Chapter 17
The fresh air of the morning was dissipating rather reluctantly. Zarbon had worked since day-break, finally coming to the conclusion that blue haired woman, who was also a Chikyuu-jin, was the reason behind the sudden change in Vegeta-sei’s technology progression. She would be a very nice addition to Freeza’s workers and perhaps a willing bed partner. Last night after leaving the woman girl with Vegeta, he thought of nothing but her, used meat or no, he wanted her for his possession, or perhaps something more. He hardly ever thought about taking a woman for more then just sex, but the way the blue thing handled herself, the fire in her eyes that seemed to send a chill down his spin, was something he wanted for a lifetime. Zarbon resisted his urges to not obey Freeza’s command and just take the woman with him now, but knowing his liege he would be quite upset with him for leaping ahead of plan. Freeza wanted to test Vegeta, to see if he really was going to hand over the girl when the time came. Zarbon, after his restless sleep last night, contacted Freeza and informed him of everything, including the possible connection between the Prince and the blue thing. Zarbon had a feeling the Prince and the girl had a close relationship, closer then just sex, closer then love. It was odd, especially since Vegeta was not the type to even have casual fling. Zarbon had watched Vegeta since he was a boy, and since puberty, Vegeta has never taken a woman for entertainment. Zarbon was beginning to wonder about Vegeta until he saw his reaction about the girl. His body language was more then enough for Zarbon to see, Vegeta felt something for this girl, and it was sad Vegeta was so far gone, he couldn’t even hide the fact of his attachment. It was going to be a fun day when he took her from him and made her completely forget about the monkey after his ministrations, of course while working for Freeza and himself.
***********
The day was stilled by the silent calm of agony. Bulma was ordered bed rest by some higher up she never heard of, knowing full well Vegeta was behind it. So she was absent from work, and in fact was grateful to be able to just stay in bed. She had cried herself to sleep, after so many times she tried to stop herself from crying, she let it out all last night. And when she woke, she was reminded of the previous night by the broken necklace that was placed on the bed stand. The sheets were tangled from her disquieted sleep, but in that matter it made her feel protected. Vegeta’s cape was under the sheets with her, laying next to her, but unable to comfort her heart. She hadn’t moved since she woke, she only stared at the necklace and thought about the night before and what had really happened.
_--_--_(Flashback)
“Don’t concern yourself with before, now once your work is done, I want you off this planet.” Vegeta had said with such forcefulness she couldn’t help but feel numbed by it. She had planed to leave Vegeta-sei, but she had never thought she would be exiled from it. When Vegeta finally noticed the necklace he stepped forward once again to be closer to her, something that made her heart always pound heavily. When they were finally eye to eye, he took his hand and placed it on her neck, hardly touching her skin, caressing the necklace with his thumb. He looked at the necklace almost completely emotionlessly, except for something behind his eyes, something that she couldn’t place. “Unless…”
She almost hoped again, “Unless?”
Vegeta then meet her eyes, searching for the real truth behind Bulma‘s words. “Did you mean what you said before?”
Bulma couldn’t answer, she was lost in her own battling emotions, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“ANSWER ME WOMAN!” Vegeta let his anger out then. He couldn’t feel her emotions well, his own were interfering with ability to feel anything but anger and confusion.
So shocked and frightened Bulma started to tremble even more so visibly. He was no longer calling her by her name, something that somehow made her feel real, important, alive. All she could do was stare at Vegeta, fearful.
Clinching his teeth, Vegeta couldn’t take it any longer, he would, for both their sakes, end this horrible game. He would never have her and she would never have him, their bond was faulty. Now that she was frightened of him, it was better, she knew her place. He reached down and hooked the necklace with his finger and pulled, breaking it immediately. The delicate piece of jewelry fell down to the floor, but Bulma, who still couldn’t say a thing, only stared into Vegeta’s now cold eyes. “For now on, you my never address me as Vegeta and you my never show me disrespect. Once you have finished your work, you will be provided a small ship, I want you off this planet within that hour.”
