Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Attachments Detached ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

Vegeta suddenly dropped to the ground, front leg sweeping out; one hand back to balance him. The out-swept leg caught the orange-clad man unawares and he tumbled to the floor to catch himself on his hands, thrusting himself up and tumbling over Vegeta as Vegeta tucked himself into a ball and rolled forward.

Both men came back up on the opposite side, breathing heavily and eyeing each other. Vegeta charged and pulled back suddenly at the tapping sound that came from just beneath him.

He hopped backwards and eyed the grate he remembered too well, before looking back up at Kakarott with a raised eyebrow. Kakarott grinned at him and moved to the grate. "What do you think you're doing, Kakarott?"

Kakarott stopped and looked confused, going so far as to scratch his head, "I'm going to let Bulma in."

Vegeta folded his arms across his chest and moved to stand atop the grate, "I never invited her back. Did you?" The question held a tinge of threat.

Kakarott rubbed his neck with one hand, grinning sheepishly. Where he had picked up these non-Saiyan habits was beyond Vegeta. "Actually, yeah. I don't know anyone else on this ship besides you that I like."

Vegeta rolled his eyes at the hint of a whine the last statement carried. A tug on his bodysuit around his left ankle had him glaring beneath him at the two eyes looking up. "Will you get your fat self off this grate? I'm getting a cramp!"

Vegeta smirked, "Fat? Are you sure you're not describing yourself?"

An indignant huff came from the mouth below the eyes, which sparked with anger, "I'll have you know I'm at my prime!"

Vegeta winced at the volume the girl's voice had taken and moved off the grate. "Fine. But you can only stay on one condition."

Bulma had already managed to push the grate back and was halfway out of the crawlspace, wincing slightly. She hadn't been lying about the cramp. She looked at Vegeta with something akin to a glare, "What?"

Vegeta smirked and pointed to the bench set into the wall of the training room, "Sit down and shut up. Don't interrupt our training."

Bulma huffed at first, but one look at Kakarott told her not to stick her foot in her mouth again. Truly, she felt the same way as Kakarott. She found the company quite pleasant. Well, Kakarott's at least. Plus, she was curious.

She moved to the bench and made herself comfortable, massaging her right calf, the perpetrator of the earlier mentioned cramp.

Vegeta nodded curtly to her and turned back to Kakarott, "Well? Don't just stand there? We've got two more hours of training left."

Kakarott nodded, sighing as if he never looked forward to this 'training' though his eager grin said otherwise.

Bulma was left in shocked awe as the two men traded blow after blow after blow, never seeming to tire. She was shocked at how much they seemed to enjoy pummeling each other.

An hour passed before Kakarott finally collapsed to sit on the ground, head rising and falling with each huffed breath. Sweat dripped onto the floor in a steady stream.

Vegeta cockily leaned against the wall, more to keep from landing on the floor with Kakarott. "Quitting…already?"

Kakarott's head came up and he eyed Vegeta, "You may…like to…torture…your body. But…I'm hungry!" His stomach rumbled quite loudly to prove his point.

Vegeta frowned and folded his arms across his chest, "Food's already…been served…Kakarott…. You know that."

Kakarott started to nod, but Bulma's voice made his head turn to her instead, "If you guys need food, I know how to get it."

Vegeta raised a brow in her direction while Kakarott looked as if, if he'd had enough energy, he'd hug her. "And how would you do that, girl?"

Bulma frowned and waved a hand at the crawlspace, "How else?"

Vegeta pushed himself off the wall and toward her. She fidgeted nervously, but he merely reached above her head and grabbed a towel, wiping sweat from his brow.

The sudden exposure of his rib cage revealed a blooming stain of blood. Vegeta almost jumped when he felt hands pushing the towel to the side and faintly brushing his side. He backed up and eyed the surprising human. "What are you doing?"

Her eyes became darker, almost clouded, "You're hurt."

