Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ MiNd GaMeS ❯ Chapter Ten ( Chapter 10 )

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* *MIND GAMES* *

"You look awful Bulma. Are you coming down with something?" Brocco asked, hours later.

The exhausted human female nodded, "It's nothing serious, though. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

The concerned First Commander decided she might as well not beat around the bush,

"Have you gained weight Bulma?"

Bulma stiffened, unconsciously pulling her clothes away from her slightly protruding stomach, "Maybe a little. What business is it of yours Commander?" she snapped.

The older female flinched, her face flushed red as she looked down at her boots in her mortification; "I apologize, I meant no offense, my Queen."

Why can't Vegeta be more like Brocco? She's the only Saiyan on this planet I can stand. "That's okay Brocco. I'm just really sensitive about it."

Brocco smiled, "You were right, it is no business of mine. It's time for the King's training to be over, so I'm going. I'll see you."

After the doors closed behind the tired Saiyan, Bulma went to the kitchen. I'm starving! I guess I had better start eating for two now, she thought, grimacing as she imagined herself in about two months. I think Vegeta will have figured it out by then. She found an easy to make Vegetaseii meal and started cooking, eagerly anticipating eating. Fifteen minutes and one burnt finger later and Bulma was ready to eat. Just after she finished her third helping, she thought she heard footsteps just outside of the door.

The doors opened, and in came a sweaty yet pleased looking Vegeta. Well look what the cat dragged in, Bulma thought, a sardonic expression on her face. She left her empty dishes in the sink and went into the bedroom as Vegeta passed her and got into the shower. She changed out of one of the maternity dresses she had made, and got into one of her nightgowns. Bulma plopped onto the bed and sighed as she stared blankly at the ceiling with her hand moving absently on her stomach. What if I can't escape; what will I do then? And what will Vegeta do when he finds out I've escaped?

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Vegeta entered the bedroom from his shower refreshed, but stopped as he noticed his mate lying on the bed looking whimsical, unhappy, and…vulnerable. His eyes narrowed as he noticed her hand resting protectively on her stomach. His doubts about whether or not his new mate was pregnant instantaneously disappeared as he remembered everything that previously aroused his suspicion and he felt his temper begin to rise, She *IS* pregnant.

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As she lay there, the Queen of Vegetaseii wondered if going back to earth was really as big a deal as she had previously thought, After all, everyone you knew is dead now. What do I have to go back to? She propped herself up on her elbows and frowned; What is Vegeta doing? He's just standing there staring at me.

He was standing a few feet from the bed glaring at her; the veins on his forehead throbbed, showing how truly upset he was. She sat fully up and gazed at him, puzzled "What is it? What's wrong Vegeta?"

Vegeta's eyes shone dangerously before he answered her question with another, "Why did you lie, Bulma?"

Bulma groaned inwardly as she immediately realized what he was talking about, But how does he know? How did he find out? "I had to do it to protect the baby." She stated, standing next to the bed, her head raised proudly.

"Who's the father?" he asked his voice full of venom.

"Don't be so damned ridiculous Vegeta. The father is--" She stopped as a voice in her head told her not to let him off so easily; Here's your chance to pay him back for all the suffering he's caused you Bulma. Grab the bastard by the balls and don't let go until you think he's suffered enough. "You're the father of course. Who else could it be?" She laughed her voice full of mirth, smirking at him.

Vegeta clenched his fists angrily, "You know perfectly well who's baby that could be; that thrice damned human in the slaves' quarters that you had sex with. For all I know, you could have been rutting with him while I was in Solmivia."

Bulma raised a thin, elegant eyebrow, but didn't deny it. Her heart was going at least 900 beats a minute and she could feel the blood pounding in her ears.

With mixed pain and rage in his eyes, Vegeta moved over to Bulma and took her shoulders, staring intently in her eyes as he spoke, as if searching them for answers, "You said the child is mine; but will you swear to it?"

