Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny Calls ❯ So Close, and Yet So Far ( Chapter 9 )

Destiny Calls
Chapter 9 - So close, and yet so far

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For Bulma, time was non-existent when she was working, minutes melted into hours with ease. More times than not, she had to be brought back to reality by someone else or she would spend all night working. So it was with a great degree of surprise when she voluntarily slammed her folder shut. Looking at the clock, Bulma was shocked to see how early she had stopped. Confused, she looked over to see the saiya-jin prince watching her intently, his own work already put away. A soft blush crept across his cheeks when he realized he'd been caught staring. Bulma giggled and blushed in return, her Vegeta looked so cute when he was embarrassed. 'Hold on, when did he become my Vegeta?'

Vegeta scowled at her, but his eyes weren't in it, "You dare laugh at the saiya-jin no ouji, woman?"

Bulma grinned and leaned over til their noses were mere inches apart, "I dare."

Vegeta stared helplessly at her caught in her sapphire eyes. Unconsciously he moved closer to her, wondering to himself what he was doing. Their lips brushed and they jumped at the electrifying sensation. Licking his lips, Vegeta leaned in again and Bulma's eyes closed in anticipation . . .

"Ouji-sama!"

The pair jumped apart just as a female saiya-jin burst into the room. "Ouji-sama, I have an urgent situation to report!"

Stifling his anger over the interruption, Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the warrior. Nashi was Jianu's second and would not have been so insolent if it were not important. "Nandato Nashi?"

"My apologies sire, but I felt that this was far too urgent a matter to wait," she replied, bowing to him. "Captain Nagata had returned to Chikyuu."

Bulma gasped, this was big trouble! Sensing her fear Vegeta reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "What has been done about this?"

"Well sire, Lady Jianu and Lord Oribu took their squads out to apprehend him. Lord Oribu was badly injured and is now in a regen tank, his two seconds have been killed."

"And?"

Nashi gulped and ran her fingers through her auburn hair nervously, "After Lady Jianu found Lord Oribu she ordered all of us back to the base. She said that she would take care of Nagata and would call if she needed assistance."

Vegeta scowled, he couldn't do anything at this point that wouldn't damage Jianu's pride. "Inform me of any changes in the situation. You are dismissed."

"Hai!" Nashi saluted then quickly left the room.

Sighing, Vegeta shook his head, "I hope she hasn't taken on more than she can handle."

"If you're that worried about her, why not send someone out to check out the situation?" Bulma suggested.

Vegeta snorted, "Woman, how long have you been among saiya-jin?"

"Ano, close to three months."

He turned to face her, blushing lightly when he realized he still was holding her hand, "And have you learned nothing about us in all that time?"

"Well . . ."

The saiya-jin prince let go of her hand and crossed his arms over his chest. "It would be an insult of the highest degree. Jianu believes she can handle him and will contact us if she cannot. As her prince I could order her to take assistance, but as her friend and fellow saiya-jin I am honor bound to respect her decision."

He turned his back on her then, making the beautiful scientist blink in surprise. Stepping up behind him she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Vegeta?"

He shrugged her hand off roughly, "I'm fine woman!"

Bulma recoiled slightly, feeling hurt from his curt response. She turned round and quickly gathered up her things, refusing to look over at him. It wasn't until she had reached the doorway that something occurred to her. "Don't worry Vegeta. She'll be fine."

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'I can't believe I spoke to her in that manner!' Vegeta snarled at himself. It was late and the saiya-jin no ouji had been training furiously in one of the gravity rooms Bulma had designed. He had been here since Bulma had left him in the lab, working out his frustration, worry, and anger through rigorous activity. Mostly he was angry at himself, he had lashed out at Bulma and she hadn't deserved it! Stopping he closed his eyes in defeat, 'I'll have to apologize to her.' For reasons he could not fathom, Vegeta couldn't bear having Bulma angry at him with him for any length of time. He'd never apologized to to anyone before, not even to Kakarott or Jianu. 'Woman, I hope you realize what this is going to cost me.'