He shrugged, his own eyes shadowed by his brows, "A scratch."

Bulma rose and moved at Vegeta so quickly he almost stumbled over his own feet backing up. She stopped and put both her hands on her hips, "Stop that! I just want to see it! It could get infected."

Vegeta snorted, "We don't get infections."

Bulma huffed and walked toward him again, "Nonsense, everybod-" Of course the sudden unraveling of the belt around his waist to flick in the air with irritation stuck the words in her throat so that she ended on an 'eep'. Now it was her turn to back up a few steps.

Vegeta again cocked an eyebrow, following it by cocking his head to one side, "What is wrong with you, girl?"

Bulma met his eyes with her wide ones, "You're not human!"

Kakarott chuckled from where he still sat on the floor, "Of course not! You're the only human onboard. What made you think we were humans?"

Bulma looked from one man to the other. Both were looking at her with differing expressions of confusion. "I just-I mean-You look human. I just didn't expect you to be-Saiyan." The hesitation at the end put special emphasis on the word.

Vegeta scowled, "I see."

Kakarott still looked confused, "See what?"

Vegeta swung the towel over his shoulder, folding his arms across his chest, and glanced at Kakarott from the corner of his eye, "You don't listen to all the things said about us, Kakarott." He moved a shoulder to indicate Bulma, "She has." He glared at Bulma, "Perhaps you'll be wanting to leave now. Wouldn't want us to ravage you or anything." His tone was quite bitter.

Kakarott stood, "Vegeta, I thought I told you that she didn't mean-"

Vegeta pompously thrust his nose into the air, cutting right through Kakarott, "If she didn't then, she does now."

Bulma's mouth opened then snapped it shut again. She met Vegeta glare for glare and stepped up to poke him in the chest, "Since when did I ask you to speak for me? It's kinda hard to not listen to what's said. And the part about you being an arrogant jerk is certainly not far off. However, if you think I'm going to leave because of some false comment on you forcing women, I have to add stupid to that description too."

Vegeta grabbed the hand poking him in such an offending manner and pulled her into him, "What makes you think it's not true, girl?" His eyes stabbed into her blue ones, trying to trap them.

She laughed at him, making him blink in shock and effectively breaking his eyes' hold. She pointed over at Kakarott, who was looking at the two of them with wide eyes and gaping mouth, "I don't think he'd be reacting like that. And you certainly wouldn't have reacted the way you did when I said it a week ago."

Vegeta pushed her away from him with a growl, "Whatever, girl. So, if it wasn't that one, which one was it?"

Bulma glanced at Kakarott, finding what she had heard against his friendly personality conflicted. She looked back at Vegeta. "You're cold-blooded killers. Frieza's living weapons of mass destruction. You can turn into giant monkeys and destroy a whole solar system with a flick of your hands. Some say-well, some say that if Frieza told you to lick his feet, you would. Others that you're so ruthless you destroyed your own planet because they wouldn't go along with Frieza's rule."

Vegeta's eyes cut into her like razors. "Ah, is that all? Because I know there's more. We eat children alive. We enjoy a little romp with those we're assigned to kill. Frieza uses us as his assassins. We're Frieza's little toys…."

Kakarott laid a hand on Vegeta's arm, "Stop it. You know those things aren't true, Vegeta."

Vegeta shook free of Kakarott's hold, angry he hadn't sensed the man that close, He moved toward the girl who looked truly afraid of him, "No, some of it is right, Kakarott. We do turn into giant monkeys. We are cold and ruthless killers, Frieza's personal assassins. Perhaps all of it is true."

Kakarott folded his arms across his chest and glared at Vegeta's back, his voice so strong and forceful Vegeta looked back at him in shock. "None of it is true! We are not monkeys! We turn into Oozaru! And we are not cold and ruthless. I'm certainly not and neither are you! And the day I see you bow before Frieza is the day I decide to fast for the rest of my life!" He shook his head, "You're too hard on yourself, Vegeta. I've always said that-"

"Kakarott!" Vegeta moved toward him but was stopped by a hand on his arm, gentle and small. He looked down at the blue-haired human with confusion. She dared to touch him after she had just been quaking in fear of him?