It finally hit Bulma in that minute, that she had taken everything for granted. Her blinded rage she had for Vegeta for years, had utterly destroyed her common sense regarding the man once she meet him in person. And now, once he was walking away, she finally knew, that no matter what he felt, no matter what had happened, no matter what she thought she felt, she knew she was more then just in love with him, he was more then just a friend, more then an ally, and he would be never be anything to her ever again.
_--_--_(End of Flashback)
Bulma’s eye filled with tears. She loved him, and she wanted to love him. She knew she loved him before, but she had put that feeling to the side and let other things cloud her judgment and actions. She had felt her love for him as a sin, but now…why would love ever be a sin? He was at fault for destroying her planet, and she had accepted him before, when she knew he destroyed other planets, so why not accept him now? He was commanded to purge, to murder, like every other Saiya-jin under Freeza's rule. Destroying a planet was no different then purging, except it took away from Freeza. Freeza, the man that caused everything, who would most likely come for her sooner or later, as she understood from Zarbon. Vegeta had saved her once from Zarbon, would he save her again? After she finally understood her feelings, after things were clear to her, she lost Vegeta. He didn’t love her. He loved…no one. Over and over Bulma thought about what Vegeta had said about there being no other woman, no other Chikyuu-jin, ever in his life. If that was true, what did Goku mean when he told her that Vegeta was in love with a Chikyuu-jin, even before they had ever meet? She had first thought perhaps he had seen her before, perhaps when she had passed out being beaten by Chili, two years before she ever meet Vegeta, and he was taken perhaps by her looks, that he desired her for her body. That made no sense, though, if that was the case, he could have just sent her to the royal harem, but he never did. No, instead he trained her, protected her, comforted her in times of need in his special way, and finally gave her this new life. Nothing made sense, and she couldn’t understand what he meant by her being the only one in his life. Was he lying? Collecting her strength she slowly crawled out of bed and made her way to the door console. It was a device that that was made to be a communicator as well as many other things and it would help her get the answers she needed. Immediately she contacted the only person who could give her those answers, the only person she could confide in.
“Hello?” A gentle, silly voice answered.
“Goku? Could you come to my room please?”
“Bulma!? I heard you’re really sick, are you ok?”
“Please, Goku, just come to my chambers. I really need to talk to you.”
“Ok ok, I’ll be there shortly, I have to ask another guard to watch my post.”
“Thank you, Goku.”
After the transmission cut off, Bulma walked over to her large balconied window. The sun’s seemed so warm and bright. The red sky was hardly noticeable now to her, blue skies seemed a distant memory now. Her mother, her father, her school, her life, back on Chikyuu, gone now except in her mind. They would only exist there. She was learning to accept Vegeta-sei all too late.
“Bulma dear, would you like some coffee? You looked so stressed!” Bulma’s mother voice filled her room and Bulma turned around, astonished to find she was in Capsule Corporation, in her old room, her mother in front of her with a tray of coffee and cakes. Bulma ran over to her mother, looking her over, to make sure she was real.
“Mama?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes dear?” Her mother looked puzzled but then smiled, “Oh, don’t worry about Goku, he’ll be fine in the up coming tournament. I’m just worried about Yamcha, is he not entering this year?”
“Yam...cha?” Before Bulma could ask further, the image of Capsule Corporation and her mother disappeared, and the sound of the door ringing filled her ears. Bulma shook her head, realizing it must have been a fragment of her imagination and went to answer the door. Once the door opened, Kakarotto stepped through, with a worried smile upon his face. Bulma then closed and locked the door, she didn’t care that she was still in her night gown, she needed to talk to Goku. Kakarotto watched her actions and looked at her face, his concern for her growing.
“Bulma are you really ok?”
“Yes...I mean no.”
“Huh?” Bulma faced Goku, still with his back to the door.
“Goku, do you know the Chikyuu-jin that Prince Vegeta loves?”
“Um, no. Never meet her, why so curious about that?”
“Just follow me on this, how do you know about that Chikyuu-jin?”
“I’m not suppose to say.”
“Please Goku, I need to know, I need to understand something important about Prince Vegeta. It won’t leave this room and it may help him in some way.”
