Surviving Together

Chapter 6 - What Am I Living For?

When Bulma awoke the next morning she felt something furry around her waist. As she looked down she saw Vegeta's tail tightly wrapped around her. 'That's weird,' she thought a little bothered before she slowly tried to get up, but as she did Vegeta's arm came around, pulling her into his chest rather possessively. Bulma could feel his rock hard muscles against her back, sparking a strange pulsating feeling between her thighs. She suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable and tried to move again, but she stopped after hearing Vegeta release a low moan. She assumed he was starting to wake, so she closed her eyes so as not to deal with the awkward situation.

When Vegeta opened his eyes he was surprised to see blue hair tossed in his face. Looking down, he saw how clingy he was and cringed. He quickly pulled his arms away as he sat up. He tried to remember exactly how he ended up holding her like that, when he knew damn well he did not fall asleep holding her. Shaking his head, he then tried to get out of bed, but suddenly realized his tail was caught on something. He then looked down in horror to see it wrapped around her waist. Vegeta's eyes went wide as he rather difficulty reclaimed his tail. He pulled the fury appendage around and placed it in his hand and almost like a parent scolding a child yelled at it, "How the hell could you claim her like that?" After tossing the culprit aside, he stumbled out of bed. He looked back at Bulma and frowned. "What have you done to me child?" he whispered before he headed into the bathroom to wake himself up.

Once Bulma heard the door close, she opened her eyes rather surprised. 'Done to me. What does he mean by that? Was he offended I helped him last night?' Bulma frowned, 'that guy can't even let someone help him without it being a bother! I swear if he was not so hot I would wonder what any woman would see in him!' Bulma then hit herself in the head as she wondered where the 'hot' thought had come from. She slowly sat up as she heard the water turn on. 'I better get out of here before he finishes,' she decided, not wanting to be scolded this early in the morning. Walking over to the door to make a hasty exit, Bulma was halted abruptly as she began to hear voices in next room.

"Something is really wrong with him! He's not thinking clearly! He would have never done anything this stupid if it wasn't for that whore!" Radditz hissed clenching his fists.

"I know," Nappa grunted. "It was one thing to go against us. Us, he can beat, but to go after Zarbon! And in Freeza's presence! He's coming dangerously close to insanity!"

Bulma gulped as she heard them speak, 'he fought Zarbon? That bastard did this? But… But what the hell does that have to do with me?' She wondered assuming the 'whore' Radditz spoke of was in fact herself.

"We need to eliminate this issue. She has survived six months, I doubt even Freeza would expect her to last that long. It's time she dies." Nappa said with certainty.

"Yes," Radditz agreed with a sick chuckle in his voice, "and I bet I can think of the perfect way for her to go."

Bulma then heard Nappa laugh at what she assumed was some gesture Radditz made when she heard not further words. She felt a chill speed down her spine as the two idiots continued to laugh as she heard the outside door shut.

Bulma felt tears come to her eyes as she looked over at suit she had taken off of Vegeta last night. She slowly walked over, lifted the torn blood stained spandex suit up, and held it in her hands. 'This was my fault?' she thought utterly horrified as she ran her fingers over the disgusting garment. 'Why?' was all she could think before her thought process was interrupted as she heard the water in the bathroom shut off. She did not want to stick around and face him, but leaving meant possibly crossing paths with Nappa and Radditz, which was an even more horrid possibility. Releasing the suit, Bulma then walked back over to the bed and pulled the covers over herself. Closing her eyes, she opted to fake sleeping. It seemed to be her best option.

Vegeta walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was disappointed to see her still in bed. He was hoping she would be awake and be gone by now. He frowned as he padded slowly over to grab a new uniform. "Damn Freeza," he hissed, though trying to keep his voice down. He looked up into the mirror in front of him and growled at how hideous he looked. Of course he could have been worse. He could still smell the herbal lotion the girl rubbed on him the night before. He did not know what it was or how the hell she got it, but it helped. He could not understand it though. Why she cleaned his injuries, why she used that ointment, why stayed in his bed next to his hideous self. He frowned as he glanced back at her. This was her fault to begin with. He was every shade of black and blue with enough gashes covering his body to keep him laid up for a week. Of course that is not how it works on Freeza's ship. You take your failure without rest. Up first thing the next day and back into battle. He suddenly stopped as he tried to remember what the point was. 'What the hell am I living for? Was no more than the mere chance of ascending past Freeza in power a sane enough reason to stay alive? Yes! For all that bastard has done to myself and my people! It will be more than worth all of the suffering to see him die for this!'

Vegeta slowly continued to dress, unable to look back at the woman on his bed. 'This is her fault,' he repeated angrily. 'What the hell was I thinking? I should have just killed her back months ago. Why have I allowed her to live this long?' Vegeta thoughts trailed off as he could not help but let his eyes wondered back to her. He shook his head as he gently pulled on his boots. Once dressed, he walked over to the bed and sat next to her. He simply stared at her a few minutes before he looked down. 'I don't believe I'm still protecting her at the cost of my own health. Some damn wench just isn't worth this.'

Lifting his hand, he slowly formed a small ball of ki. Once enough was held just above his fingertips, he turned his hand over and moved it in front of her chest. "I do not need some distraction who's done nothing for me but caused pain."

