Dragon Ball Z 1. Chapter 1

_**Abandoned and Homeless**_

_** Chapter 1**_

* * *

A young man, covered in dirt, grime, cuts, and bruises dug through the remains of old and mouldy materials, and decaying food and wrappers of all sorts.

His legs hung out of a large dumpster, and his fuzzy black tail swayed behind him.

He had lived in this ally all of his life.

Ever since he was 5 years old.

He had taught himself to forage for food, even if it wasn't in the best conditions.

More often then not, he would go to bed not having anything to eat at all.

The city was large, and he was confined to a muddy little ally next to the bakery and an old building, which he lived in the crawl space of.

Well it was more like a basement that nobody used.

He had very few posessions, most of which had come from the dumpsters and rubbish bins in his ally.

His clothes were tattered and torn and mud was stained into the fabric.

All he had on was a pair of loose cotton pants, and a scrap of material that could hardly be called a shirt.

His tail poked out through a hole in the back of his pants.

His hands pushed the rubbish out of the way, as he sorted through cartons, looking for something edible.

There had to be something in here.

All he had yesterday was a half eaten apple and a few mouthfulls from a nearly empty can of flat Coca Cola that he found in a bin.

He was smeared with dirt and his feet were covered in cuts and bruises.

He didn't have any shoes.

His hands were covered in cuts as well, he walked around like a gorilla.

His mannerisms were like that of a gorilla as well.

When he ate, his upper lip moved in that funny way.

Instead of putting the food into his mouth, he would sniff it first and then use his lip to pull it in.

There.

Finally he found something that looked promising.

He might get something today after all.

It was a polystyrene carton that was used to hold burgers.

He took it out and dropped to the ground.

He crouched, and sat the carton on the ground in front of him.

He licked his lips and his fingers wiggled in excitement.

Burger cartons were probably the most promising thing for a very small snack.

He opened the lid of the carton and looked inside.

In there, was a half eaten cheeseburger, with maggots crawling in and out of the bun.

He could smell the rancid scent they gave off.

He quickly closed the lid and threw it back into the large dumpster.

He sighed.

At least Joe, the hot dog vendor out the front might have a few sausages to spare at the end of his shift.

A thin and scruffy female cat lept from behind a stack of old yellowing newspapers.

It went over to the man, and started to rub itself on his leg, purring.

He absentmindedly scratched it's head while he thought.

He picked up the cat and sat it on the newspapers.

He walked through the muddy little puddles and over the grime on the ground, the mud squelching between his toes, as he went and sat down on a wooden crate near the entrance of the damp ally.

It was his favourite place to sit.

He brought his feet off the ground and rested his chin on his knees, wrapping his scrawny yet strong arms and also his tail around them.

It was getting colder now, it was nearly winter.

He sadly looked out at all the people passing by.

None of them even gave him a second glance.

Well to be more accurate, none of them even took a first glance.

They just ignored him and went about their busy lives.

He wasn't surprised.

Who would want to take time to care about some homeless guy whose abusive parents dumped him in an ally when he was 5 years old?

They had more important things to do.

He had people from shelters come to him all the time trying to get him to go with them.

One time he went with them, but ran away again, because he found that the rules at the shelter were very strict, and he could not express himself well.

He prefered to be alone.

But there was this one time he remembered.

When he was young, he met a little girl, who was not much younger than he, in the park across the street, crying.

Apparently, the girl had her ice cream stolen by a bully.

He found this bully and beat him up.

Sadly, it was too late for the ice cream to be saved.

Time passed and they became very good friends.

Vegeta was 18, and the girl was 16, when she found a boyfriend called Yamcha.

She spent a lot of time with Yamcha, so she didn't come to see him as much.

Soon more time passed, and she barely came to see him at all.

Eventually she stopped coming altogether.

She just forgot about him.

The first time was the hardest.

Vegeta remembered it all clearly.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~FLASHBACK ~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_He was so excited._

_Today was the day when he was finally going to see her again._

_He walked over to the crossing, and crossed the road._

_He walked into the Greenview State Park._

_It was a nice day, the sun was shining and he walked over to the bench where he always met her._

_A few minutes passed, and he wondered where she was._

_She was probably just stuck in a meeting that went a bit over time._

_The minutes turned into hours, and still no friend._

_'Just a bit longer. I know she is coming. She'd never forget me.' He thought to himself._

_As if on cue, there was a clap of thunder, and rain started to pelt down, the clouds turning a dark grey, as he came to the realization that she forgot him._

_The rain continued to soak him in its thunderous glory, as a single tear rolled down his face._

_She forgot._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~END FLASHBACK~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

That memory hurt more than anything else in the world.

Vegeta rubbed his itching eyes with what was left of his sleeves, they were prickling with unshed tears.

He could smell the scent of the hot dogs Joe had in his cart.

Maybe he could weasle one out of him before his shift was done.

He looked around the corner.

Nobody was coming.

He jumped off the crate and went over to the vendor.

"Pssst. Pssssst! Joe!"

Joe turned around.

"Do you think I can get one now? I'm really hungry."

Joe sighed.

"Sorry. You know I can't do that. These are all for the paying customers."

He chuckled.

"Pffft. Where are these paying customers then?"

Joe looked around.

"Fine. Just as long as my boss don't find out."

He leaned into the cart and pulled out a fresh hot dog.

He put it in a bun and asked him what topping he wanted.

Plain tomato sauce and mustard was his answer.

"Here ya go buddy. You're just lucky I'm a kind hearted guy."

"Thanks."

He smiled and ran back into his ally.

He sat back on the crate, and called over the cat, which he named Mushi.

She was a black cat, with white on her paws, tummy and neck.

Her whiskers were also white, as well as the hair inside her ears.

He broke off a piece of the sausage, and fed it to the cat.

The rest he ate himself.

He licked off the bit of mustard that dropped on his hand.

But he was still hungry.

Mushi mewed.

She was hungry too.

"Sorry little one. I ain't got no more food."

He pat her on the head.

Mushi lept over to a puddle and lapped up some of the muddy water.

The young man looked up to the sky, praying that someday, someone would come and take him away from this miserable thing that he called a life.

_~This was the life of a young man named Vegeta Kazama.~_

* * *

She typed away furiously at the computer.

The report on her newest project was due the next day, and she was swamped with work.

She clicked on the button and saved the work, and then turned off the machine.

She got up and massaged her tired shoulders, and then fell onto her nearby bed.

"Nnnnggggghh." She groaned.

She was up most of the night working.

Maybe a nice hot bath would do the trick to loosen her tired, overworked muscles.

She managed to get up after lying on her bed for a few more minutes, and went into the bathroom.

She stripped down to nothing while the hot bath water ran, and filled the large tub.

When it was filled, and the bubblebath was put in, making the water foamy, she got in, and sunk down until the water reached her chin.

She stayed here longer this time, just relaxing.

Her eyes were closed, and she had a smile on her face, as the stress of all the work and late nights just seemed to wash away.

When the water started to get a bit chilly, she got out, drained the tub, and wrapped a towel around her body, and got another one to dry her hair with.

She hummed a little tune to herself, as she toweled off.

The woman looked into the mirror over the sink.

Damn.

She looked awful.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark bags under them.

"Damn stupid reports, stupid project. Grrrrrr." She grumbled to herself.

She grabbed a brush, and started to brush her hair, getting all the tangles out.

Then she brushed her teeth, and went back out into her spacious room.

She walked over to the cupboard, and sorted through a bunch of clothes, finally deciding on a white tank top that showed her stomach, a pair of baggy blue jeans, black combat boots, and a black leather jacket to top it off.

She took out a necklace that her boyfriend bought her for her last birthday, from a little jewelery box, and fastened it around her neck.

She sighed.

Lately, things were getting a bit rocky between the couple.

He was canceling dates.

And sometimes he reeked of other womens perfume.

But she wouldn't let this bring her down, she had more important things to worry about.

Today, she had finally wracked up enough nerve to get her navel pierced.

She was thinking about getting a big diamond set in pure silver.

After all, diamonds are a girl best friend.

She trudged down the stairs and grabbed a banana from the bowl on the table.

"HEY MUM! I'M GOING TO GET THE PIERCING DONE NOW!" She screamed.

She heard a faint, _"Okay honey!"_ in reply, then munching on the banana, she grabbed her keys and her capsules, and proceeded to the driveway, where she popped on of the capsules open, and there stood a shiny, new, silver Mercedes convertible.

She got in the car and drove down to the outskirts of the city, where the only good piercing place that she trusted was.

Her cousin owned the place and did the piercings.

Unfortunatly, the place was in put it nicely, poorer side of town, where a lot of industrial building were, and lots of thugs, drug addicts and other random weirdos liked to hang out.

She used to come here a lot when she was little, and when it was not so bad because there was a park across the street where she used to play with her friends.

Well, more like friend.

There was only one little boy that she used to hang out with.

Everyone else at her school just made fun of her, because they thought she was a rich, and spoiled little snob.

Nobody wanted to play with her, she was always excluded, from games, until she met this little boy.

He didn't care that she was rich.

He was a little orphan and lived on the street.

Bulma could barely remember what he looked like, except for one feature.

His hair.

It swept upwards, like a black flame, defying all laws of gravity.

And he didn't even use gel.

Not that he was able to afford it anyway.

He saved, or tried to save her from a bully.

Okay, so it was the ice cream he tried to save, but he did show the bully a lesson.

He beat him up.

Even though he was seriously lacking in the weight department, he beat the other guy into the ground.

That boy was extremely strong for a scrawny little orphan.

She wondered what he would look like now.

He was probably dead by now anyway.

Nobody lived very long on the streets.

She kinda felt a bit sad.

She remembered that when she was a teenager, she saw less and less of him.

Then she never saw any of him because of her new boyfriend.

She just forgot to go.

A quick memory flashed by of the first time she never showed up.

She was supposed to meet him in the park at the bench like she usually did.

But she never went.

Now the young woman felt really bad.

Now she felt like she was acting like her boyfriend acted.

Hell, she couldn't even remember the boy's name!

For all she knew, that little boy could have died a few days after she stopped going to visit him.

She pulled her car into a free space a few metres away from the bakery.

She had to park it here, because there were no parking spaces down further.

She decided to leave her car decapsulized just in case she needed a quick getaway.

She wasn't worried about leaving it out in the open.

Her father had made modifications so that it was protected from car-jackers and other types of criminals.

She got out of the car, locking it, then started a quick walk down the street.

She smelt a wonderous smell, coming from the bakery.

It was pies.

Seeing as she missed out on breakfast, she decided to go in and get a pie.

She came out with a big meat pie with tomato sauce.

She walked past an ally, when all of a sudden, a big Doberman jumped out from nowhere, and snatched the pie out of her hand.

Amazingly, it didn't bite her hand off as well.

"ARRRGGG! GOD DAMMIT!" She screamed to the sky, "that was a really good pie!"

The enraged lady chased after the dog, who had ran into the muddy ally.

It slowed down near the end, and pushed through a flap in the side of a building.

It looked like a basement window.

_'Hmmm. I wonder what's in there.'_ She thought.

She poked her head in the flap, careful not to get her clothes dirty with all the mud.

Inside, she saw a man with spikey black hair, wearing nothing more than rags, sitting on the cold concrete floor.

He was covered in dirt and grime, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

No way she'd ever be caught looking like that.

Although, when she came out of the lab after working with things with oil, she didn't look too good herself.

Something about this man was strangely familiar.

But her brain stopped thinking and told her ears to listen when the man started speaking to the dog.

"Hey boy. What did you get? A pie? This is still a bit wrapped up and eaten. You didn't steal it did you Shinigami? We may have nothing to eat, but that's no reson to steal." Vegeta scolded.

Shinigami looked sorry.

He went over to a corner, and curled up in it.

Vegeta put the pie down on the floor, and sat there staring at it.

"I can't exactly give it back. A hot pie. I wanted one of these for so long. The bakery toments me with it's wonderous smells." Vegeta growled to himself and then sighed.

Bulma pulled her head out of the room after witnessing that sad sight.

She stood up and brushed her pants off.

She never realized how lucky she had it until now.

She decided to let him have the pie.

He looked as if he could use it.

That guy was as skinny as a rake.

She turned around, and noticed a whole heap of scribble on the wall near an old box of aerosol paint cans.

It seemed to be written in chalk, or something similar.

When she got closer, she saw that it wasn't scribble at all, but complex, mathmatical equations.

This was stuff that she could barely keep up with.

Even her father had a bit of trouble with it.

At an even closer look, she could see there were no smudges, indicating that something had been erased.

Whoever did this was some kind of genius.

She suspected it was that man she just saw.

This mathmatical genius, was also a very dedicated artist.

For the first time, she noticed that the walls of the ally were covered in pictures of all sorts, some depicting stories, and others seemed to make no sense at all.

There was a bit of writing in another language, done with the red spray paint over the top of a lot of things.

Everything was drawn in spray paint.

Some people would call it graffiti, while others would call it art.

The best part about it, was that it was all done freehand, as you could see the edges were fuzzy, showing that no template had been used.

It was a shame that his talents were confined to this dark and wet little ally.

The woman decided to herself that she had better get going, as she would be late.

30 minutes later, she was back in her car, with a nice big, diamond set in pure silver as her navel piercing.

It really went with her current outfit well.

She started the ignition, and sped off, forgeting completely about the man she saw before.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Abandoned and Homeless **_

_**Chapter 2 **_

* * *

Vegeta tried to make himself comfortable on the thin cardboard that served as his bedding.

He picked up the pie off the floor.

Both of the animals, Mushi and Shinigami, raised their heads up, and looked at him.

Vegeta sighed.

"I suppose we can eat it." He told them.

Vegeta pulled the pie out of the bag and broke the it into three pieces as best as he could, and gave them each one of them.

They all messily ate their share of the pie, and made sure they didn't leave any spills.

This was good food, they couldn't afford to waste it.

Vegeta laid back, resting his head on a burlap sack filled with scrunched up newspaper, that he used as his pillow.

His tail flopped aroung lazily on the floor.

He was bored stiff.

As well as frozen stiff.

His feet felt like they were totally numb.

Like hundreds of tiny little pins were poking him.

He watched a spider slowly spin its web in the corner.

He needed to get out and do something.

Maybe he could go out and sit near the footpath, and see if people would take pity on him and throw him a bit of money to put in his collection.

He had a little jar that he put his money in, that used to be a pickle jar.

He had about $200 in there, that he strangly didn't use to buy food with. Instead, he was saving up to buy the second hand acoustic guitar that Joe said he could have if he got enough money.

Normally Joe would have sold it for $500, because it was a valuable one, it was signed by some famous guitarist.

But Vegeta was his friend, so he was selling it for less.

All he had to do now was get 20 more dollars and the guitar was his.

Joe taught him how to play it when he was off his shift.

And it also gave him something to do in his spare time.

Which he had a lot of.

Most people would think he was extremely weird, or totally crazy for wanting to buy a guitar instead of food, but that was just the way he was.

Vegeta got to his feet and dusted himself off.

Not that he really needed to.

It would take a lot more than dusting to clean him up.

It was just a habit that he had.

He climbed up on the cabinet below the window and boosted himself up to the ledge, and slid out into the ally.

He had found out that it wasn't very pleasant sliding out into the mud, so he had placed some thin plywood boards he found on the ground, so he wouldn't get any more dirty.

Vegeta stood up and stretched.

Then he got back into his crouching/gorilla position, and went back over to his favourite crate.

The first thing he noticed, was that there were new footprints.

But they weren't his, they had shoes on.

He looked to where they were headed.

Right up to his window.

Someone had been looking in on him.

He wondered who.

It couldn't be Joe, his feet were much bigger.

Judging by the size of the print, and the lingering scent of a vanilla perfume, it seemed as if it were a female who had been there.

For some reason, he knew the scent was something he had smelt before.

He just couldn't remember exactly where he smelt it, but what he could remember was that it was from sometime in his childhood.

It was really weird, because along with that memory of the smell, came memories of this warm, fuzzy, thing that the smell came from.

The only indication of what it could be was blue.

Only blue.

That's all he could see.

The only reminder was a color.

He knew he had to find this thing, whatever it was.

Maybe this object was the key to his freedom of this wretched place.

All he knew, all he felt, was this warmth in his heart, when he smelt that perfume.

Vegeta's breath rose up in front of him in a mist when he exhaled.

Goosebumps began forming on his body from the frosty afternoon air.

_'Maybe this was a bad idea coming out here.'_ He thought.

He rubbed his arms to try and get some warmth into them, while he sat on the crate that was up against the wall.

Vegeta curled up and tried to make himself as sad looking as possible.

Maybe someone would take pity and throw him a few dollars.

He despised doing this.

It just wasn't his thing.

Practically begging for spare change.

He'd rather go work for a living, but nobody would hire him.

They didn't want a stinking little hobo working for them.

He heard that from Joe's wife.

Joe had offered him a job in the gardens of his house, but one day he had overheard Joe and his wife arguing about something, so he decided to listen.

Joe was defending him, while his wife couldn't stand the fact he had let Vegeta inside the house where he could have easily stole something.

She was ranting on about how Joe should have thought why he was out on the street in the first place.

She said he could have been an drug addict or something.

He heard her saying all kind of things about him.

And then Joe told him he had to leave, his wife didn't like him.

Soon an old lady hobbled past him.

She stopped when she saw the sad look on the man's face.

She wondered why he was sitting there like that.

"Excuse me young man?"

Vegeta looked up.

"Yeah?"

"I couldn't help but wonder, why are you sitting there like that? Shouldn't you be inside keeping warm?"

The kindly old lady had bad eyesight, therefore couldn't see his tattered clothes.

"I live live on the streets." He sipmly said.

"Oh. Shame that is. Why are you living here? Did you get evicted?"

"No. My parents abandoned me. What do you care?"

"Oh no. That's not nice. Tell you what. Here is $10. It's not much, but you can get something nice and warm to eat with it. Get some meat on them bones sonny!"

With that, she walked away.

Vegeta was stunned, nobody had given him that much in one go, except for Joe when he gave him the job.

He debated wether to use some of it to get more food, or use it all for the guitar fund.

In the end, he decided to go and get two dounuts from the bakery, and use the rest for the guitar.

Now he only needed $12 more dollars, and he could get it.

4 days later, Vegeta had the money for the instrument.

It was near the end of Joe's shift when Vegeta ran out of the ally holding his jar of money.

"Joe! Joe I got enough!"

He waved the pickle jar in front of the man's face frantically.

"That's nice little man. Now go and wait. My shift ain't over yet."

The older man chuckled and pat him on the head.

Vegeta was a bit hyper.

He had never held this much money in his hands before.

"Okay! Okay! How long?!"

Joe smiled nervously at the annoyed people waiting in line for a hot dog.

"I'll come and get you when I'm done. How's that sound?"

"Yeah okay."

With that Vegeta ran back into the ally with the jar full of coins and a few notes under his arm.

He squeezed through the basement window and jumped down onto the cabinet.

He placed the jar on a small table he made out of wooden crates and sat down on his raggedy old couch that Joe gave him.

Unfortunatly it was too small and uncomfortable to sleep on.

Vegeta doubted that he'd ever be able to repay Joe for all he's done.

10 minutes passed and Vegeta heard a tap on the window leading out to the ally, and man's voice telling him to get out there.

Vegeta grabbed the jar and dived through the window, and slid through the mud, startling Joe.

He quickly stood up.

"Come on let's go!"

Joe smiled and Vegeta hugged the pickle jar to his chest as they walked out.

Soon they arrived at Joe's house.

"Now you should probably stay here cos the misses cleaned the floor today. I don't want her screaming in my ear about getting the floor all muddy and bringing you into the house. I just can't understand why she doesn't like you. I can't see anything wrong with ya little man!"

_"Little man"_ Was Joe's nickname for Vegeta, because he was short and always crouched down like a little monkey.

Vegeta grinned stupidly.

Joe was the only one he trusted now.

