Just a smile
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Part 6
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With a jerk the spaceship took off and raced into the sky. The shock wave rattled all the windows in the neighborhood.
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The take-off acceleration pushed Bulma deep into her seat and she was grateful that she had reflexively buckled the seat belts. Her scream was still in her throat and she was horrified to see the clouds rushing past on the monitor, then it turned gray and black and the stars blinked.
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The pressure eased and a green light glowed above the monitor. Resolutely, Bulma undid her seat belt and stalked to Vegeta, who was frantically entering numbers into the on-board computer.
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"What ... what were you thinking, Vegeta?" Bulma snapped at him. "Turn around immediately and take me home!"
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"That would take too much energy," Vegeta said without looking up from the keys. "And now don't bother me or the devil knows where we'll end up."
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"Then let me fly that thing," replied Bulma."I can take you to any damn star in this galaxy."
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Vegete turned his head briefly and a fleeting grin crossed his concentrated face. "Why do you think I took you with me."
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"You don't need a navigator," said Bulma, shaking her head. "My father must have long since entered the destinations you want into the autopilot."
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"Right, but what if something goes wrong?" Asked Vegeta. "After my last trip, I want to cover myself as well as possible."
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He entered the last combination of numbers and sat back. The autopilot took over and they sped past Mars, through the asteroid belt, and between Jupiter and Io.
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"Now don't make a fuss Bulma. The one lethal injection at the party made me aware that you can fix almost anything with almost nothing. So be glad that I appreciate your talent."
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<br />"Oh? Should I be grateful that you kidnapped me just because you needed an assistant mechanic?" Bulma was boiling.
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"I don't just need you for this," Vegeta said quickly. "I don't like canned food either, and your father built a small kitchen down there. My morning training will be over in three hours and you'll have time to cook me something."
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Bulma looked like she wanted to jump at his throat and that's how she felt. "Shall I wash and straighten your clothes for you and build some probes for your training?"
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The tone of voice should have warned Vegeta, but his mind was already on his first goal and therefore said without thinking: "Actually, I don't necessarily need it, but if you are bored after cleaning and tidying up ..."
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"Arrgh!" Bulma exploded, took a swing and ... was stopped by Vegeta, who easily caught her arm with one hand."Nobody ...", he said softly and threateningly, so that everyone else would be afraid and afraid, "nobody beats a Saiyan without paying for it."
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But Bulma wasn't just anyone. Although she knew what he was capable of with his powers, she did not lower her angry glare. "You don't dare to beat up your precious mechanic," she teased him unabashedly. "Who else should you put your spaceship back together if you damage it?"
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She reached out with her free hand and since Vegeta was so absolutely convinced of his intimidation tactics, this time he reacted too slowly and gossip! he had the imprint of her hand on his face. "That's for not asking me. For not letting me pack and I don't even have a change of clothes with me. For not even being able to say goodbye to my parents!" Bulma kept getting stronger into her anger, lashed out again, but this time he caught her second arm as well.She hung helplessly in his iron grip. Tears pooled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor. Tears of anger, but also tears of pain and helplessness.
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Vegeta didn't know what to do. He couldn't fight back. Shouting at her or shaking her would add to the tears, and he hated tears, especially Bulma's. Otherwise she was so tough, so imperturbable, so beastly. He preferred that, because seeing her cry like that made him feel helpless and that in turn made him angry. She should finally stop ... it wasn't that terrible to fly into space again. After all, she had flown to Namek with Gohan and Kililyn. Did she hate the thought of this trip so much because it was there? The thought stung him and he let go of her arms. She stopped trying to hit him, but her tears wouldn't stop flowing.<br />
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Vegeta swallowed and turned away from her. "Happened happened, you'll come to terms with it. Now go downstairs and wash your face. You look awful."
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Bulma sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She didn't know what had come over her, maybe the frustration of all the past days, the pain of parting that she had carried around with her and which had now been pissed off after all. "It's okay, Vegeta. I'm not crying anymore," she said, taking a deep breath.
