-A few days had went by ever since Yamcha stopped showing up; he wasn't kidding when he'd said that he'd find somewhere else to train. Even though part of her was still worried about the lad, she refused to grow weak every time he screams, shouts or even throw his fits of jealousy. This time, she needed to teach the guy a lesson. She'd been sinking into immense boredom again as she sauntered to the kitchen, where her mom currently was.
"What is it dear? You look sad!" Averred her mom who'd been preparing tea.
"It's nothing mom! I'm just bored!" Confessed the youngest Brief to her mother who was giving her a few puzzled blinks and then smiled softly.
"You know dear, you could try spending time in your lab and perhaps..."
"Mom! That's it! I think it's a good idea!" Bulma tapped her left hand fist into the palm of her right hand with resolution, royally interrupting her mother. Panchy didn't have the time to complete when the young girl stormed out of the room.
"Ohh! I was going to tell her that her father and I are going out for some bit...but it's fine...I'm sure she'll be fine with Vegeta around!" The blonde lady hummed merrily to herself. There wasn't a day where she wasn't happy and sparkling with joy. Unlike her daughter and a certain Saiyan.
Her conversation with her mother had proven to be useful for once. She could probably try to fix the previous equipment that had been damaged by Vegeta and perhaps bring some new update to them. She could just get some of the extra damaged drone from her dad's lab and there were a few advanced materials that she could make use of. Sitting by her desk, she begin with a short list of things that she may require and hurried toward the old man's lab.
Unlike any other days, her dad was no where within sight and she concluded that her old man must have been working late hours again, and was probably exhausted. Reaching the area where her dad's stores various of his used tools, she started ramming through them to get herself a few of the required stuff that was essential for her new invention, hoping Vegeta would at-least appreciate the gesture.
Half an hour later, when she was still in the middle of searching, a sudden beeping sound from one of her father's lab-computers alarmed her. At first she'd chosen to ignore it but when the 'beeping' grew annoying enough, she decided to have a look. Minutes of trying to reprogram and fix the failed software, she realized that the annoying 'beeps' was in-fact a warning relating to Vegeta's capsule.
Trying a few other codes and programs so as to initiate an external fix, she sighed in defeat. Nothing was working. Apparently, there was a problem in the ship's system. An issue that might have been created due to some harsh impact caused somehow by Vegeta's intense training. He must have unconsciously damaged a crucial hardware from within the ship, resulting into a system failure. Although she wasn't sure whether this was a life-threatening problem, she decided to notify the prince either way and probably try to fix it herself.
Consumed by anxiety, she was already rushing out of her dad's laboratory, leaving her list and the tools in the lab itself, as she hurried across her living-room into the back of her garden. If she was right, the issue was probably a minor one, but still, due to safety measures policy, she needed to make sure this problem was fixed. She needed everything to be excellent for the saiyan and his training. As such, he wouldn't dare accuse her anymore of hindering to his training.
The moment she reached the backyard garden, she was breathing noisily and gasping for air. Running at the current speed, wasn't one of her forte. Catching her breath with difficulty, she straightened herself, took a few step toward the ship and heaved a sigh.
"Vegeta?" She called desperately, swallowing onto her own saliva, knowing that the saiyan would probably not be please by the disturbance. When the prince didn't respond, she attempted to call his name a few more times.
"What do you want woman?! Don't you know the meaning of 'leave me alone'? I can't train if you keep on being such a disturbance!" She heard him yelled at her from inside of the capsule and despite the fact that his voice was faint, she could still make out the meaning of every of his words. Perhaps because she's been scolded a few times before for annoying him, and figured out what he was prone to say.
"Vegeta?! Would you mind coming out for a moment?"
"What for? If you have something to say then just say it! Don't waste my time, woman!" He bawled.
"Vegeta I think you need to get out of this ship right now! There's a problem in its system and it can be dangerous! Get out now so I can fix it!"
"Yeah right! Don't waste my time woman! I'm sure it's no big deal to even be interrupting my training! Leave now! We'll talk later!" His response was. Bitting her lower lips in annoyance, she breathed in deeply trying to calm herself down and took a last stand.
"Vegeta! Come on! Switch off the simulator and come out!" She let out a desperately. He knew nothing of her anxiety and right now, she was afraid of the worst. She couldn't help but think that despite her efforts in making everything right or even help him, he was still adamant on ignoring her, shoving her away. Why? She hadn't even done anything to him.
"Huh?!" She muttered confused with her heart pounding and throbbing from all the running she'd just undergo. Or perhaps was it because she was scared? Scared of another tragedy? Scare at the possibility of losing him? Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock as she was forced to witnessed what she'd fear would happen but was too scared to believe its possibilities.
Earning herself a live explosion of the capsule, paralyzed on spot, panic making it impossible for her to move or react, she felt victim of the explosion too; propelling her a few centimeter away from the spaceship and the next thing she knew was that she couldn't even feel her body. It was like she'd grown numb.
One thing for sure, she could distinguish the grass underneath her skin and with painful difficulties, she came to the conclusion that she was lying on the ground; hurt as she swam in a pool of her own blood.