He didn't like girls because they always broke their promises.

He swore he'd never like another girl again.

Vegeta clutched the jar under his arm while he sat on the steps out the front, while Joe went inside to get the guitar.

He came back out with it.

It was a really nice looking one too.

Vegeta could see the scrawl of a signature on the front of it.

"Here's the pick that goes with it as well."

Vegeta stood up and took the guitar and the pick from Joe, and he handed him over the money.

"I'll give you back the jar once I find something to put all this money in. That okay with you?"

"Yeah."

Vegeta was too busy looking at the instrument to take much notice of what he was saying.

His tail wagged excitedly behind him.

"I see you like it don't you?"

He chuckled.

Vegeta nodded without looking up.

"Oh well.I suppose you'd better go before the misses finds out you are here. I'll get just as bad, if not worse, if she sees you."

"Okay Joe. Thanks. Bye."

"See ya little man."

Vegeta put the guitar strap over his head, and let the guitar fall behind him.

He gave the man a quick wave and ran down his driveway and back to the ally.

When Vegeta got back, he pushed the guitar through the flap first, and then went in.

"Hey guys I'm back!" He called out.

Mushi lept onto his shoulder from a high shelf, and Shinigami stood up in the corner and yawned.

"Well glad to see you too Shin." He mumbled sarcastically.

He gave Mushi a pat on the head, and sat her down on his pillow.

At night, he liked to snuggle up to his pets.

One, because they kept him warm, and two, because he felt more comfortable around them, like they would protect him from everything.

And just the smell of them would make him relax and feel reassured.

Mushi curled up into a little ball on the pillow, and started purring really loudly, the sound vibrating throughout the room.

Vegeta smiled and sat down on the couch with the guitar.

He got the pick, and started to warm up his fingers by playing a few chords.

Then he started to play a song Joe taught him.

It was called Wherever you will go, by a band called The Calling.

He really liked the song and it was one of his favourites.

Vegeta sang the words to it.

He actually sounded a lot like the original singer from the band, but he was able to sing in many different styles and different voices.

It was about a month since Bulma saw the man in the basement.

Although she still didn't remember it.

Bulma was taking her friend Natsumi to get her eyebrow pierced.

Natsumi didn't really want to go down to the poorer parts of the city by herself so Bulma went with her.

After getting Natsumi's eyebrow pierced, they stopped at the hot dog cart.

It was nearing lunch time and they were getting a bit hungry.

Natsumi just got a plain one with tomato sauce, and Bulma got one with with the lot.

Unfortunatly, she didn't know that it had something on it that she was allergic to.

Sauerkraut.

The two women neared the ally where Vegeta was sitting on his crate, staring at a bug stuck in the mud, before Bulma realized that there was sauerkraut on her hot dog.

Luckily she hadn't bitten into it yet.

"Dammit. I am allergic to sauerkraut. Yuck. I'll just throw this away and get a pie from this bakery up here. They have really nice pies. Come on let's go."

Bulma spotted a bin near the road side.

She went over to it and was about to throw it in, when she felt a tug on her arm.

It was Natsumi.

"Bulma."

She tried to inconspicuously point to the guy in the ally.

He was staring eagerly at the food she held and was licking his lips.

"The poor guy must be starving Bulma. You know I have a soft spot for helping people. Don't waste it. Give it to him. Pleeeeeeeease?" Natsumi whined.

"Fine."

Bulma cautiously went over to him.

She held out the food in her hand.

As soon as she got near, Vegeta jumped up and scooted back into the shadows of the dark ally.

"No. Leave me alone. I don't like you people. You make me stay in small rooms and don't let me do what I want. Go away."

Bulma wondered what he was talking about.

Natsumi went up to her and whispered into her ear.

"I think he's talking about the people from those homeless shelters. I think he thinks you are one of them."

Bulma sighed.

"Look. I'm not here to take you to a shelter. I'm not one of those people."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"You...you're not?"

"No. I just wanted to know if you would like this hot dog. It has something that I am allergic to on it, so I can't eat it. Do you want it or not?"

Vegeta stepped out of the shadows a tiny bit.

He was crouched down.

Bulma thought he looked like a monkey.

He slowly walked over to them looking all around just to make sure no one was going to jump out and grab him.

He sniffed the food, and looked up into their faces.

Then he looked back down at the food, and sniffed it once more before snatching it out of her hand quickly and running back into the ally, and hiding behind a stack of crates and bins.

The last thing they saw of him was a long, fuzzy black tail streaking out behind him.

"What? No thank you? Well see if I ever get him something again. was weird. He had a tail. But oh well. That's not the point!"

Bulma walked off in a huff.

Natsumi rolled her eyes then whispered into the ally.

"I hope you like it."

Then she went to follow Bulma into the bakery.

Vegeta sat behind the little wall of crates and bins, waiting until they left.

He looked at the hotdog in his hands.

It smelt so good.

Joe had been fired recently, because he had been giving too many sausages away.

The new guy was fat, ugly and really mean.

He wouldn't let Vegeta anywhere near the cart, much less have a sausage.

Vegeta had been having really bad luck lately.

There had been barely any food in the dumpster for ages.

He was starving, and even skinnier than he usually was.

The extremely low food consumption had left him very tired and without energy.

He could barely find the energy to get up and climb through the window to get outside.

So he was grateful for this food.

Vegeta sat cross legged on the ground, and unwrapped the food from the napkin.

He took one more sniff of it before eating it as fast as he could.

There was stuff all over his face and hands, but he licked all of it off.

Being hungry for so long, and now having this food suddenly in his stomach, he felt almost full.

He licked his lips again, then splashed through the dirty puddles back to the crate.

But just before he got there, he noticed something.

There was a set of keys, with a tag, lying in the mud.

He picked them up, as well as a fair bit of mud, and looked at the tag.

Vegeta couldn't read very well, he only knew the basics that Joe had taught him.

The first name on the tag looked familiar, he couldn't read the last one.

And he also couldn't read the thing that came before the first name either.

But what he did understand, was a company name, that everyone knew. Capsule Corp.

Vegeta knew this must be important, so he had to give it back to this person.

He figured that it was one of the girls who dropped it.

He didn't know the way to Capsule Corp. though.

So he would have to ask someone.

Well, since Joe was fired, and the fat guy wouldn't let him near the cart, he'd have to ask the people in the bakery, or ask people on the street.

Vegeta found no help in the bakery, the fat ugly man's brother was in there.

So he walked around the street asking people.

It turned out not to be very successful.

Most people just ignored him, or told him to get lost.

The most info he ever got out of one person, was that Capsule Corp. was on the other side of the city.

He sighed.

He'd have to take the bus.

Vegeta ran back to his place and got some spare change from his jar.

He put it in his pocket, and went to check the bus time table.

The next bus was due to arrive in a few minutes, so he sat and waited.

Sure enough, it came right on time.

He climbed aboard, gave the driver his money, and told him that he wanted to go to Capsule Corp.

The bus stopped at a few places, before arriving at the Capsule Corp. head quarters.

He got off the bus, and stepped down onto the lawn.

The grass was nice and soft between his toes, quite a contrast to what he was used to.

He wondered where he should start.

If he knocked on the door, they would probably slam it in his face and call security.

He didn't want that.

Vegeta wondered how he was supposed to get in.

There was a big gate with guards posted at it.

He supposed that was the way.

He walked up to them.

"Ummmm. Does this person live here?"

He held up the keys and pointed to the name on the tag.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I found their keys."

The guards stared at him.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?"

"I wanna give them to the person."

The other guard suddenly spoke up.

"Why do ya keep saying the person, or they or their or whatever? It's weird."

Vegeta was silent for a moment.

"Cos I can't read good."

The guards burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! The little bugger can't read! Hahahahahahahaha!"

"I don't see what's funny. I just wanna give this person their keys back."

The guards laughter soon died out.

Their faces quickly went from amused back to a blank expression.

"Okay."

With that, they opened the gate.

Vegeta went through the now open gates.

_'Stupid idiots.'_ He thought to himself.

He walked around the garden for a while, careful to hide his tail under his shirt.

He spot a blonde haired woman who was watering some exotic plants in a far corner.

Her hair was done up in a kind of an afro, and she was singing a song in a high pitched voice, while skipping around with a watering can.

Maybe she'd know who this Miss Briefs was.

He didn't know which one of the two women was this Briefs lady, so he would have to ask.

He walked over to her.

"Ummm. Hi?" He asked uncertain of what he should say.

"Ahhhh!"

The blonde woman spun around and tripped over the wound up garden hose.

She fell to the ground with a thump, just laying there on her face.

Vegeta's eyes widened.

He looked around to make sure no one had saw it.

He poked her in the side with his foot.

"Uhhh. Hello? You okay?"

The woman was on her feet before he could say another word.

"Ooooo! Yes dearie, I'm fine! That happens all the time. Silly me!"

She giggled like a little schoolgirl.

Then she went back to watering the plants.

"Yeaaaaaaaaah. Ummmm.I found this. Who is this Miss Briefs? I can't read the first name."

The lady turned back around, and took the keys from him.

"Bulma Briefs. That's my daughter! She isn't here now. She went down to take her friend to this place to get something pierced." Mrs. Briefs trailed off.

"My my. Aren't you a handsome boy! But thin though."

She poked his ribs with her finger.

"Hmmmm. You look like someone I have met before. Yes. The hairstyle. Oooooo! Oh well. No use living in the past. You are too thin! Let's fatten you up! I baked some nice yummy cakes and made fresh lemonade. Come on inside, Bulma should be home soon."

She dropped the watering can at her feet and skipped merrily to the door.

Vegeta stood in the same spot, dumbfounded at the fact that she was so air headed.

"Well come on then you little cutie! If you don't hurry then my husband will eat all the yummy cakes on you! Hehehehehehe!"

He wondered how she could be so happy and lighthearted, and so trusting to let him into her house.

But he didn't question it for long, he could smell the freshly baked cakes in the kitchen.

He quickly ran up to where Mrs Briefs was standing.

"Ooooo! Silly me! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Bunny! What's your's?"

"Uhhh. Vegeta."

He looked at her strangly.

He had never met a person so happy, unless they were high off some kind of drug.

"Okay! Now you just take a seat right here while I go and get the cakes and lemonade!"

She pointed to the picnic table on the grass.

Then she pranced inside like the ditzy woman she is.

Vegeta shook his head.

How could the wife of the world famous scientist, and mother of this Bulma girl be so dumb?

He placed the keys down on the table and then sat down himself.

After a short period of time, Bunny came back out with a tray of cookies and cakes of all sorts, and a large pitcher of lemonade with two cups.

"Ooooo! It's so nice to have company these days! I get so lonely, just me and the flowers. Bulma and my husband are always in those labs of their's working on new inventions all the time! I barely ever get to see them!"

She sniffled.

But her mood quickly brightened as she remembered the cakes.

"Oooo yes! Here we go! Help yourself to as many as you want! There's plenty more where that came from!"

She poured them each a glass of lemonade after she sat down.

"We were suppose to have this big party with a whole heap of important people, but it got canceled because of the rain. Bulma's friend Goku, handsome man that, always eats quite a lot. We were going to give this all to him, but we just haven't got around to asking yet!"

"Uhhhh. Okay."

Vegeta looked at all the things on the tray.

He couldn't decide on which one he should eat.

"Well help yourself! They aren't gunna poison you, you know! Hehehehehe!"

She giggled.

"I...I've never eaten any of these things before. I have only seen things like this in the bakery window. I never had enough money to get any though."

Mrs. Briefs eyes widened enough so that you could actually see what colour they were.

Now that would explain his ruff and dirty appearance.

"Well, my favourite is this chocolate cupcake with cream and jam. It's nice and sweet. Why don't you start with that?"

"Okay."

Vegeta picked it up and looked at it.

Bunny took a bite out of a choc-chip biscuit.

Vegeta put the cake up to his mouth.

He sniffed it once before taking a bite.

It was really good.

Really sugary.

He grinned at Bunny after swallowing it.

"This is very good. I have not tasted things like this before."

"Ooooo! Thank you dearie! That's very nice of you! Hehehe!"

She covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled.

"Now you can try some of the lemonade!"

She pushed the glass over to him, and he picked it up and drank some of it.

It was much better than the dirty water he was forced to drink.

Occasionally he would get fresh stuff when it rained, but lately, the Bakery hadn't been cleaning the drains properly, and the water was bad.

He had set up a water catching system by putting a hole in the drain pipe and putting an extra part of pipe in that, which made the water run down into a canvas funnel.

The water was then filtered down into a large can.

He got his water out of that.

He could even sometimes have cold tea, if there was a teabag in the garbage.

15 minutes later, Bulma arrived home in her Mercedes, after dropping Natsumi at her place.

She parked in the driveway and turned the engine off, taking the keys out of the ignition.

She got out of the car, and went inside the CC building.

Bulma threw her keys down on the kitchen table.

There was a large plate of cookies and cakes in the middle of it.

_'Hmmmm. Mum must have been bored again.'_ She thought.

She grabbed a cookie and started yelling.

"MUM! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She listened for a response.

"Out here honey! We have company!"

Bulma nibbled on the edge of the cookie as she pushed the screen door open and walked outside.

She turned towards the picnic table and dropped the cookie, her jaw also dropping.

Sitting at the table with her mother was the same man she had given her hot dog to.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Abandoned and Homeless **_

_**Chapter 3 **_

* * *

"What are you doing here?!"

Vegeta set down the glass of lemonade on the table and picked up the keys.

Globs of mud fell from them.

"You dropped these."

Bulma crinkled her nose up at the gooey stuff on them.

"Uhhh. Thanks."

She went over to him and took the keys from his hand with her thumb and index finger, holding them out at full arms length so she wouldn't get any mud on her shirt.

Bulma went over to the garden hose and threw the keys on the ground.

Then she picked up the hose, turning it on and spraying the keys at full force.

The gunk quickly washed away.

Bulma picked them back up and strolled back over to the table.

She threw the keys onto the table and sat down beside her mother.

"So."

The two women watched him.

"What?"

"What's your name?" Bulma asked.

"Vegeta." He replied.

"Hn. That's weird. That name seems really familiar. It's an odd one too, so I find it strange why I can't remember where I've heard it before."

Bulma pouted.

Vegeta just smirked and chuckled.

It was then did he notice her hair.

Blue.

Aqua blue.

Just like his vision.

He tilted his head as he watched strands of it be lifted by the breeze and seemed to float around her face.

It was much warmer on this side of town, and he was happy about that. Bulma noticed his staring.

"This is my natural colour if you are wondering. I get tons of guys asking the same question."

Vegeta didn't say anything.

He just kept staring.

"God dammit! What is the fascination with my hair?! Everyone is always staring at me! Asking the same dumb questions! I get so sick of it!" Mrs Briefs scooted away, and Vegeta paid no attention.

"Don't worry dear, she can get a bit moody sometimes." She told Vegeta.

And then she excused herself to go water the rest of the plants.

Bulma's eyes flashed with a hidden fury.

"Stop staring." She ordered him.

Vegeta's gaze came back down to her eyes.

Cerulean blue, to match her hair.

"Don't you want to know why people stare?" He voiced quietly.

"Well yeah.I guess. It gets annoying after a while."

She flicked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

This man was making her nervous.

It was like his obsidian eyes pierced though to her very soul.

Like he could see straight through her.

"People stare because your hair is not a normal colour. It attracts attention. Because of its unusual colouring, people find it interesting. You hair turns you into someone different. It gives you a type of exotic beauty that no one else possesses naturally. Men find it attractive, and women get jealous because it's distracting their man. So that's why people stare at you. You have what every woman wants. Money, power, and exotic beauty. I'd be surprised if you told me you didn't have a boyfriend or husband yet."

Bulma's cheeks turned a light shade of pink at his statement.

"Ummmm."

Vegeta smirked.

"Thanks. I guess. I do have a boyfriend. We are just having problems. He's been a real arsehole lately."

Vegeta nodded.

Bulma looked down at the table, but her gaze was drawn to his hands.

She noticed all the cuts and bruises on them.

"How did you get all of them?"

She pointed to the scars.

"I walk around on my knuckles. It provides me with more balance. I never really learned to walk properly. My parents couldn't be bothered teaching me. But all my scars are not from that."

He took another sip of the lemonade nervously, refusing to look in her eyes.

"What are they from then?"

Vegeta didn't answer.

"Vegeta? What are they from?"

Bulma had more concern in her voice this time.

He slowly looked up at her.

"M-my parents. Before they a-abandoned me."

Bulma's mouth dropped open, and she stared at him in shock.

Vegeta looked back down at his hands and tapped them on the table.

"But. These are too small to be from someone else. Do you have others?"

Vegeta nodded.

"C- can I see?"

Vegeta tilted his head up a bit so he could see her.

"D-do I have to?"

Bulma sighed.

"Look. Physical abuse is wrong. Your parents may never have taught you that. They just might have come up with some lame excuse why they did it. I want to see how bad it is. That's all. Will you let me see?"

Vegeta looked like a frightened little kid sitting there like that.

He squirmed around nervously, as he brought his feet up off the ground.

He looked over his shoulder to where Mrs. Briefs was watering the plants.

He took a deep breath.

"Can we go somewhere else?"

Bulma smiled knowingly.

"Sure. Don't want my mum to get all fussy do we? Come on. I know just the place."

Vegeta followed Bulma into the nearby woods.

Soon they came to a little clearing with a pond.

It had crystal clear water running into it from a small waterfall.

There were wildflowers all around the outside edge of the clearing, in all different colours.

The grass was thick, soft and green, and there were a few comfortable rocks to sit on, around the pond, and under the shade of the trees.

The way the sunlight came through the canopy of the trees, it made it seem like something out of a fairy tale.

Not that Vegeta knew what a fairy tale was though.

Bulma went over to a rock and sat down.

She pat a rock in front of her, indicating she wanted him to sit there.

He did as he was told.

"Now. Show me your other scars." She said softly.

Vegeta looked nervous again.

But he lifted up his shirt revealing the numerous scars on his body.

Some were deep and others were shallow.

They criss-crossed his abdomen and some were on his chest.

They were partially healed over.

And they looked as if they had been there for quite some time.

Most of them were ugly looking, from the treatment that he never received for them, but all were very straight, as if someone had used a whip of some sort.

She bet they were on his back too.

Bulma's eyes teared up.

It would have been excruciatingly painful for him.

It nearly would have cut him open.

"You were a kid when they d-did this?" She choked out.

Vegeta nodded.

"5 years old."

What kind of monster would do that to their children?

Vegeta pulled his shirt back down, and lifted up the leg of his pants, swiveling around so she could see the other scars.

"These are from m-my m-mother. S- she use curling iron to hit me."

Vegeta started to feel really bad at all the memories that were resurfacing.

He let go of his pant leg and wrapped his arms around his knees, burying his face in them.

Bulma felt really sad.

It must hurt him talking about this.

She suspected that he was emotionally abused as well.

But she decided to ask, just in case.

"Vegeta?"

"What?"

His voice was muffled by his arms.

"Kami. I don't know any other way to ask you this, and I know it must hurt you, but did you parents abuse you in any other way?"

Vegeta looked up with wide open eyes.

"There are other ways? I thought they only hit you."

Bulma was astonished.

He didn't know these things?

"Yes. There are other ways. Emotionally is where they always yell at you and tell you things that make you feel bad. Did they do that?"

Vegeta thought for a bit.

"Yes. They said stuff that made me hurt inside. In here."

He pointed to his heart.

"What else did they do to you? They might have told you that it was what all little boys go through or something like that."

Vegeta had a pained expression on his face, and he fiddled with his fingers.

He jerked his head around while rocking from side to side, making him look like a kid with one of those weird diseases.

"I don't want to talk about it. Leave me alone! Stop talking about it!"

He jumped of the rock and ran over to a tree, huddling up underneath it.

He held his head in his hands tightly, with his hands over his ears, as he resumed rocking back and forth.

