He kept his silence until that Saturday night. Bulma had been out all day doing her weekly shopping, and Vegeta spent the day as usual, training. It wasn't until after dark that he came out of the GT and made his way into the house. His first stop was the refridgerator. Training always made him extra hungry, and turned Bulma's shopping trips into grocery convoys like no other. Deep down, he felt himself appreciate what she was doing for the first time. But he quickly squashed those feelings and sat down to a large meal, even for his appetite.
After he finished eating, he headed to his room. For some reason, the humans had placed him in the room directly next door to Bulma's. As he walked by, he heard her screaming. She was the only one in the room, so he figured she must be on the device they called the "telephone". Curious as to why she was so angry, he stood by her door and listened as she shouted obscenities to whoever was on the other end. He managed a smile. 'The woman deffinately has some spark in her. She's a real firecracker' he laughed as he thought. But then, suddenly, he heard her scream "YOU ASSHOLE!" and slam the phone down on the hook. What he heard next again made those unknown feelings swell up inside him: she began to cry.
As he lay in his bed, Vegeta could hear Bulma in the next room, crying to no end. Normally, he would have ignored it, playing it off as human weakness, the same kind Kakkarot was prone to at times. But tonight, his thoughts were not of how weak and pathetic humans were. They were on the woman. Something must have really hurt her to make her this upset. He listened quietly for some time, until there was no sound coming from her room. 'Must have cried herself to sleep' he thought. As he drifted off to sleep, a single tear made it's way down his cheek.
(::~~::)
The next day, Vegeta trained with a renewed sense of urgency. The thoughts of the previous night were with him, and he struggled to comprehend why. This only made him fight harder. As he laid waste to one drone after another, he wrestled with the feelings he had been experiencing over the last week. 'I am the Prince of Saiyans, the strongest fighter in the universe! What's wrong with me? Why am I allowing myself to get weak-hearted like Kakkarot does? I'm stronger than he is! His feelings are his weakness!'
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!?" He let out a blast like no other, and blew the GT's drones to bits. He stood there, breathing heavily. The computer in the trainer chattered that it was ending the gravity simulation, which was set at 350 times the earth's normal gravity. All he could do was stare at the monitor. His every thought should be on training, not the petty squabbles of the humans. Yet, that's exactly where they were. And this scared him.
Vegeta walked out of the room which housed the GT, and made his way down the hall. He paused as he heard Bulma working in her lab, and stepped back to the door. From behind it, he could hear her muttering something about Yamcha. Had she found out about the other day? Did she know? He had to find out. Slowly, he opened the lab door...
"Stupid Yamcha. Why does he have to do that sort of thing when he knows things are as bad as they are? I should have known a long time ago I couldn't trust him. Why did I go back out with him? 'Oh Bulma, I'm sorry, it'll never happen again, I promise', yeah, right. How could I be so stupid?" She was hunched over a series of gadgets, working furiously. She didn't notice that Vegeta was behind her. "That jerk. Going out with all these bimbos all the time, never thinking about what he's doing to me. He should be training to fight these androids, not sewing his wild oats." In her frustration, a knife she was working with slipped from her hand, and cut her palm rather badly. "Oooooh, DAMNIT!" she yelled, and clasped her hand. She bagan to cry.
Vegeta stood there. He didn't know what to do or say. Seeing her sitting there, crying over what that stupid human man had done to her, he felt the rush of those feelings coming over him again. But he supressed them again, and spoke.
"What's the matter with you, woman? Why are you crying?" He said in his usual tone.
"What does it matter to you?" She yelled at him without turning around. Vegeta said nothing. "Well, if you must know, Mr. High and Mighty, I've cut my hand, not to mention Yamcha has been nothing short of a moron lately." She was still sobbing slightly, trying to hide her feelings as well.
"Let me see the cut woman. It can't be all that bad." He stepped towards her, but she swung at him with her uninjured hand.
"Back off, Captain Ego. I don't need your help. Besides, it's not like you care anyway..."
"I said let me see the cut, you crazy woman!" He took her hand and examined the wound. And it hit him. He couldn't supress it any longer. Touching her hand made him overflow with that feeling that had been haunting him all week. "It's not very bad at all. Just get some bandages on it and it will be fine."
