CHAPTER FIVE: The Tears of the Prince's Arrogance
"That BITCH!" he internally screamed, as the pain of his confrontation with Bulma ripped at him more than the howling winds ever could have. "THAT SELF-CENTRED, INSOLENT, IRRATIONAL BITCH!" NO. SHE ISN'T SELF-CENTRED, OR IRRATIONAL, OR INSOLENT, OR EVEN A BITCH! he reasoned with himself but his heart wouldn't take heed of his head; he flew, arrogantly, blindly, through a random forest, not caring how many trees he crashed into or how many animals he hurt. Even in his anger, the Saiyan Prince's warped philosophy was "self first, self last and self always". And it was his greatest weakness, other than his Princess.
I didn't mean any of that. Vegeta tried to reason as his stubborn head ploughed directly into an enormous oak, which felled instantly but, once again, his incessant pride blinded him to the obvious and he carried on his path of destruction regardless. He was running from her, her and her child, and it pained him to know what her reaction would be like. How deeply shocked and hurt she must have been to hear such evil words escape his "perfectly soft" lips.
He allowed his tears to flow freely, even though they clouded his vision, as the numbing reality of what he had just done set in. He had lost the only one who he had ever cared for and it hurt like hell, it truly did. It felt like Frieza was pushing samurai swords, deep into his infernal heart a million times over, then callously laughing at his pain.
Had Vegeta been a normal, vaguely rational person, perhaps he would have realised what he was about to do was possibly the least sensible course of action he could have taken: his mind had been made up, he was going to sever all contacts with Bulma Briefs. Then-maybe he could get over her. No, he thought. I'll never get over her. If I live forever, it will never, EVER be long enough.
He forced himself to stop at a nearby clearing and he perched, carelessly and haphazardly, upon a large log. He allowed himself, there, away from all distractions, to let his emotions do whatever they pleased; if they led him to some sort of logical conclusion, then all well and good. But, if they didn't, so be it. For the first time in his life he couldn't have cared less. His life was in tatters-he had no home, and he couldn't bring himself to even THINK of Bulma. To boot, he knew it was only a matter of time before Goku got there and tried to make him see sense. With that thought in mind, he hastily suppressed his power level, and hoped against all hope that his arch rival couldn't locate him.
Vegeta felt as though he was in an ocean of emotional turmoil and that every wave was a word, a thought or an action Bulma would hate him even more than she did now for saying, thinking or doing. I hope she isn't too upset, he thought, then grimaced. It didn't take all Vegeta's intelligence to figure out that she would be crying right about now. He was, for God's sake, so she was bound to be.
Vegeta felt as though he being shredded to pieces by small razors of feelings that sifted through him. They all conflicted, met up and went their seperate but equally painful ways from within him. He attempted to calm down, and try to sort out his torrential emotions but it was futile. He was too mixed up to know or care of individual thoughts. His ignorance wouldn't let him see the blindingly obvious. He couldn't throw away the best thing in his life, or indeed the best thing that had ever happened to him.
"Well, maybe I should apologise." he wondered aloud. "I threw her three miles high, she has a lot of right to be a little pissed." Then again, he reasoned, once again in his mind, she brought up all the crap with the me and my carelessness.
ULTIMATELY YOUR FAULT, VEGETA....
Vegeta smacked himself sharply across the cheek and lay roughly on the forest floor not caring about anything but Bulma's moods. He didn't want to feel her emotions for himself, however he couldn't handle the raw pain she was bound to be feeling at this precise moment and he knew she'd never let him into her mind right now anyway.
"DAMN IT, I NEED CLARITY!" he shouted out to no-one, or so he thought.
"You're telling me!" an all-too-familiar voice called out, and the man whom it belonged to sweeped down without effort to the floor of the wood.
"What is it with you?" Vegeta asked angrily, staring at Goku's face above him.
"Right back at you," the taller Saiyan shot back, uncharacteristically rude. "I could KILL you for what you have done to Bulma, she nearly threw herself off the lookout she's that distraught."
"OH."
"Yeah. Now, Vegeta, I don't know what it is with you right now. First you nearly leave her, then you almost kill her three goddamn times, now this! And frankly, I don't want to know, because it is PATHETIC, you hear me? PATHETIC."
