Chapter 13
When Bulma slumped over after losing consciousness, Vegita let out a grunt of surprise. He lifted her limp body up by her shoulders so he could see her face, and promptly gave a gasp of astonishment when he realized what had happened to her. Bulma was the last person alive that he'd ever expect to faint!
He glanced around to make sure no one was watching him, and then he hastily lifted her into his arms before shooting up into the sky with her. As he shot off for the western horizon, Dr. and Mrs. Briefs rushed out of the house, having watched the events of the past few minutes from the hall window.
"What on Earth do you suppose he intends to do with her?" Dr. Briefs asked, with more than a hint of desperation present in his voice.
"I don't know dear," Mrs. Briefs said anxiously, clasping her hands together as she usually did when she was really worried about something. "But I do know that Vegita has... well... had his eye on Bulma ever since he first came here to live with us. I... I do believe he's fallen for her."
"Oh..." Dr. Briefs groaned, shaking his head. "Poor Bulma."
"She's been entirely unaware of it," Mrs. Briefs continued. "I'm afraid it's going to come as a terrific shock to her whenever she does find out. I just hope Vegita's not planning to do anything rash. I doubt he'd do anything to hurt Bulma, but I don't like the look he had in his eyes. It was almost as if he were suddenly in a state of desperation. I wish I knew what he was thinking. I'm just as confused as you are."
"Should we try to wake Yamucha?" Dr. Briefs asked hopefully, trying to come up with at least some plan of action. He wasn't a man for just sitting around and letting things happen.
"I don't think that's a good idea at all," Mrs. Briefs said firmly, shaking her head. "If Yamucha did manage to find where he took Bulma, Vegita would be sure to kill him. No, I'm afraid this is one fight that she's going to have to face alone. I feel sorry for her, dear, but there's nothing we can do to help her now."
"What do you suppose happened to her, anyway?" Dr. Briefs asked, furrowing his brow a little. "As near as I could tell, Vegita didn't really DO anything to her. Why'd she pass out like that?"
"I don't think she passed out," Mrs. Briefs said, shaking her head again. "I think she fainted."
"Bulma?! Faint?!" Dr. Briefs said in a shocked voice. "I don't believe it! How on Earth could that have happened?"
"I think he just scared her too much," Mrs. Briefs replied with a sigh. "Bulma's told me before how terribly afraid of him she is. I guess it was just too much for her."
"Why would she have reason to be so afraid of him?" Dr. Briefs asked. "He hasn't ever done anything to her, has he?"
"Not as far as I know," she replied. "I don't know. I didn't see any reason for her to be so afraid of him either. But she is, nonetheless. I don't know what Vegita's planning to do, but whatever it is, Bulma's not going to give him an easy time of it."
"Well, I can say this much," Dr. Briefs said, his expression darkening. "If I find out that man's harmed her in any way, I'll kill him."
"Don't say such things," Mrs. Briefs said in a gentle but reproachful voice. "That's a terrible thing to say. And besides, I don't think you'd be able to kill Vegita anyway, dear. The man trains in gravity so intense it would flatten you into a pancake if you ever tried it."
"I don't need to fight with him to kill him," Dr. Briefs said indignantly. "And I don't care if it is a terrible thing to say. I won't have him terrorizing our daughter and scaring her out of her wits. If I find out he's done something to her, all I'll need to do is poison his food, or maybe even close off the exhaust vents to his gravity room. It really wouldn't be all that hard. And that'll be the end of him. You'd be surprised at how simple it would be to kill such a man."
Mrs. Briefs gaped at her husband with an astonished and very mortified expression. "I've never heard you say such a thing!" She cried. "You're serious, aren't you?!"
"You're damned right I am!" He replied fiercely. "That's our daughter he's dragged off with him! I would do anything in my power to protect her from anything that would harm her! And that most definitely includes Vegita!" He scowled darkly at the setting sun, which also happened to be the direction that Vegita had taken when he had flown off with Bulma. "You'd better believe I'd consider killing that man if I found out he had done something to Bulma. I'd do the same thing if anything or anyone was threatening you."
Mrs. Briefs just gaped in silent astonishment at her husband. She had never heard him say such harsh, violent things before, and she didn't like it. Not one bit. But what could she do? Tell him that he was wrong? How could she? She didn't know for certain what was going on between Bulma and Vegita. It was entirely possible that she was missing some vital piece of information that caused things to differ from her view of them. All they could do was wait. As unsure of her own convictions as she was at the moment, however, there was one thing she knew for certain; Vegita wouldn't kill Bulma. Not after the way she'd caught him looking at her daughter like he had so many times during the past few weeks. She had always trusted Vegita too much to suspect him of harming Bulma, and she still clung to that trust, despite his recent actions. She only hoped that, for Bulma's sake, her trust in the gruff Saiyan man was well-placed.
