Chapter 24
Bulma spent the remainder of the morning filling her mother in on all that had taken place since she’d stopped time. Mrs. Briefs listened to Bulma’s story in rapt silence, fairly in awe of her daughter’s luck and ability, but also immensely relieved that she was still alive and well. When Bulma had finally finished telling her everything, Mrs. Briefs beamed at her with all her might.
“So that’s what happened to him!” She exclaimed. “And he did get to rejoin his family in Heaven?”
“Yep,” Bulma said with a nod and a smile. “He sure did. Kind of strange how he ended up before then, though, huh? To be magically sealed in a book… That’s even weirder than the magic Kame-sennin’s sister Uranai Baba can do. You know, I should have asked Chronos about her,” Bulma said thoughtfully. “She claims to predict the future by reading that crystal ball of hers. It worked whenever we asked her to do it. I wonder why He never mentioned her?”
“You said that He just gave you knowledge,” Mrs. Briefs asked curiously. “Do you think it’ll help you with what you have ahead of you?”
“I don’t know,” Bulma said, furrowing her brow a little. “I’m sure going to try to make good use of it. But I think I’m going to need some help honing my new skills. I’ve got a world of possibilities to explore, and it’s going to take me a lot of time and work to figure out how to use them effectively. I’m hoping Vegita will help me out in that area.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry,” her mother said with a smile. “I’m sure he’ll be more than willing to help you out. When are you going to tell him about all of this?”
Bulma looked at her watch. “It’s just after 12:30 now,” she commented with a frown. “He’s in the middle of his daily routine right now… He’ll be a real bear if I interrupt him, but I’m too excited to wait until he’s finished for the day. I want to tell him now. I guess I’ll see if he’ll listen to me for a few minutes at least,” she said, grinning at Mrs. Briefs. “He’ll gripe at me for sure, but when he hears what I have to tell him, he might not mind as much.”
“Why don’t you have lunch first?” Mrs. Briefs asked her with a smile. “It shouldn’t make too much difference if you wait a little while, and I’ll bet you’re hungry!”
Bulma thought for a moment, and realized her mother was right. She was famished. Sighing impatiently, she nodded in agreement, and they went downstairs to eat.
After a big, unbearably long lunch, Bulma finally left the house for Vegita’s gravity building. She couldn’t wait to tell him all that had happened. But she didn’t make it all the way there before she ran into Yamucha and Puar. They all stopped, and Bulma and Yamucha stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Bulma noticed that Yamucha had his suitcase with him.
“You’re leaving?” She asked, looking down at the suitcase and then back up at him in surprise. “Why? Is it because of last night? I’m not angry, if that’s what you think! You don’t have to leave, Yamucha! You’re always welcome here!”
Yamucha gave her a sad smile. “Puar,” he said, turning and smiling at the little blue cat, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. “Why don’t you go on ahead,” he said, nodding at her. “I’ll catch up to you.”
“O- okay,” she said. “Goodbye, Bulma!” She said quickly, and then she took off at full speed, obviously trying to get out of sight before bursting into tears.
“Puar, wait!” She cried, taking a step away from Yamucha. “Where are you going?!”
“The Kame House,” Yamucha answered behind her. Bulma turned back around. “We’re both going. I’m kind of glad we ran into you, though,” he said with another sad smile. “I never would have gotten a chance to apologize for last night otherwise.”
“Yamucha, no one’s making you leave!” Bulma cried. “I don’t blame you at all for being angry with me last night! Please don’t go; I’m not upset with you at all!”
Yamucha frowned and shook his head. “No,” he said rather harshly. “There was no excuse for the way I acted last night. I don’t deserve to be around you anymore. But,” he said, looking back up and forcing himself to smile again. “That’s not the reason why I’m leaving.”
“What is it, then?” Bulma asked him. “Did… did Vegita say something to you, Yamucha? Because if he did, I can talk to him, and…”
“No, that’s not it,” he interjected. “No, it wasn’t Vegita. I just can’t stay any longer. I can’t bring myself to stay here and watch you and Vegita do… do whatever it is you’re doing. I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”
“So that’s it then?” Bulma asked, beginning to sound a little angry and choked up all at once. “You’re just going to leave?”
“Yes,” Yamucha replied with a smile. “I asked Kuririn and the old master if I could crash with them, and they both said that I could. I’m going to train with Kuririn now.” He cracked a grin. “He even said that he couldn’t wait to have a real sparring partner at last. He said the old man hasn’t been much help to him.”
Bulma sighed and looked down at the ground. “You know I never meant to hurt you, right?” She asked, gritting her teeth as the tears forced their way to the surface.
Yamucha sighed and set down his suitcase before tilting her chin up with one hand so that she could see his eyes. “Bulma, there is nothing that would make me believe that you wanted to hurt me,” he said soberly, letting go of her chin and shaking his head sadly. “I can’t say that I’m very happy about the way things ended up, but I do know that you didn’t do anything you did out of spite for me.”
