Chapter 14
It wasn't until late the next morning that Bulma was finally able to make herself get up and out of bed. Normally she didn't have much of a problem waking up in the morning, but a lot had happened to her yesterday, and the resulting strain had taken its toll on her physique as well as on her nerves. As a result, she slept in much later than usual, her fatigue prohibiting her from arising at her usual early time. At any rate, she finally did manage to get up and get dressed, and after doing about ten minutes of stretches, she felt considerably better. She went downstairs, and, finding no one about, fixed herself a big breakfast and sat down to eat in peace.
Of course, the only "peace" fit to mention was that of the room around her. Her mind, however, was anything but at peace. The events of yesterday were still strikingly crisp and sharp in her mind, and so was the conversation she'd had with her mother before going to bed. Both, and particularly the latter, had been bothering her all morning, and she was unable to think of anything else. What her mother had said had really made her wonder just how she really felt about Vegita. Perhaps she had lost some of her fear of him. But she couldn't see herself ever being comfortable around him, no matter how far in the future she tried to look. But still, it was hard for her to admit to herself that she would never be able to keep her composure if she had to be around him for any length of time. She would have liked to believe she was stronger than that. She hated discovering any kind of weakness about herself, no matter how inescapable it seemed. It just didn't seem right to assume that she couldn't break herself of this general uneasiness she felt around him. I mean, sure, it was creepy to know that his feelings for her were the way they were, but perhaps she could find some way to work beyond that. She didn't want to go out of her way to be around him, but if she was going to spend three whole years here confined to the compound with him, she was going to have to get over this. She had her training to consider here. She had to devote her full attention to her training if she was going to improve as much as she intended. And besides, it's not like it would hurt anything to try. At the very worst she would make a fool of herself in front of Vegita a few times. It's not as if that would be any great change of events. Scowling, she shoved another pancake into her mouth and chewed furiously. She'd show him, though. Eventually she'd get it through his thick skull that she could handle any kind of mind game he cared to try with her, and then some!
As she sat there brooding over this, the kitchen door opened and Yamucha walked in. He spotted Bulma at the table and raised an eyebrow at the enormous quantity of food she was packing away. But after a dismissive shrug, he simply smiled and went to sit down in the chair across the table from her.
"Hey Bulma," he said, sitting down and smiling brightly at her. "How're you feeling? It looks like your appetite hasn't been hurt much at least."
"I feel restless," she said, scowling only a little this time. "I feel like going out and knocking the stuffing out of something. I guess I'll go spend a few hours in my gravity room before I go out to help my dad work on Vegita's."
"Er... I wouldn't do that if I were you," Yamucha said, putting a hand behind his head and laughing nervously. "It's already occupied - your gravity room, I mean."
"Huh?" Bulma said, swallowing a large bite of eggs and looking up. "What do you mean? Who's in there?"
"Well, Vegita is," Yamucha replied, looking at her quizzically. "Didn't you say he could use your room until his was fixed? Well, anyway, he's in there all right. Been there since six this morning. I guess you'll have to wait until he's through with it, or until you fix his room. I suppose it'll be whichever comes first."
Bulma frowned. She hadn't expected Vegita to come back so early. And she certainly hadn't expected him to get situated in her gravity room right away, even though she probably SHOULD have expected it. She sighed and pushed herself back away from the table. Much as she dreaded it, she recognized this as being her chance to begin the slow process of learning to live with Vegita. It had to start somewhere. It might as well be here and now.
"I wonder if Vegita would mind letting me train with him for an hour or so?" Bulma mused aloud. "He'd have to tune it down quite a bit, of course, but it wouldn't really take all that long. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask."
Yamucha shot her a very serious look. "That's not funny, Bulma," he said quietly.
"I wasn't trying to be," she replied, frowning and looking up at him.
"How very strange," He said, his expression darkening. "A person generally is when making a joke."
"I wasn't making a joke!" Bulma said angrily. "I still want to train today, all right? And since I doubt Vegita's going to give up the gravity room long enough to let me do that, I'm going to see if he'll instead just share the gravity room with me at a lower level for a little while. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?"
"Bulma, I want you to consider what you're saying," Yamucha said, his voice very calm but firm. "Even if Vegita didn't do anything to hurt you yesterday, that doesn't change the fact that he's a killer, and at the very least extremely dangerous. Allowing yourself to be locked up in an enclosed space with him is about as sane as allowing a small child to be caged in with a half-starved tiger. Don't take the man so lightly, Bulma. He's not to be trusted, and you should just avoid him as much as you can."
