Submitted by Davelli on
12.22.99
Vegeta walked in from the cold outside. It had
been raining all day. From his transparent training pod, Vegeta watched as the
dark clouds wrapped their fingers around the blue sky, strangling the white
clouds, squeezing their water-droplets out of them. It rained hard. Vegeta had
never seen raindrops that big before. They seemed to pound endlessly on the
glass, making thumps so loud that even Vegeta was becoming annoyed at their
sound.
He wiped off his sweaty brow, patting a towel
against his forehead. He was so tired, he could barely pick up his feet. He
walked into the door of his house, wondering what in the way of food Bulma had
prepared for him. He walked into the kitchen, expecting to see his lovely mate
fixing one of her strange meals, programming the robots to do all the hard
work. Strangely enough, the kitchen was empty, save for a few blinking lights
coming from the deactivated robots. Vegeta's brow furrowed as he wondered where
his wife could be.
After checking in the downstairs bathroom and in
the living room, Vegeta finally decided that Bulma had left. It was strange of
her to leave without telling him, but it did happen every once in a while.
Vegeta decided he'd ask her whenever she got home, and that in the mean while,
he should step into the shower. He was making his way upstairs when an odd
sensation came over him. He had a slight feeling that someone was there. The
feeling was so slight that on any other day, Vegeta probably would have totally
dismissed it; but for some reason today, he didn't ignore it. He continued
upstairs, pondering the strange feeling.
He opened the door to the bedroom that he shared
with Bulma and unconsciously flipped on the lights. He had already begun to
remove his shirt when his eyes fell upon the bed. There, attempting to cover
herself up, was Bulma, and there next to her was another man.
Vegeta simply looked at the two with complete
shock. His mind did not even register with what his eyes had told it. His jaw
fell slack at first, then slow retracted back to its normal position. He
continued to stare blankly at the two for several minutes, unsure whether what
he was seeing was a dream or reality or..his mind went on with various
possibilities, all of which he was hoping weren't true.
"Vegeta...." Bulma finally spoke.
"Bulma, what..what..what's going on?"
Bulma tried to say something, wishing for the
world that she could explain what her husband now saw away, thinking that maybe
if she found the right words, he wouldn't get as mad as she knew he would. The
words never came. No matter how hard she tried, all thoughts and words died in
her throat, unable to manifest themselves into a rational chain of thought.
Bulma tried harder to think of something, but realized that she couldn't. As
she peered into her husband's unknowing gaze, she began to cry uncontrollably.
Suddenly, all the physical pleasure that had overtaken her moments before
transformed into loathing and hatred for this act. She couldn't stop crying.
"Bulma..." Vegeta tried once more. The
other man in the bed finally revealed himself. He was a tall, handsome man,
with dark hair and dark eyes. He sat up in the bed and stared Vegeta in the
eyes, countering the intense madness that was welling in Vegeta, but fueling
that madness all the same. The mans spoke after looking at Vegeta for a few
seconds.
"You aren't enough for her! She needed
someone else, someone to really lover her! You spend all your time training,
neglecting her! Well I won't stand for it! I don't care who you are or how
strong you are, no woman should be treated this way!" The man went on. And
on. The longer he went on, the more real this transgression made itself to
Vegeta. As the man sat there and defended Vegeta's own wife for cheating on
him, the more evident the crime became to Vegeta. As the man continued to
inform Vegeta of his horrible ability as a husband, Vegeta's mind became
clearer and clearer with realization of what was happening, but rage and
madness were inversely fogging his mind as to what how he would react. As
Vegeta listened to the man accuse him of various things, Vegeta's face twisted
and contorted, becoming more and more susceptible to his boundless anger. Bulma
saw this and knew what was coming. She reached over, exposing her naked body,
trying to shut the man up. Between pleas with the man, she would glance at
Vegeta as if trying to gauge his rage, trying to decipher when he would go off.
She judged wrongly.
"What is your name?" Vegeta asked the
man. This quited the man. He looked at Vegeta confusingly, not expecting the
Saiyan to recover from the onslaught of attacks that he had flung at his
lover's husband. He tried to look Vegeta in the eyes again, but finding only
rage and pain, could not. He answered.
"Thomas. Thomas Edwards."
"Okay...Thomas. Because I cannot stand to
see my wife naked next to you, I will give her exactly three minutes to get
dressed. If you are not without range of my anger, I will kill you."
