| Communication Breakdown Chapter 11 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| Bulma lay in Vegeta's arms scarcely aware of time or space. Hazes of color coalesced around her into a welcoming, protective shroud. The colors undulated with the rhythm of her body becoming numb to any pain or reality beyond the colors-and they existed only in her mind. If this was death, she was beginning to like it. Bulma smiled, looking around her own little heaven. It had an intrinsic beauty she had not expected. Instead of physical localities, it consisted of nothing but sensations and color. She hummed quietly to herself wishing her mother could see this. Her mother had always loved mosaics. The feeling of numbness heightened as she closed her eyes slightly. She found focusing difficult, but she did manage to see a few things. "Goku!" Bulma called. Goku turned toward Bulma, smiling. Diffused light surrounded him, tapering into feathery beams, streaming from his fingertips. He spread his arms wide in welcome, streams of light spreading away from him like the luminescent wings of a dove. His smile became wider and wider as death beckoned to her with Goku's comforting arms. "So you died after all?" Bulma called to him, as time slowed, making her voice sound weird and distorted. . She slowly looked down at her stomach as she began to feel as if she was wading against a strong current. "Oh Goku, look! The baby has a halo, too! Isn't it wonderful?" As the wind rushed through her hair, Bulma became aware of powerful arms carrying through the night sky. Bulma ran her hand over one of these arms feeling skin barely sheathing muscles of iron. She always liked muscles. She lolled her head over to see the owner of those arms. Her dreamlike heaven shrank back before their owner. Everything around the owner of those arms blurred into a dark void. To Bulma's horror, at the center of this void, was a shadowy incarnation, which coiled menacingly around her. The menace's shadow spread out in all directions. Bulma was terrified it would engulf her. The shadow collapsed in on itself, forming a man as terrifying as he was beautiful. His shadow diffused around him. Raptor like, leathery wings formed from this darkness, as predatory in appearance as the gleam in his eyes. Bulma screamed against her own damnation and against the demon incarnate carrying her away from heaven-carrying her to hell with him. She struggled and hit at him, but he held her fast in a grip much stronger than her own. The harder she fought the stronger the grip became. 'Damned!' She thought desperately. 'Damned because of my love for Vegeta. Is there no forgiveness for loving a monster?' There was no answer from her winged hell-only the sound of rushing wind and of her own sobbing. Vegeta carried Bulma away into the night, heading for the only place he knew to go for help-the Capsule Corporation. As he flew, he looked down at Bulma with a mixture of despair and concern. He hoped she would show that spirit he had grown to not only respect but love in spite of himself. She wasn't behaving like the woman he knew or wanted for a mate at all. She behaved as if she didn't know he was there. Vegeta couldn't help feeling disappointed, yet he knew he shouldn't feel that way. Bulma had been through hell with that monstrosity, yet, he couldn't help hoping Bulma would yell or chew him out. He wouldn't have been angry, even if he would have pretended to be, anyway. In fact, he would have found it somehow comforting-a reassurance things would return to normal. Instead, she lolled her head from side to side, humming and mumbling things that only Bulma understood. She lolled her head over to look at Vegeta and screamed in terror. Vegeta found himself in a battle to keep a hold of her as she struggled and hit at him. "Dammit, woman! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Vegeta clamped his hands around her, determined to keep hold without breaking her in two. Bulma's scream was the first indication something was terribly wrong. As she screamed, he could see her pupils were entirely too large, and her demeanor was one of complete disorientation. "Oh shit, woman," Vegeta said, stunned at the concern he heard clearly in his voice, "what did you take?" 'Bulma taking drugs?' Vegeta found it hard to believe. She seemed healthy enough. He rarely saw her do more than occasional wine and those damned cigarettes. Vegeta's mind went back to the area around the thorn bush and the hedge full of berries. He sniffed at the red smears on Bulma. What assaulted his nostrils was an extremely noxious tang. 