Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Never Meant to Love Him ❯ Help ( Chapter 1 )

Never Meant to Love Him

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ now strike a pose!

Chapter One

The only light that entered the kitchen was the soft glow of the refrigerator as Vegeta studied the contents for his fifth and final visit of the day. It might only be one o'clock in the morning, but even he had to admit defeat and fatigue. The lacerations and bruising that laced his body were just too much to concentrate through and all he wanted was to find a quick bite to eat before heading to the shower and eventually bed, allowing the wounds of the day to heal as he slept.

His mind shelved the pain for now as he laboured his mouth into a smirk, his arms laden with a variety of cold meats, rice dishes and fruit. His training had gone particularly well today and even though his general fatigue caused a pang of real regret, he couldn't be anything other than satisfied with the day's accomplishments. With such exquisite training and body searing brutality it was surely only a matter of time before the golden fleece of his ancestors would rest in their proper place.

Not long had passed and Vegeta's hoard was now laying delectably on the table before him, being devoured with clean speed as his day's exertions were displayed through the stomach. A feeling made his head raise a fraction, letting his eyebrows pinch in the middle as his senses told him the lonesome darkness, that he habitually revelled in, was about to be disturbed. He frowned as the hallway light flickered on, reinforcing his senses and allowing a flood of shadows to pour through the bevelled glass kitchen door.

His face hardened… this was his hour! The day was his work, and the night his silent relaxation, it was the only time that he ever felt as though he was truly himself. As hard as he tried, (which realistically wasn't very) he couldn't help but feel awkward in human company. All the occupants on this strange little planet managed to get under his skin one way or another, and those more especially gifted at it were those he kept house with.

His mind tuned instinctively into the vicinity that he could hear the soft padding of bare feet on carpet, trying to decipher which one of the residents it was that was about to intrude on his time of night. Not that it really mattered of course. Each of the inhabitants was unwelcome. If it were the father then he would undoubtedly try to engage him in scientific small talk, giving him yet another excuse as to why his training bots were taking so long to be repaired. If it were the mother, (and he couldn't help but let out a slight shudder at the thought,) then he would probably be victim to hours of endless gush on the intricate in and outs of house keeping and how house plants were the release of the soul and would flourish if lavished with the right attention, before she either pirouetted around in a state of blissful insanity until he knew he would snap and kill something, or she would burst into song, regardless of the late hour.

The kitchen door silently opened letting more light encroach on the shadows that the Saiyan no Ouji gloried in.

"Vegeta?"

There was silence as a delicate pool of shadow stood in the open doorway.

"Vegeta are you in here?"

Appropriately he didn't reply. Perhaps if he remained quiet then she would look elsewhere and he would be saved the torture of having to be in such close proximity. Damn! It had to be the daughter! Perhaps, out of all, this was the worst, because at least he could read the others. He had the advantage of them all and could look down on them as he knew they deserved to be viewed, but she… Bulma… well she was something quite different. She confused him, and even though it was so completely infuriating and annoying on an every day basis as he prided himself on his control and mental prowess, it was also, ultimately, alluring.

In everything (even though he would deny it until he was blue in the face,) she held advantage. Unbeknownst to her she held one trump card that would always be there to ridicule him, because it was that of his own desire. It pulled at him through the senses and as much as he tried to ignore and scorn the sentiment, he also couldn't help but admit to himself that were she ever to offer, he might not have it within himself to refuse.

"I know you're in here." Her voice was light but stern at the same time, "I can see the food on the table."

"What do you want!" he spat out, unable to avoid replying longer.

There was a fizz as fine fingers flipped a switch and the kitchen lights sparked into life. Instinctively Vegeta shied away as his eyes adjusted. Squinting against the brightness.

"You of course!" she replied, walking gently up to him, "Why else would I call your name?"

"Fine! What do you want from me?" he corrected. There was a smattering of innuendo under the gruffness of his voice that he scorned the moment it fell from his lips, but he covered it well with, "I will warn you though, it had better be damned important or I will destroy the light and you for intruding uninvited on my time!"

Not even noticing the threat Bulma pulled out an empty chair, and Vegeta's eyes caught up to notice that she wore a low necked short black t-shirt and simple pair of white pyjama bottoms, as she slumped dramatically down at the large wooden table.

"It's this darn Halloween party I'm trying to organize," she sighed.

Ordinarily Vegeta would have stood up and left at the sheer mention of so insignificant a topic, but his mind was more agreeably engaged as her slumped position offered him a view down the neckline that just couldn't be ignored.

