again she'd received an angry rebuttal and she has
closed the connection with a snarl of irritation.
Now she
only had one problem. When she and Azusa finished the sedative,
how was she going to give it to him? She didn't want to, to be
honest, but he wouldn't listen to reason. And she hated the
thought of having to rescue him again. Her heart had been in her
throat when he'd collapsed right in front of her. And there was no way
in hell she could sneak up on him, not even if he was asleep. And
he would probably refuse to sleep until he collapsed again.
She'd
already tried sabotaging the GR to only go so high, but he'd been on
her ass until she'd repaired it. She grinned as Azusa's car
pulled up and she went out to greet her.
They had
been in her lab for over an hour when Azusa crowed in triumph.
She finally figured a mix. Bulma compared the amount of time the
drug would be in effect with how long Vegeta's body would take to break
it all down. Then they figured out a dosage that would be safe.
It would keep him out for a day at least. They began the process of
creating the drug and their efforts were rewarded after another hour of
work, which really only consisted of them putting a few chemicals in a
mixer and going outside to have a cigarette or two.
They stared
at the GR as it rocked back and forth and each made several comments
about Vegeta's apparent mental state. Then Bulma told her about
how he'd wanted to kill her and Krillin on Namek and had even taken
several shots at them when they'd tried to flee as he fought
Zarbon. It dawned on Bulma that even though she still resented
him for that and still occasionally dreamt of the incident, so also
admired his ability.
She'd
always been slightly envious of the Z fighters and their raw power and
amazing abilities. She'd always wanted to learn how to fight, but
didn't want to even ask any of them to teach her. She wasn't very
well coordinated and couldn't even do a simple cartwheel. And she
didn't really care that much. It wasn't something she dwelled on
often. But she admired Vegeta, she couldn't deny it. Not
his murderous tendencies, but his determination. It was a quality
she valued in herself. If she wanted something, she got it.
It was that simple. It was also, partly, why she wanted to help
Vegeta. She knew how frustrating it was to have one's desires
just out of reach. She knew that once he became super Saiyan he
would try and kill Goku, but she wasn't worried really, Goku always
rose to the challenge and won, no matter what. It was something
she knew to be true. He may have died when he'd fought Radditz,
but Radditz didn't walk away either.
And
besides, Goku had already beaten Vegeta once, and if it came to that
Gohan and Piccolo and even Yamcha would help out and do everything to
stop him.
The only
thing that worried her was Vegeta's lack of mercy. Goku on the
other hand, always gave people another chance. And unless Vegeta
did something truly horrific... Goku would more than likely give
him another chance.
But Vegeta,
she doubted he would stop until one of them was dead. She frowned
and they stared at the GR in silence. She stared at the GR hard
for a moment wondering what was wrong. It was off. Azusa
suggested that she get a dose of their specially made
tranquilizer. Bulma nodded and walked toward the capsule.
She was several yards away when Vegeta staggered out and slumped in
entrance.
His eyes
opened in shock when she drew near and he frowned, demanding that she
piss off and leave him alone. She quickly turned and ran into
Azusa and snatched the needle out of her grip and ran back to Vegeta's
side and saw to her relief that he was either asleep or passed out, she
slapped his inner arm and he didn't even flinch, with a grin she jabbed
him with the needle and pressed the plunger. His eyes opened for
a second and he used quite interesting swear words on her before his
eyes slid shut and he fell backwards, unconscious.
Between the
two of them, they somehow managed to get him inside although how that
was accomplished they could barely guess. He was dead weight in
their arms, but somehow they'd gotten him up to his room and in his
bed. But they had had to stop once they'd reached the
stairs. Then they dragged him up the step but his wrists,
snarling and cursing about his unusual weight. Between heaving
gasps Bulma explained his dense skeletal structure and muscle
mass. Azusa glared at her as the pulled him up the last two
stairs.
They sat
down with sighs of relief and briefly debated leaving him in the
hall. Bulma felt extremely agreeable to the idea but wasn't about
to go through with it. She wasn't about to listen to his bitching
when he woke up and Azusa didn't have to.
After their
pulses steadied and their breathing slowed, they dragged him to his
room and hauled him to his knees. Bulma slid her arms under his
and across his back and pulled while Azusa put his legs on the bed and
they left him there and staggered downstairs to catch their breath and
relax.
Finally it grew late and Azusa
decided to head home. Bulma thanked her profusely for all her
help and assured her that the next time the hung out it would be under
more entertaining circumstances.
She watched Azusa drive off
and headed inside to call Yamcha. Although they were no longer
dating they were still close friends and she confided to him the days
events, ignoring his quips about her apparent eagerness to help the
violent Saiyan grow stronger. She didn't even try explaining the
fact that he'd been badly wounded after the GR blew up while he was
still inside it, she didn't need to. Yamcha had been there.
