3A/N: To all readers of A Whatever In Need, I'm on the job. This story, as I mentioned, is my version of the popular gap.
Disclaimer: I'm not Japanese. I'm a teen. My surname doesn't begin with a T.
Bulma was in a fit. Yamcha was seen with a brunette in a miniskirt and a strapless, and this time it was the most outrageous because they were in the very mall where Yamcha had a date with Bulma, right at the time and place they were supposed to meet at. Calling him up and yelling at him was fruitless, because he just gave excuses about a visiting cousin, then an old friend with recently-revealed-hitherto-secret crush on him, and then another and then another, and finally said too many 'soorrryyy'-s and that he'll 'rush to' Capsule Corporation. As usual. Rush to. As if there's been a casualty or something, Bulma thought as she hung up, puffing through her mouth.
As soon as she had seen him there, instead of catching him then itself as usual, had taken a snap of him kissing her, rushed home, and called him up, determined to teach him that flings and flirts were not very nice things to shove in your girlfriend's face.
And a crazy house-guest didn't help. He had ordered her to fix the GR as soon as she'd returned, saying that 'it would be more worth than going around with that wimp' because, as he said it could save her life. But Bulma was too mad to do anything at all, or to argue with him, so she lay back on the couch and closed her eyes. She had wanted to break up with Yamcha for a long time, as she was now disgusted of his ways, but she couldn't make up her mind because she feared she'd have to beg him back, which she'd hate more. Bulma wasn't sure if she was ready to give up a boyfriend, for which she had wanted the Dragonballs years ago. She wasn't sure if she would be internally secure, or strong enough, to deal with a break-up in a better way than just putting up a brave front.
Anger and sadness had almost wrenched the tears out from Bulma's reddening eyes, but she swallowed them, hearing footsteps near the front door. She looked up to see the grumpy Saiyan entering in clean clothes, with a soiled set on his arm. She looked at him as he went towards the stairs, but he didn't look. Strange, she thought. Why did he stop training? After a while, he returned, with the soiled clothes stuffed into the basket, and leaned against the window opposite the front door. Catching Bulma staring at him, he lost his cool. Again.
—"What woman! Your mother says she needs to mow the lawn or whatever. She won't let me train. And you aren't fixing the GR dammit! I'm here to train! I'll blast you all off!"
Bulma yawned, looked up at him, and replied tiredly.
—"Well, why don't you?"
—"…"
—"Get lost."
—"I don't take orders from anyone, woman."
—"Hmph."
Bulma didn't feel like arguing with him. She wasn't at all in the mood. She looked at him, and spoke calmly, turning deadpan serious.
—"Well then, I don't take orders too."
Vegeta grunted in reply, looking away into the dark tunnel to the next wing, as his muscles tensed involuntarily and briefly under his peach shirt and grey jeans as he sensed the much-despised earthling's approaching ki, his sixth sense telling him that the scar-face was, again, the cause of the woman's bad mood.
Yamcha entered the Corp's gate, fuming at what he had began calling Bulma's 'unfair suspicions' towards him. After a while, entering through the front door, he found Bulma on the couch, her eyesight carelessly directed towards a 1970's movie on the TV. Her hair was plainly combed, her attire simplified to yellow blouse and brown slacks. He tiptoed down and tried to sit down abruptly beside her, according to his 'nothing-happened' technique, but she motioned him towards the single couch, and handed him a printout of the snap of his doings, giving him a fiery stare without sitting up. As she had expected, Yamcha jumped at what was written over it with a marker. 'It's over.'
He composed himself and jumped up, bending over her face.
Vegeta, sensing their slight discomfort under his stare, but having nothing to do, thought it better to disappear in the tunnel, stopping pointedly at a point, to let them know that he was going nowhere, as a show of belittling contempt at their argument.
—"Come on, babe, you're just mad like every time, right? You won't possibly find a dude like me, or anyone else for that matter, taking how choosy you are… you…"
Bulma's face reddened with rage as he spoke, and she stopped him to reply, her voice increasing in pitch until it was as shrill as a scream.
—"I got it. You think I've not thought of it enough. I won't call you back. I don't care to get mad. You're forgiven, fuck your ventures. And FORGOTTEN. Even if I don't find a man, it's ok for my self-respect. What the hell do you think, eh? Are girls property or something? Get lost!"
The puzzled womanizer was about to say something, but his scientist ex-girlfriend pushed him away and towards the door. Vegeta walked in, and Bunny walked in through the front door. Her eternal smile faded for a while, and Vegeta's stoicism increased, as they both watched the heiress break down. Bunny, with her usual jumpiness, plopped down beside Bulma and patted her head.
—"What's so wrong, baby? Come on now, did Yamcha tell you anything bad?…"
—"Mom, I've broken up with Yamcha. He treats me like a piece of property! He goes out with other girls! He… I hate him… good thing I broke up…"
—"Well honey, if it's a good thing why are you crying?"
—"Mom, I don't know if I'll get a better guy… anyone will want my money… or my beauty maybe… it's so bad…"
—"Honey, you will. Everyone does. Sometime or the other. Start searching now."
Bunny giggled and Bulma loosened up a bit. Vegeta, who was finding the proceedings quite amusing for some time since it began, felt a half-forgotten wave of emotion sweep through him as Bulma spoke to her mother. Concern? Me? I'm a Prince, dammit! Why should I care? Thus pushing off another tiny adventure of his tender inner self, he found a way to forget it.
—"Are you done with whatever you were doing with the grass so that I can train?"
Bunny stood up, running up to Vegeta and catching hold of his arm, as usual.
—"Oh, yes boy, you can. I've finished mowing. Ooooh, you're muscles have grown."