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Easing herself into the warm bath she'd run, Bulma sighed softly. 'Poor Vegeta, this must be driving you crazy,' she thought scrubbing at her body with a washcloth. 'Your best friend is off fighting against an unknown and previously undefeated warrior. And your saiya-jin sense of honor won't let you help her.' Realizing there was nothing she could say or do that would make him feel any better, Bulma lay back and thought about what had almost happened earlier. 'He was going to kiss me!' Her cheeks slowly turned red, this was the solid evidence she'd been waiting for! Vegeta did like her as "more than a friend" and she felt the same towards him. But how to proceed? The beautiful scientist knew that her information on saiya-jin culture was inadequate at best. She didn't want to drive Vegeta off, especially since it had taken him so long to express in this small way, how he felt towards her. 'I'll ask Chichi. Afterall, she's had real good luck getting close to Kakarott.' Bulma giggled at the thought, from the day she'd been rescued, Chichi had spent as much time with Kakarott as possible and had become an invaluable member of the team.

*flashback*

"What word do you have from the . . ." Vegeta tapped the desk with his pen as he rifled through his papers. Finding the right one he made a face at the odd Chikyuu word, "ehyuropeian . ."

"European," Bulma corrected him.

"European," he continued, heavily accenting the word, "continent."

Kakarott cleared his throat, "Well, we have word that several of the original governments have reformed and more are in the process."

Bulma pulled out a small map of Europe and a pen,"Which ones have been restored?"

Smiling Chichi began reading off a list, "England, France, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, and Russia are all restructured enough to begin the global unity project." Chichi had been working closely with Kakarott in this. She had a natural charm and intelligence that helped smooth negotiations. She was also strong enough to hold her own when they ran into any unsavory people.

Vegeta nodded and turned to face Jianu who had her feet propped up on the table. It was a bad habit of hers. "And what about the North American continent?" he asked, slapping her feet down.

Jianu grinned, "Much better than we had originally estimated. There's only three countries over there, all of which are on friendly terms with each other."

The saiya-jin no ouji stared at her as though she'd gone insane. "The reports indicated there were over fifty governments on that continent. How is only three good?!"

"It's simple really. The reports were wrong."

Kakarott arched an eyebrow at her, "Really Jianu, I know they aren't always one-hundred percent accurate, but they've never been that far off."

"You didn't let her finish Kakarott," Marion interrupted. "You see, one of those countries consisted of fifty smaller governments all united under one."

"Which means that Canada, the United States, and Mexico are all ready to join," Yamcha added.

"Ready and eager to get started," Jianu continued. "They were asking when we had the first conference scheduled."

Vegeta groaned, "You're kidding."

*end flashback*

Bulma smiled to herself, that had been over a week ago and Chikyuu was well on its way to forming a unified government. It still had a long way to go but they'd make it in time. Bulma closed her eyes and relaxed her body completely, enjoying the still-new experience of simply soaking in a real bubble bath.

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Outside her room stood a certain saiya-jin prince who was about to do the single most difficult thing in his entire life. Taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders Vegeta opened her door and stepped inside. Not seeing her in the front room he called out, "Bulma?" No answer.

Fear gripped his heart and the ouji dashed from room to room searching for her. Fearing for her safety, he wasn't prepared for the vision placed before his eyes when he burst into the bathroom, and froze in his tracks. Bulma was lounging in the bath, her aqua tresses floating elegantly on the waters surface, the soap bubbles just barely covering her breasts. His mind barely had time to register the image before she had jumped up startled, unintentionally giving him an even better view. With a startled shriek, Bulma grabbed a towel and covered herself while a blushing ouji turned his back to her.

"Vegeta! What do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked. "Barging into my bathroom like that!"

"I came to speak with you woman! But you didn't answer when I called," he growled defensively, still not facing her.

Calming herself, Bulma slipped out of the tub and stepped up behind him. "What did you need to tell me?" she asked softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Vegeta sighed and took a deep breath, he could do this! "Woman . . . Bulma . . . I . . I'm . . . . . . sorry." Bulma's eyes widened, Vegeta was apologizing? "I should not have lashed out at you earlier. You did not deserve it." Vegeta's entire face was red now, what would he do if she refused to accept his apology?

Feeling incredibly bold and giddy, Bulma skipped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Apology accepted," she murmured, pressing her lips to his in their first kiss. The kiss was sweet and chaste, but still left its participants tingling.

Reluctantly, Vegeta disengaged from Bulma's arms, "Good night, Bulma," he whispered softly to her as her left.

She watched him go, a bright smile illuminating her face, "Good night, my prince."

January 25, 2002

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Disclaimer: Here we go. I do not own any of the characters from Dragonball, Dragonball Z, or Dragonball GT. They are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Bird Studio, Toei Animation, and Funimation Inc. However, all the other characters in my stories are mine. I'm not making any money off of this, its just for fun. And to top it off I'm a college student who works part-time at Wal-Mart so you know I don't have any money. So if you sue me you won't get anything.