Vegita frowned uncomfortably as Bulma stirred restlessly in her disturbed sleep. She was taking too damn long to wake up, he thought to himself with a fair amount of displeasure. Perhaps if it had been under different circumstances, he simply would have shaken her awake, but now he didn't dare. Instead, he simply watched on furtively as he waited, every nerve on edge.
Vegita had taken Bulma to a place where, so far at least, none but he himself had ever visited; a place to which he had made frequent visits in the days prior to the construction of the gravity buildings. It was a large cave in the western desert, and it was the very place that he had sought refuge from his fatigue after wearing himself out with harsh desert training. This cave had withstood many centuries of wear and weather, and it would no doubt see many more. But Vegita didn't feel secure in this cave. On the contrary, it was one of the rare times when he was truly afraid. He was afraid all right; afraid of what he was about to do, and even more afraid of how SHE was going to react. But he had to do this. He could no longer ignore the turmoil that was raging inside him. He just had to silence it, and he could see only one acceptable way of accomplishing that. He had to make her his.
Suddenly Bulma moaned, and her eyelids twitched a little as her senses began to return to her. Vegita watched attentively as she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils shrank a little in the dim light, and she blinked a few times to try to rid them of the fuzziness that plagued them. "So it begins," Vegita thought grimly.
Bulma's first conscious thought was that she had a painful crick in her neck. She must have slept funny, she thought blankly to herself. But as the memory of what happened before she lost consciousness came flooding back to her, she realized all at once that she was not at home in her bed. Where in heaven's name was she? She vaguely recalled being held powerless in Vegita's inescapable gaze, but beyond that there was nothing. Why couldn't she remember any more? She opened her eyes and blinked a few times to clear her vision. The scene that met her eyes both startled and confused her. There were strange shadows flickering and dancing on what appeared to be an uneven, rocky ceiling straight above her. The crackling and popping sounds in the background told her that this odd play of shadows was the result of a small fire behind her. As her senses gradually began to sharpen, she realized with a fair amount of alarm that she could sense another presence in this room, or whatever it was. And as they became even more acute, they alerted her to the fact that, not only was there another presence in this room, but it was also unmistakably one that she recognized!
She cried out in alarm and sat upright, shrieking in terror when she saw Vegita. She froze almost immediately then, holding one arm up in front of her, as if to defend herself from him, and planting the other one on the ground behind her for support.
"Wha- ..." She cried in frantic confusion, her breathing becoming erratic as she looked wildly about for some route of escape. "What's going on? Where am I?"
"You're in a cave in the western desert," Vegita said, his voice remarkably calm. He gazed intently at her with his cold, charcoal eyes. "You and I are the only ones around for hundreds of miles."
Vegita realized almost immediately that his choice of words didn't have the effect he'd expected. Bulma's eyes opened wide, and her pupils shrank until they were each no bigger than the head of a pin. She shook her head at him, her mouth opening and closing, but no sounds coming out. Finally she managed to squeak something out at him.
"Wh- what are you going to do with me?" She asked, her face very pale indeed as it began to tremble along with the rest of her. "Please! I-... I ..." Her voice had become no more than a hoarse whisper, and she tried to get to her feet, but found to her utter dismay that her legs refused to function correctly, and she only succeeded in shuffling away from him a foot or so, and rather clumsily at that.
Vegita grimaced. "I didn't bring you out here to hurt you!" He snapped harshly at her. "Stop cringing, dammit! What kind of a monster do you take me for, anyway?"
Bulma flinched at his harsh tone. "Then..." She said shakily, unsure of whether or not she should believe him. "Why DID you bring me here?"
Vegita let out an angry, tired sigh. "When you fainted, I panicked, all right?" He said quietly, standing up and walking to one end of the cave and leaning up against the wall, crossing his arms and scowling as he did so. "I just acted on instinct and brought you here with me. I suppose I didn't really have much of a definite purpose then, but now..." He paused, and Bulma flinched as he sent her that same hungry look. "But now I've decided that I'm going to tell you something I've had a mind to tell you for months." He paused again, and Bulma listened in nervous anticipation.