"I think you're wrong," Bulma said hotly. "Avoiding him isn't going to do me a damn bit of good. You wanna know why I was having such a hard time of it before I took my vacation, Yamucha? Well I'll tell you. It's because of him. Trying to avoid him and living in constant fear of him all the time was tearing me apart. Well, I'm tired of it! I'm going to prove to myself once and for all that I can break free of this stupid fear of mine, and avoiding him isn't going to achieve any such thing."
"Did it ever occur to you that there might be a natural reason for you to be so afraid of him, Bulma?" Yamucha said gently, doing his best to refrain from fighting with her about it. He knew from experience that arguing with her was the least effective way of getting her to listen to him. "I don't think you were just being silly. I think there are plenty of very real reasons to fear and avoid Vegita, all of which should prohibit you from even considering such a thing. Think of what you're suggesting, Bulma! Do you actually think it isn't foolhardy to allow yourself to be locked in there with him? The man's no saint, Bulma. All he'd have to do is turn the gravity up too high for you to move, and then he could do God knows what to you. I hate to say such a thing to you, but my instincts tell me that that is the honest truth of the matter. You know how I feel about Vegita. I don't trust him. And I don't see any reason for you to either."
"I don't suppose he's given you much reason to trust him, has he?" Bulma sighed, sending him a smile of understanding. "I know you honestly believe what you're saying, Yamucha, but you don't know everything about him either. He's not the monster you think he is, however frightening he may be. I can't say why I feel this way; I just do. And even though you're my best friend in the whole world, I can't go against my own instincts on this one. Vegita still frightens the hell out of me, but I honestly don't think he'd do anything to harm me if I asked him to let me train with him. You'll just have to trust me. I'm sorry."
And before he could say anything else, she got up from the table and walked straight out the door. She understood why Yamucha would be against this; she was having her own share of doubts herself. But Yamucha hadn't been there to hear what Vegita had told her last night. Vegita was scary all right; but her heart told her that he'd meant it when he'd said that he would never do anything to hurt her. "Besides," she told herself with a nervous smile, "he probably won't even let me train with him anyway. I'd be too much of an inconvenience to him. Vegita wouldn't let anything get in his way when it comes to his training; I'm sure of that."
But despite what she said to reassure herself, her heart was still thumping a little more quickly than usual when she turned on the vidcam and began to speak. "Um, Vegita?" She said nervously, but trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. "Would it be all right if you let me train in there for an hour or two?"
Vegita let out a grunt in between push-ups and shot her a mild glance of annoyance. "I'm not leaving," he said flatly.
"Well," Bulma said, swallowing and mustering up her courage. "Then how about if I train in there with you instead? I didn't mean that I wanted to kick you out of here or anything, but this is my gravity room, and I do want to have a bit of a workout today, even if it means training alongside you."
Her voice had taken on a slight hint of annoyance as well, but Vegita seemed to ignore it. "Feh," he said, switching over to one-handed push-ups. "You wouldn't even be able to breathe in gravity like this."
Bulma noticed that he'd set the machine all the way up to its max - two hundred g's. She frowned. "I know that," she said impatiently. "That's not what I meant. I was hoping you'd turn it down a little. It wouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I still have to fix your own blasted room later on anyway."
Vegita smirked as he switched hands. "Then why aren't you doing that?" He shot at her. "I'm busy here, woman; can't you see that?"
Bulma's temper flared a little. "Just because I said you could use my gravity room doesn't mean I'm giving up my morning workouts for you, you ingrate!" She snapped. "Geez! Would it really kill you to take it easy and train in sixty-five for a couple of hours? I'm not going to tie it up for the whole day for heaven's sake!"
Vegita gave an irritated sigh and got to his feet. He crossed his arms and frowned sternly at Bulma. "I'm not going to train in any measly sixty-five g's," he said firmly. "I don't even feel anything that low anymore."
Bulma glared at him. "Oh really?" She said angrily. "Well, all right then, tough guy. We'll turn it up a little more if that's what you want. But I'm not leaving until I get my morning workout, and that's just the way it's going to be."
Vegita smirked. "Fine," he said coolly. "Have it your way. We'll set the machine for eighty then."
"EIGHTY?!" Bulma exploded at him. "I have trouble with seventy as it is! I won't even be able to move in eighty g's!"
"That's not my problem," Vegita replied, turning away slightly and shooting her a smug grin. "It's not my fault you're a weakling. Don't expect me to coddle you and nurture your weaknesses for you, because I won't!"