“Well, if you say it might help him…ok. Let me think.” Kakarotto crossed his arms and looking down, he concentrated on his memory. After he finally remembered the incident, he looked at Bulma seriously. “It was about four years ago, when we were leaving on a mission, that suddenly Prince Vegeta started to shift ki, I could sense the ki of a Chikyuu-jin within Vegeta…” Kakarotto stopped his story and looked at Bulma even more intently then before.
“What, do I have something on my face?” Bulma asked. Not understanding why Goku was looking at her like that.
“Now that I think about it again, that ki does feel oddly like yours. I thought so before too, but I never said anything.”
Bulma eyes widened at the confession. “Like mine?”
“Yeah. And at the time he said he lent his beloved his ki, I guess to protect her.”
“Four years ago…” Bulma had to think as well, but almost immediately it came to her, she looked at Kakarotto with wide and tearful eyes. “Pota!! He was the one….” Bulma then grabbed Goku by his armor, her look urgent and determined, “Goku, has Vegeta ever seemed to have headaches or pain from time to time? Anything like that?”
“You shouldn’t call Prince Vegeta so informally like that.”
“I don’t care right now, just answer me, please.”
“Hmm, I guess sometimes he does seem to have headaches occasionally, though he never really says anything.”
Bulma let go of his armor, her eyes not focused on anything, she was reliving the past and her whispers.…Pathetic…endangering mission…stupid…should die……Now…to destroy Chikyuu…Freeza will pay……DAMN EVERYTHING!……Bulma……shit…Zarbon…Those whispers weren’t a sign of her insanity, they were someone else’s thoughts. Realization came to Bulma, delivering the final blow to her already weakened heart. She slid down to her knees, still not keeping her focus on anything. Goku then kneeled down to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Vegeta is connected with me, somehow, we have always been connected. Her mind could only think of how stupid she was for not figuring it out sooner. Those emotions that seemed foreign when she was around Vegeta, the fact that she could feel him when he was near, it all made sense now. Those were his emotions, that was him she could feel, those were his thoughts, and she finally knew, they were bonded somehow and she had destroyed it.
Goku gave her a little shake, trying to get her attention back to him. “Bulma?…Bulma? What’s wrong?”
Slowly she looked at Goku as a tear rolled down her cheek, still healing from the slap from Zarbon. “I’m connected with him, it’s me, I’m that Chikyuu-jin he loves…no he doesn’t love me anymore…I’ve ruined everything.”
Goku raised an eyebrow, he didn’t understand her. “What are you talking about?”
“Vegeta, he is, he was…somehow, bonded to me.”
Now it was Kakarotto’s turn to widen his eyes, “Really? So you’re that Chikyuu-jin…no wait, how could that be?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know Goku, but Vegeta hates me now. It doesn’t matter now…it doesn’t matter.” Bulma couldn’t help but cry out, tears flowing from her already swollen eyes. She covered her face with her hands then pushed herself into Goku’s chest, needing comfort while she cried. It was over, it was gone, everything that mattered was gone. All she could do was cry. Kakrotto held her softly while she let out her tears, unsure of what to do, but be there for his friend and be a shoulder to cry on.