'Shit!' Vegeta thought. 'That solves the mystery of why the fuck she crawled into that thorn bush.' The area was a nature-made trap from hell. Animals would eat the berries, become intoxicated and the unfortunate ones would blunder into the thorn bush to await a grisly fate. Vegeta momentarily wondered how long that monstrosity he killed had used that trap to find its meals, before he dashed the thought with the urgency of the moment. "Dammit, woman, if you weren't just a little too clever for your own good." He said out loud. "I've got to get this shit off you." Vegeta flew down, glad to find the stream snaked up that far. He unceremoniously ripped off her tattered clothes, washing and rubbing mud and berries off her now naked body. He dearly wished this was another situation. Her body, gleaming in the moonlight, tantalized and fascinated him. He found washing her, most pleasurable in spite of the urgency of the situation. Bulma, however, screamed and protested against the rubbing which raked into the scratches and wounds already raw to the touch. "Don't kill me, again." Bulma cried, "Not by drowning, not that!" "Quiet, woman," Vegeta hissed at her while looking worriedly at the sky. "Or you will have that ugly Namek on us. I haven't got time for his shit right now." Vegeta rubbed water all over her trying to remove all traces of the berries. He cursed as washing off the mud and berries revealed, she was so scratched up, any toxins from the berries were probably already in her blood stream. "Oh Fuck!" Vegeta looked around anxiously, worried Piccolo would show up and slow him down again. "You need help now." Vegeta flew off heedless of Bulma's protests. The door exploded in on the Capsule Corporation. Vegeta marched through carrying Bulma, naked, bleeding, and practically unconscious. "Briefs!" Vegeta boomed in his most commanding tone. "Medical attention, now!" He looked up to the second level where the bedrooms were and waited for some sign of life, then said it a second time, even louder. "Briefs! Medical attention, now!" He watched the Briefs come out to look over the railing at what Vegeta was carrying. He braced himself. As cold and unfeeling as Vegeta imagined himself, even he knew this looked really bad. Bulma's father came down the stairs two steps at a time, threats and promises of various kinds of violence screamed in his wake. Vegeta would have found his reaction highly amusing, but they hadn't the time. Bulma needed help, not hysterics, and knowing that caused him to growl in disgust. "You raped her! You raped her!" Bulma's father screamed between tears. "You raped her, didn't you, you monster!" "Yes!" Vegeta shouted back, not interested in an argument, only action. "Whatever you want, whatever it takes! Just get her medical attention now. She's been poisoned and she is pregnant." Mrs. Briefs fainted. Mr. Briefs took no notice of his wife's condition. He ran over to the phone screaming hysterically into it, all the while screeching threats to Vegeta of the many flavors of death awaiting him. "We have no time for a doctor to come here!" Vegeta shouted, thinking the Briefs to be the two most clueless beings on a planet of clueless beings. "She needs a medical facility!" "This IS the Capsule Corporation!" Mr. Briefs shouted back. "We have every conceivable kind of medical equipment right here! How else do you think we could build that damn regeneration tank of yours?" "There's nothing a hospital can do, we can't do here." Mr. Briefs banged down the phone. "The doctor is on the way." "I thought my daughter was crazy to invite you to stay. She is so strong willed, I try to stay out of her way. But this time she and you have gone too far. You are to get the hell out of here immediately and never come back! I may not be strong enough to kill you, but I know my daughter has some friends that will not let this go unpunished!" Vegeta stood there doing his best to hold his temper. He rolled his eyes at what he thought were overly dramatic hysterics, then flew up to Bulma's bedroom. There was no way in hell, he was going to let that senile old man come between them. Whether her father liked it or not, Vegeta told himself, Bulma was his destiny and her parents would just have to get used to it. Vegeta walked her deliberately into the shower. Bulma sagged against him, making no attempt to stand on her own. Vegeta washed her completely again, finding it hard to keep hold of her, while he soaped her all over. She screamed incoherently about a demon that was trying to steal her from heaven and drown her