Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Birthday Vegeta ❯ Birthday Surprises ( Chapter 16 )

A/N: Hey Everyone! Some of you asked about Gohan's uncharacteristic behavior toward Vegeta, the whole 'sire' thing...I see the Saiyan rut as a very, instinctive, primal time...Gohan's primal, Saiyan, self, knows that Vegeta is his Prince and as such, deserves his respect. In addition, Gohan, Vegeta, and Krillin shared a lot of experiences on Namek, (you know, during the Frieza saga) and I think those things are too easily forgotten by us writers...They impacted Gohan's childhood, and I believe that Gohan respects Vegeta because of those things as well. So it's not all THAT out of character...lol Anyway, speaking of out of character....I can't wait to see how well this chapter goes over...lol Read On!

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ

Happy Birthday Vegeta

Chapter 16

Birthday Surprises

...It was at this somewhat tense moment that the doorbell chimed. All heads swiveled in the direction of the sound. Everyone calculating who might be on the other side. Bulma looked at her remaining guests and smothered a giggle. It was as if some chibi had yelled "Freeze!" when the doorbell rang, and caught everyone poised between this moment and the next. Vegeta, angry words at the ready to blast Sirabi for some unknown slight, the others frozen in a mass evacuation away from the epicenter of his wrath.

"Excuse me while I get the door." At her words, reality melted into being, freeing her guests from its unexpected grip.

She returned almost immediately, her smooth, gliding walk drawing admiring stares from the men in the room, and the young man behind her was not immune. He swayed to and fro, mesmerized by the sway of Bulma's blue velvet-clad hips. His pale blue skin was topped with dandelion-fair hair neatly cut, he wore an official looking button down white, and grey cargo pants. Bulma came to a halt in the dining room. Unknowingly, the young man kept walking and plowed right into her. He glanced up with the startled, confused look of a cobra whose music has abruptly stopped.

"I am sorry." he gushed, steadying the both of them by grasping her hips. His navy blue eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, his teeth were even and white. Bulma returned the handsome man's smile easily.

"No worries." she replied, having no idea that she'd spoken entirely too soon.

The No Ouiji's gloveless hands were clenched into fists. "NO!" Golden energy exploded around his compact body, his hair, was a red-tipped, golden flame, his green eyes glittered madly. He was god damned tired of other people touching his mate when he couldn't. So damn tired, of...of everything. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER." He phased behind Bulma, wrapped one arm around her waist and yanked her from the infidels's paws effortlessly. His arm tightened and she was snugged up against the muscular length of his vibrating body.

"SHE...IS...MINE!" he screamed at the whole fucking universe. No one seemed to get that fact.

Her heart thrilled even as the buzzing, electric contact of their bodies overwhelmed it, causing it to pound painfully in her chest. Waves of the purest power crashed over her, battering her frail human limbs before consuming her like flash paper in an open fire. Her senses were swept away in the flood of his vehemence, someone had dared to touch what was his...HIS, BY GOD...the fool would die. The Saiyan No Ouiji... KNOWS NO MERCY..SHOWS NO MERCY!

His primitive drive for possession, protection, and justice, became hers, she raged with him. She changed with him. The energy of the SuperSaiyan shocked through Bulma's body, her blue tresses bled to aqua-tipped gold and were swept up in the flow of power as it sought out its source. Her sapphire eyes became a furious teal, her lips curved, flashing a beautifully arrogant smile at the meager human who dared lay hands on her.

"No one touches what is his." she drawled, waving a dangerously glowing finger at the young man.

Vegeta's mouth dropped open in stunned amazement. His thought processes were fogged by the return of his power amplified. Never, in all the tales of The Legendary, did anyone mention that bond mates could share it, or that it could feel...so fucking good. His smirk curved to match his mates, as he lifted his face, welcoming the energy that surged at him once again, completing it's circuit of their bodies, connecting them. He ran his hand along the arm that she had extended, the energy stirring beneath his fingertips, prickling like static. Gently he grabbed the hand she was aiming at the young man, and guided it to the base of his neck. He shivered as the energy discharged harmlessly into him, and her fingers splayed in his thick, golden mane. The power throbbed sensually between them, crackling and flaring brightly where they touched. It lured them to the quivering cusp, held them there, breathless, before storming through them in a mutual orgasm that tore wordless cries from their mouths, and left them shuddering, together.