Bulma swallowed and nodded. “Are… are we still friends, Yamucha?” She asked, looking hopefully at him.
Yamucha winced. Then he sighed. “Bulma,” he said with a pained expression. “Until I’ve had some time to figure things out I won’t know what we are. I want to stay close to you somehow, Bulma. But right now, I can’t even try without having my heart ripped to pieces. For now, I just want to stay as far away from you as I can.”
Yamucha could tell right away by the look on her face that he had really hurt Bulma with that one. “I’m sorry, Bulma,” he sighed. “Just give me a little time to get over it. But in the meantime,” he said, picking up his suitcase and frowning. “Don’t you dare let him hurt you. Do you understand?”
Bulma looked up, and the expression on her face was a mixed one. “I won’t,” she said, shaking her head. “You do know you’re always welcome if you want to come back, right?”
Yamucha gave a little nod and smiled. “Yeah,” he replied. “I know. See you later, Bulma. You know where to find me if you need me. In case we don’t see each other again until the day the Jinzouningen arrive, good luck with your training. I’ll give Vegita this much; he’s done more with you than I ever could myself. You’re an incredible fighter, Bulma. Keep working hard.”
“The same to you,” she said with a smile. “I hope you know I’ll clobber you if you show up all fat and lazy!”
Yamucha laughed and smiled at her one last time before waving and taking off after Puar for Kame-sennin’s island. Bulma watched him go, her expression sad, but understanding. Maybe this was for the best after all. Perhaps they both needed some time away from each other right now. And although she hated to say it, she did think that it would be easier to concentrate on her training and on Vegita knowing that Yamucha wouldn’t have to see them together. Whether it was reasonable of her or not, she knew that she would be unable to keep from feeling just a little bit guilty about enjoying her time with Vegita if Yamucha was around to watch.
Sighing, she turned and headed toward Vegita’s gravity room again. Maybe telling him the news about earlier this morning would take her mind off of Yamucha.
When she reached Vegita’s gravity room, she first peered inside the little porthole-like window on his door to see what he was up to. “Ah,” she thought as she saw him hopping about, dodging little energy balls as they whizzed about the room. “Energy training with the deflecto-bots. Vegita always enjoys such fun methods.” With a slight wince on her face, she allowed herself a moment to reflect on all the bruises and burns she sustained whenever he made her suffer through that beastly exercise. The premise was surprisingly simple; moderately small balls of ki energy ricocheted off of the spinning, floating, spherical robots and zoomed all over the room in very unpredictable paths. Usually, when Vegita made Bulma endure this “fun” exercise, he would only toss one ki ball into the mix. But if he was in a particularly hostile mood, there were always plenty more to go around, and whenever one hit her and sent her flying, he was always quick to replace it with the next. As if dodging Vegita in hand-to-hand wasn’t bad enough! And not only was it harder to dodge the blasted things in such high gravity, but to make things worse, whenever one hit her - which was always a given - it would hit with considerably more force than it would under normal gravitational circumstances. Bulma rolled her eyes as she concluded that she couldn’t wait to resume training, knowing what she had in store for her when she returned.
She walked around to the side of the building where the control panel was, and she turned on the two-way camera. She grinned as a spark of mischievous brilliance suddenly shone in her mind. An irresistible opportunity had just presented itself to her. She took in a deep breath. “Hey, Vegita!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Success! Vegita’s concentration slipped for a split second, and one of the energy balls hit him squarely in the back of the head, causing him to lose his balance and fall to his hands and knees. Uttering a very filthy expletive, he dropped to his stomach as another whizzed right above him, nearly grazing his back. Faster than Bulma could follow, he spun onto his back, and quick as a wink, he fired three quick bursts of energy into the air. His actions were immediately followed by three simultaneous explosions. He had destroyed the remaining balls of energy with his well-aimed ki bursts. Once he had returned to his feet, he looked up at the vid-cam screen and shot her a withering glare.
Bulma grinned at him. “Can’t even dodge your own energy, eh Vegita?” She teased him shamelessly. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually caught him off guard enough to slip him up, and she couldn’t resist rubbing his nose in it!
Vegita let out a vicious snarl and bared his teeth at her menacingly. Apparently he didn’t appreciate her critique of his slip. “So the fool decided to drag her lazy ass out of bed, did she?” He growled snappily.
Bulma laughed. “Oh, don’t get so mad, Vegita,” she chuckled. “I was only having a little fun. Besides, I don’t often get a chance to catch you off guard. Naturally, I have to take such opportunities when I see them.”
Vegita snorted derisively. “You’d better have a reason for this, fool,” he said, shooting her another menacing glare. “And it better be a damn good one for you to interrupt me when you know full well that I DON’T tolerate that!”
