Surviving Together: Retribution

Chapter 4 - Treacherous Bodies

"Vegeta," she whispered as she sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him lovingly, "I was so worried about you."

Vegeta smirked as he heard her speak. He always loved the way his name sounded rolling off her lips. Closing his eyes he took in her scent, she always smelled of lavender, and it always drove him wild. He nestled his head in her soft hair as he allowed his body to begin to relax. However, as soon as he did, Bulma pulled away from him as she scratched her nose. "You smell awful."

Vegeta frowned at how she was ruining his moment. "Well what did you expect?" he asked a little more irritated than he wanted to sound.

Bulma only shook her head at him as she rose and went into the washroom. He heard her turn the water on and then come back out. She took his hands and guided him inside. "You need to bathe," she said simply as he pulled what was left of his armor over his head. His spandex suit came next as she pulled it down to his waist and then stopped to shut the water off. "Get in."

Vegeta looked at her sideways. "You do realize a shower is much quicker than taking a bath," he remarked as he started to pull his boots off.

"I know, but it's not as much fun," she grinned as she pulled her shirt off and then her pants.

Vegeta watched her rather surprised as she stripped as well. "I thought this was my bath," he smirked as he stopped undressing to wait for an explanation.

"Oh, it is," Bulma reflected his smirk as she then reached behind her back and unhooked her bra strap. After slowly discarding the garment, as Vegeta's eyes became fixated on her ample mounds, Bulma seductively slid her hands down to her hips, leisurely stripped from her body the final garment that was covering her. Vegeta looked on in utter bliss at the perfect woman before him.

Bulma smiled at his reaction as she walked over to him. She caught his eyes with her own as she grabbed the remaining elastic of his suit. She then slowly pulled his uniform off, unveiling the battered, yet very aroused man in front of her. She slowly slipped a hand up his body to bring herself back to eye level with him. "It's my turn to bathe you," she whispered as she then stepped into the water and slid under the inches of warmth.

Extending her arms to the prince to guide him in, she watched as Vegeta slowly stepped into the water and sat down in between her thighs. Bulma then very welcomingly spread her legs completely and grabbed his shoulders to guide him to lay back. Vegeta let out a relaxing moan as he laid his head between her two soft breasts. He then tenderly wrapped his tail around her thigh before he closed his eyes. For once in his life he felt content, he felt as though he finally had something to ease his pain.

~*~*~

Vegeta's eyes flew open to the dejected realization that the woman he could almost feel pressing beneath his body was not real. "Gods, woman, when will you ever cease to haunt me?" he demanded softly, though knowing in truth the reason her memory was haunting him so vividly now was because of his mate's carbon copy.

Atae.

He had never been as unnerved by a sight as that of his subordinate's mate. Her appearance was flawlessly accurate to that of his late mate, so much so that had he not been of rational mind, he might have pounced on the woman as Trunks had in unfathomable delight. But reality had become an icy comfort at night, never letting him forget that his mate was dead, because he was not strong enough to protect her.

"Damn my stupidity!" Vegeta slammed his hand down roughly upon his empty bed; no amount of time would ever heal the scars left from Bulma's death. Not a single night passes that he does not crawl under his lonely sheets and stare blankly at the vacant space beside him, willing to see his love there, but never receiving his wish.

It had appalled him to think Garock would suggest he attempt to find a female to fill the void of his mate. It was simply impossible! Hers is the only face he ever wishes to gaze upon, her body the only one he desires to hold, her voice the only one he needs to hear whisper loving words, her lips the only ones he yearns to bask in the nectar of, hers only hers.

Rising from his bed, Vegeta threw on a shirt and boots. There would be no sleep tonight for him; his mind was too heavily weighed by images of his lost love. Throwing the doors to his chambers open, the former Saiya-jin prince set off towards his training facility. If he couldn't sleep off his restlessness, he would beat it out of his ragged body. Bypassing several more public corridors, he managed to slip into his private facility unnoticed. The last thing he needed was to be bothered by suspicious spectators who could use his agitated state as further proof of his deteriorating sanity. He did not want to be mutinied against because of his recent inabilities as a monarch.

Finally reaching his destination, Vegeta took a deep breath before closing the doors behind him. This was what he needed, he decided as he scanned around the empty training room, time to himself; time to detoxify, time to forget. Walking to the center of the room, he intended to begin his session with a few stretches, when a familiar scent tickled his nose, lavender.