'Argh! Someone...p-please...help...him!' She was mentally screaming the word repeatedly, unable to gather enough strength so as to speak as darkness threatened to engulf her. Her throat was burning, vision was getting blurry and her cheeks were soaked. She knew she'd been crying. The unbelievable had happened.
Rapid footsteps neared her and the next few faint things she could distinguish was the familiar face of Yamcha and the voices of her parents.
"Oh my god! What happened here?!" The voice of her mom resounded through her ears. Fear, anxiety and panicked filled her tone as she cracked into a few sobs beside Yamcha who was holding the limp figure of her daughter in his arms. She clasped her hand over her mouth, crying harder.
"Bulma? Bulma?" Yamcha tried to reach her, calling onto her name a few times. Hopefully, he would be able to get a few words from her. Besides; he desperately needed her to stay awake. Losing her right there wasn't something he could afford. "Hurry! Get the doctor!"
"Don't worry, we'll get them here immediately!" The familiar voice of her dad erupted out of no where. Her surroundings was a mess and everything was happening so quickly that she had trouble adjusting to the occurrences.
"Please help my baby!" Panchy sobbing hadn't ceased one bit. It was after all the desperate plea of a mother.
"S-save V-Ve-ge-ta!" She gathered the remaining of her strength so as to utter these few specific words. Her life wasn't much of her concern right now. Vegeta was. These few lines had drained her completely of her strength and before she could anticipate anything, she was sinking deeper into complete darkness. Sinking into oblivion, she pondered about death and the fragility of life.
When her friends would die and that they were brought back to life through the dragon balls, she always wondered what it would feel like. Now she knew, she might as well be dying and soon enough she was probably going to experience the same. Probably; she was already dead but she needed Vegeta to live on and to at-least accomplish what he so desired. To become the legendary super saiyan.
"Bulma? Can you hear me?" A few more voices echoed around her. Voices that sounded distant and faint as she rode an infinite loop. They were familiar but despite her might to remember to whom they belonged to, she couldn't bring herself to recognize them. "Stay with me Bulma!"
"Why isn't she answering? Can't she hear us?" Panchy question in extreme anxiety.
"She's breathing! I can feel a pulse!" Yamcha averred his own fret grazing his orbs. "She's lost a lot of blood! Hurry up!"
-The repeat 'beep' sound echoed in the almost empty bedroom. Slowly; making use of it, he tried to drag himself out of the darkness, he currently swam in. As memories of that incident rushed back to him, his eyes suddenly yanked open and he sat up almost too abruptly, knocking the breathing mask off his face in the process.
'What...happened?' He thought studying his surroundings and then shifted his gaze to his hands. His right arm was in a cast. Apparently; it had been broken during the incident and the other one was simply bandaged. He only guessed that his left one wasn't exposed to much damage. 'I am at...Capsule corp...How much time...has passed? It feels like ages...'
'The last thing I remember is her...shouting...' He furrowed his brows in a haze.
"Oh you're awake? I knew I heard something! You really frightened us with that explosion dear!" A familiar sweet voice went off in his perimeter before the familiar face of Panchy poke in. She had her usual warm, sweet smile on. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"What are you doing here? Where am I?" The words escaped his lips in broken fragment. He was currently in the dark right now. All he could remember was hearing Bulma's voice and the next thing he knew, he'd been consumed by darkness.
"Oh I was just looking for you dear! You're in your room! You've been out for the whole day! It seems that you got hurt real bad but it's going to be fine!" Bulma's mother tried to reassure the young man who was currently trying to slide out of bed.
"Tch! For the whole day?" He questioned to himself.
"The doctor said that you inhaled in too much smoke and it wasn't really good for your lungs! So you should take it easy until you recover!" The familiar voice of Yamcha was heard too and the saiyan's head automatically jerk in his direction as the mafia boy made his uninvited entrance.
"Well now that you're here dear, I'll leave you two alone to talk!" Offered Bulma's mom, standing up and left the boys to discuss.
'Take it easy?! Yeah right!' He thought to himself in annoyance. Having to take orders from that loser, irritated him deeply.
"What are you doing here?! I can't recollect inviting you!"
"Well! I'm here to talk Vegeta!" Yamcha narrowed his eyes at the grumpy saiyan.
"Talk about what?" He roared his angst.
"Bulma!" Yamcha paused, sighing while the saiyan's brows arched up in realization. He'd heard Bulma's voice before the explosion and right now, she was no where in sight either. Did something happened to the woman? He could feel her ki but it was faint.
"Don't you want to know how Bulma is doing?" Yamcha inquired after a long pause, taking in the silence of the man. "Even though she was outside of the spaceship, she got hurt real bad!"
'She is...' he dare not think about anything related to that woman. But still, the thought of her being injured keeps forcing itself through the boundaries of his thoughts. Was he actually worried about her? 'No...that's impossible!'
"Why should this bother me?" He replied instead. Although it did appear that he was a bit bothered about it despite his attempt to conceal his true feeling. Thankfully, the bad boy hadn't really noticed. He somehow felt a surge of curiosity to ask about the woman's health but restrained himself. He's seen and witness a lot of his teammates dying during his years of service under the Frieza force but never once had it been so difficult for him to worry about another being apart from himself.