over and over, but little else made sense. When Vegeta was satisfied he had cleaned off every bit of the berry residue, he wrapped a clean towel around her, and laid her in her own bed, just in time for the doctor to arrive. Bulma wavered between fantasies of color and heavenly solitude and phantasms of the terrifyingly beautiful demon that carried her away to thorn bushes, flying monsters, and drowning death. She tried to remember why his face looked familiar, but she was too afraid and sick to her stomach to study his face for long. All she could do is sigh and beg for release from her hellish bane, but he would only smirk arrogantly and carry her off to more terrible fates. No matter how bad she thought it could get, the demon seemed to find something that was even worse. There seemed to be no punishment sufficient for the crime of loving Vegeta. Something inside Bulma pushed itself to the surface, searing her mind with its refusal to be denied. Screaming as she sat up in bed to hit at the demon, she knew what was pushing at her was anger, and the refusal to be intimidated. "I'm Bulma Briefs!" She screamed at her demon. "You won't scare me!" "That's right, woman!" She heard her demon reply. "You're Bulma. You never did scare easy. That is one thing I always respected about you. But, now you must not fight. Moving around, just moves the poison faster through your blood stream." 'Dammit!' She thought. 'Why does he have to be so nice? It makes it hard to stay mad at him.' Bulma stopped fighting, looking at the demon innocently. "You poisoned me?" The demon chuckled. "No! Woman, you poisoned you, with those fucking, red berries!" "Berries?" She asked, fighting to remember. "Yes, remember the berries you spread all over yourself?" "I remember." Bulma said slowly. "I was trying to get rid of my smell, because Vegeta was chasing me, so I smashed mud and berries on myself." "Well, the berries were poisonous. Now lie still!" Bulma drifted back into a beautiful dream. With her smile, her dark demon transformed into a beautiful angel. An angel of light that somehow seemed sad. His steady gaze bore into her even as he transformed back into her demon. She tried to fight him, but she felt firm hands force her down again. Voices! Voices came into her mind, or did they come into the room? Yes! Into the room. She could hear their footsteps. Bulma could hear them more clearly now, but what they said didn't make much sense. There was a voice ordering various pieces of medical equipment. Bulma wanted to rise and order the equipment he required. She was eager to get this guy as a client. The medical equipment wing was something she had been pushing besides air safety. She wanted the Capsule Corporation to branch out and an order like this was what they needed. Her demon was her continual bane. He seemed concerned, yet he carried her away from heaven and was now intent on keeping her captive, pushing her down whenever she fought to rise. Bulma felt anger well in her, again. 'This is business!' She thought. 'If we don't push that equipment, the whole division could go down.' Bulma fought against the strong arms holding her down, wanting nothing at the moment but to order the equipment. "You aren't going anywhere, woman!" Her personal demon boomed at her in a commanding voice. Another voice now, but she didn't recognize it. "Did it ever occur to you, young man, we might need some of the berries that poisoned her to administer an antidote?" "There is some of the berry residue at the bottom of the shower, fool! Help yourself!" The stranger's voice again, but she couldn't make out the words clearly. He seemed to be ordering more equipment. She was losing a sale, she told herself. That equipment she could sell him, for wholesale! The arms holding her down were too strong. Her frustration at losing a sale was turning into pure fury. "Bastard!" She screamed. "Back off! This is business!" The demon again. "The only business you've got right now woman, is to stop moving that shit around in your system before it reaches my heir! You got that, woman?" This was too much for Bulma and she started to cry. "I'm carrying your baby?" 'I'm carrying this demon's baby?' Bulma thought. Bulma sank into despair. "What happened to Vegeta's baby?" She cried out. "I want my baby!" She wailed and thrashed, but the strong arms prevented her from moving much. "Young man!" The stranger's voice again. "How do you expect me to treat her, if you don't stop hovering over her?" "Don't fuck with me, old man!" The demon's voice again. "That woman is my wife! Just treat her. I see you doing more than that, I'll blow you to the winds!" "Just ignore him!" Bulma recognized the voice as her father and he sounded very angry. "He doesn't have any say around here. Not anymore! This is my house. Treat her as you see fit!" 