Obviously he had not been able to deal with it very well as a kid, and it was showing now.

His eyes were shut tightly as he rocked.

"Vegeta it's okay. You don't need to be afraid anymore. Talking about it helps alright? It will make you feel more relaxed because someone knows what you went through and they can help you deal with it."

Bulma got off the rock, and crawled over to him, not making any sudden movements so as not to frighten him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder lightly, and he flinched, squeezing his eyes shut tighter together.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Bulma slid her arm right around his shoulders and pulled him in.

She ignored the fact he smelt like garbage and really smelly mud and gunk.

"Shhhhh. It's is going to be fine now."

Vegeta whimpered as she touched one of the scars.

Some of them still hurt.

He thought they might be infected.

He struggled out of her grasp, and pointed to where his scars were.

"Hurt."

Vegeta never really learned to talk very well.

He usually just used a couple of words, but he made an effort to try and talk fuller sentences.

Bulma lifted up his sirt and looked at where he was pointing.

"Damn. These are infected. Probably because you have been living in that muddy alley for so long. But what I don't understand is how they became infected if you got these as a kid."

"The fat man hits me. He got Joe's job. Joe got fired cos of me. Fat man is real mean and he don't like me. I asked him where Joe went and he hurt me. Made scars open up and bleed. Hurt bad."

Vegeta rubbed his ribs.

"Hmmm. We will have to get that treated or it will make you sick. Come on. Let's got see if we have anything for it."

Bulma stood up and offered her hand to him.

He grabbed it and stood up, wincing as it pulled on the sore spots.

Bulma led him back to the house.

They went inside and down to the med labs.

Bulma made Vegeta sit on a cold metal bench as she grabbed some supplies from a cupboard.

"Now you wait here while I get some warm water."

Vegeta swung his feet around as he waited.

Soon she came back with a large bowl of warm water and a soft cloth.

"Alright. Take your shirt off so I can get to them."

Vegeta slipped off his shirt and sat it behind him.

Bulma could see his ribs under his skin.

The guy was very thin, but she could see he had a few muscles.

"So. I want to know something, how come you were talking fine before, then all of a sudden you start talking like Tarzan?"

"Well I don't know what a Tarzan is, but when I get nervous or scared or something, I talk funny."

"Oh, alright."

She sat the bowl of water down next to him and dipped the cloth in it.

Bulma wrung it out a bit before placing it on his scars.

She wiped all the cuts clean, a lot of dirt and grime came with it, and she could see he was well tanned under all the dirt that covered every inch of his scrawny body.

Eventually she cleaned all of his cuts.

"Maybe you should have a shower first, before I put these bandages on."

Vegeta looked confused.

"What is a shower?"

Bulma was a bit stunned at how much this guy didn't know, but then again, he had lived in an ally all his life.

"A shower is where water comes out of this pipe and pours down onto you so you can wash yourself and get clean."

"Oh. Is it cold? I don't like cold. I'm always cold."

"No. It's not cold. You can make it so it's warm or cold, you have a choice. All you have to do is turn the taps."

"Okay."

Vegeta still looked confused.

Bulma sighed.

"I think we will just give you a bath instead."

Vegeta opened his mouth to ask something, but Bulma cut him off.

"And before you ask, a bath is where you sit in a heap of water. And yes, you can adjust wether it is warm or cold."

Vegeta looked happy.

"Come on, let's go give you a bath."

He jumped off the table and went to grab the rag he called a shirt, when Bulma stopped him.

"Don't bother, you will only get dirty again if you wear that. I'll see if I can find you some old clothes of my boyfriends that he doesn't need anymore."

Finally, they reached a bathroom and Bulma turned the taps on, filling the tub.

She put some bubble bath in and then waited a while and soon the tub was all filled.

She stuck her hand in to test the water temperature to make sure it wasn't too hot.

"Alright. Now just hop in!"

Vegeta looked at the tub.

"Then what?"

_'Oh kami no. Don't tell me I have to help him take a bath!'_ She thought.

Bulma chewed on her thumbnail.

"Well, you take off your clothes. Get in the bath and clean yourself."

"With what?"

"Soap and a sponge."

"What is this "soap" stuff?"

Bulma growled.

"Fine. Just get in there and I'll help you, but leave you underwear on though. I don't want you flashing me."

Vegeta looked around nervously.

"Ummm. I don't have underwear. My parents put some clothes on me in the middle of the night, and threw me in ally and went away."

Bulma blinked twice.

"Fine."

She turned around as Vegeta took off his pants.

Vegeta got into the tub and sunk into the water.

"Ahhh. Warm."

Vegeta had a big grin on his face when Bulma tuned back around.

She was thankful she had put the bubblebath in there, so she couldn't see anything.

She walked over to the tub and stood there for a few seconds.

Vegeta was watching the bubbles, trying to figure out what they were.

Some floated over to him and stuck to his face.

He jumped up in surprise.

He thought they were alive and were trying to attack him, so he started to smack his face frantically to be rid of them.

Bulma was nearly wetting herself in laughter, as she watched him try to "kill" the bubbles.

"Vegeta! Hahahaha! Stop..hehe..They aren't going to..hahahahahaha! Hurt you! Hahahahahahahahahahahah!"

Her eyes were tearing up at the funny scene.

Vegeta looked over to her, he was panting from his efforts, and had bubbles all over his face.

"They aren't?"

As he said this, a big bubble formed from his mouth.

He went cross eyed as he looked at it, then he prodded it with his finger, making it pop.

"Ooooooo!"

He was facinated with the bubbles.

He thought they were pretty.

He brang his hands up out of the water and smacked them back down, making water splash everywhere.

"AHHH!"

He turned his head and saw that he had gotten Bulma wet.

She looked angry.

Vegeta put on his best "I'm innocent" face and looked at her.

Her angry face turned back to a sympathetic one when she saw his expression.

"I suppose I can't stay mad at you for long, I guess you are pretty excited huh?"

She chuckled.

Vegeta nodded, putting a big grin on his face.

Bulma grabbed some soap and lathered it up.

"Now this might sting for a bit."

She placed her hands on his back and rubbed in the soap.

She watched as the dirt fell away with the water, making it all brown and murky.

She noticed that Vegeta was very tense.

"Come on. You need to relax a bit."

She moved around to the side of the tub so she could wash his front.

She rubbed the soap on his chest, careful not to get too much of it in the cuts.

As she got lower, Vegeta's breathing got faster, and his chest rose and fell quickly.

Bulma stopped cleaning him and looked up.

Vegeta's brow was all sweaty, and he was breathing heavily.

He looked very nervous and scared.

"What's wrong? Does the soap sting?"

Vegeta shook his head back and forth quickly, as he sat tensly.

Bulma gave him another look and shrugged before resuming washing his abdomen.

She took her hand out of the water and grabbed the sponge, wetting it, and then rubbing it on him to wash the lathered soap off.

When she got backdown to his abdomen, he started the heavy breathing again.

He sounded like he was about to hyperventilate.

"N-no...s-stop. D-don't...d-don't touch m-me...n-not again." He choked out softly.

He had his eyes closed tightly together again like he was trying to forget something.

This time, Bulma could be sure of what happened.

His parent's must have abused him in this sense as well.

She automatically assumed it was his father.

"Vegeta? Did you father do this to you? Did he touch you in places?"

Bulma didn't like taking about this.

It made her feel awful.

"Y-yes. He...he d-did. He s-said that all b-boys have t-this d-done to th-them. H-he said th-that it w-would make him f-feel good I told h-him n-no. But h-he kept c-coming b-back. He f-forced me to...to touch h-him."

A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh kami."

Bulma was shocked.

She put her arms around him and pulled him as close as she could into a hug.

Vegeta nuzzled his face into her shoulder.

He felt as if he could trust her.

"It's alright. It's okay to cry. Just let it out."

"My father h-he would hurt m-me if I d-did."

Bulma winced.

"Well he isn't here now. And he can't hurt you if he isn't here okay?"

Vegeta nodded.

"Are they still alive?" She asked, refering to his parents.

This time, Vegeta shook his head, no.

"That's good. They can't hurt you anymore."

Vegeta pulled his head up, his eyes were watering from the tears.

"They do. They h-hurt me bad. In here and here."

He pointed to his head and his heart.

"When I sleep. They come back to get m-me."

"Oh. You have bad dreams. Dreams aren't can't hurt you."

"But they can hurt inside. Bad memories. Things like that."

She then pointed to his heart.

"They hurt the most in there. In your heart."

Vegeta agreed with her.

"Now. Let's finish getting you cleaned up."

She smiled sympathetically at him.

Bulma picked up the sponge she had dropped, and wringing all the muddy water out of it, she soaked it with clean warm water, and began to rub the dirt off his face.

It didn't seem to be working very well, so she told him to close his eyes.

Bulma grabbed a stronger soap, and rubbed it into the sponge.

She scrubbed his face with it gently, this time, it worked.

The lather from the soap was going brown.

She never realized how dirty he was until now.

When she had finished with that, Bulma rinsed all the soap off him, using a nearby containter.

"Now for you hair."

She squeezed the strawberry scented shampoo, poured a whole heap on his head and began to vigourously scrub it into his hair.

When she was done, he looked really funny.

"Okay. Now lean back and keep you eyes closed while I rinse this out."

Vegeta shut his eyes and Bulma scooped up some water and tipped it on his head, flushing out all the soapsuds from his long ebony hair.

"Alright. Now I'm going to face the other way while you wash you legs and stuff."

She blushed and handed him the sponge, and then promptly turned away, facing the wall.

Vegeta shrugged and did what she told him, using the soap and sponge.

It didn't take much scrubbing, his legs had been under water for a longer time, and most of the grime had come off and settled on the bottom of the tub.

Vegeta assumed he was supposed to get out now, so he stood up and got out of the tub.

He looked at Bulma who was still facing the other way.

"You can turn round now. I finished cleaning."

Bulma spun around with a smile on her face, but that soon changed to an expression of horror, as she saw that there was a soaking wet, not to mention completely naked man in front of her.

Bulma blinked twice.

"I knew I should have told you to get a towel." She said in a distant voice.

She couldn't help but stare.

He was huge for such a short and skinny man.

Bulma gulped.

She managed to tear her eyes away from his manhood and grab a towel.

She held it out in front of her.

"Here! Put this on."

"Where?"

"Oh god dammit!"

She forgot all about his nakedness and wrapped the towel around his waist.

Bulma hesitated for a few seconds, her hands resting on Vegeta's hips.

She all of a sudden ripped the towel back off him.

"You have a tail." She stated, visibly stunned.

"Yes. What is wrong with that? Is it bad?"

Bulma stood with her mouth slightly open.

"Well, the only person I know who had a tail like that, was my friend Goku. He hasn't got it anymore though. We had to cut it off. He turned into a giant rampaging monkey. He was apparently an alien."

Vegeta got a bit hyperactive.

"ALIEN! YOU MEAN I'M AN ALIEN! I don't wanna be an alien. Aliens are bad. People cut them up and do 'speriments."

Bulma chuckled.

"That's experiments, not 'speriments. And I'm not going to let anyone cut you up. Kami knows you've had enough of that already."

She sighed and lightly traced one of his scars with her finger.

Bulma shook herself out of her little trance and grabbed another fluffier, and softer towel and started to dry him off.

"Here."

She handed him the towel.

"Dry the rest of you while I go and get something."

Vegeta once again did what the little blue haired woman commanded.

Bulma went out of the room.

It wasn't long before he finished wiping his body dry and shaking and fluffing up his tail to dry it, so he sat on the edge of the tub and waited.

Bulma came back with a pair of pants, a shirt, a thin jumper and some boxer briefs.

She also had some other things with her, that Vegeta didn't know what they were.

"What are those things?"

She sat everything down on a bench.

"Well, this is a razor, males use it to shave. This is shaving cream, you use it to help you shave. This is toothpaste, you use this to clean your teeth, and lastly, this is a toothbrush. You use this to also clean your teeth with."

"O-kay."

Vegeta was still a bit confused. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll still be helping you. Now stand up."

Bulma picked up the shaving cream and shook the can hard.

She pressed the button and squirted a heap of the foam into her opposite hand.

Then she smeared it all over his jaw, making him look like santa claus.

She picked up the razor and started to shave off the stubble.

She smiled and wiped of the remaining cream with a towel.

"Now for the teeth."

She put some of the mint toothpaste on the brush, and wet it in the water from the tap.

"Do you know how to use this?"

Vegeta shook his head.

"Open up then."

Vegeta opened his mouth and Bulma stuck the toothbrush in.

Bulma noticed that he had nice straight teeth and they were fairly white.

Contrary to what most homeless peoples' were like.

The funny thing was that his eye teeth were very sharp and pointy.

"Now don't swallow this okay? It will make you sick."

She brushed his teeth.

Once again creating foam.

When she was done she directed him to the sink, and told him to spit it out.

Then she got him to fill his mouth with water and spit it out.

Bulma gave his lips a little wipe with the towel as well.

"All you gotta do now is get dressed. There are the clothes."

Before Bulma could turn around, Vegeta had dropped the towel around his waist, and was walking over to the clothes.

"Vegeta!"

He spun around.

"Don't you have any modesty?!"

He looked around.

"No." Vegeta answered simply.

_'What is this modesty she talks about?_' He thought.

_'Well it's not like I haven't seen it already. But I have a boyfriend. It's kind of like I'm cheating on him. Oh well.'_

Bulma didn't bother to look the other way this time.

Vegeta eventually got on all the clothes and he stood there waiting for Bulma's next move.

"Well. Let's go and put on some ointment and bandages on those cuts then shall we?"

Bulma led him out of the bathroom and back to the mad lab.

She noticed that he was walking slowly and oddly.

"What's wrong?"

"This underwear is tight. Hurts my tail and stuff. It's not good."

Vegeta looked like a helpless little child.

"Well hurry up and I'll snip a hole in them."

Vegeta walked as quickly as he could in his uncomfortable predicament.

When they got back to the lab, Bulma grabbed the scissors out of a cabinet, and snipped a hole through the pants and the boxer briefs.

She grabbed his tail with her fingers, pulling it through the hole, and running her fingers up and down its soft, furry, black length.

Vegeta started to purr, a deep rumbling noise in his throat, as he closed his eyes and let the sensations run through his body.

Bulma suddenly dropped his tail, abruptly cutting off the pleasure he felt.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry. I forgot about the whole sensitive issue."

Vegeta was still in a kind of daze after that, and he didn't remember much of what Bulma was doing.

But when he came out of it, he saw he was all bandaged up.

He wanted Bulma to rub his tail again, but a little nagging and annoying voice in the back of his head reminded him of what his father used to do to him, using his own tail against him for his sick and perverted pleasures.

Vegeta shuddered and wrapped his tail around his waist.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Abandoned and Homeless**_

_** Chapter 4** _

* * *

"Hey Vegeta?"

"Yeah?" He mumbled.

"I was thinking. There isn't really much point going back to that ally, because you are only going to get dirty again. And I'm kind of doing this project, you see. And I was wondering if you want to be a part of it. Do you?"

Vegeta thought for a second.

"Well I gotta go back cos of Shinigami and Mushi. They're my aminals." He said proudly.

Bulma giggled.

"I should probably teach you how to talk properly too. Because it's pronounced animals, not aminals."

"Whatever." He huffed while crossing his arms.

"So do you want to stay here so I can do my project? You can bring your pets if you want."

"Hmmm. Alright. But I have to go back and find them food. They get hungry."

"Oh. Well how about we go and get them now and we can feed them when we get back here? What kind of animals are they?"

"Mushi is a cat and Shinigami is a dog."

"Okay then. I'm just going to find my dad and tell him not to look for anymore people. Come on."

They found Bulma's father in his lab.

He was working on improving some invention of his.

"Hey daddy! I've finally found someone for the project."

Dr. Briefs spun around in his swivel chair.

"That's great dear! What is his name?"

"Vegeta!"

The smile from Dr. Briefs face fell as he heard the name and matched it up with the face.

"W-what? What's wrong daddy?"

He stood up.

"That looks quite a lot like that Vegeta boy you used to play with when you were a kid. The one I didn't approve of?"

Vegeta's tail bristled, the hairs standing on end.

Bulma's eyes widened and she whirled around.

Vegeta looked confused.

Bulma realized her father was right.

He did look just like that little boy.

The flame-like hairstyle.

The onyx eyes.

And the fact he lived in an ally.

And he had that black tail too.

"Oh god. I think dad's right."

Vegeta remembered what happened in the park and nodded.

"Why didn't you come to see me anymore? You said you would always come and see me. But when that guy came you didn't come anymore. I got lonely. You broke your promise." He voiced bitterly.

"Vegeta. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She walked over to him and rested her head on his chest, while, gingerly wrapping her arms around his waist.

Dr. Briefs glared at them.

"Stop it dad! I know you are glaring."

This time he had a look of surprise on his face.

His daughter knew him better than he thought.

Bulma released Vegeta from the hug.

He smelt like strawberries and lemons, because of the shampoo and shaving cream.

"Oh and dad? We are going to have two new pets. Another cat, and a dog. Scratch can have a playmate now!"

She grinned.

"Ooooo! Wait. Is Mushi a girl or a boy?"

"Girl."

"Hmmm. Well at least Scratch has been for the 'operation' already."

They didn't like to say any more than that, because Scratch tended to get a bit scared and hyper.

Just like if you said bath time.

"So. Let's go and get your pets then. See ya later dad."

Vegeta followed Bulma out of the lab and outside to where Bulma's car was parked in the driveway.

"Okay. Get in and we will go back to your ally."

They got in the car and Bulma drove them down to the poorer side of town.

She pulled up in front of the bakery and they got out of the car.

The two were careful not to get mud on their clothes as they picked their way around the puddles, and up to the window.

Vegeta crouched down on the wooden boards and pushed the window open.

"Shin! Mushi! Come out! We are moving!"

He stood up and moved away from the window.

He and Bulma waited a few seconds until a large doberman and a little black and white cat burst through the flap one after the other.

They were excited and kept jumping up and down.

"Hey! You are the one who stole my pie!"

Bulma bent over and and gave Shinigami a rub on the head.

"That was your pie?"

Vegeta looked at her.

Bulma realized that Vegeta was the man in the basement she had heard talking to the dog about the pie.

"Yeah. It was. Weird huh? It's like, everything is trying to bring us together, strange."

They were staring at each other until the mewing of Mushi snapped them out of it.

Vegeta bent down and picked her up.

He gave her a little scratch under the chin making her purr.

"I've still got some stuff in there, but I don't think I'll really need it. All I have is some money I saved in this jar, some books that Joe as teach me how to read and my guitar."

"Hmmm. Well if that's the most important things you have in there, you might as well get them while we are here."

"Okay."

Vegeta handed Mushi to Bulma, and he slipped down into the basement.

A few seconds later he reappeared with a few books under his arm, and the guitar strapped over his back.

She guessed the money was in his pocket.

Bulma handed the cat back to him, and he sat her on his shoulder.

"Come on Shin. Let's go."

With that, they all walked back out to Bulma's car.

Shinigami jumped in the backseat, and Vegeta hopped back in the front where he originally was.

He took Mushi off his shoulder and sat her in his lap.

"Are you guys hungry? I'll get us something to eat from the bakery."

Vegeta nodded for all of them.

Bulma returned with a big bag full of things.

There was 3 pies, 4 donuts and two small coffees.

"Let's get home before we eat this. I don't want Shinigami slopping pie all over the seats." She said with a chuckle while giving him a pat on the head.

"I should never have given you that coffee." Bulma groaned.

Vegeta was hyperactive from the sudden caffeine rush he had just experienced.

"Oooooo! What's this do?! And this! And this! Oooooo! Look at all the pretty colours! Hehehehehehehe!"

He was jumping all over the place, literally bouncing off the walls, as he tried to figure out what everything did.

"Hehehehehe!" He squealed in a high pitched voice.

"Oooooo! Pretty! Hehehe!"

