Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ Bulma Saves Yamcha's Life ( Chapter 16 )

 

A Light in the Darkness - part 16: Bulma Saves Yamcha's Life
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

PAIRING: Bulma/Vegeta
RATING: R
WARNINGS: No lemon, but references to it, as well as nudity and some very distinct passion between them
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. These characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball itself. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it.
SUMMARY: *coughs* Lemon, lemon, lemon.....
Notes: Vegeta and Bulma's idea of 'tender aftermath' *shakes head sadly* Mood swings. Did Bulma just save Yamcha's life?

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Keeping Bulma's legs wrapped around him, he sank to the floor, Bulma sitting comfortably on his lap. He leaned his head forward to rest on her shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing.

 

That had been intense, he realized, as he stroked Bulma's lower back with his hands. In all his experience he couldn't remember any female having this kind of effect on him. Usually when he got the urge, it was a one-time thing. This kind of desire was unfamiliar to him, but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, he still wanted the woman he held possessively in his arms and he found himself hoping, wanting... no, *needing* her to want him the same way.

 

He couldn't put it in words, this need he felt for Bulma. It wasn't just the sex. The sex was incredible, but there was something more to it that the prince could not put a name to. There were... emotions involved that he wasn't used to experiencing, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

 

He raised his head after several long minutes and found himself looking into Bulma's blue eyes. He brushed a few wet strands off of her face and stared at her. As he gazed into her face, still flushed from his lovemaking, for the first time Vegeta had no idea what to say.

 

Bulma saw Vegeta looking at her with an odd expression on his face, and she smiled at him hesitantly as the water continued to pelt both of them. He didn't look angry - she didn't think he would be angry, since he had been the one to start it - but he didn't look particularly happy, either. He stared at her, saying nothing, and it began to make her feel uncomfortable.

 

She shifted on his lap, and then remembered from his suddenly pained expression that he was still inside her. The realization made her blush abruptly, and she tried to remove herself from his embrace. He held her down and continued to stare intently at her for several minutes, until she shook herself, and forcibly pulled herself off of him.

 

"Vegeta, I need... we need to get cleaned up. We should go in to dinner. I don't want them worrying about me.... "

 

There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her shiver, that made her uncomfortable. She didn't know what it was, but she felt this sudden urge to flee.

 

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at her. "I am sure your mother is perfectly aware of what we have been doing," he told her. "Considering I came to get you for dinner about an hour ago." He reached over with both hands to cup her face and gazed intimately into her eyes before leaning over and kissing her softly. "As for the brat, I'd say he is about as clueless as his father. It's a miracle he was even born."

 

"You don't know the half of it," Bulma muttered, thinking of Goku's 'pat-pats', and she smiled slightly when Vegeta quirked an eyebrow curiously. She didn't feel like explaining at the moment. "Really, Vegeta," she said almost waspishly. "We're sitting here in a running shower, soaking wet, and we haven't even lathered up. I'd *really* like to get cleaned up a little, and I *am* hungry. Other than that omelet this morning, I haven't eaten. And if I'm hungry, you must be on the verge of starvation!"

 

Vegeta smirked at her. "Well, at least we already had dessert," he said. "But I suppose something a bit more substantial is in order."

 

He leaned forward to grab the soap and handed it to her. "You can wash off first," he told her as he leaned against the back wall. He folded his arms behind his head and stood there watching her carefully. "Hurry up, woman. The water is getting cold."

 

"Oh, it is, is it?" Bulma muttered darkly. She quickly soaped herself up and rinsed off, and then before Vegeta knew what she was doing, she tossed him the soap, stepped out of the shower... and turned the nozzle all the way to the hottest temperature. "I'll bet it's not too cold now, is it?" she asked sweetly.

 

If Vegeta had been human the temperature Bulma had raised the water to would have scalded him. But since he was not human, it was merely uncomfortable. He snorted, showered quickly, ignoring the stinging of the hot water, and stepped out of the shower to stand next to Bulma.

