#YES! I GOT MUSHY IN THE END BECAUSE BULMA WOULD NEVER REJECT VEGETA FOR TOO LONG!!!

[sarahw-world]

The characters: Vegeta and Bulma. AU: Future/sci-fi. Setting: Vegeta has a hardcore crush on Bulma and finally gets the guts to express it to her. It doesn't go as planned.

Vegeta walked into the tiny repair shop and stoodin front of the counter, removing his dirty white gloves and ringing the bell.

“I’ll be there in a second!” A loud, femininevoice yelled from the back room, accompanied by a string of ear-piercing, stridentnoises. “Son of a…! Damn it!” The woman roared.

The Prince chuckled at the crazy sounds thatresonated throughout the small shop. He couldn’t help but be amused by Bulma’santics, always fascinated by her each and every move, whether it was seeing hersmall but curvy body bent over as she was fixing one of the planet’s many spacepods or simply wiping off the sweat from her creamy forehead with the back ofher hand…

“Hey, Vegeta! What’s up?” She said cheerfully,leaning on the counter with one hand and taking a large gulp from a cold drinkwith the other, offering him a fantastic glimpse of her generous cleavage atthe same time.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, inwardlycursing himself for his complete and utter inability to talk like a regularperson whenever the Earth woman was around. Ever since they’d met, about fourmonths earlier, when he’d brought her one of his broken scouters, he’d foundhimself fabricating excuse after excuse in order to be able to run into her,his body constantly begging him to spend time with the stunning woman. Herbright blue eyes and matching long wavy hair were the first thing that hadcaught his attention, together with her extremely evident intelligence andvivid personality. She was funny, as cute as a button and yet, at times, shepossessed a tongue and temper that could put any Saiyan to shame.  

“Are you alright?” Bulma softly asked, frowningin concern. “Are you here to pick up your scouter?”

Vegeta nodded gracelessly, feeling his roughhands tensely clutch the border of the chipped wooden counter.

“Alright…” She continued, still feeling likethere was something wrong with him today. “Let me go get it!”

She turned around, getting back inside the backroom with a pair of very starvingSaiyan eyes fixed on her graceful movements. As soon as she left the room,Vegeta banged his fist on the counter, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.

‘What the Hell waswrong with him? Since when did a puny, insignificant female have this effect onhim? She should be the one feeling nervous! No! Grateful! That’s right! Sheshould be feeling fucking grateful that an extraordinary warrior such ashimself had chosen her as a future mate…’

Today was supposed to be the day.

He’d been planning it for days, ever since he’dabandoned the planet to go on his last mission two weeks ago. It had turned outto be one of the most dangerous tasks Frieza had assigned him and his comradesto do. Before he parted, he’d picked up his newly repaired armor from Bulma’sshop and, later, he’d had to battle the bastards from the planet he’d beenordered to purge while he carried her sweet, unmistakable scent all over him.It had been both intoxicating and maddening, and he’d finally had the courageto acknowledge to himself what he’d been afraid had happened ever since he’dfirst laid eyes on the woman: he’d fallen in love with her.

He’d fallen for this weak, fragile creaturewhose planet, and most of her entire race, had been destroyed by his evilMaster no more than six months ago. And yet, her brave spirit and exuberantpersonality had remained untouched, luring him like a moth to a flame.

No other woman woulddo.

He was supposed to leave on a mission in lessthan twenty-four hours, and he couldn’t leave without a promise: her promisethat she would be his and his alone, and that she’d be waiting for him when he’dreturn from his latest duty.

“There you go!” She said proudly, sittingcasually on top of the counter, right next to him, and handing him the scouter.

He took it, making a phenomenal effort not to lethis hands shake at his uneasiness.

“Thank you,” he finally managed to reply in alow, uncomfortable voice.

“Um, you’re welcome…”

Bulma could see him fidgeting with the smalldevice, something unusual in a man that had always been so strong, proud andconfident, and she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was botheringhim.

They both shared an uncomfortable silence for aminute before Bulma attempted to break the ice a little.

“It’s strange, you know?”

“What’s strange?” He answered immediately,secretly grateful for the woman’s natural chattiness.

“Well… Your scouter… It wasn’t really, youknow… It wasn’t really broken.”

‘Shit!’

“It wasn’t?”