He pointed to the television and bounded over to it in that crouched gorilla position he was always in.

Vegeta's eyes were wide and he got up very close to the screen.

"Where pretty moving pictures?"

He looked all sad, but then hugged the television and started licking the screen.

He then proceeded to push every button he could see to try and get it to work.

Bulma sighed and picked up the remote.

Vegeta's back was to her, so he didn't see what she was doing.

The screen was all of a sudden filled with bright lights and loud noises, startling Vegeta and making him squeal and fall back in a dead faint.

"Well that's one way to shut him up." Bulma grumbled flicking the tv back off.

Bulma sat there looking at Vegeta as he peacefully slept.

After fainting, he had just worn himself out.

The caffeine rush was over now, and he was sleeping in the most comfortable guest bedroom in the same wing as her own.

Bulma had got the servo-bots to pick him up and transport him upstairs, from the loungeroom.

The end of the day was nearing, and Bulma was getting sleepy.

She needed a lot of rest for the next day, as she would be starting the tests for her project.

She made sure Vegeta was nice and snug in the bed before turning off the light and shutting the door.

When Bulma reached her room, she changed into her favourite black silk pyjama pants and top, and brushed her teeth before getting into bed herself.

Bulma woke up to the chirping of the birds outide her 2nd story window, and the sunlight shining on her face.

There was a rustling of material near her head, and she opened her eyes to see Mushi sitting on her chest, with her nose touching Bulma's, and staring down at her with wide open blue eyes.

She smelt like this cat shampoo that you used to rid them of fleas.

She was also fluffed up from Bulma drying her off after the bath.

Bulma gave Mushi a little pat before getting up and getting dressed in some old clothes.

She got an elastic hair tie and pulled her hair back into a messy pony tail leaving a few strands still hanging over her face.

She went downstairs to the kitchen where she saw Vegeta waiting.

He was sitting with Shinigami, scratching him on the head.

Vegeta looked up as Bulma cleared her throat.

"Hey. Want some breakfast?"

Vegeta nodded.

Bulma fixed them quite a lot of food.

She assumed that Goku and Vegeta were from the same race and and so would both eat about the same amount.

She got out the leftovers of a large pot roast that her mother had made for dinner the other night, and gave it to Shinigami.

They all heard a mewing sound from the top of the stairs, and Vegeta went to check it out.

He came back with a quivering lump of black and white fur in his arms.

It was Mushi.

"Hn. She got stuck at the top of the stairs. They were too big for her. Heh."

He chuckled.

Vegeta sat her on the chair next to him, while Shinigami kept eating the roast as if nothing had happened.

Bulma sat down and they started to eat.

Her parents came into the room not long after, and grabbed a plate for themselves.

Dr. Briefs sat as far away from Vegeta as he could, showing him that he didn't like him.

"Good moring dearie! How are you?!" Her mother chirped.

"Fine mum. How can you be so cheery at this time of day? It's too early to be happy." Bulma complained.

"I get lots of sleep!"

Everyone but Mrs Briefs blinked twice and then went back to eating.

All of a sudden, Mushi jumped up onto the table, annoyed at the sudden lack of attention.

She started wailing for attention.

"Mushi!" Vegeta scolded. "Get down from there."

Scratch, the little black cat that always sat on Dr. Briefs shoulder, also jumped onto the table, and went over to Mushi.

Mushi stopped what she was doing and stared at him.

Scratch got closer, and closer, and then he started licking the side of Mushi's face.

She started purring.

Bulma smiled at the scene.

Vegeta picked up the two cats and sat them on the floor, and they ran off to play together with Scratch's cat toys.

"Shin! Come here."

Shinigami walked up to Vegeta's chair.

"You go play outside or sleep or something."

The doberman barked once before bounding to the door, and standing up on his two back legs, and using his front ones to turn the door knob, and push the door open.

"Wow. Smart dog." Bulma complimented.

"I showed him how. He knows heaps of things I showed him!"

Vegeta nodded to further establish his point.

"I believe you Vegeta." She assured him.

Vegeta quickly ate the rest of his food, somehow not dropping a crumb or making it look like he was a pig and shoveling it all in at once.

Bulma finished hers next.

"Well we had better get started on the project now Vegeta. Let's go."

They picked up their plates and put them in the sink.

Vegeta followed Bulma into her private lab, where she would explain to him what he would have to do.

The project was about testing human endurance levels under certain conditions.

Even though Vegeta wasn't human, it was still all balanced out.

He was a Saiyan, and Saiyans were supposed to be some of the most talented, superior, and fittest warriors in the universe.

But Vegeta had never been trained, and had endured harsh living conditions, bringing him back to an almost human-like state.

Bulma explained what types of things he would have to do to test his endurance.

She went over to a metal cabinet, and pulled out black spandex shorts and navy sneakers with white socks.

She pointed him to a room where he could change into it.

Vegeta came out in the clothes Bulma gave him.

He wore no shirt as she had never given him one.

Bulma stuck two little, grey, circular devices onto his skin.

One his right temple, and one over his heart to monitor his pulse as the tests went on.

They had little red lights on them that flashed in time to his pulse, and some of the circutry could be seen on the top of them.

The first thing he was asked to do, as Bulma pulled out a clipboard, was to get on the treadmill and start running.

Bulma ajusted some things on it every once in a while and wrote it down when she did.

2 hours into the exercise, and barely anything had changed about the readings.

Vegeta was not even displaying any outward signs of fatigue yet.

_'Man. This is gunna be a loooooooong day.'_ She thought to herself.

3 more hours, and Vegeta was starting to sweat and breathe harder.

Bulma wrote this down.

She grabbed a white towel from her desk, and reached up to wipe the sweat off his brow, chest, arms, and anywhere else that was sweaty.

Vegeta grunted in thanks.

15 minutes later and Vegeta had had enough.

He needed more food.

He was starving!

And his stomach growled to prove his point.

He was getting too tired anyway.

Vegeta grabbed the towel off Bulma and wiped the rest of the sweat off him, throwing it in the laundry basket on his way past the bathroom.

Bulma fixed him more food and he ate it all.

"Well there is no doubt about it! You are definately Saiyan." She confirmed.

"So what do we do now?" Vegeta asked as he shoved his plates and utensils in the sink.

"Well you can take a break and we can go for a walk and I'll show you around the compound or something."

"Yes. Okay."

Bulma showed Vegeta around the compound, talking to him and pointing out different features of the place.

Vegeta was clearly enjoying himself.

He had never seen such things before, and it was showing.

He asked plenty of questions that would seem really dumb to anyone who didn't know him, but Bulma understood and was happy to answer and show him things.

They found Shinigami taking a nap underneath a large tree, and they left him to sleep in peace.

"Hey want to go swimming?" Bulma asked happily.

"Ummm. I dunno how."

"It's okay. It's not really swimming anyway. It's more like taking a bath in a special type of clothes. We are gunna go back to that place in the woods with the waterfall. I love it there. It's so beautiful." Bulma dreamily commented.

They went back to the main building and Bulma got changed into her bathers, and gave Vegeta a pair of her boyfriends board shorts.

They picked up some towels and made their way back into the forest and to the pond.

Bulma slipped into the water first.

It was warm, because the water from the waterfall flowed from a hot spring.

"Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to get in?" She called from the middle of the pool.

Vegeta dropped his towel and got in the water.

To his delight, it was warm like the bath.

He walked over to Bulma, the water was at his rib cage at the deepest.

She ducked down so only her head was above the water.

"Mmmm. Warm." She told him as she started floating on her back.

Vegeta just stood there watching her.

"What am I supposed to do now?" He asked.

Bulma stopped floating and got back to her feet.

"Have fun."

Vegeta stared at her blankly.

"Let me guess. You've never had fun at all. Right?"

He nodded.

"I suppose I'll have to teach you that too. First off. Water fight."

She splashed water in his face.

Vegeta spat the water out of his mouth and wiped his eyes.

"What was that for?!"

"We are having a water fight silly! You are supposed to do it."

"Oh. Right."

Vegeta pretended he wasn't interested in it, and caught Bulma with a sneak attack.

He moved his arm and a heap of water went flying up into Bulma's face.

She splutted a bit before talking.

"Heh. You're a natural."

With that, she pushed him under water and swam off.

When he didn't resurface, she started to get a bit worried, and swam back over to where he was supposed to be.

"Vegeta? Vegeta?! Where are you? This isn't funny!"

Something wrapped around her ankle and she screamed before being pulled under.

Vegeta bobbed up to the surface panting, he was holding his breath for a long time.

Bulma spat out a mouthful of water when she came back up, and latched onto Vegeta's shoulders.

"You little bugger! You had me really worried! I thought you could have drowned!"

"In water this it not deep."

He was confused.

He didn't know what to call shallow water.

Bulma laughed.

"Shut up! It's not funny that I don't speak good." He whined.

"Awwww. Poor baby!" She sympathized, and placed a kiss on his forehead.

She swam away to the waterfall.

_'Oh my god! I can't belive I just did that! I have a boyfriend! Bad Bulma! Bad!'_

Bulma jumped up onto a large smooth rock in front of the spray of water.

_'Wow. She put her lips on me. That felt good. No one has cared about me before. I'm think I'm getting happy over nothing. It's not like she would ever like me. I'm a homeless guy and she is the richest woman in the world. She could have any guy she wanted.'_

Vegeta walked over to the rock.

"Why did you put you lips on me?"

"Huh? You mean give you a kiss?"

"Oh. Is that what they are called?"

"Yes."

"Well why did you do it?"

"I don't know."

Vegeta just stared at her stupidly.

"No one has ever done that to me before. At least not in that way." He trailed off with a sad look on his face.

"Yeah? Well you are the first person I have ever shown this place to. No one knows about it but me. I don't know why I showed it to you. Even my parents don't know about it. Consider yourself lucky."

2 hours later and they had finished swimming and were laying under the willow trees.

They had their eyes closed, and were listening to the calls of all the animals.

Vegeta had never been this relaxed before.

He was always ready for his parents next attack.

It was mainly his father who abused him.

His mother usually only yelled at him and gave him a slap every now and again.

The worst he ever got from his mother was when he was playing with a ball and it smashed the window.

That was when his mother hit him with the curling iron across the back of his legs.

She was drunk that day, and she never did it again.

But he was on constant alert for his fathers attacks.

Now he had nothing to worry about.

Bulma would keep him safe.

"Vegeta?"

Bulma placed a hand on his arm, and he opened his eyes.

"I hate to ask you this, because I know it hurts you to talk about it, but will you tell me about the times you father abused you?" Bulma asked, worried about how he might react.

"Why? Why do you want to know?" He choked out as he sat up and leaned against the trunk of the tree. Bulma sat up too.

"Because I want to understand what you went through. I want to understand you."

Vegeta was silent for a few minutes and Bulma patiently waited for his answer.

" I don't want you to tell nobody.

I don't want people to know."

Bulma nodded.

She appreiciated the fact he had chosen her to tell this to, even though she had broken his trust a long time ago.

Vegeta sighed.

"I-it all started one night."

_~*~*~FLASHBACK~*~*~_

_My father always drank a lot of beer._

_He was an alcoholic._

_At a young age I learned to open the bottles for him._

_He always sat on the couch watching the televison, and barking orders to me and my mother._

_One night, he had asked me to get him another beer from the fridge after my mother had gone to bed._

_I opened the bottle and took it into the lounge room to where he was._

_I held the beer out in front of me to take, when I realized that his eyes were closed, and he looked as if he was asleep._

_The next thing I realized was that his bathrobe was open and he had no clothes beneath._

_I was so shocked that he would leave himself exposed for everyone to see like that, I never saw that he had opened his eyes._

_He took my hand gently and asked if I would like to touch him._

_I yelled no, and set the alcohol down on the table next to his armchair, and ripped my hand from his grasp._

_I ran back into my tiny room and buried myself beneath the covers of my bed, squeezing my eyes shut tightly._

_I opened them after a while, and saw he had followed me into the room._

_His robe was still hanging open and I could see all of him._

_He came up to my bed and took the covers off me._

_He asked if I would like to touch him again._

_I told him it wasn't right, and that he should leave, but he grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, saying that mother wouldn't touch him anymore and he needed my help, and that it would make him happy if I did._

_Once again I said no, and he grabbed my hand tightly and put it in places I knew it shouldn't be._

_I started yelling, and he hit me, telling me to shut up because it would wake my mother._

_I thought that if I just did this then he would leave, so I did as I was told._

_Suddenly I felt his manhood move, and I tried to pull my hand away, but he would have none of it._

_He instructed me what to do with my hand._

_When he started gasping, I thought he was going to die, but he lent over the top of me and told me how good a boy I had been, and that he loved me very much for what I had done._

_He stood up and left the room, tying up his robe as he went._

_I sat back down on my bed and looked at my hand._

_It was covered in this weird sticky stuff._

_I grabbed some tissues and wiped it off my hand._

_I didn't want to go to the bathroom to wash it off, my father might see me and want me to do it again._

_I got back into bed and started to cry myself to sleep silently._

_This same routine happen over the next few months, I would make my father gasp, and he would be happy for a while, and the intensity of the hits I still would receive from him would lessen slightly._

_One night, he came to me and told me he wanted to do something a bit different with me._

_I wondered what it could be._

_He told me to take off my clothes._

_I looked at him in shock._

_Why would he want me to do that?_

_I said no, but he threatened to start whipping me again._

_I ended up taking off my clothes, and he did the same._

_This couldn't be good._

_He picked me up and laid me down on the bed._

_I didn't struggle, I didn't want to be whipped again._

_My father sat down next to me, and started to touch me in places I didn't want him to._

_He ran his hand up my thigh, and told me things._

_Then he got over the top of me and started kissing me roughly on the mouth._

_I started to struggle, and he hit me in the ribs._

_I started to cough, and he took the time to push his tounge into my mouth._

_It tasted like whiskey._

_It was his favourite drink._

_And he always drank a lot of it._

_He put his hand between us and grabbed me tightly, pumping his hand up and down._

_He forced me to touch him again, while he was saying horrible things into my ear._

_Everything hurt so much._

_When he got a release, he got off the bed and stood up._

_He roughly grabbed my arm, red marks began to form._

_He threw me on the wooden floor and proceeded to hit me._

_I had many bruises and cuts._

_There was blood pouring out of my mouth and nose, and I found it difficult to breathe._

_I think my nose was broken._

_The pain was unbearable._

_My father grabbed me and took me down to the basement._

_He tied my arms down to these metal stakes he had put on the ground._

_My face was on the floor, and my knees were tucked up underneath me._

_He grabbed the bull whip, raised it above his head and brought it down on my exposed back._

_It sliced through my skin like a hot knife through butter._

_My tortured screams rang throughout the basement._

_He did this for quite some time, until he got tired of it._

_He sat the whip down and told me that I was a disgrace and that I would never amout to anything because I was stupid and a wimp._

_He knelt down behind me watching me, touching himself, and grunting, until I felt a warm sticky liquid running down my back and all over my buttocks._

_I felt a hard warmth pressing itself up against me._

_I turned my head as best I could I my situation._

_I saw that my father's manhood was hard again, and he grabbed my sides pulling me towards him._

_I started screaming._

_It had no effect on him and I saw the crazed look in his eye, as he grabbed my genitals in his rough hands, squeezing them until I thought I would pass out from the excruciating pain he caused._

_He made a quick movement and I felt a sharp pain in the middle of my buttocks that lasted quite a long time._

_He pushed his hips forward hard and fast, grunting and moaning until he got a release._

_His semen ran down my legs and dripped onto the cold grimy floor of the basement that served as my own personal hell._

_He got up and left,not saying anything to me, except that I was a little fucker that deserved everything that he did to me._  
_I felt awful and violated in every way possible, and he left me down there, tied down to the stakes for two hours, wallowing in self pity and covered in his sexual secretion._

_I couldn't believe that my own father would molest me._

_He was a perverted pedophile._

_Getting pleasure off his own son's body._

_How could he do this to me?_

_My own father had in his perverted way, had broken me, his own flesh and blood, in a way no one should be broken._

_It hurt so much._

_Nothing could describe the buning pain in my heart and body._

_The tears flowed freely from my eyes when he left._

_They dropped onto the floor, smashing into pieces._

_Just like my heart.._

_~*~*~END FLASHBACK~*~*~_

Bulma's head was buried in Vegeta's chest.

She was crying her heart out from his horrendous tale of the harsh treatment he had received from his father.

Her nail were digging into his back, but he didn't feel them.

"I-it's okay. Y-you don't need to c-cry. It's over n-now. N-never a-again."

Bulma looked up.

Her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were really red, and glistening with tears.

His chest was now wet again.

"OKAY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN OKAY?! YOU WERE FUCKING ABUSED IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE AND YOU EXPECT ME TO THINK ITS OKAY?! WELL HERE'S A NEWSFLASH! IT'S NOT! WAAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed and buried her face back into his scarred chest, and grabbed one of his hands, running her thumb over his palm.

She stopped the minstrations, and looked at his hand.

"W-what are all t- these d-d-dots?" She sobbed.

"Oh. My father smoked as well. H-he put o-out the b-butts in my p-palm. He s-s-said that it w-would mmmm-make me strong. It hurt b-bad too."

Vegeta eyes started to water.

Bulma snuggled closer, and Vegeta put his arms around her.

"I can't believe anyone would do that to you. It's just wrong."

Her fingers traced the horrific scars that adorned his chest.

"Buuuuulllllmmmmaaaaaa!" They heard a voice distanly yelling her name.

"Shit! That must be Yamcha. We were going to go out today."

"Oh."

Vegeta sounded disappointed.

"What should I do while you are gone then?" he asked as they got up and brushed themselves off.

"Well you can. Hmmmm. I don't know. I'll figure that out later."

Bulma saw Yamcha looking for her as they came out of the woods.

"Hey Yamcha! Over here!"

She waved to him.

Yamcha turned around and saw her with a strange man.

He ran over to her with a bit of a jealous look on his face.

"Who's he?" He asked disgusted at all the scars on his short skinny body.

"This is Vegeta, Vegeta, this is Yamcha."

"What's with all the fricken scars man? What. Did Bulma beat you up or somethin'? Hahaha!"

He laughed stupidly.

Vegeta had a horrified expression on his face, and he stalked off.

Yamcha watched him go.

"What's that geeks problem?"

The next thing he knew, was that there was a stinging pain and a big red handprint on his cheek.

"You fucking bastard! Don't you EVER speak to my friend like that! You have no IDEA what he's been through! You can FORGET about ever going out with me again Yamcha! I have had enough of you! Why don't you go and learn how to wipe lipstick off you face?! It's still on there from you recent date with ANOTHER WOMAN! I can even smell her perfume you creep! FUCK OFF!"

Bulma's face was red from anger and she glared daggers at the scar faced man.

Vegeta was on his way back to the main building when he stopped to listen to Bulma's screaming.

He turned around to watch, and saw Bulma smack him in the face, yell at Yamcha and then push past the scar faced loser and run to catch up to him.

"Hey Vegeta! Looks like we'll be spending the day together after all!" She panted.

Vegeta stood watching her.

"Why did you hit him? He was being bad. But not bad enough for a hit."

Vegeta looked scared, it reminded him of when his mother used to hit him.

Bulma sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I was just itching to give him a good smack. He always cheats on me. I had had enough of his fooling around. It's just a thing that happens when couples break up for those reasons. Guys who cheat deserve a smack for treating us that way. It's not like it would even hurt him anyway. He is just too thick headed."

"Oh."

They walked into the building leaving Yamcha wondering where he went wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Abandoned and Homeless**_

_** Chapter 5** _

* * *

Vegeta each went to different rooms to change their clothes, and met back in the lounge room when they were done.

"I was thinking about going into town and getting you some new clothes. It'll give us something to do. How about it?"

He nodded in reply.

Vegeta followed Bulma through the door of the house, each carrying a few bags.

In them was Vegeta's new clothes.

