DISCLAIMER: DBZ I do not own.

A/N – Well I told you all that I’d get this chapter out as soon as possible and if I don’t say so myself I think this is pretty good time, don’t you? For all those people who voiced their concerns over Goku being a little too mean, don’t worry about it. He turns nicer again soon so just stick with the story.

Chapter 7: ‘Repent’

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~*~ Confess yourself to heaven: ~*~

~*~ Repent what’s past; avoid what is to come; ~*~

- Hamlet from ‘Hamlet’

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Bulma sighed tiredly as she opened the door to her quarters and wearily walked in, dropping her coat on the floor and collapsing face down on the bed with a groan. A hand grabbed her shoulder and Bulma sat up with squeal, calming down somewhat when she saw who it was who had touched her. Turles stood by the bed, grinning at her discomfort. He looked lie his usual rugged self as he stared down at her, arms folded across his chest with his eyes twinkling with something more then just laughter.

“Jesus, Turles!” Bulma spat angrily and put a hand to her chest to still her fast-beating heart. “You scared the hell out of me!” She shoved him away from her and glared at him. Turles knew she hated to be startled yet he always took great pleasure in sneaking up on her – he was a sadistic bastard at heart.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to.” Turles didn’t sound sorry, he sounded amused if anything. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a charming smile that froze around the edges as he leant close and sniffed at her clothing. He jerked back from her and with a growl he jerked Bulma up from the bed and held her close to him, staring into her eyes with anger. “You were with him again, weren’t you? After I warned you to keep away you still went near him!” He yelled the last sentence and let Bulma drop back to the bed.

“What…?” Bulma tried to edge across the bed and away from Turles but he spotted her movement and pulled her to her feet, one of his hands locked about her wrist in an iron tight grip.

“Don’t ‘what’ me! I can smell him on your clothes!” He snarled at her, pulling her closer so he could breath in the scent that clung to her like a second skin.

“Smell who?” Bulma asked innocently as she attempted to pull away. Her saiyan mate however wasn’t having any of it and he snarled at her again, this time managing to frighten her with the intensity of his rage. “Turles, you’re scaring me!” Bulma didn’t try to disguise the fear in her voice.

“Shut up!” he howled, giving her a small shake. “You went near Kakarot again!” He bared perfect white teeth and growled like a feral creature as Bulma struggled in his grasp.

“We met in the hall and that’s all, I swear! We just talked for a few minutes and then Vegeta came and got me! Honestly, Turles!” Bulma ceased her struggles and prayed that Turles would calm down enough for reason to return. She placed her hands on his chest and instead of fighting to break away she leant into him, allowing him to feel in control.

Turles breathed heavily for a few more minutes but gradually his eyes lost the fire in them and became normal eyes, he blinked at her slowly. “You’re telling the truth?” Although Turles didn’t sound as though he trusted her, Bulma could hear a note of relief in his voice that meant he was beginning to believe her.

“Yes.” Bulma relaxed against him and put her head on his shoulder, holding him tightly. “For a second there, Turles, I thought you were going to snap.” She whispered into his neck, closing her eyes just letting him hold her. She’d never seen him this angry before – at least not since the first time she’d seen him on earth. Even then he hadn’t been angry…he’d just been scary. Bulma shivered at the memory and forced herself to pa y attention to what Turles was saying, it was no good living in the past with those horribly memories.

“I almost did lose it.” Turles admitted. “I just can’t stand the thought of you being near him!” His flashed once more and Bulma momentarily thought he was going to go into a rage again.

“It’s okay, you’re the only man who I want to be with, you know that.” Bulma smoothed some of his unruly hair back from his face and then tension melted out of his muscles. “You don’t need to get so jealous.” She told him sincerely.

Turles ran his hands down Bulma’s sides until he clasped her waist. “I can’t help it.” His voice sounded strange but Bulma ignored it – it was probably just her imagination anyway.

~*~

“Have you seen Goku?” Vegeta asked Nappa as he paused in the doorway of the recreational room in which Nappa and Raditz were sprawled. He scanned the room for the youngest saiyan but couldn’t see him, unfortunately he couldn’t sense him either which meant he was suppressing his power level – and that meant he was up to no good.

Nappa looked up and frowned in concentration. “Not for a while, my prince.” He answered absentmindedly, as though he didn’t consider the earth saiyan worth worrying about. Vegeta watched Nappa shove down a chocolate bar into his gaping mouth with disgust before turning to look at Raditz who was reading a file on a planet Vegeta had never heard of.

