Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Tasting Bliss ❯ Bittersweet ( Chapter 4 )

Bittersweet

 

Sequel to Tasting Bliss

 

Contains Male/Male pairings. Don't read if you don't like yaoi or shonen ai! Vegeta Seme/Goku Uke.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Vegeta, Goku or Dragon Ball Z. Akira Toriyama created the manga/anime, and it is owned/licensed by Shonen Jump and Toei Animation Co. Ltd. This is a fan fiction, and means no harm.

 

Ever since that day, Vegeta had felt awkward. His relationship with Bulma had become strained as of late, and he wondered if she had known of what had transpired in the forest. It seemed whenever he wanted to initiate sex with her, she shied away or reverted to a list of excuses that raised his suspicion. Resentment slowly built up till he saw her spending more and more time with her work and less with him.

 

Business meetings took longer and longer, and he rarely woke up to see her in the bed next to him. Either she woke up very early, or fell asleep in a small cot she kept in the laboratory. For three weeks Vegeta tried to shrug off the limited contact. Had she grown weary of him, he wondered. How could it be the case when he was the one being who shared her bed for so many years. Still he must have been blind or oblivious when he sat down and traced back through recent memories. Bulma often spent time with a good book reading rather then engage in sex. Or if he were the one to drag himself in after a late night of sparring she would be fast asleep. Half of the time he feigned sleep recently because he knew he'd face her excuse.

 

Deprived of sexual contact, Vegeta was getting more and more irritable. His sense of smell was greatly heightened and he wanted to deny that he smelled something other then his own scent around Bulma. Certainly as he sniffed the air he smelled the whiff of Trunks and Goten's scents, along with Bra's. but another that he had not discerned for years made him frown. Just where he'd sensed it before was beyond him.

 

Then it struck him in the middle of the night. Bulma slept curled up, facing away from him. He leaned close and sniffed her neck. Under the heavy perfume she wore of late he sensed it again. A masculine scent that reminded him of a dry desert. Mingled with cat dandruff. It wasn't Scratch, or any of the other beings he'd come to know as pets. Rather something that made him sneeze.

 

IT smelled of a shape shifter. Creatures like that perverted pig Oolong had a scent all their own, which would invariable change slightly. Yet Vegeta could detect the slight disturbing variance. Smell couldn't camouflage their true nature. Even that floating stuffed animal that lived with Yamcha…

 

Puar. That cat creature who was his constant companion. Yamcha had sometimes visited the compound to have a cup of tea with Bulma. Vegeta grudgingly accepted her friendship with the desert bandit as a fact of life. She valued her platonic contacts with members of the male sex, and he knew the bandit could not satisfy Bulma as he could.

 

Or did he? There were some things that Vegeta could never be for Bulma, one of them a shoulder to cry on or someone who understood her intimate past. Yamcha had the privilege of being one of Bulma's oldest acquaintances. Only Kakkarot knew her better, having met her when he was but 12 and she was but 16. Why did he suddenly think of Yamcha, Vegeta wondered.

 

"Bulma," he murmured, prodding her with his finger.

 

"Mmm," she mumbled, turning more completely away from him. Again he smelled the disturbing scent under her perfume. Was it just his imagination or did he suddenly recognize the scent for what it was.

 

Yamcha and Puar. Why had she bothered to wear heavy perfumes lately? She knew it almost made him sick. Had she deliberately been keeping contact with Vegeta to a minimum because of something she was trying to hide?

 

Vegeta frowned. Bulma murmured something in his sleep, and it cut him to the core. "Mmm, never forgot. Always will love…"

 

"What in the seven hells," Vegeta wondered.

 

"Yamcha," she murmured. Anger filled the Prince, his heart pounding with a sudden flush of fear from head to toe. Instinct screamed that he had been oblivious to something all these days before his 'intense heat' had been triggered.

 

Slowly Bulma shifted in the bed, and Vegeta snapped his eyes shut. A soft rustle of sheets and the change of her breathing indicated she had woken. Vegeta willed himself to be statue still, wondering if she would suspect he had awakened before her. Leaning over she whispered, "Vegeta, are you awake?"