 

"Not too cold," he said, smirking at her as he flared his ki enough to dry himself off and walked past her to retrieve his clothes from the floor. "Are you coming, woman?" he tossed over his shoulder as pulled on his bodysuit. "Or are you going to stand there for the rest of the day?"

 

Bulma glared at him. "Unlike you, radish head, I can't cheat to dry myself off," she said from where she was toweling off her hair. She was already partially dressed, but was still quite wet. "No wonder you have such a bizarre hairstyle. If you keep drying yourself off that way, your hair will be like that permanently." She frowned. "For that matter, it probably already is. You see? Your parents always told you it would freeze that way, and it did!" She continued to towel her hair off vigorously.

 

Vegeta chuckled and pulled Bulma against him. He ignited his ki enough to dry her off and brushed his mouth on hers when she looked at him in surprise. "There so now you are dry," he told her as he released her. "You do have enough ki to do that woman. Someone only has to show you how."

 

Bulma looked at him peevishly. She had no idea why she was feeling irritated with him at the moment, but for some reason she was. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was feeling intimate with him, and she was afraid of that. She was afraid of getting too close to him, and having him abandon her like everyone else always did. It always seemed that whenever she got emotionally dependent on someone, he would abandon her. So maybe if she didn't get too attached to him, he wouldn't leave her, or at least it wouldn't hurt as much when he did. That strategy had never seemed to help in the past, but she still couldn't help how she acted.

 

"Well, I have no intention of having hair like yours, so I'd prefer to let it dry naturally, thank you. And stop teasing me about ki, it isn't nice." She stormed out of the shed, heading towards the house. She was too angry to think about how her long absence with Vegeta might appear.

 

Vegeta shook his head and followed her outdoors. "I wasn't kidding you know," he said casually as he fell into step beside her. "You do have enough ki to work with. I wonder why Yamcha never mentioned it." He watched her out of the corner of his eye for any reaction. "It could be that the thought of you being on his level was too much for him." He gave a wicked chuckle. "It probably scared him."

 

At his words, her eyes widened, and she stopped walking abruptly. "Don't talk about him," she whispered, then looked at him desperately. "Don't talk about him!" she screamed this time. "Don't even say his name!" She turned abruptly and ran from him, running toward the house but in the opposite direction from the dining room.

 

Now what? Vegeta frowned as she took off running in the opposite direction. Without even thinking he caught up to her and scooped her off the ground. He held her securely against his chest and refused to let her go despite her squirming.

 

"What was that all about?" he asked. He was surprised at how calm he sounded when he was so angry. He felt insanely jealous of the other man. Yamcha still had a hold on Bulma and he wanted to know how strong of a hold it was. Was she feeling guilty because she made love with Vegeta, not once but multiple times? Was she still in love with Yamcha?

 

Something in his stomach clenched at the thought and he wasn't even aware that he glared down at her. How could she love Yamcha? Why would she? After all, at best Yamcha ignored her, so what could she see in him?

 

"Well?" he asked, his voice taking on a harsher tone. "Am I going to have to guess what this was about? Or are you going to tell me?"

 

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she suddenly stopped struggling and went limp in his arms. "I don't ever want to hear his name again," she whispered. "He hurt me too many times, abandoned me too often. I don't ever want to see him again." She burst into tears, sobbing brokenly as she clutched at his chest. "Oh, Vegeta!" she cried out. "Hold me... please?"

 

Vegeta blinked a few times, trying to comprehend. She was upset because Yamcha had abandoned her? Not because she still cared for him? Vegeta felt inexplicably relieved at that revelation. He held her as he whispered soothing words in her ear. He wasn't sure what he said, but she seemed to quiet down considerably. "I won't leave you," he said softly. "I swear."

 

After several long minutes of Vegeta calming her, her tears subsided, and she could feel her shaking ease up. When she was calm again, it occurred to her to be surprised that Vegeta had willingly held her this way, had comforted her. He had never seemed the type that would try to do that. If she had thought about it, she would have assumed that all he had sought out of her was to take whatever he wanted, and that he would leave when he was done with it. Then his last words settled into her awareness, and she looked up at him in surprise, her eyes still bright with her tears.