Bulma's eyes flared in anger, but she didn't answer him back immediately. She knew what he was up to. She wasn't stupid. If she went in there and struggled around in eighty g's, she'd get worn out in only a few minutes. Then he'd have the gravity room to himself again. The big jerk. But despite that, she just sighed and shook her head.
"Fine," she said angrily. "Eighty it is, then."
Vegita gave a smug grin of triumph, and Bulma turned off the vidcam. Grumbling angrily as she walked around the building to the door, she clenched her fists and her teeth as she tried to imagine how bad eighty g's would really be. She hadn't given in to placate him; that was for sure. She was going to show him that she wasn't afraid to test her limits, and that she wasn't going to back down when he challenged her either. He may think she was a weakling, but she was determined to show him how wrong he was! Of course, she overlooked the fact that she was also determined to prove the same to herself.
She didn't look at him when he opened the door to let her in. She didn't say anything either. She simply strode in, crossed her arms, and waited impatiently as he locked the door behind her and walked over to the gravity machine to turn it on.
Bulma didn't even think to take the opportunity to prepare herself. The full eighty g's hit her all at once like a ton of bricks, and she promptly doubled over, nearly losing her balance and falling face-first onto the gravity room floor. Vegita leaned up against the control terminal, an amused smirk beginning to tug at one corner of his mouth as Bulma groaned and grunted her way upright, every one of her muscles having already begun to quiver in protest.
He walked up in front of her and grinned in her face. "This isn't too much for you, is it?" He asked tauntingly. Bulma forced a grin.
"You just wait until I regain the ability to move, Buster!" She said, grunting a little from the effort of lifting one of her feet a few millimeters off the floor and inching it forward. "And then I'll teach you a lesson you won't soon forget!"
Vegita laughed. "Don't be ridiculous!" He said, chuckling as she took a hard-won step forward. "The only thing you could ever teach ME is how to be a proper pain in the ass! That's about the only thing you do well!"
"Well, I did learn from the master," Bulma retorted in a sweet voice, giving him a jerky bow.
"Feh," Vegita snorted. "And besides, I can already tell you don't have the nerve to take me on again. Oh, but excuse me! I forgot! All you need to do is stop time and give me a sound thrashing, isn't that right?"
Bulma scowled as Vegita pretended to cower away from her in fear. "I guess it's your lucky day," she grunted, heaving another leg forward. "I've already tested the effects of gravity on my teleportation. For some reason, the gravity stays intact, although for the life of me, I don't know why. On the other hand, I suppose I should have figured that out before I did, since I was never weightless when I teleported before."
"What a pity," Vegita said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head at her. By now she had moved forward enough to reach him, but he simply stepped effortlessly out of her reach before she could grab for him. "So you can't do anything to me if I do this!" He said with a malevolent grin as he reached around behind her and gave a large chunk of her hair a sharp tug.
"Woah! Hey!" Bulma exclaimed as she lost her balance and fell onto her back. "You asshole!" She screeched, flailing around madly in an effort to right herself. "What on earth was that for, you big jerk?!"
"Fun, mostly," Vegita laughed. "What's the matter? Having a bit of trouble getting up?"
"Go ahead; yuck it up," Bulma grumbled, finally managing to roll herself over onto her stomach. "Big jerk." She somehow managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees, and she stayed in that position for a few seconds - panting from the effort - before pushing herself upright.
"Well, don't you have training to do or something?" Bulma panted impatiently, glowering at him as she finally made it to her feet.
Vegita smirked. "I'm having more fun watching you," he said with a sneer. "I don't suppose it would hurt me to take a break long enough to watch you make an ass of yourself."
Bulma snarled and shot him an obscene gesture. "Bite me!" She snapped.
"Tempting," Vegita said quietly, quite perceptibly looking her over.
"Shut the hell up!" Bulma exploded at him, her cheeks burning. "And quit looking at me like that! You want a broken nose?!"
Vegita grinned mischievously at her. "Yeah, that sounds like fun," he said. "Why don't you give me one?"
"Ooooh!" Bulma screamed angrily. "You're driving me nuts! Just hold still, you stupid jerk!" She had begun to lunge crazily at him in an effort to grab onto him long enough to drag him to the floor. She figured that if she could do that, then she might be able to give him a few good whacks without having to move around too much. But Vegita was dodging her without any trouble at all, making each of her attempts seem more pitiful than the last. Compared to Vegita in this gravity, Bulma really did look pathetic. Of course, she failed to notice this, and remained undaunted by the incredible ease of movement Vegita was displaying in dodging her. All she cared about at the moment was beating the holy crap out of him, and as far as she was concerned, no stupid gravity was going to prevent her from doing that!