Helpless to do anything but follow the gentle aroma, Vegeta found himself stepping onto the communal balcony that swept a quarter away around the castle, connecting several common rooms, along with his training facility, together. It only took him a matter of seconds to pinpoint where the fragrance was being emulated from. "Bulma," the name rolled off his lips before he had a chance to correct himself. The angelic form sitting quietly atop of the railing, head down, arms wrapped tightly around herself, was the spitting image of his mate. If only it was her. Clenching and releasing his fist, he scolded himself for the slip, before disarmingly strolling towards his guest. "Atae," she heard him that time. It was evident by the shocked expression upon her face as she turned to briefly look at him. She turned away quickly to wipe what he realized were tears that had been falling from her cheeks. His blood boiled. "Is everything all right?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she finished dabbing her eyes with the long sleeve of the nightshirt she wore. "I am so sorry if I have disturbed you," she twisted away from him to lower herself onto the balcony. "I should be getting to bed," she hoped to make a fast escape, but Vegeta was having none of it.

"Wait," he gently clasped her arm, forcing her to remain by his side. "Has one of my men distressed you? I will have him punished immediately." The vow was more of a ploy to force the truth from her. Given three guesses as to what had upset her, Radditz would have been assumed all times.

"No," she shook her head with a half laugh. "Your staff and soldiers have been nothing but kind to me. I really have no complaints." She tried once more to leave, but the grip on her arm was too tight. It took nothing more than to see the concerned glimmer in his eyes to know she would not be leaving the balcony until he knew the truth. "It's personal," she whispered dropping her head in shame.

"Did he strike you?" Vegeta asked while roaming his eyes over her body, attempting to decipher any hidden injuries. 'If he so much as laid a finger on her…'

"Of course not!" the defensive note shocked the prince, as with a force he had not expected she shook from his hold. "Radditz loves me; he would never raise a hand to hurt me!" It irked her that this man thought the worst of her mate when he had been nothing but caring to her since the first moment she could remember with him.

"Well, perhaps not physically, but what of your tears?" he probed; it surprised him that the woman claimed her mate kept his temper in check with her. It was the cosmic opposite of everything he had ever heard from the man's bedmates back when they lived onboard Freeza's ship.

"My tears are none of your business," she spat coldly; she had had enough of an emotional beating for one night. She did not need to be further badgered by a stranger on the subject. "Now if you will excuse me." She headed towards the doors that had led her outside, but her departure was once more stopped dead in its tracks as a barely spoken confession followed after her.

"Gods, I miss that temper," Vegeta muttered softly, the woman's agitated state reminded him ever so much of his deceased mate. Turning back to stare blankly off into the abyss of night, he crossed his arms as he typically does, continuing to speak, not needing to turn around to know his guest was still standing behind him. "I did not mean to pry, but I never could stomach my mate's tears. I would turn rabid and demand she tell me what had unnerved her so I could make it right." He paused, briefly recalling the evening of her seventeenth birthday, the first night he experienced peace. Turning back around and facing his guest, Vegeta hardly finished, "you remind me of her, so my instincts kicked in. I am sorry."

Silence followed his announcement as several awkward moments ensued, neither adequately equipped to handle the bizarre situation. How does a woman respond to a stranger who looks upon her with the intimacy of a lover? Of course it was not her personally that invoked such attentions, but her appearance and the memories it invokes. "Your apology is accepted," she nodded neutrally, immediately after regretting her unsympathetic words as she saw, brief as it was, a flicker of disappointment flash across his eyes. 'What does he expect from me?' Sighing as her head shook back and forth in agitation, the blue haired beauty slowly walked back to her host. "I am so sorry you lost your mate," her words were as genuine as her intentions, "but you have to understand I am not her." The crushing blow came with a quarter turn jerk of Vegeta's head as he attempted to shield himself from the inevitable blow. It bade him no protection.

"Do not feel inclined to tell me what I already know," he advised with a hint of anger, he did not have the patience or energy to be allowed to even consider the possibility of some mystical resurrection of his mate. The unavoidable downfall would be too costly to his already tattered soul.

"Vegeta," she had no idea she was adding salt to an open wound by whispering his name in the same affectionate manner he had been used to with his deceased love. Lifting her gentle hand to encompass his cheek, she slowly turned his fallen head back to face her. Parting her lips to offer her sympathies, not a syllable could be uttered as two hungry lips came crashing down upon her in a heated fury. Her first instinct had been to push away, as she attempted to by placing her hands against his blazing chest, but her forceful touch slowly turned limp as she felt an inexplicable heat speed through her body, as if he was in some way forcing his desire for his dead mate into her every pore. Without chance for a word of protest, the kiss was deepened as her body was pulled flush against his, his muscular arms encircling her in an overprotective manner. As if to let her go would be to watch her fade away from him. But that was in fact what had to happen.

