| Communication Breakdown Chapter 3 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| Bulma avoided Vegeta like the plague the next morning, and Vegeta just behaved like himself. This, of course, meant they had no contact with each other at all. They passed each other a few times, but each time, Bulma shot her chin up in the air to let him know she would not deign to speak to him, and Vegeta would only smirk and be about whatever occupied Vegeta's day. "Bulma!" Bulma looked outside the Capsule Corporation. Yamcha was standing outside the window, looking up at her from just beyond the hedge. She turned white hot with anger upon seeing him. "What are you doing here, Yamcha?" Bulma turned from fury to inward laughter. 'He is afraid to knock on the door or come in because, Vegeta tried to kill him! Maybe having that arrogant SOB under my roof has some advantages!' "Please, Bulma! Can't you come outside to talk? All I've done is think about you, since I pushed you. I feel so terrible about it." 'Yeah sure you do!' Bulma thought. 'I bet you wouldn't have felt as bad, if Vegeta hadn't almost punched your head off. Hey, wait a minute! What Vegeta said about killing "my mate."' Bulma thought of the enraged look on Vegeta's face, standing over her after she had been pushed down. Vegeta grabbing Yamcha, ready to kill him. 'Vegeta was trying to protect me! Could it be that SOB really likes me? Vegeta was ready to fight for me and all Yamcha did was take off after I stopped the fight!' Bulma looked at Yamcha pining away like a sick schoolboy, yet he blithely flirted with other women as he pleased. '"A Saiya-jin will not tolerate infidelity." He fought for me and he stated he hated infidelity. Wow!' Bulma thought. 'If only he wouldn't act so pigheaded!' "Bulma!" Yamcha started to sound angry. "Is that all you are going to do? Just stand there staring at me? I said I wanted to talk to you." Bulma erupted. "Well you can just stand out there all day if you want! I've got nothing to say to you Yamcha. I said all I was going to say when I caught you with that bimbo. We're through! I thought Vegeta made that clear to you." "Vegeta!" Yamcha demanded. "What's he got to do with this?" Bulma gave Yamcha her most evil look. "You think you are the only one playing the field. Why do you think I let him stay here?" Yamcha stood there sputtering. Bulma was enjoying the pain he was inflicting to that inflated ego of his. The bastard was so convinced it was impossible to do without him. She intended to play this up for all it was worth. "You slut!" He screamed! "All this time I trusted you!" "Trust?" Bulma screamed. "You dare talk to me about trust, when you have been carrying on with anything in a skirt for weeks? It goes both ways, buster!" Yamcha looked down at the ground and shifted uncomfortably. "You bitch!" He said in an undertone. "Don't you know it's different for guys?" "Vegeta doesn't think so." Bulma threw her head up proudly. "He says infidelity is intolerable." "And what would your precious Vegeta say if he knew you were carrying on with both of us?" Yamcha screamed. "Who's going to tell him, you?" Bulma laughed derisively. "You would be dead before you got the words out. If you haven't noticed, he hates your guts." Yamcha twitched and Bulma knew she had him just where she wanted him. "You should have seen Vegeta carry me up to bed last night. He's such a gentleman, once you get to know him and better in bed too! That's when I made up my mind to dump you!" "Fuck you!" Yamcha screamed and threw a rock up at the window, missing Bulma just barely. "Back at you!" Bulma screamed throwing a wrench out the window, missing Yamcha as well. Yamcha stomped off, screaming as he left. "I hope you're happy. You just ruined the best thing you ever had!" Bulma watched him go, then hung her head. "Yeah, I'm happy." She said sadly. She looked over at the Training Room and was glad, for once, that Vegeta spent all his time in there. She couldn't imagine what he would say, if he heard her. Then she turned white with panic when she heard an evil laugh and knew she was going to get her answer whether she wanted it or not. "More games?" She heard Vegeta's voice below her window. "I thought you learned your lesson last night, woman." He stuck his head around the corner smirking with arrogance. Bulma went white hot with fury. "Lesson? Lesson? Listen you Bastard! This is MY house. Nobody teaches me anything, you got that. You live rent free on my good graces. Prince of all Saiya-jin, my ass! If it wasn't for me, you would be the Prince of dumpster diving! And if I want to use you to get to that bastard that is my business and you haven't got squat to say about it. Do you got that?" A very ugly look crossed Vegeta's face, but he said nothing. To emphasize her dismissal of him, she slammed the window closed so hard it shattered everywhere. Bulma shook with fury, but went back to the invention she was working on. Her concentration had almost blocked out her outrage, when she got the coldest thrill of fear she had ever known. She turned around in open terror and there was Vegeta standing in the doorway with a very dark look on his face. 