Although Vegeta was now under the control of his anger, his anger was acting
unpredictably. Vegeta thought that he should be killing the man, but his anger
was telling him otherwise. His anger knew what the true source of his hate was,
the true fountain from which his rage spilled.
"Run?! Are you crazy!?" Thomas started.
Do you think I give a shi--" The man was interrupted with a fist to the
stomach. Vegeta had moved so fast that the man did not see it. Vegeta had
blinked from his position next to the entrance of the room to right next to the
man, his fist buried in the man's gut. He hit Thomas so hard that he fell back
and spit up blood. Now completely disgusted, Vegeta picked the man up by his
throat and shook him violently as he yelled.
"Listen, pitiful human. I am bowing down to
the minute amount of compassion in my heart by giving you the choice to
leave." Blood was gushing from Thomas's mouth now, dribbling down from his
chin, across his throat, and all around Vegeta's hand. Vegeta continued to
speak, and Thomas's eyes fixed on Vegeta's, unable to move from that intense
fire of hatred that dwelt within them.
"You will either leave now, or I will kill
you with several more blows similar to the one I just gave you. It will be a
sure, slow, painful death, I assure you. Now, leave." Vegeta dropped
Thomas, and the pitiful creature scampered about the room, searching for his
clothes. He went to the door after gathering all of them, and, just before he
left, threw one last glance back at Bulma, then left.
Vegeta watched the man leave, considered his new
thoughts, then turned his gaze back at his wife. She hadn't dressed at all
during the confusion, unable to turn her attention away from the fate of
Thomas. She now stood there in front of her husband, naked, crying
uncontrollably. He walked in front of her, stared her in the eyes, hot tears
welling up. His thoughts left him. He knew not what actions were being carried
out by his body, for he had no control over it. When he regained control of his
mind from his anger, his wife laying on the ground, rubbing a fresh bruise on
her cheek. She stared up into his eyes, now sobbing, and threw herself at his
feet, begging his forgiveness.
Vegeta was surprised at his ability to control
himself after that. Maybe it was the sight of seeing her naked, begging for his
forgiveness, completely humiliated by her deed. He didn't know what it was that
was keeping him from losing control, but the part of him that loved her was
glad it was there.
"Listen, you trick, pick yourself and put
some clothes on. I am disgusted by the sight of your unclothed body."
Bulma continued to cry at Vegeta's feet, grabbing his leg while screaming for
mercy from him. He took her head by the blue hair and tilted her head up into
his face, letting her see the hatred that had manifested itself into his eyes.
She fell back upon gazing into his eyes, and he continued to speak
threateningly.
"If you don't get your butt up and dress
yourself, then I WILL KILL YOU, BULMA!" Vegeta hadn't expected such a
burst of rage, and consequently was surprised when he went Super Saiyan Level
Two. He tried not to show his surprise, hoping that his wife could not see the
hurt in his face. Bulma lunged back even further at the sight of his golden
hair and green eyes, and she finally gathered the nerve to get up and dress
herself. When she came out of the closet, Vegeta was standing there. He had
regained control and powered down to his normal state, but Bulma was still
scared for her life.
As she watched Vegeta, she saw something that she
did not expect. She saw him looking at her. Not taking her in the way he always
had, but looking her over in disgust, like she was a limp dog that needed to be
put down. She turned her head away from his look, unable to stand it. She
looked back, however, when she heard an unfamiliar whimper.
When Bulma turned her eyes back to her husband,
she questioned her eyes' ability. Vegeta was now standing there, arms hanging
limp by his side, crying. His head hung low on his shoulders as he sobbed. She
instinctually wanted to move by his side and try to comfort him, only to
realize that she was the reason he was crying. Vegeta fell to his knees after a
few minutes more, unable to support himself. Bulma also began to cry at this.
She wished for the opportunity to sell her soul for her husband's sake, but
knew she could not, for her soul was too tainted now to purchase.
Submitted by Davelli
Vegeta crumbled to his knees, giving way to the
sorrow that overcame him so surprisingly quickly. He couldn't believe what was
happening to him. Not only had his mate been unfaithful to him, but he was
reacting so foolishly! Why hadn't he destroyed that man? Why had he given in to
his compassion for his wife, at this time? He didn't understand Bulma's
actions, he didn't understand his tears, and he didn't understand his reality.
