Chapter 53
She lay in bed, staring at the
silken canopy and listening to her shallow breathing as she tried to ignore the
burned feeling of her body. It had only happened yesterday, and while she had
received some medical attention, it was definitely not sufficient to relieve
her pain or cause her to believe that she was actually healing. She lay there,
feeling terribly alone, little stray prickles of electricity occasionally
running up and down her arms. He hadn’t even been there to see her. He didn’t
know how she was doing and didn’t care. Well, she’d had enough of him. As soon
as she was better she was going to visit Atlia and demand that he provide her
with a ship home. She was through with the stupid games and his coldness. She
could do better. Perhaps she would ask Radditz to come home with her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by
a knock at the door. She glanced at her attendant and the female rose, opening
the door a crack and exchanging some low words. The conversation began to drag
on, and Bulma rolled over to face out the window, trying to let her thoughts
wander once again so she wouldn’t have to deal with the soreness of her body.
There was suddenly a sharp rustle of clothing and the quick clipping of soles
across the stone floor, stopping at her bedside as the mattress sank beneath
someone’s weight. She sighed and closed her eyes, wishing for all the world
that whoever it was would just go away and leave her to her pain.
“Zarbon says you don’t want
Anpane to be killed,” a familiar voice growled.
Bulma squeezed her eyes shut
harder, thinking that he was the last person in the universe she wanted to talk
to. “Go away,” she mumbled between her swollen, cracked lips.
“She has to be killed, woman.
Such insubordination will not be tolerated and she will be the example,” he
explained.
“Go away. I don’t want to see
you,” she repeated hoarsely.
“What’s the matter with you?” he
snapped, and she felt the mattress shift as he moved around to peer at her. “I
can’t even see you beneath all that gauzy material. Take it off.”
“Please,” she moaned. “Leave me
alone. You don’t want to see me anyway.”
“Dammit, woman,” he snarled, and
suddenly he was standing before her on the other side of the bed, facing her.
He reached down and plucked off the gauzy scarves that were protecting her skin
from the light, and she looked up at him through bruised, slitted eyelids,
watching his angry expression slacken into shock.
“Go away,” she whispered, and
shut her eyes.
“Dear god!” he exclaimed,
quickly removing the remaining scarves. “Look at you! Hasn’t a doctor seen
you?”
She kept her eyes closed,
surprised at the distress in his voice. “Zarbon sent some people last night,
but they couldn’t help much. The burns are bad. It hurts to breathe and today I
can’t swallow.”
“Bulma,” he breathed, and she
opened her eyes a crack. His eyebrows were furrowed, but not in his customary
expression of anger. He actually seemed...concerned. She watched as something
changed in his eyes, and suddenly she realized he was opening himself to her,
letting himself feel her inside of him, testing her condition and tasting her
pain. “We have to get you to a tank now,” he said sharply, and this time there
was no mistaking the alarm in his voice.
“Why? What’s wrong?” she
murmured, trying her best to blink.
“You’re in very bad shape,” he
said gruffly, quickly removing the bedclothes and tearing her clothing from her
as gently as he could. “Shit, you’re sticking to the sheets,” he mumbled.
“What’s happening?” she groaned,
the movement sending needles of pain through her body, and she felt him wince
as he shared it with her.
“Attendant!” he yelled. “Is
Radditz outside?”
“Yes, Lord,” the attended
responded.
“Get him in here,” he snapped.
Bulma heard rapid footsteps
arrive at the bedside. “Sire?” she heard Radditz say. She tried to look at him,
tried to see the expression on his face, but her eyes had swollen completely
shut.
“Prepare a rejuvenation tank
immediately,” Vegeta barked. “She’s deteriorating quickly."
The sound of Radditz swallowing hard
reached her ears. “Hurts,” she wheezed, watching as even the insides of her
eyelids disappeared from her vision.
“Hold on,” Vegeta said quietly.
“This is going to sting badly.” She listened to Radditz’s retreating footsteps
and then screamed as she felt Vegeta’s hands wrap around her bare skin. “Oh,
gods,” she heard him gasp, but he picked her up anyway, her limbs flapping
uselessly in the air.
“Hurts!” she sobbed, moaning as
he held her to his chest.
