Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Torn ❯ Healing ( Chapter 4 )

 

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

~Love of Vegeta~

 

 

 

 

 

Bulma moaned and opened her eyes slowly, taking in her new surroundings. She was quite confused by the sudden change of setting. To her it seemed like absolutely no time had passed since her blackout in the kitchen. It was as if she'd blinked and had the whole world change on the reopening of her eyes.

 

She was lying on her back on a firm bed. Bulma took the time to notice the still freshly bleeding cuts on her body, and the stains on the sheets still red, not brown which meant she couldn't have been there long. Glass was still embedded within her arms, legs, and in the back of her head. Her whole body just one huge ache.

 

Bulma made no move to turn her head when the door was pushed open, and Chi-chi's voice rang out from in the doorway.

 

"Bulma! Gosh I didn't expect you to wake up so soon! We've only just moved you onto the bed!" At the absence of a reply, Chi-chi moved over to the bed so Bulma could see her. There was a rather large bowl clasped in her two hands, and some white cloths protruding from her pockets. The raven haired woman placed the large bowl onto the bedside cabinet and pulled up a chair next to the bed. She sighed looking down at her injuries.

 

"There's a lot of glass in there. Goku's gone to get you a senzu but I'm afraid we're going to have to remove it all before we can give it to you." She dipped one of the cloths into the bowl of warm water and rung out the extra liquid. "I was hoping to do so while you were still unconscious, but..." she sighed again. "We can't have the wounds healing over the glass, so you're just going to have to bear with me for a while, until I can get it all out."

 

Bulma turned her head away from the younger woman and winced when she felt the warm cloth upon her aching skin. Chi-chi was obviously experienced with dealing with these sorts of injuries. Unfortunately, she had no experience of dealing with the injuries of average-strength humans. She inhaled sharply as Chi-chi rubbed the cloth against her wounds just a little too roughly.

 

Chi-chi proceeded to clean her injuries, occasionally rinsing out the cloth into bowl, the clear liquid soon becoming dark pink. Bulma shut her eyes and gritted her teeth, but made no sound save for the occasional moan when Chi-chi would begin to loose her patience and rub a wound just a little too harshly. Chi-chi would apologise when she did so, and continue with her given duty. Apart from that, though, nothing more was said between the two women throughout the whole procedure. And, after a degree of pain, moans and apologies, it was finally over.

 

Bulma collapsed into the bed, breathing heavily. But the worst was still to come. There was a few minutes break, and Bulma prepared herself for the next part…

 

She muffled her scream into the pillow as a large piece of glass was pulled out of her skin by Chi-chi's tweezers. Salty tears squeezed from her gritted eyes and cascaded down her cheeks.

 

"Oh Bulma I am so sorry! Please, just bear with me and I'll try my best to make this as painless as possible!" But painless was a word long forgotten in Bulma's vocabulary, and even the bed's plush pillows could do nothing to silence her agonising wails.

 

Chi-chi swore and apologised at every chance, but Bulma paid no attention as the same agony would soon return. Her whole body felt like one huge wound, and Bulma wished Chi-chi would just let her be. It didn't hurt as bad when the glass had been in there.

 

It was taking an excruciatingly long time for Chi-chi to remove the glass. Some of the pieces were very small and hard to remove without cutting her even further. And Bulma was becoming dizzy under the ongoing assault. Sweat veiled her body and mixed with the blood oozing from her injuries, stinging her wounds even further.

 

Through it all she could distantly hear loud agitated voices below, but their owners escaped her at this moment. Her screams were becoming louder and more prolonged, her throat burned and her body was searing with pain, as even more glass was pulled out from her head, back and the back of her legs. She would never have imagined such meagre injuries to hurt so much!

 

A past memory suddenly flashed in her mind. Of the time Vegeta had blown up the GR. His body had had so many jagged and dangerously large pieces of steel embedded into his skin it had taken her hours to remove them all. And yet, she couldn't recall him ever making any sign of pain or discomfort... not once.

 

But he never showed signs of feeling anything, did he? He was just like a machine, a cold empty shell devoid of anything but anger and hate, which he directed towards anyone and everyone he came in contact with. Hell, even 18 showed more emotion then him and she was an android...

 

Bulma suddenly heard the distinct voice of Goku raise above the other voices below, which with a little debate, soon fell silent.

 

She heard the door to the room open and close and felt Goku's presence from besides the bed. His eyes swept her bloodied body and rested on her pained expression.

 

"Chi-chi, I think she needs a little break, don't you?" he said in small alarm. Chi-chi stopped and looked at him.

 

"Goku, I'm trying to get this over with as quickly as possible! It will be much worse if we prolong it!" Sweat laced her brow and her face was flushed.

 

"I know, but come on! She's in agony! You're not dealing with Gohan or me, Chi-chi! She needs a break!" Chi-chi scowled at her husband, but her face softened when she looked at her.

 

"Fine." she said a little hurt. "I'll go get her a drink of water or something..." she mumbled leaving the room.

 

"Thanks 'Chi," Goku said as she left. He turned his gaze back to Bulma. "Are you okay?" he asked. Stupid question. Bulma just nodded her head slightly, and said nothing.

 

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he prodded. She shrugged.

 

"Bulma, come on! This is obviously serious!" he said looking over her body again and just managing to refrain from wincing.

 

"I don't... want... to talk about it... right now." she said in a strained voice. Her throat hurt incredibly. She mustered up enough strength to add; "I'm sorry."