"It's been driving me crazy! I mean Capsule Corporation has a reputation to uphold and so do I! I always, always have the best Halloween parties in Western Capital City, but my inspiration just had to take a detour this year, that is it did until I remembered that I had just what I needed right underneath my nose," her face twisted into a huge grin as her eyelids fluttered, "You!"

"What about me?" he snarled, scolding his thoughts onto the right track.

"Well as far as things go I would have to say you can be pretty scary at times."

"Only at times?" He accused, raising a deathly eyebrow.

"OK pretty much most of time." She ceded, "but that's what I'm talking about! I mean you must have seen things in your life that most ordinary people, (myself included,) couldn't even begin to comprehend," Her face softened and voice constricted a little as she spoke, "In other words you've probably been witness to events that would scare the living shit out of me. I think that if there is anyone who can make sure a Halloween party is memorable, then it's you. I was wondering if, perhaps, you would consider helping me."

Vegeta couldn't help but laugh out loud at the suggestion "Onna I would quit that train of thought right now, I can tell you straight off that the day you get me participating in some pathetic human holiday, will also be the day that HFIL freezes over. My time is mine alone and I will only spend it doing something that I consider important."

"Aw… come on Vegeta you haven't even given me a chance to explain and besides, I would have thought you would jump at the chance of terrifying a room full of unsuspecting humans?"

"Then you would have thought wrong. I have more important things to concentrate on, like attaining the level of my legendary ancestors, so I can dispose of two evil androids and one pain in the ass third class Saiyan... do I need to write you a list?"

"Its not like you'd have to come to the party. All I want is some inspiration… pleeeeeeease?"

Vegeta leant forward staring into her face in a manner that Bulma would surely understand, as he growled out the word, "No" in such a deathly low pitch as to have made any ordinary person drop the subject immediately.

Bulma Briefs, however, was anything but ordinary, and almost instantly her colegate smile was lost as fine eyebrows met menacingly in the middle, "Ugh! You are so insufferable at times!" she turned away with her nose held firmly in the air, as fine strands of aquamarine hair whipped defiantly against Vegeta's face, "Fine!" she ceded after a minute's silence, the lines of her fine mouth turning up into the faintest of smirks, "if you don't want the hassle it doesn't matter, I'll do all the legwork. It won't inconvenience you in the slightest. All I need is your permission to look through the memory files in your gravity room. I should imagine you picked up enough data when you used it to search for Son-Kun in space to help me come up with something."

"Will it disrupt my training?"

"Not at all… I imagine you're finished for the day?"

"Unfortunately… yes." He growled.

"Then I'll do it right now. I have the day off tomorrow so it won't inconvenience me in the slightest."

"If it will mean that you will leave me alone, then do as you wish." Angrily he threw a credit card shaped piece of plastic onto the kitchen table, "Now go away before I change my mind!"

Bulma's face lit up, her eyes alive with mischievousness, "Thank you Vegeta!" she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him playfully on the cheek, "This is going to be the best Halloween party ever!"

Vegeta was struck immobile as her body pressed momentarily against his own. It was a combination of surprise as the soft skin of her open midriff met squarely with his equally exposed abs, and desire as her hot lips pressed gently to his chiselled cheek.

Bulma's brain seemed to finally catch up and she laughed nervously, her face pinking slightly. She didn't, however, appear to notice the moment as intensely as Vegeta did and he confessed himself a little disappointed at the fact. Any skin to skin contact, which didn't involve fighting, was exceedingly rare for him to experience and even rarer was it that he actually enjoyed the contact, but he knew better than to read into it. The blush spoke embarrassment, but Bulma's eyes were already turned towards the door and her next mission.

The whole planet seemed to have an over affiliation with false gestures of affection. To them such close bodily contact was an everyday occurrence and held little positive weight. He had even seen the female touch the postman in this familiar way when he had delivered her an especially important letter... it was just the way she was.

Oblivious to the fact that his scowl had deepened under the impression, he continued to stare at her in confusion, until at length her body backed away and with an awkward, "Um… I'll leave you alone now then." she had reached the door and was practically running across the darkened lawn to the gravity room in her haste to get away.

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The large structure loomed ominously over the scenery, contrasting with the soft security lighting of Capsule Corporation and stamping its authority in a dramatic shadow against the gentle lines of the existing buildings. Bulma's face hardened as the cool night's breeze blew over her burning cheeks. "Damn Bulma, you really have to control yourself around him." She muttered, "but at least I got the key-card."

She lightly ran her fingers along the smoothed metal of the gravity room, trying to find the lock by touch, all the time her resolve wavering. It wasn't that she didn't have a perfectly validated reason to search through the computers extensive memory, but she couldn't help but feel guilty at the double motive that had prompted her to go this far.

