DISCLAIMER: DBZ I do
not own.
THANKS – Ane S.
Thesia for beta reading many chapters of this fic.
~*~
~*~ Such and act, ~*~
~*~ That blurs the
grace and blush of modesty; ~*~
~*~ Calls virtue, hypocrite;
takes off the rose ~*~
~*~ From the fair
forehead of an innocent love, ~*~
~*~ And sets a blister
there; ~*~
-
Hamlet
from ‘Hamlet’
~*~
Vegeta motioned for Nappa and Raditz to continue taking the
others to their rooms. He stopped Goku and Bulma and instead led them into a
small conference room that was bare except for a long metal table and a cluster
of uncomfortable metal chairs. It was quite possibly the most ugly and
unattractive room Bulma had seen in her life.
“First of all, Kakarot, and this is in your best interest, stay
away from Bulma if you can.” Vegeta made sure Goku was listening before turning
his attention to Bulma. “And you’d do well to avoid Kakarot as much as
possible. If Turles catches you together, even if you are only innocently
talking, there is no telling what he might do.” He stared meaningfully at the
human female, hoping she could catch his drift. Apparently she had as she
licked her lips uneasily and her hands fluttered nervously near her throat.
“Vegeta, what’s this all about?” She looked at Vegeta worriedly,
understanding that he was worried that Turles might attack Goku but unsure why
he thought this. Turles hadn’t had time to tell Bulma anything before he’d been
led away with Frieza so all she knew was that for some reason he was getting
all territorial over her.
“Yeah,
what’s going on?” Goku had collapsed into one of the ugly little chairs in the
room and was looking at Vegeta expectantly. He looked worn out and on the very
brink of an emotion break down. Vegeta could sympathise with him – after all
he’d also lived through he destruction of his home world too.
Vegeta strode forward and grabbed Bulma, who made a small sound
of fright. Out of the corner of his eyes Vegeta saw Goku sit up in concern, his
eyes locked on Bulma and Vegeta. Vegeta looked back at Bulma and pulled her
shirt away to reveal her shoulder with the bite mark Turles had given her on
it. He stared at it and slowly nodded. It was as he had expected, Turles had
bonded with the woman.
“What’s that?” Goku asked as he edged closer to Bulma and peered
at the bite mark. Somewhere in his mind some instinct told him that the bite
was important and that it meant something incredibly important.
“This is Turles’ mark of ownership.” Vegeta let Bulma go and she
glared at him as she pulled her shirt back up and rubbed her shoulder as though
he’d injured her.
“Ownership? Turles doesn’t own me!” Bulma disagreed, rubbing the
bite mark worriedly as it tingled. She tossed her hair and continued, “This
doesn’t mean anything…”
“Of course it does!” Vegeta interrupted her and shook his head.
“The bite mark means that you’re Turles’ mate, just as the bite mark you gave
him means that he is yours.” With a sinking heart Vegeta saw a confused look
swim to the surface in Bulma’s eyes. It was starting to look less and less like
Turles had been one hundred percent truthful with his mate-to-be.
“I never gave him a bite mark…and what do you mean that the bite
mark means I’m his?” Bulma snarled aggressively, not liking the way that Vegeta
was looking at her – as though she was a small child to be tolerated. She could
tell by his stance that he was taken aback by her yelling at him but completely
at odds with what to do about it.
“Did Turles not explain this to you?” Vegeta asked desperately,
his eyes imploring her to understand. He rubbed his temple as the woman shook
her head and looked at him questioningly.
“He just bit me one
night…”
“So why didn’t you bite him back?” Vegeta interrupted again,
stepping forwards and staring at her intently. Turles had quite clearly not
told the woman what he had been doing to her when he had bonded to her. It was
devious and underhanded to trick a woman in a accepting a bond, back on the
planet Vegeta it was punishable with a life time incarceration. Only the very
low and very desperate of saiyans sunk to that level.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to bite him back,” Bulma said
defensively, crossing her arms across her chest. “If I’d known he was putting
some sort of ownership tag on me I would have stoped him. “ She rubbed at the
bond mark again, her feature tense as she read blatant disgust in Vegeta’s
eyes. Abruptly he looked away and frowned to himself as he began to pace the
floor.
