The Sheep and the Hedgehog von abgemeldet ================================================================================ Kapitel 14: "There´s a Hole in My Soul" --------------------------------------- There´s a Hole in My Soul... The entire Capsule Corp was shaken by hottest musical hits played by the media, and as loud as it could without deafening anybody. At the tables spread throughout the terrace, the finest food and drink ran around, along with empty talking and the last gossip about who was sleeping with who and the ugly, old-fashioned dress Mrs. Doe was wearing. Krillin almost dislocated his jaw by yawning, as he helped himself of a second glass of juice. He was trying to keep himself sober, since his two companions never did that and someone would have to drive the car back home. "Watch it with that," he said well-humouredly at Oolong as the pig passed by him carrying a plate with three different pieces of cake and at least ten types of salty refreshments. "You wouldn´t like to add a stomahache to your urticaria..." he couldn´t help but laughing at the memory. Apparently, Mutenroshi had stolen a luxury potion of his sister Uranai couple of years ago, and had waited for a good oportunity to use it. Whoever drank the potion would be mad with lust for the first person he/she saw after drinking it. When the old man finally found himself alone with Bulma, he took the chance and dropped the potion at in her orange juice. But his usual advances irritated Bulma and she ran off just when Krillin and Oolong were coming back home. To make matters even more interesting, Oolong found and drank the juice. However, the smart Uranai Baba had obviously switched her potions because, instead of jumping on his friends, Oolong started to scratch himself frantically. That just increased the irritation causing the pig to strip completely and roll desperately on the sand, before rocketing inside of the house after the cheese grater. Only after an hour and a half the terrible itching calmed down, thanks to lots of vasaline and talcum powder. But what really hurt Oolong was that Mutenroshi just lamented cynically that it hadn´t been Bulma who had drunk the potion and rolled naked on the sand. "That´s not funny!" Oolong fumed at the memory, his chubby face turning crimson. "I had to spread the talcum powder all over, now I´m smelling like a baby _and I´m still itching. And since I was dragged to this blasted party at least I´ll enjoy as I can." " 'Dragged'... " Krillin mocked "It was you who yelled at Master Roshi for having made Bulma run before she had the chance to invite us." In fact, it had been Oolong who reminded them-- after the itching lessened enough for him to think about other stuff-- that Bulma´s birthday was close, and that she probably had come to invite them for her party, as usual. 'And, thanks to you, we´ll no longer be invited!" he had concluded, pointing an accusing finger at Mutenroshi. 'If I remember correctly, you never liked Bulma´s birthday," the old martial-arts master had replied harshly. " So what are you complaining about?" After much arguing and wondering, they concluded that there was no better way to satisfy their curiosity than going personally to Capsule Corp to see what she wanted. And there really was a party and they hadn´t been invited. But the annoyance about this fact faded away quickly when they realized that none of their friends were there, too, and so wasn´t the person whose birthday was being celebrated. Of course, it was Mrs. Briefs who enlightened them about these facts. She welcomed them warmly and gleefully as usual, even though she was also a little surprised. "You didn´t join Bulma and Goku-chan at the new mission?" the blonde asked. "Mission?" Kameroshi chorused. Mrs. Briefs gave a sigh. "My poor little baby, she called yesterday to say that she had to go in another urgent mission to save the world. From an evil scientist, or something. She couldn´t even stay for own birthday party, but asked us to give it just as if she was here to celebrate with us. I´m so sorry I haven´t invited you three, but we thought you were on the mission, too." "Oh yes," Krillin´s face brightened up. He gave a quick warning look to his friends before turning back to Mrs Briefs “ It´s Doctor Gero,” he explained “ He´s all set upon killing Goku and will be able to cause a lot of trouble if someone won´t stop him." Inwardly, the monk didn´t know if he was bothered with Bulma´s lies or if he just found it funny. That tricky rascal... she had invented that to escape from her own party. She just didn´t count on the fact her friends could actually come. It would be laughable if it wasn´t so pathetic. Krillin felt sorry for Bulma´s parents, who certainly didn´t deserve to know the truth after having the whole trouble to celebrate their daughter´s birthday, even if it was not the way she would like. For that second reason, Krillin also felt sorry for her, remembering the reasons why he and his friends didn´t want to come. Usually, Bulma´s parties were lots of fun. She had lots of imagination and always figured out new ways of entertaining her friends, not mentioning that