Somehow the feeling was difficult and confusing enough for him to understand. Why should the mere life of an earthling bother him? Wasn't it what he'd been planning to do in the first place? Destroy this planet once he beats Kakarot?
"But well you know..."
"I couldn't care less!" He interrupted the mafia boy from completing. Was he afraid to look weak? Or did he really not care.
"You know what I think Vegeta?! It's such a waste that she was even worried about you in the first place, regardless of her own injuries!!" Yamcha reproached the saiyan for his indifference and Vegeta's eyes widened in stupor. He knew this was gonna make an impact on the saiyan. Even if it was for the least, a small impact.
"W-what?!"
"That's right bud! When she was hurt; the only thing she said before going unconscious was: 'save Vegeta!' Now that I think about it, you don't deserve her affection at all!" Yamcha reproached again, and swiveled on his heels, exiting the room in fury.
'Damn it!' Vegeta thought to himself. The sudden memories of the time she'd dare teased him or even be nice to him, resurfaced in his mind. The last thing he thought of was her cheerful smile. His hands fisted convulsively into his blanket.
Unlike the usual, his was trembling. To him, it was something strange. Something he couldn't comprehend. What was there for him to quiver about? He felt like he couldn't understand his body anymore. Or was it an aftereffect of training under high gravity level.
'It's all your fault!' Mentally accusing Bulma for what had happened, he forced himself into remembering about the events that went down before the incidents.
She'd warned him to get out of the spaceship. He hasn't listened. Yamcha had left him on his own after the numerous scolding he'd earned himself from Vegeta. The saiyan had wanted to be alone so he could straightened his thoughts. He'd killed numerous innocent before and never once had he ever experienced anything like he was at the moment. Was he experiencing guilt? The guilt of having caused trouble to an innocent woman and of having taken advantage of her kindness; of having exploited her naivety to help and care for him?
Glancing at the outside, he noticed that it was night. Perhaps, he could get himself something to eat considering that his stomach has been screaming. He hasn't eaten all day, it was all too normal for him to be starving right now.
"I feel so tired and dizzy!" He noted as he tried to get back on his feet. "Breathing too feels painful...maybe that fool was right after all!"
Getting out of bed finally, and walking barefoot on the ground, he opened the door of his bedroom trying hard to locate and corner a special someone's energy.
'I wonder...is she okay? I can clearly feel her ki is weaker than normal...' He thought to himself. 'Maybe...'
This was the last thing in his mind before he trotted toward the bedroom direction of the woman. Making sure that no one was watching, he stepped in silently to find the limp body of the blue-hair sleeping beauty on the bed. Her arms were bandaged and she had a few small wound-plast on what seemed to be small scratches on her left cheek. He could tell that she was in bad shape though. Worst than what he'd imagined. He approached her bed and sat on the chair near it. A chair they'd place especially for the person who was supposed to be watching her.
'Humans...are so fragile...' he observed as he studied the beautiful young woman. Even injured she was still as attractive as she was, uninjured.
'Her body...is so fragile...' He remarked. 'Tch! It was her fault anyway! She should've just left when I told her to! Stupid woman!'
'Then...I would've been the only injured one right now! This woman lives way too dangerously!' He groaned in exasperation. 'No wait! I'd thought she was lying...that she wanted to interrupt my training...I-I almost...got her kill!'
Subconsciously, his left, unbroken hand had find its way to her hair where he strokes and caressed gently.
'I shouldn't have ignore her...I didn't know what I was doing...'
'I just know...it wasn't your fault!' His face had somewhat closed on hers. When he'd realized what he's been doing, he ripped away from her abruptly, shocked clouded his face as he gasped, blushing scarlet red. The impact of this explosion had apparently made him lose his mind. He rubbed his temple, stood up, gave the woman one last stern stare before leaving her on her own.
He shouldn't allow a human to affect him this much. It wasn't good for himself and for his training either. Now he had to find a way to keep his feelings under control. At this rate, he was never going to be a legendary super saiyan if he continued to hold onto worthless feelings or emotions. The tough part was; even if he wanted to, he didn't know and couldn't understand the 'how'.
The next day she awakened peacefully and strangely, she could've swear that Vegeta was here with her last night. She could even feel his lingering touch through her hair. Then perhaps she'd imagined it.
"Is it already morning?" She sat up, stretching herself lazily on her bed.
"My arms...still hurt a bit...but...I think I'm losing my mind lying in bed all day..." she pouted. Suddenly, realization seared through her as she felt the strange sparks. Sending one of her hand to grab a handful of her hair, she thought: 'A dream?'
"Or was...it reality? Was he here...I felt a kiss on my forehead and..." she pondered deeply on the matter, weighting the pros and the cons. "No! It was definitely a dream! This cannot have happened! Although..."
She was still in doubt despite the fact that she knew the type of a ruthless man that Vegeta was. He was a warrior, a saiyan prince. Feelings wasn't his forte. Deciding to toss the feeling at the back of her head and carry on with her day. She would have enough time later on to think about it.