"Now really, woman!" Vegita laughed, ducking back and forth as she grabbed for him. "I gave you a kiss only yesterday, and already you can't keep your hands off of me! No man's safe around you!"
"Yaaaarrrgh!" Bulma screamed, her face growing redder by the second. "I'll kill you for that! Now dammit, hold still!"
Vegita just kept dodging her, and the big silly grin on his face was enough proof to say that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Bulma was pushing herself to the limit in an effort to knock him over, but he hadn't even felt the slightest strain. It only took a few more minutes of this for Bulma to finally collapse on the floor from sheer exhaustion. She flopped over onto her back and shut her eyes tightly so she wouldn't have to see the lights as they spun around and around on the ceiling above her. Vegita walked up next to her and towered over her in triumph.
"Had enough?" He said smugly, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, you wish, you bastard!" Bulma panted. "I'm just getting my second wind. You just stay the hell away from me, because when I get back up your ass is mine!"
Vegita gave a derisive snort and sat down a couple feet away - just far enough to be out of reach. Bulma wanted to ignore him, but she also wanted to glare at him. She opted for the latter, and she sent him such a nasty look that he promptly roared with laughter.
"What's so damn funny?!" She demanded, clenching her fists and baring her teeth at him.
"You trying to look intimidating," Vegita gasped, rocking back and forth, "while you're plastered to the floor like that! You look positively ludicrous!"
"Shut up!" Bulma snapped. Vegita only laughed more loudly. "Dammit, quit laughing!" She screeched at him. But it was no use. Vegita just continued on, infuriating Bulma progressively more and more. She wanted to lunge forward and strangle him. Unfortunately, Bulma was too winded to make any kind of physical attack at the moment. So she instead chose to implement the next best kind: verbal. She called Vegita foul names, she cursed him, and she told him of several places where HE could go. About halfway through this barrage of profanity, Vegita managed to stifle his remaining guffaws and chuckles so he could listen to her. And listen he did, with a wide grin on his face and an impish gleam in his eyes.
Finally Bulma just ran out of steam - not to mention inventive new expletives - and she lay there, panting and glaring fiercely at him, all the while trying to come up with some way of getting back at him for humiliating her. She wasn't all that scared of Vegita now, but boy was she mad! She glared furiously at him, trying to get it across to him that she did NOT want him near her. But silent glaring didn't seem to have the desired effect, because he didn't move an inch. He just stared at her, that grin of his so annoying that she wanted to scream at him.
"Are you gonna get away from me or what?" She snapped, finally breaking the silence with her frustrated, angry voice. "I'm sick of looking at you, you big jerk!"
"I'll do whatever I please," Vegita said with a smug grin. "And unless you manage to peel yourself off of that floor and move me yourself, I'm not going anywhere."
Bulma scowled. Now he was just being childish. He was doing this to bother her, and was being very proficient about it too. Well that was fine with her. If he wanted to stay, he could stay. But she was leaving! Gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain, she lurched forward and executed the most excruciating sit-up of her life.
"Gyaaah!" She screamed, leaping clumsily - and with a great deal of pain - from this position to one where she was standing unsteadily and precariously on her feet. Letting the tears trickle out through tightly shut eyes, she slowly pushed herself upright. Her whole body was screaming protests at her, and it was all she could do to keep from crying out loud from the pain. But she was only a couple yards away from the gravity machine. If she could make it over there, she'd only have to press the button...
Vegita watched on with a fair degree of curiosity and interest as Bulma began her slow trek forward. He thought at first she'd try to attack him, but when she started walking - if you could call it walking - toward the control terminal, he realized what she was up to. He wondered if she would make it. He got his answer when, nearly halfway there, Bulma must have exhausted her remaining energies, because she then fell to the floor with a loud thump, slamming her forehead on the hard, red tiles when she landed.
"Dammit!" She cried in pain and frustration, pressing her hand against her forehead and rolling over onto her back. Her head began throbbing, and as she gingerly pressed her fingers against the spot where she'd hit her head, the searing pain informed her that she was going to have a nice, nasty bump there in an hour or so. More tears came, and this time it wasn't just the pain that was causing them. It was more the overwhelming and unbearable sense of defeat she felt than it was the pain, and for once she didn't care what Vegita would have to say to her. The hell with him. Even taunts and insults from that unbearable man couldn't hurt her now.