**********
Vegeta stood with his arms crossed while listening to Bardock complain about the condition of the rebellion. It was easy to filter out the things he needed to know and the other things he didn’t. Bardock had told him that due to starvation and disease, a third of the rebellion, which included women and children, died. The technology they needed was now more important then ever, which included medicine and ways to better store food. The rebellion needed many different supplies. The fleet had over 600 hundred ships, but a fourth of those ships held families that were unable to fight. Freeza has over 4,000 ships divided in 8 fleets, to win against Freeza they needed a miracle and plan. And they had no direct plan, smell plans they had, plans for formation and when they finally would begin but nothing over all. The rebellion has been in the making for almost seven years, and they waited long enough to start the war. Bardock wanted the Prince to move his plans up and have the Saiya-jins who were loyal to the rebellion to leave now. Vegeta closed his eyes and waited while Bardock continued with his reasoning’s. It was hard for Vegeta to think, the moment Bardock had approached him in the privacy of his suite, Vegeta’s mind had been not on the rebellion but on Bulma. He had felt her this morning, it was almost as if she had called out to him, wanting, pleading with him to come to her. He had ignored it, knowing full well it was his imagination. The other night he could hardly feel her emotions, and that had disturbed him greatly. Was the faulty bond finally fading? Vegeta sighed, things couldn’t be easy for him. His dreams, his desires, they were all difficult to achieve, and when he thought he found something to ease life’s hardships, it only turned out to be faulty as well. Now he needed to fight. Everything was easier when he fought. He was a Saiya-jin, they were born to fight, they born for battle. He wanted to do what Bardock was saying, he wanted to start the fight against Freeza. When Bardocks voice grew silent, he lifted his eyes to see what had caused the man to shut his mouth. Immediately he looked on surprised. Instead of being in his suite he was in a lush field with blue skys. He was leaning against a tree and standing before him was Bulma. She looked older, perhaps ten years older, with shorter hair and odd clothing. And she wasn’t alone, there was many Namek-sei-jins around her and a Chikyuu-jin boy in Saiya-jin armor, who looked oddly Saiya-jin, next to her. He looked down to see himself in old armor, broken and bloodied. His attention was brought back to Bulma, who was laughing and yelling some insane information.
“You’re not up to date are you, the Namake-sei-jins’s are on Chikyuu now with their Dragon Ball’s. And you know what!? We can bring back dead people as many times as we want!”
Vegeta felt confused, he had never heard of Dragon Ball’s before, and he couldn’t be on Chikyuu, he had destroyed it many years ago. Again he looked to the sky to see it shine with a light blue, letting Bulma’s own coloring mix with it’s heavenly grace. How could he have gotten here? What was going on? Bulma might know, so he pushed himself off the tree and started forward when the lush green and blue scenery suddenly vanished and Bardock was before him again, kneeling in way that almost looked like pleading.
“Please your highness, I have a premonition that if we don’t move soon, something horrible will happen.”
That caught Vegeta’s attention enough to forget about his vision for now. “Like what?”
“Someone will die your highness, someone important to the royal family, either you, your father, or someone else that is close to you.”
Vegeta’s eyes narrowed, he didn’t like the sound of that, “Who?”
“I don’t know your highness, it wasn’t a vision, but a premonition from jumbled images from my mind.”
“And what do you think we should do to prevent it?”
Bardock was quiet for a moment, then he spoke again, “We should leave now, your highness.”
Vegeta thought for a moment, staring at the man kneeling before him. “I will have the girl speed up her work and in two months we will have our last joint meeting, before finally beginning the end of Freeza‘s reign.”
“What will you do about Freeza? He expects your return.”
“He gave me a year, I have enough time to show him he will not dominate my people any longer.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Leave Bardock.”
Bardock stood and bowed, “Yes, sir.” He left without any more complaints.
Vegeta stood strong, knowing full well he would have to see her again. She said her invention for him would be ready by the end of this week, then he would wait till then to tell her she would be working almost full time for him now, to complete a list of new things he would give her. Vegeta wished he could just send some errand boy, he didn’t want to see the woman who beat him in a battle that was costing him much, but he could not, something of this matter could only come from his mouth. He needed to get his mind off her, and think about the future, a future without her.
