Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Price You Pay ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

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The Price You Pay: Chapter Fifteen

Vegeta entered his quarters and shut the door behind him. Bulma lay on his bed in a deep sleep, faintly murmuring to herself. He found himself amused as he watched her thrashing about.

He really needed a shower.

It only took Vegeta about five minutes to lather up and totally wash off his body. One of the advantages of being one of the strongest fighters in the universe: he could wash nearly as fast as he could throw punches.

Vegeta wrapped a dark green towel around his waist and walked out into his quarters. He needed something to sleep in. Typically he slept nude, but he didn't want to scare the onna any more than he already had.

He searched around for the pajama bottoms was wearing the night before, but when he couldn't find them, settled for a pair of navy blue cotton boxers. With his modesty mission complete, he hung his towel from the bathroom door knob and made his way towards the bed.

The room did seem a bit stuffy, he concluded and opened up the doors to the balcony. The sky was exceptionally clear. Clouds had been hovering in the sky for the past few days. While he didn't mind it so much during the day, it bothered him at night, feeling separated from the rest of the universe.

The Saiya-jin no Ouji turned back to the sleeping onna momentarily. She had stopped moving a few minutes after he walked through the door. His mere presence must have been soothing to her. Vegeta turned back and walked out onto the balcony through the open doors.

There was a slight breeze and he could feel his hair gently sway with the wind. The air was cooler than he expected and Vegeta shivered as the air hit his damp body. Wrapping his tail around his waist, he leaned forward onto the metal railing.

It was useless, he knew, to search for the star that belonged to Vegeta-sei's system. Freeza hadn't only destroyed Vegeta-sei, he'd destroyed the whole system. Star and all. Vegeta stopped as he reached a bare spot in the sparkling sky. A vacancy. Freeza had wanted Vegeta to feel as detached as possible. And he was very thorough. It was amazing how small one could feel while looking up at the expanse of space. How insignificant. How lonely.

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The last thing Bulma could remember before falling asleep was how cold it was.

She was having another nightmare. Vegeta was dressed in his battle armor as she watched him leave. It was under slightly different circumstances than the last dream, but just as vivid.

The Saiya-jin no Ouji, somehow turned King, looked at her with an unspoken emotion in his eyes—a grief she'd thought the steeled warrior incapable of? Sadness, but not her own.

How odd.

The sadness appeared to be coming from him. From Vegeta.

"Vegeta…" She reached out to him, but he'd already turned. He was determined not to let her see his weakness.

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There it was again.

"Vegeta…"

What was going on? What was triggering all these outbursts? She wasn't supposed to be able to communicate telepathically. Chikyuu-jin were astoundingly devoid of any such capabilities. She would be able to communicate with him mentally after they were fully bonded, but not before. And that was still a long shot.

He was intrigued and at the same time deeply disturbed. The bond they shared must have been more powerful than he first imagined. Great.

At least she could only communicate with him mentally while she was sleeping. Between bonded Saiya-jins, strong emotions could sometimes spill over into the other mate. But given Chickyuu-jin physiology...

The onna was laying on his bed just as he had left her, but the peaceful look that had shown up on her face when he entered the room the first time was now gone.

He knew she was sad. Something deep within him reverberated with the memory of her mental plea. What was she dreaming about?

He couldn't believe how quickly she'd become emotionally attached to him. He didn't understand it. Were all Chikyuu-jin so quick to form emotional attachments? He'd never experienced another species with the same vulnerable behavior. The emotions she'd absorbed tied them both together, that was certainly true, but that didn't explain this.

Vegeta sat down next to Bulma on the bed. Her facial expression worsened.

The Saiya-jin no Ouji took his hand and placed it about three inches above Bulma's face, letting it hover there for a few moments. He slowly moved his hand up and down, but he couldn't read her. Mind reading wasn't going to work this time. Whatever had allowed her to reach out to him before was now closed.

After a few moments of further mental probing, Vegeta realized the futility of his endeavors. She was not Saiya-jin. He could not comprehend her mind the way he could members' of his own race. She was human, alien, something he was never meant to understand.

Vegeta let his hand travel the small gap between his palm and her cheek and rested his calloused fingers against Bulma's skin. The woman was cold.

