| Communication Breakdown Chapter 5 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| Vegeta woke the next morning in a field of gravel that had once been three, well-sized mountains. He ran his hands through his hair and took in his surroundings. 'Dammit! Did I actually sleep here all night?' The night before he was full of rage, but now he felt as cold as the stony ground he had slept on. He looked up at the new skyline his rage had left on the open countryside. He scanned around until he oriented himself to where the Capsule Corporation resided, all while holding a debate inside of his mind. All he wanted to do the night before was kill everyone insight. Now all he wanted to do was go home. At least the home he had lived in since he came to Earth. Vegeta ran his hands through his hair again. 'How did this become such a mess? It seemed so simple. The offer was made and accepted!' He couldn't believe it when she accepted. He had thought her somewhat unattainable until he overheard her last argument with that baka Yamcha. He decided to go for it, and everything seemed to be going fine. 'Then she did the unthinkable! Rejected me! ME! As if I were nothing but a one night stand for her amusement!' He could feel the anger rising in him again. 'Dammit! She yells at me a lot, but I saw the look on her face last night when she saw me standing in her room bare-ass naked. I didn't help matters when I flew her up to bed the night before that! Why wouldn't she be afraid? I could kill her easier than kill a fly. She is an Earth woman. Not a Saiya-jin. Perhaps she just panicked!' Yet, Vegeta was impressed with her strength. 'Jumping on me like that. She damn near broke my pelvis the way she jumped up and down on me!' He laughed out loud even as he thought it. He knew it would take a lot more than that to actually break any bone in his body, but that was exactly what it felt like. Vegeta chuckled to himself with the memory. 'She didn't seem afraid then!' 'Maybe I'll be better off without her?' He shook his head at himself. No, his anger might have cooled, slightly, but his resolve was as keen as ever. He hungered for her in a primal way. His whole body ached for her. Their lovemaking of the night before hadn't blunted that in the slightest. He would have her, no matter what he had to do to get her. Lie, kill, destroy. It didn't matter. Vegeta slammed his fist into the ground in frustration, causing a shockwave that reached a mile away. 'That would only frighten her more! Bulma didn't want a life mate that terrified her. How does a man capture a woman on this forsaken rock?' He looked up in the sky trying to remember all he could about Bejita-sei. It was so long ago. He had been stolen from there when he was only a child. Still he did remember something of how males took their mates. The fleeting memory of some low-level warrior that had dared to set his sights on a female from a higher class. She didn't even honor him with the challenge. She killed him herself. Vegeta standing by his father as they watched from a window in the tower as she took him apart. Vegeta and his father walking away both having a good laugh over the look on his face before he died. He did remember another warrior. He took up the challenge, but the girl made him wait. She made him wait a very long time. Testing him to see if he would bear up under the challenge. 'Okay,' Vegeta thought to himself. 'So, I frightened her, so she is testing me. Bulma wants to see what I will do. I suppose putting a hole in her wall, wasn't what she was looking for. Still, it was a female's right to set any challenge they wished. It was not unusual for a Saiya-jin female to make a prospective mate wait. It's never been done to a Prince, but then Saiya-jin females weren't easily frightened.' So, he would wait, prove to her he could be trusted-but only for so long. Then he would take matters into his own hand, and if it taught her what true fear is, so be it! He was a Prince, and not to be trifled with. He swore she would understand that, before he was done. Vegeta brought himself out of his inner debate to notice he was not alone in his newly made gravel pit. On the outskirts of the rubble, a man in a rumpled suit, and spectacles that looked too large for his face, was studying the first pile of rubble left by Vegeta's rampage. He totally ignored Vegeta while he set up some kind of curious box on stakes which he pounded into the ground. The man was so engrossed in his own activity, he barely gave Vegeta any notice, which Vegeta found somewhat insulting. Vegeta was a person that demanded attention, and that such a pathetic human could ignore him, was something he just found less than tolerable. Vegeta toyed with killing him on the spot, or simply blowing up his box and laughing as he ran in fright. But then he remembered he was supposed to be waiting, proving to Bulma, he could be trusted. Killing or frightening pathetic humans was not the way to win Bulma's confidence. The little man adjusted his overly large glasses, but they still looked like they would slide off his face, were they