Bulma simply watched her Saiyan Prince lay on his
knees, watched him cry the pain from his soul. She couldn't do anything for
him. She hated herself for doing what she had, she hated Thomas for convincing
that he was what she needed, and she hated Vegeta for catching her. She didn't
know how to react anymore. She reached her hand up and wiped hot tears from her
eyes. Vegeta's wimpering grew louder, as the amount of tears from his eyes
intensified. She felt that she would explode if anymore emotion were to fill
her empty heart.
Vegeta's whimpering tapered off, and he reached
his powerful hands up and whisked away his tears. He didn't try to get back to
his feet; he knew his knees wouldn't hold up under the torrent of pain that was
swirling through his head. He did raise his gaze to see Bulma's face. She
wasn't even crying now. How could she not, he wondered. How could her act not
affect her as it had affected him? Anger began to flair up in Vegeta's heart,
anger at the unfairness of the situation that his mate had thrust him in.
A strange silenced filtered throught the air that
stood between Bulma and Vegeta. The silence was soon so thick and heavy, that
under no other circumstances could either of the two sustained it; one of them
would have had to spoke. But not now, not here. The silence seemed to saturate
everything: The air, Bulma's eyes, Vegeta's heart, the many tender moments
shared in that bedroom. Vegeta couldn't bare it any longer. He stood up, looked
his "mate" once more in the eyes, then walked over to the window,
opened it up, and flew out.
Vegeta's actions seemed to have signaled Bulma's
mind into thought. As soon as he had made it to the window and she had figured
out what he was doing, she rushed over to his side as quickly as possible,
trying to get him to stop, or to at least tell her where she was going. He said
nothing. He simply looked at her, all the love drained from his eyes, and she
couldn't respond to that. There was nothing she could or would even want to say
to him then.
Vegeta flew as far as he could, as fast as he
could. He flew until the wind's force pushed new tears into his eyes. He
finally drifted to the ground, sobbing again under the reinforced weight of
what had happened. He sat on the ground, crying, and covering his face so that
no one would see the Prince of Vegeta sobbing like a child.
Sitting there, under the moon, which seemed to be
laughing at him, Vegeta questioned himself. Had he not spent any time on this
wretched planet, he would never have let his steel emotions leave him, never
would have let this somewhat human side overtake him. How could he have come to
love someone? There was no place in his soul for love, he had thought, but he
knew it must exist somewhere, or else he would not be so pained as he was now.
He continued to cry, sobbing so hard that he did not notice Goku come down next
to him.
"Vegeta?" Vegeta slowly lifted his eyes
up to meet those of Kakarotto.
"What do you want, Kakarotto?"
"I am not going to let you hurt Bulma. She
has been my friend much longer than she has been your wife." A look of
disgust came over Vegeta's face as he beheld the virtuous face of the
despicable Kakarotto.
"I don't want to fight, Kakarotto."
Goku was completely taked aback by these words. On his way over from his house,
he went over every possible response that he could've gotten from Vegeta, and
the only one that he hadn't thought of was the one that he was now presented
with. Bulma had called Chi-Chi and relayed the whole entire situation over to
him, and when Chi-Chi had told him how Vegeta had reacted, he thought he was
sure to find Vegeta scathing mad and ready to kill. He hadn't expected to find
such a defeated, prideless Vegeta.
Vegeta continued to cry for a little longer, then
stood up, turning his attention to Kakarotto.
"Kakarotto, why do I love?" Goku was
startled by the question, and for a few minutes, didn't quite know how to
answer.
"Well, Vegeta, I don't know. We love because
we need others. I can't imagine my life without loving others, because I can't
imagine my life without someone loving me."
"How unfortunate." replied Vegeta.
"Unfortunate?" Goku repeated.
"Unfortunate that you seem to depend on
love. I didn't have any for my entire life, and now, when it was finally
awakened within me, it is hurt. I don't understand how someone that I thought
loved me could do something such as..." Vegeta could not finish the
sentence.
"Vegeta, just because she was unfaithful
doesn't mean she doesn't love you--"
"Then what the hell does it mean,
Kakarotto?" Vegeta stared wide-eyed and incredulously at the foolish
Kakarotto. To Goku's dismay, he couldn't think of a reply to Vegeta's question.
"She does love you, Vegeta," said Goku.
"Shut up, Kakarotto."