the barbecues, desserts and all the food served in these parties were nothing but the best. While her birthday parties... He looked up to stare at the flags and bows and other stuff in pastel colours that adorned the entire place. That looked like the birthday of a twelve year-old girl, not a woman who had just reached age thirty. She had certainly run away to avoid dying of humiliation. The guests were even worse than the decorations. The little monk took a step back to avoid running into a bubbling group of old ladies (all of them looked alike Mrs. Briefs and had curls - anyone could think that was a Lucille Ball fan club). His move almost caused him to smack into a fancy dressed couple that came in the opposite direction. He apologized promptly, but couldn´t escape from two disapproving glares and a whisper from the woman asking why the security hadn´t blocked the entrance of that ' riff-raff' . He wondered if Bulma actually knew these people who were there drinking and eating at her family´s expenses. Okay, it was understandable that her parents would want also to invite their own friends; and that Dr. Briefs invited his shareholds for business or just to make his daughter know them better. But, why they didn´t they throw their own parties for that? Most confusing of all was the fact that Bulma, so bossy and self assured put up with all that instead of imposing her own will. As much as he tried, Krillin couldn´t find an answer, so he just shrugged and gave up. The Briefs were absolutely incomprehensible. "It´s so original, don´t you think? A birthday party without the person who´s having the birthday!" said a female voice behind his back. Krillen turned around to see two women seated on a table a few meters behind him. One of them--the one who had talked - had red, short hair; her friend had black, wavy hair, ressembling Bulma´s last hairstyle. They talked happily and loudly, obviously a little drunk. "It´s a shame that her friends haven´t forgotten to come, too. What a bunch of hooligans!" Red-Hair added in. Clenching his teeth, Krillen sneaked towards them and hid himself behind of one the giant flower vases beside their table. "Well, I wished that Miss Bulma never came to another party again... or even to work!" Black Hair burst out with an evident grudge. "Now you´re asking too much," her friend laughed. "No, I´m not! Isn´t she a grreat scientist? One of these days her experiments will go wrong and she´ll become invisible - or, better yet, she´ll be soooooo small that nobody´ll find her again. " Black Hair started in a mocking, sarcastic voice" ' Miss Sae, have you seen Miss Briefs? ' 'No sir, we haven´t seen her ...oops, I think I just found her, sir.' " the dark woman, or Sae, stretched her foot from under the table and stepped on it like she was smashing an insect. Her friend burst into a laugh. "Wow! You really don´t like Miss Briefs." "And you, do you like her?" Red Hair took a few moments and downed another glass of whisky before admitting she didn´t, either. "Ya gotta be joking, who could ever really like that bitch?" they made a pause to laugh before she continued, "Now, seriously - everybody here does the best to please her, but I honest don´t believe that someone really likes Miss Bulma. They just fear her, even her parents. What other reason it could be for them using that horrible decorations," she looked up to wrinkle her nose at the paper chains hanging above her head. "I don´t believe that the poor old couple have such a bad taste, they just did that for her." "If Miss 'Buma' is really their daughter," Sae sneered. "In my opinion, she was just tossed away in the hospital trash can and Mr. Briefs picked her up the same way he does to every hungry stray mutt and cats he finds. Poor little old man!" Krillen had heard enough. Completely disgusted, he slid out of his hideout and sneaked own, shocked that Bulma had to work along that kind of... uh, people. He was glancing again at his watch when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, startling him. He turned around in a jump to see Mutenroshi holding his millionth glass of sake. " 'Hiccup' It´s a wonder... wonderful party, dontcha fi... think dat, Krillen?" the old man stuttered, almost suffocating his pupil with a breath heavy with alcohol " I don´t und..undstand why Bulma ran ov..." Krillin fast removed the glass of his master´s hand as the same time he cut him off. "I think you already have drunk too much, master," he said softly, his brain giving him a devious idea. "You should distract yourself with anything else... those beautiful girls, for example," with one hand on his master´s shoulder, he made him turn around as he pointed at Sae and his red-haired friend. "I heard them say they´re feeling very, very lonely." Mutenroshi sobered a little. Krillin almost could see his eyes undressing the two women behind of his sun glasses. "The black-haired girl with the short skirts, especially... " he whispered at his masters´ ear. "I just heard her say that she prefers older men." "Really?" Roshi´s mouth stretched in a large, toothless grin. In his state of almost delirium tremens, he was almost as