Bulma smiled and shook her head. “Don’t bust a vessel or anything,” she said, holding up her hands as an expression of sincerity. “I actually have a reason, believe it or not. I have to talk to you. Could you turn off the gravity and unlock the door so I can come in?”
Vegita grunted in disapproval. “We’re talking now,” he retorted, scowling mightily at her. “And wasting a good bit of time while we’re at it. If you have something to say, then say it. I won’t waste my time on frivolities when I could be spending it training instead.”
Bulma groaned and rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Vegita!” She complained. “Do you have to be so difficult? This isn’t talking! I want to speak to you face-to-face! Besides, what I have to say also involves showing you something, and I won’t be able to do that with you in there and me out here!”
Vegita looked at her with a cool, deliberating expression. “And just why is it worth my time to do that?” He asked her calmly.
Bulma exhaled huffily. She’d approach this his way then. “Because it involves why you can’t learn my teleport technique,” she said bluntly. “And also some new attack possibilities I’ve discovered. I demand that you let me in and listen to me!” She added, glaring right back at him.
Vegita smirked. Whether it was what she wanted to talk to him about, the way she’d introduced it to him, or both, Bulma didn’t know. Whichever it was, Vegita seemed satisfied. He switched off the power to the gravity machine and strolled casually to the door to unlock it.
Grumbling silently about “that idiot Vegita,” Bulma turned off the two-way camera and walked around to the door. Of course he didn’t open it for her; he left it closed for her to open herself. And she did so, rather loudly as a matter of fact. Nonetheless, she made it in and scowled rather impressively at Vegita.
“So out with it, then,” Vegita demanded impatiently. “I don’t have an entire day to waste on this.”
Bulma glared at him, and after clearing her throat, she began to explain to him what had happened to her this morning after she’d gone upstairs with her mother to her room. She spared him no detail, and all throughout her entire tale, Vegita kept remarkably silent, his face strangely devoid of any hint of emotion. Even when she had finally finished, he didn’t give whatever thoughts he was thinking away for a few moments. But finally, after bowing his head a little and twitching his eyebrow, he told her exactly what was on his mind.
“So,” he said, raising his head a little and settling a cold, disapproving gaze on her. “You attempted all this - knowing full well that it might have killed you - without so much as telling me first?” He said, his voice quiet and calm, but coldly accusing.
Whoops. Bulma had completely forgotten about that. He had her dead to rights on that one. For a moment she hesitated, unsure of how she wanted to answer him. “Yes,” she said at last. “I did. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you wouldn’t want me to try.”
Vegita’s gaze hardened even further. “You knew I wouldn’t approve, but you opened that book regardless?” He said, his voice icily quiet. “On the assumption that your heart was ‘pure’ enough to meet some unspecified standards? I suppose you thought that idiot ancestor of yours would back you up if you didn’t fit the bill?”
Bulma looked solemnly back at him and shook her head. “No,” she said quietly. “I relied on nothing more than my own desire to improve our chances against the Jinzouningen. Yes, I was unsure that I would meet Chronos’ standards. And yes, I tried anyway, knowing that you wouldn’t want me to. Perhaps it was wrong of me to do that. But I don’t regret it. And if I had been wrong… well, I still wouldn’t have regretted it. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you first. But I’m not sorry for going through with the rest of it.”
Vegita’s gaze didn’t soften any, but it didn’t harden either. He considered what she’d said for a few moments, studying her as he mulled her words over in his mind. After a while, he unfolded his arms, walked over to her, and grasped her shoulders in his hands.
“I won’t tell you that I approve of what you did,” he said quietly, staring unwaveringly into her eyes. “You know as well as I do that it would be a perfect waste of breath to do that. I don’t approve of your actions, nor will I tolerate your trying to protect me from anything, leastwise any threats to your safety. You are mine, and I refuse to allow you to take such risks! Do you understand me? Don’t you ever do something that foolish again!” He yanked her to him and held her so tightly that he knocked the wind out of her.
“I… I won’t,” she said breathlessly, raising her arms and laying them against his back. “I promise. I’m sorry, Vegita. I just had to do it.”
“There should be nothing more important to you than staying alive,” he said fiercely. “Nothing! Don’t you EVER try some fool stunt like that again! I’m not training you so that you can take uncalculated risks! I’m training you to keep you from getting yourself killed! Do you understand me?”
Bulma sighed and closed her eyes. “I understand, Vegita,” she said softly. “I won’t do it again.”
“See that you don’t,” he said, finally releasing her and stepping back a little. “Now, with that having been said, we’ll discuss what you really came to talk to me about. You mentioned new attack possibilities. Do you have any of them formed well enough in your mind to show me?”
“Yes,” Bulma replied, still rather dazed. “But I haven’t tried any of them yet.”
