Chapter 21
Vegita and Bulma had to stay indoors all afternoon and even on into the evening because of the weather. It had progressed to a fine storm after only a couple of hours, but neither of them minded, of course. They had no objections to staying inside and being in each other's company. However, when eight o'clock rolled around and the storm had only seemed to have gotten worse, Bulma began to get a little nervous.
"It's actually normal for it to rain nearly every day in this part of the world," she explained to Vegita. "But these storms don't usually last more than a couple of hours. This one's beginning to worry me." She glanced apprehensively at the wildly thrashing palm trees and choppy surf outside the window.
"What's the problem?" Vegita asked, sneering at her. "Don't tell me the pathetic storms of this planet frighten you!"
"They do if they're the right kind," she replied darkly. She went and fetched her laptop computer from her room and sat down with it on the sofa.
"What are you doing now?" Vegita asked her with only mild interest.
"I'm going to use one of my dad's photo-surveillance satellites to see what kind of weather we're in for," she answered. "I just need to give it our coordinates here and let it zoom in on our location…" She began typing commands into her keyboard, muttering to herself and frowning at the screen in front of her. There was a brief pause of silence, save for the occasional kacha-kachak from her keyboard. But she suddenly let out an irritated groan and shook her head angrily at the monitor.
"What's the matter now?" Vegita demanded impatiently.
"This is just great," Bulma grumbled. "Vegita, we're sitting right on the outer fringes of a typhoon!"
"A what?" Vegita said, not sure how he was supposed to react to what she had said - especially considering that he didn't know what it meant. "I still fail to see why you would get yourself so worked up over a storm. Even if you are just an Earthling, you shouldn't be so much of a coward!"
Bulma answered him with a dry laugh. "Yeah, well we're in the tropics, Vegita," she chuckled. "And it's right in the middle of typhoon season. Or at least, in this part of the world, hurricane season. I realize that probably means nothing to you at the moment, but it will in a few minutes, when I explain it to you. But first, I have to call my dad and find out how bad a storm ours is, and in what direction it's heading."
She went into her room again, and this time, she opened her capsule suitcase and removed her tele-link capsule. She popped it open and set everything up there in her room. She flipped the video and audio transmitters and receivers on, and she typed in the commands to open a link with her dad's machine in the lab.
"Dad, it's me, Bulma," she spoke into the mouthpiece of her headset. "Come in, Dad!" There was about a half-minute's pause, and then Dr. Briefs' face popped up on her screen.
"Bulma!" He cried. "It's good to hear from you again, hon! How's vacation life treating you? Having fun?"
"Was," she answered succinctly. "But something's happened that I need your help with. Uh… are you alone there in the lab?"
"Yep," he said, nodding his head. "What did you need, Bulma, sweetheart?"
"First of all," she said, assuming an air of authority. "Whatever I say to you is to go no farther than yourself and Mom. Agreed?"
"Sure," he said, smiling at her. "You know you can tell us anything, dear. What's up?"
"I mean it," she said, frowning at him. "I don't want anyone else to hear about it. Not Goku, not Kuririn, and certainly not Yamucha. All right?"
"All right, dear," he laughed, holding his hands up for her to see. "You've got it. But why all the secrecy?"
"Because," she said, relaxing a little. "What I need you to help me with is going to involve my telling you where Vegita and I are. And I don't want anyone to come and bother us. Vegita's only got a day or two left, and I want him to get the most out of what time he has left. Now do you understand?"
"Perfectly," Dr. Briefs said with a grin. "You just want to be alone with your beefcake for a little longer. I understand completely, Bulma."
Instead of bristling up indignantly as he'd expected her to, Bulma laughed at him. "Yeah, that's it, Dad," she chuckled with a grin. "So you've got to keep quiet."
"Er… right," he said, looking perplexed. "So, what is it that you needed, hon?"
"I need you to check out a typhoon for me," she said, adopting a more serious expression. "Actually it's really a hurricane. Vegita and I are on an island in the Pacific Ocean, and we're right on the fringes of a large hurricane. I checked it out on the number 3 PS satellite," she explained. "What I want from you is a better description of this thing. I need to know just how strong it is, where it's heading, and how fast it's moving."
"I see," he said, also adopting a more serious expression. "Give me your coordinates, then. I'll check it out for you, Bulma."