"Why don't you go and put something on, and give me Yamcha's stuff when you are fully clothed." She said.

Hinting that she didn't want to see him come down in nothing again.

Vegeta took out an outfit and went to his room.

When he came out, he was wearing baggy black leather jeans and a belt, red sneakers, and a white wife beater.

When Bulma had told him what they were called, he didn't want to get one at first, but when he acutally saw what it was, he decided it wasn't so bad, especially seeing as she then told him they were also called tank tops.

Bulma smiled at him.

"I suppose we are going to have to cut holes for your tail in all these pants now huh?"

"Yes."

They each got a pair of scissors and started snipping away after she cut a hole in the ones he was wearing.

Bulma threw the scraps in a bin and folded all his clothes up and put them back in the bags.

"What now?" He asked as he lazily lay back into the large armchair.

"Well we could watch television as you wanted to do so much yesterday." She teased as Vegeta blushed, remembering his antics the day before.

"That's not fair! That stuff made me do it!" He whined.

"Yeah. I'm never giving you anything with caffeine in it ever again."

Bulma laughed and Vegeta scowled.

They sat for a while, before Bulma flicked on the television.

It was some action movie with a lot of fighting.

Bulma flicked it to a different channel.

It was something about gorillas.

She went to change it again, but Vegeta stopped her.

"Gorillas good."

Bulma smiled to herself.

It was the kind of thing she would expect him to like.

After all, he acted like one and was part monkey.

When it finished, she switched it over again.

It was an old movie about this autistic boy who went to this place to help him learn stuff, and the guy looking after him had to go away.

The new guy that he got ended up molesting the boy because he thought he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about it.

Bulma looked at Vegeta.

He had a horrified look on his face.

Bulma quickly turned off the tv.

"Sorry about that Vegeta."

Vegeta curled up a bit in his seat.

Bulma wondered what they should do.

Her eyes came to rest on the guitar Vegeta had left leaning against the end table.

"Hey do you know how to play that?"

She pointed to it.

"Yeah. Joe showed me how."

"Can you play something for me please?"

She gave him a friendly smile.

Vegeta picked up the guitar and started playing.

"Do you know how to sing too?"

"Yeah."

Bulma gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Ahhh fine."

_~*~*~*~SONG~*~*~*~_

_Would you dance, if I asked you to dance?_

_Or would you run, and never look back?_

_Would you cry, if you saw me crying?_

_And would you save my soul tonight?_

_Would you tremble, if I touch your lips?_

_Or would you laugh?_

_Oh, please tell me this Would you die now, for the one you love?_

_Oh hold me in your arms, tonight_

_I can be your hero baby I can kiss away the pain I will stand by you forever._

_You can take my breath away_

_Would you swear, that you'll always be mine?_

_Or would you lie?_

_Would you run and hide?_

_Am I in too deep?_

_Have I lost my mind?_

_I don't care._

_You're here, tonight._

_I can be your hero baby I can kiss away the pain I will stand by you forever_

_You can take my breath away_

_~*~*~*~END SONG~*~*~*~_

"Wow. That was great. You are a really good singer. Joe must have taught you really well."

Vegeta set the guitar back down on the floor.

"What now?"

Bulma shrugged.

It was now 9:00pm.

They had spent the day doing all kinds of things.

They went all over town.

Bulma was showing Vegeta all kinds of things and all kinds of foods.

Vegeta rubbed his eyes.

He was really tired, he had never done so much in one day.

"Can I have more food. Pleeze."

He couldn't really pronounce it right.

"Sure."

Bulma went and fixed him some more food.

A kind of late dinner.

He ate it all, while Bulma just sipped on a glass of Dr. Pepper.

When he was done, he was thirsty.

He smacked his lips together.

"Drink?"

Bulma gave him the bottle of Dr. Pepper.

"That probably has caffeine in it too, so be careful. You can have the lot. Just drink out of the bottle if you want, I don't care. I should probably be teaching you table manners though. All I'm doing is encouraging bad behavior."

Vegeta stared at her blankly, while gulping down the contents of the bottle.

He wiped his lips when he was done.

He sat the bottle down and stared at her again.

Vegeta rubbed his eyes again.

"Your sleepy aren't you?" Bulma asked.

"No."

He yawned.

"Yes you are. Don't lie. We've had a big day. Why don't you go to bed?"

"Okay. But you come with me. I don't wanna stay up there by myself."

He looked scared again.

"What? Afraid the boogeyman is gonna get you?" Bulma joked.

"What's a boogerman? I just didn't want the dreams to come back."

"It's pronounced boogeyman, not boogerman. And how is me being there going to stop the dreams?"

Vegeta shrugged.

"It just does. It worked before. When we were asleep in the park." He told her, refering to their childhood.

"Hmmm. Okay. But when you fall asleep I'll have to go. I don't think my dad will want me to sleep in the same room though."

"Okay."

Vegeta didn't sound too happy, but he supposed it would have to do.

Vegeta was all tucked up in bed and Bulma was sitting next to him.

He yawned.

"What happens tomorrow?" He asked.

"Well we are doing more tests. You won't be getting as much rest though. It'll only be a couple of minutes between tests, sometimes no rest at all. So you will need a lot of sleep."

"Okay."

He fiddled with his fingers uncomfortably, and snuggled under the covers more.

He rolled onto his side to face Bulma.

"What if the dreams come back when you is gone?"

Bulma smiled sympathetically at him.

"They won't. It'll be alright."

A few minutes passed.

"I can't sleep." Vegeta complained while rubbing his eyes.

"Come here then."

She held out her arms and he snuggled into her embrace, wrapping his own arms around her waist.

His head rested on her stomach, and he nuzzled his face into it.

Vegeta yawned again and closed his eyes.

"I like...this place." He sleepily told her.

Bulma rubbed his back as he drifted off to sleep.

When she was sure he was completely asleep, she unhooked his arms from her waist and tucked him back in.

Then she quietly made her way back to her own room to sleep.

When Bulma awoke, she felt a warm lump covering her feet.

It was annoying, so she kicked at it, still half asleep.

When it groaned, she jumped up with a start, rubbing her eyes.

When she could see clearly, she found it was just Vegeta, alsleep at the end of her bed, all curled up in a ball, shivering.

Bulma giggled to herself.

He looked so cute curled up like that.

His mouth was slightly open and he was making a purring sound.

Bulma sat up in her bed and watched him.

He must have had a bad dream or something in the middle of the night and came in here to sleep.

Vegeta started grunting.

"Nooooo. Stop it." He mumbled.

Bulma decided it was time to wake him up.

"Vegeta. Vegeta wake up. It's morning now."

She gently shook him.

"NO!" He shouted and grabbed her arm tightly, not noticing who she was.

"Ow. Let go."

His eyes adjusted to the room, and he dropped her arm.

"Don't do that. It's scary." He grumbled while making a funny face as he also rubbed his eyes.

"Why are you here? Did you have another dream?"

"No. I woked up and I was all alone in that room and I don't like being alone. Why did you shut the door? Shin and Mushi can't get in then."

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking too clearly." She said while smoothing down his hair.

"Well now that we are up, let's get some food."

"Yeah!" He yelled, and got up quickly to get off the bed.

The only thing he succeeded in doing, was getting a painful sensation up his spine, and pulling Bulma out of bed and onto the floor, as his tail was wrapped around her ankle.

"Owww!" They both said at the same time.

Vegeta's tail unwrapped itself from her ankle and lazily wagged behind him.

Vegeta winced.

'That really hurt.' He thought.

He didn't want to rub his tail, as that would cause pleasureable reactions.

Bulma got up from the floor.

She saw Vegeta looking at his tail.

"That must have hurt huh?"

Vegeta nodded, wincing.

He touched the base of his tail.

A tingle was sent up his spine, followed quickly by a type of pain he would usually only associate with his father hurting him.

"Ahhh!"

He dropped to the ground writing on the floor.

His eyes were shut tightly and he was sweating.

His face was pale and he started shaking.

To Bulma it looked as if he had a fever.

She got back onto the ground next to him.

"I don't...feel...good." He choked out.

"I'm sure you don't."

She placed her hands nervously on his body.

"Hmmm. You could have dislocated it, or sprained it. I'm not really sure at the minute. I don't want to hurt you."

"Nnngggghh. Make it stop...make pain...go away."

Bulma gently picked up his tail and placed it in her lap.

She started stroking the end of it.

Vegeta had multiple senstaings running up his spine.

Pain and pleasure.

He moaned, not knowing whether it was from her rubbing his tail or not.

As Bulma moved higher with the stroking, Vegeta found it harder and harder to move his body.

So he just lay on the floor letting her touch his tail.

When she got up to the base, she massaged it with her fingers very lightly, feeling for any damage.

Vegeta whimpered expecting to feel more pain.

When none came, he opened one eye very widely.

He looked around the opened the other.

"Why doesn't that hur-oooooo...feels gooooood..mmmmmm."

He closed his eyes again and started purring.

Lucky for him, he never got to the point of being "fully excited".

He curled up on his side and and put his head in her lap.

Bulma giggled, he looked like a little kitten.

She guessed that he got that from Mushi.

She stopped rubbing his tail.

Vegeta just lay there with a big smile on his face.

"Well I don't think that it's dislocated. I just think that it could be sprained but more likely it's just a bit hurt from that sudden tug. You'll be fine."

She kissed the tip of his tail.

"Come on, get up."

"Noooooo. I don't wanna...I like it...just fine."

He snuggled into her lap even more.

"You gotta get up."

She put her hands under his armpits and tried to drag him to his feet.

It didn't work.

"Fine. I guess I'll just go have some breakfast then."

She pushed him off her lap and walked to the door.

Vegeta looked up at her.

He started whining then got up himself.

"Ummm. I'm going to change my clothes." He told her while brushing the dust from his pants.

Vegeta went to his room and changed into blue jeans, combat boots, a white shirt and a black long sleeve polo shirt with a collar that he didn't button up.

He had a black army beret that he liked to wear backwards, but he would have to get a haircut first.

Vegeta went downstairs.

He sat down at the table and waited for everyone to come down.

Today, Bunny would be cooking.

When the Briefs sat down and tasted the food, it was awful.

Bunny had put salt on the pancakes and anything else that actually required sugar.

"Ewww YUCK! This is gross!"

They all got up to throw out their food, when they heard Vegeta talking.

"You are just going to waste that? It's good food, why do you not want it?" He asked.

They turned around and all saw that Vegeta had already cleared his plate.

"You actually like this?" Bulma asked.

_'I totally forgot that he barely had anything to eat.'_ Bulma thought to herself.

"Yes I like it. It's good food. I eat it."

"So you want this?"

Vegeta nodded.

Bulma collected the plates and sat them in front of him.

Vegeta looked really happy, as he started eating.

The others looked on while he ate.

When he was finished, he put his plates in the sink and sat back down at the table.

Bulma took over her mothers job, and started cooking.

Dr. Briefs threw the morning paper over to Vegeta.

"Read that while you're waiting." He ordered.

Vegeta just stared at him then picked it up.

He tried to read it.

He could understand some words, but most he couldn't read.

He turned it upside down to see if it was better that way.

Then he turned it to either side.

He gently placed it down on the table.

He turned to Dr. Briefs.

"I don't know how to read."

He grinned.

Bulma's father face vaulted.

"Vegeta why don't you go get changed into your training stuff and I'll meet you down in the lab." Bulma suggested.

"Okay."

When Bulma finished her food, she went to her lab and found Vegeta fascinated with this dead rat that was cut open in a jar.

"Ready for the tests now?"

"I see'd one of these on the road. It was all mushy and its guts was coming out it's mouth."

He nodded.

"Ewww! Gross! That's disgusting."

Bulma wrinkled up her nose.

"It was missing it's eyes popped out and were on the road in front of it."

"Stop it! I don't want to hear about it."

Bulma waved her hand in the air.

Vegeta looked hurt at the fact that Bulma didn't want to hear his story that he thought was interesting.

"Okay, now a test of arm strength. You have to hang on this bar for a long as you can."

Vegeta stepped onto the box under the bar so he could reach it.

When he was up there, Bulma kicked out the box from underneath him.

Vegeta was up there for about 1 hour.

Bulma thought that he had that strength from having to lift a lot of stuff.

He must have found some way to be able to work out, as he did have some muscles, they just weren't fully developed due to the type of stuff he used.

Bulma thought this project would be a good way to get him buffed up.

Vegeta dropped down from the bar and massaged his arms.

His next test was on the exercise bike.

This was fairly easy for him.

He was doing it for even longer than he did on the treadmill.

Bulma came to the conclusion that his legs were very strong, so she decided to see how strong.

She had a machine that measured the power of your strike.

"Now I want you to kick the pad as hard as you can."

"Okay."

Vegeta raised his leg and kicked the pad.

The numbers went up and it read 132.

"Whoa! That's really good. That's great! You have really strong legs. If we get Goku to train you, you will be even stronger!"

Vegeta was happy about that.

"Before this Goku trains me, can I get my hair cut?"

"Really? I kinda like your hair."

"It gets in the way when I get wet. And I can't wear hats."

"Alright. I'll take you down to a men's hairdresser later today."

Vegeta performed many more tests as the day progressed.

He was exhausted.

But Bulma showed him how to take a shower and he did, and he got changed back into the clothes he was wearing before.

He even shaved himself.

He picked up the toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed his teeth.

When he was back in his room, he grabbed the black beret and shoved it in his back pocket.

Bulma was happy that he had learned so quickly, and she told him that when they were driving to the hairdressing salon.

When Vegeta came out, he was sporting a shorter, spiky cut.

"Hey! That really suits you. Makes you look real cute!"

Bulma giggled, and Vegeta just blushed and turned away.

He pulled out the beret and put it on backwards, so that the wider bit was facing the front and the skinny bit was at the back.

He sunk down in the car seat and crossed his arms.

"Oooooh! You're a real bad boy now!" She teased and started up the car.

He soon shot up in his seat when they passed an art shop.

"Can we go in there?!" He asked excitedly.

"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot! I saw all those spray paint pictures in you ally. Did you do all that?"

"Yes!"

He started bouncing in his seat.

"Hey calm down. People will start to think you're weird."

She put her hand on his shoulder to try and get him to stop bouncing.

He did stop bouncing, but now he was figdeting.

"Well I need to redecorate some rooms in the house and you are really good at painting from what I saw, so I'm gonna get you some stuff and you can do some painting. You can even do you room like you did the ally if you want, so you will feel more at home."

"Yeah!"

They came out with a box of aerosol paint cans of all different colours, paint brushes and paints, and some drawing equitment.

Vegeta put them in the back of the car and they went back to Capsule Corp.

"How come you is doing all this for me?" Vegeta asked her as she stored the things in a cupboard for later use.

"I guess I'm just making up for all the times in the past that I let you down. I'm really sorry about all of that. Sorry about forgeting you. But I'm glad I found you again 'Geta."

Vegeta smiled.

She had remembered the name she used to call him when they were little.

Vegeta had been living with Bulma for about two years now.

He was very buff and a skilled fighter from Goku's training.

He and Bulma were close friends and they always went to each other if they had problems.

Both of them were in their swimming things and they were mucking around in their little pool with the waterfall in the forest.

A few months ago, Vegeta had found out something about the waterfall.

It had a little cave behind it.

Vegeta and Bulma had lined the damp floor of it with dry leaves.

The walls were wet and the atmosphere was very relaxing.

You could hear the waterfall clearly, and the cave was very well lit.

You could even smell the fresh water, which made it even better.

Everything smelt fresh.

But the best thing about it, was that you couldn't see the cave from outside.

It was by chance that Vegeta had found it.

Bulma had been teaching him to swim, and he had dived in and was swimming underwater.

When he resurfaced, he realized he was behind the waterfall in the cave.

And now it was their little hiding place if they wanted peace and quiet.

Vegeta got out of the water and sat on the rock in front of the waterfall, the mist surrounding him and the water on all sides.

Bulma just treaded water and watched him.

She thought he looked like some kind of god sitting there with that body of his.

It wasn't until now that she noticed how handsome he really was.

Of course they would flirt a bit with each other, but it was in Bulma's nature to be like that around men.

Bulma swam over to him and got up on the rock for a rest.

The warm mist seemed to swallow them both in its depths.

It was so thick this close to the falls, that they couldn't see the rest of the pool or the forest around them.

It was enchanting.

It was like a scene you would only find in books or on the tv.

Bulma had never really stopped to appreiciate the beauty of this place until Vegeta had come.

He had taught her about nature and how to see the things she never really saw before.

How to understand what is going on around her.

Living on the street for such a long time, had made him aware of things that most people wouldn't normally see.

And he had taught this to Bulma.

For instance, he could tell easily from a persons facial expressiong and body language wether they were lying, angry, sad, happy and a range of other emotions and things.

He could even tell wether a person had good intentions or bad ones from what they said.

That's how he had stopped Bulma from taking back Yamcha again.

All he wanted to do was get in her pants.

Bulma had slept with men before when they were in one of those times when her and Yamcha were broken up, so she had experience, but she had never slept with him.

Somehow, in the back of her mind she had know his intentions wern't good.

And Vegeta had helped her confirm it.

The mist clung to Bulma's skin.

It was like it was hugging her, and creating a blanket around her.

She felt like she was in one of those horror movies where something would jump out of the mist and kill you.

She knew it wouldn't though.

Vegeta would protect her.

Vegeta seemed unfazed by any of this.

In fact, he looked a lot more relaxed than what he usually did.

Bulma shivered.

The mist was warm, but there was a cool breeze blowing through the forest now, and it was making her cold.

Vegeta noticed this.

"Let's go in the cave. It's warm in there."

Vegeta's speech had improved dramatically in the time he spent at Capsule Corp. and he was pretty proud of himself.

He jumped off the rock and swam through the falls, completely disappearing from sight.

Bulma followed him under.

Inside, it was like a small sauna.

The same mist flowed through along the floor of the cave making the leaves slightly damp.

Vegeta sat on one side of the cave and Bulma on the other.

Bulma closed her eyes for a bit, just relaxing.

When she opened them, Vegeta was kneeling in front of her.

"Hey what are you-."

Vegeta silenced her with his hand.

"I saw people do this when they like each other."

He took his hand away and leaned in.

His soft lips touched hers and they closed their eyes.

There was a warmth that ignited in both of their hearts the moment their lips met in that lustfull kiss, portraying their innermost desires.

The kiss lasted a few more moments, each reveling in the feeling running through their bodies, until Bulma pushed him away.

"No. I can't..my father..he..I..I've got to go."

Bulma stuttered nervously and stood up and dived back into the water, going under the waterfall and swimming back to the edge of the pool, where she got out and grabbed her towel, and ran back to the mansion.

Vegeta was left there sitting on his knees in the leaves.

He wondered why she pushed him away.

He was certain that she liked him.

Never had he felt so alone as he did in that moment.

Vegeta had a new feeling in the bottom of his heart now.

Rejection.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Abandoned and Homeless**_

_** Chapter 6** _

* * *

Vegeta sat in that same position for hours, wondering why Bulma had done that.

He was really upset now.

And cold.

Cold and upset.

He didn't feel good.

This feeling in his gut made him want to throw up.

_'Why did she do that to me? I thought she liked me. She was my friend. Maybe friends don't do that. Maybe they aren't supposed to like each other like that. But I do like her. Why does this have to happen to me?'_ He thought to himself.

Bulma probably wouldn't like him now.

"I knew I shouldn't have done that." He told himself.

When he finally got up, he was cold and shivering, and it was night time outside.

He swam out of the cave and to the egde of the pool where he got out and dried himself off.

Then he went back to the mansion.

_'Man. He hasn't come in in hours. I shouldn't have pushed him away. That was a stupid thing to do. He probably hates me now.'_

Bulma was sitting on the sofa drinking a mug of hot chocolate.

The door opened and Vegeta came inside still a bit wet.

Some of his hair hung down over his forehead, and he was shivering.