naive as chibi Goku. "Really... I heard her say that young men doesn´t know absolutely what a woman really needs. And that only these men who have lived too much have experience. But it´s embarassing for her admitting that publicly. You see, people wouldn´t understand if they saw a beautiful girl like her dating an old man. They would say she´s crazy or that she´s just after his money." "That´s nonsense. Ov... of course she´s right! Older men like me are much more experienced than any boy filled with brah.. brawns! And I have no money, anyway. I´m going to tell her that personally," he stated, marching toward the two women in a determined pace, despite his alcoholic condition. Krillin grinned evilly. Those two bitches would have a bad time into getting rid from the insistent pervert- and not before having both received a few pinches at the proper places. It worth to see that, even if that kept them stuck a few minutes more in that boring party. "Kriliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn!!!! Ah, you´re there!" A high-pitched voice singsonged at his young man whirled around in jump and almost collided with the wide body of an immense, sixty-old woman. "Oh no, " he thought, recognizing her as one of Mrs. Briefs´ best friends. "H-Hello, Mrs. Pickle," Krillin stuttered, his mouth stretching in an embarrassed, fake grin. "You´re not leaving now, are you? It´s too early yet." "O...of course not. I´m just waiting for my master," Krillin said as he heard the sound of a slap and Mutenroshi´s voice screaming in pain. "That´s great! So come and talk a bit with us," Mrs. Pickle said as she practically dragged him toward the same group of old, noisy women that Krillin had almost ran into almost one hour ago. As he was welcomed with several pleasured, ear-poking squeals and giggles, Krillin felt like a chubby baby and expected to have his face pinched at any moment. "So good that Picklie has found you! We´re so avid to hear a few stories about you, martial -arts champions!" squealed a tall, scrawny old woman “Tell me, Krillie, are you really bald or do you shave your head to help in your fighting?" As Krillin opened his mouth, he was cut by a barrage of other questions. The shots came from all the sides; he hardly could tell who asked what. "It´s hard to believe you´re really a fighter, being so small. Did you were never afraid of getting hurt?" "Are all your friends as brawny and pretty as Yamcha-kun?" "By the way, can you tell me if he really broke up with Bulma or not? My daughter is depressed because she hasn´t a boyfriend..." ‘I hope you´re having a GREAT time wherever you are, Bulma' the young man thought sarcastically. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Feeling better now?" Bulma asked to her guest as she raised his arm up. "Oh, thanks for having not broken the thermometer. This is the only one I have." The patient just growled in response. "Don´t complain. You should be grateful that I havent´put this thermometer in your mouth - or in the opposite hole. Yes, that´s exactly what you´re thinking," she laughed at his now wide-opened eyes and paused to examine the small glass tube. "Enough humorless jokes! How is my temperature?" She gave him a patient, though slightly hard look. "It´s really a shame that this is not an oral thermometer. Hmmm.... there´s still some fever, but not much. These Palenol pills are really good! We´re lucky that Dad has demanded a small emergency medicine cabinet at every capsule house built by our company. It would be very dangerous for a pretty woman like me to go out so late in the night to..." "You could have spared yourself from all that trouble by leaving me where I was," Vegeta cut her off as he turned to the side on the sofa. His only comfort was that at least Mrs. Briefs wasn´t there with them, to fret with Bulma about his feverish condition. One of the two was more than enough! "You´re so ungrateful! " the young scientist planted her hands on her hips indignantly. "I could be hanging around with a handsome boy right now, but instead no, I chose to play nurse for you, so you could at least recognize that. By the way, why didn´t you tell me that you were feeling sick before we ate our dinner? Don´t you know that eating when you´re feverish can cause your stomach to revolt?" In all the romances of Bulma´s teenager hood, fever was something romantic and revealing. The feverish people tossed on their beds calling by their beloved ones - frequently someone they pretended to hate when they were well. Nobody in these romances had shivers or vomited. Some writers were positively very stupid. Vegeta mumbled something as he closed his eyes tight. He no longer felt cold, but he still felt terrible, and the woman´s comment about his nausea during dinner just made him more conscious of his hurting stomach. Actually, he was already feeling sick before Bulma had found him at those woods on the back of Capsule Corp. However, he had expected to feel better soon, after a nice cold shower and something to eat. But now there he was. Everything was his fault because he had been too stubborn and proud to admit in front of Bulma how sick