Vegita took a deep breath, and then he began. "I want you," he said huskily, uncrossing his arms and staring fiercely at her. "I've wanted you ever since I first laid eyes on you. You have no idea how maddening it's been; trying not to think about you when you're always there in front of me. Well, I'm tired of trying to ignore it. It's high time you knew about this."
Bulma's face had lost nearly all its color. "I don't believe you," she croaked, shaking her head furiously. "You're lying! You hate me! You hate all Earthlings!"
Vegita laughed a bizarre laugh. "Ironic, isn't it?" He said, shaking his head and chuckling. "But it is most assuredly the truth. You're all I've been able to think about lately. I've spent countless nights dreaming about you and what I'd do if you were finally mine. You've become an obsession, and all this time you've been blissfully ignorant of it."
"No!" Bulma screamed, leaping to her feet. "It isn't true! You're lying!"
"No," Vegita replied calmly, staring fixedly at her. "I'm not."
"But... but what about the night I sabotaged your gravity room?" She cried, frantically trying to come up with some sane, logical way to disprove his claim. "You were going to kill me! Surely you can remember that!"
Vegita chuckled at her. "Don't be absurd," he said chided quietly. "I'd sooner kill myself. Why else do you think I kept saving your scrawny neck on Namek? Do you think I'd have wasted my time if it hadn't been as I say it is? The truth of the matter is that killing you was the farthest thought from my mind. I was more overcome with desire for you that night than I had ever been, and it was all I could do to keep from doing something terrible. You have no idea how close I came to losing control of myself that night."
"But WHY?" Bulma asked desperately. "I humiliated you! I could have killed you! At the very least I might have injured you! How could you not be angry about that?"
Vegita shot her a wry smirk. "Because," he said in a calm, steady voice, "you did something to me that night that no woman - Saiyan or not - had ever done. You defeated me. It was a short victory, true - and a very sneaky one on your part - but I was undeniably defeated. Unbeknownst to you, you had just accomplished something that was, in my culture at least, an almost unthinkable honor for any woman to achieve. As a general rule, Saiyan women are considerably weaker than Saiyan men. But should one defeat a man in battle, she is regarded not only as a strong fighter, but also as an attractive mate. It just so happened that I had already decided long ago that I was going to claim you as my own, but when you defeated me, my desire for you was only intensified that much more. It was almost more than I could bear, as a matter of fact. So, rather than do something to you I might regret, I channeled this energy into a fierce anger that I could direct at you in an effort to keep my urges in check. I never found out if it would work, though, because that simpering fool interrupted me."
Bulma, now trembling quite visibly, raised one hand up to her mouth and touched her lips lightly with her fingertips. Everything had suddenly begun to come together in her mind. All the times on Namek where he'd shown up just in time to save her - his extreme rage with Jees - it all began to make sense now. His watching her all the time here on Earth, and his letting her talk so rudely to him, and that... that, that kiss... She stared at him in wonder, and as he gazed quietly back at her, she understood - she finally understood what cause he'd had for such ferocity in his stare. Vegita was in love with her!
"I can't believe this is happening," she said breathlessly. "How could I not have seen it?"
"I asked myself the same thing many times," Vegita replied in a tired voice, turning away slightly and leaning his head back against the wall of the cave. "Perhaps in some ways you are a genius, but even so, you aren't very observant. Do you realize how long I've waited to tell you this? Do you realize what torture it's been for me to have you right within my grasp and not be able to hold you like I had in my dreams? It's made my life here with you a living hell."
Bulma cradled her forehead in one hand as she shook it slowly from side to side. "No," she said miserably. "This isn't really happening. It can't be real! There's just... no... way!"
Vegita walked over mere inches away from her. He grasped her shoulders, and she cried out in alarm, her whole body stiffening in response to her terror. Her pulse quickened, and she began to tremble more violently as he gazed fiercely into her eyes.
Bulma knew she didn't want him to do this to her. "Please don't," she sobbed, shaking her head and making a weak but desperate effort to push away from him. "Stop it! Let go of me!"
Vegita locked eyes with hers and held her rigidly in place. "There's no satisfaction in forcing you," he said in a low, soft tone. "I'll wait until you're willing, however long that may take. But understand this: I'll never accept no as your answer, and I'll never give up on you. The passage of time won't affect the intensity of my desire either. I will never be satisfied with another woman. I want YOU, and I won't rest until you're mine. One day, I will make you mine. I realize it may take some time for that to happen, and I'm willing to wait for it. I do, however, have one request to make of you now. Don't make me wait forever." He then slowly pulled her up against him and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips to hers as he did so.
