Just a smile
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Part 12
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Bulma stood there frozen for a few seconds. No, just not that. Then her eyes fell on the life form display. It blinked green. Her heart jumped, but then it occurred to her that some large mammals in the ruins could also be to blame for these values. It didn't help, she had to see with her own eyes whether Vegeta had died in this wreck.
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She slipped into the padded jacket, checked her pockets, whether all the necessary little things were where they should be and opened the hatch. Cool, dry air flowed towards her. She glanced at the display on her multifunction bracelet. Amazingly low germ count, in short, ideal conditions to preserve organic material for a long time. The thought flickered briefly that at least Vegeta's corpse would not have rotted beyond recognition ... but Bulma quickly suffocated again.<br />
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As she stepped out of the hatch, she sucked in the cool air and coughed. It was very dry out here. She quickly went back to the ship to get a water bottle. With every step a reddish cloud rose up, so that at the end Bulma had to tie a veil over her mouth and nose in order not to keep coughing. The gravity was above that of the earth, if only by a third. It made every step a little more strenuous, so that Bulma had worked up a sweat when she arrived at the wreck. After a short pause, she walked around the ship and looked for the remains of the hatch. It was tightly closed and no matter how hard Bulma pulled on it, it did not want to open. Probably the impact and heat had deformed the hatch so much that it could only be blown up. Sighing, Bulma gave up and tried to get inside through the hole. That was pretty difficult because of the cables hanging all over the place (there was a spark at quite a few of the torn ends) and the jagged, sharp edges of the broken shell.She finally managed to climb inside the ship with a minimum of scratches and abrasions. It had mainly hit the lower holds, she was relieved to see. The supplies were of course all scorched or crushed, the water tanks leaked and leaked.
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What did it look like above? Fortunately for her, the hatch was open and the ladder was still intact, so she could climb up into the quarters. Here, too, there was pure chaos. The closet with the overalls was open, all the clothes were strewn on the floor, the bed looked as if someone had rummaged through it with force and tore holes in the mattress. She couldn't go into the kitchen because the smashed furniture blocked her entrance. Bulma didn't move her to the side either, because a look over the pile showed her that Vegeta wasn't to be found here either.
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All that remained was the training and control room. Bulma had hesitated so far to call Vegeta for fear that he would not be able to answer her anymore, but while she slowly climbed upstairs, she took heart and called his name out loud.On the fifth from the top, she paused and listened, but all she could hear was her own breathing.
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Still she didn't want to believe it and took the last few steps with hurried steps. Maybe he was outside and exploring the area? But when she put her foot on the deck and turned towards the monitor ...
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"No !!!" With three steps she was there and fell to her knees. Before her lay the hunched body of the Saiyan. Her fingers were trembling so much that she could barely find the spot with the pulse. His skin was cool but not cold, and there was a throbbing beneath her fingertips, faint but distinctive.
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Tears of relief streamed down Bulma's cheeks as she bent her face down to him and breathed a kiss on his chapped lips. Cracked? No wonder he was so weak, without his water supplies he was probably close to dying of thirst. Bulma hurriedly pulled her water bottle from her belt and put a few drops on his mouth.He responded and opened his lips further, greedily licking the moisture off. Bulma grabbed his shoulders and pulled him so that she could rest his head on her lap. A few more drops, a small sip, then a bigger one ... After a couple of puffs the bottle was empty. Bulma put them aside and stroked his sunken car. His eyelids fluttered and finally, finally he opened his eyes ... and stared past Bulma's face, blankly looking at the ceiling as if she weren't there.
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"Ve ... Vegeta ...", Bulma stammered confused. "It's me ..."
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Vegetas turned his head. "Bulma, is it you?"
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“Who else, you fool?” The joy brought new tears to her eyes. "I know I look awful, but ..."