not resting on his very bushy, gray mustache. He finally took notice of Vegeta who was still lying there in the middle of the rubble and walked over to him. "Excuse me, sir" the man looked Vegeta over as he said this, "but, are you hurt?" Vegeta was in no mood for the machinations of some clueless human. "Do I look like I'm hurt, you baka?" Vegeta's growl made it clear he wanted to be left alone. The man backed up a little not sure how to proceed, but then proceeded anyway. "Well, sir, I am going to have to ask you to vacate the area, for your own safety. There were several localized but extremely strong tremors in this area last night. There used to be three mountains here and they are gone." The man looked down at a clipboard he was carrying, pulling up a sheet to look under it, studying his notes. "It's some sort of freak phenomenon. The institute sent me out to study it. Never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, this ground could be very unstable, so you need to evacuate for your own safety. Such phenomena could come back at any time." Vegeta stood up, a very dangerous smile crossing his face. "It could come back? Like this?" With that, Vegeta raised his fists, coiling his body up like a spring, then bringing all that force down to the ground. The ground caved in at his feet with the impact and the whole area shook violently. The bewildered man screamed as Vegeta just stood there in the midst of pure chaos, smiling. "Be off with you," Vegeta commanded. "Before I take a mind to do the same to you!" "I'm going, I'm going!" The man screamed. Vegeta heard him say something about the institute not believing this, but the rest was obscured by the starting of a car engine, which roared away. Vegeta smiled to himself. 'Well,' he thought. ' I suppose frightening one human did no harm. Like Bulma will ever find out.' "Vegeta!" Bulma said in disgust as she listened to the morning news on the radio. The announcer was relating the account of a seismologist that claimed he was terrorized that morning by a "strange looking young man" who destroyed an entire mountain range with his fists. The report was being taken as a hoax. Bulma switched off the radio. 'Vegeta must be really pissed!' Last night after he left, she thought he was being blithe about their lovemaking. That he was using her like Yamcha did, and just kicking her to the curb. But, someone being that callous doesn't go out rearranging the landscape with their bare hands. She sighed. No, she saw how upset he was, when he left. She did something to upset him, but what? 'Was he that much of a macho jerk, the idea that I took the lead during sex, insulted him?' 'Men!' She fumed. ' I am going to be damned if I am going to turn into some subservient geisha, just to please that man! I am Bulma Briefs and I have my pride too! Vegeta is going to learn that,' Bulma vowed, 'if it is the last thing I do!' "Kakarotto!" Vegeta floated outside the Son's hut, needing a fight and deciding mountains were not satisfying enough. There was no sound from inside the Son Hut. "Kakarotto!" Vegeta demanded. "Come out here, or I will destroy all that walks and crawls on this pathetic planet!" 'That ought to get his attention,' Vegeta thought with satisfaction. Goku came out of the Son hut looking up in irritation at Vegeta. "Geez, Vegeta you think you could destroy the Earth a little later in the morning? Do you know what time it is? I'm going back to bed!" The door of the Son Hut slammed, leaving Vegeta in stunned amazement. Vegeta ground his teeth in fury. 'First, I am humiliated by a woman. Now this! But, this low-level warrior will not be given the same leniency!' "Kakarotto!" Vegeta shouted, as he leveled a blast very close to the Son Hut. "Come out here now, or I will destroy your house and your bed!" Goku came out looking tired. However, Goku wasn't tired like he pretended with Vegeta. Worse than that, Goku was sick. When he woke to Vegeta's voice, Goku felt it and knew the heart disease that Mirai Trunks had predicted, had finally come to pass. Goku gauged Vegeta's mood. He looked like he wanted to kill the world. He didn't dare let Vegeta know of his condition in Vegeta's mood and he didn't dare spar with him. Either situation would probably lead to his death. He had to find a way to put Vegeta off and get inside his house to take the heart medicine that Mirai Trunks gave him, before it was too late. "Damn it, Vegeta." Goku said in disgust. "I don't want to spar with you now. I'm a little busy if you catch my drift." "Well, you can shortchange your woman, some other time." Vegeta said with a derisive laugh. "I wish to spar with you now. You'll do it, or I will find some city that I consider a challenge." Goku sighed. He knew Vegeta wasn't serious about killing anyone. If Vegeta were serious, he would have done it already. No, something was bothering Vegeta, something which made him want to beat the shit out of someone. Goku studied Vegeta's face carefully, then a small light went on in his head as he realized where he had seen that look before. Goku started laughing uproariously. "What are you laughing at?" Vegeta bristled, daring Goku to make sport of him. "So, it has finally happened to our proud Prince." Goku choked out the words between laughter. "I can remember when it happened to me. I could think of nothing but Chi Chi for weeks. I even stopped eating, I was so upset!" Vegeta landed, sitting on the ground, head in his hands. 