 

Vegeta did not answer. Slowly the bed shifted, and he felt Bulma's weight leave the expansive mattress. He heard her soft footfalls on the floor, till they faded into the bathroom. He told himself he was just being jealous, because she had sometimes accused him of yelling Raditz name in his sleep.

 

"Shit, how could I be so careless," he murmured. Serve him right if she felt neglected for the time he had suddenly burst out of the Gravity room in search of Goku. Neither returned for at least three days, the duration of the heat. His mind wandered back to that patch of forest where he sobbed into soft fur and felt the strong arms clutching him close. Innocence accepted the reality of what had transpired, and Son Goku's soft voice traveled through his mind.

 

"Vegeta, I don't understand… why do I want you so badly?"

 

"The call of Saiyan blood, crying out for satiation, Kakkarot. You cannot deny it anymore than I," Vegeta had answered with a broken voice.

 

He could imagine the unsure touch of those large hands on his body. How Kakkarot soon gained experience under the Prince's own touches. Teaching the younger Saiyan what he must know for the next seventy two hours. For Bulma's sake he had coupled and satiated his urges with the last full blooded Saiyan. It was a white lie he told himself, to cover the fact that if she found out, she would not understand. Nor would Kakkarot's demanding mate.

 

Suddenly the urge to get as far away from Bulma as he could overcame any desires to demand explanations for her shunning him. All the signs were there: she was having what the humans called 'an affair'. Whether it was with Yamcha or someone else he didn't care. At this moment he wanted to either blast the house to smithereens or escape into the woods and pretend he never had mated with a human named Bulma Briefs.

 

***

High above the earth he rocketed, rattling the windows and foundations of building for miles. Unsuspecting observers would think it another UFO or phenomenon that frequented Chikyuu of late.

 

"I'm the Prince of all Saiyans!" Vegeta ranted. "She's a mere human, not fit to mingle my genes with!"

 

He thought of Trunks and Bra, the two children they had created from love. Trunks was the result of a passion sort of thing, while Bra represented the stability of a loving marriage they had fought hard to maintain in the wake of Majin Buu. Always Bulma questioned whether the Dark Prince would return and purge himself of all 'petty emotional ties'. Now he felt the desire to return to the familiar hatred, to become what he was before.

 

"Why did I think that the woman could ever satisfy me. How she betrays me for that weakling!" he growled, fingers knotting into a fist.

 

Towards West Province Vegeta rocketed, not caring who he would awaken. The inconveniences he would cause to mere humans were not his concern. All he desired was refuge: from the betrayal of his mate's trust. Still his reason told him she was justified. Justified to seek comfort in the arms of her own kind, a human male who'd known her since her formative years. While he had not heard Yamcha's voice on the other end because of the TV, he suspected it was he. All those business meetings were Bulma trysting in a secret rendezvous with her lover?

 

Just as he had done, seeking the company of Kakkarot now. Son Goku would train Uub much of the time at Kami's lookout, but at other times he would retreat to a small cabin high on the slopes of Mt. Pauzu. The same destination that greeted Vegeta now. In veridian strips of brilliant red and scarlet he saw the mountain ahead. A tiny pagoda shaped build blew into view, and Vegeta slowed his progress. Clutching his belongings, the Saiyan Prince landed near the old structure. The smell of charred wood told him someone had been here quite recently.

 

Vegeta quickly strode up to the doors, and pushed one in. The small bolt gave way, and Vegeta glanced around. Of course he knew nobody was here, but it smelled of Kakkarot everywhere. From the futon alcove to the battered old furniture everything detailed the past of a once rival turned lover. It was 100 percent Kakakrot, and that was all he needed. Closing the door behind him, Vegeta wearily strode over to the futon alcove and nudged the battered mattress with one booted toe. Judging from the lack of dust, it looked as if someone had been using the small cabin very recently. Although Goku wasn't the neatest person in the world, he did know enough from life with Chichi to clean up after himself.

