Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Pleading Truths ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

He woke to the feeling of the noon sun filtering through the tree leaves above him to pierce straight through to his eyes and groaned. If he'd thought he'd felt horrible when he woke up yesterday, today was worse. Every muscle creaked out a protest as he sat up and held his head in his hands against the oncoming wave of dizziness.

He looked around, finding himself still in the woods out back of CC. Wasn't he going there to get rid of any suspicions the woman had? Had he passed out-? No, he'd gotten all the way there, not even realizing he had done so until he had noticed the figure in front of him; in front of the door. He couldn't see who it was clearly and stood there, wondering if he had enough energy to streak past the person, until he heard them call his name.

He had turned and quickly gone the other way, not quite making it to where he thought there would be shelter before he collapsed.

He rose fully, wanting to get back to CC as quickly as possible. It wasn't as hard as that morning, but it was certainly harder than the last four times he had to take this path home. In fact, if he hadn't known better, he'd say that blackness at the edge of his vision was him about ready to pass out again. He gritted his teeth and growled.

He approached the edge of the forest in a more cautious manner than before. This time he wouldn't be caught halfway out by an inquisitive woman. Plus, he was naked still, and he'd probably need to requisition that blanket again to cover himself. It would be just what he needed to walk in naked. Not that he was modest or anything; he wasn't ashamed of his body, just that the woman would freak and he happened to have sensitive hearing.

As he'd suspected, but hoped wasn't so, the woman was waiting for him outside the door. She was stretched out on her stomach on the very blanket he needed facing Capsule Corporation and seemed to be immersed in some book. She wore a bright red bikini that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, especially from his rear point-of-view. Every once in a while, one shapely leg would kick up.

Vegeta realized he had been staring when she suddenly flipped over and he had to duck down with a bitten-off curse. He had been leaning forward toward her!

The woman was purposely there. She usually fixed lunch around this time, which was why he tried to hurry in now. And she just happened to be conveniently sunning in the back lawn in front of the door. He had simply grabbed the blanket all the last times and sneaked to the front to avoid her. Now, he had a dilemma.

Since the woman seemed to be deliberately staging this ambush, he didn't think using his speed would do. She had probably locked the door or something equally aggravating. And the front would be out of the question for the same reason. He didn't think he would be able to handle flying now either, not if just standing made him dizzy.

He shook his head and sat down where he was in a lotus position. He might as well try to be comfortable. The woman could only keep up the pretense of sunning so long as the sun was up…. As if to argue against him waiting that long, his stomach gave a long and loud grumble.

He stifled a curse and looked to see that the woman had indeed sat bolt upright, book forgotten beside her as she looked directly into the woods. She stood quickly and used the blanket to cover herself as she peered into the woods. "Vegeta?"

He cursed quietly. Now, if he didn't answer, she'd probably think him some wild animal, which might put her back into the house, but with the blanket. Plus she'd probably relock the door so he'd have to knock. He could just imagine her reaction when she opened the door to see his state of undress.

"Vegeta?" She started taking cautious steps back and he again cursed and stood, moving so that just his head was visible through the brush. It looked as if he had no choice.

"Yes. It's me."

She gave out a sigh of relief and started forward.

"Stay there!"

She stopped, looking confused. "Are you alright, Vegeta?"

He sighed with exasperation and moved a hand into her line of sight, waving it to show his mobility. "I'm fine. Throw the blanket this way."

Bulma looked down at the blanket she held and then back up at him, taking another tentative step forward. "Why? What's wrong?"

He growled at her, causing her to again pause. "I said stay back! Just throw the blanket or I'm leaving!"

She blinked several times, until it finally dawned on her the position he was in, the bushes hiding certain parts of him, though his chiseled chest showed enough. He was amused to see her blush almost as red as her bathing suit. "Oh." It was quietly spoken, but quickly followed by the blanket being tossed, which he easily caught and wrapped around himself, hiding most of the bruises and cuts as well.

He stepped out of the bushes and briskly walked toward her, trying to act as if neither he nor she knew he was naked. Well, at least he got a good look at her without the towel, the shape and cut of her bathing suit accenting her toned stomach, among other things. That was a plus. Highlight of his day, in fact.

She moved to one side, eyes following him as he reached the door and tried the knob. Locked, just as he'd expected. He turned to her impatiently. "Let me in."

Bulma's demeanor changed, her flush from briefly exposed legs and torso that his movements revealed vanishing as she crossed her arms just below her chest, as if she was flaunting to him. He ignored it and stared directly in her eyes. "No. Not until you tell me what's going on."

Vegeta tossed his head angrily. "I don't have time to explain it. Let me in! As you clearly heard, I'm hungry!"

Bulma peered closely as she advanced on him. "You look tired too." She gave him a once-over, her blue eyes traveling down his entire length until he thought he would start squirming. Her eyes widened at his feet and he looked down to see dried blood on them. "You're hurt!" She was moving toward him as she said it.

