Just a smile
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Part 10
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Vegeta looked after Yamcha, shaking his head. What could be worse than a woman howling in your ears? Maybe Bulma had had a hysterical attack.
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He would show her what he had achieved out there and then she would understand him and forgive him for everything.
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Well ... yes ... he ran his sweaty hair through, maybe he should take a shower first.
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When he pushed open the door to his room, the spit stayed away. It was no longer his room. Not that he'd ever had a lot of bells and whistles, but there were a few things he'd gradually spread around the room. A photo of Vegeta, his planet, Bulma had it enlarged and framed for him for Christmas, a fist-sized fragment of the planet melted and shiny, still in Freezer's time during a secret detour from a mission, got hold of a few memory chips with records of his Training that he watched every now and then to filter out weak points.<br />
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None of it was there anymore. The room was completely empty. Vegeta tore open the cupboards. Not a single item of clothing was left on the shelves.
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What was that supposed to mean? Was this how Bulma was trying to get rid of him? He would get out of her where his things had gone. Since her room, kitchen, and living room were empty, only the workshop was left.
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Vegeta didn't think of knocking, he just yanked the door open and stomped into the room, rather annoyed. Bulma sat with her back to him at her computer and typed long rows of numbers in quick succession. The heavy braid that dangled on her back could not possibly have grown in the short time, obviously she had helped more than a little. Vegeta stuck his protest in his throat. How fragile she looked and yet she had the strength to endure his torment. With a quiet throat he draws attention to himself.She was about to drive around, jump up, pounce on him ...
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Her fingers paused for a moment before flitting across the keys at exactly the same pace. Click, click, click ...
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"Will you stop by again, Vegeta?"
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Vegeta, who had already shifted his weight to take a step in her direction, paused. What an indifferent voice it was. Was she trying to get back at him that way for first kidnapping her and then sending her back? He swallowed. "Yes, I'm back, Bulma. How are you?"
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"Thank you, the after-effects of the poison wore off quite a while ago. The doctors confirm that I'm perfectly healthy." Was that really Bulma he was talking to? Growing uncertain, Vegeta stepped closer to her until he could see the slightly distorted reflection of her face on the screen. Of course it was. Paler than he remembered her, also a little narrower, which emphasized the cheekbones and made them look younger.But the curve of her neck, her long, dexterous fingers, the way she leaned forward to look at a row of numbers, knitting her eyebrows together ... that was her and no one else.
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“Are you still angry with me that I sent you back?” In the past he would have preferred to bite off his tongue before asking such a question, but she always got so wonderfully angry and her eyes had so wonderfully sparkled with life .
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Her eyes ... he wanted to look her in the eye, to see that everything was back to normal, that they could pick up where they had left off ...
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Without thinking for a long time, he grabbed the back of the swivel chair and swung it around so that he could look directly into Bulma's eyes. She didn't yell at him. She didn't hiss and she didn't avoid his intensely searching gaze. ... After a few seconds, Vegeta wished she had. A layer of ice lay over the turquoise, which used to be so stormy that it looked like frozen, dirty pond water.She couldn't write without the keyboard, so she put her hands loosely on her lap. Damn it, he wanted her to reach out for him, for her to cling to him, for her to cry, scream and laugh, for her to scold and above all for her to kiss him. This wish frightened him almost as much as her indifference. She seemed to have lost all her warmth, all her fire. What happened? Had his cruel words smothered it? Was it his fault in the end?
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A kiss, maybe a kiss would freeze her. He was too distraught to be tender as he grabbed her chin, lifted it, and pressed his lips rough against hers. Bulma does not defend herself. She let it happen, but her lips stayed cold and dry. There was no sweetness, no longing, no temptation ... he could have kissed a rock too.
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Bulma's indifference took the wind out of his sails. At a loss, Vegeta let go of her chin and stepped back.She still didn't say anything, didn't even look at him.
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"I'm ... sorry. I just ... just wanted to know if ..." he stammered. Cursed! How he hated it when someone upset him that way!
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"Now you know," she said calmly. "I'm not mad at you, Vegeta."
