Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Against All Odds ❯ Who Needs Sleep? ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: If I owned it I would have made sure that Vegeta kicked Frieza's ass.

Chapter Seven:

Who needs sleep?

She awoke the next morning, slightly disoriented with the unfamiliar surroundings. The first thought to pierce her muzzled mind was that she was in Vegeta's room. Tthe second thought was that he wasn't in bed with her. Her eyes shot open and she scanned the room searching for her absent bedmate.

She found him during her second sweep, sitting in a chair tucked back in a deep corner. He was watching her quietly and a blush rose to her cheeks.

"How long have you been sitting there?" She asked curiously.

"All night." Was his clipped response. Her blush deepened.

"I'm sorry, did I hog the bed?" She was embarrassed at the thought that she kept him up all night.

"No." He stood up and walked over to the foot of the bed, bending down to retrieve her dress.

"Oh well did I…" Her words were cut off by her dress wrapping around her head as he threw it at her. She ripped it off, intending on screaming at him for his rudeness, but all she saw was his retreating back as he entered the bathroom.

"Jerk!" She screeched while throwing a pillow at the closed door. She whipped the covers back and stood to pull the dress up over her hips while glaring murderously at the bed.

Her movements slowed and her expression grew thoughtful as she darted a look at the chair he had vacated then back to the bed. The bed had been very comfortable if a little too firm. In fact it seemed brand new, without the divots that a mattress forms from normal use. The chair's seat on the other hand was deeply indented and it faced the entrance to his quarters without being readily visible.

Her face grew dark as she realized that he did not slumber in his bed at night, but instead sat in a chair waiting for any intruders that may creep in. She sighed deeply and as she expelled her breath her anger at him left with it. Maybe moving into her more secure rooms would allow the Prince to rest more peacefully at night.

By the time he came out she was dressed and ready to go.

"So I guess we should get your stuff together." As she said the words she looked around to do a mental inventory. His room was spartan, no personal effects of any kind were scattered around, and even the furniture was what the base provided and nothing else.

"Nappa and Raditz will bring my belongings later today. Let's go." With that said he exited the room leaving her to scurry behind him.

He set a brutal pace and by the time they reached the lab she was out of breath. As they entered the entire room fell silent as her employees dropped what they were doing and stared at Vegeta, who ignored them as he strode into her, no their, quarters.

Their eyes followed him as he left then snapped back to her in a silent demand for an explanation. She moved to the center of the room and they crowded closer to her.

"Well I guess you guys heard about last night?" They took this as an open invitation to barrage her with questions.

"Are you really mated to him?"

"Is mated like married?"

"So you are a Princess?"

"Do you know what kind of man he is?" The last was said with a tone of disgust.

She held up her hands to quiet them and in a firm voice she addressed their concerns. "Yes, I am aware of what kind of man that he is, just like I am aware that we have all had to do things we didn't want to." She eyed them all meaningfully before continuing. She hated lying to them but it had to be done.

"Yes, we are mated and as far as I can figure that's like being married. Vegeta will be living with me for now on so you will be seeing a lot of him and his men. As for me being a Princess." She shrugged. "I guess, after all he is a Prince."

"Yah, of a dead race," Sneered one of her employees.

"That may be, but I wouldn't mention that around him if I were you." They took the hint and they shifted uncomfortably.

"Bulma." She looked over to see that Delia was the one to speak. She was a beautiful creature with pale skin that was dusted with gold flecks. She had violet eyes and platinum blonde hair. Her features were exquisitely perfect and she could easily have any male that she wanted, if she wasn't so painfully shy. She had a wounded air about her that begged you to reach out and protect her, which was why she was on Bulma's team. She wasn't the best scientist, but Bulma couldn't bear to leave her behind to fend on her own. When she spoke she did so in a low whisper, almost as if she expected you to lash out at her at any time.

"Yes, Delia?" Bulma changed her tone automatically when speaking to the young woman, so not to scare her. Experience had taught her that if you spoke sharply to Delia the woman would instantly retreat and not speak for days. The woman fidgeted at being the center of attention for the group, but whatever she wanted must have been important.

"What about your work?" Delia was referring to her spy network, which everyone here was involved in. Bulma smiled reassuringly.

"It will continue, just because I am having a little fun on the side, doesn't mean I will stop what I am doing." Everyone nodded in understanding and she excused herself to go find Vegeta, before they could question her more intently.

She didn't find him in the living area and she figured that he was in the GR. She went into the foyer that housed the regen tank and turned right instead of left. Against the wall sat her private work station that was equipped with various monitors and overflowing with paperwork.

She switched on the monitor that gave her a view of the GR and was immediately captivated by the sight. Vegeta was bare-chested in the center of the room performing intricate steps to a beautiful kata. She stared for a few moments before she forcefully shook herself out of her trance.

"Vegeta." She spoke into the microphone to get his attention.

"What?" He continued his dance without pausing and the sculpted muscles of his back rippled with his movements. She couldn't stop herself from licking her lips.

She cleared her throat before speaking again. "We have to talk about our living arrangements."

"What about them?" He sounded bored with the conversation.