She gave her dad the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of their island, and he excused himself to go check it out at one of his main computers. A few minutes later, he came back in view of the tele-link screen, and he had several printed sheets of paper with him.
"Not too good, hon," he said with a frown. "That's hurricane Ryoko you two have found there, and she's one tough cookie."
"How tough?" Bulma asked him.
"Category four and rapidly gaining strength," he replied. "She's got nothing but open ocean between you and herself, and it's warm open ocean at that. She's moving directly southeast, and if you two are on that island under her southeast fringe, you're both going to be in a world of hurt in a couple of hours."
Bulma sighed. "I was afraid of something like this," she said with a scowl. "When I saw the tiny, well-formed eye on that surveillance photo, I figured she'd be at least a four. This isn't good. The capsule house we're staying in won't be able to handle the kind of waves this island is in for. We're going to have to do something."
"But what can you do?" Dr. Briefs exclaimed. "The winds are bound to be at least 90 kilometers per hour where you are now, Bulma! You know I have unbreakable faith in your skills as an aircraft pilot, but I know that even you won't be able to negotiate winds that strong in any of our regular transports! If you try to fly yourselves out of there, you're sure to be tossed into the sea!"
"Don't worry about that, Dad," Bulma said in a reassuring voice. "I don't know exactly what we're going to do yet, but you can bet that I won't be using such crude means of getting Vegita and myself home. You can ask Mom about the details if you're curious. I just hope it won't have to come to that. I don't want to leave yet. I have to talk it over with Vegita. If we decide to come home, I'll be sure to call you before we leave. Okay?"
That seemed to satisfy Dr. Briefs. "Roger that," he said with a relieved smile. "You two be careful, Bulma. Oh, and you can tell Vegita that his gravity machine is fixed again. If you two do decide to come home, it'll be waiting and ready for him."
"I will," she said with a smile. "Thanks, Dad. Bulma out."
"Bye, honey!" He said, waving a final time at her before she closed the connection.
Bulma sighed again as she took off her headset and stood up. After recapsulizing all her equipment and putting the capsule back in her suitcase, she walked out of her bedroom and back out into the living room.
"Bad news," she told Vegita when she came in to find him lounging on the sofa. "This hurricane happens to be a pretty mean one, and the worst part of the thing is heading right for us."
"So what does that mean exactly?" Vegita asked her sternly.
"It means we might not be able to just stick it out where we are," she sighed. She sat down next to him and began to explain to him just what a hurricane was, and why it was impossible for them to remain holed up in their capsule house. After a few minutes of concise explanation, Vegita understood the situation for what it was.
"So what were you going to suggest we do?" He asked her with a frown.
Bulma was about to suggest going back home, but suddenly a crazy, exciting thought occurred to her. "I just got a wild idea," she said slyly, cracking a grin at him. "What kind of shape are you in right now, Vegita? You aren't really tired or anything, are you?"
"What the hell kind of fool question is that?" He growled indignantly. "I am ALWAYS in top shape!"
Bulma nodded and looked down excitedly as she worked things out in her mind. "There isn't another island around for at least a couple hundred miles," she muttered aloud. "Our little island is the only one anywhere near this hurricane. That's why it's been gaining so much strength on its way here."
"I demand to know what you're babbling about!" Vegita snapped.
Bulma looked back up at him, still grinning broadly. "We could take this sucker out ourselves," she said craftily. "I'm almost positive we could do it. Shoot, Gohan easily destroyed a full-blown tornado before we got to Namek. They've got much faster winds, even though they are on a much smaller scale than the thing we have to deal with. But still, I'm much stronger than he was then. And you're easily thirty or forty times stronger than I am. I'm almost certain that we could destroy this hurricane before it gets too close to the island!"
A slow, malevolent smirk spread across Vegita's face. "You're learning," he said with a look that remarkably resembled approval. "It's about time you grew a spine. All right then. So we destroy the thing. What say we get started right now?"
Bulma grinned. That was the closest thing to a compliment that Vegita'd ever given her. "Hang on a minute," she said, holding a hand up. "We can't just go in blasting haphazardly. We have to do this the right way. If we just indiscriminately fire blasts at the thing, we might create some pretty big waves in the process. If we're not careful, we might just wipe this island clean of everything on it without even letting the hurricane have a shot at it."
"All right then, Miss Genius," he said condescendingly. "Just what do you suggest that we do instead?"