“Well, you can try them now,” he said imperiously, stepping past her and locking the door. “Since you decided this was worth interrupting my training, I’ll give you a chance to prove it to me. Although I highly doubt anything you can show me will justify your impudence.”
A devious grin slowly formed on Bulma’s face. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll see about that. Do you want the gravity machine on or off for this?”
“Whatever you want is fine this time,” Vegita said condescendingly. “Just don’t think you’re setting yourself up for an excuse by turning it on.”
“Okay then,” she said, her grin broadening. “In that case I’ll leave it off. Are you ready?” She asked, placing herself in a more guarded stance.
“Whenever you are,” he replied, sneering tauntingly at her.
“Okay,” was all Bulma said before leading off. She flew at Vegita and began throwing the hardest blows she could at him, firing the jabs, kicks, and swipes so fast she was little more than a blur to the normal eye. Of course, this was nothing Vegita couldn’t handle, and Bulma knew it. But that’s one reason why she had started off this way. It would make things all the more dramatic if she lulled him into one of his superiority complexes before she broke out the heavy artillery.
“Don’t tell me this is it,” Vegita jeered, effortlessly blocking each blow and advancing on her all the while. Within seconds he had begun to push her back already, and he soon had her on the defensive.
But Bulma just grinned, despite the fact that he was beginning to shoot a few well-aimed punches of his own at her, and she laughed rather cheerfully at him. “Of course not,” she said, narrowly dodging away as he shot what would have been a very painful blow to the cheek at her. “I’m only getting warmed up!”
Vegita took that as his cue to turn up the heat a little, and turn it up he did! Almost immediately he had her on the run, pouring all of her energy into defensive maneuvers in an effort to keep ahead of him. He laughed at her and told her to quit wasting his time or he’d really get angry. Bulma grinned. He was really asking for it, wasn’t he?
Although she hadn’t tried this yet, Bulma knew what she had to do. It wasn’t very hard to conceptualize these things when all the knowledge she needed was right there in her head. It was, however, a little harder to put them into practice. Bulma figured she could manage, though. If Vegita wasn’t challenged enough by her in normal time, then she’d simply have to turn up a little heat of her own. It took some concentration (which was easier said than done, considering all the defending she was having to do) but she managed to do something she’d never done before: she slowed the flow of time.
It made a world of difference. She could now see Vegita’s movements much more clearly, and had a lot more time to react to them. She let him hit her on his next punch so that she could find out what effect slowed time had on his attacks against her. It was more along the lines of one of his warning taps. It still smarted a fair bit, but it was much easier to keep out of his way now, so she resolved not to give him another freebie. It was time to show him (as well as herself) just what she could do with this new ability! Defense was extremely important, but it wasn’t everything. She wanted to be able to do more than dodge his attacks. She was ready to see what kind of results she could get from her own attacks in this new environment. Gritting her teeth, she threw a carefully aimed punch at his face as hard and as fast as she could.
To the utter surprise of both of them, the punch connected, and it even landed with enough force to knock him back a couple of paces. Bulma was so surprised that she lost her concentration and let time flow normally again.
She gaped at Vegita in amazement as he quickly regained his balance and looked back at her, the look of surprise on his face rivaling hers. He touched the place on his cheek where she’d struck him, and his mouth dropped open in amazement at the lingering pain that met his fingers. That had actually hurt!
“How… how did you DO that?” He asked, his eyes bugging out a little. “Where in blazes did that speed come from?”
Bulma was still too surprised at the moment to think rationally. “Are you all right?” She asked blankly. “I didn’t hurt your face, did I? I didn’t really mean to hit you so hard…”
“Never mind my face!” Vegita growled impatiently. “How did you increase your speed like that? I demand that you explain immediately!”
Bulma snapped out of it. “Sorry,” she said with an apologetic grin. “Well, I slowed the flow of time. I was the only one who could see the change, though. You were still moving normally, that is, in normal time. But when I slow the flow of time, it makes you appear to be moving more slowly to me. Consequently, when I move, it makes me appear to be moving more quickly to you. This really only has implications in terms of speed, of course. My strength doesn’t increase or anything, but the fact that you weren’t expecting it made it hit harder,” she explained, eyeing the red splotch that was rising on the skin of Vegita’s left cheek with obvious disbelief.
Vegita touched his face again and just gaped at her in amazement. Bulma suddenly had the sinking feeling that she’d hurt his pride, and he was going to be angry that she’d managed to hit him. But on the contrary, he wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he didn’t even frown. He just smirked at her and crossed his arms.
“All right then,” he said with a look that bore a striking resemblance to approval. “When you resume training with me, we’ll have to explore these abilities of yours more fully. But understand this,” he said with an authoritative frown. “You are to follow my orders on this. This development changes nothing. If I tell you to stay in the normal flow of time, then you’d better do just that. Do you understand?”