“Nope. It worked well, the only thing wrongwith it were a couple of pieces missing. It was as if someone had just removedthem…”

He knew it, the woman was too damn smart forher own good and, of course, that’s why he’d fallen so hard for her.

“I temporarily lent it to one of my comrades,”he lied.

“Really? Which one?”

“Nappa.”

“Nappa… That’s the bald one, right?”

“Yes.”

“I see…” She replied unconvinced. “Well… I’dsay your comrade must have been the one to take those missing pieces…”

She jumped from the counter, landing on thefloor and walking towards a small sink in the corner of the room. She grabbed asmall white cloth, dampening it and wringing out the excess water as sheproceeded to remove several grease stains from her smooth ivory skin.

“Where’s the human male?” He finally asked, almosthypnotized by her elegant actions.

“Uh?” Bulma replied distractedly. “You meanYamcha?”

The Prince grunted.

“Oh, he doesn’t work here anymore. He’s too…You know… I guess ‘clumsy’ would bethe right word,” she snickered, shaking her head. “Now he’s a cook in arestaurant downtown.”

Vegeta couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow atthat. “A cook?”

Bulma laughed.

“Well… That’s what he says… To tell you thetruth, I’m sure he’s more like a kitchen helper, or even a dishwasher. You knowYamcha, almost everything he says is a lie or some kind of exaggeration…”

“So, you’re not mates anymore?” Vegeta askedcautiously, the question making Bulma raise her head in shock.

“Mates?” She asked wide-eyed.

“Yes, mates… You know, like…”

“Like a boyfriend?”

“Is that how it’s called in your planet?”

“I guess… You mean like a partner, right? Likea couple?”

“That is correct.”

“Gods, no! Ugh! No!” She replied, horrified. “Imean, I thought he was cute when I met him, and it was nice to find a fewpeople from my home planet in here but… No… He’s just not for me…”

The Prince walked towards her, standing by herside as she kept grooming herself, and thinking that this could finally be hiswindow of opportunity.

“I see… And why is that?” He asked casually.

Bulma looked at him for an instant, blinking afew times and tilting her head to the side thoughtfully.

“I don’t know… Well, obviously, he lies a lot,so he’s not very trustworthy, which is a huge turn off in a guy. But he’s also,kind of… I guess the right word is soft.”

“Soft.”

“Yeah…” She shrugged, going back to her taskand languidly rubbing the cloth across her neck.

Vegeta smirked triumphantly.

Oh yeah, he knew justwhat kind of a man this little female needed…

“So, what you’re saying is, you are looking fora man who is strong.”

“Um, I guess? I mean, I’m not even reallylooking for a…”

“Like a Saiyan Prince,” he declared solemnly.

His words made Bulma instantly drop her clothand look at him in complete shock. One look at him told her he was deadserious.

‘Wow…’

“Ve-Vegeta, I…” Before she could find the rightwords to reject his proposal, the warrior gently held her pale hand between hismuch larger ones.

“Bulma,” he said with an intensity she hadnever witnessed in any man before. “If you take me as your mate I swear, on mySaiyan honor, to protect and cherish you, fighting your battles by your side,for all Eternity.”

Bulma felt her legs tremble, her pulse racingwhile this man, the most attractive man she’d ever known, basically asked herto marry him.

‘Why? And, why today,of all days?’

She wanted to say yes, more than anything she’dever wanted in her entire life, but she couldn’t, not when she was so damnclose…

Tonight was the night she was about to escapethe planet in search of the mythical magic Dragon Balls that would allow her,if the legends turned out to be true, to wish her home planet and itsinhabitants back to life once again.

She couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t give up on her biggest dream for a man,especially not for a ruthless warrior that possibly had no real concept of whatlove truly was and would probably end up breaking her poor little hearteventually anyway.

“Vegeta,” she sighed. “I… I really appreciateyour proposal and… It’s, it’s very, verytempting but… I just can’t accept,” she finally replied, kindly removing hernow very sweaty hand from his own. If she kept feeling his warm touch muchlonger, she didn’t trust herself.

The Saiyan let out a breath he didn’t know hewas holding.

Well, he hadn’t seenthis one coming…

He cleared his throat and raised his chinproudly in a pathetic attempt to hide his humiliation.