Her eyes opened immediately. Physical contact always seemed to be the catalyst in their current relationship.

To his surprise, her eyes were clear blue and glowing.

Bulma stared up at the Saiya-jin no Ouji inquisitively for a few moments. She wasn't prepared to see him so near.

The onna reached out her hand and timidly touched his face. He fought back the urge to pull away. He didn't like casual intimacy.

Her hands are cold as well.

She looked shaken. Again. Could this just be some strange reaction to the Khon'daia na?

"You're still here?" asked Bulma with a little quiver to her voice.

"I am." Vegeta didn't know how to reply to her question. He opted for the obvious.

"But I thought…" She trailed off and touched his face with her other hand. It was equally cold. "You had to leave."

Vegeta had no idea what she was talking about. He wasn't sure whether to be concerned or annoyed. And this, if anything, vexed him even more.

"I'm here now. I haven't left you." Again, he stated the obvious.

Bulma's facial expression crumbled. Vegeta didn't know what he said to get that sort of a reaction out of her. He still had difficulty deciphering Chickyuu-jin expressions and their triggers.

Not knowing quite what to do, Vegeta reached out and touched her cheek again. Bulma looked up and stared at his face, studying his features. Without warning, the tiny creature wrapped her arms around Vegeta's neck and pulled him against her frighteningly cold body. Vegeta, accustomed to unexpected movement in battle, was taken aback by her curiously firm grip, but allowed her to keep holding onto him. Chickyuu-jin touching rituals were also something he would never understand.

The onna was crying silently onto his shoulder. Vegeta had seen her cry twice in the last day, and he believed that was more than he ever wanted to see her cry. He would do anything to keep her from crying. His stomach clenched uncontrollably.

"Thank you." Vegeta didn't know what she was thanking him for, but he nodded his head in response. Bulma released him uncertainly from her iron-strong grip and sniffled. It was amazing to him how her emotions could change so quickly.

Vegeta glanced out the open balcony doors and up at the night sky.

Vegeta-sei…

The woman shuddered. Could she feel his pain? Was that it? Vegeta got up and walked back out onto the balcony. He had to escape.

She can feel my pain…

That must have been it then. His emotions were spilling over and into her. He had put mental blocks up, but it seemed that little pieces of him were seeping into Bulma. He was going to need to put up stronger shields. An unconscious heart-to-heart was not on his to do list.

The metal railing was cold against Vegeta's over-heated flesh, but he failed to notice as he pondered all the new information.

He could sense Bulma moving behind him, and wasn't surprised when she wrapped her arms around his side and pulled herself close to him.

"Don't ever leave me." It wasn't a request, more like a command, but Vegeta knew what he would have said had it been a question anyway.

"You know I can't," he replied blankly.

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Bulma sighed. He should know by now that he couldn't hide everything from her. He wouldn't leave her, at least not the real-life Vegeta that was standing next to her.

No, she was safe. Even if he wanted her to think that the only thing keeping him with her was the bond they shared. There were feelings rooted deeper somewhere in there. She just had to find them.

"I don't blame you for acting the way you did earlier today, Vegeta," she said truthfully. After revisiting what had happened, she realized that he just must have wanted to be alone. Before the formation of the bond, she might have found out anyway if he'd decided to gloat about it, but other than that, their communication was typically at a minimum. She had no right to be offended by his cavalier attitude.

"Maybe you should," he said it flatly, maybe even a little bit sarcastically, but Bulma was still shocked to hear the words pass over his lips.

Is he admitting that he's wrong?

That was the closest thing to an apology as she was ever going to get out of him.

It was silent and cold. Bulma shivered. Whether it be from the cold weather, or being so near to Vegeta, she didn't know. There was a lot of body heat coming from him, but the opposite side of her body wasn't touching his warmth.

Vegeta's tail unwound itself and wrapped around Bulma's waist. She was sure he could feel her shivering and even hear the occasional chatter of teeth.

He was looking up at the stars, searching. After a few moments, she looked up herself and followed the direction of Vegeta's eyes. Not knowing what to look for, Bulma paused and glanced up at Vegeta's face. He was thinking, possibly calculating the coordinates of some unknown celestial location.

The place he belonged.

His home?