"Well," Bulma said with a rather defensive scowl, "I'm getting to that. Now, I think that if we can break down the structure of the eye, it'll lose a lot of its power. Also, if we can somehow slow its winds down - ki blasts might do it - that would deal it a pretty good blow too. I think I could handle the eye, but there's no way I'm strong enough to take on the rest of the thing. This hurricane in particular is a good two hundred miles across. I'd get tired out really fast if I had to struggle against the high winds while I was blasting something that large. I think I should leave that part to you."
Vegita nodded slowly. "It sounds feasible," he said, frowning as he mulled it over in his mind. "Are you sure that foot of yours can handle such a chore?"
"I do believe so," she said with a confident nod. "It's almost healed completely. I told you it would only be a matter of time before the poison worked its way through my system."
Vegita snorted. "I hope you won't expect me to come save your skin if you let yourself get blown around all over the place. If you're going to do this, you'll be on your own out there."
Bulma grinned at him. "I'm not that concerned," she replied truthfully. "I can handle myself better than you give me credit for, Vegita. There's only one thing about all this that bothers me."
"What's that?" He asked her.
"I know we can pull this off," she said, frowning slightly. "But the waves still concern me. No matter how careful we are, I'm pretty sure that we won't be able to keep the sea down to a mere ripple throughout all of this. All it'll take is a nice ten-foot wave through here, and our little capsule house will be washed away like a pile of toothpicks."
Vegita gave a dismissive snort. "That's easily taken care of," he said with a sneer. "You can let me take care of the hurricane while you stay out here on the beach. If you see any threatening waves, I'm sure even you can make short work of them."
Bulma nodded, but she was still frowning. "I suppose that could work," she said thoughtfully. "But there's no guarantees that I'll be able to hold out long enough. Hurricanes are huge, Vegita. It may take you more than a couple of hours to get rid of this one." She looked out the window at the large breakers already making their way onto the beach. There had to be a simpler answer.
"Hey, wait a minute!" She cried, smacking her forehead and laughing. "What the heck am I worrying for? This is a capsule house! I'll just recapsulate it and put it in my pocket before we start out!"
"So we'll have full range at this thing then?" Vegita asked, crossing his arms and eying her critically.
"Well, pretty much," she answered. "There's the rest of the island to consider, of course, but I guess that as long as the house survives, I won't be too upset if a large wave sneaks in and takes out two or three palm trees. I'm more concerned about our having a place to sleep when this is over."
Vegita snorted again. "Once again you've proven how much of a weakling you are," he said with a sneer. "You shouldn't have to have an entire house simply to sleep! If you humans would quit such pathetic habits, you might be able to survive things more easily."
"Be that as it may," Bulma said, quickly interjecting, "I'd prefer to sleep under a roof. Call it an eccentricity."
"I call it a weakness," he said scornfully.
Bulma didn't argue the point further. She didn't want to get Vegita started on another one of his "why Saiyans are superior to humans" speeches.
"In any event," she sighed, "let's get started. I want to cut this thing off as quickly as possible. Are you ready?"
"Are you?" Vegita retorted.
Shaking her head, Bulma led the way out into the howling wind just beyond the front door. When they had both gone outside, she pushed the recapsulation button next to the door and, picking the resulting capsule up off the ground and stuffing it into her pocket, turned around to face Vegita.
"All right," she said loudly, trying to project her voice over the howling wind. "I'm going to teleport to the eye. You can get started wherever you want, I suppose. Just pick a place with really strong winds and blast against them. Try not to get struck by lightning," she added with a grin.
Vegita sneered. They both knew that they'd endured far worse than the comparatively feeble spark they'd receive from a lightning strike. But Bulma had felt that she had to give him some kind of warning. After all, she was going to have to watch out for her man from now on, considering how helpless he was!
"I'll come join you when I finish off the eye," she said in a taunting voice. "I'll help you defeat the scary winds, Veggie-boy."
Vegita sneered. "I'll have destroyed the whole thing by the time you finish," he said arrogantly. "Why don't you just stay here and leave this to me? This is work for a real warrior; a little weakling like you might get hurt!"
Bulma laughed. "You just watch your back," she warned him. "I wouldn't want one of my blasts to catch you off guard. I have no intention of fishing your sorry carcass out of the sea if you get knocked out!" And before he even had a chance to scoff at her again, she stopped time and took off for the eye.