“Woman, has Turles told you if he loves you or not?” He halted
by her and forced her to meet his eyes.
Bulma was silent for several seconds, aware of the similar
stares from Goku and Vegeta. “Yeah…he has told me he loves me.”
Vegeta nodded slowly, his disapproving look only seeming to
intensify. “Do you love him?”
“I…I…” Bulma looked at Goku, his emotion-filled ebony eyes
begging her to say no.
“Bulma?” Vegeta prompted.
“I don’t know…I like Turles a lot…but, you see…he killed my
entire planet while I watched.” Bulma tried to explain her feelings but it felt
wrong to be discussing such personal feelings in front of Goku. With a sigh she
looked sadly at Vegeta and attempted to speak more coherently. “It’s not that I
don’t love him, it’s that I can’t love
him.” Her tone was anguished as she walked over to one of the metal chairs near
Goku and threw herself down into it, sighing dejectedly as she slowly became
aware of the horrible mess she had got herself into.
“So that’s Turles’ problem.” Vegeta groaned out loud,
nodding to himself as he began to pace to floor, his hands gesturing as he
spoke. “It all makes sense now.”
“What
makes sense?” Goku asked, standing up and inching his way closer to Bulma,
unable to stop himself from sneaking closer while Vegeta was pacing and
distracted enough not to tell him to keep his distance.
“Now I know why Turles reacted so violently to you being near Bulma.” Vegeta turned and looked at Goku, he strode over and gave Goku an unexpectedly hard shove away from Bulma, glaring half-heartedly at him. “He’s frightened you’re going to steal her away from him.” Abruptly Vegeta threw back his head and laughed. “This will be a simple problem to solve now that I know the problem!”
“Excuse me, but why would Turles think that Goku was going to
steal me away?” Bulma timidly asked as she let her hair out and rubbed the
bride of her nose as though she had a headache. Nothing was making sense to her
at the moment – in a space of a few minutes her life had once again been turned
upside down and it was most disconcerting.
“Turles is insecure because you’re only half bonded to him. He’s
obviously nervous that somebody will steal you away and bond with you before he
can make you a full bonded mate.” Vegeta shook his head and resisted the urge
to laugh at the absurdity of their situation. “All you have to do, Bulma, is
bite Turles back and he’ll stop being so damned territorial around you.”
Goku’s eyes narrowed and he glanced at Bulma, then back to
Vegeta. "What would happen if somebody did manage to bond with Bulma
before he could?” His dark eyes swept back to Bulma and narrowed as he tried to
discern the emotion on her face. She didn’t look happy with this solution…but
she didn’t look completely unhappy with it either.
Vegeta’s gaze slipped back to Goku and he frowned as he realised
the taller saiyan was watching Bulma with a hawk like intensity. “Turles would
probably snap - I don’t know what would happen to him, but at a guess I’d say
he’d go insane.” Vegeta looked at Goku again for a second before glancing back
at Bulma. Poor Goku was radiating hurt and anger, most of it directed at
Turles. He could only hope that Goku wasn’t planning to do what he thought he
was.
~*~
Bulma’s room with Turles was more elaborate then their room on
the ship had been. The walls were painted a dull stormy grey colour; the floor
was made of some strange material that looked and felt like hard plastic - it was a lighter grey then the walls. The
room both looked and felt depressing, it wasn’t just the colour scheme though.
There was no personality to the room, it was impersonal and unfriendly and as Bulma
sat on the bed in her new room and contemplated what Vegeta had told her about
Turles’ behaviour, she couldn’t help but feel a little lonely.
She
glanced up through a curtain of blue hair as the door opened and Turles came
in, his eyes scanning the room till they found her, a look of relief flooding
his features as though he had been half afraid of her sneaking off. Was he
truly as insecure as Vegeta had made him out to be? Was saiyan bonding really
that important?
He’s jealous of Goku? But
Goku’s my best friend…how cold he be that jealous of him? Bulma tried
to make herself understand his jealousy but failed miserably. Inside of her
head everything was simple and easy to understand – she didn’t think like a
sociopath as Turles did, so she had problems following his train of thoughts.
