| Communication Breakdown Chapter 6 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| Vegeta flew home to the Capsule Corporation, never suspecting he had caused Goku not to make it to the medicine in time. His mind was only on Bulma and it angered him greatly. 'The androids will be coming soon!' He thought with fury. 'I shouldn't let myself be distracted this way!' Vegeta had always been proud of his Saiya-jin heritage. This was the first time he found it a hindrance to his goal. He knew he had become Super Saiya-jin, but something inside told him, he could do more. He could feel there was some untapped power inside him and he wanted to find it more than anything. Yet, Bulma was not just anything. At the moment, she consumed him and it was making Vegeta angrier and more frustrated by the moment. Vegeta flew down by the Training Room looking up at the Capsule Corporation Building. He could spy Bulma through her office window. She turned and Vegeta could see, she was looking at him through the window. 'Do you see me woman?' Vegeta thought. 'Do you see me, you witch? You've conquered me! Do you know what you've done?' Vegeta ground his teeth in fury, clenching his fists at his side at his humiliation. 'You better appreciate this! No Saiya-jin Prince has ever done this for a woman, but I am doing it for you! I'm waiting. Do you see me, waiting? Don't take this too far, woman. I won't wait forever.' With a last, dark, warning look at Bulma, Vegeta slunk into the training room, and took his frustration out on himself in rigorous training. In her despair, Bulma did what she always did when she was upset-throw herself into her work. She had almost exercised Vegeta from her mind, when she saw him through the window. Her heart leaped up in her throat at the sight of him. 'Damn!' She thought. 'He is looking right at me. He looks like he wants to take me apart. I must have been insane to ever let him stay here.' Bulma sat back down at her work table, trying to keep the tears from her eyes. 'Why is he doing this?' She cried to herself. 'I thought I finally got through that tough exterior of his. Finally saw his heart, but he threw it all in my face. Now, he is behaving like the cold-blooded killer I knew when I first met him. Perhaps, he never changed at all, I just deluded myself into thinking he had changed!' She covered her face with her hands in despair. It just was impossible. She was starting to really worry Vegeta might do her harm, yet she knew she loved him. 'How can I possibly love him?' Bulma thought. 'How can I care for someone as cold and unfeeling as Vegeta? I thought things were going so good, but now he hates me more than ever!' Bulma tried to dash Vegeta from her mind. Tried to throw herself back into her work. Mentally, she knew she had to get this invention to work or the two investors she had would pull out. The Capsule Corporation already had a lot on the line with this potential product, she had to stay focused. However, the will was not there. She had been feeling funny all day--more than just how upset Vegeta had made her. A malaise was creeping on her that she had never felt before. She ran the gambit of feelings, from despair and anxiety over Vegeta, to the desire to just curl up in bed and escape it all. 'That will do no good!' She told herself in frustration and despair. 'If Vegeta wants to get me, there isn't anyplace I can go to be safe. There is no place I can go!' Then Bulma looked up as the answer came to her. 'Except, to the only man I know that has beat Vegeta. Goku!' Bulma got up from the work table, and sat immediately down, to keep from fainting. She felt lightheaded and her head swam for a couple of seconds, before the entire spell passed. 'That's never happened before!' She thought. 'Vegeta and I were really going at it last night, but it shouldn't affect me that much. Could the upset and stress be the cause?' She stood up again, but slowly this time. Bulma bit her lip as she looked outside toward the Training Room. Bulma hoped Vegeta didn't see her go. She slipped to the storeroom where Vegeta slept, glad he was busy training, picking out a capsule. Taking it outside she threw it on the ground as it exploded, changing into a little two-seater. 'Nice, quiet.' She thought. 'I can slip out of here and Vegeta will never notice.' She kicked in the engine, as it rose and hovered for a few seconds, before she turned the craft heading toward where she knew Goku lived. 'I have to talk to Goku, she thought. 'He'll know what to do. I just know Goku can help me.' With that comforting thought, she pushed in the throttle and sped off. Vegeta watched her go, as his mind went black with rage. 