"Oh!" snuck past Bulma's rounded lips as her eyes rolled back in her head and her body went slack in Vegeta's grasp. 'Fuck.' he dared not glance at his now limp mate. He slid his other arm under her knees, scooping her up, hoarding her to his chest, all the while growling lowly. He threw the young man a glare that by rights should have incinerated him, left him ashes floating in the dining room air. In fact, Vegeta seemed surprised that it did not.

The young man seemed unimpressed by the light show, and he had no idea the short, growling, guy with the freaky hair was his own personal, grim reaper.

"Sorry man, she doesn't have a ring on...I didn't know she was yours." he saved himself with a sheepish grin and then ruined it by perusing the curve of leg and dainty suede boot draped over Vegeta'a arm.

"She bears my mark clear enough." the livid No Ouiji spat.

Krillin wasn't sure what had just happened, and it didn't look like anyone else knew either. Vegeta had gone Super, and grabbed Bulma, and if someone didn't do something, this kid was gonna end up dead. The badge clipped to his pocket revealed him to be, "Toby - OCSD."

"Otherworld Civil Service? What's the D for?" Krillin attempted a distraction.

Toby rolled his navy blue eyes in impatience.

"Duh. Delivery?" his words were soaked in sarcasm.

"Oh..." Krillin's face flushed pink in embarrassment. Toby took a pen from his pocket and touched places on his electronic clipboard.

"I have a delivery for.." he peered at the LCD display, "one Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans." He looked around the silent group.

"So, which one of you is Vegeta? I don't have all day....you living types think the world revolves around you..." he grumbled.

"I, am Vegeta." His words were clipped and sharp with hostility, he stepped forward, his golden aura visibly snapping out at Toby, his treasure still in his arms.

"Sign here." Toby thrust the awkward clipboard at him, pointing at a small square area in the middle of the board before trying to hand him the pen.

"Sign?" he asked

"Your name." Toby spoke very slowly and nodded at him like he was a mentally challenged child.

Vegeta precisely placed the tip of his finger on the clipboard, there was a brilliant flash and the squeal of rapidly expanding plastic as it exploded, sending molten glops showering down on the group.

"Gross!" Eighteen moved swiftly out of the projectile's path with a pretty grimace of disgust.

The Namek blinked disbelieving, at the globule hanging from one very sensitive antennae.

"No way." Krillin whimpered as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"Consider it signed." The No Ouiji said scowling.

"Very funny." Toby didn't seem amused at all as he handed a slim beige envelope to Vegeta.

"They'll bill you for the board. Oh, by the way, you might want to be careful what you wish for, word is, King Yemma is having kittens at the thought of doing a billion ITP's (Instant Transfer Packets) in triplicate." Toby smiled thinly.

A ball of ki appeared in Vegeta's palm, a cruel smile twisted handsome features beneath golden brows.

"I'm sure he won't mind a billion and one." Toby gasped, fascinated by the flickering energy inches from his face.

"Vegeta! No!" Krillin grabbed Toby's elbow and ran for the hall, the doorway exploding around them in a spray of shrapnel and flames that followed them nearly to the front door of the compound.

"Next time, you might want to mind your own business." Krillin smiled like the proverbial cat as he shut the door quietly on Toby's scorched face.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How could I be so stupid?' He looked down at the unconscious woman held tightly to his silk-clad, heaving chest. He was awe-struck by the gold and aqua hair, and by the instinctive intertwining of their energies. He was also scared spitless.

'How could I be so fucking weak? and in front of every...fucking...one. Wonderful.'

Slowly the cocktail of pleasure and pain receded taking with it the golden glow of SuperSaiyan. It left him stripped and trembling like a volcano, spewing black smoke, molten rock, and shards of raw emotion. Holding her, just felt too good, god help him, now that he'd really broken his fast, he couldn't let her go. His eyes closed, he let his head drop to hers, and like a dying man enjoying final pleasures, he immersed himself in her scent and the feel of her in his arms.