Bulma smiled. “Yeah,” she replied. “I understand, Vegita. You just want to make sure I train to the full extent of my power. You don’t want me using any one technique as a crutch.”
Vegita gave a grudging grunt of assent. “Well, now I know what you interrupted my training to tell me,” he said, going and opening the door. “So you can leave now. You’ve wasted enough of my time.”
Bulma laughed happily and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek where she’d hit him earlier. “Thanks Vegita,” she said, hugging him affectionately around the neck.
“Don’t bother,” he growled, prying her off of him and folding his arms with a scowl. “This isn’t going to be any less strenuous than before. If anything it’ll be worse. Don’t think you’ll be coming back to a picnic or anything. You may regret ever proposing this to me.”
“No I won’t,” she laughed, turning and stepping outside. “I don’t care if you make it a hundred times harder, Vegita. As long as you make me stronger, I don’t care!” And with that she turned and ran gleefully back to the house to tell her mother the good news. She was overcome with an incredible sense of joy, knowing that Vegita was going to help her work these knew skills of hers out. She couldn’t wait to get started!
Bulma told Vegita that evening that in two days’ time she would resume training with him. She then spent the next couple of days working out some ideas for new attacks, and she came up with a few really good ideas, as well as a lot of rather uninteresting ones. But the failures didn’t bother her too much. She was beginning to get back into the fervor of her training, and hardly anything could dampen her spirits now.
Mrs. Briefs was more than happy that Bulma was going to begin training with Vegita again, but she reminded her that she may not get a chance to see Goku and the others again for a while once she’d gotten back into her old training schedule. Why not visit them while she still had the time? They might be interested to hear what all had happened to her.
Bulma’s reaction surprised her. She told her mother that she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell anyone else just yet. She hadn’t had time to develop her skills enough yet, and she preferred to wait until she had something really good to show them, she explained. (She didn’t tell her mother that she wasn’t ready to tell them about her and Vegita yet.) So Bulma just enjoyed what was left of her vacation, and then picked up where she had left off with Vegita after that. And honestly, she was really pretty happy to be training again. It made her more aware of just how far she’d come since she’d started training with him, and besides, it was easier for her to feel fulfilled when she was working hard at something. Whether it was her inventions or training, it didn’t matter.
Over the next couple of months, she and Vegita trained rigorously as they worked out some of the more promising possibilities her new powers had to offer, and although he took great pains not to let her see it, Vegita couldn’t entirely hide from Bulma that he was just as excited about all of this as she was. It opened up a world of possibilities as far as attacks were concerned, but that wasn’t what excited him. What he liked most about Bulma’s new power was that it offered her an incredibly simple means of defending herself. Vegita concluded that her using her ability to slow time during combat would not be too much of an impairment to her. He said that considering her level of ability, when compared to that of her enemies in the battles to come, what she needed most was a strong line of defense. Bulma could easily see the sense in this, and she agreed that she had to think of that first. So Vegita decided that their first goal would be to work on her defense. He said that until she could defend herself from the worst he dared use in that building, they would concentrate on nothing else. Bulma agreed, and before long, she had discovered just what torture lay ahead of her. Vegita hadn’t been kidding on the day that she’d first told him about her visit to Chronos. Although his worst was a long way off, what he gave her to begin with was by far the worst he’d given her yet. If she thought she’d been tired and sore after a training session a few weeks ago, she felt like a nuclear blasting site nowadays. But despite all that, she was still happy. For the first time since she started all this training, she actually had a sense of hope - not just for her survival, but also for the chances they all shared. It hadn’t occurred to her just how intensely Vegita had been training until she picked back up on her own. He was in fact training consistently in 350g’s nowadays, and Bulma wasn’t sure what level someone had to be to go Super Saiyan, but she was pretty sure that Vegita was getting very close. She hoped she was right. Although she wanted him to succeed for the fact that he wanted to so much, she couldn’t help thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra Super Saiyan on hand!
But despite her happiness and the obvious progress she was making, Bulma was for some reason beginning to feel a sense of peculiarity. She didn’t know just how to describe it; it was something she’d never felt before, and it made her uneasy. She couldn’t tell if it was physical or mental, but before long it was beginning to bother her too much for her to ignore it. She went to her mother and told her all that was going on, and asked her if she had any suggestions.
“When did you first suspect something was off?” Mrs. Briefs asked when Bulma came to her for help.
“I guess a couple of weeks ago,” Bulma replied, scratching her head and thinking for a moment. “I don’t know what’s going on, Mom. I mean, I’m tired and sore all the time from my training, but that’s not really it. And besides, I’m very happy, what with Vegita and all the progress we’re making. I don’t see why I should feel so… well, weird! I just don’t get it! Do you think I should see a doctor? But if so, which one? Do I need a psychiatrist, or a physician?”
