Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Pseudo Ferocity ❯ Favourites ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of the character appearing in the manga or television show. Nor am I making any profit off of this story.

Author's Notes: Okay…I took another butt-load of time to update…Things have been weird for me in the past couple of months, and I've been through some rough stuff, including two deaths in the family; my dog of 16 years in February, and my Grandfather very recently, not to mention midterms in late January and late February, and now Finals. I'm sorry about the long wait (again) and I really hope it won't happen again. I'm heading home soon, so aside from my job, I should probably have lots of time to write, provided I can keep the creative juices flowing.

*Special thanks to ssjblackguy, Kat8125, Bulma Peacecraft, and SilverSun, for beta-ing!*

21: Favourites

"Bulma, darling," Kali Delmar cooed, linking her arm though Bulma's as they walked off the set, "filming is over in two weeks, and we hardly know each other!"

"I hardly know anyone here," Bulma admitted, sheepishly, "aside from Vegeta, I mean…And well, when Bruce comes out to help Marille. I've just been so busy, running back and forth between Capsule Corp and the movie set." She sighed, heavily, "It's not as if Vegeta is a spectacular host either."

"Yes, Vegeta…" Kali trailed off, wetting her bottom lip with a quick sweep of her tongue. "Poor girl, you must be so stressed. Hey! Why don't you and I go have a girls' night out tonight! We'll go to a club or something, get to know each other. I'd really like us to be friends." She smiled sweetly, and Bulma nodded, slightly pleased. Kali had never been very friendly toward her; it's not that she was icy; they just didn't really talk much. It didn't really seem to Bulma that they had a lot in common, but it would be nice to have a little estrogen fest.

"Sure, that'd be fun. I've had a severe lack of female company lately. Do you know any good places around here?"

"Oh sure, I know all the hottest joints." She twisted a finger in her hair. "We'll drive into Pepper City and hit a few clubs. It'll be totally fun. Meet me in my trailer at eight, okay? Anyway, I've got to go! Toodles, hun!"

Hell, Bulma thought to herself, watching Kali wiggle off, I've had a severe lack of any company lately. She and Vegeta had been a little awkward lately. They hadn't seen much of each other lately; Capsule Corp was running Bulma ragged. There was always something that needed to be taken care of, and of course her father, the actual head of the company, was always to busy tottering around in his lab to be of much use. All she wanted was some time alone with Vegeta, but having to work all day and then drive back into West Capital City every night was making that impossible. He must think I'm purposely ignoring him, she sighed to herself as she slumped toward the makeup trailer. She had a scene coming up, and Good Kami, did she ever feel like just throwing in the towel.

If there ever was a time to throw a movie-star tantrum, this was it.

Vegeta had watched the short conversation from a distance, covertly eavesdropping with his superior Saiyan ears. Not much of a host, eh? Well it wasn't his fault she was never around! Damn woman, always twisting things to suit herself. Besides that, what did he know about entertaining a female? Especially a human one! He couldn't just keep her in bed all day…although it was a pleasant little idea. But that was beside the point! Back at home in West Capitol, she had never expected to be entertained; she had occupied herself, and occasionally dragged him into accompanying her while he was on a break from training.

Thinking of training, Vegeta frowned and ran a mental check on his power levels. Ever since this damn movie business had started, he had barely been training. At least with the modeling, he had been blessed with a few hours to himself every day, but on set, it was up with the sun and filming late, often till the wee hours of the morning, which left him the option to either train right through, or catch a few hours of sleep. And though stubborn he was stubborn about it, even a Saiyan prince needed his rest after a long day.

Despite her adventurous and wild youth, Bulma had never been big on the club scene, and she felt a little awkward, moving to the beat on the dance floor. It was so crowded, and every time she moved, she couldn't help but to make physical contact with some sweaty stranger, usually with some inappropriate part of her body, or even more embarrassingly, those same parts of other people's bodies.

Nevertheless, she was enjoying herself. The only social functions she ever saw those days were stuffy Capsule Corporation dinners and the occasional chat with her secretary. There were sporadic charity balls; long evenings of waltzing and fox-trotting around the dance floor with men twice her age, who talked of nothing but business, and even more appalling, the men who were her age and talked of nothing but themselves.

What was even worse was that she got out so little that she actually enjoyed herself.