 

"You won't leave me? Really?" she asked softly, almost inaudibly. She was afraid to hope, afraid to get her expectations up, only so he would crush them, like everyone always did. "Do you mean it?"

 

"I wouldn't have said anything if I hadn't meant it," he replied. "I won't hurt you." He brushed his mouth across hers gently. "I'd never hurt you." And to his surprise, he realized that he meant it. He would never leave her or knowingly cause her any pain.

 

Bulma stared at him in surprise and shock. She could tell by his expression that he meant it, and it made no sense to her. Why? Why would he care? And how long would it last? How long before he got tired of it, and left her anyway? He had broken promises before, to all of them, and she didn't know if this would be any different. She sensed that he really meant it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't change his mind later. And she knew that if he did, he wouldn't hesitate to crush her feelings under his heel.

 

She didn't bring up her doubts and misgivings, but simply touched his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Thank you," she whispered at him.

 

"You're welcome," he whispered back. He put her on her feet but did not let go of her. "Bulma, I...."

 

He trailed off uncertainly. He wanted to take away the doubt he saw in her eyes, but knew instinctively that the only thing that would prove it would be time. In time, she would learn to trust him. And he desperately wanted her trust.

 

Bulma looked at him curiously. She sensed that he was going to say something, but wasn't really sure that she wanted to hear it. She unconsciously wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand, not thinking about the fact that it wasn't ladylike. She always strove to be proper and ladylike, but when one went out and had adventures all the time, it became difficult to remember.

 

"We should go in and eat." She sniffled at him, trying to smile. "I look a mess, don't I?" she said, with a shaky laugh. "They'll probably think you've been beating me or something."

 

Vegeta frowned at her. "I'd never raise a hand to you," he said sounding a little hurt that she would think of such a thing. "You are probably the only one of this planet that I wouldn't physically hurt." His frown deepened as a thought occurred to him. "Yamcha didn't beat you, did he?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest, watching her carefully. ::If he did, his life is mine.::

 

"Yamcha?" Bulma looked at him in surprise. "Of course not!" she said, waving a hand dismissively. The idea that Yamcha would ever have considered beating her was ridiculous. If anything, people had sometimes believed that Bulma beat Yamcha, an opinion that had hurt Bulma's feelings more than she would ever admit.

 

Bulma frowned at his words. He had qualified his statement, saying that he would never 'physically' hurt her. It was as much of a reassurance as she had ever expected to get from him - more, in fact, remembering how he had chased her on Namek, blasting ki at herself and Krillin - but was it enough?

 

She studied him for a moment and then turned away slightly. "Let's go in and get something to eat, all right, Vegeta?"

 

Vegeta nodded once. She hadn't realized it but in essence she had just saved her ex-boyfriend's life. If she had even hinted that that weak ningen had raised a hand to her, Vegeta would have killed the other man without a qualm.

 

"Good idea," he said after a moment. "I am getting hungry."

 

Bulma quirked an eyebrow up. Her stomach had been too tied up in knots most of the afternoon for her to even think about food, but now she was starving. Knowing Saiyan physiology, she couldn't even imagine how he was coping. She smiled at him, and then headed back to the house, with him right behind her.

To be continued.....

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And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... Arguments over dinner

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[1] It was pointed out to me by my beta reader that not everyone will understand my reference to Goku's "pat pat's". In the original DragonBall manga (but not the anime, since they butchered it for American television), Goku has difficulty distinguishing between male and female. Difficulty? That's probably understating it. Let's say that he doesn't know that Bulma is a girl when he first meets her, and that doesn't improve as the manga progresses. Once he learns that girls don't have "balls", he starts "pat patting" everyone he meets on their crotch, to see if they are male or female. It offends more than a few people, particularly the men. (Oolong gets VERY upset when little Goku 'feels him up'.) I have the first 11 issues of the Dragonball manga posted on my website although I am probably going to remove them at some point.

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