“I see. May I ask why?” He enquired in the mostneutral voice he could project.

“Well, uh… I’m leaving tonight, you see? Myboss gave me a couple of weeks off and I’m going on a trip,” she lied.

She was going on a trip, alright, but her bossdidn’t even know he’d never see her again after today, not that he’d noticeanyway until she was long gone, since he barely spent any time in the smallrepair shop.

“A trip?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Um, uh, it’s this small planet called Namek.I’ve heard it’s really nice, and very similar to Earth…”

Vegeta squinted his eyes suspiciously, butchose to say nothing more. He’d had enough humiliation for a day anyway, so hewalked towards the counter and grabbed his white gloves.

“How much do I owe you?” He asked, stillavoiding her gaze, unable to stand her pity.

“Uh, you know what? This one’s on the house!”She replied.

She tried to appear joyful, but deep down shefelt heartbroken, not just for him, but for herself as well. It was hard tobelieve but, suddenly she felt the strong urge to throw caution to the wind andsay yes to this enigmatic, handsome Saiyan warrior.

“I’m afraid I can’t accept that. Here,” hesaid, offering her a small black card. “You’ll need funds for your trip Isuppose.”

Bulma just took the card, unwilling to start anargument with the man.

He nodded, his dark eyes penetrating her verysoul, and he turned around, exiting the shop and walking away from her life.

“Woman,” he declared, still giving her hisback. “You will never find a man more suited to be your mate.”

The earthling swallowed heavily.

“I don’t doubt it, Vegeta,” she whispered inall honesty.

He grunted in confirmation and disappeared intothe crowd, leaving a very confused Bulma sitting heavily on a small chair and onthe verge of tears.

‘What just happened?’

A few hours later, a mortified Saiyan Princewas still trying to bury his shame in alcohol.

“Pour me another! And leave the fuckingbottle!” He yelled.

“Motherfucker…” Vegeta mumbled to himself whileNappa and Raditz kept staring in surprise, never having seen their Prince insuch a poor state.

“That filthy fucking lizard motherfucker… I’msick of this shit!” He yelled, slamming the glass against the table.

“Okay, I have to ask. Did something happentoday, Vegeta?” Nappa finally enquired.

“Mind your own fucking business, baldy…”

“Come on, buddy, don’t be like that! We justgot a sweet deal, you know?” The bigger man said, leaning a little into Vegeta.“Raditz just brought me the details of our next mission. We’re leavingtonight, and it looks like child’s play. Look… It’s this small planet calledNamek, and apparently the inhabitants are really weak. There’s a bonusinvolved, and all we have to do is retrieve some…”

“The fuck did you just say?” Vegeta asked himin inebriated shock.

“A-About what?”

“The planet… What’s it called?”

“Um, Namek?”

“Sonofabitch…” The Prince slurred, smiling lazily.

‘Oh… This was so damn sweetit had to be fattening…’

He stood from his chair all of a sudden,drunkenly walking towards the exit door.

“Vegeta? What the fuck is going on?” Raditz askedin bewilderment at the sudden change of attitude in his Prince.

“Just pay for the drinks and let’s get the Hellout of this planet, asshole!”

Vegeta got out of the bar, silently allowing thecold, crisp air of the night to clear up his mind.

He was going to needit.

The next time he faced the woman, he wouldn’tfail.

He’d make her his, showing her in whatever waypossible that they were made for each other, whatever the cost, even if he hadto slaughter that despicable lizard bastard himself in order to keep her safeforever.

Vegeta didn’t know that, in that very moment, ablue haired woman was sitting on her small bed, her few belongings all packedup as she waited in the dark for the three earthlings that would join her inher new adventure: a bald monk, a dirty perverted old man that possessed asurprisingly great talent for martial arts and Yamcha.

In her trembling hands, she held a smallobject: the black card a certain Saiyan Prince had given her just hoursearlier.

She’d finally checked the contents of it.

Ten million credits.

A small fortune, enough to purchase even asmall planet if she wished.

Bulma stood by the window, her watery eyes lostin the starry sky. Now, more than ever, she was fully determined to find theDragon Balls and make her wishes come true.

One of those wishes now included the promise ofgetting to see her perfect man one more time.

Somehow, somewhere, she knew they’d meet again,and when they did, she would never let him go…