Briefly closing her eyes, Bulma shook her head, "No Vegeta. I won't. I've told you that the child is yours-that is going to have to be enough."

"Damn you! If you won't swear to it, it must be because you can't! The child is NOT mine!" He stormed his eyes turning icy and his grip on her shoulders tightening.

With her heart beating so loudly she was sure Vegeta could hear it, Bulma answered with as much conviction as she could muster, "Believe what you like. I don't care much either way." For a minute, she was sure the enraged Vegeta would strike her and she tensed awaiting the blow, her fear of him evident. Instead, Vegeta released her, and left without saying another word. He didn't have to; his eyes revealing everything his words didn't, if only Bulma would have looked closely enough.

Bulma exhaled loudly, unaware that she had been holding her breath. She was glad that was over and done with. And as she lay back down in the bed and called 'lights off' she thought, As long as he isn't here I could really care less where that bastard is. Sorry Vegeta, but I guess you had to figure this out for yourself: there isn't a force in the universe more powerful, or more frightening than a woman scorned.

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He stormed down the nearly empty main hallway and into the ship port where Brocco was conducting a late night survey of the imported goods.

"Brocco!"

She dropped her pen and pad in surprise before recovering, and bowing, "Yes, Excellency?"

"Get up. Now, tell me when the next purging mission is scheduled to leave."

"Well," she flipped through the papers on her clipboard, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "There are none scheduled yet. We have found no planet that we need to add to your empire yet, sire. And besides, your orders were that we should no longer conduct such missions."

Vegeta snorted angrily, as he remembered making that order, "If any cause for leaving the planet comes, I will go also; the longer the mission, the better."

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Middle of the fifth month...

>Rachel was one of the few allowed to see Bulma, along with Vegeta (who RARELY saw her) and the doctor. Her pregnancy was apparent now, and the few times where the King actually saw her protruding belly he would storm out of the room and disappear for long periods of time; sometimes for days. He slept on the couch and showered in his training room as Rachel told Bulma.

The Queen was cheerful-she was in the second part of pregnancy: misery, cheery, weary-and pretended she didn't notice the gap forming between herself and the King, and insisted that there had been distance between them from the very beginning. She also wondered why it mattered to her.

Bulma suffered the usual aches and pains a woman in the latter months of pregnancy usually undertook, but she was glad that there were only four months left until she could leave. She tried not to think of the baby as a 'he' or 'she'; the baby was simply 'it'. By doing this, she was doing her best to keep from loving the baby and becoming attached to it.

Unfortunately for Bulma, it was too late; the first time she felt 'it' move inside her, she knew she'd die before abandoning it on this planet.

Meanwhile, Vegeta was sorely tempted to drag that human he was sure Bulma mated with out of the slaves' quarters and strangle the life out of him. Something kept him from doing that; the tiny part of him that wasn't sure if the child was the baka's or his own. Bulma had lied to him several times; he felt that there was absolutely nothing keeping her from lying this time also. As a result of their being mated, she was part Saiyan and he part human. Vegeta was sure that the Saiyan part of her would honor a promise, yet the damned woman refused to swear that the child was his.

The King kept his anger in check by training whenever he had a free moment so that his mind wouldn't wander to the smirking blue-haired blue-eyed beauty, pregnant with another man's child that haunted his thoughts all day. He lost a great deal of third class fighters during this period.

Vegeta finally ceased his tendency to leave the room in a fury whenever he saw Bulma. He would remain where he was and would sit in stony silence, which was exactly what he was doing on this day as Bulma and her friend/slave laughed and talked. <

"Bulma, this is kind of personal, but I was just wondering...how are things between you and Vegeta going?" Rachel asked.

Bulma raised an eyebrow, and glanced quickly at the object of the conversation. "Well, he can at least stand to be in my presence now. I guess that's saying something for him."

Rachel winced. "Sorry I asked."

The VAP indicated there was an incoming call, Bulma-who was already standing next to the device-answered it, her face lighting up as she saw who was on the other line. "Hello Brocco."