Tears began to well up in Bulma's eyes, and she shut them tightly, forcing the saline water to stream down the sides of her face. Vegita was in love with her. He had been in love with her all this time, and not once had she even suspected it. Even when Yamucha had hinted at it, she'd simply dismissed it as rubbish. And yet here she was in Vegita's arms, and he was kissing her with a fierce passion that she never even known to exist! She had no idea how she was supposed to react to it, or how she wanted to react to it. She was so terribly confused and overwhelmed by this whole change of events that she didn't know what to think anymore.
Finally, Vegita pulled his lips from hers and let her go. Bulma sank back to her knees, her cheeks flushed and her chest heaving. She didn't look back up at him. She couldn't. But had she done so, she would have encountered a very strange sight indeed. Vegita's face was very flushed, and he was panting as if he'd just recently been through a grueling workout. But even stranger were his eyes. They had a strange, wild gleam to them that had never appeared there before. But as he looked down at Bulma again, noting first the tears that were running down her cheeks, and then her trembling frame, they once again returned to normal.
"I... I'm sorry," he said at last after a final shuddering gasp. "I shouldn't have done that to you."
Bulma couldn't take it any more. Vegita had probably never apologized for anything in his life, and yet he had just offered her one as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do. How could things have turned out this way? How could Vegita be so entirely different from what she had first assumed him to be? It didn't make sense. But more importantly, it was so incredibly overwhelming that she didn't know what she was supposed to think, or even what to do about it. But one thing was a given; she had to get out of there. She just couldn't take this anymore. And she knew that if she stayed, she probably wouldn't end up doing the right thing, whatever that was.
She stumbled clumsily to her feet and began walking slowly toward the cave entrance, making a wide arc around Vegita as she went. She was in a bit of a daze, but for some strange reason, she wasn't really afraid of Vegita at the moment. She was more afraid of herself. It was very uncommon for her to be so totally confused and unsure of herself, and she was intelligent enough to know that such a state of mind had no place in a situation like this.
"Bulma!" Vegita suddenly called out after her, after she had walked a good ten feet away from him, and only had three or four feet left to go before she reached the cave entrance. Her first impulse was to bolt straight out into the night sky, but the realization of what had just happened caused her to stop dead in her tracks. In all the time Bulma had known Vegita, he had never called her or any of her friends by their real names. It had always been some derogatory nickname like "Kakarrot's brat" for Gohan, or "the Namek" for Piccolo, or "the fool" for Yamucha. And for as far back as she could remember, he had never called her by her name. It was always just "woman." So one could easily imagine that it must have struck her as a little remarkable that he had used her name just now. She slowly turned around and looked back at him, her eyes wide with astonishment.
But Vegita's mind was on something even more remarkable than that. "I... I have to know," he said harshly, but something in the tone of his voice gave her the impression that it pained him to ask, which it probably did. "How do you feel about me?"
Bulma couldn't have been more astonished. She looked anxiously into his nervous but determined face, and she realized suddenly that this had not been just a simple question. It was much more than that. It was indeed a great risk for him to take. In one question, everything Vegita had ever done to make himself appear without care and above emotion had been cast aside, leaving only the barest core of his being - the frail, vulnerable part of him that he had never allowed anyone to see, until now that is. All at once Bulma felt a great flood of admiration for him. Vegita couldn't have proven his sincerity any more to her. She knew it was probably killing him to show this side of himself to her. He'd guarded it for so long that he probably didn't even recognize it himself. And Bulma suddenly understood that if she was anything but honest with him now, she would be a truly despicable person indeed. So she steeled her nerves, swallowed hard a couple of times, and did her best to answer him truthfully.
"I don't know," she said at last, shaking her head and lowering her eyes. "The only feelings I can ever remember having for you were fear and anger. But mostly fear. You scare me, Vegita. I've been afraid of you ever since I ran into you on Namek, but it's gotten considerably worse while you've lived with us here on Earth. I've never really understood why you frighten me so, and it puzzles me now even more than before. I honestly can't tell you how I feel, Vegita, because I don't know. The fear has blinded me to whatever else I may have felt. I... I guess I don't really have much of an answer for you on that one." She gripped her elbows in her hands and looked down at the ground as she felt a wave of shame wash over her. She'd been an idiot. All this time she'd been so incredibly afraid of Vegita, and for what? He was right. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd been more lenient with her than he ever had with any other opponent. All the times she'd had to fight him, he'd never really hurt her, if you discounted the bruised ribs he gave her during the fight on Earth. And on top of that, he'd even gone out of his way to save her on several occasions. First there was Dodoria, and then it was Gurudo, and then Jees. Now she finally understood why he'd been so insanely angry with Jees. So why had she been so afraid of him? Why hadn't she noticed all this? It was right there in front of her all the time, and she never even put two and two together. Was it possible that she'd been entirely wrong about Vegita? Was he really the terrible, cruel man she'd always thought him to be? And if not, just how badly had she misjudged him? Now she was more confused than ever. What on earth was she supposed to do now?
