Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Surviving Together ❯ As Time Goes By ( Chapter 4 )

Surviving Together

Chapter 4 - As Time Goes By

Six months had come and gone and Bulma was hardly becoming acclimated to life with the Saiya-jins. Everyday was a new nightmare. She had to do all of their menial tasks like laundry and cleaning while they went off doing whatever it was that they did. Once she was finished her designated chores she was allowed her only freedom. She could spend her afternoons as she wished. Much of that time she spent with Zarra. The two had become very close friends over the passing months. Their personalities were very similar in many aspects. They almost always ate lunch together, that being the only time they were sure never to run in to Zarbon. He had been more of a nuisance than anything the last few months. Zarra managed to keep him at distance, which Bulma was eternally grateful for. She just wished she could have done the same for the Saiya-jins.

For the most part Vegeta's word was kept. Bulma had not been raped by any of the monkeys she lived with, but she did have a few close encounters. Once Radditz cornered her in his room while she was doing her daily chores, he had come back earlier from training and just 'accidentally lost' his hands under her shirt. He fortunately released her before anything detrimental could happen. Vegeta arrived seconds later. She assumed Radditz sensed him coming.

There was one other time she concluded she had a close encounter, but this time with Nappa. She still was not sure exactly what happened, but she woke up lying on the couch one afternoon feeling as though she had a terrible headache. When she felt her head there was blood running from it. She didn't remember being hit, but she knew something was terribly wrong when she saw her shorts partially unzipped and her shirt unbuttoned. She then rather painfully rose to wash her head when she saw Nappa's lifeless looking body bleeding on the floor. She later that night saw Vegeta with dried blood on his gloves and she guessed the rest. Radditz and Nappa never tried to touch her again.

Vegeta however was the most difficult to understand out of them all. She slept at the foot of his bed every night. She had the option of sleeping on the couch in the adjoining room, but she grew to feel safer closer to him. He was constantly rude and demanding of her, but he never laid a finger on her. He came close once, but she had to admit she probably deserved it. The two were arguing, which they very typically did, about something she cannot even now remember. She made a comment to him about being 'Freeza's whore' and he raised his hand to strike, but he did not. She was not sure why. If she had ever given a reason for him to, it was then, but he did not hurt her. That was the first night she actually felt guilt her entire time there. He might have not been the most enjoyable person to be around, but he showed her more respect than any other man on the ship, and she hated herself for not doing the same. She actually apologized to him for it later that day. It apparently surprised him as much as it did her because after she said she was 'sorry' he just nodded and left without a word. She assumed he was not apologized to very often.

In fact Bulma started to believe he did not get too much of anything outside of purging, training, eating and sleeping. He was not like the other two. They left every night to go out drinking and brawling and on occasion actually finding a woman to bed them, but Vegeta never did. Most people began to believe that Bulma had become solely Vegeta's pleasure slave, which was fine by her because she somehow found it easier to lie about her sex life with Vegeta then with the other two. She actually managed to learn more in her young age about sex then she ever intended. Zarra alone had been with over a thousand men in her lifetime and told her of techniques she did not even know possible. Bulma was actually temped once to have sex just to have the real experience before it was sooner or later stolen from her, but she decided against it after a rather frightening encounter with Vegeta and a soldier named Kerno.

Kerno was a former lover of Zarra who she spoke very highly of. He looked much like a human only his ears were longer and pointed, and his body had blue tattoos around his arms, legs, and according to Zarra his penis as well. Kerno's mistake however was when he ran into Bulma just over a month ago. Apparently after a short discussion he misinterpreted her signals and lifted her chin to kiss her. For some reason however she did not push him away, it had been almost a year since she saw her deceased boyfriend, Yamcha, and the warmth of Kerno's kiss reminded her of him. However the kiss did not last long as Bulma opened her eyes to see Vegeta standing behind them. She immediately pushed Kerno away who finally noticed Vegeta himself.

Even in the month following that day Bulma could not understand why she felt so guilty about that encounter. She explained to Kerno after their encounter that she could never let what happened between them occur again. He accepted her excuse, assuming Vegeta had scared the life out of her. However that was hardly the case. Vegeta never said a word to her about the kiss. She hoped he did not care, but she could not forget the look in his eyes. He looked betrayed.

Since then things had become a little icier between the two. However that ice started to melt after the two found themselves alone again after a long day. Nappa and Radditz were as usually off doing whatever sick things they do while Bulma had pulled a chair in front of the one window in the adjoining room. She sat for almost two hours starring before Vegeta could not take her complacency any longer.

"What are you doing, child?!" Vegeta asked rather angrily.

Bulma didn't respond to Vegeta's rage, she just kept staring out of the window. "GIRL!" Vegeta repeated. When she didn't respond a second time he walked over and spun her chair around to see tears staining her face.

Her demeanor had shocked Vegeta, forcing him to take a step back. Bulma stood, looking past him as she grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped it around herself. "Go away Vegeta," she muttered before she laid down on the couch and closed her eyes.