Determinedly she shook her head, this was definitely something she had to do. It was so easy to forget being around him all the time, eating, drinking, sleeping with him in the house. Seeing that body, hearing the baritone beauty of his voice, being a victim of those eyes that seemed to hold so much, reaching out to her own and ripping at the soul. She couldn't do it anymore! It was driving her insane, because it was Vegeta for Kami's sake!

This hadn't been part of the plan in inviting him to stay at Capsule Corp. It had been solely to keep him on earth long enough to have another viable member of the Z Senshi to fall back on, now it was one big mess, because she could feel herself falling for him. Not in the way she fell for Yamcha, although she did love him, it was almost a natural tie that pulled invisible cords of connection, coercing her to be close to him, telling her want that she needed him, and that was something she didn't want to even think about.

She had to remind herself what he really was. A murderer of thousands… an animal, bred and cultured to kill, and who, given the chance, would have destroyed the Earth without batting an eyelid. This was not something she would allow herself to become a victim over, she would prevail, inure herself to the beauty she saw in him and remember that he was a killer, everything that she scorned and hated. She would stop this before it got completely out of hand!

There was a something that settled unnaturally at the pit of her stomach as the large door relented, allowing her access to the domed structure. It wasn't just the semi-lies she had had to tell to get this far, (telling them was almost a new form of art when manipulated by her intricately perceptive mind,) but rather the smell that inundated her nostrils. It flowed gently over her body, encapsulating an earthy, basic, and masculine scent that was by no means unpleasant. To be perfectly honest it had quite the opposite effect on Bulma than repulsion, and she had to scold the action of taking a second appreciative inhale out of her system as there was no mistaking that it literally oozed Vegeta.

Closing her eyes and hardening herself to the sensations it created she moved on, remembering to the lock the door from the inside so she would not be caught looking. Carefully her fingers skimmed over the intricate keypad as she looked for the button that would allow her use of his personal files. A slight tingle danced down her spine as for some reason there was an edge of excitement to this that she had been sorely unprepared for. Perhaps it was because that Vegeta was so secretive the whole time. He rarely spoke about himself and his brief visit into space after Namek was an area that he was especially quiet about.

Getting more than a monosyllable reply to any question put to him was next to impossible and here she was with a key card that could open up a complete Pandora's box of trouble, but more importantly would give her an insight into her more than abnormal houseguest. Lifting her head she pressed enter and looked up to the large screen that flickered into life at perfect viewing height. This was it. This was the moment that she found out once and for all. Nervously she went back to the computer screen and focused her attention on the multitude of files that were now on offer.

Surprisingly there were more added to it than she could have conceived the Saiyan capable of. She had known that he had used the computer for storing important discrepancies in the ships design for her father to fix should he need to use the craft again, but she had absolutely no idea that he kept personal files as well. Now her ethics were waging war with reason. One told her she had no right to intrude on such entries and the other handed her the gift of temptation and possible revelations that would never be disclosed willingly.

The cursor lay briefly over one of the first files labelled under the 'private' section, and perhaps it remained a little too long. Bulma licked her lips, her heart racing. All she had to do was click on that icon and she would know all, but her hand hesitated. It was too far, even for her, he was entitled to his privacy no matter what he had done in the past! Grudgingly she moved the cursor and to the files of the outboard camera surveillance video. These files were large, and numerous, after all there was five months worth of data collected. Bulma sighed. It would take her forever to find what she needed. There had to be a system she could use to work out which video would be relevant. The last thing she wanted was to spend the night fast-forwarding her way through weeks of nothing but star pocketed space.

Then like a cudgel between the eyes, her brain told her that which it had ignored before. Surely if she compared the dates the computer automatically logged when the spaceship was inactive, it would give the required dates of any planetary landings. Bulma beamed. She truly was a genius! Sorting and collating all the data it took her little more than ten minutes to find all five relevant files. "OK," she muttered, "which one first Bulma…? Well this one is the oldest date so I guess it's logical to view it first!"

Without another thought the button was pressed, and Bulma sat back against the computer mainframe, her legs pulled up to her chest, making as little contact with the cold tiles as possible, and watched. Unbeknownst to Bulma there was little that could prepare for what she was about to see.

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A/N - Yeah I know Halloween is still a fair distance off, but obviously there will be more of this closer to the time. I'm planning on posting the last chapter of, what I hope will be three, on Halloween (but ya never know it could prove to be longer). In the meantime let me know what you think. *huggles* Ember.