"Uh...hello Your--Your Highness."

Bulma smiled at her. "So, how have things been?"

"Okay. I'm sorry if I seem rude Bulma, but I really have to talk to the King. He's there, right?"

Bulma's smile slowly disappeared. "He's here all right. Hold on a second, okay?" She moved away from the VAP machine and met Vegeta's eyes. "Brocco wants to speak to you." She lowered her gaze as he brushed past her to access the machine.

"This had better be important, Commander," he growled, fixing his ever-immaculate white gloves absently.

"Excellency, there's been another rebellion. We are needed off planet as soon as possible."

Vegeta immediately began barking orders back at her before he hurriedly ended the connection. He didn't once glance at Bulma as he walked past her and out of the room.

Rachel snorted disdainfully. "My goodness. He is SO rude! He didn't even say good bye."

Bulma smiled tiredly. "That's just the way he is Rachel."

"It isn't right. He knows about his baby now, right?"

"Well..."

Rachel gasped loudly. "You haven't told him? Bulma! How could you? He's the father and he has a right to know."

"I did tell him," Bulma replied defensively, "Only...he chose not to believe me."

Rachel frowned in confusion. "Why wouldn't he?"

Bulma blushed, fixing her clothes, and looking anywhere but at Rachel, "I-I let him believe that I had been with Yamcha. And when he asked me to swear that the child was not Yamcha's, but his, I told him that I wouldn't."

"No wonder he was initially so angry with you!" the redhead said, angrily.

Bulma bristled at her friend's tone. "He should have believed me when I first told him!"

Rachel softened her tone in an effort to calm them both down. "Why Bulma? You admitted to me that you lied to him several times. Why should he believe you now?"

The Queen frowned. "He should know that I wouldn't do something like that."

"How would he know that Bulma? You've been rather unpredictable; I'm surprised the King hasn't--" Rachel stopped suddenly as an idea hit her, Why hasn't the King done anything to punish Bulma? Could he possibly care for her? That would explain a lot...yet, Bulma doesn't even seem to know it. She changed the subject. "Bulma, how do you feel about the King?"

Frowning at the sudden change of subject, Bulma answered decisively. "He's the most unlikable person I've ever met. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. There must to be something you like about the King."

"Well, let's see," Bulma closed her eyes and began to rack her brain, "He's sexy, and has a somewhat warped sense of humor. I'd say he was a good lover but I have no one to compare him to. He's smart, and when he isn't being an asshole, he's tolerable. That's all I can come up with. Why? Do you like him Rachel?" With this, Bulma opened her cerulean eyes, and watched her friend curiously.

"He's cute, but he's too arrogant to be considered my type," Rachel replied waving her hand dismissively at the idea. "You two are perfectly suited because you're so alike...except for the arrogance thing," the redhead finished loyally.

Bulma laughed, her eyes twinkling merrily, "That is the funniest thing I've ever heard. I'm much more 'arrogant' than I appear to be; I just hide it well." Rachel joined her laughing, and the two were still enjoying the confession made by Bulma when Vegeta walked in the room and sat on the sofa wearily.

Bulma stopped laughing immediately. "Well?" She asked him in the SL.

He turned to look at her. "'Well' what, woman? And shouldn't you be sitting down or something?" he snapped.

Ignoring his words was easy; ignoring his tone was much harder; ignoring his eyes was impossible. Bulma visibly flinched at the venom in his voice but she pressed on. "What is going on with the rebellion?" she asked, ignoring his second question.

Vegeta turned back around in the couch, glaring at a spot on the rug under his feet. "Nappa has put together a band of followers. He's trying to disrupt my control of certain planets in our empire." he said the statement angrily, yet there was hurt underlying his words.

Before she could stop herself, Bulma put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Vegeta. I know that Nappa was a friend of yours."

Without turning to look at her, Vegeta coldly replied. "You know nothing. I do not want your damn sympathy so just leave me the hell alone."