"Don't just stand there. Come in. You'll catch a cold like that." Bulma ordered him,jumping up to put a blanket on him.

He pushed it off and gave her a glare, before going up to his room.

"Dammit!" Bulma yelled to herself.

"I'm a total idiot. Why did I have to push him away? He probably thinks I'm worse than his parents now!"

Little did she know, Vegeta was standing at the top of the stairs and he heard every word she said.

_'Wow. She doesn't hate me. She thinks this is her fault.'_

Vegeta took a nice warm shower and got changed into his pajamas, which consisted of blood red satin boxers and a short sleeve black satin top with the same blood red trimming on the edges, and hangs open all the time.

It also had the Yin and Yang symbol on the back.

Vegeta really liked these pajamas.

They were his favourites.

He contemplated wether to go back downstairs.

Bulma had introduced him to hot chocolate and he loved it.

He wanted some more because he was still kind of cold.

Vegeta grabbed a can of red spray paint.

He wrote on the wall in his native lanuguage that was the only thing he could fluently read and write ever since he was a baby.

He sprayed it over the top of some of his pictures.

Translated, it read: **I have made a discovery. I think I like my best friend Bulma.**

Vegeta's room was decorated in the graffiti pictures like in his ally.

The only difference was that he had put a cartoon-like version of him and Bulma up on the walls.

He also put up Shinigami and Mushi.

Even a little one of Joe.

These people he considered were like family to him.

Yes, he considered Shinigami and Mushi as people too.

They were closest thing he could get to a real family anyway.

Vegeta went downstairs to get some hot chocolate.

Bulma was used to him walking around in his pajamas, she did it too.

When Bulma saw him, she sat her mug down and started apologizing.

"Vegeta I'm really sorry about pushing you away. But my dad wouldn't like it. I just don't see why he doesn't like you. I guess it's because he doesn't want me to be friends or like some guy I met on the street. He wants me to marry some rich guy. Rich guys around here are all arseholes. I just want a normal guy."

Bulma hugged him.

"I'm hardly normal. How many people do you know are aliens that were abused by their parents and abandoned in an ally when they were a kid?"

"Heh. No one. No one I know is like that."

"See? I told you."

What they didn't know was that Dr. Briefs was hiding around the corner.

He was coming to get some hot chocolate too, when he had heard them talking.

'Maybe I have been too hard on the boy. I should make an effort to be nicer. Poor kid. Abused by his parents and dumped. My daughter is the only friend he has.'

Dr. Briefs snuck past them and went up to his room.

"Want some hot chocolate 'Geta?"

He nodded.

Bulma got him a cup and poured some of the hot liquid in.

He sat down next to her and sipped on his drink.

Bulma snuggled up into his side.

She placed her hand on his abdomen.

Vegeta had come to trust her enough to let her touch him.

He knew she wouldn't do something like his father did.

Bulma ran her fingers along the scars on his body.

Vegeta set the cup down on the table in front of him and lay back into the sofa, letting Bulma run her hands over his scars.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her warm hands running over his abdomen.

Bulma saw he was enjoying it.

She picked up his tail and put it in her lap.

It curled around her thigh.

Bulma giggled because it was tickling her.

She put her arms around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

Out of nowhere, Mushi jumped up on the arm rest next to Bulma, startling her and making her jump into Vegeta's lap.

Mushi lept over to them and started purring, wanting some attention.

Vegeta pat her on the head.

He picked her up and sat her in Bulma's lap.

She curled up and kept purring.

Bulma yawned and snuggled closer to Vegeta.

Shinigami's head popped up near the seats and he nudged Vegeta's hand onto Bulma's.

Vegeta blushed and took his hand off hers.

Bulma's arms snaked their way around his neck and she buried her face in his chest.

"Vegeta? Will you carry me up to my room? I'm really tired, I think I'll collapse if I walk."

Bulma yawned again.

Vegeta took Mushi off her, then put his arm under her legs and around her back and picked her up.

By the time he got her upstairs and to her room, she was already asleep.

Vegeta took off her shoes and put her in the bed.

He pulled the covers up around her chin and watched her for a bit.

He smiled, then placed a light kiss on her forehead before going back to his room.

When morning came, Vegeta got up and took off all his clothes.

He walked across his room totally naked and went into the bathroom.

He turned on the shower and got in.

Vegeta lathered up the soap and cleaned his whole body, and used the shampoo that Bulma liked, the strawberry one.

He got out and flared his ki, drying himself, then after putting a towel around his waist, he started shaving.

Vegeta liked the lemon scented shaving cream the best.

Vegeta chose some dark grey, baggy lenth pants, a tight white t-shirt, black sneakers and his black beret.

He went downstairs to see Dr. Briefs sitting in the loungeroom.

Clive got up and went over to Vegeta.

"Look. I guess I've been a bit hard on you lately. That's because I thought you were just some guy who lived on the streets because you were doing drugs or gambled or something. I overheard you and Bulma talking last night, and I found out what really happened. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I treated you, and I hope it's not too late to start anew."

"It's okay. You didn't know. Thanks for letting me stay here anyway."

"No problem. I can't really deny my daughter anything. She has me wrapped around her little finger!"

Clive chuckled.

"Let's go wake up the girls. I can fit a house in a capsule, but I can't cook my own breakfast. What a sad world I live in."

"You think you life is sad?! At least you have decent food."

"Yes. Well I suppose you have a point there my boy."

The two men went upstairs again to wake the girls.

Vegeta took Bulma and Clive took his wife.

"Bulma? Wake up. It's morning."

Vegeta gently shook her.

Bulma grabbed him around the neck and rolled over, trapping him there.

"Dammit."

Vegeta started to tickle her, and she released him, and jumped up with a start, holding her sides.

"Well now that you are awake, and not clinging onto my neck, can you get us some breakfast? Pleeeease?"

"Who's us?"

"Me and your father. He's gone to wake up your mother."

"You and dad were talking?"

"Yeah. He overheard us talking last night, and he apologized for treating me the way he did."

"Well that's good."

Bulma shot down underneath the covers.

"What are you doing?" Vegeta asked.

"I don't wanna get up. I like it here."

Her voice was muffled by the blankets.

"Oh no you don't. You are gunna get us some food!"

Vegeta ripped off the blankets and picked Bulma up.

She started squealing as he threw her over his shoulder.

Vegeta took her out of the room while she was still in her pajamas.

"Vegeta! Put me down! At least let me get some clothes on first!" She yelled while pounding on his back.

Vegeta let her drop to the floor, and he continued downstairs.

"You better be down here in 15 minutes at the most. Or I'll come back and get you." He warned.

"Alright! Alright!"

She laughed and went into her room.

Bulma came out wearing a white blouse and blue jeans, with some old sneakers.

She started cooking the food.

When everyone had finished, Bulma went upstairs to grab her coat and a scarf.

"Vegeta! Get your coat and let's go play in the leaves!" Bulma squealed excitedly.

"My my. Aren't we in a happy mood today?" He joked, but went upstairs to get his things.

It was Autumn, and all the leaves were falling from the trees and scattering on the ground below them.

The cool breeze blowing outside made it necessary to wear warm clothing.

Bulma met him outside on the back lawn.

They ran around like little children for awhile, throwing leaves at each other and yelling.

Bulma's parents looked out the kitchen window at the two of them.

"I think our little girl is falling for him honey." Bunny told her husband, patting him on the shoulder before going to wash the dishes.

Clive realized that what his wife just said, was the most down to earth and logical thing she had ever said.

He shook his head before leaving the window to go help his wife.

Vegeta and Bulma circled each other like they were in a fight.

Bulma lunged at Vegeta with a handful of leaves, but he was too fast, and stepped out of the way.

He was kind enough to let her get a new handful, before dropping his leaves and charging at her.

Vegeta picked her up, making her scream, and then swung them around, before spearing them into the pile of leaves they made earlier.

Vegeta lay half on top of Bulma as they laughed.

Their breath rose up in a mist in front of their faces.

Vegeta stopped laughing and looked into her cerulean eyes.

And Bulma looked back into his obsidian ones.

Vegeta lowered his cold lips onto hers, as he closed his eyes.

Bulma did the same, and wrapped her arm around his neck, shielding their faces from the chilly breeze.

Vegeta pressed his mouth against her's harder.

The warmth of each of their mouths made them shiver.

They couldn't really get close to each other because of the thickness of their coats.

Vegeta put his hands around behind Bulma and tried to get closer.

When they pulled apart for air, the two panted and looked into each others eyes.

They both blushed lightly, and Vegeta got off her, helping her to her feet.

Vegeta looked around nervously, refusing to meet her gaze, while scuffing his shoes on the grass.

Bulma thought he looked cute doing that.

He had on a thick coat, length pants, big sneakers and a beret.

He looked like a cute little 5 year old again.

Bulma started laughing and went over to him.

She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Let's go inside before we catch a cold."

Bulma let go of his neck and held his hand, pulling him back to the house.

Inside, they discarded their coats and boots, opting for a pair of thick socks.

The open fire sent flickers of light across the room.

Bulma got them some more hot chocolate and they sat together on the couch.

Bulma's parents came into the lounge, and grabbed some hot drinks for themselves, and sat in their seats.

"Well isn't this nice! It's like we are one big happy family!" Bunny shouted.

Bulma, Clive and Vegeta nearly choked on their drinks.

"I think it's a bit early to be calling us a family dear." Clive reasoned with her.

"Oh come on dad! Vegeta has been living with us for two years now. He practically is family! He fits in really well. Me and mum have grown really attached to him. Pity you couldn't have done the same earlier."

"Yes, yes. I know, I know." He said with a wave of his hand.

Clive finished his drink and set the cup down on the table.

"I'd better be getting down to the lab to work now."

He ruffled Bulma's hair as he went past.

"Bye daddy."

Bulma's mother excused herself as well, going to feed the animals.

Bulma waited until her mother was out of the room until she moved closer to Vegeta after putting her cup on the table.

She rested one hand on his thigh and wrapped her left arm around his neck.

Vegeta watched her out of the corner of his eye.

He also set his mug down.

Bulma leaned closer and pushed her face against his cheek as she kissed him.

Vegeta's cheek was cold and Bulma's breath warmed it, sending an involuntary shiver through his body.

He turned his head towards her and their lips met.

The hand of Bulma's that was resting on Vegeta thigh was lifted up and put behind his head as she pulled him closer.

Both of their eyes were closed as they gently tasted each others lips.

For a guy who was fairly new to the subject of kissing, Bulma thought he was a pretty good kisser.

Must be from his way of observing people.

Bulma ran her tounge along his bottom lip.

Vegeta didn't think much of it at the time.

But when she slipped her tounge into his mouth, he let go of her and jumped back.

"What are you doing?!" He asked as he scooted further away from her.

The thing with the tounge was something his dad always did to him.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about the whole thing with you not knowing stuff. It's just a thing you do when you kiss. It makes it feel even better. Come here and I'll show you."

Vegeta reluctantly moved back to where he was sitting before, and they wrapped their arms around each other as they began to kiss again.

Bulma slowly slipped her tounge back into his mouth.

She massaged the base of his skull as her velvety soft tounge caressed his.

Soon, Vegeta got the drift of what he was supposed to do, and he copied Bulma's movements.

His hands slipped down to her waist as they tasted each others mouths.

It wasn't long before 10 minutes had passed, and they were still at it.

This time Vegeta was more confident, and they were making out like any other couple normally would.

Although, they weren't groping each others bodies, because Bulma thought that Vegeta wouldn't be ready for that yet.

Bulma broke the kiss and and placed butterfly kisses along his jaw until she reached his ear, where she began to nibble on the sensitive skin behind his earlobe.

Unknowingly, Bulma was starting to get Vegeta aroused.

His ears were sensitive and therefore acted like his tail, but wasn't as powerful.

This thing had never happened to Vegeta before.

He had felt something similar when she was caressing his tail, but the feeling was never completed as she had pulled away.

Vegeta was starting to get nervous, something was happening to his manhood, and he didn't know what.

It did feel good though.

But he had learned over the years that not all things that felt good were actually good for you, so he had become very cautious.

Naturally, as any man would be, he was very aware that things that happened to your manhood could end up hurting very much, so he pulled away.

"Ummm.."

He fiddled with his fingers.

"I..I gotta check on Mushi.."

He got up and ran to his room, locking the door.

He leaned against it, breathing heavily.

'Damn. What just happened?'

He pulled out the rim of his pants so he could look down into them at his manhood to see what was wrong.

Oh no.

It looked like his fathers did when he was about to "do stuff" with him.

He looked around the room even though there wasn't anyone in there but Mushi and Shin.

He reached into his pants and touched his erect manhood.

He shuddered.

_'That felt really good.'_ He thought to himself.

Vegeta looked up to see Shinigami and Mushi staring at him.

He blushed even though they were only animals.

He went into the bathroom that was in his bedroom and closed the door.

Vegeta pulled out the rim of his pants again, and looked at himself.

He wondered wether this was right.

He put his hand back into his pants and grasped his length.

He ran his hand along it until he came to the tip and then back down to the base.

Vegeta almost went weak at the knees at the pleasurable sensations in his lower region.

He wondered if it was like his tail; if you squeezed it too hard would it hurt?

He decided to try it.

Vegeta increased the pressure he was putting on his manhood.

Nope.

It didn't hurt.

It just felt even better.

He remembered what his father used to do to get pleasure off his own body.

Vegeta started running his hand up and down his hardened length.

He hissed at pleasure he got from the simple movements.

He could feel his manhood throbbing beneath his hand.

It felt like something was building up inside of him.

Vegeta let out a little moan.

He quickened his movements, running his hand up and down, faster and faster, until he was almost at the point of releasing.

He tightened his hand until it was nearly painful and was about to keep pleasuring himself, when there was a loud knock on the door.

"Vegeta? Are you in there? Why did you have to check on Mushi? She looks fine. Are you gonna come out?"

Vegeta stood there in shock, with one hand still in his pants, wrapped around his erect manhood.

"Uhhh..Ummmm..I..I'm.. .Busy." He stuttered.

_'Oh no! What am I going to do?!'_

"Busy doing what?" She questioned.

"I'm in the bathroom..What do you think?"

"Oh. Heh heh. Whoops! I'm gunna go now. Sorry about that."

Bulma blushed at her stupidity.

Not that Vegeta could see her blushing though.

Vegeta waited until Bulma had left the room to do anything else.

He couldn't finish anything now.

The mood had been ruined.

So he started thinking about the fat man who took Joe's job, dancing around in a leopard skin g-string.

That made him lose interest very quickly.

He opened the door and looked around to make sure no one was there.

He went over to the bed and sat next to Shinigami.

"What? Stop staring at me like that!" He told his pets.

They didn't obey him.

Mushi bounced over to him and rubbed against his leg, purring.

Then she fell over.

Vegeta rubbed her belly then picked her up and held her in front of his face, up close, so their noses were almost touching.

Mushi's tounge was poking out, and her body just hung down like a rag doll.

Her big blue eyes peered into Vegeta's as she purred happily.

He kissed her on the top of the head and sat her down on his pillow and lay down, supporting himself on his elbows, so that he was eye level with her.

Mushi leaned forward and licked Vegeta's nose.

He smiled and scratched her under the chin.

"I wish you guys could talk. I really need some advice. It's so strange. Why did that happen?" He asked more to himself than the animals.

"I need to find out what happened. But who can I talk to? I can't ask Bulma, because then she will know about it. And I can't ask her parents, because they might think less of me and kick me out. There is no one I can talk t- ..Shin? You are a genius!"

Shinigami was sitting next to the picture of Joe, putting his paw on the wall to show him.

Vegeta lept off the bed and crouched down next to Shin.

"When I get back, you are getting a big juicy steak boy."

He rubbed Shinigami on the head, but was interupted by Mushi mewing her head off.

"Hey." Vegeta pointed at her. "Don't look at me like that. Shin gave me a good idea. If you had pointed to the picture, you would have gotten a nice big fish. Oh no. Don't do that. You aren't a dog! You can't do puppy dog eyes! No I'm not getting you a fish! Oh stop it! Dammit! Fine! You can have a fish. Happy now?!"

He growled.

Mushi purred and lay down with a happy look on her face.

Vegeta slapped his forehead.

"I don't know how you manage to do that every time. Little bugger." He mumbled.

Mushi only purred louder.

Vegeta left the door open as he grabbed his wallet and went downstairs to fetch his coat.

"Hey Vegeta. Why have you got your coat?" Bulma said from behind him, making him jump.

"Oh. I'm just going to visit a friend."

"Cool. Want me to drive you?"

"Nah. It's okay. I want to walk."

"Suit yourself. I'm gonna go and see if I can help dad with his inventions or something. I'll see you when you get back."

"Okay. Bye." Bulma kissed him on the cheek and he blushed, quickly turning away.

"See ya 'Geta."

Vegeta clipped the chain on his wallet onto his pants, and put the wallet in his pocket, letting the chain hang loose.

Vegeta walked along the streets of the city with his hands in his pockets, taking in the sights.

He saw a little girl playing happily with her parents.

He wished he could have had a life like that.

Eventually he came to Joe's house.

He hoped that his wife didn't recognize him.

Vegeta walked up the driveway and knocked on the door.

He turned away and looked out at the street, waiting for someone to answer the door.

His hands were still in his pockets, and he turned around as the door opened.

"Hello. How can I help you?" asked Sarah.

"Hi. Is Joe home?"

Vegeta crossed his fingers inside his pockets.

"Yes. He's in the lounge. Follow me."

Vegeta let out a breath or relief.

"Joe honey! Someone is here to see you!" She called out, and pointed where the lounge room was.

"He's in there."

Vegeta nodded his head in thanks.

He rounded the corner and stepped into the room.

Joe was busy reading the paper.

Vegeta cleared his throat and Joe looked up.

He didn't seem to recognise him.

Vegeta smirked, and Joe looked at him like he was trying to remember where he had seen the smirk before.

"What? Don't remember your little buddy?"

He chuckled.

"Vegeta?!" He exclaimed.

"The one and only."

Joe's eye were practically popping out of their sockets.

"How?!..Who?!..What?!"

"You remember that blue haired girl I used to play with when I was little? Well we met again and she invited me to stay at her house. I'm living the high life now. At Capsule Corp.  
Her mother's weird, but I can handle it. I've been living there for about two years now."

"You- ..You're living with Bulma Briefs?!"

"Yes. She got me all this cool stuff and got me out of that alley. Even let me take Shin and Mushi."

"Wow. That's great! Always knew you'd find a way to get out of there little man!"

Joe picked Vegeta up in a crushing bear hug.

"Joe-..air-..breathe-." Vegeta choked out as his face began to turn blue.

He squirmed in his grasp.

"Whoops! Sorry little man. Hey! You actually have muscles! How'd you get them? You have more than me now! No fair!"

Joe felt Vegeta's arm through his coat.

"Bulma got her friend to train me. He's not too bright in the head, but he's a great sparring partner. And guess what? Wait! Don't guess! I'll tell you! I'm a Saiyan! An alien race! That's why I have a tail!"

Joe just stared blankly at his friend's excitement.

"That would explain a few things.." He reasoned, nodding.

Joe motioned for Vegeta to sit down.

"How did you get past my wife?" He whispered.

"She didn't reconize me."

"I wouldn't blame her, I barely did!"

He laughed.

"How did you get your hair to fit under the beret?" He questioned.

"I got it cut."

Vegeta pulled off the hat and showed him.

"Wow. That really suits you."

"Heh. Anyway. This isn't the reason I came. I came because I need you to explain a few things to me. I don't really understand this thing."

"Really? What thing?"

"Well. Ummm. I kinda like Bulma."

Vegeta blushed as he figdeted.

"Whoa! Hold up! You like Bulma?!"

"Yeah. We kissed a couple of times. So I think she likes me too. But I feel weird about it. It feels good, but I don't know what's happening."