"I never said I believed any of it. It just surprised me that you were the two Saiyans everyone whispers about. You don't fit how they describe you." She released his arm and bent over to check the wound that had started all this. "Now, let me check this so we can go get some food."

Vegeta's eyebrows once again drew down as he tried to assimilate the actions of this confusing girl. He looked at Kakarott, but Kakarott only shrugged at him, looking more concerned about the food than the behavior of the human. It was a shrug that said, 'She's not Saiyan. What do you expect?'

Bulma prodded around the bloody area, trying to feel for the wound through the bodysuit and felt Vegeta flinch under her when she touched a particularly sensitive spot. "Ah, there it is. It doesn't look too bad." She rose back up.

Vegeta had his arms folded across his chest, the look on his face that of a petulant child whose word had been questioned, "I told you it was only a scratch."

Bulma rolled her eyes, much the same way Vegeta did to Kakarott, "Well it certainly didn't look like 'just a scratch'. Now come on. I'll take you to a place where Kakarott can get some food and you can get that cleaned up."

Vegeta was about to protest this 'cleaned up' part when Kakarott, who had been shifting from foot to foot in impatience, pushed him aside to grab a hold of Bulma and practically drag her to the crawlspace's opening.

Bulma laughed, not only at Kakarott's antics but Vegeta's reaction to them. These two were a handful!

She dropped lightly into the crawlspace and crawled forward a ways before stopping and waiting for the other two. Kakarott stopped and looked back, watching as Vegeta crawled into the corridor and pulled the grate back over the hole.

"Stay close, you two. I don't want you to get lost. It's so dark you can't see more than a foot before you."

Kakarott would have left the statement as it was and nodded his thanks. Vegeta however, never could leave a statement the way it was. "We can see perfectly well in the dark, girl! Stop your jabbering and lead!"

Bulma huffed and crawled forward, keeping up her speed purposely so that the bigger men behind her would have problems. However, that proved not to happen. While Kakarott was indeed bigger, Vegeta was not. He managed, after much complaining from Kakarott, to squeeze past him and position himself behind Bulma.

Bulma, looking back, just knew he was smirking at her. She slowed down for Kakarott's benefit.

After some time spent taking many corners and crawling through many corridors, Bulma stopped and pointed just ahead. Vegeta's keen eyes picked out the design of a carpet just above them, an almost perfect hole being cut into the metal above them, obviously a floor.

Bulma eagerly threw aside the carpet and crawled from underneath it, ducking to avoid hitting her head on the table just above her.

Vegeta was not so lucky, banging his head up against the hard metal of the table. He scowled at Bulma, who was smirking at him much as she imagined he must have been smirking at her.

They crawled from under the table and stood as Kakarott levered himself out of the hole. Both heard the metallic clang of his head hitting the underside, but he poked his face out, beaming brightly, as if nothing had happened, "Where's the food?"

Bulma waved them to the side of the mess hall, "In the kitchen."

Kakarott suddenly sprinted past her and threw open the swinging doors, leaving only a breeze behind him. Bulma raised a brow at Vegeta walking calmly beside her and he shrugged, "He's been hit in the head one too many times."

Bulma nodded, grinning, and entered the kitchen behind Vegeta, "Don't make a mess, Kakarott. No one can know we've been here."

Kakarott, half his body stuck in the fridge, came back out with both his arms loaded, nodding vigorously at her.

Bulma motioned Vegeta to the sink and sighed when he stopped with him arms folded across his chest, face set in stubborn refusal, "Oh, come on! I just want to wash that wound before it stains your clothes any worse. Besides, how can you eat when you're bleeding? I thought Princes were a clean lot."