Vegita walked up to her and again gripped her firmly by her shoulders. She drew in her breath sharply, half expecting him to try to kiss her again, but when she looked up, she didn't see the wild, frightening gleam in his eyes that had been there before. This time they were calmer, and much less intimidating. In fact, she found that this time she was actually able to look him in the eyes without being frightened out of her wits. He was still making her nervous and uncomfortable, but for some reason, now that she knew why he was doing it, it didn't seem so frightening.
"Vegita, I..." She said, turning her head away and trying to push away from him, but finding the strength of his hold on her unrelenting. She looked back up at him imploringly, but he wasn't ready to let go of her again yet.
"I knew that I frightened you," Vegita said quietly, staring calmly back into her eyes. "I figured it out on Namek too, but I didn't realize it had gotten that much worse since we came back here. It hadn't occurred to me that you were actually terrified of me, and it wasn't until today when you fainted that I finally realized it." Bulma lowered her eyes, ashamed of herself when she heard him say that. So that was why she couldn't remember anything from earlier. She'd actually fainted. It made too much sense for her not to believe it, but she wished she could feel a bit of disbelief just the same. At least then she might not feel so ashamed about it.
"I want you to understand something," he continued, causing her to look up again. "You needn't be afraid of me. I would never do anything to hurt you, and I'd kill anyone who did without a moment's hesitation." Bulma swallowed again as the image of Jees being blasted into oblivion flashed in her mind. This was getting to be just a little creepy. She was still having trouble believing that Vegita actually felt this way, but the way everything fit together made it altogether unsettling. There was no doubt about it. She had to get away from him, at least for the time being. She had no idea how to handle this, and she didn't want to be forced to make some kind of decision now.
"Vegita," she said finally, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "I can't deal with this just yet. I... I just..." She didn't know how to put into words what she wanted to say. Strangely enough, she found herself wanting to keep from hurting his feelings, and the impulse was so entirely foreign to her that she wasn't exactly sure how to act on it.
"I know," he said quietly, finally letting her go and stepping back a foot or two. "But just remember what I said before. I'm not going to give up on you. I will make you mine someday. Whether it's a week or ten years from now, you will be mine."
That certainly didn't do much to ease Bulma's troubled mind about the matter, and she backed away from him nervously, glancing first at him, and then at the cave entrance. She felt like making a break for it again. But she knew that she couldn't keep away from Vegita forever. He did live at Capsule Corporation, after all. And what was she going to do? Run away from home just because he was there? No way! She felt a spark of anger flicker on inside her, and a bit of resentment at having him practically decree that she was going to end up with him someday. Yeah right! He was so sure of himself, too. He probably thought that she'd just come running into his arms one day, having magically fallen head over heels for him. Well, he could just dream on! Maybe the jerk WAS capable of emotion, but that didn't change the fact that he was still a jerk.
She was about to tell him this too, but he spoke first. "It's pretty late," he commented, nodding at the night sky beyond the entrance. "Perhaps it's time for you to go."
Then Bulma did something that she normally wouldn't do. She chickened out. Instead of telling him off as she'd originally intended, she lowered her eyes and nodded in agreement. "Yes," she said quietly. "I think so too. Er... they'll be worried about me back at home, that is."
Vegita nodded back, and without another word, she turned and walked out of the cave, hesitating for only a moment before flying rather quickly up into the air and heading out for home. She had a great deal of things to think about; that was for sure. But it didn't matter how much she mulled it over in her mind during the long flight home. She was still just as confused when she finally returned home as she had been when she had left the cave. Sighing heavily and shaking her head, she pushed open the kitchen door and walked inside.
Bulma walked in to find her parents yelling and arguing with Yamucha in the next room. She walked over to the doorway, listening curiously.
"I don't care if that maniac CAN kill me!" Yamucha shouted angrily at them. "It's been four hours already! Don't you think she'd be back by now if he wasn't planning to do something to her? I'm going! And that's final!"
He made a move toward the kitchen, just as Bulma stepped into the living room. For a brief moment, everyone froze, forming a strange, twisted tableau of shock and disbelief. But it didn't stay that way for long.