Bulma heard his words and then felt a heat in front of her chest. She forced back her tears, she knew what this was. It was the end. She expected her death sooner or later, but something about dying like this did not feel right. She saw her death at Freeza's, Zarbon's, Nappa's, or even Radditz's hands, but Vegeta's... she wanted to open her eyes and beg him not to, to tell him that she was sorry for her interference or whatever it was she did to start all of this, however, she refrained. How could she ask not to be killed? She was a slave, his slave, and he has done nothing to her. He went out of his way to protect her, and all it garnered him was a beating. She suddenly felt as though he had a right to kill her; that she was not worth the effort.

Vegeta held the ki blast for what felt like hours, but he did not released it. The energy ball slowly decreased into nothing as he felt failure again. 'What have I become? I can not kill some worthless female?' Vegeta closed his eyes; he knew what was stopping him. There was a fine line between the monster Freeza was and the monster he was. This was that line, and for him to cross it now would bring him down to a level he might never be able to ascend from. He looked at the female beneath him and almost smiled. "You test me girl," he whispered with pride before he rose from the bed and walked over to grab his armor and gloves. He then left the room without further word to go back to his own daily hell.

Bulma pretended to stay asleep until she heard the door close. She breathed a sigh of relief as she sat up. She could not understand what stopped him from killing her. If Nappa and Radditz were telling the truth, and this did have something to do with her, then why would he not just finish her and be done with it? Bulma closed her eyes as a tear ran down her face. She suddenly wished Vegeta had followed through. 'What am I living for, anyway? I have no friends, family, home, purpose-I'm useless!' "Damn it, Kami! Why did you let me live?!" she cried to the deceased deity as she held her face.

She could not understand how she ended up in a world with creatures who could be so evil, who thirst for nothing but violence and domination. She cursed as she wondered if anything could ever stop the violence she was surrounded by, and more specifically, the demon who spawns it all; Freeza. Regretfully, she assumed nothing could, but she did recall Vegeta once bragging about some birthright he had, something about surpassing Freeza. She did not know if that was possible, but she though a universe ruled by Vegeta could not possibly be as bad as one with Freeza. Of course she knew there was no way in hell she would ever live to see that.

Bulma sighed as she rose from bed. Now was not the time to wallow in her misery. She wanted to find Zarra in hopes of getting a clear explanation of what the hell happened yesterday. She needed to know how she had caused Vegeta so much pain.

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"Princ e Vegeta," Nappa bowed, addressing him formally, hoping to soften his demeanor before starting the argument.

"What?" Vegeta asked crossing is arms, trying to hide his pain.

"I think we need to address what happened yesterday," Nappa choked out.

Vegeta's eyes immediately narrowed, "and why the hell do you think I would want to address that?"

"Because, sir," Radditz interrupted, "we have both decided this needs to end." The two Saiya-jins tried to form a united front.

"What needs to end?" Vegeta asked naively, hoping to get the two to put their cards on the table.

"With all do respect, sir," Nappa spoke up, "you are letting this girl cloud your judgment. Now, we both understand her Saiya-jin likeness makes her appealing, but she is not worth going up against Freeza."

Vegeta could not speak, as he found no rebuttal. The fools were right. There was absolutely no logical reason he could come up with allowing her to live any longer. His own contemplation of killing her proved that point just a short while ago. Yet, for some reason the thought of her death sickened him, though he would never admit it to those fools. "She will be eliminated when I decide it is time. Not a moment before." Vegeta easily brushed off the subject as he turned to leave the two men, having no desire to deal with this after his rough morning.

Once he was gone Radditz and Nappa groaned to one another. "We have no choice, we kill her tonight," Radditz said simply.

"I agree," Nappa nodded. "Vegeta won't be pleased, but he will know we were right once the spell the little whore put him under has been broken."

The two men then nodded as they planned their course of action.

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Zarra looked at Bulma sideways. "I can not believe one of those boneheads you live with did not tell you."

Bulma shook her head in affirmation, "Those idiots were just cursing about it this morning, I do not know the details, but I was led to believe it was my fault."

Zarra frowned, "To some degree it was. According to my brother, Zarbon informed Vegeta that he knew something about you and the prince that could get you both killed. Apparently Freeza arrived seconds later, wanting to know what it was, and then Vegeta charged at Zarbon to shut him up. Apparently, it only shut Vegeta up."

Bulma though she was going to choke as this was so much worse than she had imagined. "Zarbon didn't tell you what he knew, did he?"

"No," Zarra shook her head. "He said he was going to tell Freeza right after Vegeta's defeat, but he instead decided against it. He said he thought of something much more interesting to do with the information instead."

Bulma gulped, the sudden shock of all this was too much to handle. "Um… You know, now that I think about it, I had better be going." Speeding out of the room, Zarra did not have a change to say another word before her friend's departure.

"I hope you have not gotten yourself in deeper than you can handle Bulma," the older woman foreboded ominously as she silently hoped all would turn out well.

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When Bulma arrived back in her room she started to worry about what Zarbon had in mind. 'More interesting than telling Freeza?' she cringed at the thought. 'What could more interesting than telling Freeza?' Bulma then stumbled into Vegeta's bedroom, only to release a hoarse scream as her eyes landed on Zarbon, who was lying on Vegeta's bed with his arms crossed behind his head looking as though he was waiting for her. She immediately turned to run, but he speed over and stopped her before she could. "Going somewhere?" he smirked. "But, you just got here, my dear."

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Autho r's Note: Evil place to stop? Probably, but I am an evil author! And speaking of evil… Zarbon! What's he going to do? And what about those two boneheaded Saiya-jins? Things are not looking good for our couple right now! Find out what happens, next time…