“Just hold on, it’s not long
now,” he urged her, and she felt him taking to the air. “I’ll not jostle you,
you won’t move about at all if you hold still.”
Air was rushing past her scalded
skin. “Aaaa,” she croaked.
“Shhh, I know, I know,” he
whispered, almost too low for her to hear.
“Hurts,” she gasped.
Here, this won’t, she heard him say into her mind, and
suddenly her mind was flooded with pictures of herself, laughing, crying,
angry, and she could have sworn she was glowing in each and every single one of
them. Then, so quickly she almost missed it, an electric shock of pleasure
spread through her system as she felt soft lips pressed against hers, the
first-ever kiss...She realized that she was seeing herself, feeling herself,
through him. Take it, take this strength.
“Vegeta,” she choked. “I might
not be that beautiful ever again...”
She heard him bark a bitter
laugh. “Woman, I told you once, you could look like a Bedark and it wouldn’t
change anything between us,” he said.
He stopped abruptly and she
screamed again with the pain, mentally groping towards him and tearing at his
offered strength with all her might. He gasped and nearly pulled away, and then
she felt suffused with a coolness, soothing the insides of her. “Take her,” she
heard him wheeze, and cool hands quickly laid her against cold metal. Soon
there was a clicking noise and fluid splashed around her ankles, and just
before the liquid reached her ears she heard someone screaming “How DARE you
keep me ignorant of her condition!”
“How DARE you keep me ignorant of her condition!” Vegeta bellowed, breathing
ragged as he picked himself up off of the floor and angrily stared down all the
med techs in the room.
“I-I-I wasn’t very aware of her
condition, sire,” Radditz stammered, shaking his head back and forth. “She was
covered with those cloths, and wouldn’t let anyone move them.”
“That is no excuse!” Vegeta
shouted, eyes filled with rage. “She should have been put in a tank immediately
after it happened!”
“Tell Zarbon that!” Radditz
blurted nervously. “He was the one that said she didn’t need the tank!”
“ZARBON!” Vegeta shrieked with
all his might, unconsciously powering up.
“What?” Zarbon cried as he burst
into the room, eyes wide and hair flying every which direction. “What’s
happened?” Vegeta opened his mouth to begin his tirade, but Zarbon rushed over
to the tank and put his hands on the glass. “Oh my god! What happened to her?
Is she all right?” he panted, turning and staring at Vegeta, face suddenly
lined with worry.
Vegeta found himself utterly
disarmed and staring at Zarbon. Radditz cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“She’s in the tank,” Vegeta said, dumbfounded at Zarbon’s behavior.
“I had no idea she’d get this
bad. If it really was just a simple electrical shock she should have been
feeling much better this morning, and maybe some of the blisters would burst,
but she should have been fine, really. Oh, this is all my fault! If I’d have
known,” Zarbon rambled, eyes wide and fixed on the woman floating in the tank.
Radditz laid a heavy hand on
Zarbon’s shoulder. “Zarbon, it’s fine. She’s going to be fine. There was no way
you could have known,” he said, tone surprisingly gentle.
Vegeta drew himself up to his
full height and raised his nose in the air. “It is most certainly not fine,”
he declared imperiously. “No one tampers with my lifemate.”
Radditz sighed. “Vegeta, she’ll
be fine. You helped her, no lasting harm done.”
Zarbon immediately regained his
composure, golden eyes calming as he smoothed his hair into place. “Helped her?
You reopened your channel with her?” he said evenly.
Vegeta’s scowl returned.
“Maybe.”
Zarbon broke out into an
unexpected grin. “Good for you!” he said, and trotted over to lay a hand on
Vegeta’s arm. “I knew you could do it! You see, sometimes letting someone into
your heart is about strength, not about weakness,” he explained.
Vegeta stared at his mentor in
horror, his cheeks immediately flaming crimson. “Well...I...” he grumbled.
“Well done, sire,” Radditz said
with a little bow. “The Empress owes you her life.”
Zarbon gave them both a
conspiratorial wink. “Ah, yes. The Empress is fully capable of defending
herself, but the Emperor will also ensure her safety. This will go over very
well with the public. You might win their hearts yet, Vegeta,” he chortled.
Radditz and Vegeta exchanged
uneasy glances. “How did you know how I helped her?” Vegeta asked suddenly,
narrowing his eyes.