Or so Bulma told herself as she patted the bed. Turles crossed the room in three short strides
and dropped down onto the bed beside her, his tail immediately wrapping around
her leg.
“What did that lizard king thing have to say?” Bulma asked
lightly, hoping to make Turles forget about Goku. She could see in his eyes
that he was still hung up about him being here, still fretting that his twin
was going to carry Bulma away in the night.
“You mean Lord Frieza?” Turles yawned and pulled off his chest
armour, letting it drop to the ground before settling back on the bed. “He wants
me to join up with the other saiyans and conquer planets for him.” He didn’t
sound too taken with the idea but it was always difficult to know with Turles.
He was a master at deception.
“Are you going to?” Bulma snuggled down next to him and played
with his spiky hair, aware of his watching her from the corner of his dark eyes.
Strangely enough she could almost feel his thoughts ticking over in his head as
he mulled over Frieza’s offer.
“I don’t know yet.” He spoke slowly and Bulma knew that he still
hadn’t decided yet. He elaborated more clearly his indecision when he spoke
again; “Frieza pays well, but I’m not sure I want to spend all my time with
those guys.” Turles’ lip curled as though the other Saiyans disgusted him.
“Goku and Vegeta aren’t so bad.” Bulma winced as she realised
she shouldn’t have said the ‘G’ word in front of Turles.
“Goku!” Turles latched onto the name like a dog with a bone and
spoke with scorn. “Puh! I don’t trust him.” He sat up and pulled Bulma close
him, his eyes were slightly wide and he looked visibly upset all of a sudden.
“I saw the way he was looking at you! He was planning something, mark my
words.” Turles snarled to himself ferociously, convinced in his own mind that
right at this minute Goku was plotting to take his revenge by stealing his mate-to-be.
“Now you’re being stupid. Goku and I are best friends, we have
been since we were kids.” Bulma lay back again, not willing to get herself
involved in the stupidity of Turles’ thoughts. She decided to attempt a subject
change. “What about Vegeta? Do you like him?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Turles yawned again and the tension drained out
of him as his thoughts veered away from Goku. “He stopped by to talk to me just
after I left Frieza’s office.” Turles looked at Bulma and frowned suspiciously.
“He said that he’d had a talk with you – what did he say?”
Bulma nodded, barely able to stop herself from rolling her eyes
at Turles’ protective behaviour. “He told me why you were so nasty to Goku. He
also talked to me a little about Saiyan bonds.” She lay her head on Turles
chest and pressed her mouth to his skin.
“He did, did he?” Turles sighed and began to purr with pleasure.
“Then you know what I did when I bit you?” He opened his eyes and glanced down
at Bulma, half afraid that she would be angry at him for what he’d done.
“I do know now.” Bulma pushed a strand of hair away from
her eyes, she knew she sounded annoyed and didn’t try to hide it. “I wish you’d
told me what you were really doing when you bit me in the shower.” She pouted
at him, obviously put out by his underhandedness.
“I was going to…I swear! I only bit you because at the time it
just seemed to be the right thing to do. We were connecting in a way we never
had before and making you my mate seemed the perfect move to make.” Turles
pulled Bulma close to him and sighed sadly, unhappy with the negative vibe she
was radiating. “If I’d known how you were going to react, then I might have
told you beforehand…given you a little time to get used to it.”
“You should have done that anyway.” Bulma wrapped her arms
around Turles and rested her head on his chest, sighing as she let her angry slide
away. “Don’t be jealous of Goku, Turles. He’s my best friend and I never
thought I was going to see him again. I can’t bear having the two men I care
about the most in my life hating each other.”
“Goku hates me too, huh?” Turles growled softly. “I don’t expect
you to understand why I despise him so much, but I’ll try to not kill him.” He
tried not to sound as though he was doing her a big favour but unfortunately
his tone betrayed him and Bulma sat up beside him, her blue eyes flashing.
“Turles…”
“Bulma, I can’t promise you anything more. When I saw you
hugging him today I nearly tore his throat out, I was that jealous.” Turles was
almost shaking with rage; he couldn’t help the way his instinct made him react.