"Well if you have noticed, although my quarters are slightly larger than normal, it only has one bedroom." Her rooms consisted of a small kitchen off of the living room, which doubled as a dinning area. From the living room you entered into a mid sized bedroom, which you had to go through to get to the very small bathroom. (A/N Yah think apartment people, sigh, someday I will own a house.)

"So."

She rolled her eyes. "Well I figure that we can take turns sleeping on the bed and the couch." She didn't want to make him sleep on the couch all the time, that wouldn't be fair.

"That's not necessary woman." He was starting to sound annoyed with the conversation.

"It's not?" Her brow furrowed.

"No, I will train at night, while you sleep. That way I can continue my normal activities around the base during the day." He moved into a low stance and began to shadow box.

"Oh." What he said was actually pretty smart. If he trained all day, people would wonder why he never came out of her rooms to train in the base gym any more.

"But when will you sleep?" She asked.

"I will nap in the mornings. It will not be too abnormal if I spend some time in your rooms during the day, just not all day." His bare back was starting to gleam with sweat and she almost became distracted.

"You need more sleep than a couple hours a day Vegeta." She argued.

"No, I don't. Saiyans need less sleep than you weaklings. Now go away woman." He growled.

She huffed and switched off her equipment just as she heard the ding of the front door. She made her way though the living room to answer the door. She opened it to see Delia with Raditz standing behind her. Delia refused to look up from the floor and as soon as Bulma appeared she scurried off to her work station.

Raditz turned to watch the woman go and Bulma frowned at his action. When he turned around he blinked at her hard look, but didn't say anything. He held up a duffel bag in one hand and a set of armor in the other.

"Has it been scanned?" She asked coolly. He nodded at her and she grabbed the duffel from his hand while indicating he should leave the armor propped up against the wall inside the door. He then turned to leave, striding out the exit without looking back.

She closed the door and looked down at the duffel. Is this everything he owns in the world? She shrugged and took the bag into the bedroom where she began to hang his clothes in the closet for him. She then went back out into the lab and began to work on her projects for a few hours.

A rumbling in her stomach alerted her that she needed to eat sometime today. She briefly thought about Vegeta, but she figured he wouldn't want to be disturbed again. She gathered her stuff and exited the lab only to come to a skidding stop when she encountered Nappa and Raditz standing on either side of the door.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Guarding the door." Replied Nappa dryly.

She raised an eyebrow, but decided it must be a Saiyan thing and started off down the hall only to realize that she was being followed. She turned around to eye Raditz.

"Now, what are you doing?"

"Guarding you." Replied Raditz.

"I don't need guarding." She frowned deeply at him.

"You are our Prince's mate, you will be guarded at all times." He answered smoothly.

She opened her mouth to reply but the impassive expression on both men's faces told her that arguing would do nothing but waste her time. She shrugged and headed off to the cafeteria.

When she entered the room everyone who was eating stopped in mid bite. They stared at her incredulously for a second before their brains kicked in. Everyone dropped their gaze to their food so quickly, she thought for sure they would get a head rush. As she moved towards the food counter she saw more than one man get up and leave without finishing their food. Normally she would have to wait in line to pick up whatever food items she wanted, but curiously everyone seemed to evaporate in front of her. She smirked as she began to fill her tray, looking over at Raditz who was just standing there.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

He nodded that he was and she indicated that he should get some food too. He began to fill his tray with an impossible amount of food while she made her way to the nearest table. He sat down across from her and began to eat with incredible speed.

"Do all Saiyans eat that much?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, we require vast amounts of food to sustain our greater strength." She rolled her eyes; leave it to a Saiyan to brag while eating at the same time. Suddenly she was struck with a thought.

"Do you require less sleep than most humanoids?"

He shrugged. "I guess, we need only to sleep about five hours a night."

"Can you sleep less than that if you have too?"

"During long campaigns we can go weeks only sleeping one or two hours a night and we can go up to five days without sleeping at all without any ill effects. However we have to eat a great deal in order to keep going."

She thought about the chair in Vegeta's room. "Can you go longer than a couple of weeks without a full nights sleep?" He shrugged and continued to wolf down his food.

"Vegeta doesn't seem to sleep that much." She murmured.

Raditz looked up from his tray, piercing her with his dark eyes. "I wouldn't concern yourself with that Miss Briefs." He said coldly.

She shifted at his harsh tone, and dropped her gaze down to her plate. She knew a set down when she heard one. They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Raditz spoke again.

"Who was that girl earlier?" He asked.

"What girl?" Bulma was confused.

"The golden skinned one in your lab." He didn't look up from his food but she could tell that he was very interested in her reply. She frowned deeply at him.

"Her name is Delia and you are not to bother her Raditz, is that understood?" She used her most autocratic voice when addressing him. He was not the only one who knew how to give a set down. He nodded at her words, but didn't look up at her. They spoke no more and she left him at the door to the lab without another thought on the matter.

Vegeta didn't come out of the GR for three days. When she had asked him about making an appearance in the base he growled that he would in a couple of days, after he was done. On the fourth day she flipped on the monitor to demand that he at least come out to eat, but all she saw was his prone body on the floor.