It began to rain again. The raindrops were even
bigger than before, pounding Vegeta in the face. Goku began to look around for
shelter, but Vegeta look up towards the sky, and shouted at the top capacity of
his lungs. He screamed longer than what the lungs could seem to handle. The
scream was filled with anger and hate, those two emotions being so thick in the
scream that one could almost touch them.
Goku stared back at Vegeta when he was done
screaming. He gazed at the broken Saiyan, wondering himself how the being who
had once come to destroy the planet could now be torn to pieces over one of the
panet's inhabitants, but glad that Vegeta had acquired a human side.
"This is killing you, isn't it,
Vegeta?"
"More than you could possibly imagine,
Kakarotto." Goku felt pain for the Saiyan inside himself, thinking that if
there were any person on this planet who deserved the purest love that could
ever be offered simply for lack of ever having loving in the first place, it
was Vegeta.
Submitted by BigInzo
Goku stood there, confused, yet wanting to do
something. Goku finally decided that the best thing to do for the defeated
prince, was to keep him from feeling so defeated. So Goku decide to keep
Vegita's mind off of his present situation, and what did Vegita love almost as
much as his wife? He loved to fight, and with nobody more the Goku himself. So,
Goku taking this into consideration challenged Vegita to a sparing match. Goku
knew this wouldn't settle their problems, but it would give Chi-chi and Bulma
time to figure and work out somethings on their own for a while. Vegita,
thinking the same thing as Goku, but not at all aware that it was Goku's plan,
accepted. With a smirk on his face tanted, "Even in my weakest state
Kakkarot, I'm still than a match for you!" As quickly as Goku had made the
challenge, the battle was underway, but something about this was different.
Vegita was comming at Goku much more aggresive than ususal. "Kakkarot, why
don't you turn to Super Sayjin three!?!", Vegita taunted as he quickly
overtook Goku with his extremely aggresive attack. Before Goku was able to turn
stopped himself from his down-ward spiral and turned back around, there floated
Vegita, already in Super Sayjin mode. Goku smiled, " Okay Vegita, you all
warmed up, because I'm through playing around!" As Goku finished that
sentence, he two entered the first stage of Super Sayjin. The two of them were bashing
away at each other in the rain, but still Vegita egged on and was becoming more
aggresive as the battle went on. Goku seeing this tried his best to just match
Vegita and let him get rid of all of the frustrations and stresses he had
experienced today. Goku soon found out that this wasn't going to be an easy
task. As usual, their match was a close fight, but this time, for the first
time, Vegita had total control of the match. Goku fearing that he wouldn't be
able to take much more of Vegita's attack without becomeing more aggresive
himself, decided it was time to turn the tables. Both of the fighter were now
exchanging blows and energy blast to a stalemate.
Meanwhile, back at Goku's house, Chi-chi and
Bulma sat there trying to figure out what they were going to do about the
present situation. They both knew that things would never be the same as they
were before, but Bulma still loved Vegita and reassured Chi-chi she'd do
whatever she need too, to get back her husband. If only she hadn't been so stupid,
she thought. She thought of how lucky she was that Vegita hadn't killed her
right there, and how she kind of wished that he had. She began to cry again in
Chi-chi's arms. Chi-chi didn't know what to do to confort her. She wanted to
tell her that this whole thing wasn't her fault, but Chi-chi knew for a fact
that it was. They both knew, and Bulma couldn't take back her actions. Bulma
thought for a minute, "Maybe Vegita will forgive me, if he wanted to hurt
me, I don't know if even the Dragon Balls could stop him." Then she
thought about it, the Dragon Balls. She could use them to wish that she had
never cheated on Vegita, which would take away all the pain that the two of
them would feel, and she'd never have to tell Trunks what happened.
Just then, Gohaun burst throught the door.
"Dad and Vegita are fighting!", he informed his mother and Bulma.
Behind Gohaun was Goten and Trunks. Bulma could barely look at her son. The
shame of what had happened overtook her again, and he saw his mother begin to cry.
As he went to confort her, he turned to see Gohaun and Goten leaving toward the
battle field. He quickly turned around and sped after them. Bulma seeing how
many lives she had effected with her one sinful act began to cry even harder.
Chi-chi was no longer holding her, but was yelling for Gohaun and Goten to come
back, but they were to far gone to hear her cries.