he was. Pride, ha... Vegeta didn´t know how he could still retain some pride, after everything that had happened to him. It was impossible for him to fall lower than he was now. He didn´t see the thoughtful look Bulma gave at him, but when she spoke again her voice was sad and soft. "I think there´s no danger for you into sleeping now. Just call me if you need anything." Vegeta felt something soft and warm being carefully put over his body. Through his closed eyelids, he felt the world getting darker, a sign that she had put the lights out. The entire place fell into silence, broken only the distant sound of the crickets outside and a smooth, regular breath brushing his leg. It was no surprise, by the next day Vegeta woke up completely recovered and hungry. Still, no physical strength, food or medicine could heal whatever had been broken inside. Bulma was wise enough to not ask any questions. Instead, she just told him she would be traveling for a few days. He could follow her or leave; it would make no difference to her. The only condition was that, if he chose to stay, he would have to hunt his own food, because she didn’t have enough money left in her wallet to buy supplies for both. In response, he just shrugged and left. During countless hours, he flew, not caring about directions or the passage of time. Finally, he landed and stood in the middle of an empty meadow, feeling the caress of the wind and watching the long grass leaves undulating at his feet. That wide, empty place was a relief, after months surrounded by noisy Earthlings and their silly chattering. It even reminded him a little of some planets he had 'visited' in his old days, after purging them of every form of life. Those missions were where he felt the closest thing to a sense of a relief in his tormented life - they gave him a momentary feeling of freedom, even if delusional. Now that he was really free, he didn´t know what to do. All Vegeta could see ahead for him were empty years of a meaningless life on this stupid planet. Kakaroto would defeat the Androids by himself as he would have to resign himself to just stand and watch, just like the useless friends of the third class soldier did. His nails buried into the palms of his gloved hands, piercing through the cloth while hateful tears came to his eyes. Well, maybe not. He had also the option of attacking the tin dolls before Kakarot and letting them kill him, just like that future half-breed boy had said it would happen. At least he would die as a Saiyan and cleanse himself of all that dishonor and shame. But the more that Vegeta thought of that possibility, the more he realized he didn´t want to die again. The realization made his eyes spring wide open and his body straighten unconsciously. Why? He was completely defeated and had nothing else to grasp at, not the slightest hope. Just like... when he realized he wasn´t able to defeat Freeza, despite all his efforts. No. Not exactly like that situation. He felt despaired and impotent now, just like in that terrible moment, but it was somehow... different.... something inside of him refused to give up so easily. Something in the info Kakarot had given him about how turning into Super Saiyan didn´t make sense... something was wrong. "But why, Hell, why? I have already tried everything! There´s nothing left for me to do!" he screamed at the deaf, indifferent meadow. “Damn you, Kakarot... if it wasn´t for you, I wouldn´t have hit rock bottom." And if his rival was now alive, Vegeta was in part responsible now. He still could remember his own words to Radditz, when the low classed ass had told him he had found out the planet his little brother had been sent years ago, and asked if he should go after Kakarott. "What for? Since he was sent to that planet before Vegeta-sei was destroyed, he must be only twelve now. A weak, low-classed brat would be no use for us now. Just keep your damn mouth shut, if you´re able to, Radditz. If you blurt out about your brother close to any of those soldiers, Freeza will know in a couple of minutes -and caput! No little brother anymore. Do you understand that?" Not that any of them truly cared about the brat´s life. But, weak or not, another Saiyan always could be useful in Vegeta´s plan against Freeza. And Kakarott really had been useful... and how! "If I only had known..." the prince grited his teeth, every drop of his blood boiling with hate. He never should have put his feet on Earth. He should have blown it up from afar, just like he had done to Arlia. At least, he would not have been contaminated by the stupid emotions of the Earthlings. Vegeta´s mind was so numbed by anger and hate that he forgot completely that probably even he wouldn´t be alive now, if he hadn´t made sure that Freeza didn´t know there was a younger, fourth Saiyan somewhere out in space. The only thing he could see now where the long, empty years ahead, the humiliation... Was everything he had learned throughout his childhood wrong? "I didn´t went Super Saiyan because I was close to death. That only happened because I was too hurt and furious, when Freeza killed Krillin." Clutching his head with