But Vegita didn't make fun of her. Instead, he simply shook his head and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her when he reached her. He pulled at her hand to get it away from her face, but she instinctively clutched at her throbbing forehead with one hand and slapped his hand away with the other.
"Don't touch me!" She snapped. "It's nothing! I don't want you here, so get away from me!"
Vegita groaned. "You really are a pain in the ass," he grumbled, grabbing her hand again and pulling it away, only a little more roughly this time. He pinned it to the floor and brushed her bangs back away from her forehead with his other hand. Bulma winced as he brushed a finger against the newly swollen lump that was beginning to form up there. What did he care, anyway? It was his fault it had happened, after all. But for once she kept her angry thoughts to herself and only scowled at him.
"You'll live," he said finally, letting go of her hand and leaning back away slightly. "But I wonder just how you've managed to keep yourself from getting killed again for so long. You're too damn impulsive."
Bulma snarled at him. "I don't need any lectures from you, you asshole!" She spat at him. "Just get off of me and leave me alone! I've had just about as much of you as I'm going to take!"
Vegita only smirked at her. "Idle threats," he said simply. "I take back what I said before. You're also good at making those."
Bulma scowled angrily at him but remained silent. She hated him. And it disgusted her that she always seemed to end up at his mercy whenever she was around him. One of these days she was going to learn that nothing good ever came from intentionally being near Vegita.
They remained in this angry, silent tableau for a good couple of minutes more, all the while with Bulma becoming more and more uncomfortable. It was very disconcerting to have him looming over her like that, and the way he had begun to stare at her was really beginning to freak her out. She glared at him more fiercely, trying to let him know that it was high time he got away from her. Unfortunately, Vegita seemed to be having trouble reading looks today. Instead of leaving, he stayed right where he was, the look on his face beginning to change slowly into one that Bulma found all-too-familiar. She'd seen the same look on him yesterday in the desert, and even though she finally knew what it meant, that was one look that she never wanted to see from him again. A slight shiver went through her body, and she swallowed hard a couple of times. She wanted to tell him no - to beg him to just go away - but she couldn't make her voice work, though she tried a couple of times. All she was able to do was stare up at him, her eyes pleading with him to leave her alone.
But Vegita seemed to have other ideas. He slowly leaned over her and placed the palms of his hands on the floor on either side of her head. Bulma looked helplessly up at him, his body now silhouetted against the lights on the ceiling above them. She didn't know what to do. She knew she didn't want this, but she wasn't able to call on her faculties of speech to save her from it, and she was certainly in no condition to physically struggle against Vegita. Yamucha's words from before echoed in her mind, and she realized that it was possible that he had been right. Surely Vegita was aware that she was unable to defend herself from him in this gravity. Was it possible that he was taking advantage of that after all? The idea was too upsetting for words. What on earth was she going to do?
Vegita leaned down farther, his eyes beginning to close, and his lips parted. Bulma's breathing had quickened and she had closed her eyes too. She knew she didn't want Vegita to do this to her, but she couldn't think of any way to get out of it. She just prayed for it to be over quickly. And as Vegita leaned down even farther, she shut her eyes even more tightly to free the tears that had formed there. She felt so betrayed. She wished she'd never tried to convince herself that Vegita was sincere. Yamucha had been right. He really was a monster.
Just before Vegita's lips touched hers, there was a loud pounding on the door. Bulma's eyes shot open as she heard the muffled - but very angry - yells of fury coming from Yamucha on the other side of the gravity room door.
"Get the hell away from her, you Saiyan bastard!" He screamed, pounding violently on the door. It was useless, though. The doors on the gravity rooms had been created to sustain almost any magnitude of force, because it would have been disastrous for them to open while the machine was still on. But that didn't stop Yamucha from trying to pound his way through, all the while hollering loud insults, threats, and curses at Vegita.
Vegita had raised his head, and a twisted look of hatred had formed on his face. He began to snarl at Yamucha, and Bulma could almost feel the low rumbling from deep in his throat. Vegita was clearly on the verge of losing control. Bulma knew what was going to happen if she didn't do something quickly. But what could she do?
She looked helplessly at Yamucha's angry face through the window on the door, and like a bolt out of the blue, a strange, wild, reckless idea occurred to her. Without stopping to think, she acted on it. She shot Yamucha a brief but terrible look of anguish, and then lifted her arms up as fast as she could. She threw them around Vegita's neck, and yanked him down, kissing him full force on the lips. Vegita let out a muffled grunt of surprise at first, but he didn't hesitate for long before closing his eyes again and drawing his arms around her, finally letting his anger subside. The pounding and angry shouts from outside stopped as quickly as they had begun, and Bulma knew what that meant. She felt kind of sick at what she'd just done to Yamucha, but she just couldn't let Vegita slaughter him. Yamucha would understand. She'd tell him as soon as she could get herself out of here.