As Bulma made her way through the outer layers of the hurricane, she was enthralled by the incredible sights she passed. Lightning discharges - many only partially formed - hung suspended in the air all around her like brilliant streamers. On several occasions, she happened upon the beginnings of a bolt from the clouds, and another coming up to meet it from the sea below. The rain hung suspended in the air as well, and as Bulma flew through it, she left an empty path behind her. With time standing still, it made it much easier to observe all the previously unobservable properties of this storm, and she was more than captivated by it. She knew several meteorologists who would have given their right arms to see what she was seeing. It was more than marvelous. It was beautiful.
Bulma flew along for miles, going deeper and deeper into the hurricane. If it hadn't been for the lightning, she might not have seen anything at all. It was harder than it had initially seemed to locate the eye of this storm in the darkness of an overcast night sky. The only clue she had to go by was the density of the clouds and the angle that the rain was making with her sense of balance. Several times she wandered past her destination and had to retrace her steps back. But eventually, she finally found the empty, cloudless eye, and she let time flow once again.
"Whew!" She sighed, shaking some of the water off herself and giving herself a chance to catch her breath. She looked up at the sky above her and smiled. The stars were readily visible, and the bright, barely-waning moon was a beautiful sight. Looking at the starry patch of night sky above her, it was almost hard to believe that she was surrounded on all sides by ferocious storm clouds.
But enough stargazing. It was time to get serious. She looked around a bit and set her jaw. "Ready or not, Vegita," she muttered as she charged up. "Here I go!" She then shot a tremendously wide blast of ki energy into one end of the eye's cloudbanks. She wasn't pleased with the results. The hole in the clouds that this created was picayune in comparison to the monstrous towering clouds lining the wall of the eye. And the hole closed up almost immediately, on top of it. Bulma scowled. This was going to be harder than she thought. She needed to think up a more effective strategy. There was always the shyougeki-ha technique that Vegita had taught her. It took a lot of energy, but it could be manipulated to spread like the blast of an atomic bomb. It would have the right kind of coverage, but it could have devastating effects in the way of tidal waves. She should only use that attack as a last resort, she decided.
As she hovered there, thinking hard about what she should do, it suddenly hit her. She was going about this all wrong! Both of them were! She grinned as an idea slowly but steadily took shape in her mind. It would take a lot of long, hard work, but she had a plan that would allow her to take out this hurricane all by herself!
First, she had to find Vegita. She honed in on his ki signature, and then she stopped time and began making a beeline for him. For her plan to work, she was going to have to move him out of the way.
Bulma only had to fly a short thirty miles out to find him. Vegita had flown directly into the storm, and was poised in mid-air for a blast against the wind. Bulma grinned. It hadn't occurred to her until just now that this was Vegita's ideal battle - direct confrontation with a powerful enemy. That was definitely his favorite kind. Grabbing him by one leg, Bulma flew him much farther out - one hundred and fifty miles at least - until he was a good distance away from the thinnest of the hurricane's outer cloud bands. Then, turning and looking with a frown at the dark clouds that stretched for as far as the eye could see, she went to work.
What Bulma had realized was this: the clouds that made up the visible part of the hurricane were nothing but water. If she could force all of these clouds to come together in the center, they'd be so concentrated that they'd be fairly liquid, and much easier to manage. All she had to do was blast the clouds together - in halted time, of course. Then, once she had them in a nice, manageable blob of liquid, she could simply push it all into the ocean and that would be the end of it. Not only would this eliminate all the storm clouds and rain, but it would also completely disrupt the wind patterns. Then the hurricane would either die out completely, or at the very most reform farther away. In either case, it would be completely out of their hair.
Bulma spent many hours and lots of energy on that hurricane. Slowly but steadily, she flew around and around the entire thing, concentrating all the clouds and moisture into one big mass in the center - where the eye used to be. After much work, she finally had all the water concentrated in a three-mile wide lump. By now she was panting terribly, and her strength was beginning to falter a little. But she still had ample strength for what she had to do next.
She flew up very high then, up and over the large column of water she had gathered. Then, using powerful telekinesis, she slowly forced it into the ocean via smaller, more manageable portions.
By the time Bulma had finally pushed all the water into the sea, she was so tired she could barely fly. But she wasn't too tired to gloat! Slowly - and rather weakly - she flew back out to where she had moved Vegita. When she had flown up alongside him, she first took a few moments to catch her breath, and then she finally allowed time to pick up where it had left off.