Bulma, still crying a bit, turned to look at the Saiyan now holding her hand. "Wha... What did you say?"
"Did I stutter? I said get some bandages on it and it will be alright. Are you deaf, woman?"
Bulma could only stare at him. Had he really said that? Had he actually shown some concern over her injury? Vegeta? She couldn't believe it. She just stared at him, speachless.
Vegeta's eyes moved and met hers. There they were. Those eyes. The ones he was reminded of that day on the mountain. He found himself helpless. He couldn't tear himself away from her gaze. For some reason, he was frozen. And, in that instant, his cold, Saiyan heart seemed to melt. He felt warm, a feeling he had never felt before in his life. Was this woman getting to him? Yes, he thought, but couldn't do anything to stop what he felt. He was powerless...
"Vegeta..." Bulma was almost smiling now, though tears were still running down her cheeks. Vegeta reached up with his other hand and wiped them away. 'Is this the same Vegeta?' Bulma thought. 'But why is he acting like this?' As she looked into his black eyes, she noticed that they didn't look as distant as they had before. Her heart began to race like it never had before. A feeling of comfort and trust overcame her. But, around Vegeta?
The Saiyan Prince was equally as speachless. He was totally disarmed now, unable to tear his gaze from hers. It was though they were locked in a moment in time. He felt his heart begin to beat furiously, and he had no clue why. This woman was getting to him, and for some reason, he didn't care. All he could do was stare at those big blue eyes of hers...
"Vegeta, I should go get some bandages on this cut..." Bulma spoke in a near whisper, but still she didn't move. The blood from her cut ran down onto Vegeta's white glove, but neither of them seemed to pay it any mind. Finally, Bulma was able to regain her senses. "Really, I've got to go take care of this." She pulled her hand away from his, still staring into his eyes. There was something different about him now, almost human. She made her way out of the lab, and as she left, a smile crossed her lips as she looked back at Vegeta, who was still staring off into space...
(::~~::)
That night, Vegeta sat on top of the main housing building of the Capsule Corp. compound, staring up at the stars. For the first time in a long time, he was at ease. Kakkarot wasn't around, and he felt that he could let his pride go for a bit. His thoughts were on Bulma. She was the only person, Saiyan or otherwise, to ever see him as he was earlier in the lab. And yet, for some reason, he was OK with it. He didn't understand why he felt this way, but he reasoned that it can't be all that bad.
What harm could she cause? And in all his years, he had felt so alone. But now he had some sort of bond with her, and that void was slowly being filled. He stared at the night sky, wondering at which ones had planets which he destroyed. All those systems, countless civilizations, obliterated at his hand. Yet this one, this one remained. And on it, he had found someone who made him feel different, like he never had felt before.
Was he becoming soft like Kakkarot? Was this place starting to affect him as it did his rival? No, he thought. He was, after all, the Prince of the Saiyans. But what did that matter? Being that there were only two left, he and Kakkarot, he had no people over which to rule as he rightfully should. There was no point in it.
All he ever had was taken away by Freiza, and now he was gone, dead at the hands of that mysterious young Super Saiyan. Even his father, King Cold, fell at the hands of that strange youth. How could that boy be a Saiyan? And so powerful a Saiyan, at that? He felt himself start to drift off to sleep, when he heard a sound behind him.
"Vegeta?" It was Bulma. She had climed up onto the roof after him.
"What do you want, woman?"
"What are you doing up here this late?"
"It's none of your business, now leave me alone."
"Listen to you. Always with that pompus attitude. The big loner, Mr. I'm The Prince of Saiyans. What is your major malfunction?"
Vegeta heard the demeanor in her voice, and for some reason, he let his guard down a bit. "If you must know, I'm thinking about what all has happened. My home planet, Freiza, and that kid that did him in. It all doesn't make any sense."
"It must be hard for you, knowing that you're one of the last of your kind."
"You have no idea how it feels, woman. You wouldn't know, because Kakkarot got lucky and kept me from doing the same to your kind and this pitiful rock."
"Hey, look, you don't have to get testy with me. I didn't come up here to take that kind of abuse from you."