Back at the battle field both warriors were still
going at it. Goku's plan had worked, Vegita had totaly forgotten all about the
happening of earlier, or was he just not showing it wandered Goku. In Goku's
moment of thought, Vegita took the chance to begin pummeling him again. What
once looked like a grassy meadow, now looked like a battle-torn field. The two
of them had destroyed much of the surrounding area without even realizing it.
Also without realizing it, the two warriors had drifted toward Satan City,
which they were only mear miles outside of. They were starting to drift over
the suburbs of the city now. As Goku recovered from Vegita's attack he noticed
the houses below him. He began to tell Vegita when he was struck from behind.
Vegita no longer cared about the people, about his family, about his life, all
he cared about now was finally defeating Kakkarot. His mind was compleatly focused
on that and that alone. Maybe it was his subconsious helping him cope with the
stress or blocking out the pain for him, but all he saw was Goku floating in
front of him and all he wanted was to drop Goku before his feet so he'd be
victorious. Goku took it upon himself to lead Vegita away from the city. He
sped as quickly as possible away from the city, with Vegita on his tail. After
putting a few miles between Vegita and the city, Goku came to a dead halt.
Vegita still speeding as fast as he could past Goku. This abrupt stop confused
Vegita, but it also got his head cleared enough to think clearly.
"Kakkarot, what are you doing?", questioned an aggettated Vegita.
Goku just looked to the East, where approaching quickly was Gohaun, Trunks, and
Goten. Seeing Trunks was just too much for Vegita to handle, he flew off as
quickly as possible. Goku watched as Vegita flew off. Gohaun stopped in front
of his father and asked, "What happened?". Goku looked at Trunks and
then back at Gohaun and replied, "Nothing."
Submitted by beck1978
Trunks was more confused than ever, what is going
on? Why was his father flying away from them? Goku seeing the confused look on
trunks face said "Your father had a fight with your mother, Vegeta is just
a little upset but everything will be o.k"
Trunks didn't hear the last words of Goku because
he was off after his rapidly disappearing father.
Vegeta flew as fast as he could to get away from
his son, he could not look at him and not think about the betrayal he felt. He
could feel afamiliar ki after him, it was Trunks. This made Vegeta to speed up,
deep down in his heart he knows he will have to face up to Trunks sooner or
later but he was not ready.
Questions kept on replaying itself in Trunks
mind, Why was his father running away from him? Surely his father would of felt
his ki by now, then an image of Bulma crying came to into his mind. He knows
that his parents has had a fight but surely it can't be this bad, every couple
has fights now and then, so what could of happened. Trunks powered up to Super
Sayjin two so he could go faster.
Vegeta knows his son will catch up to him because
he feels that Trunks has turned into Super Sayjin two "Darn why can't they
leave me alone to think I'm not ready"
" Father! Stop!"
"darn darn darn why is this happening what
have I done to deserve this"
Vegeta stops and drops down to the ground, Trunk
does the same.
" Trunk go back to your Mother" Vegeta
said this looking on the ground, trying to avoid his son's eyes.
" I'm not going any where until you tell me
what's going on, Mother is at Goten's house crying her eyes out, your fighting
with Uncle Goku and when you see us coming you fly away. So tell me what the
hell is going on!" Vegeta looks up at his son's face and see tears was
swelling up in his eyes, this courses Vegeta's emotions to over come his self
control and bursts out " Well what do you want me to say! Oh it's nothing
to worry about, I just walked in on your mother in the middle of passion with
another man! is that what you want me to say, that your mother is sleeping with
another guy in my own bed." Tears start to run down Vegeta's face, Trunks
sees the pain and angry in his father's eyes. Vegeta seeing the pain in his
son's eyes just realising what he had said, he couldn't put up with it so he
took off, leaving Trunks staring of after him.
Submitted by GGDoll2010
Bulma was still in the kitchen with the Chi-Chi
and the others when Trunks returned, an angry scowl on his face.
"How could you?" he hissed at his
mother. Trunks may have been young, but he understood exactly what his father
had said.
Bulma wiped tears from her eyes. "Wh-
what?"
"Dad told me."
"H- he did?"
"Yes... why?"
"He... I-I..." Bulma fell silent.
For a moment no one spoke.
"Go home, Mom," Trunks said, choking
back tears. "I'm staying here tonight." He turned and rushed into
Goten's room, Goten running after him.
Bulma desperately turned to Goku. "You have
to help me," she pleaded to her friend. "If we get all the
dragonballs, we can just wish none of this ever happened. Then everything will
be okay again."