Vegita must have felt the jolt of being moved, because when Bulma resumed the flow of time, he almost immediately cut his blast short.
"What the hell…?" He exclaimed, steadying himself. He looked around until he saw Bulma, smiling at him but still panting a little.
"What did you do, woman?" He demanded, glancing quickly around and taking note of the lack of inclement weather around them. He glared at her resentfully, as if she had played an insulting prank on him.
"It occurred to me," she explained, straightening up and smiling broadly at him, "that we were both doing this the hard way. I had the wrong idea from the beginning. Fighting against the wind wasn't going to be nearly as effective as just eliminating the thing in halted time." She explained to him how she had pushed all the moisture down into the ocean, and he listened quietly to what she said, his expression growing ever darker and more agitated. When she had finished, he scowled disapprovingly at her.
"And I suppose you expect me to congratulate you on your laziness," he said with a contemptuous sneer. "Forgive me if I don't bow down to you."
Bulma could feel the color rising in her cheeks. "Laziness!" She cried. "What the heck are you talking about?! I'm so worn out I could fall asleep in an instant!"
Vegita snorted. "Once again you're reverting to your old habit of relying on that one feeble technique," he said with a scornful scowl. "How many times have I ordered you not to do that? You simply refuse to listen to good sense!"
Bulma rolled her eyes. So that's what was eating him. "Vegita!" She groaned. "Give it a rest! Just because I did something by a simpler method doesn't mean that I'm being lazy! And I'm sorry, but my teleport technique is neither feeble nor a handicap to me! You're just unwilling to accept the fact that I got the job done before you could!" She planted her fists on her hips and stuck her tongue out at him.
Vegita snorted again. "Don't be stupid," he jeered at her. "Just because your inane method achieved the goal more quickly doesn't mean it's the most effective one. Just look at yourself. You're exhausted! You look as though you can barely keep yourself aloft!"
Bulma laughed. Oh, the heck with it, she thought. He wasn't going to be satisfied unless he managed to prove some kind of point - regardless of which one. She might as well just give in on this one and be done with it. "Yeah, that's true," she said with a grin. "I suppose you might have a point about that. But just the same," she said, sticking her tongue out at him again. "I still think I made the right choice. If nothing else, I got a good workout from it all. I don't suppose one or two of those could hurt me all that much."
"I don't dispute that," he replied with an emphatic nod. "But that by no means excuses your actions."
Bulma laughed again and she tackled him in mid-air, swinging around behind him and wrapping her arms playfully around his neck. "Don't be such a jerk," she teased him, kissing him affectionately on the cheek. "You're just jealous that you can't do what I can do!"
Vegita's eyebrow twitched, and he didn't smile. "What?" He snapped.
Bulma had struck a nerve, but she didn't catch the warning signs in time. "My teleport," she said, resting her chin on his right shoulder. "You still haven't been able to get it right yet, have you?"
Vegita scowled. "So what if I haven't?" He snapped. "Don't you dare imply that I would envy you for having to resort to such pathetic means! I'm warning you now, woman; if your intention is to make me angry you're succeeding admirably!"
Bulma finally realized that she'd stepped out of line. "I'm sorry, Vegita," she apologized. "I never meant anything by it. Besides," she added, shrugging and yawning. "You're not the only one who hasn't been able to pick it up. Kuririn and Yamucha can't figure it out, and neither can Piccolo, Goku or Gohan." She tightened her grip around his neck and relaxed her legs a little. It felt good to hold onto Vegita like that. She snuggled her face down against his neck and gave a heavy sigh of fatigue.
Vegita bared his teeth furiously. It most certainly did NOT please him to be lumped in with the rest of those fools. Scowling impressively, he folded his arms, resolving to completely ignore Bulma until she realized what a mistake she'd made and begged him to forgive her. Such insults were unacceptable.
Of course, Vegita didn't know too much about women, and as much as he might have thought he knew about Bulma, he had made a rather faulty prediction about her. None of these ideas had entered Bulma's head at all. In fact, not much of anything had; she had fallen asleep! The soaking she'd gotten from her exploits with the hurricane had left her damp and pretty well chilled, but it hadn't been enough to outweigh her fatigue. Of course, being up against Vegita hadn't helped either. His body had seemed to radiate a pleasant, tingling warmth into hers, and this had only served to intensify her drowsiness.