Vegeta unfolded his arms and strode to the sink, hopping onto the counter and scowling at her, "Most Princes aren't serving under Frieza."

Bulma nodded her assent to that statement and turned on the water, "So, strip."

"Jeez, I know you humans are hor-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, bub! You know what I mean!"

Vegeta smirked as he complied, stripping himself to his waist to reveal rippling muscles that Bulma couldn't help but flick her eyes at as she adjusted the water.

One look at the wound turned her attention from his body. The wound gleamed red and looked an angry pink around its edges, not to mention the skin around it was bruising. Bulma sucked in a breath, "Doesn't that hurt?"

Vegeta shrugged, ignoring the feeling as she applied a warm cloth to the wound, wiping away dried blood as gently as she could. "Could be worse."

Bulma bit her lower lip at that statement. Truthfully spoken, it gave it a grim edge. "So, what's your story? How did you and Kakarott get set together? Wasn't there another Saiyan called Nappa?"

At the long pause that ensued, she looked up, catching her breath at the look in Vegeta's eyes. "Why do you want to know?" His voice was hushed.

She swallowed audibly and looked back down at the wound, trying to get one stubborn piece of dried blood off, "Well, I figured we could trade stories. And if I'm going to be around you so much, I'd like to know about you. Besides, the rumors don't give you much of a picture at all."

She felt him shrug, "Not much to tell really. Kakarott was brought to Frieza when he was seven. He had a brother, but his ki proved to be too weak. He was sent to your planet, I believe. He must have failed in his mission to purge it if there is still life there."

Bulma scowled, irked that she was hearing Kakarott's story, "What did his brother look like? Maybe I've seen him."

"Widow's peak, long hair going down to his ankle, tail. Something must have happened to him is my only guess."

Bulma nodded, "And you?"

"What about me?"

Bulma scowled up at him, "I said what's your story, not what's Kakarott's story. Why's the Prince of your race under Frieza? I mean, was it part of the treaty?"

He shook his head, "It wasn't a part of the original treaty. The treaty merely stated that anything Frieza needed for warfare we would provide. In return, we would get our choice of the planets purged, their technology, slaves, anything. He asked for me on my fifth birthing day so I was given to him for instruction purposes and to purge planets for him.

"Nappa was my bodyguard. His back was broken on a purging mission not one year before Kakarott was brought in. He couldn't fight, so I killed him."

Bulma couldn't break from Vegeta's gaze, but she knew she had to have paled. Vegeta looked up to watch Kakarott putting all the items together to make a huge sandwich, "Are you done yet?"

Bulma frowned up at him, "What would Frieza have done to him?"

Vegeta looked back down at her, shock tingeing his words, "To Nappa? He probably would've kept him alive. The worst thing a Saiyan can live with is not being able to fight."

Bulma nodded, "Kakarott's right. You are too hard on yourself."

Vegeta gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the counter, causing Bulma to back up. He pulled his top back on, "We should be going. We will be missed."

Bulma nodded and turned to Kakarott, who was just stuffing the last of the sandwich into his mouth. He looked up at them, cheeks filled like a chipmunk, "Yoth guyth rethy tho goth?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "Don't be disgusting, Kakarott! Talk after you swallow."

Kakarott hastily swallowed the food in his mouth, "Sorry. I said you guys ready to go?"

Vegeta nodded curtly and made his way out the door and to the hole underneath the table. He was at it and ducking under the table as Bulma and Kakarott exited the kitchen. Kakarott peered at Bulma's troubled eyes, "What's wrong?"

Bulma kept her voice low, "Why's he so hard on himself?"

Kakarott sighed, his shoulders hunching down slightly. He slowed Bulma down with a hand. "He has to be. If he isn't hard on himself he wouldn't be able to survive Frieza and all the others." He shook his head, "Right now him and Kiwi are having problems. They're equal in power and Kiwi never fails to rub it in his face."