Mrs. Briefs thought for a moment and tapped her chin. “I wonder…” She said thoughtfully. “Maybe you ought to see a doctor after all, Bulma,” she said, smiling a little.
“Why?” Bulma asked, suddenly a little more nervous. “What do you think is wrong with me?”
Mrs. Briefs unfolded her arms and scrutinized Bulma a little more closely. “Turn to your left for me, would you dear?” She asked, turning Bulma to one side so that she could see her in profile. Although Bulma did as she asked, she was obviously quite confused.
“What is it, Mom?” She asked her mother. “What are you looking for?”
Mrs. Briefs shook her head indecisively and looked Bulma in the eyes. “Can I ask you a few personal questions, Bulma dear?” She asked her, looking a little more serious than usual. “I have a sneaking suspicion…”
“Sure,” Bulma replied, turning back around and frowning. “Ask away.”
“How close have you and Vegita become, Bulma?” Mrs. Briefs asked, crossing her arms again.
Bulma eyed her mother curiously. “Very close,” she replied. “I don’t ever want to leave him, and I know he feels the same way about me.”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Mrs. Briefs said, shaking her head and smiling. “I guess I’ll have to be more blunt. What I want to know is if you and Vegita have been physically intimate with one another.”
“Oh,” Bulma said, turning slightly pink. “That IS personal. Er… well, yes, we have. We have been since we stayed out at the island.”
Mrs. Briefs smiled and nodded. “I thought so. I’m sorry to pry dear, but you see, that might be why you’re feeling odd. Bulma, you just might be on the verge of motherhood.”
“I… what?” Bulma stuttered, going a little pale. “Don’t kid with me like that, Mom! I’m not in the mood today!”
“I’m not joking with you honey,” Mrs. Briefs said gently. “I’m just telling you it’s my suspicion. I don’t know for sure, of course. You don’t even have a bulge on your tummy. It’s just a suspicion. That’s why I think you need to see a doctor; I think you ought to find out for sure.”
Bulma went even paler, and she sat down on the sofa. “You… you know, you might be right,” she said shakily. “Mom, I’ve missed one of my cycles already. You don’t suppose it could be a fluke, do you? I mean, it might be all the heavy training I’ve been doing, right?”
Mrs. Briefs smiled. “It might,” she said, sitting down next to Bulma and patting her hand affectionately. “But just the same, I think you ought to take a test to be sure. Don’t you think?”
Bulma hesitated a moment. “Should I tell Vegita first?” She wondered aloud. “Oh God, what is he going to say if I am?!”
Mrs. Briefs sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, honey,” she said with a faint smile. “But I know that if he truly loves you, he won’t love you any less if you are.”
“I guess so,” Bulma said, nodding slowly. “But it may not matter anyway. I mean, I may not actually be… be…” She just couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Don’t worry, Bulma,” her mother said warmly. “If you are, you are. The world will keep turning. You’ll just have find out for yourself. But I would suggest doing it soon. It wouldn’t do to let this worry you for too long.”
“Yeah,” Bulma sighed. “I guess you’re right. But I don’t know if I want to tell Vegita yet. I don’t want to put him through all this if it’s just a false alarm.”
“What do you think he would want?” Her mother snapped at her, standing and planting her fists on her hips. “It seems to me, young lady, that the last time you tried keeping secrets from Vegita there were some hard feelings. Do you think he’d like to be left in the dark about this, even if it is just a false alarm? Bulma, you’re going to have to learn this, one way or another. The key to keeping a relationship alive is honesty and good communication. I think he deserves to know about all this, even if it is a false alarm. And besides, I believe he’d WANT to know.”
Bulma looked at her mother in surprise. She hadn’t expected to hear such harsh words from her, of all people. But not surprisingly, she also saw the sense in them. “You’re right,” she said, rather taken aback. “You’re absolutely right. I was being selfish, wasn’t I?”
“Well, yes, maybe a little,” Mrs. Briefs replied, relaxing a little and softening her expression. “Just try to keep what I said in mind from now on, Bulma. If you love Vegita, you have to be willing to share anything with him.”
“You’re right,” Bulma sighed.
“I know I am,” Mrs. Briefs said with a nod. “I’ve been married to your father for over twenty-five years, Bulma. I know what it means to truly love a man. And I know that, given time, you’ll learn all the same things I’ve learned. I just want to give you a little hint on this one.”
Bulma smiled. “All right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll tell him what’s going on then. I’ll tell him tonight after he’s finished his workout.”
That evening, Bulma waited outside the gravity room for Vegita. He was a little late coming out, but when he did, he looked at Bulma as though he had expected her to be there.