It wasn't too far from the truth. Blocking a bond, took an enormous amount of energy, and that's what he'd been doing, for years. Blocking her insistent, creative, genius mind, and every god-forsaken touch, every day of his cursed life. Exhausted tears burned deep behind his eyes, but he'd be damned if he gave them the pleasure of seeing that as well.

"Don't touch us, Sorceress." he snarled at Sirabi, without opening his eyes.

"Ouiji-sama, please sit..." she spoke softly and was gratified when he responded with a short nod, he didn't think he'd be standing much longer in any case. She led him to the spotted divan in the next room, and hovered while he made himself comfortable, tucking Bulma into his lap, securing his arms around her as if someone else would be stupid enough to try and take her from him.

"A moment please, Sorceress." his voice was uncharacteristically modest. When his eyes opened, Sirabi was taken aback. Obsidian eyes glistened with a silver sheen of tears. The emotions he fought so hard to deny were tearing him apart inside.

"Vegeta-sama, Ouiji-sama, please explain...what is going on?"

"Tell the others that the woman is fine, they'll get their explanation later." his eyelids drooped.

"It will be done, Ouiji-sama." He heard the soft swish of her gown as she left the room. He repressed the scream and the hysterical laughter bubbling in the back of his throat. He'd bargained for a moment, and it would take a day in the Room of Spirit and Time to reign in emotions doing years' worth of rampaging, the backlash of repressing them he supposed. He could care less.

The skin of his bond mate touching his, her breath aligned with his, her sweet energy still dancing through his veins like some intoxicating liqueur...If he died right now, he would never be more at peace. He had never, experienced anything like what had just happened, not even when he took the woman as his mate physically and established the bond. His throat worked, trying one last time to contain his passions, and failed. Tears rolled, leaving silver streaks on his angular cheeks to reflect in the dim light. It appeared, repressing the thing he thought would make him weak, had made him weak. He laughed at himself in the dark.

"Leave the light off, Sorceress." his voice held tangled threads of amusement and anguish.

"As you wish, Ouiji-sama. Krillin took care of the fire, he said to tell you Bulma is gonna kill you when she comes around. I took the liberty of sending everyone to bed, well, except for Kami, he said he would return tomorrow."

"I don't think Nameks need much sleep." was his distracted reply. Sirabi seated herself next to the divan. She didn't need the overhead light to see that externally he had calmed himself considerably, but being an empath meant that she could feel past the external composure, to the chaos within.

"Vegeta-sama, what is going on? Start with what happened to Bulma-san." She waited patiently.

"Her human sensory system was overloaded. That, is all."

"Since your superior Saiyan system was overloaded as well, I'm not surprised. What I want to know is, why?"

Vegeta swallowed audibly. He ducked his head and nuzzled his mate's hair, her scent, was a solace. His soul was tattered from the abuse of having pieces of it torn away repeatedly. This ache, was due to his own stupidity however you looked at it. He hesitated, and then began to speak, his lips touching the strands of blue hair that now lay smoothly at her temple.

"When the woman and I mated, we completed a ritual that created a bond between us. A true, connection of her spirit and mine. The results of this bond varies depending on the mated pair...but the common effects are telepathy, and empathy." He drew a slow, deep breath, and sighed before continuing. "Saiyans, were a warrior race, they prided themselves on being ruthless killers, and shrewd businessmen. In our society, a bonded pair was looked down upon, because if they cared enough to bond, they were weak, with emotions."

"Go on." she nodded.

"Have a care, Sorceress. This is not, easy. To have been so caught in my own trap..." he laughed starkly and tilted his head back against the wall. Sirabi admired the flame of his hair, that drew vermilion lights from the inky shadows around them.

"I meant no disrespect Ouiji-sama, you know this." He snorted softly.