'How did he get up here so fast? Oh God, I'm in trouble, if he came up that quickly! I'll be damned if I will let him know he scares me one bit!' "I thought I made myself, clear!" She turned to her invention, pretending it was the only thing on her mind. "Well, let me make myself clear," Vegeta hissed forcefully as he walked toward her like a cat stalking its prey. "I don't mind that you used me to get rid of that baka. In fact, I was most amused to watch the look on his face. It almost made it worth letting him live just to watch his humiliation. But the idea you can use me as you will. That is another matter, woman!" "That is not what I said, so don't twist my words!" Bulma screamed in his face. Vegeta growled, which Bulma knew meant she had him there. "Perhaps we should continue this over some food." "Huh?" Bulma said quite shocked. "Are you inviting me to eat lunch with you?" Vegeta straightened shooting Bulma a look that was a mixture between embarrassment and outrage. "Don't be ridiculous, woman! Why would I want to eat with the likes of you? I'm just hungry, and I am not done speaking with you. As if I can't do both at the same time!" 'Okay Bulma,' she thought. 'Ignore the words. Look at the actions. First he tries to fight for me. Then he says he hates infidelity, now he asks me to lunch. He likes me! He really likes me!' 'I'm learning Saiya-jin speak!' She laughed to herself. She thought of how it must have been like this on Bejita-sei all the time. A whole planet of bad-ass warriors. They must have done nothing but talk smack to each other all day, when they weren't trying to kill each other. 'Okay, Bulma, so you want to be friends with him? So, talk to him in the language he understands.' "Well," Bulma answered putting on exaggerated anger. "You're just lucky I'm hungry too!" Vegeta growled, but waited for her to get up. 'Wow!' She thought. He is letting me exit the door first! He is acting like a gentleman! This is incredible!' She got up to leave, but just as she went to pass by Vegeta, he turned and walked out the door ahead of her. 'Hrrrrr! He did that on purpose!' She fumed. He turned and grinned evilly to let her know he did. When they entered the kitchen, he sat at the table, crossed his arms and looked up at her sullenly as if expecting something. 'Oh, now I have to serve him!' She seethed to herself. 'What an egotistical jerk!' She fixed them both a sandwich, grabbed a couple of sodas from the fridge and sat down. 'If he wants more than that, he can fix it his damn self!' She fumed. Vegeta ate quietly, which only infuriated Bulma, all the more. 'He said he wanted to talk!' "What do you call this?" Vegeta said almost under his breathe. "Huh?" Bulma said genuinely surprised. 'Hadn't he ever had a sandwich before?' "Um, it's called a sandwich?" Her tone conveying she thought he might be putting her on. "Interesting." Vegeta said. "Fix me some more." Her curiosity drained the anger right out of Bulma. She went over to the fridge and fixed five more ham sandwiches. Vegeta watched her carefully, as she laid out the bread, put on the ham, put on some mustard, then the cheese, finishing with more bread. Bulma found this almost endearing. He really seemed fascinated by the whole thing. Bulma laughed. "You think you never ate a sandwich before." "I haven't." Vegeta said with no trace of humor. "I just grab the food and eat it. Food is to eat, not be put together like a jigsaw puzzle." "Doesn't anyone cook on that planet you come from?" Bulma said incredulously. "Surely you got a home cooked meal once in a while." Vegeta just growled and gave her an ugly glare. "How would you know what I've eaten?"**(see author's note below) "Well surely, you've had spaghetti, or macaroni and cheese, or just a good casserole!" Vegeta shook his head as he launched into the sandwiches. "You need someone to cook for you, Bud!" Bulma said feeling almost motherly toward him. "It's not good to eat cold food all the time. Why don't you try joining the family for a hot meal at night? It will do you good." Vegeta dismissed her offer with a huff as if it was the most patently ridiculous suggestion ever made to him in his life. "Well," Bulma said slyly. "After all, with you training and all, you want to be in your peak condition and a good meal, instead of cold food. I was just thinking how beneficial it would be." Vegeta gave that some thought and answered slowly as if still turning it over in his mind. "Perhaps it might be possible." "But it mustn't cut into my training time!" He added quickly "Of course not!" Bulma said with exaggerated emphasis. "Just give us fair warning so the cook can make extra. With your appetite, she'll need to cook enough for an army!" Vegeta didn't seem to be paying attention. He broke off part of the sandwich and held it up to Bulma's lips. 'Huh? What the hell is he doing?' She thought. 'Is this his way of saying thank you for the sandwiches?' She looked hesitatingly at the proffered bit of food as if it was poisoned. Then she took the piece of sandwich into her mouth and swallowed. Vegeta stretched a wicked smile across his face, as if Bulma had fallen into the most evil trap ever contrived. "I'll see you later." He said darkly, sliding off his chair and exiting without another word. Bulma sat there stunned. 'What the hell just happened? What was that all about? Just when I thought I was getting to understand that guy he goes and does something totally weird. I think I will never understand him!' Bulma dismissed the whole affair from her mind getting up to clean the mess that making seven sandwiches leaves behind. |