“What is it?” He asked her gruffly. “Don’t tell me you’ve come to ask for another week off!”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Bulma said, shaking her head and forcing a smile. “Well, kind of, I guess… Vegita, I need to move my session with you a couple hours later than usual tomorrow.”
“Is that so?” Vegita said, arching an eyebrow at her. “You think you can just sleep in whenever you choose, do you?”
“No,” Bulma said, shifting uncomfortably. “I have an appointment with my doctor in the morning, and I won’t be back until around ten o’clock.”
“What do you need to see a doctor for?” Vegita asked her, suddenly more interested.
“Er… well, it’s like this,” she faltered, looking down at her feet and twisting her fingers together behind her back. “I’m not sure or anything, but I think I may be… well, that is I…” Her nerve was failing her. What was he going to say?
“Well, what is it?” Vegita asked impatiently. “There’s nothing wrong with the child, is there?”
“What?” Bulma asked, freezing immediately and beginning to lose quite a bit of color. “What did you say?”
“The child,” Vegita said impatiently. “Our child. Is there some sort of complication?”
“What are you talking about?” She asked rather faintly. “What child?”
Vegita groaned. His impatience seemed to have doubled. “What kind of fool question is that?” He snapped at her. “I’m referring to the child you’re carrying right now, of course!”
“I… I am?” She squeaked.
Suddenly Vegita understood. “Are you saying you didn’t know?” He asked in amazement. Bulma nodded slightly. “Of all the stupid things!” Vegita cried, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. “A woman who can’t even tell when she’s with child! You don’t even know your own body well enough to see that?!”
Bulma was too shocked to be defensive. “Are you sure?” She asked him. “How do you know?!”
“Of course I’m sure!” He cried angrily. “Dammit, woman, I’ve sensed a separate life energy in there with you for over three weeks now! Don’t tell me you haven’t picked it up yet!”
Bulma couldn’t believe it. Even though she knew he wouldn’t lie to her about this, even though it explained her peculiar state of mind over the past couple of weeks, she still couldn’t believe it. “I had no idea,” she said faintly.
“Earthlings!” Vegita bellowed in exasperation. “Weaklings and fools!”
Bulma looked at him, still quite dazed. “You knew all along, and you never mentioned it,” she said quietly.
Vegita frowned. “I assumed it was understood,” he grumbled. “How could I have known you hadn’t figured it out? It was your own body, after all. Naturally, I assumed that you knew long before I did. I suppose I must have momentarily forgotten what idiots humans are.”
Bulma looked rather perplexed. “So, what do you think?” She asked him tentatively.
“About what?” Vegita said, grunting impatiently.
“About having a baby,” Bulma replied. “I didn’t know until just now. But you’ve known for weeks. What do you think about it?”
“What kind of fool question is that?” Vegita snapped. “What are you babbling about?”
“Well isn’t it obvious?” Bulma asked, beginning to get a little angry herself. “What do you think about becoming a father? Are you angry? Are you happy? Do you even care? I want to know what thoughts entered your mind when you found out!”
Vegita sighed angrily and shook his head. “You’re such a fool,” he grumbled.
“Maybe so,” Bulma retorted. “But that doesn’t answer my question!”
Vegita snorted and crossed his arms. “Well if you must know I was concerned,” he said, frowning slightly.
“You were?” Bulma asked anxiously. “Why?”
Vegita looked soberly at her. “I was concerned about bringing a child into the world knowing that he’d have to put up with an idiot weakling for a mother.”
At first, Bulma just gaped at him in surprise. But then, like an atomic blast, she exploded in anger. She punched at his face as hard as she could, but he blocked her with one hand, trapping her fist in it as he did. “Dammit, Vegita!” She yelled. “I’m serious! I don’t want to hear garbage like that! Not now! Not about this!”
Vegita laughed as she swung at him with her other fist, and he caught it just as neatly. “Idiot,” he chuckled. “You’re only proving my point.”
“Yaargh!” Bulma screamed. “I’m gonna kill you!”
Vegita sneered. “Sure you are,” he said calmly. And with a speed that Bulma had no chance of following, he let go of her fists, grabbed her about the waist, and threw her over his left shoulder. He then walked to his Capsule house, carrying his kicking and screaming captive with him.
“If you think I’m going to sleep with you, you’re out of your mind!” She screeched as he kicked open his door and strode in with her still in tow. “Let me GO, dammit!” She kicked ferociously at him and pounded his back with her fists as he carried her into the bedroom and unceremoniously dumped her onto his bed.
She would have leapt to her feet then, but Vegita had her pinned before she could even move a muscle. She glared into his smirking face with a rage that she hadn’t displayed for a very long time.
“If you do this, I swear I’ll never forgive you,” she said, her eyes blazing with fury.
Vegita chuckled a little but held her still when she began to struggle again. “I’m not going to do anything to you with you like this,” he said with a sneer. “Don’t be so full of yourself.”