Vegeta bolted up from the floor and stood right in Goku's face. "Do NOT patronise me Kakarott," he growled, although Goku's livid face didn't even flinch.
"Screw you, Vegeta," Goku shouted. "Screw your selfish attitude, screw your life up for all I care. All I care about is Bulma and her happiness, and the fact that I won't let her get pushed around by YOU. I don't know what they did back home, Vegeta, but here, women aren't soft toys without emotions."
"PISS OFF!"
Vegeta lunged for Goku, violently and erratically. However, Goku merely laughed without wit, and threw him off easily. "There you go.....................fighting to solve your problems AGAIN," Goku yelled, as he dodged various blows the Prince threw at him. "Perhaps, if it doesn't displease his ROYAL HIGHNESS too much, maybe you should try embracing your emotions, rather than just letting them sit there and fester, pulling you into a million pieces every time you try to sort out a different one. You are suffering, Vegeta, because you are looking at your feelings, but you seem unable to analyse them and therefore eradicate them from your mind."
"I DO NOT NEED ADVICE FROM YOU!"
"Oh really?"
"YES, REALLY!"
"Well, I beg to differ after seeing the state your supposed girlfriend is in," Goku answered casually, stopping Vegeta from smacking the hell out of him. "She needs you Vegeta, and so does your child...and deep down, I know you need them both too."
"I DON'T NEED ANYONE BUT MYSELF."
"VEGETA, GET A GRIP! YOUR STUPID SENSE OF PRIDE IS CLOUDING YOUR JUDGEMENT!" Goku shrieked at him, having to work harder and harder to keep the infuriated member of Saiyan royalty at bay. "LET YOUR EMOTIONS GRAB YOU, THEN YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF!"
"NO! EMOTIONS ARE FOR WEAKLINGS!" Vegeta bellowed, going Super Saiyan in a flash, as Goku copied directly afterwards.
Goku grabbed Vegeta's hair and smacked him around the face, hard. "STOP THIS CRAP RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE GOING TO THROW AWAY THE THING YOU CARE ABOUT MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE OF YOUR PRIDE?!"
"YES, I AM." Vegeta replied almost defiantly, wincing from the blow.
"THEN YOU ARE A BIGGER IDIOT THAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE!"
"WARRIORS ALWAYS KEEP THEIR PRIDE INTACT, NO MATTER WHAT! IT IS THE SAIYAN WAY!"
"THE SAIYAN RACE IS GONE, VEGETA!"
"AND BEING THE ONLY SURVIVING SAIYANS WE MUST KEEP UP THIS TRADITION!"
"ENOUGH!" Goku powered down in a flash, and was almost instantly back at his normal power level.
"I am leaving, you are beyond reproach," Goku said sadly. "If you are too much of a fool to see that we all have emotions to deal with, then I pity you. If your pride matters that much to you that you'll sacrifice the two things alive that truly care about you in order to keep it, then all I can say Vegeta, is that you are an idiot. If you want them back then you'd better start soon or you'll lose the things that matter most to you. Bulma and your child. Not HER child, Vegeta, your child. The child that needs a father, not just a mother. The child that you made, and you are responsible for as much as she is. Do you not think she is scared? Do you think she was jumping for joy when she found out? NO. But you are too selfish to care about how she must feel. She's the one who has to carry that child and bare that emotional brunt of that. Maybe you should try sharing out your thoughts a little, if it isn't too strenous for you, PRINCE. Some Prince! TRUE Princes don't abandon their families like you do. PRIDE? Screw pride. All your pride flew out the window when you carelessly shouted at Bulma. If you cannot take heed of what I am attempting to tell you then I hope YOU rot, you heartless bastard." And with his piece said, Goku raised his fingers to his forehead, and disappereared in a flash.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Vegeta let lose a catastrophic big bang attack at the spot where Goku had been standing only moments ago and watched, with immense sastifaction, as the landscape was shredded. Wild animals squawked in utter panic.
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Vegeta screamed, as an intense pain in his chest grabbed him all of a sudden and he crashed the ground, his Super Saiyan powers depleting rapidly. His hair quickly turned back to its regular, obsidian colouring, and the Prince collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.