'Can it get any worse? First humiliated by a mere Earth woman.' Now he could not even hide his defeat from his greatest rival. Vegeta's mind floated back to the look on that low-level warrior's face when that female killed him. It seemed funny as hell at the time. He swore he would never let a female do that to him. But, he was only six at the time, and now he was a man. He knew he had the very same look on his face and, now, there was nothing funny about it. "I'd swore it would never happen to me." Vegeta said in disgust. Goku so readily reading him, left Vegeta feeling utterly defeated. "Well, give it up." Goku managed to choke the words out as he laughed. "It seems to happen to all Saiya-jin males if it could happen to you. I've noted it doesn't happen to Earth males, so it must be a Saiya-jin thing. You might as well fight against being a Saiya-jin, Vegeta. When it gets you, it gets you bad." "Did they have a name for it, Vegeta? Goku asked out of curiosity. "I never did know. It just seemed to be a madness." "Chi onnetsu." Vegeta said, knowing Goku didn't know a word of Saiya-jin. "It basically means fever in the blood." "Oh! That sounds like it all right." Goku laughed. "It's a fever all right, you either satiate it on your desire or you want to kill the world." "So let's spar." Vegeta said with murder in his eyes. Goku backed up and gulped. Vegeta smiled inwardly. 'Do you sense it Kakarotto? That I have become a Super Saiya-jin as well? I had hoped to wait to reveal myself in battle, but now is as good a time as any.' Goku could see Vegeta's need for bloodshed was urgent. He had to think fast. "It will do you no good, Vegeta." Goku said with false pleasantness. "You can kill me or kill the whole planet and it will not make you feel any better. Once you get that fever over a female, until you have her and have her for life, you will be miserable. Despite our bad reputation, we Saiya-jin seem to be an extremely monogamous species." Goku smiled. "Dammit and dammit to hell, Kakarotto!" Vegeta said feeling defeated. "It just can't be true about Saiya-jin and human females!" "A female is a female, Vegeta." Goku countered. "And Bulma is not just any female." 'Oh fuck!' Vegeta thought. 'Can I be that readable?' Goku snickered. "Come on, Vegeta. Don't look so surprised. I see the way you look at her. You're not that hard to figure out." "So what are you so upset about, Yamcha?" "No," Vegeta said in a low tone. "She got rid of him." "Well, great!" Goku said. "So the way is clear for you! Just tell her how you feel." "I did." Vegeta said, figuring Goku knowing could not make his humiliation worse. "She seemed to accept and then she hesitated." Vegeta it let it go at that. "Oh!" Goku said knowingly. "No wonder you're pissed! Hey Vegeta, she's only human, and you can come on pretty strong. Maybe she just needs some space to think it over. Women need that sometimes. Just back off and let her know you are not trying to force yourself on her and maybe she will warm up to you." "It was a female's right on Bejita-sei to make a prospective suitor wait." Vegeta said thoughtfully. "But it's never been done to a Prince!" Vegeta said suddenly with anger. "Well this isn't Bejita-sei is it Vegeta? And she is not Saiya-jin, she's human. You don't want to scare her. You're pretty good at that, you know?" Vegeta twisted his face in disgust and gave Goku a begrudging look. "Just give her some breathing room, Vegeta." Goku said, knowing that it was important for Bulma and Vegeta to get together if Mirai Trunks was to be born. "If you can't tell, Bulma likes you. Her eyes light up every time she sees you. Why do you think she let you stay at the Capsule Corporation? Think about it?" Vegeta looked down at the ground but said nothing for a few minutes. Then he raised his head. "I have to be going, Kakarotto." Vegeta raised his fist toward Goku. "But, if you ever tell a living soul about this conversation." "Vegeta." Goku said slightly offended at the suggestion he might be a gossip. "It wouldn't be worth my life!" "Oh but it is, Kakarotto." Vegeta said, his voice thick with threat. "Trust me, when I say, it is." Vegeta flew off. Goku clutched his chest, as he fell against his hut in relief. He stumbled inside trying to make it to his bedroom, and the vial he had hid for all this time. He had to make it to the vial. Chi Chi was asleep, but stirred when Goku entered the bedroom. He just got past the door, when he collapsed on the floor beside the bed. "Goku!" Chi Chi screamed. "What did Vegeta do to you?" "Not Vegeta." Goku gasped. "Sick." Goku tried to point toward the vial he had kept hidden all this time, but he faltered, slumped, and slipped into a deep coma. "Goku," Chi Chi screamed. "Goku!" |