A hand closed around her arm, and she looked over to see Kali, attempting to lead her off the dance floor. "I hate it when they play music you can't dance to!" She exclaimed, finding them a table and motioning for a waitress. "Vodka and cranberry please," she said, then turning back toward Bulma, snorted, "they only do it so everyone flocks back to the bar to get drunker!"

"Looks like you're falling right into their trap." Bulma said, dryly.

"Well I'll be, I am!" Kali laughed, a little drunkenly. "Oh well, a good time's a good time! Not like I can't afford it!" She giggled, pounding her hand on the table. "Ooh, Bulma, I think those guys at bar are checking us out. Act cool."

"They're all yours Kal," Bulma sipped her ice-water. "The last thing I need is to pick up some drunk at a bar."

"Bulma, I never knew you were such a downer. But oh well!" she brightened, "we can have a little girl-talk. So tell me about Vegeta."

"Vegeta? What do you want to know?

"Oh, I dunno. What's his middle name?" Bulma shrugged. "Okay, favorite colour?" Another shrug. "Food? Movie? Television show? Book?" All shrugs. "Sex position?" Bulma nearly spit out her drink. "Ha, I got you, missy!" Kali laughed, then straightened quickly. "So what's the deal? I hear from people on the set that you two are supposed to be real tight, but you don't know anything about the guy. I mean, didn't you two used to live together? How's it even possible that you could know so little about a guy you used to live with?"

"Why do you want to know so much about Vegeta and I anyway?" Bulma asked, getting suspicious. She had noticed Kali's eyes wander, and the sudden inquisition was a little bothersome.

"Oh, just curious." She smiled in a most definitely devilish way and batted her eyes playfully at Bulma. It was no innocent curiosity.

"Curiosity killed the cat." The retort had come a little colder that she meant it to, but Bulma didn't care. The message had to be sent.

"Ooh, a little defensive, are we?" A nasty laugh and mocking smile. "I can take a little competition."

Needless to say, the rest of the night wasn't all that fun.

Vegeta awoke at 3am, startled by the loud pounding of two fists against his door. Groggily, he stumbled over, not even bothering to put anything on over the boxers he wore. "Vegeta, we need to talk!" Bulma burst into the cramped trailer as soon as he opened the door, nearly knocking the sleepy Saiyan over in the process.

"Woman, it's 3am. What the hell do you want?"

"What's your favorite colour?" Silence. "And your middle name?" She continued, while he stared at her, completely dumbfounded. "Well?" She tapped her foot impatiently, "Are you going to answer me?" He continued to look at her, silently, observing her behaviour, trying to figure out what had gotten into her.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, finally.

"No…" she answered sheepishly, realizing how absurd her questions must seem to him. "I just don't know anything about you…" she trailed off, looking down at the floor, fidgeting under his intense gaze.

"Red," he sighed after a moment, "And I don't have one. We did not bother ourselves with multiple names."

"No more than one name, huh? Well how did you tell two people with the same name apart, huh?"

"It was not a problem. Nobody had the same name." He padded over to the bed, crawling under the covers once more.

"What? How's that even possible?" Bulma questioned, kicking off her shoes as she followed him.

"A Saiyan woman would create a name for her child and record it, along with his information, in the Rakhesh." Seeing her puzzled look, he went on, "It was…like a book…many books, dating back to the dawn of Saiyan civilization. Once a name was recorded, no other was allowed to assume it."

"Sounds pretty inconvenient," Bulma yawned, crawling under the covers and snuggling up to Vegeta.

"It was our way." His words were somewhat clipped, but he continued with a softer tone. "The only exception was within the royal family. The heir to the throne is always named Vegeta."

"How'd you tell the Vegeta's apart?"

"We had titles."

"Like what?

"My father was Vegeta se Lesh; `Vegeta the Black.' I…I am Vegeta se Raeden Tagh…" His eyes darkened, and when he spoke again, his voice was bleak and bitter. "Vegeta the Golden Warrior." A deep sigh escaped his lips. "Do you have any more silly questions for me, woman?"

"No…G'night Vegeta." He didn't answer.

When Bulma awoke the next morning, the space beside her was empty. "Shit…" she moaned aloud, "What time is it?"

"Almost noon," Vegeta's unexpected voice muttered from the table.

"Oh, I thought you were supposed to be filming…"

"Key word; supposed. That other damn female is hung-over and refused to get her lazy ass out of bed." Bulma smiled to herself, imagining the actress sprawled out pasty face hunched over, vomiting into a stinky old bucket. That'd teach her!