Joe could see that his little buddy was nervous, and he suspected that it was from the fact that when Vegeta's father did stuff like this it he didn't like it, and when Bulma did, he did like it.

So he would be confused.

"Well little man, I guess I gotta explain about the birds and the bees to you, and believe me, it's a lot better than what you are used to."

Vegeta stood outside the house with an open mouth and a light blush spreading from one cheek to the other, gaping at what Joe had told him.

He shuffled his way down to the footpath out the front near the road, and started walking back to Capsule Corp.

He gulped.

So that was why his body did that.

He didn't know if he would be able to do stuff like that.

But if his hand could make him feel like he did in the bathroom, then it must be even better with a female.

Vegeta thought what it would be like if Bulma wanted to do things like that with him.

Vegeta stopped at the butcher's shop and got Shin a steak and Mushi a fish.

He tucked the parcels under his arm and left the shop, continuing to walk down the street, thinking.

Before he knew it, he was back at Capsule Corp.

Vegeta went through the gates and into the mansion.

He put the steak and fish in the fridge and made his way down to Bulma's lab where she was working.

Bulma's back was facing him as she worked on a computer, and he sneaked up behind her.

He put his hands over her eyes and kissed her neck.

She jumped at first, then settled down as he began kissing her.

"Hey 'Geta." she greeted him happily.

Vegeta took his hands from her eyes and rested them on the back of her chair.

"Have fun visiting your friend?"

"Yeah. He explained a few things to me that I didn't understand."

Vegeta nodded then sat down on the edge of her desk.

"Like what?" Bulma asked curiously.

"Ummm.. Just stuff." He told her.

"What stuff?"

Bulma wanted to find this out.

"Guy stuff.."

Vegeta looked down and swung his feet around in the air like children tend to do when they can't touch the floor from the place they are sitting in.

"Okay then."

Bulma looked at him strangely.

She got up from her chair and stretched, her spine making popping sounds as it bended.

She kissed him on the cheek and pulled him off the bench, taking his hand as she led him out of the lab.

They went up to the kitchen, and Vegeta called Shinigami and Mushi down from upstairs.

He took out the fish and steak and put it in their bowls, just before they came skidding to a halt in front of them.

They shoved their heads in and started gobbling up their food, little chunks flying everywhere.

Vegeta rolled his eyes.

They weren't very clean eaters.

Ever since Vegeta had taken them over to Goku's house when they were sparring, and Shin and Mushi had picked up on his eating habits.

"Wanna go swimming?" He asked Bulma while watching his pets eat.

"Sure. I'm just glad that the water will be warm."

They went upstairs and changed into their swimming atire.

Vegeta was wearing black swimming trunks with a blue and purple flame going up his right leg, and Bulma was wearing a pair of thin cargo shorts that went down to mid-thigh, and a black tube top for swimming.

They grabbed some towels and met each other in the kitchen, where Shin was laying on the mat, in front of a cupboard, and Mushi was curled up next to him, using Shin's body heat to keep nice and warm.

Scratch suddenly bounced into the kitchen, for once not on Dr Briefs shoulder, and lay down next to Mushi, resting his head on her back.

"Cute." Bulma commented, as they ran outside quickly and into the forest.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Abandoned and Homeless**_

_** Chapter 7 **_

* * *

They dropped their towels quickly at the water's edge and jumped in, squatting down so the warm water was at their chins.

Bulma's teeth chattered.

"C-c-cold." She stuttered as she shivered from the cold air.

Vegeta wasn't as cold, because he had leared about flaring his ki to keep him warm, but had not flared it because he didn't think it would be fair.

His body ajusted to the water's warmer temperature, and he walked over to her.

Bulma moved closer to him as well and snuggled into his warm body as he put his arms around her.

" 'Geta. You're nice and warm."

Bulma's body finally began to heat up, and she reluctantly pulled away.

They heard a loud yowling noise heading straight for them.

Mushi burst out headfirst from a low bush near the edge of the clearing, Scratch hot on her heels.

She looked behind her to see how far away he was from her, but in doing so, she veered off course.

The cat went straight off the ground and into the pool, sending up a big splash of water as she sunk under.

Vegeta's eyes widened.

Mushi's head popped out of the warm water and she was screeching at the top of her lungs, while flailing her paws around in the air, desperately trying to keep afloat.

Her ears were flat back on her head, and her whiskers sagged and drooped, with little droplets of the water beading off them.

Vegeta walked over to her as quickly as he could and picked her up.

He had a worried look on his face.

Mushi hissed at the cold air.

Her little body was shivering and her fur was plastered down on her back.

Vegeta lent over the enbankment and he grabbed his towel and placed Mushi on it.

He wrapped her up in in and started drying her.

After about 2 minutes, he took a peek in at her.

All he could see were her two big blue eyes in a mass of quivering black and white fur.

When she was mostly dry, Vegeta let her go and her and Scratch bounded off again.

"I hope she doesn't catch a cold, or something." He trailed off.

"Don't worry. She'll be okay. Now come back in here so you don't catch one yourself." She reassured him.

Vegeta took a last glance in the direction Mushi ran off in, and reluctantly went back to Bulma.

Bulma pulled him close and rubbed his wet chest affectionately.

"You need to relax more 'Geta." She whispered into his ear.

Vegeta was still looking in the direction that Mushi went, but he took a sideways glance at her.

Bulma raised one hand up behind his head and pulled his head towards her.

He wasn't really paying attention, and still had a worried look on his face.

She placed a tender kiss on his lips, while kneading her fingers into his shoulders.

Vegeta's eyes were still open and he wasn't looking at her.

He was kissing back, but wasn't paying attention.

Bulma latched onto his bottom lip with her teeth and sucked and nibbled on it.

This got his attention.

His eyes came back to rest on her face and he realized that she was kissing him.

His arms snaked their way around her waist and he closed his eyes as they sunk down into the water.

Vegeta's tail floated through the warm hotspring water, and wrapped around her thigh.

Bulma chuckled into his mouth.

Vegeta suddenly pulled away from the kiss.

Bulma could see he was blushing as he stared at the surface of the water nervously, his arms still around her.

"What's wrong 'Geta?" She asked him.

"Well..Ummm..I..was wondering..hoping..that y-you ."

"Spit it out 'Geta. It can't be that hard, can it?"

Bulma laughed playfully.

Vegeta took a deep breath.

"Iwaswonderingcouldyoupleaset ouchmytailagain?!"

He let it all out in one go and his blush deepened to a darker shade of red.

His hands figeted with the top of Bulma's shorts.

Bulma was miraculously able to understand every word he said, and she smirked.

"Well if it means that much to you, my cute little monkey boy.." Bulma seductively whispered before putting her lips to his again, and pushing her tounge into his mouth.

Vegeta's tail unwrapped itself from her thigh and floated in the water behind him.

Her fingertips brushed the side of his silky black appendage and he shuddered in her embrace.

He felt her hand caress his tail, the warmth and ripples in the water adding to the pleasure.

He moaned and pushed his body closer to hers.

Bulma put her whole hand around his tail and gave it a little squeeze before running her hand up and down it's soft length.

Vegeta started grinding his hips against hers as he groaned into her shoulder at the pleasureable sensations running through his muscled and tanned body.

Bulma could feel his erection poking into her stomach.

She smirked just the way Vegeta did when he was in a playful mood.

He pressed his face into her neck and nuzzled at it as she tightened her grip and kept stroking one of the two appendages on a Saiyan's body that could cause pleasure and pain.

Vegeta closed his eyes and a deep rumbling sound was emmitted from deep in his throat.

Bulma closed her eyes too, and rested her chin on his left shoulder.

She liked it when he purred.

It made her feel cozy and warm, and most of all, safe.

Bulma shifted the position that her head was in, so she was looking at the side of his head.

Her eyes opened a fraction and she kissed him on the tender spot of skin underneath his ear.

This made his purring get louder.

Bulma used the fingernails of her index finger and thumb to push in under the silky fur and scratch lightly at the skin on the base of his tail.

This made Vegeta jump and jab his erect manhood into her stomach, almost knocking the wind out of her.

"Watch where you're poking that thing 'Geta."

She pouted and rubbed the area where he poked at her, pretending to be hurt.

All Vegeta could do was breathe deeply and wonder where in the hell did the sensations go.

As soon as Bulma took her hand away from his tail they disappeared.

Vegeta scrunched up his nose and whined about it, no longer bashfull about asking her to do it.

Bulma laughed to herself.

He had enjoyed it more than she thought.

She sighed.

"Vegeta?" She asked in a soft tone of voice, cutting him off in mid complaint.

"Yeah?"

He unwrinkled his nose and paid attention to her.

"Do you think you are ready for me to do something else? To move up a level?"

Vegeta was confused at first, but then remembered Joe's "birds and bees" talk.

She was probably going to touch the other side of him now.

Vegeta's eyes widened.

He knew that the appendage on his front felt good when you touched it as well.

He gulped.

"Y-yeah. I t-think so."

"You sure?"

Vegeta nodded before he could change his mind and back out.

"Come on. Let's go over by the rock."

They walked over to the large grey rock in front of the falls.

The water was deeper next to it, and it reached up to about chest height.

Bulma put her hands under the water and ran them down his body and past his abs.

She came to the rim of his shorts and pulled it out wider.

"One last chance. Are you sure?"

She rested her mouth on his chest, softly kissing him, and looking up to meet his obsidian eyes in her loving gaze.

Vegeta nodded quickly in response.

"Just do it before I change my mind!" He ordered, breathing shallowly, not knowing wether it was because he was scared or excited.

Bulma shrugged nonchalantly and reached into his black shorts and grasping his manhood in her small and gentle hands.

Vegeta growled and spun her around into the rock, pressing his body against hers, and not knowing why he was doing it.

"Someone's a bit excited!"

She grinned and caressed his hardened length.

Vegeta moved his hips forward, closer to Bulma's hand.

He didn't know what was happening, but he liked it.

A few minutes later, Vegeta was near the point of releasing. Bulma could tell it as well.

He was practically laying on top of her.

Her whole body was pressed firmly against the rock, and Vegeta was pressing himself into her and nuzzling his face into her neck as he moaned.

Bulma squeezed him a bit tighter and ran her hand up and down his length a bit faster.

Vegeta's whole body tensed with his release.

It felt really relaxing to finally get it.

He slightly let go of Bulma's body so she wasn't pressed so hard against the rock and he just stood there with his eyes closed, and his head on her shoulder, taking in her scent.

Bulma giggled.

"You owe me one 'Geta."

He only purred in return.

Bulma brought his head up and looked at him.

His eyes were half shut and he had a sleepy yet happy look on his face.

Bulma kissed him on his nose.

Vegeta didn't want to move, he was very content just to stay there like that.

Bulma looked at her waterproof watch.

"Damn. We have been here for a lot longer than I thought."

She looked at her fingers, and sure enough, they were all wrinkly.

"Great. I'm all pruny now. Let's go back to the house and sit in front of a nice warm fire."

Vegeta nodded and shivered.

They went over to their towels and dried off as best as they could, before wrapping them around their bodies and bolting through the woods towards the building.

They went through the spacious kitchen to get themselves a warm drink before heading up to their rooms to get changed out of their wet swimming atires.

Bulma was standing over at the kettle, waiting for it to heat up, when Vegeta noticed an important looking note on the refrigerator door.

He took it off and tried to read it.

He read it to himself in his head.

_'Dear Bulma and Vegeta,_

_We have gone to stay at a l-lux-lugshoorius hotel in Haw-Hawaii for 3 weeks. The ac-accom-o-dashons.'_

He gave up on it.

They used to many big words.

"Bulma. What does this say. They use big words and I can't read it."

"Huh?"

Bulma turned around and saw the note in his hands.

Vegeta passed the note over to her and she read it to him aloud.

_"Dear Bulma and Vegeta,_

_We have gone to stay at a luxurious hotel in Hawaii for 3 weeks. The accomodations are excellent..blah blah blah..Sorry we didn't tell you sooner. Take good care of Vegeta for us honey, he's like the son we never had._

_Love Mum and Dad."_

"Wow Vegeta. You are definitely in their good books. How'd you do it?"

When she got no reply she looked up.

Vegeta had his head stuck in the fridge.

He must be hungry.

Bulma slapped him on the butt and he jumped, hitting his head on the top of the fridge.

"What did you do that for? That hurt!" He complained while rubbing his sore head.

"Oh nevermind. It wasn't that important anyway." She brushed it off. "Let's go get changed."

They came downstairs in their change of clothes.

Bulma's parents had lit the fire yet again.

They sat on the thick and fluffy white rug in front of it and watched the flickering flames dance across the walls.

They had shut the curtains in hopes it would block out the dreary mood the bad weather was creating.

This in turn made the room dark, and the only light was the fire.

Bulma thought it was rather romantic and she studied Vegeta's face as he watched the flames.

Bulma moved closer to him and sat on his lap, caressing his face with her hand.

Their eyes locked on each others for a brief moment before the two were in a very passionate french kiss.

Bulma noted that Vegeta seemed to like this way of kissing.

She spun around in his lap so she was straddling it, and continued battling with his tounge.

Bulma placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back a bit.

"Ready for the next bit 'Geta?"

Vegeta remembered more of what Joe told him.

Apparently, this was the best bit.

Vegeta took a deep breath.

"Yeah..But I don't know-"

Bulma silenced him with her hand.

"I know you haven't done this before, but I'll teach you. And I promise that I'll never hurt you okay?" She whispered affectionately to him.

Vegeta nodded in a silent agreement.

Bulma pulled his shirt over his head and then her own was taken off.

Vegeta gulped, as he was at eye level with her breasts.

He opened his mouth to try and say something, but all that came out was a little squeak.

He moved his mouth, trying to form a word.

All he succeeded in doing was making himself look like a bug-eyed fish.

"Like what you see Vegeta?"

Bulma pushed her chest into his face.

Vegeta nodded.

His face was buried in the valley between her breasts.

Bulma picked up his arms and put them around her waist.

"You can touch you know. I won't bite. Much."

She giggled playfully and nipped at his ear.

Vegeta pulled his head out of her chest, still staring at it with mouth opened wide.

Bulma sighed.

"You ain't seen nothing yet 'Geta."

She reached behind her back and undid the clasps of her bra, and threw it to the side, leaving her full chest exposed to him.

Vegeta whimpered and fell back, almost at the point of fainting.

He lay rigid on the floor with Bulma straddling his body.

He had never seen anything like this before.

Joe hadn't been very descriptive about foreplay.

Neither did he tell how good it felt to be in this position.

Bulma grabbed him by the shoulders and struggled to pull him up.

"Look. I know you haven't done this before, but that's no excuse to lay there like a log. Why don't you make yourself useful and start kissing me." She scolded.

Vegeta shakily moved his head up to kiss her on the lips when she stopped him.

"Not here..There, and work your way down."

She pointed to her shoulder, then trailed her finger down toward her voluptuous breasts.

Vegeta's eyes rolled back in his head and he let out another whimper as he did as he was told.

He placed kisses on her shoulder lightly and nervously at first but gradually got more confident when she started stroking his tail.

He purred at the feelings of pleasure running through him, and tried to concentrate at the task at hand.

He finally got down to her chest and he looked up at her through lust clouded eyes.

Bulma seemed as if she was enjoying herself, so he continued.

His soft mouth latched onto one of Bulma's erect nipples and she murmured something about it feeling really good and that he should keep going.

Vegeta's erection was rubbing between their bodies, creating a warm feeling in the pits of their stomachs.

Bulma couldn't take it much longer.

She ripped off her mini skirt and panties, leaving her completely in the nude.

Vegeta stared in an aroused stupor at her as she undid his belt buckle and pulled his trousers down his legs, throwing them onto the couch.

"Off." She commanded as she pointed at his boxers.

"Awww. But I like these ones!" He complained.

They were made of a white silken material.

There was a little machine looking thing on one side, that said "Love Machine."

And the "instructions" on how to use "it" were on the other.

It read: To operate the Love Machine, please pull the lever.

And the lever just happened to be right over where his manhood was.

Bulma had gotten him these boxers as a bit of a joke.

"Well how do you expect to be able do anything with them on!?" She grumbled.

Vegeta wrinkled his nose then took them off.

His throbbing erection was poking into his perfectly chisled abs.

Bulma still couldn't get over the fact of how large he was.

Even though he had no idea what he was doing, she was sure she would have some fun.

"Alright." She said as she climbed over the top of him.

"You still owe me."

"What do I do?" He asked nervously.

Bulma smirked playfully.

"Get your fingers like this. And move them like this when they are in a certain spot."

She held two of her fingers up and moved them.

Vegeta copied her movements wondering what this was for.

"W-where is this "spot" you speak of?"

Bulma grabbed his hand and lowered it.

"Here."

She held two of his fingers and pushed them inside of her.

Vegeta bolted upright at this.

"W-wha. Why.?"

"Shhhh. Just move them like I showed you."

Vegeta gulped and began moving them inside her warm depths.

Bulma moaned and pushed her hips into his hand more.

Bulma grabbed the back of his head and entwined her fingers in his thick ebony mane.

She tilted his head up and forcefully kissed him on the lips.

She trailed her kisses down past his jaw and nibbled on his neck.

Vegeta just sat there with his eyes closed, and his nose buried in her hair, taking in the vanilla scent that was distinctly her own.

Vegeta could feel her inner walls throbbing around his fingers.

It was by accident that his hand brushed against the little nub hidden within her aqua blue curls.

When he brushed it, Bulma let out another moan.

Vegeta came to a conclusion that this little nub must cause a lot of pleasure, and it would only be fair if he returned the favour.

He kept doing the movements and pushed his thumb into her curls, looking for it again.

When he found it, he began stroking it softly.

Bulma closed her eyes and nuzzled her face into his shoulder, still grinding against his hand.

"Mmmmm. Vegeta." She breathlessly whispered while nibbling his earlobe.

Her inner walls convulsed around his two fingers as she released, her juices running down his hand.

Vegeta pulled his fingers from her and Bulma groaned with the sudden loss of the warmth they were creating.

He looked at her juices on his hands and wondered what was to come next.

Bulma took his hand and placed one finger in her mouth, tasting herself on him.

She guided his remaining finger to his mouth and made him taste her as well.

Vegeta liked it.

She tasted sweet, like honey.

Bulma leaned forward, which made him fall onto his back.

"Now for the best bit. You ready?" She asked and kissed him lovingly.

Vegeta nodded.

Bulma positioned herself over his throbbing manhood.

She gave him a quick smile before sheathing him inside her.

Vegeta's eyes rolled back in his head and he arched his back slightly.

"Ohhhhh..Fuck."

He winced at her warm and wet tightness.

This felt way too good.

Bulma lifted herself up and down on him.

She could feel his length throbbing inside of her.

Vegeta placed his hands on her hips and pushed her down harder.

"So you wanna go a bit harder do you? Well I can fix that." She told him.

Bulma rolled them over so Vegeta was now on top.

He didn't move.

Bulma wrapped her slender legs around his waist.

"Just do what I was doing. Push yourself into me."

Vegeta shivered in pleasure.

She could make things sound really erotic just by talking about it.

He did what Bulma told him to do.

He put his right hand on her thigh and the left on the rug so he was comfortable.

It was a bit jerky at first, but he soon got the hang of it and started purring as he thrust into her.

"Faster." She commanded as she dug her nails into his back.

Vegeta growled as he purred, making himself sound like a big cat.

He could feel something building up inside of him.

He rested his head on her shoulder as he made love to her, giving parts of her a little nip or kiss occasionally.

He grunted in her ear as she sucked on the junction between his neck and shoulder.

She didn't know why she was doing it.

It was as if something was drawing her to it.

It was the same for Vegeta.

Bulma's feet were rubbing against the base of his tail and it was driving him insane.

He thrust his hips toward her harder and faster.

Half an hour later, their bodies were thickly coated in their salty sweat, as they made love to each other on the rug in front of the open fire.

The light from the flames flickered over their naked bodies, making it seem as if they were glowing.