'Where does she think she is going? First, she treats me like a one-night stand, then she throws my offer of waiting in my face! If I didn't need her, I would kill her!' An ugly thought crossed Vegeta's mind. 'Yamcha!' Vegeta slammed his fist into the training room wall. 'That bitch! She tossed me away and she is going to throw herself at that pathetic Yamcha!' Vegeta shook with the frustration he wanted to take out on the world. 'Kakarotto was right. Nothing helps! Not sparring with him, not destroying the countryside, not training. Nothing takes this fire away.' Vegeta clenched his fists fighting to control his body, until the trembling stopped. A cold laugh escaped him as a new thought came to his mind. 'I can think of one thing that will make me feel a lot better. I may not be able to kill Bulma, but Yamcha is another matter. If I find her with Yamcha, this will be the last day his eyes ever see. I will kill him before her eyes and I will enjoy that very much!' Vegeta stepped outside the training room, concentrating on sensing Bulma's ki. 'Why can't I sense it?' He searched, but for some reason he couldn't find it, which he found most unsettling. She wasn't dead, he knew that, but her ki wasn't clear. It was obscured by something. "No matter!" Vegeta said out loud. "I know where she is going, and it's just too bad for Yamcha, but very good for me. I've wanted to kill that pathetic excuse for a human for a very long time. I think I am going to enjoy this!" Vegeta chuckled darkly as he flew off. Bulma flew toward Goku's hut trying to keep the tears from her eyes. 'Goku, you just have to help me,' she thought. 'If you don't help me, no one can.' Chi Chi sat beside Goku's beside, anxiously wringing her hands. She had tried to get Goku into bed after he collapsed, but found he was far too heavy for her to lift. She finally had to elicit Gohan's help, which was hard for her to do, because she did not want Gohan to know his father was sick. Chi Chi had tried to call for an ambulance, but Goku regained consciousness, only for a second to tell her no and point toward the closet, before he lapsed into unconsciousness again. Since, then Chi Chi had not left his side, helplessly watching as he gasped for each breath. Bulma landed just outside the Son hut, knocking on the door. It was curious when there was no answer. There was usually always someone home. The Sons were homebodies for the most part and unless driven by necessity, say an invasion of Saiya-jin like Raditz, usually could be counted on to be there. Bulma was desperate. She couldn't go home. She pushed open the door. At least, if they weren't home, she could wait for them. Bulma had to have someplace to stay. She cautiously stepped inside calling hello very loudly. "Bulma?" Chi Chi's anxious voice came from the bedroom. "Is that you?" "Chi Chi," Bulma called. "There was no answer at the door, so I just came in. Hope you don't mind." "Get back here, quickly!" Chi Chi screamed desperately. "Goku is dying!" "What?" Is what Bulma said. 'Impossible!' Is what she said in her mind. Bulma came into the Son bedroom in total disbelief. There lay the man she thought was her salvation, one of the best friends she ever had, gasping as if the next breath might be his last. "Chi Chi!" Bulma almost cried. "What happened?" "I don't know." Chi Chi put her face in her hands in despair. "He seemed fine this morning. He went out to speak with Vegeta." Resentment came into Chi Chi's voice with the mention of that name. "When he returned, he was like this. That monster did something to him!" "Chi Chi, Vegeta didn't do this!" Bulma shouted defensively. "No wounds, no blood. They weren't fighting. It looks to me like Goku just took ill." 'Why am I defending Vegeta? Bulma thought. 'He would love to kill Goku. Dammit, I love Vegeta. I just can't believe he would want to do it this way.' Bulma felt a memory push from the back of her mind. "He took ill. The medicine!" Bulma yelled. "The medicine! Chi Chi, did you give him the medicine?" "Medicine?" Chi Chi asked confused. "What are you talking about? What medicine?" "Son, you baka!" Bulma screamed. "You didn't tell her!" "Chi Chi, did Goku try to get to something or point to anything before he fainted?" Bulma eyes raked the room, looking for the small blue vial. She remembered the mysterious, lavender haired teen, giving Goku the vial, telling him he would need it in the future. 