Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Veil ❯ Reunions ( Chapter 18 )

Vegeta had never really thought about what Chikyuu-sei would look like, but from Bulma's physique he could determine that their living conditions were similar to that of Vegeta-sei's. Questions were twirling through the fragments of his mind. Was it a peaceful planet? Did they have any hierarchy? And more importantly, what was the food like?

In any case, it would certainly be interesting to find out.

*****

Bulma gripped the arm rests of the cushioned seat that was strategically placed in the large Saiya-jin space ship. A computerized voice echoed throughout the room in which she, Vegeta, Bardock and Kakarott occupied.

"Ship will land in ten minutes."

Drawing a deep breath, Bulma tried to contain the excitement that she felt at returning to her home planet. In curiosity she gazed around the room, observing the three Saiya-jins' reaction.

Kakarott looked calm and in control, but she could see the hint of excitement that was bubbling beneath his features. Bardock on the other hand was looking at the floor of the ship, and had paled considerably. Bulma wondered if he had a fear of flying. She giggled secretly at the thought. It would be unheard of for a Saiya-jin to be afraid of something, but maybe Bardock was an exception. Her gaze finally landed upon Vegeta's.

Her eyes traveled over the deep creases in his face that defined its handsome structure. She couldn't deny it, Vegeta was a very good looking man. Too bad he was an asshole on top of that. Bulma tilted her head as she looked at his stoic expression. She wondered if anything ever phased him. The only time she had seen him vulnerable was in the throne room after Frieza had... The thought trailed off and she pushed back a wave of nausea.

"Landing in five minutes." The voice echoed once again.

Bulma closed her eyes and tried to brace herself for the landing. As her stomach lurched, a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She was finally going to be home! The thought was the most joyous thing that could ever be presented to her. In her mind she ran off a list of things she needed to do.

Firstly, she would get her father to transform her looks back to the way they were. Having black hair was all well and good, but it was beginning to take its toll on her. After that, she would have to provide Vegeta with training equipment, that was why she had brought him here in the fist place. Once that had been done, she would have to contact Goku, and go in search of the Dragonballs once again.

She had to revive Radditz or she would never be able to live herself.

"Landing in five seconds,"

Bulma sucked her teeth, she was barely able to contain the excitement.

"Four."

She looked over at Vegeta once more and caught him staring at her. Whipping her head back to its original place, she tried to pretend as if nothing had passed between them. When he looked at her, the smoldering gaze he gave felt like it was penetrating her soul. It was as if he could see right through her.

"Three."

Bulma dared to lift her eyes once again to the frightening Prince. Sure enough, he was still staring at her. No emotion was displayed on his hard features, which made it all the worse.

"Two."

In an attempt to dissuade him from staring at her, she gave her best frown. Granted that it wasn't as fierce as the scowls he could give, it was the best she could muster up. Unfortunately, it didn't have the desired affect. Instead of making him look away, he merely smirked at her.

A chill ran down her spine as the smirk plastered itself across his face. Why was he smirking at her? She could detect a hint of cruelty in the smirk, something she did not want to see.

"One."

The entire ship began to shake and rumble. Ignoring the strange look she had received from Vegeta, she concentrated on trying to settle her unbalanced stomach. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the rough landing.

Sure enough the shaking and roaring deceased to a quiet rumble. Before they had taken off from Vegeta-sei she had set the landing position of the ship near to the Capsule Corp. compound. Opening her eyes, she looked around again. The red hue that the ship had whilst landing had faded and now the three Saiya-jins and Bulma sat, catching their breath from the rough landing.

A smile shone through Bulma's features as she realized that she was finally home. Without thinking, she unbuckled herself from the seat and jumped up, much to the surprise of the other three males. Her heart was pounding eagerly as she raced out of the cockpit of the ship towards the exit. The three Saiya-jins were hot on her heels as she raced out of the ship.

Bulma's hair flapped wildly behind her as she ran as fast as she could. Reaching the door, she slammed her palm against the large red round button that was next to the large door of the ship.

Waiting impatiently she watched the door hiss open slowly and the ramp slide out. Grinning, she raced down the ramp and ran outside of the ship.

Looking around wildly, she found what she had been searching for. Sure enough, there was her mother kneeling on the ground. She had been tending to her flowers, but now was currently looking at the large ship in awe.

"Mom!" She cried out, running towards the figure of her mother.

Bulma's mother stared at her blankly for a moment. Who was this raven haired female and why was she calling her Mom? Then it dawned on her. Blinking several times, she realized who she was facing. Her daughter.