***********
Bulma sat at the door of her new invention, a small space ship with gravity manipulation. It was easy to complete the prototype and finally the actual version. She thought Vegeta would have been there when she finished the prototype, but he wasn’t. She had waited and waited, hoping that he would come. That was four days ago. She had amazed even herself at the speed in which she completed the actually ship. The prototype stood behind the real ship and she was felt relieved to see it finished. A couple days after she last saw Vegeta, she had received a message from him, informing her that she would be excused from her duties at the Engineering and Development of Technologies lab to work full time down here with a list of new inventions she needed to create, and she couldn’t have been more happier, though she knew she would have to go back from time to time to the other lab to help them finish what she had started. It was the reason behind why she finished what she had nicked named the “GR” faster then she thought possible. Now she spent her time inventing and creating things she could only dream of, her time being completely spent on something she loved so dearly. It also helped get her mind off Vegeta. Now that she finally acknowledged her feelings from before, when he was just a nameless ally, a nameless ‘friend’, it was harder and harder to accept what had taken place. She fixed the necklace as best she could, but it was far from the glorious necklace it once was. She didn’t care, she still wore it under her armor and robes. She once had a connection with Vegeta, she stilled believed she might have one now. Yesterday she felt Vegeta, for only a moment, he was overwhelmed with regret, that it had filtered through to her. She had wondered why he felt that way, but knew she would never get the answer. Standing still, she clicked a button on the side of the ship and within a second the ship disappeared and a capsule reappeared in it’s place. She took the capsule and held it in her hand. It felt sentimental to her to hold the device that Vegeta would now hold in his, oddly making her feel close to him. When the closeness become more permeate in her heart and mind she looked up, knowing full well she was feeling him. He was close by, perhaps he would finally come to see her. She turned towards the door, making her way towards the feeling, towards him. When she finally stood at the door, it slid open to reveil Vegeta, scowling. Bulma’s face lit up and she smiled at him. She was glad to see him. He looked at her for a moment, unsure of the feeling he was picking up from her. Bulma wasn’t surprised to feel Vegeta closed off, she had expected as much from him, though it saddened her, she was happy to see him again. Before she could say anything, he spoke, trying to keep his voice devoid of emotion.
“Where is the prototype? Is it finished?”
“Yes, it’s right over there,” Bulma said as she pointed to her completed ship, “Would you-”
“I didn’t come for chit-chat, I came to train.” Vegeta cut her off as he made his way to the ‘GR’.
Bulma followed after Vegeta, running in front of him before he had a chance to enter her invention. “Vegeta wait-” Before she could finish he cut her off again, this time by grabbing her throat just enough to frighten her from speaking.
Without looking at her, Vegeta spoke with forced anger, “I told you never to address me so informally, woman.”
“Unhand me.” Bulma, after the shock wore off, anger flared in her eyes. She couldn’t believe he was threatening her like this.
Vegeta, surprised at her boldness, looked at her, and was taken a back by the passion in her eyes, the anger and desire he wouldn’t normally see when he was with her, something he missed fiercely. “I will not unhand you until you’ve learned your place.”
“And what is my place? Below you? You are not my Prince, I am a Chikyuu-jin, my place is with my people.”
“Are you asking my to kill you again?”
“Perhaps.”
Looking into her face and into her eyes, something was different about her. Maybe it was for the best that he ended whatever relationship they did have, he could see the lively look in her eyes, the fearlessness, the pride and arrogance that matched his own.
“Tch.” Vegeta let her go and entered the his new training device with much on his mind.
Bulma only stared at the closed door, unable to understand the emotions she felt from him. If he didn’t love her, then why did she feel for a split second, something that held her heart still, coming from him.
**********
Vegeta stood at the opened door of his new training ship. He had trained all day under a hundred times Vegeta-sei’s gravity and it had felt invigorating. He was anticipating his return tomorrow to reach higher levels of gravity, to reach higher levels of strength. Also, with the intense gravity it was easy to keep his mind off of the one person who could leave him uninspired: Bulma. It was the same as the time he had tried to create a barrier, the time he had tried to destroy their bond. It had left him drained, listless, and maddened. Now he seemed almost the same, only this time regret, sadness, and loneliness accompanied the other emotions. And this time he wasn’t trying to block or destroy their bond, this time he was simply denying it it’s nature. And to deny it’s nature meant that he would slowly, if not completely, be swallowed by his own despair. He wanted his mind off her and off their bond. No matter what, he had ended it with her, their odd relationship. No more games, no more confusion. Vegeta wiped the sweat off his brow with a towel and then started to walk towards the door when a tint of blue caught his eye. He turned his head to see Bulma asleep on the floor, with a tool still in her hand. He paused. A part if him wished to go to her, pick her up, and take her to her bed. Another part told him to leave her. It was her fault for denying her body what it needed and she needed sleep. Vegeta then smirked sadly, ironically he was doing the same, he was ignoring what his body and soul needed, he was ignoring her. He breathed in deeply then turned around and left Bulma alone, sleeping on the cold, hard steel floor. But when he left, he felt like he had made a mistake. A mistake that would leave him in his own misery forever.