gloved hands as if he didn´t want to hear the hated voice echoing in his mind, Vegeta closed his eyes tight and crouched, almost in a fetal position. "No! I don´t want to believe that! Only weaklings have feelings! I am Vegeta! I don´t need any feelings!" "Yes, you do," insisted the voice in his mind. "Or you´ll never be able to turn Super Saiyan." "No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His anguished howl broke the silence in the meadow, followed by the wind and earth trembling caused by his raising ki. For a few seconds, his hair flickered into gold, just to turn to black again. He didn´t notice it. Still, the energy liberated in his revolt burned the entire vegetation for meters around him in a circle and the earth opened in a crater under his feet. By the next day, the radio and newspapers would be reporting about the probable visit and explosion of an UFO at that meadow, and some farmers and local inhabitants would win their fifteen minutes of fame by describing the disk in detail and how they had narrowly escaped the explosion. Nobody would ever know the real cause of that--save a few warriors, that naturally felt Vegeta´s ki raising and would just shake their heads.) Finally, he powered down. Falling on his knees,Vegeta pounded downwards, opening new holes at the crater in pure frustration, until giving up to exhaustion and lying face down on the earth. Since Vegeta had eaten more than half of her food during breakfast, Bulma considered seriously the possibility of encapsulating the house and going to the nearest town to buy supplies. Still, she simply didn´t find any strength to do anything better than spending the day lying on her bed and watching television. Birthdays always made her feel a little depressed at the next day, especially if she was left alone. "BULMA!" an entirely unexpected scream thundered through the entire house at the same time the front door slammed against the opposite wall with a bang. Completely astounded by both the deafening noises and the pain caused when she jumped and hit her head on the roof, poor Bulma had no time to even to process, let alone say anything. The sound of boots thundered in the direction of her room for a few seconds before Vegeta burst in and grabbed Bulma by her T-shirt. "Where is the dragon radar?" he demanded. "Uh? What?! Hey, what do you think..." a violent shake that almost ripped her T-shirt out cut her off. "THE DRAGON RADAR!!!" Vegeta roared, as if Bulma was at the extreme side of the house and not at milimiters in front of his face. "You brought it, haven´t you?" It took Bulma a few seconds to understand what it was happening. "I-It´s not with me," she stammered. She never had feared Vegeta so much since Namek. "I swear!" Choosing another tactic, Vegeta gave a devious smile. "Don´t lie to me..." he said. His eyes slowly examined her from head to toe. That was one of his favorite techniques for bullying. Just that moment, he realized that Bulma was only in T-shirt and panties - and these last ones were appearing because of his grip on her T-shirt. He immediately released her and turned around, arms automatically crossing. "Better not lie to me," he corrected his words, trying to look as cold as usual. "Do you really want me to believe that you started this meaningless trip just for the pleasure of wandering away?" "Why not?" Bulma snapped out as she indignantly straightened the folds on her messed T-shirt. "Why is it everything we do must be done with second intentions? I just wanted to take some time away from my life and my family picking on me every time! THEN I decided it could be nice to search the dragonballs again and ask for a nice boyfriend. That´s why I went back home. When you found me, I was thinking of the best way to get into the house and get the radar without being noticed. But you scared me so much with that appearance of yours -no kidding, you really looked like death then - that I asked you to get the radar for me, along with your clothes. So, if we don´t have it now, it´s your fault!" Vegeta´s eyes widened out in shock. Damn it! So, if he had found her a few seconds later... Everything seemed to conspire against him, ultimately. "Where do you guard that contraption? In your room or your lab?" he demanded. "Why do you want to know?" she looked back. For a few seconds, they remained staring at each other, in a sort of silent showdown. Finally, Vegeta lost his last tiny remain of patience. "Fuck you! I´m going to find that radar even if I´ll have to burn the entire place to ground!" he snapped as he turned around to leave her. Bulma followed him. "Why do you need the dragon radar so much?" she asked suspiciously. "Are you planning to ask Shen-long to turn you into a Super Saiyan? Or do you want him to take the Super Saiyan thing from Goku?" Vegeta stopped abruptly. Bingo. A wicked, triumphant smile slowly stretched Bulma´s mouth. "Cause I have bad news for you. Shen-long can´t do that," she stated, her arms crossing victoriously. Vegeta started walking again. He was already a few steps from the front door, and Bulma ran desperately after him. If he flew away, she wouldn´t be able to