He'd carried the Saiyan to the medical wing of Capsule Corp. at Bulma's
insistence. She'd heard him curse in fury when he'd spotted
Vegeta blood on his training gi.
She asked
him how his training was going and they drifted to other subjects not
worth mentioning and after a half hour Bulma said goodbye and hung
up. It was getting late and she was exhausted after dragging
Vegeta's ass to bed.
She stopped
at his room before she went to bed. She flicked on the light and
was slightly disconcerted to see that his face was an unhealthy shade
of white. She bit her lip and drew nearer and gently felt for his
pulse. It was slightly faster than normal, but it was not a cause
for major concern. She went to bed, thankful he was finally
getting the rest he needed.
He slept
the entire next day. Bulma was expecting him to wake, possibly
after nightfall, but was sort of relieved when he didn't.
The next
day at noon she went to get lunch and asked her mother if she'd seen
the brash Saiyan. Her mother was quick to inform her that he'd
neither shown up for breakfast or had been spotted using the GR.
Bulma
frowned. He shouldn't still be asleep. The drug should have
worn of sometime the night previous. She gnawed her lower lip as
she made her way up to his room. She paused outside the door and
to her dismay, heard a soft moan.
She opened
the door and saw Vegeta tangled in his sheets, weakly struggling to
escape. It would have been quite amusing, but his eyes were half
shut and glazed and he didn't even noticed her entrance. She sat
down beside him and unwound the sheets from his arms and legs while he
stared at nothing.
She quietly
whispered his name but he gave no response or sign of
recognition. Instead he lurched to his feet with a moan and
immediately collapsed. Bulma gasped in shock her fear increasing
as it became apparent that the drug was not working as intended.
He crawled towards the
bathroom and she suddenly heard him vomit. She winced and began
to gnaw a fingernail. She had been praying that something like
this could not happen, but apparently, the Saiyan no Ouji was having a
horrible reaction to the sedative. She ran to her room and
quickly dialed Azusa's number and left a frantic message on her
machine, begging her to call immediately. She then dialed her
cell phone and to her vast relief, Azusa answered.
She quickly
explained what had just happened and Azusa agreed to be over as soon as
possible. She hung up and ran back to Vegeta's room. He was
crawling towards his bed and she noted with dread that his entire body
was shaking almost spasmodically. His entire features were
bleached and yet his cheeks were flushed and he was panting as if
crawling took every spare amount of energy.
She fled to his side and felt
his entire frame shaking, and also noticed the heat radiating off of
him. Granted his normal core temperature was at least 103 degrees
Fahrenheit, but he was hot to the touch now, almost uncomfortably
so. She swore under her breath and called his name louder than
before.
He turned
to face her and his eyes squinted as he looked at her as if he couldn't
see. His shaking hands slowly came up to cup the sides of her
face and he uttered her name questioningly. She assured him that
she was whom he assumed and it seemed to relax him for a moment.
Then he began to curse her, his words barely intelligible.
She tried to explain herself but he either wasn't listening or
couldn't. With a moan he bent forward, clutching his sides, and
suddenly retched all over the side of his bed.
Bulma
grimaced in disgust and pulled him back and away from the mess and
began to tug him to his feet. He clutched her with both arms and
in a strange, soft voice asked what she was doing. She could do
nothing but be honest and explained that she needed to get him help as
soon as possible. She swallowed a bitter taste in her
mouth. When he recovered he was going to kill her for this, she
was sure.
They
staggered down the hall, Vegeta stumbling back and forth every few
paces. Several times they were forced to stop as he moaned in
pain and swayed on his feet and almost fell. She used every ounce
of strength in her body to keep him upright, but once they reached the
stairs she had no clue what to do.
She
couldn't do this on her own, she needed help.
She knew
damn well she was putting another nail in her coffin but she had no
choice. She ran to the phone and dialed the Son house. She
didn't have time for small talk with ChiChi and quickly explained the
situation. She heard ChiChi bellowing Goku's name easily even
though she'd set the phone down and stepped away to the door.
Goku picked
up the phone and told her he would be there in a second and suddenly he
was standing before her, two fingers raised to his forehead. He
took one look at the drugged Saiyan slumped against the wall, and
Bulma's sweaty face and with a small smile he reached down and easily
picked Vegeta up.
With a sigh
of relief Bulma led him to the medical wing.
She sent
Goku to the kitchen after he'd placed the semi-conscious Saiyan on one
of the stretchers and she began to hook up an IV when Azusa came
in. Azusa hooked up a catheter, jumping in surprise when Vegeta
moaned in pain. Bulma explained quickly that he was drifting in
and out of consciousness and explained the rest of his symptoms.