Things were uneventful for the next several weeks as filming came to a close. Although her scenes had long ago been finished, Bulma often came out to the set, much to the displeasure of Kali Delmar, who, try as she might, could not get her handsome co-star to even utter a complete sentence to her off camera.

"Mom, Dad…I have something very important to tell you." Caleb's heart was pounding so hard, he could feel it all the way down in his toes. He wiped sweaty palms on his pant legs as he waited for his parents to sit down. Today was the day. It was time they knew.

"What is it, dear?" Mrs. VanDios smiled expectantly, a hopeful glitter in her eyes. Maybe today would be the day he finally announced marriage plans! Mr. VanDios looked at his wife's twinkling gaze, then at his son's grim expression, and wished he weren't there.

"I…I've met someone." Mrs. VanDios squealed with delight at the words, completely ignoring his shadowed expression.

"Really?" Her son nodded, "What does she do? How old is she? When can we meet her? What will you name the children?" She gushed.

"Slow down a little dear." Caleb's father patted his wife's hand. "Now, why don't we at least find out her name, hmm?"

Caleb took a deep, shuddering breath, and swallowed, before uttering the words that would change his life forever. "Bruce. His name is Bruce."

Mrs. VanDios nearly fainted.

"How does it feel, knowing there's no more filming to be done?" Max's shouts were met by cheers from the cast and crew, all gathered for a final-day party. "Just think, in a few months, this thing'll be up on the big screen!" He laughed, taking a swig of champagne.

"So, how're you feeling about all this?" Bulma asked, giving Vegeta's shoulders a quick squeeze from behind.

"I'm glad it's all over." He groused, wondering why he had allowed himself to be dragged to the little human get together. He had wanted to train, but the wily woman at his side had somehow conned him into coming with her. She had said she couldn't go without a date, whatever the hell that was. He took a sip of the weak human alcohol that was being passed around and wrinkled his nose in distaste.

Bulma shyly grabbed his hand, testing the waters. Although the news of their relationship was widespread and very much public knowledge, he still frowned upon her displays of affection outside of private settings. The alcohol must have affected him more than he had thought, because he found himself enjoying the soft, warm skin against his own, so much that he allowed her to continue with the human gesture of `hand holding.'

Kali watched from a short distance, grumbling to herself. In the past several weeks, she had done everything humanly possibly to try and attract the darkly handsome Vegeta, but to no avail! What was it? Was she not pretty enough? Smart enough? Slutty enough? …No, she was definitely slutty enough. She took a hefty swig of her champagne, trying to figure it out.

"I hope to see you all at the premiere in a few months!" Max shouted, "Now, let's just have ourselves a good time!" He jumped off of the table he had been using as a makeshift stage and got to mingling. "Bulma, Vegeta! Glad to see you two came!" He smiled, heading in their direction. "I just wanted to thank you two, for all the hard work you've put into this. I don't think I could have found two better fits for Dominic and Aria. Will you be at the premier?"

"Definitely!" Bulma gushed, already imagining how she'd look, walking down the red carpet. Beside her, the Saiyan let out a grunt. It meant yes.

"I suppose I'll have to be your `date' for that too, won't I?" Vegeta groused, as soon as Max walked away.

"Aww, Vegeta, are you asking me to be your date?" She teased, fluttering her eyelashes. "Why, I'd be delighted to go with you!"

Caleb smiled, quite pleased with himself. His mother had been speechless, probably for the first time in her life. He had told them that if they wanted to talk, or if they had questions, he was perfectly willing to sit down with them at a later date, as he had a very important meeting to get to. He had said goodbye then, and driven off without another word. The ball was in their court now. When they were ready to accept who he was, they would call him. They were good people, his parents, if a little overbearing. They would call soon.

"So Vegeta, you're a success now. Ready to move back in?"

"No." Vegeta said, bluntly. "No I'm not. For all we know, this movie could be a flop." He stated, enjoying the feeling of her soft body pressed against his.

"But…don't you want to come back to Capsule Corp. with me Vegeta?" Bulma turned to look at him, trying to figure out the strange enigma of a man she lay in bed with.

"I can't," he said simply, "not yet."

Mp3 of the Day: "The Top of the Morning" by Mike Oldfield

A little short, I know…Sorry! I can't promise anything, but I'm thinking that Pseudo Ferocity will come to an end sometime within the next 1-3 chapters, so if there's any unresolved conflicts, or something you just plain want to know more about, please tell me!