reach him and everything would be lost. "I´m talking seriously, you blockhead!" she yelled into his ears, as if this could put some sense in him. "The dragonballs never can more powerful than their creator. That´s why Shen-long can´t do anything against people who are stronger than him." Vegeta stopped again. Bulma was so close to him that collided painfully against his stony back. She had to grab on the Saiyan’s shoulders to prevent herself from collapsing. He whirled around, an eyebrow raised in suspicious. "Don´t you dare trick me." "I´m not! Just think a little. When you, Saiyans were coming to Earth, why do you think that we didn´t ask Shen-long to finish with you instead of sacrificing the lives of our friends? And you probably must have heard of the disaster that happened to Namekusei years ago... why do you think that the Namekians didn´t use the dragonballs to keep that from happening?" Bulma almost could see the wheels in Vegeta´s head turning, as the look in his eyes gradually changed. He wasn´t a moron, and all that made too much sense. "Shen-long and Porunga can bring anyone back to life, powerful or not," she explained. "Since him or her hasn´t died of natural causes. Saiyans, Namekians, monsters... The dragons can rejuvenate, too. But they can´t power someone down, or give him more power!" " she finished, mentally praying that was true. She felt like she had told to a little boy that Santa Claus didn´t exist. A series of expressions that could cause envy to any actor -shocked realization, frustration, impotence, self-anger - until Vegeta recovered the defeated appearance he had when Bulma found him at the last night. His shoulders slumped, his head bowed slightly, his eyes staring at something unseen, as if he couldn´t believe that life once again had kicked his butt. Bulma fought against the tears that threatened to come. "Wouldn´t you like to come and sit with me a little?" she asked sweetly. Vegeta glared at her again, and she forced a smile. "C´mon, " she insisted, leaning a hand on his shoulder. "You haven´t recovered completely yet, that´s evident." Vegeta allowed her to guide him to the living room, like a puppet without any will of his own. Letting his body slump down on the couch, he glowered at the opposite wall, as he absently felt Bulma sitting besides him, the warmth of her perfect thighs so close to his. "It´s hopeless," he muttered, as if it cost him to make the words. "What´s the good of being the most mighty warrior in the universe, if year after year all my plans and ideas lead to nothing? All my youth wasted buying into a dream... which was nothing but a dream!" he stared at a small, humid dot that had formed at the synthetic fabric of the sofa, between his legs. Great. Now he was going to cry in front of the woman... that was the last thing necessary to complete his shame. Luckily, other tears didn´t come. "I know very well how that feels," her sad voice broke the long silence. He just glared in her direction. "It´s true," she insisted defensively. "I can guess exactly what you´re thinking : how do I dare to compare my pathetic life to yours? All right, I might not have lost my planet, my house or my entire family. I´m not a princess, but my situation is not much different from yours. When I was sixteen, I traveled throughout the world in search of a boyfriend because I was bored and didn´t want to be alone anymore. I couldn´t make my wish to Shen-long, but it become true: I gained not only a handsome boyfriend but also a bunch of friends and had lots of adventures. But, after all these years, I look at myself and think: what now? Deep down, I´m still lonely, bored and everybody still treats me as a child. In resume, no matter what I do, my life remains the same, just like yours." "Why are you telling me all that?" the prince demanded. Almost against his will, his eyes slipped down to her breasts slightly tight under her wrinkled T-shirt. The tension and vision created by the cotton both revealed and hid her forms. For Vegeta, that looked sexier than if she was wearing tight, low cut clothes. "Because you don´t care," Bulma explained. "You´re not going to criticize me, tell me what to do or gossip about me. You´re not nosy like my mother and friends. And, as much as you deny it, I know that you actually LISTEN to me, even when you seem to not pay attention. Maybe that´s why I feel so comfortable when I´m with you, even more than when I´m with my folks." Once disturbed, Vegeta was completely now stunned. Planting a hand beside himself on the sofa, he felt once again the old urge to run away from that woman and everything that had to do with her. But when he took impulse to get on his feet, his hand casually brushed Bulma´s exposed thigh. Quickly, he plucked the hand that still held the warm of her skin, as his eyes slipped stealthly to her legs under the T-shirt. "What makes you think that you can´t turn Super Saiyan?" she asked suddenly, catching him off-guard. Forced to come back to his depressive reality, he had no time to say anything besides a "huh?", so Bulma patiently repeated the question. "Kakarot told me how he become Super