Vegeta sneezes once more and he frowns. "Damnit, I hate winter! And...Snow." He walks into his bedroom and looks around in the darkness. He stares at his bed and finds it inviting. He doesn't bother to remove his wet clothing as he climbs onto bed and lays in the center. He thinks about the way Bulma had looked at him. Was she accually worried about him? He growls in frustration, his thoughts drifting to the kiss he'd given her earlier today. It had felt so right to him, his lips pressed to her in a lock of passion. His heart had nearly skipped a beat when he'd wrapped his arms around her waist and allowed himself to go. He somehow had to admit the fact that he loved her or he would continue to avoid her in hope of severing the bond that he'd now begun to form with her. She had no idea how much torture this was putting him through and he curls up into a fetal position. He shivers slightly waiting for sleep to overcome him. How could he allow his pride to fall to such a level that he'd even consider mating with a human woman? What would his father think if he saw him now? He was the last full blooded saiyan besides Goku. He contemplates the idea of never finding a mate and living a lonely life with no one to hold...no children to pass on his blood and power. Just a solitary life that had no meaning in which he'd slowly faded to the background where everyone regarded him with either fear or hatred. He shudders to think of what he might become if he allows himself to drift into the debts of depression.<br><i>Bulma... rrrrr...God damnit! I can't allow this! I can't just simply allow myself to stoop so low! What is this that I'm feeling?! I hate it!</i><br>As Vegeta fought the endless battle between his emotions and his pride he drifts into a deep sleep that seemed to carry on forever. He began to dream... <br><font color=blue>~~~~~Dream World~~~~~</font><br>He finds himself floating in a black void. The silence was eerie and he wonders what he is doing here. He sees an image of Bulma standing before him... his eyes widen as she walks towards him, her arms open and a smile crossing her rosey pink lips. He stares at her, taking in the beauty of her and he reaches out to her timidly, ignoring the boundaries that he'd set between him and the bond that he had begun to form without even realizing. Everything about her made him shiver with an excitement that felt alien to him. He slowly drifts up to her, his lips so close to her and then as he brought his arms around her she disappeared into a million sparkles of light.<br>His eyes widen as he searches around him. He finds nothing and the pain of that lose felt like ice in the pit of his stomach. Rebelling was making him dilutional. This was only a dream, but what if this really happened? What if he waited to long and she finally decided that he wasn't worth her time? He looks around him and finds a dark corridor that seemed like miles in length. He sees a dim light at the end and something deep inside him told him that she was there waiting for him. If he truly cared then he'd have to let go of the fear and pride that kept him from getting...close. He wanted her and he knew that, but he had to prove that to himself and if walking a few miles ment that, then that was the only way...so be it. He inhales and exhales then takes off for a dead run, knowing that this would be a long journey and along the way he'd meet some of his old peers, but now he was fearless and he wouldn't allow himself to become the old and lonely man that he had imagined. He would have her and the thing he would have to do after reaching the end of this corridor was to wake up and tell her what he felt. After what seemed like eons, he was halfway there, but suddenly a clear wall formed before him and he couldn't go any further. His gaze goes to the light at the end of the tunnel and he bangs his fists on the wall, wondering why it had formed. What was it that kept him from going any further? He hears a scream of terror, and he looks up to find the light fading and a horrid stench of rotting corpses in the air. "What the hell kind of dream is this?"<br>Vegeta finds himself lying in a pool of blood, the smell of death nearly making him gag. Something grabs his arm and he looks down to find a bloody, half decayed hand wrapped tightly around his arm, pulling him down into the heap of dead bodies that he now found that he was laying on. "What the hell is this?! Is this hell?" He looks away towards darkness to still see that light, twinkling above.<br>More hands grab different parts of his body and he can feel himself being pulled down, further away from that warm light where he knew she'd be there. He screams Bulma's name to the light in hopes of it coming to take him from this horrible stench and the dead bodies. He shudders as another corpse fell on top of him, its mouth hanging open as maggots squirmed inside and fell onto his chest, writhing and rubbing their slimey little bodies onto his skin. He thrashes wildly in the dead hands that gripped his limbs and he screams for Bulma again but is silenced as the blood that seeped from another corpse filled his mouth with its sickening taste and he gags, trying so hard to shut away this horrible scene and he looks at his arm and finds that it too was beginning to rot. He screams again, but realizes now that he was unable to as he was smothered in the heap of rotting corpses. Forever lost in death.<br><font color=blue>~~~~~~~~~~</font><br>Vegeta screams, thrashing in his sleep and suddenly bolts upright in bed, a cold sweat covering his body and hot tears flooding his eyes. His heart was beating so hard and fast that he thought it would jump right out of his rib cage. He barely notices his door being opened as a sob racked his body. He'd never had a dream that accually made him cry before but the thought of losing Bulma and dying in a heap of corpses frightened him. He tries to pull himself together, telling himself that it was just a dream. He breaths in deeply and feels something touch his back, trying to sooth him. He looks up with a jerk to find her sitting at his side. She was in her flanel night clothes and he realizes that he must have slept all day.<br>Bulma doesn't understand what she is doing as she rubs Vegeta's clammy back, telling him like a child that it all was just a dream. He was beginning to gather himself and become aware that she was there....at his side. She feels him shiver against her, and she realizes that his clothes were still damp. "Vegeta...you never got out of your clothes...you must be cold...I...you'll make yourself sick this way. Even saiyans need to be careful!" She helps him remove his shirt and strangely he doesn't resist.<br>Vegeta continues to shiver a little as Bulma brought a hand to his forehead and gasped.<br>"Vegeta! You've got a fever...no wonder! You've got the chills... That's what you get for staying in cold wet clothes without your heater on! You baka! Now you have me worried! Come on, I'll take you to my room and allow yours to heat up a bit. She walks over to the thermostat on the wall and clicks it on then helps him up to his feet with a blanket drapped over his shoulders. She leads the dazed and shivering Vegeta to her bedroom and demands that he strip down to his boxers.<br>In his feverish state, Vegeta slowly removes his jeans and allows Bulma to wrap a blanket around him and lead him to her bed.<br>Bulma knew Vegeta wasn't feeling well because he was accually doing everything she asked him without a single argument. She pulls back the thick covers and he climbs in and lays off to one side and closing his eyes, still shivering slightly.<br>Bulma rushes to the kitchen and minutes later she returns with many cups of hot tea, knowing that Vegeta would drink a lot. She props his head up with a pillow and brings the first cup to his lips. Vegeta keeps his eyes shut and drinks the hot tea, allowing the warmth to fill the pit of his stomach and spread throughout his body as he drank on to his 3rd cup, he looks up at Bulma through half shut eyes and he rests his hand over hers that held the cup. He gently squeezes her wrist and takes the last gulp of tea and continues onto the fourth cup as he continued to hold her hand till after the 7th. He pulls away and slowly rests his head onto the soft pillow. "Arigatou," he whispers.<br>Bulma smiles and takes all the empty cups back to the kitchen and returns to find him barely awake and watching her with tired eyes.<br>She sits on her side of the bed and looks over at him with a smile. "You keep to your side of the bed you hear..."<br>Vegeta smirks and closes his eyes.<br>Bulma turns off the light and slides down under the warm covers and listens to Vegeta's soft rythmic breathing as he slept.<br>She slowly drifts to sleep hoping that he'd be better in the morning.<br><font color=blue>To Be Continued...