A bubbly smile came across Mrs. Briefs's face. "Bulma! What on earth have you done to yourself? What happened to your beautiful blue hair?" She exclaimed as she went close to embrace her daughter.

*****

Vegeta watched in awe at the amount of happiness Bulma showed at returning to her home planet. If he was honest with himself, he felt a twinge of embarrassment at keeping her on Vegeta-sei.

But as quickly as the feeling came, it vanished and anger soon replaced it. How dare she behave this way in his presence? He looked at her run down the ramp of the ship, crying something out, and he diligently followed.

Once he had stepped onto the land of Chikyuu-sei, he registered his surroundings. Almost choking on his breath, he looked around at the area. His blood ran cold as he looked at the serene surroundings, the green grass and blue sky.

The place that had haunted him in his dream had materialized before his very own eyes. Shaking his head, he slowly shifted his foot on the bouncy green grass beneath. Wasn't this the place in which he had met with Bulma in his dream? Images swirled in his mind, and he felt ready to lash out at something or someone.

A growl escaped his lips and he looked around in search of Bulma. He scowled as he saw her embracing a woman with what seemed to be gold hair. He had never seen the colour before and it was odd to say the least. Did all Chikyuu-jin look this strange? And why had he dreamed of this place before even stepping foot onto the planet?

Pushing back the troubled thoughts he was having, he made his way to the pair embracing, aware that he was being followed by his two Saiya-jin companions.

He snarled. The brightness and cheerfulness of this planet was already beginning to sicken him.

Why the hell had he agreed to come here in the first place?

Storming over to Bulma and the unknown woman, he tried to keep his anger in check.

*****

All of the fear that had entered Bulma's soul when she was on Vegeta-sei seemed to be melting away at her mother's embrace. Tears trickled out of her eyes as she hugged her mother tightly.

"Bulma dear, your squeezing too tight!" Her mother exclaimed in a ditzy manner as she hugged her daughter.

Bulma choked back a sob and smiled. She had missed her deliriously happy mother greatly. It felt so good to be back home. "I missed you Mom," she whispered.

Her mother was perplexed by her daughters behaviour. "I missed you too dear but-" She was interrupted by a booming voice..

"What is the meaning of your childish behaviour?" Vegeta exclaimed as he grabbed Bulma's upper arm and ripped her away from the embrace of her mother.

The fear that had momentarily left Bulma began seeping its way back into the core of her soul. "I-well," she stuttered, afraid of Vegeta's fearful gaze. She stopped mid-sentence as she realized she was no longer on Vegeta-sei, but that she was home. "Vegeta," her voice was clear and devoid of fear. "This is my mother." She introduced them.

Vegeta's eyes grew wide in confusion, his anger beginning to subside. "You mean you have not rid yourself of your birth mother?" On Vegeta-sei it was custom to be brought up by another Saiya-jin female, rather than the birth mother and he wondered how Chikyuu-sei's culture really differed from that of Vegeta-sei's.

"Yeah.." Bulma said slowly and hesitantly, what had suddenly gotten into him?

Mrs. Briefs looked back and forth from her daughter and the strange man, in confusion. In the distance, she caught sight of another two males standing awkwardly together, waiting for something. She shook her head and decided to speak over the uncomfortable silence. "Bulma dear, who is this handsome young man, hm?" She giggled girlishly.

Bulma rolled her eyes. It was so typical of her mother to do this. She held back a smile as she saw Vegeta's cheeks being graced with two red streaks. So the Saiya-jin Prince wasn't impenetrable after all!

"Mom, this is Vegeta no Ouji. The Saiya-jin no Ouji." She exclaimed, wanting to see her mother's reaction.

Bulma's mother squealed in delight. "Ooh a Prince? What a catch! Welcome to Chikyuu-sei," she curtsied stupidly.

Bulma held back her laughter as she watched Vegeta mumble something incoherent and stare at the ground. This was the fist time she had seen the Saiya-jin Prince be subdued by anyone. A thought came to her, "Mom, why don't you go and fix something to eat? We're all pretty hungry."

Mrs. Briefs giggled and winked, "Sure thing dear!"

"Oh and can you make sure that you make ten times more than you normally do?"

Now Mrs. Briefs had a little bit of trouble registering why Bulma wanted to eat so much. "Are you sure that's a good idea dear? I mean, you don't want to get fat now, do you?"

"Mother!" Bulma exclaimed, "Just do as I say, please?"