“I know that you thought it was an innocent embrace, but all I could see was
another un-bonded male hugging you, my soon to be mate.” Turles took a deep
breath. “Bulma, will you bond with me? I’m living with this constant fear that
I’m going to lose you. I know that every time I see you with another man I’m
going to get insanely jealous until you bond with me.” Turles knew he sounded
pathetic, pleading with a weak little human to bond with him, but he couldn’t
seem to get rid of the nagging feeling that she was going to be taken away from
him.
“I don’t know, Turles. I need time to think about it. This isn’t
like an Earth marriage; this is forever. Vegeta told me that once I bond with
you we’d be tied together for life. That’s not a decision I can make over
night, I need time.” Bulma stared earnestly into Turles face, willing him to
understand that this wasn’t rejection.
Turles nodded. “You can have time. Just know that I love you,
Bulma, and every minute that we stay only half bonded I’m getting more and more
desperate for you.” He reached for her and took her lips in a fiery kiss that
blew Bulma’s mind.
Bulma looked up at Turles when he pulled away and smirked. “I
wouldn’t worry about it too much, I’m not likely to run off with any of the men
I’m currently surrounded with.” She ran her nails down the fabric of Turles’
training suit and licked her lips. “Besides, loathe as I am to admit it, I
kinda like you more then any other guy I’ve ever liked…” She leant into him
again, pouring her emotions into her kisses.
~*~
“I forbid you do what you’re planning on doing Kakarot!” Vegeta
shoved Goku into the wall and glared at him. He knew without a doubt that Goku
was planning to do one of the worst things one saiyan could do to another saiyan
– he was going to steal another’s mate. “Don’t think I didn’t see that look in
your eye when I said what would happen if Bulma bonded with somebody else. I
know you want revenge on Turles for destroying your family and friends, but you
cannot go about it this way.” Vegeta bared his teeth.
Goku pushed Vegeta away from him and growled, his dark eyes thundering
with anger and something else. “I’ll get my revenge any way I want to.” He
crossed his arms petulantly and glared at his prince.
“Oh no you won’t!” Vegeta growled, desperately to nip this cruel
plan in the bud. “You have no idea what will happen if you manage to seduce
Bulma! The consequences would be devastating not only for Turles but also to
Bulma and yourself.” He couldn’t understand why Goku wasn’t listening to him –
usually Goku followed his orders without much trouble.
“I don’t see how. She can’t really be happy with him, the man
who cold-bloodedly murdered our entire planet.” Goku smashed a fist into the
wall and chunks of plaster rained down around him. “It’s not fair! A murderer
like him doesn’t deserve somebody as sweet as Bulma!” Goku closed his eyes and
forced himself not to scream aloud.
“It doesn’t matter if she deserves him or not, the fact is that
he loves her and she appears to love him in return whether she realizes it or
not. If you interfere in their relationship the chances are that you’ll send
Bulma mad along with Turles.” Vegeta placed a hand on Goku’s arm and forced him
to meet his eyes. “Don’t do this, you could kill her.”
“I don’t believe you.” Goku pushed Vegeta away from him and
agitatedly paced the room, his power level rising and falling with each new
thought that appeared in his head.
Vegeta stared at Goku for a brief moment, realization dawning on him. “This isn’t just about revenge, is it? You like Bulma too, don’t you? You’re jealous of Turles!” His mouth fell open as he realised just how often Goku had mentioned a ‘Bulma’ since he’d joined the saiyans. He’d mentioned the woman more then he’d mentioned his own family!
“Aren’t you?” Goku snapped, not bothering to deny the attraction
he felt for the petite blue haired beauty.
Vegeta
was silent as he thought on his first reaction to seeing the woman. “I don’t
deny that I find the woman very attractive, but I know that she could never and
would never love me as long as Turles is around. I respect that.” Vegeta
grimaced and his mouth twisted as he looked sideways at Goku again. “Besides,
she’s not really my type.”
Goku snorted and never noticed Vegeta’s sideways look. “Well I
don’t care what you say, I’m going to make her mine.”
The prince shook his head. “Well, don’t expect my help, I’m on
Turles’ side this time, Kakarot.”
Goku turned away from Vegeta. “So be it.”
~*~