Zarbon rolled his eyes.
“Honestly, with all the Saiyans running around did you think it could be kept secret
for very long?”
Vegeta shot Radditz a look that
would have killed a lesser man. “Oh?”
Zarbon noticed the look and
shook his head. “Actually, it was that meat-head Nappa. Whoops! Did I tattle?”
Radditz had the nerve to laugh.
Vegeta’s cheeks reddened even more and his scowl intensified. “That’s enough,”
he growled.
Zarbon sighed. “I suppose.
You’ve never been much fun,” he commented. “Anyway, I also need to tell you
that I’ve promoted Radditz to head of the Imperial Guard.”
Vegeta’s eyebrows twitched in
shock. “What? But that position is equal in rank with the Commander! That would
put him tied for third in command with Atlia and Nappa!”
Zarbon smiled. “I know,” he said
slyly, casting a look back at the tank. “Anyway, I should be going, now that I
know everything is under control. I was in the middle of something when the
alarm was raised that something had happened to the Empress and the Emperor was
rushing her to the infirmary.”
“You’re lucky to not be joining
her in a tank,” Vegeta snapped. “If you ever pull anything like this again I
swear to all the gods of evil that I will have your head served to me on a
platter.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Zarbon
replied with aplomb, and left the room.
Her eyes fluttered open to the
sight of the curtains blowing in the wind, revealing intermittently the black
of the sky outside. There were torches still burning on the spacious balcony,
the flames whipping back and forth in the strong breeze. The night was
completely still, and for a moment she wondered if she could possibly be awake.
A warm arm corded with muscle was wrapped around her beneath her breasts, and
she looked down to see a shining golden wedding band on the ring finger of the
hand on her skin. She shifted positions and felt something furry tighten around
her waist. Her fingers reached down to stroke it and she was rewarded with a
deep sound, almost like a purr. “You’re awake,” he said, voice beneath the
sound of the night wind.
“Yes,” she said. “Why are you
here?”
Silence wound between them for a
few moments. “You’re my wife. You should be at my side when it’s possible.”
“A new philosophy, eh?”
“Hmph.”
She turned around to face him
and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m glad that’s over,” she murmured into
the warm skin of his throat.
“You’re healed now,” he agreed,
looking down into her face.
“No, I mean I’m glad you decided
to be with me finally,” she said.
“Ah.” He released her and lay on
his back, his sharp profile directed towards the ceiling. “Well, we’ll see
where this gets us.”
“What? No talk about death?” she
said, only half-teasing.
“We’ll see about that too, won’t
we?”
“I hope not,” she murmured.
Without warning he spun and
cupped her chin in his hand, placing his velvety lips on hers and kissing her.
She made a little noise of surprised pleasure and closed her eyes, leaning into
him. “We marry again in two days,” he murmured, pulling away.
“Again?”
“Yes. If you thought your
wedding was splendid before...”
“It wasn’t splendid at all. We
only had a little time to plan. The way I figure it you owe me, buster,” she
said.
He blinked for a second before
rolling onto his back again. “Well, this time the whole Empire is backing it
up. You’ll get what you want.”
She laughed, the sound starting
deep in her chest and erupting forth like a clear, clean river. “You’re what I
want!”
“Hmph. Refer to the ‘we’ll see’
comment,” he growled.
“Then why don’t I convince you?”
she crooned, thrusting her hands down in between their bodies. His head tilted
back with a sharp intake of breath and a low moan escaped his throat.
“Yes,” he murmured.
Goku’s eyes popped open in the
darkness, the inside of his skull feeling like someone were scratching it very
lightly, almost like an itch. He gently unwrapped his arms from around his wife
and sat up in the bed, scratching at his head to make the feeling go away. He
stopped for a moment and listened intently, his senses on the alert although he
didn’t know why. Was something wrong? A slight scowl touched his face and he
concentrated, reaching out with every single one of his senses. Only the
regular nighttime noises of crickets and cicadas reached his ears and Gohan’s
life force was steady in sleep. ChiChi breathed slowly beside him, her body
warm and soft where it touched his. He could feel Piccolo a ways off, but that
was nothing unusual either. Radditz, who called Piccolo a Namek and was far
more sensitive to psychic bonds than he himself was, had told him once that
Piccolo felt almost like a second father to Gohan. That really didn’t surprise
Goku, nor was he jealous. The way he figured it, Gohan was a special child and
deserved all the love he could get. Besides, he liked Piccolo, despite the
green man’s gruff demeanor, and he respected Piccolo’s power. It was reassuring
to Goku that Piccolo would be around to protect Gohan in case anything
happened. He was almost certain something would happen.