“Then what’s the big idea of hauling me around like a sack of potatoes?” Bulma snapped at him. “And why won’t you let go of me, for heaven’s sake?!”
Vegita grinned. “I’m simply taking your death threat seriously,” he said innocently. “I prefer to keep you where I can see you. Don’t you think that’s the wisest thing to do when given the kind of threat that I have?”
Bulma scowled. She wasn’t finding him funny at all. “I know what you’re up to,” she said angrily. “You’re just trying to get out of giving me a serious answer to my question. Don’t change the subject. If you don’t want the baby then tell me. Because I’d rather know for sure than to have to play games with you about it.”
Vegita’s grin faded. “I never said I didn’t want the baby,” he said quietly. “Don’t put words into my mouth.”
Bulma sighed and forced herself to calm down a little. “Well, that’s the impression I’m getting,” she said. “But it isn’t like you to crack jokes. Something’s bothering you about it. And I want to know what it is.”
Vegita frowned and he let go of her arms. “What do you think is bothering me?” He said quietly. “We’re in the middle of training for a battle against enemies we’ve never even seen. If what that kid said is true, they’ll be incredibly powerful. We’ve got a lot more training to do, and a child will only be a distraction to us.”
Bulma looked up at him with a hurt expression. “Only a distraction,” she repeated, turning her head aside a little.
Vegita sighed. “Bulma, we can’t stop training,” he said fiercely. “I can’t stop. I haven’t even reached the level of Super Saiyan yet. I can’t let anything stand in the way of that. It’s not that I don’t want a child. It’s just that this one came at a bad time.”
Bulma closed her eyes and sighed. “So what’s going to happen then?” She asked quietly. “What do you want me to do about it? Get an abortion? Is that what you want?”
“A what?” Vegita asked, looking somewhat confused. “What is an abortion?”
Bulma sighed. “An abortion is basically causing the mother to have a miscarriage,” she said with a scowl. “People on my planet do it for different reasons, but I’m very much against it. In my eyes, it’s no different from killing a child who’s been born already.”
Vegita shook his head, horrified. “I never said for you to do such a thing!” He exclaimed. “Bad timing or not, this child is ours! And I’ll be damned if ANYONE’S going to force you to kill it!”
Bulma’s eyes widened at his vehement response, but then they began to fill with tears. “Oh, Vegita,” She said, her lips beginning to tremble. “I… I don’t know why I thought of such a thing!” She then began to cry, and Vegita sighed and shook his head at her.
“Honestly, woman,” he said quietly, kissing her gently on the head. He settled himself down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “You cry entirely too much, too easily.”
“I’m sorry,” Bulma sobbed. “It’s just that I’m so worried!”
“Why?” He asked her. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know anything about raising a child!” She sobbed. “I don’t even know how to change a diaper! And besides,” she added, sniffling and shaking her head. “What kind of world will we be bringing it into? What if the Jinzouningen are more powerful than we are? I don’t want to give birth to an innocent child, only to have him or her destroyed by Gero’s monsters!”
Vegita simply shook his head. “Don’t be foolish,” he chided her. “I’ll be more than strong enough for his mechanical junk piles by then. Besides, no one’s going to harm any child of mine. Not while I’m around!”
But Bulma gave a shaky sigh and shook her head. “We don’t know that for certain yet, Vegita,” she said sadly. “I know you’ll train your hardest, and by the time the Jinzouningen do appear, you’ll be much stronger than you are now. But you don’t know for sure if all your training will be enough. None of us do. I have faith in you. You must know that. But none of us can tell the future. All we can do is train as hard as we can and hope it will be enough. I just can’t help worrying about what’s to come. And the fact that we’ll have a child by then doesn’t help at all.”
Vegita snorted impatiently. “Fine,” he said at last. “You just go right ahead and worry then, if that’s what you want. I can see that nothing I say is doing any good.”
“I’m sorry, Vegita,” Bulma sighed. “I’m not as optimistic as you and Goku are. I think the fact that I’m not a Saiyan has something to do with it. You guys LOVE to fight strong opponents all the time, regardless of what may be on the line. But I’m more cautious than that. And besides, I don’t have the strength or the experience that either of you do. I’m not prepared for anything we have coming up. It’s just my nature to assume that no one else is either.”
“You’ll see,” Vegita said, looking her gravely in the eyes. “When I smash those toys of Gero’s into nothing but scrap metal, you’ll see how ridiculous you’ve been.”
“Yeah. I hope so,” Bulma said, smiling at him. “That’ll be a great sight to see, won’t it?”
Vegita smirked, and she sighed and settled in up against him. She wasn’t really any more confident about the future than she was before, but at least she knew that Vegita wanted to have the baby. Her mother had been right about him after all. Maybe things would somehow manage to turn out okay.
On to the next chapter!