He tried to negate that, remembering the wound he had felt on his thigh, and back up at the same time. However, the door at his rear, his nakedness under the blanket, and the fact that she was already close to him, prevented him. She soon was bent down over his leg and it was all he could do not to kick her back. As it was, he jerked the leg as she grabbed his ankle.

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes that said she meant business. "Stop that! I'm not going to hurt you! Now, where's the wound?"

He glared right back down at her, still only meeting her eyes despite his advantageous height. "My thigh, which I doubt you can view with me like this. It's a small wound; already stopped bleeding. I'll treat it. Once I get inside!" He pronounced the last sentence very clearly, almost leaning down into her face if he wasn't afraid it would show too much. Since when was he this modest anyway? Stupid human ways! He was beginning to adopt some of them!

She nodded silently and stood up, moving him to the side gently and taking out her keys. He waited, stifling the need to hop from one foot to another, and squeezed around her as soon as the door was open, dashing to his room to close and lock his door before she could protest.

~<*>~

Bulma hummed a little tune as she led the serving bots to the Gravity Room. The twelve bots behind her obediently followed her like a group of ducklings, all laden with as much food as was required to feed a Saiyan Prince and herself. Bulma had made sure to include only his most favored foods. She was going to be punishing him after all, might as well put some honey with the sting.

After the shadow she now knew was Vegeta had fled that morning, she had seriously considered calling Goku. But she had quickly retracted that idea. It was hardly a secret that Vegeta held an animosity for the younger Saiyan, though Bulma thought it might be for more than just that Super Saiyan thing. And how could she call Goku, make him stop his important training; according to her future self, very important; to look for what she thought was Vegeta? If it had been him, he would be hiding his ki, and he'd rather attack Goku than talk to him and come back home.

She paused right before the door to the GR. Had she just referred to Capsule Corporation and Vegeta and used the word 'home'? She smiled softly to herself. Well, it wasn't like she could imagine this house without the volatile Prince. In fact, he added a quality she hadn't known was missing. Her parents were much to complacent, as she found out when the arrogant man had moved in, demanding what he wanted when he wanted it and not a minute later. She enjoyed their verbal spars and had a small hunch that Vegeta did too, considering he hadn't blasted her or left. And that was why she had to do this.

She focused in on the area of the floor to the right of the door and raised a brow, bending down and picking up the burgundy blanket. She had been lying when she'd said she'd have to wash it. She liked the Prince's-scent. And boy, was that an unusual thought.

The blanket being right outside the GR worked as more than a reminder of his presence though. It also signified her own predictability. He knew she would be showing up to check the logs and see when he had left.

So, Vegeta thought he knew what she would do, eh? She smirked and pressed the emergency shutdown button.

She didn't even let the sound of a giant thud quite end before she opened the door and darted in to a stream of curses from the just-rising-from-the-floor Prince, where he had landed when she'd shut off the gravity. After all, the high gravity would cause one to strain up, and when the gravity vanished, one would continue to go up, which resulted in one coming down; hard.

Vegeta's head whipped around to the source of his sudden weightlessness and he growled. "What do you think you're doing, woman? I've told you about messing up my training befo-" He trailed off as he noticed the line of bots that came in after Bulma, carrying enough food to feed both of them. His eyes narrowed to suspicious slits and he rested both hands on his hips. "What's going on?"

Making the picture of innocence, Bulma sweetly smiled. "Well, since you always leave before you can eat dinner, I thought it would be nice if we could go ahead and eat dinner a little early. You don't mind, do you?"

Vegeta looked at her with some confusion for a moment before turning to try and circumspectly look at the clock. Considering it was behind him….

He turned back around. "Actually, I do. I don't want dinner. I'm not hungry. I have to leave."

Bulma rolled her eyes, reaching a hand over and depressing the button to shut the door. Again without looking, she typed in a code on the keypad at the bottom of the button and Vegeta heard a solid click. "You Saiyans are always hungry! Besides, where in the world would you have to be at this time? Sunset isn't for another twenty minutes."

Vegeta grimaced. So this was where that part that was wholly her mother was hiding. She'd turned it manipulative. It was definitely something he would do. "Did you lock the door?"

Bulma widened her eyes, staring at Vegeta's own narrowed ones in mock-shock. She transferred that gaze to the keypad. "Did I? Oh dear me!" She turned back and her expression was one of sadistic joy. "Oh well. I guess now you can't leave…I've forgotten the code to unlock it. Oh, that's right. It automatically unlocks after three hours. What do you know? I'm such a gen-"

"Shut up!" Vegeta had, by this time, advanced on her until he was just inches from her face. "I can jog your memory for you, woman! That I promise you! Open it!"