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Vegeta let out a sigh of relief. Apparently she had recovered.
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"You deserve the slap and I won't apologize for it," said Bulma and went to the spiral staircase. "I'll see if I can find something reasonably suitable to wear somewhere. But I'll tell you one thing," she turned around again briefly, "we will fly to the first civilized planet that we will pass and then I'll go shopping and if I have to sell half the spare parts for it! "<br />
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With that she climbed down the spiral staircase. Vegeta watched her go and shook his head. It was impossible to make sense of her. In any case, the lower part of the ship was shielded from the effects of the gravitational converter, otherwise Bulma would be in real danger at a hundred G. Vegeta adjusted the overalls and raised the converter. Time for the first round ...
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.................................................. .
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Bulma tossed the orange jumpsuit back in the closet in frustration. Apparently her father had several models of combat suits here, including Son Gokous. Unfortunately, none of them suited her.
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Hopefully soon they would encounter a civilized world. Bulma saw herself walking through the brightly lit streets with dirty clothes and then she would be arrested by the local authorities for vagrancy. With no money, she couldn't bail and would end up as a slave in some ore mine on a distant asteroid ... all because of that idiot from Saiyan!<br />
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She stared angrily at the ceiling. He had a closet full of clothes and she didn't even have fresh laundry. Well, if she would wash her current clothes every day, her father had built a washing machine with a dryer somewhere.
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When Vegeta came downstairs to shower three hours later, sweaty, Bulma was sitting at the table sipping hot coffee while she wrote a long, long grocery list. But it wasn't that that made Vegeta rub her eyes, but her elevator. Bulma had put on one of Vegeta's black overalls (which were a better size than Gokou's pieces). The deep neckline at the front and the cut at the hips a little too tight for her figure made her look downright forbidden.
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"You can stuff your stuff in the laundry with mine, then close the lid and press the green button," she said without looking at him. She mentally went through the items on her list and decided that she needed three more work overalls, but those of the practical kind with lots of pockets.<br />
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Vegeta tore his gaze from her with some effort and stomped into the bathroom. When he, freshly showered and changed, dropped his clothes into the laundry drum, he saw Bulma's panties and bra lying in them. So she had nothing on under the overalls ... Assuming she would also get soaking wet, maybe while repairing the cooling system ... Vegeta swallowed hard and closed the lid of the washing machine. With thoughts like that, how should he focus on his training?
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With the firm determination not to be disturbed, he pressed the green button and left the bathroom.
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"Where's the food?" He asked Bulma and looked around.
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"Bad news, Your Highness," said Bulma dryly. "I can take apart and assemble any kitchen appliance, but I can't cook."
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"But ... but your mother ...?"
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"Why do you think I still live at home? Because I hate household chores and prefer to be in the workshop.Seriously, have you ever seen me cook or bake? It's bad enough that I always have to clean up after you ... "
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"So canned food?"
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"Guess."
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At that moment an alarm rang through the ship. Bulma and Vegeta looked at each other briefly and then rushed up the stairs.
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Space could be seen on the monitor, stars blinked in the distance, but near, far too close for Bulma's taste, something blinked that the on-board computer identified as a "ship of unknown origin".
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"Who can that be?" Wondered Bulma. "Remnants of Freezer's forces?"
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"That wouldn't be a problem," Vegeta mumbled and read the values ​​a third time, hoping he might have been wrong. "That's a Phelesen ship out there."
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"A what ??"
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"A ship of the Phelesen. Or rather one of them."
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"Only one? That thing is a hundred times the size of ours!" Bulma looked sharply at Vegeta. "Are they dangerous, these Pheles ... something?"<br />
"Well, Freezer preferred to do business with them than mess with them. They are considered the greatest gamers in the universe. On their way from one gambler's paradise to the next, they like to freshen up their coffers with the slave trade ..."
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Bulma turned pale around her nose. "Slave trade? Seriously?"
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"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
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"Then we should put as much vacuum as possible between us and this ship."
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Bulma sat at the controls and switched off the autopilot. "Let's see, where can we