Vegeta did not leave however, instead he walked over to her and sat on the couch. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he forced her to sit up and look him in the eye. "Who hurt you?!" Vegeta asked assuming the worst. "Nappa? Radditz? I can't punish them unless you tell me!" Vegeta said more concerned then he intended.

Bulma opened her swollen eyes and for a moment and smiled at him. She then closed them again and shook her head. "No one has hurt me, Vegeta."

Vegeta felt a strange feeling of relief upon hearing this, but shook it off as he inquired, "Then why the hell are you looking so pathetic?!"

Bulma's frown deepened as she allowed her head to drop forward so she was resting it against his shoulder. "It's my birthday," she whispered melancholically.

"Your miserable because its your stupid birthday?" Vegeta gaped as he pushed her head off his shoulder.

"My stupid birthday?" Bulma repeated in utter shock, "On my last 'stupid birthday' I had a family, friends, a planet, and a life! Now I'm a slave without a home or anyone to care about me! Do you have any idea what its like to have everything you know and love be ripped away from you in the blink of an eye, only to be forced into something that feels as dreadful as a nightmare!"

Vegeta took a breath, dropped his back against the couch, and closed his eyes. "I know what it's like to have your family murdered, your planet annihilated, your people diminished to a handful, and your pride destroyed. I know what it's like to live with no other emotions than hate and rage… To be given a life of servitude..."

Bulma looked at him in shock. 'That was almost human of him,' she though proudly as she then rather hesitantly laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his stomach. "I guess you do have an idea," she whispered as she found some comfort next to him. Bulma was surprised when he did not push her away, but she was not going to let it go to her head. She closed her eyes and smiled as she buried her face in his chest. She somehow felt as though she just received her one and only birthday gift.

Vegeta watched as Bulma drifted off to sleep. He wondered what had happened to him over the past few months. Since she arrived he found himself acting so strangely. Never before in his life had he ever worried about anything more than his own skin, but recently he found himself concerned for her. He chalked it up to the fact that he gave her his word no harm would come to her, and his word is never broken. But it became more than just protecting her from the imminent dangers of those two horny idiots across the hall. He found he was even protecting her from himself. He grew to learn he could never physically hurt her. Even when she tried his patience, he could not make that blow. He tried to tell himself it was because she was too fragile to even bother with, but he knew that was not simply it.

But his feelings of concern were not the only weaker emotions he began to experience. A much more powerful sensation was constantly filling his veins. Lust. The more they fought the more he imagined what it would be like to rip off her cloths and explore everything she had been hiding for him for the last few months. His lust had even grown to be so uncontrollable he found himself taking more and more cold showers. Which was probably the most frightening fact of all, his only remedy being a cold shower.

He once tried after one of their heated arguments to visit one of his preferred sex partners. Over the past few years on the ship he had found a few women who were rather taken with him, and always good for a ride. But once he was there and she was stripping him he suddenly became over powered with a sick sense of dirtiness. He realized all this time he had been settling for an older woman who barely resembled his species and had slept around with probably five other men just that night, while lying at the floor of his bed was a gorgeous Saiya-jin looking virgin, who he could not touch. The sudden realization ended his interlude with the woman before it even started and sent Vegeta back to his room wanting more.

That night when he returned he almost considered compromising his principles and pride just to satisfy his need. He knelt on the floor next to her and pulled the blanket from over her body and then slowly stroked her cheek. He watched as an innocent smiled creep over her face. It was then he knew no matter how aroused he was he would never take her in such a manner. She was too pure and innocent for him, he knew at that moment his need would never be satisfied. Of course he could remember a certain instance that healed his rather bruised ego. He had one particularly arousing moment with her that could not have been better had he planned it himself.

He had taken a shower after a long day of training and then when he stepped out of the shower he realized he had no drying cloth awaiting him. As usual he assumed Bulma had used it earlier and not replaced it. So in his typical way of over reacting he stormed right out of the bathroom, completely naked, into his bedroom where Bulma was putting some cloths away. It was the look on her face as she turned around that he would never forget. He assumed she must have never seen a man naked before because she took the opportunity to look him over completely, while ignoring the fact that he was smirking at her reaction. After a moment though, he strutted over to her so the two were only inches away, forcing Bulma's heart to run rampant as she finally met his eyes. "See something you like?" He had whispered to her ever so sexily. He would never forget the deep breath she took after that comment. He knew if he wanted, he could have willingly had her virginity right then and there, but he refrained. Seducing a girl's virginity away is just as bad as rape, neither he would stand for.

But even after all this time, and all the self-restraint, he still was needy. As he looked down at her he knew he had only once choice. He untangled her from his arms and gently laid her on the couch to sleep. He knew staying this close to her for so long would just push his restrain further and he could not allow that. He slowly stood as he headed into his room to spend yet another night alone.

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Quick Note: Awe… Well Vegeta is falling in lust, and Bulma is falling in like… Where will this lead? Could it be to another "L" word? I would not bet on it anytime soon with the two most stubborn people in the universe. But things start to get interesting when Zarbon comes back into the picture. Next chapter will be longer, and up very soon…