Moin. This story is already several years old and I have already published it elsewhere. Now I'm trying my way here :)
Much joy.
I would appreciate any feedback!

ED


Disclaimer & Distribution:'Dragonball' is owned by Akira Toriyama. However, I do not want this story to be published elsewhere without my knowledge. Thanks.

Notes:Mind game about the infamous 'three words'. The scenes are partly embedded or fitkiv in the context of the manga.



Three little words

Darkness lurked at the edge of his consciousness, waiting to engulf him. But he couldn't give in to her yet. He would let go. At the right moment he would let go and burn the evil in one fell swoop. He would destroy the demon Boo once and for all
Images from happier, more peaceful days passed his mind's eye as the energy pulled and tore at him.Pictures of people who meant something to him, of people he loved.Bulma. In the face of death, it would be wrong to lie to yourself. Yes he loved her. All my heart. He had never told her, at least not so clearly.
The blackness threatened to overwhelm him, every cell of his body seemed to burn. Pain frayed his mind.
It was so far. He had to let go now.
He laboriously gathered his thoughts again.
Then ... brightness. Silence. Blackness.

Bulma saw a blazing light on the horizon. In shock, she almost let go of the plane's control stick and the little machine that was supposed to take her to the palace of God made a leap. One of the woman's hands flew to her heart. A faint echo echoed through her thoughts: I love you.
"Vegeta?" ...


******

"... Vegeta? Vegeta! Are you even listening to me?" Angrily, Bulma pushed her blue hair behind her ear and put her hands on her hips. "I don't have time to fix your stupid toy!Do you think I sit in the lab all day waiting for the gravity room to be repaired or for a training robot to break? Oh no mister! "Red anger had risen in the woman's face and she held an outstretched index finger under the Saiyajin's nose. The latter stood there with folded arms and apparently let the tirade go through him.
When Bulma had finished and was now breathing heavily and staring at him with flashing eyes, he leaned forward a little and replied: "I can hardly miss you, with your screaming, Onna! Besides, I wouldn't have to run into your laboratory all the time if you did that GR or the robots would have designed better and more stable from the start! And do you think that I enjoy having to constantly interrupt my training because your inadequate equipment gives up the ghost? "
"Stupid monkey prince," she hissed, "so now it's my fault, yes? If you'd better deal with it and not pound it like a primitive, then it would last longer!""Primitive? Me?" Vegeta took a step forward. "At most your methods are primitive! A twelve-year-old would have designed better training equipment on Vegeta-sei!"
Bulma grinned viciously. "Because this planet is just a cloud of dust in space, you have to be satisfied with what I can give you. And because I built these robots, you have to wait until I have time to fix them . "
They stood almost tip to tip and glared at each other.
In this moment of angry silence, the receiver of the baby monitor that was on the desk next to Bulma crackled and cracked, and the whining of an infant was briefly audible and then fell silent again.
Vegeta leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest again; Bulma looked at her feet.
Finally the Saiyan said: "If I don't train, if I don't fight, there is no future. Not for him, not for you, not for ...."He didn't go on talking, but lifted her chin so that she had to look into his eyes." No future for our son means no future for us either, little Onna, "he said softly. The expression in Bulma's eyes softened.
Vegeta grinned and raised an eyebrow. He had won. "And now be a dear girl and fix the robot."
He took advantage of the brief moment of confusion and left the laboratory, which is why the screwdriver she threw at him also missed its target and ricocheted off the door.
In the hallway, Vegeta heard Bulma's frustrated scream and then, "I love you too, asshole!"

******

Every day there was a risk that he would not return. Whenever the radio reported an attack by the cyborgs to him and he went off to fight them with the others, it could be the last time she saw him. Until now he had always come back.
But today it was different. He wouldn't be back today, she knew that.
Months ago they had given up doing a great farewell ritual.Either he came back or he didn't. But today ... . He probably suspected something.
She ran her hand over the edge of the cradle and looked at her sleeping son, while the sounds of battle boomed like gunfire in the distance.
At first, when the military believed they could defeat the two cyborgs, they really were guns. Now the fighters in Group Z were the only ones who could do anything at all.
Tears threatened to run down her cheeks; she brushed them away vigorously. What good is crying?
She waited. The noises in the distance fell silent. She waited. Night fell.
Finally a figure stepped into view of the surveillance cameras whose monitors she had been watching for the past few hours. Hope stirred in her. Vegeta? ... No, it was Gohan. And it stayed with Gohan. No one else followed him. Kuririn, Yamcha ... Vegeta.
She smiled sadly. She didn't cry. Nor did she cry when Goku's son told her about the struggle that had cost her friends and lover the lives of them.Only when the young Saiyan's wounds were taken care of did she drop onto a chair and bury her face in her hands. Sorrow wrapped itself around her heart like an iron fist. She remembered her departure.
"Take care of yourself," she had said. He had nodded and turned to go. In the doorway he had turned around again and gave her a strange look.
And then ... a first sob shook her ... and then he said it:[i]"I love you."

******

The nurse carefully placed the small bundle in the exhausted woman's arms. "Your daughter, Mrs. Briefs," she said with a friendly smile. Bulma looked lovingly at the small, wrinkled face. Her daughter. "Can you get my husband now," she asked. The sister nodded. "Of course. But only briefly, you have to rest now."
Unusually hesitant, Vegeta entered the room a moment later. Bulma smiled weakly when he stopped at the foot of the bed and eyed her suspiciously.She waved him over. "A little princess," she said softly, and pushed the covers aside so that he could see the little ones face. Blue fluff covered the head. Vegeta smiled. Not a sneering grin, but an honest smile that only Bulma knew from him.
"Princess," he repeated, almost in awe.
Bulma leaned back on the pillows. She was pale from the exertion and her blue hair was clinging to her head.
Vegeta stared spellbound at the tiny man in her arms, so that he looked up in surprise when Bulma's fingertips touched his cheek. Exhausted, she looked at him through half-closed eyelids. She smiled tired and happy. "I love you," she whispered.

******

She was lying on her stomach, her head on her arms, her eyes closed and a satisfied smile on her lips. The sheets only covered her waist and her bare back shimmered with a thin film of sweat in the soft light of the bedside lamp.He turned to one side and looked at her with dark eyes. He raised an eyebrow in mild amusement. The passion of the little blue-haired woman surprised him again and again.
The blue fire in her eyes and her unruly temper had fascinated him from the start. He had wanted to own her, wanted to tame her, but she hadn't let herself be tamed, had rebelled against him and so crept more and more into his thoughts and his life.
Now, after all these years, he had no more of her than she possessed of him. After many arguments, harsh words and other experiences, they belonged to each other.
He reached out a hand and slowly ran his index finger down her spine.
She opened her eyes lazily. They looked at each other for a moment, then he said softly, barely audible: "I love you."
The woman said nothing, but he felt the hairs on her skin rise under his hand. She had goosebumps.He raised an eyebrow again. "What is?"
She turned to him and gently touched his face and stroked his black hair. She smiled and put her head on his chest. "Nothing. I love you too, Vegeta."

******

She listened to his breathing in the dark.
"Vegeta?"
"Mmmh?"
"I love you."
"I know."
"Just wanted to be sure."
"I love you too, Onna. Sleep now."
"Good night, Vegeta."
"Mmh."

END