"Alright dear." Bulma's mother then turned to Vegeta, "Would you like anything to drink while you're waiting?"

Vegeta stared at her, not answering.

But Bulma's mother didn't give him a chance to speak anyway. "I know!" She cried, "How about a Shirley Temple! You like those?"

Vegeta snorted, not having a clue what that was.

Bulma steered her mother away. It was obvious that the older woman had developed a liking to Vegeta. As she waved her mother away, she turned back to Vegeta. "Sorry about that." She apologized. "She loves having company."

For a moment Vegeta didn't say anything. He simply stared at Bulma, causing her to shift uncomfortably under his gaze.

Finally he spoke, unsure of what to say. "Are-are ALL Chikyuu-jins like her? And if so why are-"

"BULMA!!" A voice cut through Vegeta's voice. Vegeta growled. He hated being interrupted

Bulma jumped and looked around fervently. She caught sight of the figure the voice belonged to. "YAMCHA!!" She squealed. Breaking away from Vegeta, she ran towards Yamcha. She was surprised that he was here. Her best friend alongside Goku, and life long mentor.

Vegeta snarled as he watched her run from him yet again. A strange feeling came bursting forth, encompassing him and engulfing his senses. He came to the conclusion that it was the same feeling he had whenever Bulma behaved like this around Radditz. Jealousy. Who was this Chikyuu-jin man in which Bulma was so eagerly running to? Vegeta clenched his fist, something he found himself doing a lot lately. He observed the interaction between the unknown male and Bulma.

Bulma laughed gleefully as she flung herself into the arms of her friend. "What are you doing here?" She said breathlessly.

Yamcha lifted her up into his arms and spun her around. "I've been here ever since I found out you went away. Why did you leave Bulma?" He brought her down and smiled, hugging her.

Tears began to fall freely at the sight of her oldest and dearest friend. "My Kami Yamcha, I've missed you! I had to leave, I didn't a choice." She hugged him tightly, laughing insanely at being reunited with her friend.

*****

Vegeta watched from a distance, anger seeping out of his every pore. Was she really just a whore? First Radditz and now this guy! He was now joined by his two Saiya-jin companions, who were also watching this display of emotion.

"Humans are such strange creatures." Bradock commented thoughtfully.

"I agree," Kakarott said. "But I never imagined Chikyuu-sei to be so much like Vegeta-sei! The difference between here and our home planet is that Vegeta-sei is much darker than Chikyuu-sei."

Bardock nodded in agreement.

Vegeta remained silent. His eagle eyes remained fixedly on the two humans hugging.

Kakarott frowned, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Bulma and that human are mates."

Vegeta growled, "Shut up Kakarott."

Kakarott gulped and remained silent. He noticed the anger that shone through Vegeta's stance.

Vegeta growled, "This is ridiculous. I have not come here to waste my time with her stupid reunions!" Unfolding his arms, he called out. "ONNA! Come here at once."

****

Bulma was brought out of the warm embrace by a cold voice. Once again Vegeta had managed to dampen any form happiness she felt. Sighing, she extracted herself from Yamcha' warm embrace.

Yamcha frowned as he looked at the three men that stood a few feet away from them. "Who are they?" He whispered.

"I'll tell you later," she mumbled back. Grabbing hold of his hand, she walked in the direction of the trio of Saiya-jins.

As they reached the solemn men, she smiled at Bardock and Kakarott. Instead of addressing Vegeta, she spoke to them. "This is my friend, Yamcha." Turning to Yamcha, she introduced him to the three Saiya-jins. "Yamcha, this is Bardock Kakarott and Vegeta. They are Saiya-jins from Vegeta-sei."

Yamcha nodded at the first two Saiya-jins that were introduced, but as his gaze landed on Vegeta, he felt a strange feeling of cautiousness overcome him. He simply stared at the smaller man and as he got the ki signal, his eyes widened. He did not have a good feeling about these Saiya-jins. He would have to have a word with Bulma about them. "Bulma, it's getting late and Puar will be wondering where I've gone. I'll stop by tomorrow ok?"

Bulma smiled sadly, "Sure thing Yamcha."

Yamcha bent down to softly kiss Bulma's cheek. But just as his lips were about to make contact with her skin, he found himself being hurled back twenty feet into the air.

Bulma cried out in surprise and saw Vegeta send her a deathly glare. "Why did you do that?" She exclaimed in fury.

"No one touches my mate." Vegeta spoke so quietly that it was difficult for Bulma to make out the words.