"The bond is a physical thing, from the scar on her body, to mine. What she feels, I feel, until death. When one mate dies, the other soon follows. For that reason alone, bonded mates were considered great weaknesses. How much easier to take out the King's mate if a new King was needed. Royalty was not just selectively bred, but genetically enhanced, not unlike...the android, to be emotionless and incapable of bonding to combat this weakness."

Sirabi took advantage of his pause to assimilate his story. Her stomach twisted uneasily, even if he had not been, bent, by Frieza, he was bred to be incapable of feeling, and conditioned to believe it a weakness. 'I wonder if his mate knows any of this.' Somehow, she doubted it.

"What does this have to do with what happened tonight?" she asked instead. He sighed again. She realized in the half-dark, that he was stroking Bulma, the way you might a cat curled on your lap. Stroking, kissing, holding, it was as if subconsciously he couldn't touch her enough. Of course! Saiyans probably didn't have any use for physical displays of affection, the entire race was touch-starved. No wonder they were merciless killers.

"It was shame enough that the Saiyan Prince was mated to a human...don't get me started about the interspecies taboos...but to find that I had bonded to her! I could not afford the weakness, Sorceress. Training for the androids, and then Cell..." there was a tendril of fear underlying the emphatic strength of his words.

"I did the only thing I could, I blocked the bond." Vegeta tensed, and then forced himself to relax. The woman was still unconscious, hopefully she wouldn't hear, and wouldn't remember.

Sirabi gaped at the No Ouiji. She had some idea of how a spiritual bond like that might function...and to be invited in, and then have the door slammed and locked in your face...ouch.

"Bulma-san doesn't know you're blocking does she?" she surprised them both by asking.

"Of course not."

"What happened in there?" she gestured to the dining room.

"My, weakness, got the better of me." he said flatly.

"What weakness?."

There was a bark of harsh, self-deprecating laughter.

"In order to prevent myself from being weakened by the bond, I have been blocking it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ironically, the effort of doing such, leaves me physically and mentally, drained." he sighed. "Saiyans are possessive, of what is theirs. She is MINE! He touched her!" his voice was savage "He touched what I can not, and in my weakened state, it was enough to send me over the edge." Sirabi heard a low growling coming from Vegeta.

"Why can you not touch her?"

"Because she is my bonded mate." he enunciated as if she were dense, "Every touch, however casual, strengthens the bond, and makes it that much harder to resist, that much harder to keep her out." His voice betrayed him, quavering.

"Out of your past?" Sirabi was gentle but knew it wouldn't matter. The silence was as deep as the gloom in the room.

"Kami, what have I done?" she heard him whisper, his voice small and scared. "Every second that her body is in contact with mine, binds us closer together in spirit, making it easier for her to slip past my defenses, and I have precious few left."

"Then stop fighting it, Ouiji-sama. The bond is obviously meant to be a divine union for mated pairs...you do it, and Bulma-san an injustice by blocking it."

"Only a non-Saiyan would think so." he snorted.

"Why must you keep her out, Vegeta?" Sirabi's voice was plain. As if she were asking about the weather instead of his horrific past.

"What Sorceress, is your omniscience lacking?" he bit off angrily, the boyishness gone, replaced by ice. She hesitated.

"I have seen parts, I think of your recent years beneath Frieza." His body curled in on itself, an involuntary gasp left his lips at her inadvertent turn of phrase. He'd spent his entire life...beneath Frieza. The nasty lizard had undertaken his 'education' personally, instilling through countless beatings, the tenets of Subjugate, Manipulate, Control and Destroy. Tutored him exclusively in torture and rape, extracting his dues in blood, sweat, and semen. A violent tremble shook his body and his breathing hitched as he fought for that all important control. Eventually he spoke, his tone bland, as hers had been.

"Then you know, what hell is mine every day. I... have forgotten more horror than she has seen in her whole privileged life." he was scornful. "To die, would be merciful. But that wasn't in the plan then and it isn't now, is it?" he was disgusted at the sharpness of his disappointment when she shook her head.