Bulma's eyes widened in recognition, "Kiwi? That little gnat?" She smirked suddenly, "Say, Kakarott, doesn't Kiwi have a special diet? His food doesn't get served with the rest?"

Kakarott frowned, "Yeah. Why?"

Bulma's smirk widened, "You get Vegeta to challenge Kiwi to a fight tomorrow at dinner, and let me take care of the rest. I guarantee he'll have the advantage over that snub-nosed purple freak."

Kakarott looked dubious, "Okay, I suppose I could tell him some of the things Kiwi has said about him behind his back."

Bulma looked surprised, "I thought you didn't listen to that stuff?"

Kakarott shrugged, "Vegeta assumes that. I hear more than he thinks I do."

By this time they had ducked under the table to find Vegeta waiting for them in the crawlspace. "Took you two long enough." His gaze flicked from one beaming face to the other before turning with a grunt and going on ahead, muttering something neither one could hear.

Vegeta led them unerringly back to the training room, easily pushing aside the grate and entering. He brushed off his clothes as he stood and turned to wait for the other two. Kakarott exited first, extending a hand, which Bulma took with a smile and thanks.

Vegeta grunted again, "Well, don't you have someplace to be, girl?"

Bulma folded her arms across her chest, "Not really. I'm a night owl."

Kakarott muffled a yawn with one hand, "Well, I'm not. I'm going on to bed, you guys. See you tomorrow?" He aimed the question at Bulma.

"Only if his highness allows it." Bulma quipped.

Vegeta scowled at her, "If I said no you'd still be here. You're becoming a bane, girl!"

Bulma smiled sweetly at him, "It's in my job description. Bane for the Prince. Just wish I got paid more." She winked at Kakarott, who stifled laughter as he left, the door sliding shut behind him.

Vegeta folded his arms across his chest, "I usually continue my training after Kakarott leaves."

Bulma shrugged and moved past him to sit at the bench, "Watching you should be more entertaining than watching the ceiling. Falling to sleep in outer space is weird."

Vegeta tilted his head to one side, "You get used to it." He scowled again, "But I am not entertainment."

Bulma shrugged, "You do more than the ceiling."

Vegeta gave up with a little sigh and lay on the ground, beginning his pushups on one finger. He couldn't help but smirk at Bulma's shocked look. She huffed at him.

The silence was beginning to bother him, that and her staring, "Well, you said we'd share stories. What's yours?"

She was actually pleasantly shocked he was curious, "Much like your planet, my planet signed a treaty with Frieza that allowed him access to any of our technology. Since I'm the heiress of the biggest Corporation on Earth, Frieza asked for me to make some things for him on his spaceship. Seems you and I aren't that far apart in situations."

"Have you ever met Frieza?"

Bulma watched him go up and down a couple times before answering, "Only from a distance."

"We're far apart then." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "What projects are you making for him?" There seemed to be a different glimmer to his eyes now.

Bulma shrugged, "He doesn't tell me. I just make them. However, I think one is a plasma gun, the other a type of collar to block ki, and something else that will heal virtually any wound. Some other things he's given me…I don't want to know what they're for." She almost shuddered at some of the blueprints the words recalled to mind.

He made a sound and she looked up to see him shifting onto his back to do sit-ups, though he still made contact with her eyes. She continued, "He's manipulated everyone on Earth so badly none will go against him. We entered this Empire under the impression we would be partners, now we're more like slaves. I've only got three more months and I'll get to go back home. Then maybe I can use my own power to make some people see the truth."

Vegeta's eyebrow rose at the steel in her voice, "Three more months? A lot can happen in that little of a time. I had only a couple years left until I would've been able to go back."

Bulma's eyes narrowed. Was he suggesting what she thought he was suggesting? "A meteorite destroyed Vegeta-sei."

Vegeta shrugged as he came up, his words came after he was down. "According to Frieza, yes."