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Vegeta raised an arm and touched her face like she had never seen him do before. Carefully, groping, almost as if ... Bulma swallowed. It couldn't be, could it?<br />
She took his hand and nuzzled her cheek against his palm. "I came to take you home, Vegeta. Thanks to your flowers and your letter, I found myself again. We noticed too late that Safrano was tampering with the autopilot. As soon as Papa's spaceship was ready to go, I went to the Searching for you done. I'm sorry I didn't come earlier ... "
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"So Safrano ...", Vegeta sighed and closed his eyes. "Did you chase him the hell?"
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"You can bet on that," smiled Bulma. "We'll never see him again."
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"I definitely don't."
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Bulma's heart sank. So it was true. "How ... how did it happen? I can't see any injuries."
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"When I wanted to land here, the probes shot at the ship and hit the storage room. The drive also took something and I fell like a stone. I only know how the planet raced towards me, then everything went black and I felt a hit.Somehow the emergency drive must have started at the last moment, at least when I came to, I hadn't broken anything, everything was safe except for one thing. It took me a while to figure out that I had run out of water. You noticed how dry the air is here. I found a few more fruits and tried to ration them, but at some point there was nothing left ... "
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"And then you raged like a mad boar, didn't you?" "It's a miracle that you didn't blow up the whole planet right away."
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Her dry sarcasm forced a sad half smile on Vegeta's lips. It cut Bulma in the heart, but she didn't let it show. Determined, she got up and took Vegeta by both hands.
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"Up with you. We're going to my ship. It's more humid there and I still have all the water.You can drink as much as you want and above all you will bathe. "
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"What for?"
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"Because you're stinking like a mangy badger with athlete's foot again, that's why. Besides, your hair is staring with dirt."
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Vegeta reluctantly let Bulma pull her to her feet. As soon as she saw that he had a firm grip, she let go of his hands. How gladly would she have fallen around his neck, hugged him and told him what she was feeling. But in his current condition he would take it for pity and push her back. She only had one chance to make him see his senses and she would use it, even if it tore her heart apart.
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“Come on, come on!” She walked slowly but resolutely to the stairs. When she turned around, she still saw him standing in the same place. "What is, do you need an extra invitation?"
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"Don't you want to lead me as one does my own kind?" His voice dripped with cynicism and self-contempt.<br />
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"As far as I know, aren't Saiyans your age very frail or do you suffer from rheumatism?" Countered Bulma. "You may have lost your eyesight, but you are not deaf. So make an effort to follow my voice. Besides, you know every hand's breadth in this ship, so don't pretend to be softer than Safrano!" "
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That sat. She saw Vegeta flinch and turned her back on him to slowly but relentlessly descend the steps.
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How could she? Vegeta ground her teeth. When he opened his eyes and saw only darkness again, but heard her voice and felt her gentle touch, his heart had beat faster with happiness. But then it occurred to him in what pathetic condition he was and would have loved to sink into the ground. He had expected that she would mourn the loss of his eyesight with him, that she would care and pamper, show him every step and take care of every move.He had expected her to treat him for what he had become, a useless, helpless blind man. But she, she pretended he was still the same, as if he were still capable of the things that he had done with ease in the past. As if ...
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In three steps he was on the stairs. His hand automatically reached for the railing. Below he heard Bulma descending the last step, taking three steps to the side and tapping the floor impatiently with the tip of her foot.
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"We shouldn't put down roots here, so don't dawdle like that!" She called up to him. Vegeta gripped the railing tighter. He felt the steel begin to give way under his fingers. Who did she think she was talking to ?! After all, he was the prince of the Saiyan and not a lackey! Apparently he had to give her his opinion again.
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Before he knew it, he was halfway up the stairs, a lot easier than the first time, when he had almost fallen down the stairs in panic in search of water.The rhythm, the number of steps, the sound of his steps, none of that was alien to him. When he got downstairs, Bulma was already at the hatch. Vegeta paused at the bottom of the stairs. He remembered all too well the havoc he had wreaked down here in his first desperation.
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How could he find his way through this chaos without tripping over something and making a fool of himself in front of Bulma. Carefully he put one foot in front of the other, always pointing to the place where he heard Bulma fiddling with the hatch. Strangely enough, his fumbling toe did not get caught in any fabric or hit a piece of the smashed furniture. When he felt the breeze