It took Vegita a few minutes to realize what had happened, and suffice it to say that he was not satisfied with the results his silent treatment had gotten him. Growling in frustration, he unwound her arms from his neck, and she promptly slid off his back and fell down toward the water below.
Bulma hadn't been too far-gone when Vegita let her fall, so she managed to come to again before she hit the water. But she didn't wake up fast enough to do anything about her predicament. With a surprised cry, she landed back-first into the water. She came up spluttering and coughing, wondering what the heck had happened.
"What did I do?" Was the bewildered question she asked Vegita when he flew leisurely down to smirk at her. "Did I nod off or something?"
Vegita snorted. "You're such a fool," he scolded her. "To let yourself just drop like a rock into the sea!"
"Yeah, well I'm a tired fool," she grumbled, floating up out of the water and shaking herself off a little. She looked really pathetic, and she was undeniably soaked. "I need to get back to the island and set up the house," she said in a dull, weary voice. "I'm beginning to get too tired to fly." She took off at a fair clip more slowly than usual, but with the earnestness of one who knows that haste is advisable.
Snorting derisively, Vegita took off after her and had caught up within seconds. "Don't be a fool," he snapped, grabbing her somewhat roughly out of the air and shifting her into a reclining position in his arms. "You'll never make it back before daybreak at the rate you're going."
Bulma didn't struggle against him at all, but she did look up in surprise. But then a depressing thought occurred to her. "I'm sorry, Vegita," she said, lowering her eyes. "I forgot that it was your house too. I didn't think about the fact that you'd have to wait on me. I guess I am moving kind of slow right now."
Vegita scowled. "You're such an idiot," he said in an irritated tone of voice. "You've dropped into the water once already. What makes you think you can keep from doing it again? A weakling like you ought to know when to admit defeat."
It occurred to Bulma that this was Vegita's way of covering for the fact that he was looking out for her. She let out a relieved sigh and settled comfortably into his arms, snuggling as close to him as she could.
"I love you too, Vegita," she said softly, smiling and closing her eyes contentedly.
Vegita only grunted in return. Damn. She'd caught him off guard with that one.
As they shot through the air at Vegita's characteristic breakneck pace, Bulma couldn't help wishing the trip would take a little longer than she knew it would. She felt so warm and comfortable in his arms, despite the dampness of her clothes and skin. It suddenly occurred to her that she wanted him to be with her when she drifted off tonight. She wanted to be with him; she didn't care how or why. She'd give anything to be able to fall asleep in the warmth and security of his arms. But what could she do? Did she actually have the courage to tell him this? Would he think she was being silly? She didn't know what she'd do if he laughed at her. Was it really so unusual to want to be with him tonight, when she'd never consciously wanted to before? She didn't know. She had thoroughly confused herself. Letting out a silent but dejected sigh, she just resolved to enjoy the feeling of being in his arms while it lasted. She didn't know what she was going to do later on, but for now, this was good enough.
With Vegita's flying, it only took them a few minutes to get back to the island. He landed a few feet away from the site where their capsule house had been. He set her down on her feet, and Bulma - stifling another yawn - dug the capsule out of her pocket. She pressed in the button and tossed it out twenty or so yards away. In a split-second, their house had popped up in front of them.
They went inside, and upon reaching the stairs, they parted briefly as Vegita took the first few steps up. Bulma began to feel a little panicky. If she was going to do something, now was the time. She lightly touched his arm with her fingertips, and he stopped. He didn't say anything, but instead looked back at her, letting his expression do the demanding of an explanation for him.
An unexpected - and welcome - surge of courage welled up inside of Bulma. "Let me stay with you," she begged softly, ignoring the color that had already begun to rise in her cheeks. "Please?"
Vegita noted the quiet earnestness of her face, and he sighed. How many times was he going to have to endure this torment?
"I want to be with you," she urged softly. "Please let me stay with you tonight, Vegita. Let me fall asleep in your arms." She looked up at him with a gentle, entreating gaze, and it was nearly more than Vegita could stand.
"I've told you before what I want you to do," he said finally. His voice was firm, but he wasn't looking her in the eyes. "You aren't ready yet, woman."
"W- we don't have to do anything more than sleep," she stammered, blushing furiously. "I just wanted… you know… to be near you."
Vegita studied her face for a few moments, frowning slightly. Apparently she placed a considerable amount of trust in his being able to control himself. He rather doubted that he had her confidence in his strength of will. But nevertheless, he couldn't bring himself to refuse her. Not now. Not anymore.