“What about you?” Vegeta asked him hopefully.

Raditz avoided his eyes and shrugged as though he had no wish to be involved. “Last time I saw him he was looking for Turles.” Raditz carefully turned a page in the file and purposely went back to reading, hoping his prince would take a hint and let the topic drop.

“But Turles isn’t here; he went with Frieza down to the planet Golan so that Frieza could test his strength. He isn’t going to be back until later tonight.” Vegeta took a few steps into the room, frowning as he realized Goku’s brother was hiding something. “Raditz, if you know something…” His tone was warning and Raditz immediately tensed up.

“All I know is that Goku wanted to know where Turles was, and then he disappeared.” Raditz stood up, his tail ruffled. “Don’t worry, he won’t be far away.” He dropped the file onto the desk in front of him and left the room hurriedly. Vegeta didn’t think Raditz actually knew where Goku was, but no doubt he knew he was up to no good.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Vegeta said quietly, whirling around and gracefully sauntering away.

~*~

“Turles, what’s gotten into you?” Bulma laughed as her saiyan lover pushed her down onto the bed and crawled over her, purring as he pulled off his armor with less then his usual grace and kissed her again.

“Oh…nothing, I’m just not feeling myself today.” Turles smirked as if he had said something funny and his eyes twinkled. He began to unbuttoned Bulma’s shirt and kissed her again as he ran his eyes down her body and started removing her shirt. His eyes fell on the bite mark on her shoulder and, for a brief second, Bulma saw his eyes flash with something other than passion…hatred.

“Turles? What’s wrong?” She tried to push him away, sensing something was wrong, but Turles pushed her back down on the bed again and smiled – although his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“It’s nothing, it just looks like your bite is, well, fading. I should probably bite you again.” Turles winked at her boyishly, lent his head down and ran his tongue along the bite mark. Bulma shivered and her back arched – there was something about the feel of his tongue on her bite mark that sent shivers up and down her spine.

”I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, Turles.” Bulma told him breathlessly, once the feeling had faded. “I mean, I’m not sure if I want to bond with you yet.” Her blue eyes became shadowed and Turles growled softly when he felt her try to push him away.

“Whom would you rather bond with? That Goku, err, I mean Kakarot?” Turles pulled back again and Bulma froze as she looked into his eyes and suddenly found herself staring into eyes that were not the eyes of her lover.

“You never call Goku ‘Kakarot’! You’ve always called him Goku before, like me. What’s changed?” Bulma tied to sit up, sensing that something was going on. It was almost as though Turles was hiding something from her…

“What do you mean?” He laughed and put a hand behind his head in a movement that was heart wrenchingly familiar – only she’d only ever seen Goku do that before.

“You’ve called Goku ‘Kakarot’ twice now…why?” Bulma’s eyes bored into his and above her as she tried to discern what was going on.

Turles hurriedly looked away. “Oh, nothing, I’ve been spending too much time with Vegeta, I guess.” Turles tried to brush it aside, but Bulma felt deep in her bones that something was very much wrong. It wasn’t like Turles to be so dismissive.

“I didn’t know you’d been spending any time with Vegeta. I thought you’d been with Frieza most of the time. I’m the one who Vegeta always seems to be hanging around.” Bulma spoke slowly, watching Turles for any signs that he was hiding something.

Abruptly Turles expression turned much more normal as he scowled. “Sniffing around, more like.” He eyed the bite mark on her neck and Bulma tried to worm away, uncomfortable with the way his eyes were watching her as though she was a piece of meat.

“I don’t want to do this again, Turles, the half-bond is there, you don’t have to bite me again.” She held her hands to his chest and tried once more to move him off from on top of her – but Turles wasn’t having any of it.

“Oh, but I do, you see.” In a movement much like a striking snake, Turles fastened his teeth on the bite mark and bit down, easily breaking the skin in a warm gush of blood. Bulma’s back arched and she screamed in pain. During the throws of passion being bitten hadn’t hurt, but having Turles sink his teeth in without any warning was painful. So painful that Bulma knew if he didn’t stop soon she would pass out.

“Stop! Please! Turles, it hurts, stop!” She felt his teeth pierce her skin even deeper and instantly the pain intensified, causing her to scream even louder than before. The pain was like acid racing through her skin, burning in her veins like liquid fire.