Goku just stared back at her sympathetically.
"Goku?"
"I can't do that, Bulma."
"Wh-what?"
"This isn't something that should be fixed
with the dragonballs. All the other times we were saving the planet and
bringing people back to life. This... this is different."
"You can't mean that!"
"You have to fix this," Goku continued
pointedly. "Not the dragon." He couldn't look her in the face
anymore. "I doubt the Shenlong could help anyway. It would take enormous
power to reverse time."
Bulma flopped back into the kitchen chair.
Chi-Chi put a hand on Bulma's shoulder.
"You'll have to talk to Vegeta,"
Chi-Chi said softly.
"He wouldn't listen," Bulma said,
closing her eyes. "You don't understand... You didn't see the look on his
face... It was like I had killed him. No, it was worse. It was like I had
ripped his soul to shreds."
"You have to try anyway," Goku put in.
"You have to find him."
"I don't even know where he is. Besides,
even if I did find him he would fly off before I could even get one word
out."
Goku thought for a moment. "Look," he
said. "You go home. I'll look for him and convince him to listen to
you."
"All right." Bulma stood up and grabbed
her car keys. She started to leave, but stopped and turned back to her good
friend.
"Goku?" she said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"When you talk to him, tell him I love
him."
As Goku drove through
Goku stopped in front of a tavern, and sensed the
ki inside.
No way. Vegeta would never... would he?
Nevertheless, Goku walked into the bar and
spotted Vegeta sitting on a stool at the far end of the counter. His face was
hidden in his arms, folded on the bar. A beer glass sat in front of him; it was
empty.
"Can I help you, sir?" a bartender
asked Goku.
"Excuse me." Goku pointed at Vegeta.
"May I ask how much he's had to drink?"
The bartender raised an eyebrow. "A
friend?"
"Sort of."
"Let's just say I'm surprised he hasn't
vomited yet, or passed out, or died for that matter."
"Uh, thanks." Goku approached Vegeta.
Using the bartender's information, Goku judged that Vegeta was probably
reasonably drunk, but he'd never seen the man drunk before; he didn't know how
Vegeta would act.
"Vegeta?"
"What?" he mumbled.
"Are you okay?"
Vegeta lifted his head and glared at Goku through
bloodshot eyes. "Let's look at the logic here," he half-hissed,
half-slurred. "My wife has been having an affair for who the hell knows
how long, I actually caught her fucking him, I hit her, I told my son, and now
I'm in a bar, drunk. Use your brain for once, Kakarot. Do you think I'm
okay?"
"Uh...no."
Vegeta reburied his face.
"She said she loves you."
Vegeta let out a short cynical laugh.
"Really? I doubt it."
"She does. If you would talk to her-"
"Talk?!" Vegeta's head snapped back up.
"Talk?! Why didn't she want to talk before she threw herself at that
weakling? Why couldn't we talk about my neglect then? Huh, Kakarot?"
"She probably thought you wouldn't
listen."
"How could she think that if she didn't even
try?"
"I..." Goku fell silent. This was the
second time Vegeta had stumped him tonight.
"I loved her. In fact, I still love her.
Why?"
He still loves her? "Maybe because you want
to forgive her," Goku offered hopefully.
"Why would I forgive her? She hates
me."
"She doesn't hate you!"
"Then how could she do that to me?"
Vegeta whispered.
Both Saiyans were silent.
The phone rang, and Bulma snatched up the
receiver.
"Vegeta?" she asked desperately.
"It's me," Thomas said, his voice
tinged with irritation.
"Oh."
"Are you even going to ask me if I'm okay?'
Silence.
"I'm fine."
Silence.
"Look, Bulma. This is probably for the best.
He neglected you. He didn't give you the love you needed. I have."
"Not really."
"Huh?"
"The relationship I have with you isn't the
same as my relationship with Vegeta."
"It seems to me," Tom said, "that
you and Vegeta no longer have any relationship."
"You listen to me," Bulma hissed icily.
"I don't care if he never forgives me. I can't even forgive myself. This
is mostly my fault. I never tried to have a real conversation about our
problem."
"He never did either."
"I don't care what you say or think! I still
love him!"
"Oh, yeah? If you love him so much, then why
did you give in to me?"
"I don't know..." Bulma covered her
eyes with her free hand, going over the affair in her mind. How could she...
"It was a mistake."
"What are you saying?"