 

"Don't be." he said and sat down by the bed. His gaze suddenly fell upon the red rings of burnt flesh encircling her wrists. He might have overlooked it, had he not had the very same kind of marks on his wrists once before. And he was guessing, by the very same person. He stood.

 

"It was Vegeta wasn't it?" he stated more then asked, trying his best to keep his voice calm. He interporated her silence as a yes. Bulma felt the familiar warmth of his ki rise around his body, and could hear the anger in his next words.

 

"I'll kill him." he said turning and walking for the door, so caught up in his anger he failed to remember that he could just teleport there in an instant.

 

"Goku.. Don't!" she yelled, forcing the words through her raw throat. She managed the strength to turn her head and looked at him. His back was turned but he had stopped frozen by the door.

 

"Bulma this-"

 

"Please?" she pleaded. He turned and looked at her.

 

"No. I'm stopping this." he said, his face set with resolve. Bulma sighed.

 

"Fine..." she rasped through her painful throat. "But not now. Please... leave it until after I've had a senzu." her throat was beginning to seize up. "Please, Goku." she repeated. He stared at her, his fists clenched and his body tense, before he dropped his shoulders in defeat.

 

"Okay.." he said returning to her side. "But after you've healed-"

 

"Alright..." she said.

 

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Chi-chi came marching back in, two large cups of iced water in her hands. Bulma caught sight of some new clean cloths in her pocket.

 

"Goku... could you do me a favour?" Bulma asked. Chi-chi seemed quite surprised; this was the first time she'd heard the other woman speak since she got here.

 

"Sure, anything." he said. Bulma returned a forced smile and replied;

 

"Knock me out."

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

Chi-chi had finally picked out all the glass from Bulma's body. The most difficult task had been her head. The woman's hair had been so matted with blood, Chi-chi had seriously considered chopping it all off. She was too scared to wash the scientist's hair in case the glass dug in even deeper. But after a lot of deliberation, she decided to do her best to wipe out the thickly dried blood with a wet cloth, and proceed without damaging her friend's pride and joy.

 

That would have been a haircut for the record books.. Goku mused, standing by and watching Chi-chi finish up. He'd been taken off guard by Bulma's outrageous request, but had agreed. That was until Chi-chi gave her two cents about the idea. She warded him off with threats of her infamous frying pan and told him instead to go and retrieve a tranquiliser dart from her father. Goku didn't know what one was, but wasn't at all pleased when he found out.

 

A long while later and he finally reappeared in the bedroom, carrying the large dart in a frying pan held at arm's length from his body. Still, Goku made sure not to let Chi-chi get a hold of the pan, and gladly stood as far away from her as possible while she used the dart on Bulma. The whole thing seemed pretty barbarous to Goku, and he couldn't have felt sorrier for Bulma then he did then. Apparently the Ox King used such things on injured animals.

 

When Bulma finally woke up a few hours later, Goku handed her a senzu bean which she chewed gratefully, and wasted no time in shoeing Chi-chi out of the room with minimum damage so he could talk to Bulma.

 

THAT wasn't an easy task. He thought rubbing the swell on the back of his head. He hated that frying pan of hers...

 

"Goku, can we save this for later? I need to have a shower." Bulma asked. Goku was wary. He knew how long women spent in showers and he also knew that Bulma would take the opportunity to take as long as she could so as to avoid having to talk to him. But he couldn't very well say no when she was practically covered in blood. And she especially needed a change of clothing...

 

"Sure, alright then.." he said. "I'll get Chi-chi to bring you some fresh clothes."

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Goku sat waiting in the kitchen, drumming his fingers on the table. He let out a deep yawn and blinked to clear his eyes. How long did it take to shower? He looked around the empty kitchen in search of something that would spark his interest. The boys; Trunks and Goten, were outside somewhere. He'd sent them out there a while ago after Bulma had collapsed in the kitchen. He'd had to practically drag Trunks from the house once the youth caught sound of the agonised screaming from upstairs. The demi saiyan was definitely strong for his age; it had taken Goku a surprising amount of effort to push him outside. And it became even harder when his youngest son decided to join in. The power of two young supersaiyans was definitely NOT something to be taken lightly.

 

An abrupt growl from his stomach told him to eat. He got up from the table and padded over to the fridge. He spotted a tasty looking cake Chi-chi must have baked, and was just about to reach out for it-

 

Something suddenly flashed in his mind causing him to freeze. He straightened and closed his eyes, clearing his mind and searching for what had caused him such anxiety.

 

"Shit." he muttered. “Shit!” His eyes snapped open and he ran for the door, energy bursting fourth in an intense golden aura as he shifted to supersaiyan and shot into the air, blasting through the sky at unimaginable speed towards the enormous power source that was heading straight towards them.

 

 

 

 

 

TBC…

 

 

 

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I know, I know. Nothing really happened in this chapter. I thought I'd take a short break from all that angsty-ness. Mostly because after this Chapter... no breaks. I'm not going to give anything away but I can tell you that things are gonna get quite worse in following chapters.

 

Trunks gets involved in the next one. Aw I really hate to do this to Bulma. V/B has to be my all time #1 couple. I especially hate doing this to Trunks- he's so cute!

 

Anyway. I want to thank Aiyana (thanks for your emails), nu, Subu, Beckwardo, Frabs (love your Fever fic!), Chimiko, Fleursdelys, draci luver, Jessie 18 (hey we have the same name! The Jess bit anyway, no one calls me Jessie) and Devinyx. Thanks so much for your reviews people! They are great motivation! I hope you enjoy the rest of this story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Love of Vegeta