He didn't speak; he didn't say a word. He simply held his hand out to her. Smiling in relief, she gave him hers, and she followed him as he led her up to his room. When they walked in, Vegita turned around and swiftly took Bulma in his arms. "Do you really want to stay?" He asked, carefully watching her expression for any signs of doubt. But she just smiled lovingly at him and nodded.
"Yes," she said softly. "As long as you'll let me be with you."
Vegita let out a defeated sigh and pulled her to him to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around behind him and kissed him back. For a few moments, they remained just like that. But eventually they let go of each other and both glanced down at the bed.
"Did you want to stay in those wet clothes?" Vegita asked rather gruffly.
Bulma looked down at herself, and her sense of modesty suddenly kicked in. "Er…" She faltered. "Well, if you want me to, I suppose I can take them off…"
Vegita chuckled at her and shot her a wicked grin. "Frankly, I wouldn't mind if you wore nothing at all," he said obnoxiously. "But that isn't what I asked you. I asked if YOU wanted to stay in your wet clothes."
Bulma had turned a furious shade of red by now, and she had to gulp a few times before she found the words she wanted. "Well…" She began, choosing her words carefully. "I'm ready for whatever you want me to do, Vegita. I do think it's rather silly of me to ask you to sleep alongside someone who's likely to keep you nice and damp all over for the rest of the night." She braved a smile at him, and he grinned back.
"Do you want to go to your room and change your clothes, then?" He asked her with a bit of a smirk.
That idea hadn't occurred to Bulma. It would be easier that way, of course. But as she looked up at Vegita, she knew she didn't want it that way. What reason did she have to be nervous? This was the man she loved! Why should she have difficulty removing her outer layers of clothing in front of him when he'd already seen her in a bikini swimsuit? If she left her undergarments on, it would be just the same thing, wouldn't it?
She steeled her nerves and looked bravely back up at him. "No," she said decisively, but was nevertheless unable to keep her voice from shaking a little. "I think I'll just take these wet things off. I'll be perfectly comfortable sleeping in my underwear."
At first, Vegita didn't believe her. But when he saw the look of determination in Bulma's eyes, he realized that she was truly serious. He gawked in dumbfounded amazement as Bulma slowly peeled the uncomfortably damp layers of clothing from her body with somewhat shaky hands. When she had finished, all that remained were her bra and panties. She'd even removed her shoes and watch. Her hair fell in damp, unkempt tresses that curled at the tips where they met her shoulders. Her entire body was shivering slightly - both from the sudden chill of the air touching her wet skin and also from her nervousness - but her cheeks were a warm, rosy pink. She smiled timidly up at Vegita and waited nervously for his reaction.
Vegita didn't say anything. He didn't need to. His eyes told her everything on their own. There was fierce, raw desire blazing within them, and they told Bulma that Vegita was fighting a new, terribly formidable foe - himself. She realized that she was putting him through hell right now, and that it was taking all the strength and restraint he had to keep from losing all control of himself. She stepped more closely to him and gently placed her hands on either side of his face, lightly brushing his lips with her own.
"You don't have to hold back if you don't want to," she said softly, pressing her body against his and wrapping her arms around his neck. She leaned her face in next to his ear and tickled it with her breath. "I'm ready for you, Vegita," she whispered. She leaned back to look him in the eyes, and she smiled lovingly at him. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that I'm ready for what you want. I know exactly what I'm saying, and I promise that tomorrow morning there'll be no regrets. Please trust me, Vegita my darling."
Vegita pulled her to him in another one of those crushing embraces of his. "Trust you," he chuckled in a dry, raspy voice. "You're asking ME to trust YOU!"
"I know you want me," she said softly. "I want you too. But even more than that, I want to please you."
Vegita grit his teeth and held her even more tightly. God yes, he wanted her! He wanted her so badly that he couldn't stand it. And he was frighteningly aware that his restraint was rapidly crumbling away.
"I trust you, Vegita," she said, smiling and kissing him gently on the lips. "You don't have to try to protect me like this. I already know that you won't hurt me." She looked up into his tortured eyes and offered him the sweet reassurance of her smile. "Make love to me, Vegita," she said softly, cooling his feverish cheeks with soft, delicate kisses.