"I won't be seeing you ever again."
"Oh, please."
"Excuse me?"
"There is no way you could ever go back to
him. First of all, he'll probably never forgive you. Second of all, even if he
does, things won't change."
"I don't care."
"Give me one good reason you should bother
going back to him."
"I love him," Bulma whispered. She set
down the receiver, hanging up on him, and burst into tears.
"Vegeta," Goku said, glancing at his
watch. "This place is going to close soon. You can't stay here all
night."
"Where am I supposed to go?" Vegeta
grumbled.
"Well... You could sleep at my house. Don't
look at me like that! It won't kill you. Besides, where else are you going to
go?"
Vegeta snorted. "Oh, I'm sure your little
wife will love seeing you bring me into your home."
"I can handle Chi-Chi."
Vegeta was silent.
"You don't have a good excuse not to,"
Goku pointed out. "And your pride doesn't count. I don't think it came
into the bar with you."
Vegeta glared at him, but slowly stood up.
"I hate you."
"Yeah, yeah. I know. But I'm the closest
thing to a friend you have right now."
"I really hate you."
"I heard you the first time."
After convincing Vegeta he would help getting
around, they left the pub, one of Vegeta's arms slung over Goku's shoulders.
They walked down the sidewalk towards Goku's car in silence.
Goku broke the quiet. "I know things are bad
now, but if you talk to-"
"Bad?!" Vegeta stumbled away from Goku.
"Bad?! You think things are bad? This is worse than bad! This is worse
than when I died!"
"I'm sorry!" Goku apologized, wishing
he had shut-up. "I shouldn't have said anything!"
"You listen, and you listen good Kakarot!
Don't be telling me you know it's bad or you know how I feel or any other bull
shit like that, okay? You couldn't possibly know how I feel! Have you ever come
home and caught your wife screwing with some human? No, of course not. Nothing
like that could possibly happen to you. I hate you! I hate you and your perfect
family and your perfect personality and your perfect power, and your whole
goddamn perfect life!" Vegeta's voice cracked and his face fell. He
crumpled to his knees and was crying again.
Goku could only stand and watch the fallen prince
as the realization sunk in. Of course Goku had known Vegeta was jealous of his
power; that was pretty obvious to the hero. But his family? His personality?
His life? That was something Goku had never thought Vegeta to be envious of.
But it was in plain sight now.
Vegeta mumbled something Goku couldn't quite
hear, and his shoulders started shaking violently.
"What?" Goku asked.
Vegeta lifted his head. "I said," he
spoke louder, and Goku could see he was trying to contain a smile. Goku also
realized that Vegeta's shoulders were trembling because he was struggling not
to laugh, not because he was crying.
"I said," Vegeta repeated, eyes closed,
" 'you're even taller than I am.' "
Goku couldn't help it. He burst into laughter,
holding his sides. This set Vegeta off, and although he wasn't as animated as
Goku was, he was laughing too, not even trying to hide it.
"Oh, Kami," Vegeta said, leaning
against a brick building. He wasn't laughing any more, but he still had a small
smile on his face. "I don't even remember how much I drank."
Goku wiped tears from his eyes. "Maybe it's
good for you. I haven't seen you laugh like that... well, never."
"I'm only laughing because I'm drunk,"
Vegeta muttered, once again his thoughts reverting to the reason why he was
drunk. "And I'm only drunk because of her." He let out an aggravated
cry. "Oh, who am I kidding. This is my fault. All I did was train, train,
train. Neglect, neglect, neglect. I'm surprised I didn't find out about this
sooner."
"But if Bulma had just talked-"
"I wouldn't have listened," Vegeta
interrupted. "I would have shrugged her off. You said it yourself,
Kakarot. She knew I wouldn't have listened."
"You don't know that. Listen, Vegeta. You're
drunk. You're not thinking straight. You're making this too hard on
yourself."
"I don't need to make it hard. It's hard
enough on it's own."
Goku sighed, not knowing what else he could say.
He looked around, and saw that they had made it to his car.
He grabbed Vegeta's arm and hoisted him to his
feet. Vegeta refused to look Goku in the eye. Goku opened the back door of the
car and Vegeta got in the car. Goku got into the driver's seat and turned on
the ignition. He looked into the rear mirror and saw Vegeta staring blankly out
the window. He pulled from the curb, returning his sight to the road.
I'm sorry, Goku said silently.