Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ
or any of the characters within it.
A/N – It’s taken me a long time to get this
chapter out and for that I’m sorry. Anyone who has been following my story
Slave at mm.org will know the reasons why. Anyhow – This is the second last
chapter of this fanfic. Originally it would have ended in the last chapter but
I was rewriting it specifically so I could change the ending. Enjoy.
~*~
Yamcha had been home from the
hospital for almost a month. His bruised and battered body was slowly repairing
itself, although he’d never be the same after what had happened. His jaw still
ached terribly and he had to wear dentures now as his own teeth had been
shattered in the attack. He had permanent steel pins in his right knee and in
his shoulder and his ribs still gave him trouble if he coughed or laughed. Not
that he did much of the latter; he didn’t have all that much to laugh about.
His accident had changed everything.
It wasn’t just that his physical appearance had changed, his mental state had
also deteriorated somewhat. Every time the sun went down and the darkness
pressed around the house Yamcha would find that his paranoia shot through the
roof. Every creak or thump became ominous. Sleeping became impossible, so
Yamcha would spend restless nights roaming around Bulma’s house. Bulma had
confronted him several times about his ‘unhealthy behaviour’ and each
confrontation was leaving their relationship more and more tenuous.
No one seemed to understand
what he was going through. Bulma was cold and distant, oh she spent time with
him but she always seemed on edge, and since his accident she hadn’t been
intimate with him once. At first she had claimed that she didn’t want to hurt
him when he was so sick, then she had started making up other reasons until she
had finally begun avoiding him. He didn’t know what was wrong with her, but he
did know that what they had was fast disappearing. It was as though Bulma despised
him for some reason and almost regretted him returning from the hospital.
Yamcha grimaced as he
stretched out his arm muscles and felt the muscles all down the injured side of
his body ache in response to the sudden movement. Gingerly he lowered it and
heard a low chuckle float into the room. He glanced up and frowned at Vegeta
who was lounging in the doorway of the Briefs living room, his coal black eyes
fixed mockingly on Yamcha.
“So how is Bulma’s little
invalid today, hmm?” Vegeta drawled, prowling into the room with all the
confidence of an unchallenged alpha male. Against his will Yamcha frowned –
since when had Vegeta called Bulma by name? A small shiver worked its way down
his back as Vegeta circled around him and came to a stop beside his chair, a
slight smirk planted on his smug saiyan face. “Feeling better?”
Yamcha opened his mouth to
tell Vegeta to mind his own god damned business when Bulma came walking into
the room, her step faltering as she caught site of Yamcha and Vegeta. For a
moment she stood still and stared at them, her eyes widening as she looked from
Yamcha to Vegeta, looking for all the world as though she had seen a ghost.
“Hey babe.” Yamcha greeted
her, grateful for the distraction. He stretched out his arms towards her and
narrowed his eyes when Bulma stayed where she was, her gaze still directed at
Vegeta. Slowly he lowered his arms back to his sides again, mentally wincing at
the pain the motion has caused him mentally and physically. Still, he couldn’t
let Bulma know how much pain he was still in.
“Yamcha and I were just
cheating…Ooops!” The saiyan smirked and looked sneaky, “I meant chatting.”
A sly grin sliding across his face as a threatening light entered his eyes.
Although Yamcha couldn’t see what reason Vegeta had had for stating that fact
he did notice that Bulma jerked and paled, almost as though Vegeta’s words had
hit her physically.
“Oh?” Bulma’s voice wavered
unsteadily, her voice tight with strain. “What about?” She very slowly looked
down at Yamcha, her eyes scanning his face as though looking for something. She
looked back at Vegeta abruptly. “What about?” She asked again, her voice a bare
whisper.
“Nothing.” Yamcha broke in,
irritated at being excluded from the conversation. He couldn’t understand why
Bulma was staring at Vegeta in what appeared to be…fear? What in God’s name was
going on? Frowning Yamcha climbed unsteadily to his feet. “What’s going on with
you two?” To his surprise Vegeta laughter – a real laugh of amusement.
“You’d better sit back down
if you want to know the answer to that
question.” Vegeta remarked snidely, striding to one of the other free lounge
chairs and sinking down into it gracefully. “It’s about time Bulma told you. I
did want you to know the truth earlier but Bulma didn’t want to tell you while
you were ill…”
“Vegeta, no!” Bulma held up a
hand to forestall Vegeta, a pleading look coming into her eyes as the saiyan
steam rolled ahead anyway, enjoying the look of confusing on the foolish
human’s face.