But Vegita was another story. In fixing one problem, she had created another. Not only had she created the very situation she was dreading earlier, but she'd also made it one step worse. She'd given Vegita the idea that her feelings for him had changed. And she did NOT want him to believe that. Her mind was racing in an effort to come up with some kind of feasible solution, but to no avail. And what was worse, it was getting harder and harder to think clearly. As the kiss stretched on and on, her mind began to swim and her thoughts began to blur. Bulma didn't know if it was the gravity or the kiss, but she was beginning to feel very lightheaded. Her strength was rapidly leaving her too. Something - probably instinct - told her that if she was going to do something to stop this, she'd have to do it now.
She slid her arms down off of his neck, and - reluctantly, it seemed - Vegita finally pulled his head up a bit. She lay perfectly still, except for her heavy breathing, making no effort to hide the tears that were streaming down the sides of her face. She didn't want to look at him. She couldn't bear it. But what he said next made her eyes shoot open regardless.
"I never will understand what you see in that fool," he said quietly, his cheeks rather flushed, but his expression strangely calm.
Bulma's eyes shot open in alarm, and she gasped. "Y- you knew!" She cried.
"Don't insult me," Vegita replied after a wry chuckle. "Of course I did! I knew that the only reason you did that was to spare that idiot my fury. Do you think me a fool? I'm not nearly as naïve as you or those simpering friends of yours."
"If... if you knew," Bulma said uncomfortably, drawing her arms inward a bit, "then why did you let me...?"
Vegita shot her an evil smirk. "Let's just say that I considered your offer more inviting than my impulse to destroy that pathetic fool," he said in a soft voice that could quite easily have been mistaken for catlike purring.
Bulma gulped nervously as she looked up into his bright, almost fiery eyes, and she wondered what he was going to do next. Despite her nervousness and apprehension, however, she found, much to her displeasure, that her cheeks were steadily growing flushed and pink. Of course, this only seemed to add to Vegita's amusement.
"Perhaps you found it rather inviting as well," he cooed softly, grinning fiendishly at the horrified expression that spread over Bulma's face as he said it.
Bulma's temper flared, and her eyes flashed angrily. "Don't jump to conclusions, you conceited jerk!" She spat at him. "Don't even suggest such a thing! It just so happens that I found it less inviting than I would Freeza's company! Now get your sorry ass off of me! You're no pile of feathers, you know!"
Vegita smirked and got to his feet as Bulma sent a last angry snarl at him. "You humans are such weaklings," he scoffed, walking over to the control panel and turning off the gravity machine. "It's a wonder your whole race wasn't already wiped out before me or my comrades ever got here. You must have a world of luck on your side!"
"It wasn't luck that caused us to defeat you when you did come!" Bulma cried as she shot to her feet and balled her fists indignantly. "And it certainly didn't take the whole planet of us to do it, either!"
"Indeed," he replied, his expression darkening. "It took Kakarrott and his brat to accomplish that feat - a feat which will not occur again, and which most certainly did not require the aid of any of the pathetic humans who were there at the time," he added with a sneer.
"Pathetic?!" Bulma exclaimed, growing angrier by the second. "Now you listen here, Buster! I'll have you know that by human standards, I'm one of the best there is!"
"Feh. That isn't saying much," Vegita said with a look of disinterest.
Bulma marched forward until she was right up in Vegita's face. "I dare you to repeat that," she said in a soft, menacing hiss.
Vegita smirked. "What else would you have me say?" He asked innocently. "Is it my fault that you're simply a pathetic human female who wouldn't last through an entire second of actual fighting? I see nothing wrong with pointing out one or two of your shortcomings now and then, considering you have so many."
Bulma was about ready to fly into him at this point. She was so angry that she was actually shaking with rage. But, surprisingly, for once she didn't let her anger get the better of her.
"All right," she said finally, in a slow, purposeful, and dangerously low tone of voice. She whirled around on one foot and headed straight for the door.
"Where are you going?" He called after her with only mild interest.
"This 'weakling' is going to go fix your damn gravity room so she can get you the hell out of hers!" Bulma shouted at him.
"Fine," Vegita replied with a curt nod. "Then I'll expect you back here by eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
Bulma screeched to a halt. He had said it just as plainly as if he had been announcing what was to be for dinner. Bulma slowly turned around, and she gaped at Vegita, her facial expression a mingling of disbelief and suppressed fury.