It finally dawned upon Goku that
perhaps that certainty was part of the itchy feeling on the inside of his head.
He scratched at it again and decided he wouldn’t be able to sleep with it going
on, so he quietly rose from the bed and trotted down the hall towards the
kitchen, continually scratching his head with one hand as he adjusted his
underwear with the other. Since he couldn’t sleep he might as well eat. Eating
was fun, after all. He found his mouth watering by the time he arrived at the
kitchen, and he had his hand on the handle of the refrigerator when a voice
growled inside his head Took you long enough.
Goku stood up straight and
looked around, blinking in confusion. “King Kai?” he said, brow furrowing.
“Where are you?”
He heard an exasperated sigh. I’m
at home, silly, the deity answered curtly. I’m using telepathy,
remember?
“Oh, yeah, you can do that,”
Goku said, nodding and still looking around the room. “Hey, the itching’s
gone!”
Another sigh. Of course,
Goku. I’m the one who did that. I needed to talk to you but I didn’t want to
wake up your scary wife.
“Oh, ChiChi’s not scary!” Goku
protested with a laugh. “She’s just tense all the time. But you’re probably
right, not wanting to wake her up.”
Exactly. Now, do you remember
what we talked about last time I spoke with you?
Goku blinked into the darkness
of the kitchen. “Uh, no, not really.”
About how Vegeta and the
others are going to be in danger?
“Oh, right. You mentioned that
Vegeta’s going to try and fight some guy named Freeza,” Goku said, opening the
fridge.
Don’t you understand what
that means? Freeza’s one of the most evil, most powerful, most destructive
beings in the universe! If Vegeta fights him and loses there’s nothing to stand
between Freeza and universal domination!
“I thought you didn’t like
Vegeta,” Goku said, scowling as he pulled out a brick of cheese.
I didn’t, I don’t. Kami and I
have been talking, though, and it seems that perhaps Vegeta isn’t as bad as he
first seemed. He married Bulma, after all.
“Yeah, I guess he seems to like
her as much as anybody,” Goku replied absently, scratching at his head again
although it no longer itched. He reached into a cupboard and brought out a box
of crackers.
The point is that Vegeta’s
nowhere near strong enough to defeat Freeza. He’s going to need your help.
“But I thought Vegeta was
stronger than I am,” Goku said, ripping into the box of crackers.
He is, for now. You’ve got
huge potential, though. Normally I wouldn’t advise anyone fight Freeza, because
he’s millions of times stronger than just about everyone. But I think that if
you team up with your brother and Vegeta you might, just might, stand a chance.
At least you’ll stand a better chance than anyone else.
“Zarbon will help too,” Goku
said, taking a huge bite out of the cheese. “And Radditz mentioned another
Saiyan, Nappa. He sounded pretty strong, and I betcha he would help too.”
Perhaps. At any rate, Vegeta
and Bulma are going to get married again in a couple of days, or so the message
goes down the celestial grapevine. But it’s nothing to whine about! Heh heh heh!
“Huh?”
Grapevine? Whine? Wine? Get
it?
“Uh, no...I thought we were
talking about Vegeta and Bulma,” Goku said, stuffing a handful of crackers into
his mouth.
Never mind. You will never
understand my comic genius,
King Kai said with a sigh. The point is that it looks like Freeza’s sent a
squad ahead to Arlia to attack Vegeta’s empire. They’re going to need your
help, and the sooner you can set off into space the better.
“But how am I going to get
there?” Goku asked, tilting his head to the side.
Ask Bulma’s father. See if
you can use the weeks of travel to get stronger.
“How long do I have to get
there?”
Hmmm...well, it looks like
you’ll have about two weeks before Freeza’s forces get there.
“Two weeks?! But Radditz says it
takes between two and three just to get to Arlia!” Goku cried.
Then you’d better hurry up
and have that space pod build, hadn’t you?