"Bulma!" Mrs. Briefs cried excitedly. "You're back!"
Yamucha rushed forward and practically squeezed the breath out of her with a huge bear hug. "Thank Kami," he said in a choked voice. "I thought you were gone for good!"
Bulma smiled in understanding and patted him reassuringly on the back. "It's all right," she said calmly. "I'm okay, Yamucha."
"Where's Vegita?" Yamucha asked, pulling back away so he could look her in the face. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"He's probably still out there in the desert," she mused, nodding back toward the west. "But I wouldn't go out there looking for him if I were you, Yamucha."
"So you escaped from him?" He asked her.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "He let me go. And he didn't hurt me. It's all right. He- he scared me so much when I faced off against him this afternoon that I... I fainted." Bulma lowered her eyes. She was so ashamed that she couldn't even look him in the eyes as she said it. "And he told me that he panicked. He took me to a cave out in the desert and he stayed there with me until I came to."
"And then he just let you go; no questions asked?" Yamucha said in disbelief.
"Yes," Bulma said after a moment's hesitation. "Yes, that's right."
Yamucha let her go and sighed. "Thank God," he said in a tired voice. "I was scared half to death when your parents told me that he had taken you away. I didn't know what to think."
"I'm sorry," Bulma said, giving him a quick, light hug. "But everything's all right now."
"I'm glad," Yamucha said, smiling back at her.
"Well, I guess it's time we all went to bed," Dr. Briefs sighed, glancing at Bulma with relieved but rather bloodshot eyes. He looked like he'd aged an entire year since Bulma had last seen him.
"Yeah," Yamucha agreed. He left to go out to his capsule house, but hesitated before going into the kitchen. "You're sure you're okay, Bulma?" He asked, his brow furrowed with concern.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said, smiling warmly at him. "Go on to bed."
Smiling back, Yamucha nodded. He then left through the kitchen, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Dr. Briefs sighed, and then he gave Bulma a hug too. "I can't tell you how afraid I was when he took you away from us, Bulma," he said, taking his glasses off and rubbing his face in exhaustion when he let go of her. "And there are no words to describe how glad I am now that I know you're back safe."
"I know, and I'm sorry to have worried you so," Bulma said, smiling at him. "But everything turned out all right."
"I know, and I'm very glad of it," Dr. Briefs sighed. "Well, I'm off to bed now too," he yawned. Are you coming too dear?" He asked, looking at his wife through tired eyes.
"Not yet," she answered, smiling cheerfully. "Go on ahead. I'll be up in a little while."
He gave a nod, and with a final loving smile at Bulma, ascended the stairs to go to bed. Mrs. Briefs went and sat down on the couch, smiling at Bulma. "Do you feel like telling me what happened, Bulma honey?" She said, patting the spot on the sofa next to her and giving Bulma a reassuring nod.
Bulma gaped at her mother in amazement. How was it the woman always knew when she wasn't getting the entire truth? It was mind-boggling the way her mother could read her. But truthfully, Bulma didn't really care. She did feel like she had to tell someone.
"Oh Mom!" She sighed, plopping down on the sofa and burying her face in her hands. "I'm sorry! I just couldn't say anything in front of everyone, especially Yamucha."
"I know, dear," Mrs. Briefs said softly. "That's why I stayed behind."
"Everything's been turned upside down," Bulma sobbed, beginning to lose control of her pent-up emotions. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to think anymore!"
"So he told you at last," Mrs. Briefs sighed, wrapping her arms protectively around Bulma. "I had a feeling he wasn't going to hold it in much longer. I'm sorry it had to come as such a shock to you, Bulma."
Bulma gasped. "You knew?" She said, looking up in astonishment. "How did you...? Why...?" She was at a loss for words.
Mrs. Briefs nodded in understanding. "I knew it for certain the first time I saw him looking at you," she said soothingly, getting out her handkerchief and dabbing at Bulma's eyes with it. "You have to understand, honey, that it's a lot easier for someone who's not involved to notice these things than it is for someone who is. I knew a long time ago how Vegita felt, even if you didn't. But I couldn't tell you that. I knew it wouldn't be fair to Vegita if I did."
Bulma swallowed hard. "But you hinted at it," she sniffled. "I remember that."
Mrs. Briefs smiled. "I like Vegita, Bulma," she said kindly. "I didn't think there was any harm in teasing you about him, since I didn't think you'd suspect I was referring to him anyway. I just wanted to bother you a little bit."