"What did you just say?" She said in a squeaky voice.
"I said I'll see you here tomorrow morning at eight," Vegita said, his expression hardening. "I won't repeat myself again."
"And just why, in heaven's name, would I EVER do such a thing?!" She exploded at him.
"Because," he replied, puffing up importantly, "I'm going to rid you of this tendency of yours toward weakness. You're going to abandon whatever leisurely training regimen you've been following for the one I'll create for you. And at the end of three years, you may very well still be a weakling, but you certainly won't be as much of one! I'll make sure of that!"
Bulma looked like she was about to erupt like Freeza on a bad day. "Never in all my...! I just can't believe...! That you would dare...! You can't be...!" She was so infuriated that she was having difficulty forming complete sentences. But she finally did manage to get the next one out. "I would have to be utterly insane to consent to such a thing!" She hollered at him.
Vegita rolled his eyes. "Spare me the melodramatics," he said curtly. "Why do you say that? Are you afraid of real training? Is that it?"
"I am when the result will be me in a coma!" She exclaimed, flinging her arms into the air as she said it. "I've seen what you consider 'real training,' Vegita, and let me be the first to inform you that it's pure lunacy, even for you! Let's just ignore the fact that we humans aren't nearly as resilient as you Saiyans are, and that if you use your own standards for me, I'll be dead after the first day!"
"Well, I know that!" Vegita yelled back. "Don't be an idiot! I wasn't suggesting that I begin your training in the magnitude I reserve for myself! And let me be the first to inform you, my dear little fool, that I've seen the way you train too! And I must say that it's the most disgustingly inferior method I've ever witnessed! In fact, your methods are so ridiculously ineffective that I'm quite surprised that you've managed to improve at all!"
Bulma couldn't ever remember feeling so insulted - not to mention infuriated. "Why! You insufferable jerk!" She stuttered angrily. "How dare you! Just what, pray tell, is wrong with my 'methods,' anyway?"
"First and foremost," he said, his expression becoming businesslike and very serious indeed, "is the lax way that you increase the power on your gravity machine as you advance. You must always train in an environment that challenges you to the limit of your ability," he said sternly. "And that method you use of turning up the power a few notches at a time and letting yourself grow accustomed to each level before going to the next is most definitely not fulfilling that requirement."
Bulma glared at him in angry resentment. She wanted very badly to have some snide comment to throw back at him, but his words actually made a good bit of sense - sense which she couldn't help but consider for a few seconds. He did have a point, she thought grudgingly. It probably would be more effective that way. But so what? She could fix that on her own. She certainly didn't need HIM hovering over her and ordering her about.
It was as if Vegita had read her mind. "Of course, that's only the beginning," he said, smirking again. "Your form is atrocious, and you're slower than a garden slug. It'll take guidance and direction to remedy that, not to mention to make sure you stick to your training regimen." He smiled proudly at her, as if he were bestowing the rarest and most precious of gifts upon her.
Bulma was livid with anger. Of all the nerve! Just issuing a veritable decree that he was taking over her training schedule as if he had all the right in the world to do so! "You're acting as if I have no say in the matter," she snapped at him, crossing her arms and glaring fiercely at him.
Vegita stared back at her in surprise. "And you're acting as if the idea isn't to your liking," he replied.
"Ooh, you catch on quick," Bulma muttered caustically. "I can't get anything past you, can I?"
Vegita scowled. "You will train my way, or your training will be meaningless," he said coldly. "The Jinzouningen - if they are indeed as powerful as that boy from the future said they are - are nothing to take lightly."
Bulma's expression softened a little. In his own rude, obnoxious way, Vegita was probably trying to tell her that he was concerned about the likelihood of her survival in the upcoming fight with the Jinzouningen. She did agree that, as things stood now, she didn't have much of a chance. She very much doubted that three years of intense training would have prepared her for Freeza, much less a threat more powerful than that Super Saiyan from the future. But still, she wondered just how much difference training from Vegita would make.
"And what about your training?" She demanded skeptically. "You can't drop everything to train me, you know."
Vegita's smirk broadened. "I'll train myself at night," he said, lifting his head pompously. "Training you won't tax me in the least, true, but you won't last more than eight hours or so at the most with the regimen I've developed. I'll have plenty of time, even if it does cut my training time in half."
Bulma scowled again. If he made one more crack at her being weaker than he...