“I’d better go now!” Goku said,
tossing the remains of the cheese and crackers on the counter and rushing
towards the door.
Clothes, Goku! Clothes! King Kai urged.
Goku stopped in his tracks and
looked down at himself. “Oh, right!” he said, quickly dashing back to his room
and throwing on a gi. “I’m off!” he shouted, running outside. “Thanks, King
Kai! I’ll talk to you soon!”
Whatever, Goku. Good luck.
Goku made excellent time getting
to Capsule Corporation, putting on all the speed he could muster and nearly
doing a faceplant in the slippery grass of the lawn when he landed too quickly.
Immediately the yard was full of security robots, all firing at him. Goku
yelped in surprise and quickly began to dispatch them as quickly as he could, a
few of the beams still hitting their mark.
“What in tarnation is going on
out here?” a voice rang across the yard, and Goku lifted his eyes up from the
smoking wreckage of the security robots to see Dr. Briefs standing in the
doorway, a laser cannon on his shoulder.
“Hi! It’s me!” Goku cried
brightly, waving.
Dr. Briefs blinked and slowly
lowered the weapon. “Goku? What are you doing here at this hour?”
Goku glanced up at the sky.
“Oops, sorry, I guess it is kinda late,” he said, and took a few steps
backward.
Dr. Briefs sighed. “Well, you’re
here now. What do you need, my boy? You know Bulma moved away, right?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that,” Goku
said. “She’s living in space with Vegeta. But I didn’t come to see her, I came
to see you.”
“Really? Then why don’t you come
inside?” the old man said, waving Goku near. “We can talk about it over a cup
of coffee.”
Goku picked his way between the
smoldering remains of robots. “Okay. Sorry about the robots. I wasn’t ready for
them,” he said quietly.
Dr. Briefs shut the door behind
them and shook his head. “Oh, it’s okay. It used to happen all the time when
Radditz and Vegeta were around. We just can’t seem to manufacture a
Saiyan-proof model, but they seem to work against everyone else.”
Goku nodded as Dr. Briefs led
him into the kitchen. “I just came to ask a favor,” Goku said.
Dr. Briefs nodded. “Fine. Do you
want some coffee?”
“Uh, no, thanks. It makes me
giddy.”
Dr. Briefs laughed. “Well, we
can’t have that,” he said, and began to brew himself a cup. “So what can I do
for you?”
Goku took a seat. “I need a
spaceship. I have to be on Arlia in two weeks.”
Dr. Briefs nearly dropped the
mug he was holding. “What? Two weeks? Why, you’d have to have left four days
ago!”
“That’s why I need it now!” Goku
said.
Dr. Briefs set the mug down and
stared at the coffeepot, index finger stroking his moustache. “Well, given the
studies we’ve been able to do on the pod Vegeta left us, not to mention the
other craft, I should be able to have something ready for you in about two
days, if we work nonstop. I can’t guarantee it’ll get you there in one piece,
though. It’ll just be a prototype. Luckily we’ve already got one almost
finished, or you’d have to wait another month.”
“I can hardly afford to wait two
days!” Goku cried.
“If you don’t mind me asking, my
boy, why the rush? How come you need to visit your brother right away?”
“It’s not that. I think they’re
all in a lot of danger.”
“Danger? My baby girl’s in
danger? How?”
“I’m not really sure what’s
going on. I just know what I need to go an help,” Goku said earnestly.
Dr. Briefs sighed. “Well, two
days is still the best I can do. I’ll have to call in the techs tonight to help
me out. I had better make a bigger pot of coffee.”
“Thank you!” Goku cried, leaping
up from his chair and scooping up the old man in a bear-hug.
“You’re welcome,” Dr. Briefs
wheezed as the air was forced out of his lungs. “You can put me down now. I
can’t work if you kill me.”
“Sorry,” Goku said sheepishly.
“Well, I guess I had better get home in case ChiChi wakes up.”
“Yes. Go home to that wife of
yours,” Dr. Briefs replied, adjusting his glasses and smoothing out the front
of his bathrobe.
“G’night!” Goku said with a wave
and dashed out the door.
“Those young ones, always in a
hurry,” Dr. Briefs mumbled, and poured himself his cup of coffee.
52 / Bulma’s Hideout / 54