Bulma blinked slowly and ran over to Yamcha's fallen form. Kneeling down, she helped him up. "Are you ok?" She asked in concern.

Yamcha grunted in pain. "It's a good thing I work out!" He stumbled slightly, much to Bulma's anxiety. "Man, what a jerk!"

"You can say that again," she mumbled. "Sorry about that."

Yamcha shook his head. "No worries. I guess I better get going before he decides to hurl me another twenty feet." He lowered his lips to Bulma's ear and whispered something secretly. "I'm going to go and see Goku ok? Looks like these guys are nothing but trouble."

Bulma gaped at him and before she could answer him, he blasted off into the air. "Yamcha!!"

Yamcha looked down and grinned slightly, "Don't worry about me babe! Just make sure you take that Vegeta guy to some anger management classes!" Without waiting another moment, he sped away into the distance.

Bulma watched in defeat and sighed sadly, "They're not all bad." Looking at the trail of ki Yamcha left behind she spoke quietly to herself, "It's just Vegeta..."

Vegeta's brow furrowed as his sensitive ears picked up Bulma's quiet voice. A stinging sensation grew in the bottom of his heart. Did she really hate him that much? The thought was more depressing than he had bargained for.

*****

Bulma sighed as she entered her father's lab. She had left Vegeta, Bardock and Kakarott in the kitchen to eat. It was time she saw her father. Entering the code to the lab, she was glad that he had not changed it. AS the door slid open, she stepped in furtively.

"Dad?" She called out. It was true that he had been the reason for her current situation, but she had learned to forgive him and realized that he had no choice in sending her to Vegeta-sei. she had witnessed first hand how powerful the Saiya-jins really were and it would have been suicide if they had not enrolled in the treaty with the Saiya-jins.

In the large white lab, she caught sight of the back of her father, he hadn't heard her. Bent over a machine, he was in deep concentration, holding a screwdriver in one hand and a chemical in the other.

Bulma grinned mischievously. She looked at the chemical and saw that it wasn't dangerous. She had done this many times as a child and it seemed the perfect payback to do so now. Stealthily creeping up behind him, she pounced on his back and screamed into his ear. "GOTCHA!" Bulma laughed as he dropped the chemical and cried out in alarm. Bulma jumped off of his back and continued to laugh.

Dr. Briefs shook in fear at the loud awakening. He turned around and was greeted by two laughing black eyes. "Who are you and how did you get in here?" He tried to calm the pounding of his heart as he observed the strange woman in his lab.

Bulma was somewhat hurt that he didn't recognize her, but he couldn't be blamed. "It's me.."

As she spoke, her father's eyes widened just like her mothers. "Bulma.." He breathed. A smiled broke his face, creating new wrinkle lines. "Is it really you?!"

Bulma nodded, "I'm back Daddy.."

"Oh Bulma, can you ever forgive me? I tried for so long to get the Saiya-jins to agree with me. I was trying to get you back, you know. I told them that if they wanted a scientist they could have me, but they said a trade would not be necessary." His voice grew bitter.

"It's ok Daddy, what's done is done. But I need you to fix me back to the way I was. Do you think you could do that?"

Dr. Briefs frowned as he looked at his daughters black hair. "What have they done to you?!"

"I'll explain later, but do you think you could get me back to the way I was before?"

Dr. Briefs smiled at his daughter. "You know I can."

Bulma lightly placed a hand on her stomach. In all of the excitement, she had forgotten that she was pregnant. Shaking her head, she tried to forget those thoughts and concentrated on returning to her former self.

And so they occupied the lab for the rest of the day, working on a way to restore Bulma to the way she was.

All had been forgiven and forgotten. Bulma was just glad to be back home.

*****

Vegeta stared down at his plate of food. "You expect me to eat this?" He demanded to the small tiny blonde haired woman.

"Of course dear, now eat up!" Mrs. Briefs chirped.

Kakarott and Bardock looked down at their own plates. Bardock cleared his throat, "What is this food called? And why is it round?"

Mrs. Briefs giggled, "You Saiya-jins are positively darling," in saying this, she pinched Bardock's cheek affectionately. "It's called pizza, now eat up. You still have desert to eat."

Bardock blushed as the loud woman pinched his cheek. He came to the conclusion that all Chikyuu-jins, save for Bulma, were insane.