Bulma smirked at him, dropping the innocent tone altogether. "N-O. No, Vegeta. You see, while you were upstairs dressing, I assume, I redid the lock on this thing. There is no code to unlock it. I set it on a timer instead. A timer that will, conveniently, end after whatever happens to you happens."

He stalked off to the other side of the room, presumably to keep from hitting her, and turned on his heel to stomp back. "How do you know something 'happens' to me, woman? How do you know I don't leave to have some tryst with some Earth woman? Hmm? What if it's a Saiyan thing?"

Bulma raised a brow. "Oh, that is the lamest thing you have ever said. I think that tops Goku's 'we can't hurt Gero, he hasn't done anything yet' by a thousand points. Why would you stoop so low as to have sex with a weak human? And a Saiyan 'thing'? If you told me you were going into a heat or something, I might buy it. But a 'thing'? What, they didn't call it anything, Vegeta?"

Vegeta's complexion darkened and Bulma started. Was he-blushing? "Is it a heat?"

"No!" He stomped off again, this time to regain his composure, and came back to face her; tan normal but eyes and manner still livid. "It's not that! We don't do that! But if you don't let me out by sunset you're going to find out what it is!"

Bulma nodded and went to take a seat over at a bench, motioning a bot carrying steaming meats over to her. "I know. Now, are you sure you're not hungry?"

Vegeta threw back his head and let out a scream of rage, catching Bulma unaware as he literally threw himself at the keypad and tried to rip it to pieces, eyes wild and breath lurching from his throat. She stared at his actions wide-eyed before moving to him in growing alarm. "Vegeta!" He continued, oblivious to all else around him, tearing the thing with fingers that started to bleed from the maltreatment.

He was suddenly spun around by one shoulder and slapped on the cheek. The blow hadn't hurt in the least, hadn't even moved him an inch, but the effect was like a shock of cold water and he blinked at the blue-haired female standing over him, her eyes glazed with worry. "Vegeta! Snap out of it! That's not going to open the door! Tell me what's wrong! Maybe I can help or-something!"

He blinked blandly at her again and felt her take his hands in her own, mumbling about him being stupid. She clumsily wrapped the burgundy blanket he had left outside the GR for her around his torn fingers, until he took it from her hands and carefully wiped each nail, ignoring the nips of pain from torn skin.

He stood quickly, trying to brush aside the panic that still wanted to fling itself at the very walls and claw his way out. He glanced at the clock. Ten minutes. He had ten minutes.

She noticed his gaze and dared to take his hands in her own. "Vegeta, please. Tell me what's wrong. I've never seen you like this. Just tell me what the problem is. I won't tell anyone else, I swear…. Just-please…."

He started at the pleading note in her voice and turned his head to the side. If he didn't tell her something, she would be here when it happened…. "Woman…I don't know. I don't know what it is. All I know it that from sunset to sunup I'm somewhere and someone else. Woman, you have to let me out. I've woken up at dawn sometimes and-disgorged…fresh meat.

He turned back toward her, and she caught a glimmer of desperation in his black eyes. "I've got less than ten minutes to get somewhere where-whatever happens can happen with no one near. If it helps, I always wake right in that forest, where you saw me this afternoon. You can come, bring clothes or something. But don't come any earlier than dawn…." The pause from one sentence to the last was significant.

"Let me go, woman."

Bulma's mouth opened and closed several times before she silently nodded and moved to the keypad. Vegeta had just possibly come the closest to asking for something she had ever heard. She typed in the code quickly. "I'll do some research. Try and find out what's wrong." The door opened and she heard a grunt before a blur of blue and black swept past her, ki trail the only indication that it was Vegeta.

"Kami.... I'll find out what's wrong…."

~<*>~

Vegeta flew as far and as fast as he could. Even so, he faltered halfway to his destination, realizing that the sun was setting and he was over a forest he didn't recognize, one that might have people in it. He couldn't land here.

So he veered off his course, intending on at least hitting the edge of the woods, off to the right of his intended target, but well away from civilization. He didn't even make it that far. He watched the sun set with trepidation and suddenly curled inward as the pain once again ripped through him, new as the first time it had struck him.

He felt his throat clench around the screams that always came out, trying to swallow unsuccessfully. Like a tidal wave the pain surged around him, carrying him this way and that until it deposited him to smack into the cliffs, his form folding in on itself and dropping from the sky as if a boulder tied it down.

He felt his body bouncing off of tree branches, flopping like a rag doll until he met the ground, but barely registered the pain his fall from six miles up caused for the pain as changes in his body occurred. Muscles elongated, shrunk, were created, or just disappeared. Bones cracked and popped as they shifted and morphed into a different structure. His very chemical make-up changed, altering his ideas, attitudes, and memories. Everything that was Vegeta became something else as the man himself threw back his head from where it lay on the impassive earth and screeched his agony to the equally uncaring heavens.