'Treat her as you see fit?' Bulma cried in her mind, trying to understand why her father would leave her in the hands of a stranger. 'My father is against me too? The only one on my side is the demon that's trying to damn me to hell!' Bulma cried out feeling abandoned by all she loved. "Hrrrr!" Bulma heard a loud thud into the wall. "I had her quieted down. Now look at what you did!" It was the voice of her demon. "I notice that isn't the only hole in my daughter's wall!" Her father said in an accusing tone. "Is that how you raped her? Did you threaten to do that to her as well, if she didn't submit?" "I didn't rape her, you pathetic, old fool! I just said yes to you to avoid an argument when you should be calling a doctor!" The demon screamed so loud, Bulma screamed too. "Of course!" She heard her father scream back. "My daughter always ends up looking like that when she is willing! And what the hell do you mean she is your wife? Over my dead body, will I give my daughter to the likes of you!" "That can be easily arranged, old man, because it's true." Her demon laughed. "Challenge was given and answered. By all my rights and as the father of her child, I here and now declare this woman mine for all time, and there is nothing you can do about it!" The demon's words crashed through her hallucination with as much force as the arms that held her down. 'I'm this hellish monster's wife?' She fell into despondency. Her damnation was now absolute. "We'll see about that!" She heard her father stomp out, then she felt searing pain in her arm and she struggled against it. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" She heard the demon's footsteps as he advanced toward her. "Unless you have a license in medicine, I suggest you butt out and let me get this job done. I have to get the antidote into her system by IV. Now, if I have any more interruptions from either of you, I will take matters into my own hands, have this woman transported into a hospital and both of you barred from the premises!" "Goku, Goku!" Bulma cried. "Make them stop, they're trying to kill me, again!" She thrashed against the pain she felt in her arm, and heard the doctor yell for her to be tied down. Goku coalesced before her eyes. His halo was curiously titled to the right and he smiled in a peculiar way which made Bulma's heart sink. He didn't seem to care at all, what was happening to her. He stood motionless in the room, while she fought against mad doctors and winged demons. 'Alone!' Bulma thought. 'Dad doesn't care. Yamcha doesn't care. Goku stands there and lets them torture me. Vegeta wants to kill me. This horrid demon is trying to damn me to hell. I have no one to love me!' Bulma cried out with the abandonment she felt, and heard swearing as she felt her arms being tied down. "What the fuck do you think you are doing?" She heard the demon scream. "Get away from her!" She felt her arms violently seized away from the bonds and then forcefully pushed back against the bed. "Woman! Woman, can you hear me? Look at me!" Bulma fought to see through the haze of nightmarish colors and the vision of Goku still standing there, now smirking as if her pain amused him. There was only one person who called her woman. "No! No!" Bulma cried out forcefully. "You hate me because of the baby. You're trying to kill me. I won't let you!" "Stop this, Woman! Look at me!" This was said so forcefully, it frightened Bulma. She hesitantly opened her eyes, fearful of what would see. The dark demon stood over her, wings spread so far she thought she would suffocate under them. He held her arms down. She wanted to scream, but was too frightened. "Vegeta?" Bulma called. "Where's Vegeta? I want Vegeta!" She wailed the last turning her head and crying. "I'm right here, woman! Look at me." Bulma looked back and the demon shrank before her to that devilishly, handsome man that once tried to destroy her entire planet. "Vegeta?" "That's right, woman! Now listen to me. You have to lie quiet and let this shit they stuck in you work through your system. If you are so damn concerned about that brat in you, you will do this. Do you want that poison to reach him?" Bulma shook her head, wide eyed like a small child. "Vegeta?" Bulma said hesitant and still afraid. "What, woman?" "It's such a shame." Bulma tried hard to be brave as she heard