Vegeta's muscled body rubbed against her, the sweat making their skin stick slightly together.

He had learned quickly what spots would make Bulma feel good and what ones would make her scream his name, so he was quite pleased with himself.

He couldn't help but give a little satisfied smirk as he thought about it.

Bulma ran her hand down his back and latched onto his furry tail and she started rubbing it.

"Unnngggghhh.. Fuck. Uhhhhh." He groaned in her ear.

Bulma squeezed her thighs together tighter putting more pressure on his manhood.

This was the last straw for both of them.

When Bulma's inner walls constricted around his manhood Vegeta's release followed not long after.

He kept moving inside of her until all of his seed was shot deep into her womb.

He collapsed on top of her with a satisfied sigh, purring in her ear.

"For a guy who's never done this before..you're pretty good at it."

She panted and flicked her tounge out to moisten her lips.

Vegeta didn't say anything, he was too busy staring at a certain spot on her neck.

He was watching the artery throb under the skin, and he bared his teeth.

There was a bright flash of white light before Bulma's eyes and a sharp pain in her neck.

It was followed shortly after by the pain suddenly disappearing, and the bight light was replaced with quick scenes that were obviously from Vegeta's past.

She felt how Vegeta felt, saw what Vegeta saw, and heard what Vegeta heard.

The most painful experiences she felt while seeing this were the ones of abuse, and the scene in the park when she never showed up.  
Vegeta was going through exactly the same thing. Bulma had not realized she'd bitten him as well.

He was seeing things from her past.

Her memories were happy ones.

He felt sad at how good a life she had, compared to his.

Bulma slowly opened her eyes after the memories had passed.

She flet a wetness on her face and realized she had been crying.

Crying for him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.

"Oh Vegeta! I'm so sorry! I never knew how much it hurt you! I wish I could just go back in time and change it all! I'm sorry!"

She sobbed hysterically.

"It's okay. I forgive you."

Vegeta picked her up and carried them to his room.

He put her under the covers and slid in after her.

It was still daylight but they were very tired.

The previous activities and the bonding, which they didn't know about yet, had taken a lot out of them.

Vegeta spooned up behind her and wrapped his tail and arms around her, drawing her into his chest.

"You will have to teach me more of this..Bulma."

He yawned.

"Okay 'Geta..Okay."

And with that, they drifted off to sleep.

**1 Month later..**

"Bulma honey! Come out of there! I know Vegeta must be fun to play with, but that's no reason to waste water! You can do things like that in the bedroom!"

Bulma's mother banged loudly on the bathroom door.

"Ung!. Go away mum! I' !. Be out in a sec!"

Bulma pushed her hips closer to Vegeta's.

He held her to him and kept moving in and out of her.

They were in the shower and were having quite a lot of fun.

Bulma's parents knew about their overactive sex life, and weren't really bothered about it.

Well, when they came back from their little vacation only to see them in bed together, it came as quite a shock, but Bunny quickly accepted it and was happily dancing around the house. Clive on the other hand, was furious at the time.

He was screaming for her to get dressed and get out of Vegeta's bed.

But in time he learned to cope with it.

It never really worried her parents unless they were taking up the bathroom or something.

They had gotten used to seeing them making out or whatever, and just learned to ignore them.

Although it was hard when they were trying to eat.

"Alright honey! But you better be out in 15 minutes at the most!" She yelled over their overly loud grunting and groaning.

Vegeta had become much more experienced over the last month, mainly because Bulma had given him a certain little book to study.

Vegeta gave a few more quick thrusts and emptied himself inside her.

He pulled away from her and she stood upright.

Bulma turned around to face him and they started washing each others bodies with the soap Vegeta had lathered up.

Bulma wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, caressing his tounge with her own.

Vegeta grabbed her by the hips and wrapped her legs around his waist as he turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower.

He flared his ki, instantly drying them both off.

Bulma dropped from around his waist and grabbed a cretain appendage on the Saiyan's body, stroking it.

Vegeta let out a grunt and reluctantly pried her fingers from around his manhood.

"Do that and we'll never get out of here."

He smirked at her.

Bulma only grumbled and got her brush to brush her hair.

Vegeta stood naked in front of the mirror and began shaving his face.

Then he went to get dressed.

He picked Bulma's clothes up off the floor and raised each of her legs up as he put her panties back where they belonged, helping her to get dressed.

He clipped the back of her bra up and just left her like that in her jeans with no top.

"I think you look good like this."

His voice muffled as he put his arms around her waist and cuddled her to him, kissing her shoulder.

Bulma reached up behind her and put her arms around his neck, tilting her head around so she could give him a kiss.

"We do need to get out of here remember? Our 15 minutes is almost up."

Vegeta whined in return but let her go so he could get her shirt and slip it over her head.

They exited the bathroom just in time.

Clive was coming down the hall with the pick axe, followed by Bunny, ready to bust the door down.

They stopped in their tracks.

"Oh You two are finally out of there. Guess I won't be needing this after all!"

Bulma's parents looked at each other, and Clive dropped the axe, each of them sprinting as fast as they could for the bathroom, desperate to get to the toilet first.

In the end, it was Bunny who won, as she was younger and more fit from her dancing about.

Clive stood there whining and banging on the door.

Bulma shook her head.

Her parents could be such babies sometimes.

Just then, Bulma got some naughty ideas in her head.

She didn't like to cut her time with Vegeta short.

She motioned for Vegeta to follow her to their bedroom.

Vegeta knew where this was probably heading.

When she had that look on her face it usually meant an intense make-out session, occasionally followed by a "massage."

Vegeta always enjoyed these times.

He gave her a grin and they hurried to the bedroom.

As soon as they were in, Vegeta spun Bulma around and pressed her into the wall, not bothering to close the door.

He licked his lips and then kissed her hungrily, eager to taste her.

Bulma thrust her tounge into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, lifting one leg up and sitting it on his hip.

He used this position to their advantage and began grinding his groin into her's.

Bulma moaned against his mouth.

They stayed in that position for a while, until Bulma pushed him away from her mouth.

"Bed." She commanded.

Vegeta picked her up, putting his mouth back onto hers, and took her to the bed.

He fell onto the bed on top of Bulma, not breaking the kiss at all.

He moved them up the bed a bit more, so her head was on the pillow.

They didn't even notice Mushi and Scratch cuddled up together on the desk watching them.

The mattress was very soft and they seemed to sink into it, until you could barely see Bulma's body at all beneath his.

They just lay there in that position for quite some time just making out with each other.

Both the cats were sick of watching them, so they scrunched up their noses and ran from the room yowling their heads off.

This caught the attention of Clive, who was still waiting to go to the toilet.

He went to the room that they came out of, failing to realize it was Bulma and Vegeta's room.

He peeked in the doorway, only to see Vegeta on top of Bulma, and they were kissing each other passionately.

He slapped himself on the forehead.

Why couldn't they close the door when they did these things?

They should keep it to themselves.

Clive turned away and walked back to the bathroom, continuing his bouncing around, while waiting for his wife to finish.

Bulma slipped her hand in between her's and Vegeta's bodies, reaching down towards his belt line.

With one hand, she undid the belt buckle and lowered his zipper.

Vegeta relaxed a bit so Bulma could fit her hand in.

She was about to grab him when they heard someone coughing at the door to get their attention.

They both looked up to find her mother there.

"I think you two could go at least a day without being all over each other. We all need a break from it." She scolded.

Vegeta rolled off Bulma as they both blushed.

He pulled up his zipper and buckled his belt.

"Mum! Go away! You said we could..But just not in the bathroom! Besides! I still need to tell him!"

Bunny's eyes widened.

"You haven't told him yet?"

Bulma shook her head.

"Well you'd better honey! Toodles!"

With that she merrily skipped out of the room.

Vegeta looked at Bulma strangely.

"What do you need to tell me?"

Bulma let out a large breath of air.

"W-well. I'm not sure how you'll react to this. But.." She took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant, and you're the father.."

Bulma winced, waiting for his response.

Vegeta slowly took the information in.

'She's pregnant. Oh shit. I'm gonna be a father..I'M GONNA BE A FATHER!'

His face lit up and he grabbed Bulma, hugging her to him.

He happily purred in her ear.

Bulma let out a relived sigh and snuggled into his chest.

He wasn't angry or upset or anything.

Just happy.

"Is it a boy or girl?"

"The doctor says it's a boy. I can't wait to go buy all his stuff!"

"Ooooo! Can I teach him to fight?"

"Yeah. When he's old enough."

Vegeta grinned.

"I gotta tell Joe! You come too! He really wants to meet you. He has all this mechanical stuff at his place that he made cos he wants to be a scientist dude!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll come! Don't wet yourself!"

She laughed.

Vegeta nearly ran right into Joe's front door as he bolted up his driveway.

He started yelling at the top of his voice as he loudly banged on the door.

He heard a voice from inside.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold your horses! I'm coming!"

The door was opened and Vegeta nearly fell in on top of Joe.

He grabbed Joe by his shirt and jumped up on him, clinging there like a koala in a gum tree on a windy day.

"Jeeze little man! Why all the excitement?"

He laughed.

"I'M GONNA BE A DADDY!" He screamed in his ear.

"OW! Crap! No need to yell!"

Joe pried the smaller man from his body and set him down.

"Wait. You're WHAT?!"

"I'm gonna be a father!"

"Shit! No way! Who's the girl?!"

Vegeta stepped out of the way so he could see Bulma.

Joe stared in amazement.

"B-Bulma B-Briefs is..is the g-girl?"

His mouth dropped open.

"Yup!"

"Shit..I knew something was up when you came to talk to me..But I never thought it would get to this. Jeeze. I guess you took my talk seriously huh?"

He chuckled.

"So this is where you went!" Bulma piped up.

Vegeta turned around.

"Yeah." He said in a small voice.

"Oh. How rude of me. Come on in you two!"

Joe ushered them both inside to the kitchen where he got them some drinks.

Well, to be more presise, the machine that he created got them for them.

All you had to do was say the type of thing you wanted out loud, and a little hole appeared in the tabletop and a little stand would raise up with your chosen item on it.

The computer system could even talk back, give you it's advice, and you could even have an intelligent conversation with it.

Joe had even given it a name; Sophie.

To him and his wife, she was like part of the family.

Bulma was amazed at this man's intelligence.

"Hey Joe?" She asked over a strawberry smoothie.

"Yes Miss. Briefs?"

"You can call me Bulma. Anyway, Vegeta tells me you want to be a scientist?"

"Yeah. I wanted to be one from a pretty early age. I started tinkering with things around the age of 10. I was going to appy for a job at Capsule Corp., but then I met Vegeta, and I didn't think it would be very fair for me to be living the high life while he was in that alley. I mean, I was already better off than him, I had no need to make him feel any worse. So I stayed here with my wife. But Vegeta has certainly turned the tables on me!" He exclaimed and took a sip of his beer.

"Hmmm. We do have a job position available in my lab. I think you would be just the right guy for it. We have been trying to get a guy who was able to do things similar to this. But I didn't think I'd find someone who was able to do something this complex. This rivals me and my father even!"

Joe nearly spat his beer all over everyone.

"I-it does?!"

"Yes. So that's why I want you to come back with me and talk to my father, show him some of your work. I need someone to help my father out, I won't be working in the lab for much longer if I'm going to have a baby. My father won't be able to keep up with everything by himself."

"Wow. You really mean it?"

"Yeah! Why not? It also means that you will be getting a higher paycheck, and a position of higher power than almost all of the scientists that first start out there. Only the people of the highest intelligence get to work in my lab. You are also welcome to stay at Capsule Corp full time in the guest rooms if you want. Normally I wouldn't let people do that, they would have to stay in the workers quarters, but since you are a friend of Vegeta's, I can make an exception."

She flashed him a friendly smile.

"Wow! Thanks a bunch! My wife will be really happy. She never did like me coming home smelling like hotdogs. I think she was sick of them!"

When Joe and Bulma started talking mechanics and computers, Vegeta tuned out.

He was thinking about what it would be like to be a father.

He hoped that it wouldn't turn out like his family did.

He didn't want his son to lead a life like he had.

His concerned expression caught the attention of Joe.

"What's up little man? Why the long face? Are we getting too technical for ya?"

He smiled.

"Huh?"

Vegeta looked up.

He hadn't caught a word he said.

"I asked you what was up. You look a bit worried."

"Well I am going to be a father. You would be worried as well. I just hope nothing turns out like my life did." He said the last part in a softer voice.

Bulma moved her chair closer to him, which wasn't very far as she was sitting next to him.

"It won't turn out like that 'Geta. Everything will be great and we'll all be happy. You'll be a great daddy."

She smiled and put an arm around his hunched over shoulders, giving him a soft kiss on his temple.

Vegeta gave her a small smile in return and took a sip of his drink.

"Don't look so down little man! You got it made!"

Bulma laughed at Joe's comment.

Seeing Bulma happy and laughing made his mood a bit better and he lent into Bulma's embrace a bit further.  
Joe noticed this small movement.

"Why don't we go into the lounge room? We'll be more comfortable, and you two will have more room to cuddle up!"

He laughed and stood up, finishing the last of his drink and placing the empty bottle next to the bin.

Vegeta and Bulma blushed, moving away from each other, and put their glasses in the sink.

They followed Joe into his lounge room and sat down on the couch.

It was more like Vegeta sat on the couch and Bulma was practically in his lap.

Joe was telling stories to Bulma about when he first met Vegeta, and she told him about what she remembered.

2 hours later they emerged from Joe's house laughing at something.

Both Vegeta and Bulma said their goodbyes and left to go back home.

"I think that Joe is a really nice man. You're lucky to have a friend like him 'Geta." Bulma told him as they drove along the street.

Vegeta only nodded.

"What's gonna happen now? I mean when the baby comes and all." Vegeta asked her after a moment of silence.

"Well it's going to be a bit different. I'll be getting up at all hours of the night to look after him. You'll have to do a lot of things too. Mainly during the 9 months that I'll be carrying the baby, but after that I will be the one doing most of the work."

"Okay."

The rest of the trip was left in an uncomfortable silence.

"Vegeta?" Bulma asked as they pulled up the driveway.

"Yeah?"

"You aren't having second thoughts about this are you? About the baby?"

She turned towards him, waiting for his answer.

Vegeta took a deep breath.

"It's not that..It's just..It's a bit quick don't you think? I'm not sure if I'm ready for it."

Bulma looked hurt, so he turned away.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Look Vegeta. I can understand why you would feel this way. Everything is happening all at once and you must be really confused and scared. But I really want to have this baby. I don't ever want to be with anyone else but you, and I'm really glad this child is yours."

Bulma shifted her hand and placed it on his face.

She expected him to pull away from her, but to her surprise he lent in towards her, nuzzling his face into her hand.

He then reached up and took it in his firm grasp and pulled her closer to him, leaning over the gear stick, and putting his arms around her.

Bulma wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

Vegeta nibbled on her earlobe, slowly moving down to her neck to where he made the mark about a month ago.

Goku, and his mate/wife Chi Chi, had explained to them why all of that happened, and they now knew it was a bond.

**ABOUT 8 MOTHS LATER.**

A tired and sweaty Bulma flopped her head down on the pillow, completely worn out.

She had just given birth to her child and could barely keep her eyes opened any longer.

She held her arms out for the doctor to pass her her little baby boy.

His small and chubby little arms waved up at her as he flailed them everywhere.

A whimper drew her attention from the little bundle in her arms to her bedside instead.

Vegeta was sitting there with a pale face.

He was sweating too, and he was holding his hand in pain.

Bulma had been gripping his hand rather tightly during the birthing process.

"Sorry 'Geta, but it really hurt."

She grinned.

It did nothing to improve his condition.

Bulma winced.

"Hey nurse!" She yelled across the room.

The young woman turned around.

"Yes?" She asked softly.

"Can you get Vegeta an ice pack? I think I hurt his hand."

The lady grinned at her knowingly.

No matter how strong their men thought they were, they nearly always ended up getting hurt when being there with their wives or otherwise.

She nodded and went to fetch the ice pack.

The nurse came back in a few minutes with a nice cold ice pack, and some bandages.

She put the ice on his hand as he whimpered.

It hurt like crazy.

After a while she took off the ice and wrapped the bandages around his hand.

"This will help lower the swelling. I've seen men who have been in here with their wives, and after they left, a few days later the came back with these big bloated hands because they never put anything on it to stop the swelling."

Vegeta grimaced.

After she left, he silently watched Bulma play with their child, cooing softly to him.

Their child.

It sounded right.

He smiled.

Bulma looked up at him as if she knew what what he was thinking.

"You wanna hold him?"

Vegeta nodded and moved closer to the bed.

He held out his arms and Bulma gently placed their son in them.

He brought the infant to his chest and held him there.

The little boy had cerulean eyes, just like his mother.

And he also inherited her odd hair colouring.

"What are we gonna name him?"

"Well, I was . How does that sound?"

She yawned.

"Yeah. That's good."

He looked up.

She looked so tired.

"You should sleep now." He told her.

"You..stay here..too."

She managed to say and she closed her eyes, but still reaching out for him.

Vegeta assumed that she wanted him to stat in the same bed as her, so he carefully got in with her, holding their son protectively between them.

And they all drifted off to sleep together.

As a family.

4 days later, and Bulma was ready to go home.

She held Trunks in her arms as her and Vegeta walked out into the hospital carpark, to where their driver was waiting with her car.

Vegeta didn't know how to drive yet, so he had to get him to drive them instead.

If he did know how, he would be the one doing the driving.

They got in the car and went to Joe's house first.

He greeted them with a smile and was happy to meet the little boy she held in her arms.

Trunks seemed to really like the big man, so it was agreed that when Bulma and Vegeta needed a break from him, Joe and his wife would look after him.

They had always wanted a child of their own, but it would be too hard looking after one full time on their incomes, and on their normal lives, so they would just babysit instead.

While Joe and Bulma talked and watched the little baby in his arms.

Joe's wife took Vegeta to one side and appologized for the way she had reacted in the past, it had just been her reaction to Joe bringing someone who looked like him into the house and trust in him so completely.

She promised that she wouldn't judge people like that again.

He was a bit untrusting at first, but accepted her appology.

Soon it was time for them to leave, even though Joe had wanted them to stay for longer.

Trunks had been crying, he didn't want to go either.

Bulma guessed he had grown an attachment to the man.

Bulma couldn't help but admit to herself that he was handsome.

But she loved Vegeta with all her heart, and would never leave him.

And she didn't think of Joe in any other way than just a friend.

Besides, he loved his wife too much as well.

When they reached their house and walked in the door, Clive and Bunny welcomed them with smiling faces and cheery voices.

They offered to talk Trunks off their hands for a while so they could relax.

Bulma was quick to take up on that offer.

Vegeta and Bulma slowly made their way upstairs to their bedroom.

Bulma was just going to collapse on the bed, but Vegeta helped her get changed first.

He picked her up and threw her on the bed, making her bounce for a bit.

They climbed in under the covers and cuddled up, facing each other with their foreheads touching.

Before Bulma could fall asleep, she kissed his lips tiredly.

"You have no idea how much I love you 'Geta.."

"Yeah I do." He whispered back.

"Guess you aren't abandoned and homeless anymore huh? You have your own family now. And we'll never hurt you." "Yes. And for that I am glad."

Bulma smiled and cuddled into his warm embrace.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep.

Vegeta looked down at her with tired eyes.

A family.

A real family that would never hurt him.

This is what he had always wanted, for his whole life he had dreamed of being part of a family that cared for him.

And now he does.

"I guess dreams do come true." He whispered to the empty room.

He closed his eyes and joined his mate in slumber.

Bunny and Clive were standing at the door with Trunks listening to them.

"I feel really bad about being so mean to him all that time ago. But I'm glad he gave me the chance to make things right. He may not be the rich man, but he is perfect for our daughter." Clive whispered and he and his wife left the room.


End file.

Dragon Ball Z, Humor, Romance