Bulma pulled her hand back so quickly it was as though she had touched a burning hot coal. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard before softly answering. "If it pleases you." She turned to Rachel, who was watching Bulma's face since she couldn't understand them.

"What happened?" she asked the Queen in English.

Bulma sighed. "He said he doesn't want my sympathy."

Rachel glanced at the King's rigid back; "Does he speak English?"

"Of course not, but I'd really prefer not to talk about him. He might hear his name."

Rachel scoffed at Bulma's uneasiness. "Don't be stupid Bulma. If you really want this asshole to warm up to you, you had better tell him about the child."

Bulma sighed heavily; "He won't believe me Rachel. I told him it was his and he chose not to believe."

"Just swear that it's his, he'll believe you then."

"No!" Bulma said loudly, before speaking more normally, "No. I will not. He will have to believe my word, or just suffer as he has been. I have my pride also Rachel."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Bulma before casually commenting. "You know Bulma, sue me if I'm wrong, but I could swear that you care for the pain in the ass."

Bulma laughed mockingly at herself as she considered this statement. "So could I, Rachel; so could I."

The slave gasped. "I was only kidding! Were you serious?"

"Yes."

"And when did you realize this?"

Bulma frowned as she tried to remember the precise moment. "I guess I just sort of always loved him underneath the hatred and it sort of all combined into one." She shrugged, "Doesn't matter much anyway; I have to leave here in less than four months."

Rachel frowned. "You can't leave, Bulma! You'd leave all the people you care for? It's not as though there's anything left for you on Earth anymore."

Bulma blinked rapidly to keep the tears from overflowing. "Earth is the only place I've ever been able to call home."

Sighing deeply and trying not to tear up herself, Rachel answered. "I know how you feel Bulma; I miss Earth too. But you're married now, sort of, and you have a child to stay here for."

"Married?" Bulma looked at Vegeta's rigid back briefly thinking, He must be meditating again, or he would have said ended this conversation. "This is a sham marriage. I may or may not love this arrogant asshole, but that certainly does NOT mean he even gives me the time of day. He abhors me; I know and can accept that for now, but I can't live with that hatred forever." She stiffened as Vegeta moved slightly and sighed in relief as he zone out again.

"What about his child?"

Bulma turned at the whispered question, her face reflecting her inner turmoil. "The child will remain with Vegeta; the rightful father."

Rachel's brows furrowed together disappointment written all over her face. "I can't believe that you're capable of such thinking,

Bulma."

The human female couldn't bring herself to meet her friend's gaze as she answered dolefully. "Neither can I."

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Rachel helped Bulma into bed for her nap soon after that, a puzzled expression on her face as she left her worn-out friend lying there.

Why did Vegeta say nothing to end the conversation? Doesn't he understand English? Well, I suppose he must be meditating. She stole a glance at the King, who was exactly as she and Bulma had left him; on the couch with his head tilted downward, and his back as straight as an arrow. She shivered unconsciously at the sight, unused to the immobile state in which those who meditate went into.

Rachel hummed softly as she began to prepare dinner for the two rulers. She was allowed to eat with the King and Queen, but the tension between those two was usually so intense that she chose not to.

The busy American almost dropped the stack of dishes she had just gotten out of the cabinet when she heard the King on the VAP machine. She whirled around to see Vegeta with his back to her, talking quietly, yet urgently to a pretty woman Rachel recognized as the First Commander. The Commander bowed at whatever Vegeta had just said, and ended the transmission.

Vegeta turned slowly and caught Rachel's eyes. The corner of his mouth raised slowly in an unmistakable smirk, as if he was laughing at her. Rachel flushed and returned to her work. That sneaky bastard! What is he up to? I wish I was paying attention when that guard tried to teach me the SL. Maybe I should tell Bulma...

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(Heh, I love that part!)

WHAT COULD BE GOING ON? WHAT IS VEGETA UP TO? PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL SEE YOU GUYS NEXT TIME.

~BULMA16