'Kuso. I might as well just have a total fucking breakdown. Sit here and sob for the rest of my fucking life. If it weren't for...her. Kami-damned, stubborn, Ningen woman. She won't let me be...anything but the strongest.' The warmth of her body lay naturally against his, absorbing his trembling, somehow, lessening it. He'd been fragmented for so long...she made him...believe...he choked on the thought...that 'wholeness' was a possibility in his future. That was why he mated her. On that off chance that she might actually be able to bring some sense of normalcy to his insane life. But he wasn't normal. He was the embodiment of evil, and she could never know. The things he had done, the things he had endured. A Saiyan demon bonded to an Earth-bound angel. The Supreme Kai must be a sick fuck.

"She will never know...the enormity, of my weakness. The truth about who I am. That, is why I can not touch her, why I can not let her in."

"But, she is already there, Vegeta-sama. You are just making things miserable for the both of you by denying it."

He changed the subject.

"Did you know, when she was pregnant, with Trunks, she never slept well...her mother said she was plagued with nightmares...the stupid Ningen doctors attributed it to the normal fears of a pregnant female, under the additional duress of the android threat. But I know, those nightmares were not her own...they were mine. She glimpsed minute fragments, of my hell, when we mated. I gave her the royal seed of Vegetasei as a...a distraction for her." frustration and shame heated his voice. "So she wouldn't realize the things terrifying her came from her own mate." his voice was a heart breaking whisper.

"I believe you do a disservice to your mate, again." Sirabi's voice was frigid. "You forget who she is. She intended to sacrifice herself, her son, her family and friends, for the potential happiness of one man."

Vegeta was silent. He pulled Bulma closer, trying to block the alien images of an unknown lifetime without her. With a rustle of silk, Sirabi rose from her post, and moved to stand in front of him. Her body and voice shook as righteous anger flared hotly over any remaining sympathy she was feeling.

"I think, that if you continue this farce, Ouiji-sama, then Frieza has won." she had his attention now, by Kami!

"You have allowed him to defile that which should be a sacred bond with your mate, you've allowed him to demean the very conception, the birth and life of your only heir--"

The Saiyan No Ouiji's eyes blazed blackly. "You dare?" he hissed "to speak to me in such a manner?"

"Someone has to!" she ranted, furious both for him and at him. "You're letting Frieza's GHOST...he is NOTHING NOW...stand between you and your future...YOUR future, Ouiji-sama. You still have flesh. He does not. You have a future, he does not. Here on this 'backwater mudball,'" he flinched as she threw his own words at him, "you have what approximates a pretty good thing going. I think a greater measure of your strength than the number of push-ups you can do in that maxed out gravity chamber, will be whether or not you can exorcise him." She did not even try to blunt the weight of her words. A faint frown creased his brow and tears leaked unchecked from the corners of his closed eyes.

"Sirabi, why? That cursed day on Namek...why? Why did she bring me here?" he asked. Surprise lifted her features, he used her given name...not, 'Sorceress.' Maybe there was hope yet.

He heard a soft snicker from the Sorceress pacing across from him. She stopped walking to look in his direction.

"You think you were surprised? You should have been a Kai that day..." her laugh wrapped around him like warm caramel in the dark. She released her anger with a slow breath. "Oh ye of little Faith...It was decreed by a certain Supreme Being, whom you have reverently referred to as a 'sick fuck,' that your behavior on Namek, particularly the events just prior to your death, warranted, a closer inspection of your short lifetime. It was subsequently decided that Kakkarott's observation was correct....you never had a chance to be anything else." her voice reached his sensitive ears as if from a great distance. It could not be possible! That the third class baka had anything to do with this new hell of his, could it? Cold fury burned in him at the dishonor.

"No Vegeta-sama. His was just, a heart-felt observation, of a warrior he respected." she sounded tired. "The Supreme Kai determined through his own observations, that you deserved better."

"Why!?" he sputtered disdainfully, "What interest could this Kai... have in me?"

"With all due respect Ouiji-sama, his interest was Frieza. Until, as I said before, your behavior caught his attention."

"Hn." At least he wasn't completely denying the possibility, a Mona Lisa smile graced her face, then faded.