Saiyan," Vegeta explained grudgingly. The simple memory of that talking made him feel ill. "He said he only could do it because he went crazy when Freeza killed the baldy... Krillin." Bulma nodded and moved her forefinger to her mouth, thoughtfully. "Very like Goku", she said, sucking the point of her finger "I should have imagined that. Krillin is his best friend, and Goku suffered too much when he was killed by the first time." "First time? Krillin had been killed before that?" "Yes. A demon of Piccolo Daimao murdered him when Krillin and Goku were both children", Bulma said, her voice shaking slightly at the horrible memory. "Of course, Goku wished him back, but Shen-long can´t resurrect anybody more than once. Probably that was why Krillin´s second death made Goku so mad: he didn´t know that Porunga can bring back people who were resurrected before, and thought that Krillin had died forever." Vegeta made a mental note about the difference between the two dragons. It could be useful later. He gave an unpleasant smirk. "So Kakarot just transformed because he´d never see Cue Ball again," he scoffed. "That could make one think that there´s more than friends..." PLAF! For the second time in his life Vegeta was hit by a woman. It didn´t hurt as much as Chichi´s punch, and caused him more surprise than proper anger. But even before he could open his mouth Bulma was already on her feet and angrily shaking a finger on his face. "YOU IDIOT! I can´t believe you said that! We´re talking about something very important and all you can do is to say silly jokes and sit there whining because you can´t turn Super Saiyan and that your life is a failure... no wonder your life is a complete failure, because even when the answer stands in front of your eyes YOU CAN´T SEE IT!" "What answer?" he asked. Still stunned but with his temper already rising, he pushed the offensive finger gently away. "If you weren´t so busy ogling at me you´d have already noticed it! You just said yourself what made Goku become Super Saiyan! Now all you have to do is to find out what would make YOU so angry at the point of transforming, too!" Both Vegeta´s jaw and hand dropped at her words. The young scientist smirked triunphantly at his reaction. "Ah, I see you understood," she gloated, crossing her arms. "Let me guess: you thought that you couldn´t turn Super Saiyan, too because you have no friends or feelings, thus nobody´s death would make you mad, right?" "No!" Vegeta yelled automatically. However, his lie was so visible that he couldn´t feel a slightly blush coming to his cheeks. Denying it was useless. She was right, he was a complete idiot! "What else can I think?" he admitted, his flush changing to a dark crimson. "It´s hard to feel any angrier than I´m right now! If it was matter of becoming angry, I´d have become Super Saiyan months ago!" "So discover something that´ll make you even angrier," she stated calmly, then made a pause and shook her head, sadness appearing in her eyes. "Vegeta, you and Goku are completely different from each other, even though you belong to the same race. Probably the way of turning Super Saiyan is different for both of you, too. But you shouldn´t be punishing yourself like that..." Rising her arm in his direction, she ran the tips of her fingers gently at the face where, minutes ago, a tear had slid down. "We still have three years to find a way," she continued, her eyes fixed on his. "I know that, somehow, you´ll find a way to recover your pride." For a long moment, the two pairs of eyes stared each other, almost unblinkly; one, black, hard and unreadable; the other blue, anxious, almost pleading. "What makes you THINK that you can´t turn Super Saiyan?" she had asked him, Vegeta reminded. When it had been the last time that someone had so faith in him like that? The gloved hand shook slightly and raised to meet the bare one, that still touched Vegeta´s face. The sudden contact startled Bulma, then she looked in his eyes and saw he was smiling at her. An unpleasant smile, Bulma thought, because his eyes were shining dangerously. "I think it´s time to pay the clothes you made to me..." the prince muttered roughly, resting his hands on Bulma´s shoulders. One hand slid down until it met the woman´s waist and dragged her closer. "And a lot of other things," he whispered into her ear. Suddenly, without warning, he felt his head be caught by two hands and violently turned to the side, her lips crushing against his at next. For a few seconds, Vegeta didn´t know what to do with that, but she insisted; so he decided to follow her movements and his own instincts. She was soft and warm, everything he needed to distract his stressed, tormented brain. Once again he had recovered hope; still, now he didn´t want to think about power, battles or anything else... just feel, feel... and feel alive, for a change. I just wanna feel Real love feel the home that I live in I got too much love Running through my veins To go to waste I just wanna feel Real love and the love ever after There's a hole in my soul You can see it in my face It's a real big place Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)