"It didn't worry you that he felt that way?" Bulma asked dully, feeling a little betrayed.
"Not in the least," Mrs. Briefs replied firmly. "Oh, I was worried about how you would take it, of course, but as for Vegita, I thought too much of him to worry about anything else. Anyway, I was fairly certain that he wasn't going to do anything to hurt you. The way he brought you back to the house after you fought with him convinced me of that a long time ago. Although, I have to admit that I was a little concerned when he carried you off this evening. He had a desperate look in his eyes that I'd never seen before, and I didn't exactly know what it meant."
"I saw a lot of things from Vegita tonight that I'd never seen before," Bulma said dully. "I'm beginning to think that he's not at all like the man I thought he was."
"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Mrs. Briefs said coaxingly. "It'll make you feel better."
"All right," Bulma sighed. She told her mother everything, from the time she woke up, to the kiss, and all the way up to when she left him to come home. Mrs. Briefs listened quietly and without expression, save for the calm look of understanding that was already there. When Bulma had finished, her mother waited in silence for her to ask the question that she already knew was coming.
"What am I going to do, Mom?" Bulma wailed. "I've always been so damn afraid of him! And now I don't know what to think! Everything's so messed up! What am I gonna do?"
Mrs. Briefs smiled. "Let me ask you something, Bulma," she said after a short pause. "Just why were you so afraid of Vegita in the first place?"
Bulma wasn't expecting this. "Why?" She repeated, looking up at her mother with a bewildered expression on her face. "Well," she said, looking back down and thinking for a moment. "I guess I don't really know. I just always have been. But it's been worse lately. The way he always stared at me didn't help much, and it seemed that every time I ran into him he would stare at me so fiercely that I couldn't help but want to fly away from him as fast as I could. Maybe it was just the fact that I didn't know why he kept doing that. It did confuse me a lot that he always kept singling me out, and I guess that probably made it worse. I don't know. Maybe it was just the not knowing; maybe it was the mystery of it all that made him seem so intimidating."
"And now that you know?" Mrs. Briefs said gently.
"I'm still trying to figure that one out," Bulma said, her hands tightening into little balls in her lap. "I don't understand why, but he doesn't seem as frightening now. That's why I think it was probably my not knowing earlier that made me so afraid. But still, knowing that Vegita's got a thing for me doesn't exactly make me feel like dancing a jig or anything. Yamucha was bad enough, but at least I'm close to him. He's my best friend. But Vegita..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to imagine what life with Vegita was going to be like now that she knew that he was in love with her. She couldn't see it as being anything but awkward and uncomfortable. She sighed. "I just don't know, Mom. I need some time to think about this."
"I don't think I could give you any better advice than that," Mrs. Briefs said, nodding in agreement. "Take some time to consider what it all means. But keep in mind that you'll eventually have to decide whether you think giving Vegita a chance at your affections is worth it or not."
Bulma's head shot up. "You've got to be kidding!" She exclaimed. "Me and Vegita?! Are you out of your mind?"
Mrs. Briefs laughed good-naturedly. "Well, you said yourself that he's not the man you thought he was!" She said with a smile. "It's possible that you could find that the man he really is isn't really all that bad!"
"Yeah, but Vegita!" Bulma said in disbelief. "I mean... Mom, he's VEGITA!"
Mrs. Briefs laughed again. "Yes, I think we've already established the man's identity," she chuckled. "I think we should probably move on to the next step now, don't you think so?"
Bulma groaned. "You know what I mean, Mom," she said in exasperation. "I mean, it would be ridiculous for me to even think of Vegita like that. It's just plain silly!"
"Why?" Her mother persisted, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"Ah, forget it," Bulma snapped. "Geez, Mom, I can't understand why you like him so much."
Mrs. Briefs giggled. "I thought it was obvious," she said, smiling impishly. "I mean, look at the man, Bulma! Surely you've noticed what a gorgeous man he is! And all those muscles, too! It gives me goose bumps just thinking about him!"
"Gyah!" Bulma shrieked in disgust. "I can't believe I'm hearing this! Have you entirely lost your mind, Mom? Gorgeous my foot! Are you unhinged?!"
"Now, you can't tell ME that you don't find him even the slightest bit attractive," her mother said slyly, wagging an accusing finger at Bulma. "Admit it!"
"I'll admit to nothing of the kind," Bulma snapped angrily. "And even if that were the case, which it isn't, I must add," she said, with a scowl, "it wouldn't matter. Looks aren't everything, Mom. That man's a bully and a brute, and he doesn't have even a snowball's chance in hell of making me think he's attractive in ANY way."