herself say the words, but a tear slid down her cheek. "What's a shame, woman?" "That I love you, when you hate me." "You don't know what you are saying, woman. Lie quiet. No more talk." "But!" "Quiet!" Bulma felt drowsiness overcome her. Now that the demon was gone, she felt like it was safe to fall asleep. Looking at Vegeta and smiling, she finally did. Vegeta stood there for a moment watching Bulma fall asleep. As she did, he gave in to a plethora of feelings which assaulted him, all at once. He felt foolish, angry, lustful, and something else he couldn't quite fathom. He felt the mastery of his newfound power just barely under his control. Yet, his much needed control fell into disarray when he looked at her laying there knowing he was helpless to change things. It galled him he had become so attached to her. He told himself things would have remained far simpler had he remained alone. Vegeta shook his head, thoroughly perplexed. The more determined he was to make Bulma his own, the crazier things had become. First she seemed interested, then she rejected him, then she seemed interested again challenging him, then she rejected and hated him. Now she said she loved him! Were all Earth women this confusing, or was it just women in general? Part of him wanted to be overjoyed that she said she loved him. His cynical nature tempered any joy as he told himself it could be the poisons talking. Yet, even his more cynical side, knew you could not hallucinate love. Now he had to prove to her he didn't hate her. As Vegeta assured himself this would be done, he looked out the window. What he saw made him wonder if he would live to prove anything, ever again, even to himself. Out the window, Piccolo and a now recovered Goku, hovered in midair. Both were staring through the window at Vegeta with very determined, deadly serious expressions on their faces. 'Oh fuck!' Vegeta thought in disgust. 'That bastard father of hers has probably told everyone I raped her. Fuck, fuck fuck! Why should they think anything, else?' 'Shit!' Vegeta thought. 'I want to fight Kakarotto, but not with that fucking Namek complicating matters. I can just imagine what he told that baka.' Vegeta would never admit fear, but he had experienced a fight with Goku when Goku was fighting for others. The idea of fighting him when Goku believed Vegeta might have raped Bulma, gave Vegeta a moment's pause. Vegeta crossed his arms, as if perfectly calm, but his veins were popping out on his arms and he nervously twitched. Vegeta turned around and took a momentary look at Bulma. She lay unconscious and now he was facing two opponents who probably wanted to kill him. He wondered if he would ever lay next to her, again. He gave into a momentary memory of how incredible her smooth skin felt against his. How intoxicating her smell was to him. 'Dammit!' Vegeta punched his other hand in disgust. 'Can't think about that now!' 'Fuck, fuck, fuck!' Vegeta swung back to look out the window. 'It looks like I get my challenge after all, but not quite in the way I wanted it. This just keeps getting worse by the minute!' Vegeta took one more look at Bulma. The doctor was hovering over her. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. He still distrusted the man's intentions, but finally consigned himself to the notion there was not much he could do about it. Vegeta stalked out the door, arms held tightly at his side, preparing for a power up. This was going to get nasty and he knew it. Vegeta shook his head. He had fought his whole life to become a Super Saiya-jin. Now, he finally achieved it. All he wanted after that, was to face the man who stole his revenge and kill him, or at the least, put him in his place. Now another feeling accosted him, and it scared him badly. Seeing Bulma lying there, being powerless to change it, took something away from him. He didn't feel strong, he felt weak, helpless. He was trembling inside. For the first time, he felt unsure about going into a fight. 'What the hell is wrong with me? I've faced opponents like this before! Dammit! I've got to get free of this woman, she's destroying me!' Vegeta leaned against a wall for support as he fought down tears. He knew he couldn't do it. He needed her. Knowing that, gave him a new strength which surprised him. He'd never felt that way, before. He wasn't sure what it was he was feeling, and he knew he didn't have the time to find out. Vegeta sternly walked out to face Goku and Piccolo. He would not let them defeat him. He knew, he couldn't let them defeat him. He simply had far too much to lose. |