 

With a thump the bundle in Vegeta's left hand dropped to the floor. Everything permeated through with the heady scent of Kakkarot. Strength failed Vegeta and he sank down to sit on the well used futon covered with an old well worn blanket. He curled up on his side facing the wall and pulled the cover overtop his body. Suddenly he felt very cold in the strange world. Only the familiar smell of Kakkarot lulled him into a sleep he badly needed.

 

How ironic to find shelter in the boyhood home of his enemy, Vegeta thought before drifting off. There was nowhere else he could go, now that Bulma must know of his time with Kakkarot. Why else would she have concocted elaborate plans to avoid Vegeta. He would have gone to the gravity room, but Bulma had made that. Anything associated with Bulma he wanted to avoid until he could sort out was he was to do. He smelled fruit and the remains of recent roasted fish, and knew that Kakkarot had been here only a day or so ago. Either Kakkarot was living here to train Uub, or Chichi had kicked him out.

 

Where else would he go but the home of Grandpa Gohan? Now Vegeta sought refuge in the small cabin. Miles away from any civilization he at last fell asleep.

 

***

Vegeta's nostrils twitched with the smell of fish roasting. His stomach automatically growled, and he blinked awake. A huge ki shimmered just outside despite the owner's need to keep a lid on it. Kakkarot was back, and was just outside cooking something in the huge firepit. Vegeta threw off the covers, and pushed himself to stand up. Still wearing his sleeveless shirt and matching blue spandex, he ventured over to the door. Would Kakkarot be angry or surprised to see him since Goku had not bothered to wake him?

 

Slowly he edged the double doors open and peered around to see his rival clad in blue sleeveless top and orange pants. Son Goku was crouching by the fire pit, watching the progress of an enormous fish skewered on a long steak. Vegeta chuckled to himself to realize that the other Saiyan's hunting was still quite strong. To see his erstwhile rival in his boyhood home suddenly caused a warm glow in Vegeta that he was loath to admit. If he had met Son Goku before Bulma, would things have transpired differently?

 

"You're awake?" Son Goku asked, turning around and seeing Vegeta standing there silently.

 

"You state the obvious, Kakkarot," he grumbled, rubbing at his eyes. "Obviously or I wouldn't be here watching you cook, idiot!"

 

"Hope you don't mind fish. Just caught it this morning. Didn't want to wake you up cause you looked so peaceful asleep," Goku said.

 

"I'm NOT peaceful," Vegeta snapped automatically. Goku shrugged and gave him an enigmatic smile.

 

"Easy there, Vegeta. You need something to eat, and I'm happy to share. Rough night huh?"

 

"What would YOU know of that, Kakkarot?" Vegeta asked, not venturing out of the threshold of the cabin.

 

"Vegeta, you wouldn't come here unless something had happened with you and Bulma. Did you guys fight or something?"

 

"What do you think, clown? I wouldn't lower myself to find shelter in this HOVEL for the fun of it!" Vegeta answered.

 

"This HOVEL was good enough for you to spend the night in," Goku glared at him, suddenly looking hurt. "And this HOVEL was my home for 12 years!"

 

"Fine, whatever," Vegeta waved a dismissive hand. "What I meant was would I be here if I wasn't?"

 

"You too, huh? I hate it when Chichi throws me out. But That doesn't mean I don't know how to cook," Goku said.

 

"Since when does THAT matter?" Vegeta spluttered.

 

"You assume just cause I eat Chichi's cooking I'm helpless? Vegeta, I knew how to cook and feed myself LONG before I married her," Goku answered, standing up and brushing his hands off on his pants. He strode over to Vegeta and rested his hands on his hips.

 

"I said NOTHING of the sort!" Vegeta snapped.

 

"You were thinking it," Goku said quietly, extending a hand to the Prince. Vegeta made to slap it away.

 

"I don't want your pity," Vegeta spluttered.

 

"Easy now, you didn't come here to argue with me, did you? Why don't we just eat and then…"

 

"Chat like some damn fool human like a fucking tea party?" Vegeta spluttered.

 

"She did throw you out, didn't she?" Goku sighed, shaking his head. Vegeta opened his mouth to protest again, but then decided he didn't want to humiliate himself further by admitting to Kakkarot what really had happened. How could he tell his rival that Bulma was having an affair?