Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wages of Sin ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Thanks to Bardockgurl for beta reading!

Chapter 2

Bulma splashed cold water from the kitchen sink on her face. She had thought she had cried all the tears she had before she left the prison, she was wrong. Chichi had been understanding and supportive for once, forgoing her usual "I told you so", she had simply listened. Bulma had poured her heart out. It was the first time she had voiced her fears and concerns to anyone. Chichi would not have been her first choice for something like that, but it had helped. She was utterly exhausted by the time she had finished, but Chichi had offered to let her stay the night, and she had agreed. Anything would be better than facing the empty house.

"Hey, Bulma," Goku called, peering around the open back door, "Where's Chichi?"

Bulma spun toward the door startled, "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she cried.

"Sorry." He laughed, "I just didn't want Chichi to see me."

"She's upstairs." Bulma snapped, heading for the table.

Goku caught her shoulders as she tried to pass him, "Did you see Yamcha tonight?"

She nodded.

"You all right?" he asked, pulling her against him for a quick hug.

She leaned against him gratefully, "Yes, thank you."

"Did she get it?" a voice from outside asked, as someone pushed past Goku and entered the kitchen.

"I haven't asked yet! Just be patient." Goku cried, turning Bulma away from the door, blocking her view of whoever had entered.

"We don't have time for this."

"What's going on, Goku?" Bulma demanded, pulling away to see who he was talking to. The first thing she saw was the dark eyes, glaring at her. It took her a moment to break away from those eyes and see the short, muscular man hiding in the corner of the kitchen.

Goku shifted nervously, "That's Vegeta. Vegeta this is Bulma."

"I didn't ask for introductions." Vegeta snapped, "I wanted to know…"

Goku held up a hand, "Just a minute." He lead Bulma over to the other corner of the kitchen, glancing over his shoulder to be sure Vegeta couldn't overhear. "Did Yamcha give you any messages for me? It's important, Bulma, anything he might have said, I need to know."

"He didn't say anything. Just gave me this." She removed the paper from her pack of cigarettes and held it out to him.

"Great." He sighed in relief, reaching to take it from her.

She pulled it away, "Not until you tell me what's going on. You tell me what you and Yamcha were up to and you can have this paper. Not until."

"We don't have time for games." Vegeta called, barely containing his anger.

"Listen, Yamcha picked a lousy time to be arrested…"

Bulma crossed her arms and glared at him, "When is a good time to be arrested then?"

"You don't understand. He got involved in something that he never should have considered. I'm sorry, Bulma, it was my fault. I didn't think it would be as tough as it was. I never would have brought it up to him if I'd known."

"Are you saying it's your fault his in jail right now?" Bulma asked, stunned.

"Not entirely…"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence before Bulma slapped him. "How could you do something like that? You know it's not going to be easy to get him out this time! I can't believe this! He trusted you! And you…"

Goku grabbed her wrists before she could slap him again; "You don't know the whole story. I need that paper and then I'll explain everything, I promise."

"Just take the damn thing!" Vegeta snarled.

"And who the hell are you?" Bulma cried, pulling away from Goku, "This is between Goku and me, you have nothing to do with it!"

"Fine with me!" he snapped and started toward the door.

"Vegeta, wait." Goku cried, "Bulma, I asked him to help us. He's an old friend, all right, I've known for a long time and we can trust him." He steered her over to a chair and gently pushed her into it. He took a seat across from her, "A few months back, someone contacted me about obtaining something for them. I set them up with Yamcha, I had no idea it was as serious as it was, or I never would have done it. That paper has the location of what Yamcha was supposed to obtain, if we don't get that to the person who hired him…"

"Bulma!" Chichi called from the living room, coming toward the kitchen.

Goku leaped from the chair, knocking it over in his haste to get to the kitchen door. Chichi gasped in shock as he grabbed and pushed her back into the living room.

It was obvious Goku was trying to keep his voice down as he explained the situation to Chichi, but her voice carried through the door into the kitchen.

Bulma shifted uncomfortably. From what little of the conversation she could hear clearly, Vegeta was not one of Chichi's favorite people and it was clear all she wanted was for him to leave her house. She nervously glanced at Vegeta out of the corner of her eye, wondering if she should say something.

"Woman, give me that paper so I can get out of here." Vegeta snapped, stalking away from the door his hand out to her.

Bulma swallowed her fear and glared at him, "I was told to give this to Goku, not you."

He snatched the paper from her hand, "And I don't have time for games."

She leaped to her feet, thinking to grab the paper back, but he caught her arm and twisted her around. With one strong arm, he pinned her arms to her sides, and pulled her body against his side.

With a curse, he crumpled the paper and flung it away.

"You can let me go now." Bulma told him, trying to keep her voice steady. There was something about standing close to him so close to him that caused her heart to beat faster.

"Maybe I don't want to." He whispered in her ear.

Bulma felt as though her knees would give out. She was suddenly very conscious of the warmth of his body, the controlled strength of his arm around her; it started a familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. "W-why would you say that?" she gasped.

He loosened his grip on her slightly; "Maybe I'm trying to decide if your life is worth my time and effort to save."

She knew she should have pulled away. He was giving her the chance, but she didn't want to. She felt as though she were in a daze as she turned toward him, "And what would be the criteria you base that decision on?" His dark eyes met hers and she felt as though she would drown in them.

He leaned towards her until his lips were nearly touching hers, "That remains to be seen."

The sound of breaking glass from the living room startled them both. Vegeta turned them both, shielding her body with his slightly. His right hand dropped to his waist, pushing his jacket out of the way to reveal the gun. He watched the door with narrowed eyes, but relaxed when he heard Chichi shrieking at Goku again.

Bulma pulled away before she could do anything she might regret. She could feel the flush on her cheeks, and giggled nervously, "I guess that answers that question."

"Maybe I just didn't want you getting in my way if trouble started." He sneered.

"What is this thing that is so important? None of you have told me what is so valuable that it's worth more than human life."

"It might be best that you don't know. The more you know the more dangerous it would be for you."

"I've known nothing about it for this long and Goku still thought I needed protection. What would it matter at this point if I know the entire truth?"

"You could be right." He seemed to consider her request for a moment. "Follow me." He motioned her towards the back door.

"Why do we have to go out there?" Bulma asked, for some reason nervous to follow him out into the dark.

"Afraid?" he challenged, "Or would you prefer that screeching harpy in the other room found out the truth as well?"

"Good point." She agreed following him out into the yard.

They stood under the kitchen window so they had some light in the dark yard. "Give me your hand." He placed something smooth and round in her hand, "This is what they want." He told her closing her fingers around the object.

She opened her fingers, holding her hand up to the light. In her hand sat what appeared to be a glass ball, slightly bigger than a pool ball. The little bit of light from the kitchen window shone off the polished yellow orange surface. "If this is what they want, why don't you just give it to them?"

"There's six more. They're of no value unless they are all together. Your husband found and hid one; that's the one they want. They're not aware we have this one."

She tried to hand it back to him, "What are you going to do now?"

He closed her fingers over it again; "I have arrangements to make to get the next one. You hold onto this one until I get back." He smirked at her, "For luck."

She looked down at her hand and then back at him, but he had disappeared into the night.