"Really?" Her mother exclaimed in astonishment. "Well, I suppose that means that you didn't see what I saw this morning!"
"What are you talking about?" Bulma snapped.
"Oh, just that I happened to catch a glimpse of a certain someone on his way to the gravity room without a shirt on, and I must say, he didn't look anything BUT gorgeous to me!"
"I'm not going to sit here and listen to much more of this!" Bulma exploded. "Sometimes you are absolutely obnoxious, Mom!"
"Just doing my job!" Her mother replied smartly. "Now, I think it's time we head on up to bed."
"Wait a minute," Bulma said, her spirits sinking. "I just thought of something. What am I going to tell Yamucha about all of this? He hates Vegita's guts, and I can only imagine what he's going to think if he finds out Vegita is in love with me. I mean, he still hopes he has a chance with me, for heaven's sake! And besides, I can't just leave him in the dark forever. He's bound to notice something fishy's going on. And I can say for sure that he's not going to take it well when he does."
"My advice on that one is not to tell him about it right away," Mrs. Briefs said, after a short pause. "I think you're overestimating him a little bit. I really don't think he'll notice it all that easily. And anyway, you don't even know how you feel about Vegita yet. I wouldn't tell Yamucha anything until you know that for sure."
"I guess that makes sense," Bulma said, thinking it over in her mind. "I hope you're right, though. Yamucha's pretty observant about these things, and he seems to have a thing for spying on Vegita. If he suspects anything, it'll only cause trouble."
"What's he going to do about it?" Mrs. Briefs said with a smile. "Attack him? I kind of doubt it. He might stick pretty close to you for a while, though. Who knows? But you do have to try to protect his feelings from your uncertainty, Bulma. And besides, it'll make it easier on you to sort things out if he isn't hovering around you trying to win you over or something. He might find out ahead of time, but better to let that happen than to tell him prematurely and make it that much harder on yourself. Just take some time to sort this out. And in the meantime, stop running from Vegita all the time. I've seen the way you creep about when you think he's coming. That's not going to accomplish anything and you know it. The best thing you can do now is to find out all you can about him. Try to decide if he really is all that bad. Who knows? You might be pleasantly surprised!"
"Yeah, right," Bulma said harshly.
"I'm serious!" Mrs. Briefs said with a hurt expression. "You ought to at least give him a chance, Bulma! I mean, what's the worst that could happen, for heaven's sake?"
"Yeah, but Mom, I don't see why I should even consider it! I mean, there's no way I'd ever even feel for him what I feel for Yamucha! So why should I give him a chance at what even Yamucha couldn't have, huh? Tell me that!"
"Well, I say you're being ridiculous and unfair," Mrs. Briefs said emphatically. "And anyway, if you continue to avoid him like this, the only impression he's going to get from you is that you're still afraid of him. Now, is that really what you want?"
That last part did it. Bulma hated to be reminded of any fears she had, and now that this one had started to wear out, she certainly didn't want anyone reminding her of it, leastwise Vegita. "I doubt it'll be anything pleasant to be around him," she muttered, "but I guess I'll at least stand my ground when I sense him coming. But I'm not going to be nice to him! I don't want him thinking anything's changed! Knowing him, the jerk'll probably twist it around to make it look like I've fallen for HIM or something otherwise."
Mrs. Briefs really laughed then. "Oh honestly, Bulma!" She cried. "You can be so ridiculous sometimes!"
Bulma glared at her. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," she said loftily, getting to her feet, crossing her arms, and raising her nose in the air.
Mrs. Briefs giggled. "Cut it out," she said. "Now, go on up to bed. You're a wreck."
Bulma felt like a wreck. "Yeah, it'd be nice to get some sleep," she said, her expression changing dramatically as she glanced longingly at the stairs. "I don't know, Mom. I actually feel a little better about all of this now, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some considerable trouble falling asleep tonight. I just have too much on my mind."
"Oh, I think you'll be all right," Mrs. Briefs said, following her daughter up the staircase. "Just remember that your father will need your help tomorrow when he begins the actual construction of Vegita's gravity room."
"Oh yeah," Bulma said, yawning. She'd forgotten about that. "I'll help him after my morning workout," she said, after thinking for a moment. "That'll limber me up a bit."
They separated then and went to their own rooms to leave the troubles of the day behind. And despite the apprehensions she'd had about getting to sleep, Bulma was out the moment her head hit the pillow. Perhaps the events of the day had worn her out more than she'd imagined.
On to the next Chapter!