Turles pulled back, blood dripping down his chin. “I didn’t mean for it to hurt you so badly.” Turles’ voice had changed and Bulma instantly felt so forgiving. He sounded so sincere, so regretful…so un-Turles like. In that instant it all became clear. As ‘Turles’ was hugging her, she let her hands drop down to where his tail should have been.

But there was no tail and that meant that the person hugging her could only be…

“Goku!” Bulma pushed him away in a sudden burst of strength and leaped from the bed, her face aghast. She began pulling her shirt closed and shakily buttoning up the buttons.

“I am sorry, you know, but I couldn’t let you become fully bonded to him. All you have to do now is bite me and you can be my mate instead.” Goku easily leapt up from the bed and slowly sauntered towards Bulma, his eyes watching her with intention. “You can’t want to be with him, Bulma, you can’t.” The primal force of his voice rocked Bulma; she’d never heard Goku sound so passionate about anything before.

“Goku, how could you do this? What’s wrong with you?” She back up until she hit the wall, breathing in ragged gasps of air as Goku came to a stop in front of her and placed a hand on either side of her body – trapping her.

“What’s wrong with me? I’m trying to protect you, Bulma!” Goku looked honestly confused, as though Bulma should have realized that he was ruining her relationship with Turles for her own good.

“From Turles?” Bulma swallowed hard as Goku lent close to her and breathed in her scent. A drop of blood slid down her neck and she shivered.

“Yes! From him!” Goku growled softly as he licked his lips free of blood. “He’s only going to hurt you, Bulma. And I can’t let that happen; not when I love you so much.” Goku stepped up and kissed Bulma, who was too stunned to do anything but stand there. His mouth was softer then Turles’ and his kisses were gentle with a quiet fire. Bulma almost moaned a complaint when he lifted his face from hers, but checked herself just in time.

“Just bite me back, and we’ll be bonded and he’ll never hurt you again. We don’t even have to tell the child you’re carrying that I’m not its real father.” Goku gently stroked her hair, his eyes soft and his voice gently persuading.

“You’re…you’re mad, Goku!” Bulma gasped as she shook herself out of the lustful thoughts she had been having abut Goku and slipped from under his arm. She bolted nervously towards the door and glanced back over her shoulder to yell at him. “I don’t know what Vegeta and his groupies did to you, but…”

“They didn’t do anything!” Goku leapt in front of Bulma again and barred the door, making sure Bulma could see how strong he was. “It was all HIM! He killed my family! He destroyed my planet! He’s taken away everything that I loved and now he’s even trying to take you away! I’m not going to let that happen. I have to protect you.” Goku stood there breathing heavily and, for the first time since being back with him, Bulma realized how badly hurt Goku really was over the loss of his family, friends and planet. All this time in space he’d been clinging to the fact that they were still alive, loving them from a distance, and then he’d suddenly found out that despite his best efforts they were all dead. Even she, Bulma, the person who Goku had grown up protecting, had injured him by all but telling him to get lost because she had found another male instead of him.

He was mad with grief and Bulma hadn’t even seen it till now.

“Oh, Goku! I’m so sorry.” Bulma took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him gently as she tried to console him. “I love you too - but only as a friend. I know this has been hard for you, but you’re only hurting me by doing this. I love Turles and I’m going to bond with him.” Bulma spoke gently but forcefully, knowing that it was time for Goku to understand that she had made up her mind.

“Bulma, no…” Goku weakly held out a hand to her as she pulled back from his hug with glistening eyes. Bulma shook her head as she walked around him and opened the door to the hallway.

“What you did just now was wrong. I’m not going to tell Turles because he’d flip out and probably try to kill you, but I am going to ask you to leave and not to come near us again until we’re fully bonded. This is hard for me too, Goku, because I do love you, but not in the same way I love Turles. Maybe you’re right when you say he’s only going to hurt me, but I have to give it a chance.” Bulma stood by the open door. “Please, leave.” She was aware of the tear that was trailing down her cheek an she swatted it away angrily, not wanting to feel so guilty for throwing her best friend out.

Goku gave Bulma a long look and then slowly he nodded. “I’m leaving, but this isn’t going to go away, Bulma. I do love you and one day you’re going to be mine instead of his. Somebody like him doesn’t deserve somebody like you.” He looked at her for what seemed like an eternity before he strode past her, leaving Bulma with the burning impression of his coal black eyes seared into her mind.

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