Forcing down the unfamiliar lust the man invoked, she balled up her fists, and as best she could, pushed against his tight hold. The mild pressure seemed just enough to bring the man to his senses as he pulled away from his mate's replica. "I-I don't know what came over me," the confession was both truth and lie; truth, because he never would have expected to feel an impulse so strong to kiss any other female than that of his true mate, but also a lie, because he knew where the impulse arose from, need; need to have his mate back, need to taste her lips once more-her lips. Oh gods, they tasted like hers. 'My mind is playing tricks on me,' he told himself, not allowing the possibility of any other explanation to be considered. 'This is a completely different woman,' the sentence repeated in his mind over and over again as he tried to sort through his unstable feelings. The cold slap that followed his disjointed thoughts seemed to help.

"How dare you!" Bulma screamed in embarrassment, both for being accosted, and for realizing that some part of her had enjoyed it. In the year she could remember being with her mate, sleeping by his side, massaging his lips, caressing his fit body, never once had he invoked the kind of passion this man had with one kiss. Though she had believed her pregnancy was souring her to any thoughts of intimacy, it now seemed her beliefs were misguided. That it was not her asexual disposition towards men in general, but towards her mate specifically that was to blame. An awakening that was nothing short of rude and unwelcome to a woman mated to the father of her daughter. "I am not some toy for your enjoyment! You cannot just place your hands on me as if you own me! I am a mated woman!!"

The last point seemed to be driven in particularly hard as Vegeta winced openly in revulsion. 'How the hell did that brute ever convince this prize to love him?' the question seemed more complex than his advanced mind could ever calculate. All that could be deduced beyond reasonable doubt was that some form of manipulation had to have been involved, "A mated woman who was alone on my balcony weeping, no doubt because of the foul temper of her precious lover!" Another slap. That one almost stung.

"I thought I previously made it clear that I would not stand for Radditz being insulted in my presence. I owe my happiness to him, so I will not remain idle as you slander him." And then it made sense. She felt indebted to him, no doubt for the rescue from a… what had Radditz said? A cruel prince? Yes, that was it; loyalty, not love.

Vegeta felt a smirk rise across his lips. "There is no 'slander' in my words, woman." The term discomforted him for a moment, gods he was already calling her by his lost mate's endearment. His mind was slipping. "I have every reason to be genuinely concerned for your well-being, and not just because you reflect my mate, but as a woman in general. I spent the bulk of my life sharing joined chambers with Radditz. I know his exploits, more specifically, with women. Though I do not know the details of his 'rescue' of you, I know enough of the bastard to be sure his intentions were not as chivalrous as you naively seem to think." A third attempted slap, but this time Vegeta stopped her hand dead in the air, and using her momentum against her, pulled her body closer towards him. "Be wary, Atae," he whispered lowly into her ear. His hot breath once more igniting the heat she had almost managed to fully snuff out of her body. "It may have been eleven plus years since I last saw your mate, but I know a foe when I see one. So be careful, I would hate to see you get caught in our practically inevitable feud." He allowed himself to run his nose through her hair, inhaling that nearly forgotten lavender scent before pulling away from her, though not before smelling a more musky, unintentional fragrance that warmed his veins. It seemed he was not the only one aroused by their closeness. "Feel free to use the shower adjoining my private training room. I am sure you would not want to return to your mate in the state I so 'unwelcomingly' put you in." Though she knew the proper interpretation of his suggestion would have been to assume he was referring to his scent left by their kiss, Bulma embarrassingly knew better. "Goodnight, Atae," he tossed a brief smirk in her direction before disappearing back into the room he had emerged from.

Once he was gone, Bulma grasped for the balcony rail to stop herself from collapsing, 'Gods, what has he done to me?' She tried to stiffen her wobbly knees so she could too make her own departure. After waiting for several minutes to ensure he had cleared out of the training room, she begrudgingly followed his advice. She could not very well climb into bed with her mate, smelling of Vegeta and her poorly controlled arousal. The consequences would be dangerous, more so for the prince than her mate. She knew how strong Radditz was. He had barely shown a fraction of his true power throttling Trunks across the room. She feared what would happen if he turned that rage on Vegeta.

Vegeta.

How could she possibly rationalize what he had so easily done to her body? She was like a melting virgin under his touch! His touch… Oh, but what woman would not be? For such a powerful, dangerous looking man, as he embraced her, she had felt as though she was under the most gentle of attentions. So much passion, without the brutal and demanding force she felt when Radditz kissed her.