Azusa
hurriedly searched the lab and found several vials of detoxifying
agents. She filled several needles as Bulma tied a huge strip of
rubber around his arm and tapped for a vein. With a soft groan he
tried to pull away and he suddenly mumbled something in his forgotten
language. Azusa gripped his wrist while Bulma pinned his
shoulders and they slid needle after needle into the bulging
vein. He flinched and tried to pull away but he was so weak he
was unable to break their grip. Bulma grimaced as more sweat
stood on his brow and she searched the lab for something to bring his
temperature down.
The rest of
the day he lay there, drifting in and out of consciousness. Every
so often she'd hear a soft moan of pain as she maintained her vigil
over the stricken Saiyan. She'd sent Azusa home a while ago when they'd
realized there was nothing more they could do for him.
Bulma chewed her lip feeling
immensely guilty, even though she knew that she had only been trying to
help. She sat up straighter with a sigh and stretched
tiredly. She was about to fall asleep herself, but wasn't sure if
she should leave him. What if something happened? She
couldn't let him die, even though she knew damn well he was going to be
thoroughly pissed off when the drugs finally wore off.
She was
broken from her daze when he suddenly moaned low in his throat, his
face was twisted in pain and sweat stood on his brow. She got up
and went over to one of the sinks and found a towel and let it soak up
some cold water and brought it back to Vegeta and as soon as the cool
cloth hit his heated skin he flinched and for a moment his eyes opened
sluggishly. One trembling hand raised and tried to swat her away,
but he was completely powerless. His eyes closed again moments
later and she sighed when he grimace and moaned in pain again.
Why the
hell was his body reacting so badly to the sedative? It didn't
make any sense. Was his body unable to fight a combination of
drugs? She shook her head wearily as she wiped the sweat from his
forehead and sat back down, her eyes closing moments later.
She awoke
to Vegeta pulling her hair. His fingers were tangled in her long
locks and he was tugging weakly. She was surprised when she met
his fevered gaze. His skin was sickly white except for the dark
flesh under his bloodshot eyes. He tried to say her name but all
that came out was a harsh croak and she quickly disentangled his
fingers from her hair and went to get him some water.
She came back moments later
and handed him the glass which he rapidly drank and slumped back down
in the bed. He turned his head to gaze at her for long moments
before asking why she had tried to kill him. She blinked in
astonishment and rapidly explained what she had done and why. She
had only been trying to help, she'd never had any idea he would have
reacted this way, she felt her lower lip trembling as she told him and
saw his eyes widen slightly. She apologized profusely while
quickly wiping away tears of shame and she suddenly felt his hand on
her wrist and saw his mouth distinctly shape out "Shut up." She
stared at him in surprise; he had a faint smile on his face as he shook
his head. He then yawned and closed his eyes. Moments later
he was back asleep.
Was he still out of it?
Or had he just forgiven her in his own strange way? She couldn't
be certain but he certainly appeared better than he had the past few
days. One he ate his normal color would return. With that
in mind she headed to her room to get a few more hours of sleep.
He slept
the rest of the day and the next morning she was surprised to see him
at the table for breakfast. His color was a little too pale for
her liking but if he was hungry that was definitely a good sign.
He watched her as she walked down the step and sat down at the
table. She asked him how he was feeling and he merely
shrugged. He did not speak throughout the meal and as soon as it
ended he headed up to his room and didn't emerge again until dinner.
She again
watched him as he silently ate and noted with concern as he rubbed his
left temple as though in pain. After the meal he staggered back
up to his room, swaying slightly on the stairs. She followed him
and gripped his elbow as he almost fell as they drew near his
room. He hissed in annoyance and pulled out of her grip and lost
his balance, but she caught the back of his shirt and held him
up. He glared at her over his shoulder but said nothing.
She released him and he headed into his room, slamming the door in her
face.
That night
Bulma sat in her room, gnawing her lip nervously. She was hoping
that Vegeta would be back to normal after a night of rest. It
wasn't even 9:00 yet and he was already in bed. She on the other
hand, couldn't sleep as she thought of the angry, distrustful glare
Vegeta had sent her way earlier in the hall. The guilt she felt
at the moment brought tears to her eyes. She had just begun to
have civil conversations with him and now he would never speak to her
but to insult her after this. She cursed and headed to the
medical lab to destroy all traces of the damned sedative.
TBC!!
I wanted this to be a one-shot
but I can't finish it without dialogue! I NEED IT!! So Star
Spangled Mistress, The Next part will be in Vegeta's POV WITH
DIALOGUE!! HUZZAH! - K
Back
Home