"So, the Supreme Kai's will, disguised as chance, brought you back as well, when the casualties were wished back with the dragonballs. The woman's generous spirit needed no prompting. When others saw only the dust settling from the destruction wrought by your hand, she saw the man, confused and lost, and she took him in." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. The days events were beginning to weigh on her. She cursed the Kai for linking her fate with the stubborn prince's. She knew he'd understand, after all, he'd taught her the colorful phrases himself.

"The Supreme Kai, however, can not be held responsible for your current actions."

"What?"

"He saw fit to give you a second life, Ouiji-sama, and you're wrecking it." she stated baldly. If he hadn't been astonished before, he was now. What fucking audacity! He leaned forward, an exclamation being launched from his lips, when she interrupted.

"Forgive me, Ouiji-sama. I have lost something of my...diplomacy, due to fatigue." she sighed again. "Rude though it might have been, what I say is the truth. This is the reason for my anger at you, earlier. You have been given an opportunity that most are not...and I, am saddened, and frustrated, by your rejection of it."

He was growling at her. Peachy. She wondered briefly if she should have lobbied for hazard pay.

"You were chosen, Vegeta-sama, because of who, and what, you are. A Saiyan Prince, and the strongest warrior in this quadrant of the universe. You have unlimited potential." Air whooshed from his body at her words...he actually felt, his head spin as she laughed.

"Come, Vegeta-sama. False modesty? You are ALWAYS proclaiming yourself strongest...you know it to be true."

"Hn." he fell back on his arrogance, but was pleased, that someone, somewhere, acknowledged his superiority. A Kai no less, even thought not of his home planet. Pride, was not something he was lacking, but a little validation was a good thing once in a while.

Sirabi continued. "You were also chosen because of what you are not. Though raised by a madman, you did not become one." she was quiet as she took her seat in front of him again. Her amber eyes glowed warmly, as they rested on him, assessing, seeing. He didn't think there was much she hadn't seen. The tone of her voice became clear, bell-like, and her eyes hazed as she looked at something, beyond him.

"Your being brought to this planet was as deliberate as he gets I think. You must be challenged before you ascend. Not only your strength, but your worth."

"What the hell are you talking about, Sorceress?"

She frowned. "Living, is always a challenge, Vegeta." she paused, gathering appropriate thoughts. "You have, an extraordinary spirit, that has been blackened by your past. By Frieza. Your existence now, is an opportunity for your true spirit to shine." he remained quiet, but bristled at the nonsense. She offered a small smile in return for his restraint, disrespectful as it was.

"The Vegeta that survived Frieza's physical, mental and emotional abuse, that was you, at your best. The Vegeta that survived being Frieza's weapon without going insane, that was you, at your best. That you did not become Frieza, that was you, Vegeta No Ouiji, at your best. Is it so much to ask for now? Your best? Meet every challenge with the same strength of will and the true, untainted spirit of Vegeta No Ouiji, and you will find there is more to life, than just existing."

Vegeta took the stairs slowly, his movements listless despite the surplus of energy in his system. Every fiber of his being ached. Damn the Sorceress, for seeing what she did, and for digging up the rest. His stomach burned, and he thought he might be sick. There just was no end to his weakness. His mind was overrun with memories, of Frieza, Namek, his father, and this, Supreme Kai. The sorceress spoke much of the truth, and the thought that it was ALL true, it made him ill.

He tucked Bulma into her bed. A small smile curled his lips softly, she really was something else. Even if she was still unconscious from the experience...she shared the energy of SuperSaiyan with him! Stood with him as an equal. Matched his rage, and sent it back with...that, that sexy, almost Saiyan smile...It aroused him incredibly. A quiet purr erupted in his chest. He thought as he did when he mated her, she might just be his salvation. If he could only let her be.

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Okay...Break time. I know this chapter is bit shorter than the last one, but this was pretty heavy material. So I'm calling it a day. And don't worry...the next chapter is on it's way.

We'll take a closer look at Gohan's rut ,:::drools:::: and Vegeta's mail... : )

Ja ne! Don't forget to review, tell me that you loved it...or that you hated it...just be sure to tell me why. <winks>

RavenDakini@aol.com or JadaKirin@msn.com

Thanks!