Bunny poked Vegeta's biceps, much to his irritation. He walked towards the door, and Bunny turned to her daughter.
—"Look at Vegeta here. He doesn't have a girlfriend and he doesn't complain. And he's soooo handsome."
—"Mom!"
Bulma slapped her forehead, while Vegeta stopped in his tracks, cringed, swallowed a retort, and went his way.
Meanwhile, between his training, Vegeta surprised himself. All the time he had stayed at the Corp., he argued incessantly with the woman, and her impudence and indifference to his threats did throw him off his centre initially. He had, albeit secretly, regarded her with substantial respect and admiration. But never, ever had he thought of her this way. His father had taught him to be civil with the opposite sex, as Royalty should be. He had, through all their interaction, kept a respectable distance. Though he felt soft towards her at some moments, he had always regarded them as the general bursts of mischief his inner 'weak' self indulged in. And so they were, he thought.
But then, the wave of sympathy and understanding that he had felt at her grief came back to him again and again. He felt an alien urge to hold her against himself and comfort her… to protect her, which he had brushed off as something he shouldn't think. But this time, something inside told him it was no more wrong to think. His father's words came back to him—"…if you truly love a woman, you can't see her suffer, but if she be with another man, learn to make sure you keep yourself away from their privacy even while ensuring her happiness." And then, it struck him why he couldn't forget it… she's no more with another man, I can try to… dammit! What the hell am I thinking? He remembered that in his childhood, his father and Bardock often sat him and Raditz together and gave them 'talks' together. He recalled that they said it was easier that way. He remembered what Bardock had once said—"Never treat a woman as if she belongs to you, remember you're of each other. Respect her individuality, and never think of her as 'available' to you, just because she's not another's." Such was the structure of whatever Saiyans told their kids—all practical and no-frills.
Throughout his afternoon and evening, these thoughts disturbed him. When he asked Bulma to re-repair the GR, she just looked up and said "Again?" Her lack of fire showed her sadness, and he didn't tell her more. Just as he did his final stance of the day, the final advice of their fathers came to him—"Taking the chance with a single woman isn't wrong, as long as you maintain her dignity and your own." I'm gonna ask her Royal way, he thought as he packed up.
Bulma's father was in the Administration block for the whole day at several business meetings, and Bulma had no project in of her own that she felt like working on. She only fixed the GR, and even that she didn't upgrade. She spent the afternoon with popcorn, movies, cigarettes, and magazines. Lunch was quiet, as her mother left with a friend, her father ate at the office, and Vegeta took his mountain of food to the GR. The rest of the day passed normally, until supper.
Dr. Briefs returned for supper, and so did his wife. Vegeta too, as he sometimes did, joined them at supper, not interested to do night training in the open. It was then that Bunny mentioned Bulma's break-up to Dr. Briefs. He, naturally, showed fatherly concern.
—"Oh, dear, don't worry too much. If he doesn't deserve you, why should you be with him? There are better men, my girl."
Bunny chuckled.
—"That's what I told him, dear."
Surprising everyone, Vegeta spoke between the sixth and seventh helping of rice.
—"Find someone better than that wimp this time, woman."
Bulma barked at him.
—"I don't need your suggestions. You make matters no better."
—"Hmph."
After dinner was over, the Briefs couple ran to their bedroom, and Bulma understood they'd be busy—it always happened when Dr. Briefs remained absent throughout the day. Usually Bulma would gladly clean up, but today she wanted to retire early. She snapped the job to the bots, when she noticed Vegeta leaning against the refrigerator in his 'ridiculous' night suit.
—"Woman, heed my advice when you find a man. You deserve better faith."
—"So I'm gonna have to take your help?"
—"What if I find you the man you want, woman?"
—"It's Bulma."
Vegeta would usually retort, but he had a mission now.
—"Fine. What if I did that, Bulma?"
—"I can't give you a fair bet, but points to you." The intelligent heiress felt this led to something.
Suddenly, Vegeta was before her, taller just by an inch, holding her chin.
—"What if I suggest the man before you?"
Bulma was overwhelmed for a moment, but then she gathered herself.
—"I'd prefer a man who loves me." That'll fix his ambition, he'll never saythat.
Vegeta stood back.
—"You think I'm unaware of your preferences?"
—"Do you need to use such big words?"
—"That's the language of Royalty, woman."
—"It's…"
—"Answer me. I won't question you regarding this any more if it's a negative."
Bulma laughed, and deep inside, it delighted the Prince.
—"And what may 'this' be, Your Majesty?
Vegeta's cheeks revoltingly turned pink. He gave as straight an answer manageable, with the straightest possible face.
—"My fondness for you."
—"You mean to say you love me?"
—"I'm not familiar with earthly interpretations of a formal invitation to court."
—"Court?" Bulma was surprised at the outdated expression.
—"A man, court a woman."
Bulma was finished with her job by then. She washed her hands, and jumped to hug Vegeta hard.
—"I love you too."
Vegeta slightly raised his right hand to place it on her back awkwardly, which was enough for Bulma to know what he felt. She came away from him, and then again took a step toward him. She raised a hand to his cheek, and they pulled each other closer in a kiss that would make history. They didn't speak, and Vegeta made way for his room as soon as they broke, but Bulma quietly went with him. At the door to his room, she hugged him again, kissed his cheek and made way for her own room. In a minute, they were both sleeping in their own beds, smiling at each other in their dreams.
The next morning, Vegeta woke up at sunrise, as was his habit. His strong sense of smell detected the woman's smell on his clothes. Vegeta smiled. He knew his new mate was happy with him. He was glad he had taken the chance.
*End of DBZGT fanfic 'Taking the Chance' by FanficMogul*
A/N: Hope you liked it. My other fic's next chapter is getting Beta-ed at the moment. Bye!