Radditz.

"Oh gods, I have betrayed him!" The gasp came as she arrived in the washroom, the proof of her statement lying in her location. 'What have I done?' she looked at her body with disdain, as if the weakness was its fault alone. 'If only I had just stayed and hashed out my disagreements with Radditz, none of this would have happened.' The argument still unnerved her to this very second. Yes, she was firm in her anger at her mate's cavalier attitude towards his behavior in regards to Trunks, and yes, he deserved to be stormed out on after threatening to desensitize her daughter, similarly, in a true 'Saiya-jin' nature, but damn it if he had to follow such insistences by calling her a 'weakling mother.'

So what if she was not versed in Saiya-jin customs, she was not Saiya-jin! And her daughter was not fully either; there is no reason to allow the cub to grow into a battle thirsty warrior. She would not stand for watching her daughter be placed in danger, and she sure as hell would not stand for being insulted because she wanted to see her daughter live past her eighteenth birthday!

As with all their arguments regarding their daughter, it had ended with her teary eyed escape from their chambers. But never had she expected that she would run into the ruler of the planet she was visiting, and never would she have anticipated his shamefully perfect attentions to her, as she suddenly realized, were so desperately desired by her deprived body.

Suddenly recalling the reason for her being stark naked in a stranger's shower, Bulma opted not to prolong her presence any more than necessary. Running her fingers down her waist, she quickly pulled off her baggy shirt, followed by the boxers she had borrowed from Radditz, and then the most transparent proof of her guilt, her saturated panties. 'Damn it,' she cursed before throwing the object into a nearby garbage depository. She could not return wearing the offending garment.

Turning the water on, she stepped into one of five communal stalls, thankful that no one was around to witness her disgrace in the middle of the night. Under the cold liquid, she smiled as the icy water quickly cooled her heated flesh. Closing her eyes, she tried to block out images of the dark man who had dared to lay his soft, tender, warm hands upon her; his hot lips ravaging hers with such accurate movements, as if he was more familiar with her body than she. Releasing an uncontrolled moan, she dipped her head back and to the side slightly as her mind, without her permission, wandered.

He was suddenly behind her, his naked body flush against hers, his lips running down her water dripping neck. Slowly licking each bead, he moved expertly up and down her skin with his tongue, while his hands…oh his hands moved just as mercilessly, circling her breasts, kneading each one, preparing them for the inevitable descent of his greedy lips. And once they did, yes, the sensations only intensified as she leaned further back, denying him not an inch of her body, begging him to take it all.

And he did.

His hands lowered down her muscular abdomen, over her sensitive bellybutton, circling her firm pelvis, and then finally resting there. It was not long before he pushed one, then two, then three fingers where she had yet to allow any man since her reawakening. Radditz had thought her naïve to a man's touch, but he was so terribly wrong. A woman's body, no matter what has happened to her mind, could never forget the sensual touch of a lover; the need to be fulfilled, to join in the dance older than time. Though her mind may have forgotten, her body was more alert than ever.

Thrusting her breasts further into the air, Bulma took several deep breaths, anticipating that blissful release he was skillfully bringing her to. And then it came… The room seemed to disappear; there was only the sound of her lover's name echoing breathlessly throughout the small room as she collapsed into those powerful arms that had brought her such bliss.

It was several moments before Bulma regained her senses and picked herself up off the floor, realizing that there had been no gentle arms to ease her descent from paradise. Shaking off her self-loathing, she washed her fingers, and then quickly completed her shower, not allowing herself to envision a torrid affair that would only end in disgrace and violence.

'What the hell came over me?' she asked herself as she turned off the water, and grabbed a nearby towel. After briskly drying herself off, she stepped back into her cloths, and returned the room to the tidy manner it was in before her arrival. Hoping she could slip back into her room with the least suspicion from Radditz as possible, Bulma departed to her chambers, oblivious to the pair of dark eyes that had watched her every movement from her arrival, to her self-gratification.

Once Bulma had disappeared from sight, Vegeta glided over to the shower stall that had just recently been vacated. Turning the cold water back on, he swiftly removed his garments. After the erotic show the exotic look-alike of his mate had put on for his voyeuristic eyes, he too was in need for release. The only difference was that while she had called for him in the throes of passion, he would not be returning the favor. Though it was Atae's body that had aroused him, there was only one name he would cry for at the pinnacle of ecstasy.

Bulma!

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Author's Note: Mmm… All Bulma/Vegeta, just the way I like it! So what happens tomorrow when the pair awakens to deal with the tumultuous encounter they shared? New chapter in a few…