“Bulma and I…well…” Vegeta
mockingly sighed in regret. “We…”
“No! Vegeta let me be the one
to tell him!” Bulma hurriedly interrupted him mid-sentence. “Please! I said I’d
be the one to tell him, and I will.” She stared into Vegeta’s eyes earnestly,
unwilling to let him completely and utterly destroy every shred of love that
Yamcha had for her – she didn’t want Yamcha to hate her. She especially didn’t
want to have to choose between Vegeta and Yamcha, but she had no choice.
From his vantage point on the
couch Yamcha couldn’t help but notice that Bulma’s blue eyes gleamed with
unshed tears and her usually clear pale skin was flushed from stress. There was
something endlessly sad in the way that she turned to face him, as though she
knew something that was going to rip her apart. Abruptly everything fell into
place – Bulma’s cold attitude and Vegeta’s familiarity, the way that Bulma had
avoided him since his return from the hospital, everything suddenly made sense.
Vegeta’s apparent slip of the mouth about ‘cheating’ was now all too clear.
“Your in love with him.”
Yamcha’s voice was barely audible and for a second he wasn’t sure if his
companions had heard him, but then he saw Bulma’s eyes filling with tears and Vegeta’s
smirk and he knew it was true. Bulma had cheated on him. Bulma had cheated on
him with Vegeta! Vegeta! The insane saiyan prince who had once
threatened to slaughter all of them! The man who had been responsible for his
death in the first battle the earthlings had had with the saiyans!
“I didn’t mean for this to
happen. Please don’t be mad at me.” Bulma moved from the couch and sat down
next to him, taking his hand in a movement that lacked her usual grace. She
stared into his eyes and hesitantly raised a hand to wipe away a tear that had
trickled from her eyes.
“I don’t understand why you’d
do this to me.” Yamcha pulled his hand back from her, wanting to shove her away
from him but unable to bring himself to hurt his first love. He knew he should be
feeling angry but all he was feeling was numb with shock. How could his little
blue haired angel have done this to him? The woman who’d he’d intended to marry
had cheated on him the minute he’d been, even briefly, out of the picture.
“Because she’s in love with
me.” Vegeta finally spoke up, his voice smug and secure in the knowledge that
Bulma was his. Yamcha’s eyes clashed with Vegeta’s and his breath caught in his
throat as he saw something less then human slide through the saiyans gaze eyes.
“No…no you can’t be. Bulma
you belong with me, not him!” Yamcha grabbed at Bulma’s hands, tearing his eyes
away from Vegeta. He gazed into Bulma’s blue eyes with an intensity that took
her breath away. “I love you Bulma…and I forgive you. We can still be together!
It’s not too late…”
“It’s far too late!” Vegeta
sprung to his feet and strode towards them, wrenching Bulma’s hands from
Yamcha’s with clenched teeth and steely eyes. “You lost human! Bulma’s mine!”
“Hey!” Bulma squeaked as
Vegeta dragged her to her feet. “Hey!” She shouted louder as Vegeta went to
pick her up and carry her away. “Put me down!” She took a swipe at Vegeta’s
face and shrieked when he deposited her abruptly on a couch, glaring down at
her with an animal like anger that shook her to the bones.
“Silence woman!” He spat at
her, whirling abruptly to face Yamcha. “You’re not going to steal her away from
me, human! Bulma is mine! She came to me willingly and if you try to take her
from me I swear I’ll rip you limb from limb.” He took a menacing step forward,
baring his teeth.
“Vegeta!” Bulma frowned in
disgust at the violence Vegeta was threatening Yamcha with. She knew Vegeta was
angry but…there was something almost evil in the way he was so quick to
threaten Yamcha. A wave of revulsion made her stomach twist and she swallowed
the bile that had risen in her throat. She turned to face Yamcha, desperate to
get him out of the house and away from Vegeta. She may not feel for Yamcha the
way she used to, but she didn’t want to see him exposed to the violence Vegeta
was capable of.
“Yamcha…I’m sorry but I’m not
going to get back with you.” She took a deep breath. “It’s over – we’re
over.” She sensed rather then heard
Vegeta retreating to her side. She stared at the floor in front of her and
didn’t both looking up when Vegeta sat down beside her and put a comforting – restraining?
– arm around her. She didn’t even look up when she heard Yamcha take a
shuddering breath and leave the room with more haste then grace.
She only looked up when she
felt Vegeta gently kiss her neck and ease her into the circle of her arms. She
collided with his molten hot eyes and felt the pain inside of her subside a
little bit. She’d lost Yamcha but…but Vegeta loved her. Didn’t he?
~*~