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“No?” Hope stirred in him. Was it just a bad joke, a lesson?
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"No, you did the right thing. Did you manage to become a Super Saiyan like Gokou?"
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“Yes!” As eager as a little boy who presents his mother with a task that has been solved, he let his aura shine and transformed. Was there a shadow on her face?
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“Congratulations.” She turned back to the computer and continued typing.
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Vegeta transformed back. “Congratulations?” Somehow the feeling of being in a nightmare grew stronger. "Is that all you say? Do you know how hard it was to get this far?I even repaired your suit several times before it was so damaged that it no longer worked. I wanted to thank you again for that, without him I probably wouldn't have survived the training. "
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Again her fingers hovered over the keys for a moment, then she wrote quickly on. "Did you dispose of the leftovers?"
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"No, they are still in the spaceship, I thought ... maybe you could ...", he didn't know if it was the right time to make such a request.
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"I'm sorry," Bulma didn't even look at him, "I'm currently in an important project. Maybe you will ask my father."
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Vegeta had never seen her pass one of her works on so easily. Most of the time she was very attached to her inventions. "What kind of project is that?"
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"The details would be too high for you. Why don't you pack your stuff and take off?"
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He flinched as if she'd hit him.An open expulsion? That was the last thing he expected. His hands clenched into fists. "If you tell me where my things are and I've replenished my supplies, I'll be gone in a second."
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"So much the better," came the sound from the door. Vegeta whipped around and looked into Safrano's grinning face. "You heard my fiancée. She no longer feels like feeding a parasite like you."
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“Fiance ... fiancee?” He must have misheard.
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“Well, it's not official yet, but soon our two companies will merge and, to top it off, our engagement will be celebrated.” Safrano walked around the frozen Vegeta and stepped over to Bulma. A quick look, a narrow, contemptuous smile in the direction of Saiyan, then he bent down to Bulma, stroked her hair gently and put his hand on her shoulder. "You have worked enough for today, my dear.It's time again to visit Professor Manhip. "
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“Good, Safrano.” Bulma saved her files, closed all programs and let Safrano pull her up. In front of Vegeta's eyes, Safrano gave her a long, long kiss.
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Vegeta awoke from his stupor. So that's how it was. She had teamed up with one of her own kind. It was getting cold and colder inside him. What an idiot he was. Did he actually think that all of her feelings would be honest, real, and lasting? Apparently, through the experiences on the slave ship, she was no longer herself when she had saved his life. Out. Past. Oh well, it hadn't even started yet. Good for him, because if he had got really soft it would tear him apart now. But since it never got that far, it left him pretty cold who Bulma was with.
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"I'm looking for my things," he said. Not more. There were things to fight for.Honor, vengeance, satisfaction. That between him and Bulma, well, it obviously hadn't been worth a second thought. Why did he still have the urgent need to turn the pale neck of this snob? Vegeta pushed the thought aside. It wasn't too long before the cyborgs appeared. That was what he had to focus on. Just on it.
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He turned the corner and almost knocked over Frau Briefs. Her otherwise carefree smiling face was unusually serious. “Vegeta!” Before he knew it, she had slapped him on the face. "That's for kidnapping Bulma and saying mean things to her out there after what she did for you."
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Too much had built up in Vegeta. He grabbed Bulma's mother by the hand and pulled her into the garden after him. There he let go of her and sent all frustration and anger into the sky in a gigantic beam of energy. Panting and sweating, he turned to the astonished Frau Briefs.<br />
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“What's going on here ?!” The windows rattled all around and Frau Briefs pressed her hands over her ears in shock.
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"Ts ... Ts ...". 'Bulma stepped out of the house in Safrano's company. Safrano shook his face sadly. "How can you make such a barbaric amount of noise?"
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Bulma's face was as rigid as a mask. She didn't smile, nor did she show anger. Before, she would have rushed towards him and her vocal power would have overshadowed his. But now she let Safrano lead her to the street without looking at her mother or Vegeta. Frau Briefs dropped her hands and sighed heavily.
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Safrano took a capsule out of his jacket pocket, squeezed it, and threw it on the street. There was a bang and