Disclaimer: I do not own Bulma or Vegeta sadly. They are the brainchild of Akira Toriyama. Shonen Jump/Viz/ Toei Animation Studios Ltd. own DBZ. This is a work of fan fiction, not meant to harm the series or anime.

 

Chinks in the Armor 5

 

By Trynia Merin

***

 

Vegeta had again cleaned himself, walking out of the bathroom to pull on the bodysuit. Overtop his chest he drew the armor she had made him. Then he pulled on his gloves one by one. Bulma slowly blinked up and extended her hand to him.

 

"Vegeta, where are you going?"

 

"To train," he said softly, walking over and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

 

"Be careful out there, huh? Don't be gone… too long?" she asked.

 

"I come and go as I please," he said.

 

"I know, but don't be a stranger," she answered, leaning up and letting the sheets fall off. Vegeta let her wrap him in an embrace. She pulled herself to straddle his lap without a stitch of clothes on her own body. Strangely, Vegeta felt his arms wrapping around her as well as he held her there.

 

"There is no guarantee WHEN I'll come back, Bulma. I cannot live here like a trained pet like your scar faced idiot. You can't keep me here," he reminded her.

 

"You're going far away, aren't you?" she asked. Vegeta stroked her cheek and felt her soft nipping on his ear.

 

"I can't get what I need here. Not even with what you can do," he said.

 

"You can, if you go into space like Goku did," said she.

 

"What?" Vegeta asked, looking down at her.

 

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, hugging him tightly. Vegeta's gloved hands caressed her breasts, then her back as he pulled her to sit flush with him. The idea that she could not touch him with her soft skin while wearing his armor was a strange turn-on. Yet, she was willing to hold him even now. Softly she brushed her lips to his, then thrust her tongue past his lips. Vegeta returned the kiss, simply letting his tongue explore her mouth while he caressed her.

 

"Vegeta, if you take Capsule 4, and set it to high gravity, you can train in as much as you want. Out in space there is nobody to get in your way. Except meteors and comets," she whispered.

 

"You would just let me go? Like that?" he asked quietly, nipping at her ear, then pulling back to draw a gloved finger over her nose.

 

"Yes. Because you'd leave anyway," Bulma sniffled. "So I might as well help you."

 

"Smart woman," Vegeta answered. He held her there, not knowing why he let her so close, but the thought of her understanding him was terrifying.

 

"Everything tells me that you'll forget this happened now and here. That you'll just be cold and rude. However, I can accept it. I don't know why, but if I expected anything else, it wouldn't be fair, Vegeta," Bulma swallowed, squeezing him tightly.

 

"Bulma, I'll only say this once. Thank you," Vegeta whispered.

 

"You're going to leave me alone, and go train in space till you become a Super Saiyan. I knew that would happen. And that's why I am not begging you to stay. I know you as well as you know me," she whispered.

 

"And that is how it will be. But you won't be alone," Vegeta answered, letting her go.

 

"What?" Bulma asked.

 

"You're a smart woman, you'll know what I mean, in a few months," Vegeta answered, leaning down to kiss her lips.

 

Bulma slid out of his arms, too exhausted to protest. Sleep seemed welcome as he pulled the blankets around her. Clear in her mind was the image of him turning to leave. Nevertheless, his hand rested on her abdomen.

 

"I won't be ready to admit he's mine. I'm not the sort of man who wanted it to happen, but it did," Vegeta answered. "But we both took the responsibilities and it's done."

 

"Vegeta… what do you mean?"

 

"I left something for you, to remember me by. One way or another, I cannot be with you. But he can," Vegeta answered. "Goodbye Bulma. You will see me again, but it will not be like this. Not until I can prove my supremacy and defeat those tin cans."

 

Tears blurred her sight, and Bulma reached out to him as Vegeta turned. This time he did not look back, simply closing the door behind him. Curling up again, she let herself cry bitterly. Instinct told her that was what she could expect, but her mind told her that he had given her something more valuable then she could ever have hoped. Strange visions of Gohan as a child filled her thoughts, and Bulma slept wearily.

 

By the time she again wakened in Vegeta's abandoned bungalow, she knew he was gone. Whatever senses had revealed his nature to her also revealed an aching hole. She wiped her tears, sitting up and seeing that the room was empty of any belongings. It looked as if nobody had been there, like a faded dream. Yet, the strange blue buzzing in her body whispered of other possibilities. She had played with fire only to be burned badly.

 

"I am alone," she whispered, getting up and sitting with her legs drawn to her chin. Her arms wrapped around her shapely thighs and she mourned the strange ache in her chest. She did not realize she had a heart to break.

 

"He can be with me?" Bulma asked.

 

Then she put the pieces together. Stretching out to lie flat, she lay her hand over where his had been. Lower down on her belly below her navel and above the junction of her legs he had touched. He said he had left her something to remember him by. Yet, by the emptiness of the neatly tidied room it was not anything physical.

 

ALTERNATIVELY, was it? A small smile came to Bulma's face. She stroked her belly, and began to laugh. How could she be so dense? Of COURSE, he had left her something. Granted she would not see it for a few months but as her body adapted to the change, she would feel it. Nine months from now she would hold it in her arms and see how much he reminded her of Vegeta. A child. The only part of Vegeta that he was able to give her permanently.

 

"Maybe I'll name him Trunks," she chuckled. Vegeta would blow his stack if he came home to a baby with that name.