That was it. Vegita could endure no more. With an anguished groan, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her with more force and passion than he'd ever dared allow himself. And Bulma kissed him back just as eagerly, shuddering with pleasure as he slid his hands down to the small of her back and slowly kneaded the exposed flesh. As he slowly made his way up her back, she dug her fingers down beneath the coarse, bristly hairs on his head and roughly massaged his scalp with her fingertips. Before long, she began to hear a peculiar - but not altogether unpleasant - vibration emanate from his throat, and she suddenly realized that Vegita was actually purring! Had her lips not been as indisposed as they were, they might have cracked into a grin of fond amusement.
Eventually, Vegita guided her to the bed, and after somehow managing to break his lips away from Bulma's, he gently lifted her into his arms and set her down on it so that she was lying in its center. Then, straightening up and without once removing his fierce gaze from Bulma, he silently began to undress.
Bulma had become rather breathless already, and all she could do now was stare - transfixed - as Vegita slowly removed his shirt, boots, and leggings. As each part of his lean, muscular body was revealed to her, she could feel her face growing warmer from the flush that rose in her cheeks. Although she was rather excited, she was understandably a bit nervous and embarrassed. She was terribly afraid of looking foolish by staring openly at his nether regions, so she instead concentrated on his face. She hoped for all she was worth that he wouldn't notice how awkward she felt.
When Vegita had completely undressed, he slowly knelt on the bed beside her. She had begun to look a little nervous already, but she wasn't really afraid. She hoped he knew that.
Vegita slowly and gently leaned over Bulma and kissed her. He ran his hands down her shoulders and then moved them slowly and sensuously down her arms before resting them on her hips. Bulma lifted her arms and wrapped them around behind him, pressing them against the warm flesh of his back. She was so terribly new at this. She really had no idea what she was doing. She hoped that whatever she was doing, she was doing it right.
But Vegita made no complaints. The only sound he made was that low, growling purr of his. It was as if whatever Bulma did aroused him even more. She couldn't understand it, but she had to admit that she liked it, and that she was really beginning to feel the same way.
Slowly, and rather timidly, she grasped Vegita's left hand and guided it behind her back to the clasp on her brassiere. Vegita understood what she wanted him to do, but not how he was supposed to do it. He mistakenly tugged at the clasp and snapped off the little hooks. Bulma didn't mind though, and she kissed him all the more earnestly to assure him that was the case. She allowed Vegita to gently remove what was left of her clothing, hoping he couldn't feel the way her heart was racing. Only one man had ever seen her completely nude, and that was Yamucha. And even then, it was only because he had accidentally looked in on her while she was taking a shower. She was terribly nervous, and she was trembling a little too. But when she looked up into Vegita's eyes, she could almost instantly feel her apprehensions begin to melt away. There was a soothing look of understanding there. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead and gazed reassuringly into her eyes.
"You're trembling," he said softly. "Are you afraid of me still?"
"No!" She cried, kissing him fervently and clutching at the sheets with one hand. "No, it isn't that! I was just kind of embarrassed…" She lowered her eyes in shame. "You seem so good at this, Vegita. But I know nothing. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." She looked helplessly up at him. "I can't help feeling nervous and embarrassed to let you see me… like this…" She looked down at herself and blushed furiously. "I'm sorry, Vegita."
Vegita tipped her head up by her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes again. "You have NO reason to be embarrassed," he told her firmly. Bulma would have lowered her eyes again, but Vegita cupped her cheek in his hand and kept her eyes level with his. "You are beautiful," he said fiercely. "And if you have something to be ashamed of, I certainly don't see it," he added, gazing hungrily at her.
Bulma could feel herself grow even redder in response to his words, but she smiled just the same. "I'm sorry, Vegita," she said again, kissing him gently on his cheek. "I know I was just being silly. But this IS new to me. I can't help letting it get to me a little." She lovingly touched one side of his face with her fingers and smiled apologetically at him. "I love you so much, Vegita," she sighed. "And I want so very much for you to enjoy this."
Vegita grasped her hand in his own and kissed it gently. "I know I will," he said, looking back at her with eyes that blazed like two bright stars. "And I know that you will as well. On that you have my word."
"Oh, Vegita," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him as he leaned down to kiss her again. She believed him. And she was definitely ready. At that moment, Bulma realized that neither she nor Vegita would ever be the same again. After tonight, they would truly belong to each other. And she felt a sudden surge of joy as she realized that no other thought had ever given her a greater feeling of happiness.
On to the next chapter!