"So," He said at last. "What's it to be?" He stood there, leaning up against the gravity machine with his arms crossed, his face the very image of smugness. Bulma glared at him. She definitely had reservations. Today had proven just how unpredictable Vegita could be. And she wasn't sure if she could trust herself to keep ahead of him if he tried anything again. But still, she'd hate to give the jerk the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten to her. And besides, if he was on the level about this training, it might actually be worth her while to give it a shot. It couldn't hurt, could it? Yeah, right. That was like saying the same thing before trying out bungee jumping without a bungee cord. She sighed angrily and shook her head. What the hell. She didn't have much else left to lose. And if he did try something she could always move away. She had heard Siberia was lovely this time of year...
"Fine," she finally snapped. "I agree. But I'm warning you now, Vegita, that this whole business is over the moment you try to seduce me again!" The words were out before she had time to think them. Her hands flew to her mouth and she let out a horrified gasp at what she had just said to him. She then turned bright scarlet, and Vegita grinned shamelessly at her, looking very pleased indeed. Before she could say anything else to horribly embarrass herself, she spun around and ran out the door, slamming it shut again as she went. She sprinted back toward the house, and could be distinctly heard exclaiming things like "dolt," "idiot," and "moron" to herself on the way. Her head was bent down low, and she wasn't paying any attention at all to the world around her. She was so lost in her own embarrassment that it probably shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did when she crashed headlong into Yamucha, knocking him over and causing her to trip and go flying over him, and finally landing with a mighty splat as she fell flat on her face.
Dazed, they both slowly sat up and stared at each other in confusion. Neither one said anything at first, but Yamucha was the first one to make a move. He glared stonily at her for a brief moment before getting up and turning around to walk away.
"Yamucha, wait!" Bulma said, knowing exactly why he was angry with her, and not blaming him a bit for it. "I need to talk to you, Yamucha. Please wait."
"I have nothing to say to you, Bulma," he said curtly, his pace quickening.
"Fine," Bulma said flatly. "Then you can listen." She shot around in front of him and held up her hand for him to stop. He crossed his arms and scowled at her, but he didn't turn back around.
"I want to explain something to you," she said, without so much as a trace of anger in her voice. "What you saw back there was not what you thought it was."
"Oh it wasn't, was it?" Yamucha snapped. "Don't give me that! You never kissed ME like that, Bulma!"
"Yes, well, I hadn't to Vegita either," she said, glancing down at her feet and shifting uncomfortably. "Not until today, at least. But it was the only thing I could do, Yamucha. Vegita was ready to kill you, and nothing short of what I did was going to stop him this time. I had to do something to keep him from losing it completely."
"You kissed Vegita just to keep him from killing me?" Yamucha asked skeptically.
"Yes," she replied. "I did. And I wish I'd had time to think about what I was doing first. I didn't think about what it would do to you."
Yamucha looked like he wasn't really quite ready to believe her yet. But finally he just sighed and shook his head. "I guess I should have known better," he said in a tired voice. "I don't think I could see you falling for Vegita in a million years."
"You're probably right," Bulma said with a relieved smile. "But let's not forget, Yamucha, that just because I'll never feel about Vegita that way doesn't mean that I won't ever feel that way about someone else. You and I are not what we used to be. And we never will be again. If the time comes for me to find love again, you can't act like some jealous boyfriend and go all crazy on me. You're just going to have to live with it."
"Yeah, I know," he said dully. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still in love with you, Bulma. And that will never change."
"Well, be that as it may," Bulma said with an unhappy frown, "nothing can ever come of it. Those times are over. I've already made my choice about that."
Yamucha didn't say anything in reply, and a rather uncomfortable silence followed. Finally, Yamucha seemed to remember something, and his expression changed to one of angry recollection.
"Hey, wait a minute!" He cried. "I need to ask you something! Just what was going on when I stopped outside the door, Bulma? Vegita was all over you! And I saw that setting on the machine! Didn't I tell you that he was going to try something like that? You're always telling me to stop spying on him, or to leave him alone, or something like that, but don't you think that what happened today justifies what I've been saying all along? Admit it! The man had you cornered, and there was nothing you could do to stop him!"
Bulma sighed. It looked like there was nothing else to do but just get it over with and tell Yamucha the whole story. He was never going to understand otherwise. "Come have a glass of juice with me, Yamucha," she said in a kind but tired voice. "I've got some things I need to tell you, but I want you and I both to be sitting down when I do."
The strangely calm look on Bulma's face startled Yamucha so much that he simply nodded and followed her to the house. He had no idea what kind of a story he was in for.
On to the next Chapter!