"Then why did you come up here? Why are you so concerned with me?"
"Vegeta, earlier, when I cut my hand, I noticed something. Something different. It was almost like you actually cared about me..."
"Well, don't get too used to it. You caught me at a moment when I wasn't feeling like myself."
"Oh, don't worry, I won't get used to it. No matter what, you'll always be the same Vegeta we all know and hate."
"Glad to see that you feel the same way I do. Now then, if you don't mind, I'd like to be..."
Vegeta was cut off by Bulma, who laid down next to him, stairing up at the sky along with him.
"So, how many of them have you been to? I was only to two of them, that weird planet we thought was Namek and Namek itself. You must have been to hundreds..."
Vegeta couldn't say a word. He was in shock that she totally ignored him telling her to go away. He looked over at her for a moment, then looked back up to the sky above. "I never kept track of how many planets I went to. It didn't matter when I was working for that scum bag Freiza. And most of them, I destroyed. So it's not like I took the time to care, either."
"Oh, come on, Vegeta, drop the attitude and talk to me! You don't know how lonely it gets having everyone thinking you're just a mechanical genious tomboy. Or a meaningless ex like that idiot Yamcha."
Vegeta felt his heart growing warm again. So she did feel like he did. He wasn't alone in his lonliness. Though he had lost nearly all of his kind, here was another being in the universe that felt the way he did. Alone.
"I don't know why he has to keep doing that. Hell, I don't even know why I keep giving him another chance. He can be such an ass. It's guys like him that make me think there isn't a man in the universe that understands what love is."
Love. Was that what was taking over his mind, his body? Was it that emotion the humans called love? He had seen it when Kakkarot and his wife were together. They fought alot, but in the end, they remained true to each other. And their son, that brat Gohan. When they were wished back from Namek, he fiercely defended his father though things seemed impossible. Was that love? Was that what he was feeling now?
Bulma, in a bold move, moved her head and rested it on Vegeta's shoulder. "You must feel alone, Vegeta. You and Goku are the only Saiyans left. That's gotta make you feel so lonely. Well, you're not the only one. Sure, there are a bunch of other humans around, yeah. But in the end, I feel like I'm an outcast. They all think I'm Mrs. Fixit. They don't seem to know how I feel..."
How she feels. These words struck a chord in Vegeta's soul. She understood him. In a way, she understood what made him who he was. The anger, the feelings of vengance he had against Freiza. She felt them too, on her own level. He felt the urge to yell at her and tell her to stop her mindless drivel, how her emotions made her weak. But then he'd be exposing himself in the process.
"Bulma..."
He had said it again. He had said her name. She tilted her head in his shoulder to look at him as he spoke. "Yes, Vegeta?"
"I... I... I understand how you feel..."
It was all he had to say. It wasn't much, but it got the point accross. She raised her head and looked at him as he stared at the vast expanse of starlit heavens above them. He seemed to be like a child to her, a scared, lonesome boy. He had opened up to her. The cold, murdurous Saiyan seemed more human than ever before to her. She smiled. This was a side of Vegeta noone had ever seen before. So, there was a light shining in his dark heart.
A chill breeze blew accross the two, and Bulma began to shiver. She threw her arm around the Saiyan Prince and pulled herself closer to him. Vegeta was in a small state of shock. He felt her shivering up against his body. But, he didn't yell. How could he? This woman was the only one who seemed to understand him, even if it was only some small part of his being. One that noone ever knew about, not even Nappa. But she had figured it out without effort. He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
The breeze kept going, and she continued to shiver. Without a second thought, Vegeta pulled her closer and powered up his ki, generating a small warm glow around them. She stopped shivering and snuggled close to him, and was soon fast asleep. He looked down at her. She was so peaceful. And at that moment, he realized that he too, for the first time in his life, was feeling rather peaceful himself. He smiled and drifted off to sleep himself...
(::~~::)
For those who remember, "First Steps" was the original title of Chapter one of DBZ:UR. So now, with the first chapter re-released and the second step down the path taken, I feel a little better about moving forward with this project. Hopefully, it will lead to an ending (finally!) for both myself and all of you, those who read this thing to begin with...