'It just has to be here!' Bulma thought desperately. "Yes!" Chi Chi said. "He pointed twice to the closet, but there is nothing in there, but clothes and shoes!" Bulma ran over to the closet, tearing open the doors, grabbing clothes, hangers still in them and throwing them on the floor before Chi Chi could protest. "Well don't just stand there, come and help me, Chi Chi. We have to find it!" "Find what?" Chi Chi looked at Bulma as if she had lost her mind. "Remember that kid that killed Furiza? Goku must have told you. He told Goku he was going to die of heart disease in three years if he didn't take this medicine. He was supposed to take it at the first sign of the illness. Goku must have hidden the vial and not told you, so as not to worry you. It must be somewhere in the closet and he was trying to tell you. We have to find it and pray it is not too late for him to take it." With that Chi Chi launched into the closet pulling clothes down and going through every pocket and seam. "I'll kill him!" Chi Chi fumed through the tears. "He should have told me! Always keeping things from me!" They went through every shred of fabric hanging in the closet and no vial. Chi Chi stood there crying giving up all hope and Bulma did what she did best. She stood there thinking. 'Think Bulma! Think back to the day that kid gave Goku the vial!' Bulma thought back and remembered the silly clothes he had been wearing when he returned. It looked like a cross between an opera costume and disco chic. 'He must have hidden the vial in that!' "Chi Chi!" Bulma said excitedly. "Remember the clothes Goku was wearing the day Furiza was killed? The day he returned? Where are those? He must have hidden the vial in that outfit." "Oh my God!" Chi Chi screamed. "I thought that thing so ugly, I threw it out a year ago without telling Goku!" "Chi Chi, you didn't!" Bulma said desperately. "It has to have the vial in it!" Bulma sat in a chair, giving up all hope. That vial had to be crushed in some city dump. There was no hope of recovering it. "Come on Bulma!" Chi Chi yelled at her as she ran out the door. "Where are we going?" Bulma called after her. "We have a pit several yards from the house where we bury all our garbage. It still might be there!" Chi Chi ran into the woods, Bulma at her heels. At a clearing in the brush, Chi Chi fell on her knees, desperately clawing the dirt with her bare hands. Bulma watched for a moment in shock and then followed suit, also digging at the site with only her hands. The digging hurt their hands, but they dug until their hands bled. They couldn't use a shovel! A shovel might break the vial! There was nothing for it. So they clawed and dug, heedless of the pain. Once the pit was open, they sorted through nauseating bits of debris, searching desperately for one, butt-ugly outfit that might be their only hope. Layer after layer of substances that made their stomachs lurch and stopped their noses, and still no sign of it. Chi Chi screamed in jubilation as she punched her hand down through the garbage in desperation, coming out with the outfit in hand. It was filthy, covered in mud, mold, and mildew, but otherwise looked intact. Heedless of the fact, in another situation, they wouldn't have touched it with Goku's power pole, they searched the outfit stitch by stitch, until with joy Bulma held up the vial, still intact. Without saying a word to Chi Chi, she ran toward the house, quickly washed off the outside of the vial, then ran full speed to the Son bedroom. Goku lay in the bed still and white. 'Oh my God, we're too late!' Bulma turned toward the sound of Chi Chi's approaching footsteps. Chi Chi stopped dead when she came into the bedroom. Staring at Goku with a stricken look, then turning angry. "Damn you Goku!" Chi Chi screamed. "Don't you die again on me. Damn you breathe!" With that she shoved him really hard. Goku took a deep inhale, and started breathing again. 'He never could disobey her!' Bulma almost laughed with joy. 'He's alive, he is still alive!' Bulma ran over, breaking open the top of the vial pouring the liquid in Goku's mouth. Goku choked and attempted to push the liquid out with his tongue. Bulma pushed it back in with her finger, massaging his throat as she did. "Come on, Son!" Bulma cried. "You have to swallow this, please!" Bulma saw his adam's apple move up and down slightly, which told her with relief, he had swallowed it. "Will he be all right now?" Chi Chi looked at Bulma anxiously. "I don't know, Chi Chi." Bulma's eyes never left Goku. "He was supposed to take it at the first symptoms. I don't know if it will help him now. We are just going to have to wait and pray." Goku started breathing a little easier, and a smile crossed his face. His eyes fluttered and opened. "Bulma." Goku smiled at her. "I told him it would work. You're pregnant!" Smiling, he fell back into unconsciousness, but his color was slightly better. It was now Bulma who went shock white, as she turned toward Chi Chi and fainted. |