Bulma shook her head, "But what would that gain him? Why in the world would he make a treaty with a planet only to destroy it?"

Vegeta frowned as he quit his exercising; draping his hands over his knees, and looked at her, "He has to have a reason? A man with that much power, political, military, and physical, does not need reason for the things he does. He merely does them. What wouldn't he gain? He already has the one thing he could use from Earth, why does he need the rest of it?"

Bulma shook her head, brow furrowed in anger and a little fear. "He wouldn't dare!"

Vegeta looked disturbed and rose to sit beside her, causing her to look at him, "How did you know he was enamoring himself to your people anyways?"

Bulma was only too glad to change the subject; even it wasn't very far away. "I used the crawlspace."

He smirked at her, "So, you were spying on us."

She ducked her head, embarrassed, "I thought maybe I could find out something to use against Frieza. I didn't trust him then, but now…. He's crazy."

Vegeta nodded, "Yes, and he's taking us all down with him." A hand rose and stopped before touching her hand, falling back into his lap. "You're making stuff for him. What if someone else wanted stuff made?"

Bulma hadn't seen the hesitant movement. She looked with all seriousness into his black eyes, "What kind of stuff?"

Vegeta shrugged, staring at the grate covering the crawlspace, "Better training equipment so that someone can become stronger. Maybe stronger than the one he works for."

Bulma nodded, "Yes, I trust this someone. I would do it."

He turned wide eyes to her. He swore she said these things just to throw him off. "You don't know him. How can you trust him?"

Bulma shrugged and glanced down at the hand on Vegeta's lap, "I feel like I know him. Besides, this tyrant is going to die someday. I'd rather he be replaced by someone who has reason." The hand twitched slightly, as if it could feel her scrutiny. "Have this someone make up the plans and I'll bring my tools tomorrow and get started."

Vegeta moved the hand she was staring at, only to have her stare at his eyes, "What do you want in return?"

Bulma's blue brows drew over her eyes, making them shadowed, "Company?" She explained further when he only blinked at her, "I've been eight months on this ship without anybody to talk to and I'm about to go stir-fry! I just want someone to talk to is all. I don't need money or anything, just-a friend. I've never really had one; even on Earth."

Vegeta nodded, "I can't guarantee-"

She hushed him by standing up, "You just be your old grumpy self and I'll be satisfied." She brushed imaginary dirt off her pants and started to the crawlspace. She glanced behind her to see him still sitting on the bench, and flashed a smile at him. "See you tomorrow!"

The corner of his mouth came up slightly as he watched her vanish into the hole. He too left, to go make up the plans she would need the next day.

A/N: Well, there you go. That should explain what I did to change everything. Anybody see it? (smirk) Ok, so review already! I love to hear from you guys!

Masamune: Did I answer your question? It might still be a little shady…. I'll fix it. (groans) That'll be-fun. Yes, Goku is young, so he allowed to be-cute….

Jadedbest: Yes, you have to say it! My ego needs the boost. (preens) And I consider everything he does cute! Especially-oh, we aren't there yet. Heehee

SkittleKicks: roflmbo… Yes, that is funny. You made my day. Don't like five review things and you're the fifth reviewer! Lol Ok, I'm done. (snicker) Yeah, I hardly want to relive that HFIL. Besides, I'd just be bashing cheerleaders and football players and Bulma and Vegeta would be in a marching band (Vegeta as a percussionist! AWESOME!) Uh, ok, yeah, she was rationalizing (why didn't I think of that?) (rolls eyes) Yes, Goku is cute. Everyone agrees on that!

Kaiya: Thanks! Here's more!

Vish3: Neck cramp? Ouch! I hate those! Well, thanks for reading and reviewing despite the pain.

a fan: Ok, can do. Um, but how would I disrespect them?

moonsaiyanprincess: I'm glad you like. Here's more!

Until next chapter! Reviews make me purr like Vegeta in an erotic tail scene! O_o Yeah.