Vegeta smirked as Bulma's mother pinched the elder Saiya-jin's cheek. This woman could turn any grown man back into an infant. for once he was glad that it was Bardock being humiliated by her and not him. He picked up the entire pizza and wolfed it down in one go. The taste was amazing, so tangy yet rich and fulfilling. Chomping away, with only the manners that a Prince could have, he watched in disgust as Bardock and Kakarott followed his lead, none too neatly.

All three Saiya-jins seemed to enjoy the taste of this new food so much, that after ingesting the entire pizza, each of which consisted of six slices, they failed to notice the look of awe on Mrs Briefs face.

Her small mouth was formed in an 'o' as in a matter of minutes the entire table was cleared of all the food. She giggled hesitantly, "My my, you all seem to have developed Goku's large appetite!" She hadn't thought of Bulma's friend for many years but observing these Saiya-jin seemed like a strange sense of Deja Vu.

"More." Vegeta demanded.

Mrs Briefs smiled, unsure. "O-ok dear. But you take it easy hm? You don't want to get indigestion."

Vegeta didn't no what or who that was, and so he paid no heed.

For the next four hours, the three Saiya-jins devoured anything and everything that was handed to them on a plate. From pizza to pasta, to grilled sandwiches and salad. It was as if they had never seen food before in their life! But Mrs. Briefs concluded that desert had to be the worst. It seemed as if they had and insatiable sweet tooth, much to her dismay. She was worried about the fact of being eaten out of house and home.

It was a good thing that they were rich.

*****

The stars twinkled brightly that night on Chikyuu-sei. Vegeta had not seen Bulma for almost the entire day. Now he sat on the grassy bank, a few yards away from the compound. He frowned as he looked at the moon. It seemed that Chikyuu-sei only had one moon and not two like Vegeta-sei.

Sitting there by himself, he contemplated on why he had brought himself to this strange planet.

It was because of her.

Bardock and Kakarott had taken to the skies, claiming to want to explore the new land. Vegeta let them and found solace in his own company. A rustling sound from behind caught his attention. At lightning speed he stood up and whirled around, ready to face the attacker. He came face to face with a pair of shining cerulean eyes.

Those eyes that had caused him to behave strangely were back once again. He remained speechless.

Bulma bit her lip. "My mother said you'd be out here. I came to show you to your room."

Of course it had been at her mother's insistence, but she left that part out.

Vegeta sucked his breath in as he looked at the silky blue hair. "So this is what you have been doing the entire day," his gravely voice seemed to swirl around in the air surrounding them.

Bulma looked at the ground, "Well, I figured since I was back home, that I could return to the way I'm more comfortable.." She trailed off and looked up pleadingly into his eyes.

Seeing that look, Vegeta could not deny her of her needs. "Very well. Only until we return to Vegeta-sei."

Bulma smiled a this, "Thank you." She whispered. Maybe he was growing soft? In any case, he had never been rough with her ever since the incident with Frieza. She looked at him as he gazed at the sky above. She waited for him to speak.

"Your planet is odd." He finally stated.

Bulma chuckled, "So is yours," she retorted.

Vegeta smirked. "When shall I be able to resume my training? It better be soon."

"Tomorrow," she said quickly.

Vegeta nodded and remained silent.

"It seems as though you really like the food here, my Mom told me all about it."

She smiled at the thought.

He smirked once again, "That is the only thing worthy on this planet."

Bulma laughed at this.

Vegeta closed his eyes. He had never heard her laugh so merrily before and, he was beginning to like it.

Bulma tilted her head as she looked at him with his eyes closed. She like this side of Vegeta, the quiet and thoughtful side. The non-scary side. Maybe being on Earth was doing him some good. Well, she hoped it would.

Seeing the display of emotion against Yamcha, she realized something. She found out what he held in regard for her. It didn't seem as though he cared, but she could see small hints.

Maybe the real Vegeta was finally going to shine through and not the hard exterior he always put up to be.

Then, she did something she never thought she would do. She took his hand and smiled as he opened his eyes in surprise. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room. I think you'll like it. It's not exactly Royal material, but I think you'd be surprise."

Vegeta grunted, unable to pull away or say anything. His hand throbbed slightly as she held it and led him towards the compound. A frown graced his face.

This planet was already making him act strangely and SOFT. However, he remained silent as he followed her. Never had he felt so strange, he couldn't even place the feeling.

He didn't like it one bit.

**************************************************************** *******

A/N: Well there you have it! Hope you guys liked that chapter. Please review it, and the next chapter could be up tomorrow ;)

Who knows?

Until next time, Ja ne!