Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragonball AU ❯ I love my clever titles for these... Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Audrey the Interminable 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Romance / Suspense | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.17.2004 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 295 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Romance / Suspense | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.17.2004 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 295 | Status: Completed
"Is she gonna be okay?" Goku, stood on tip-toe to gaze into the tank at Bulma.
"Dunno." Raditz replied nonchalantly.
"What happened to her?" when he found out that Bulma was hurt, he hadn't bothered to get dressed, instead he just wrapped his towel around himself.
"She got knocked around real good. She was trapped under a hunk of metal."
"When will she be out?"
"Another couple of minutes. We put her in a little while after you."
Goku didn't reply, he just stared mournfully into the tank.
As promised, after several minutes, the fluid in her tank began draining, and she opened her heavily-lashed blue eyes. She pulled the mask off of her face as the door swung open.
"II'm okay!" She ran her hands over her perfect, whole limbs, laughing, "This is incredible! I feel I feel better than when I went in!" She climbed out of the tank, "Hey, furball, gimme a towel, will you? I'm soaked!" She laughed again, as he tossed her a cloth and she wrapped it around herself. "My clothes are drenched!" She turned back to get a good look at the tank, "So how does this thing work anyway?" kneeling on the floor, she started poking around at the mechanical bits.
Raditz picked her up under one arm, pulling her away from the tank, "Oh, no you don't! You still got a helluva mess in engineering!"
She gave him an indignant look, but it didn't last, "I don't suppose there's anything on this ship that I could wear?"
"Uh, Yeah"He replied hesitantly as he set her down, then, opening a closet that she hadn't noticed was there, he tossed her a spandex suit similar to the one Vegeta wore under his armor.
She sighed, "How did I know it would be spandex? Oh, well, at least it's dry and," she sniffed it, "clean." She looked around the med lab, "Is there someplace where I can change into this?"
Raditz pointed to another door that had been camouflaged as a panel of wall, "Bathroom."
"Thanks."
After a few minutes, she could be heard calling from behind the bathroom door, "Um There's a problem with this outfit"
"What is it now?" Raditz replied impatiently.
"There's a little hole on the butt, moron! I don't have a tail!"
"It'll close up."
"What do you mean?"
"If you ain't got a tail, the armor will re-knit. S'what happens when other species wear it. Are you done complaining?"
She poked her head out of the door and stuck her tongue out at him, "Nyaa!"
He leered back, "Don't stick it out unless you plan to use it"
"You jerk! You're completely perverted, do you know that?"
"I'll bet you say that to all the guys."
She flounced out of the bathroom, "Well, I guess this is as good as it's gonna get."
"You can say that again." Raditz let out a low whistle of appreciation.
The Saiya-jin armor showed off every curve, displaying her long-legged teenage perfection for the perusal of anyone who cared to look. And Raditz cared to look.
"Keep your mouth shut, and your eyes in your head, bud, or else I'll"
"I know! I know Sorrygeeze!"
Bulma, finally noticing Goku's presence, kneeled to so that they were at eyelevel, "You're awfully quiet, Son-Kun."
"I'm glad you're better, Bulma." he scuffed his feet and looked at the floor.
"What's wrong with you? You're not your normal, bouncy, annoying little self, Goku."
Still not looking at her he replied, "I did a bad thing."
"Oh, come on," She rolled her eyes, "I doubt that anything you've done is all that bad."
"I got in a fight with some snake people and I made them all die." He sniffled.
Her eyes got wide, and she glanced over Goku's head at Raditz for confirmation. Bulma could tell by his expression that this was news to him as well.
"You did?"
He nodded, "I'm bad, Bulma-san I'm more bad that Gageta-Sama 'cuz he only killed a little bit of them."
"Hey, Son-Kun, I don't think you're bad." she tilted his head up, so he had no choice but to look her in the eye, "They must have been trying to hurt you if you had to fight them. Am I right?"
"Yeah, butI shoulda found another way"
"Look, kiddo, for all you know, you've just stopped them from hurting all kinds of innocent people. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yes"
"So, there. Nothing to feel bad about." She said in her typical brusque manner, then leaning back to put a little distance between them, "I'm starving, how about you?"
* * *
"You're healing at an incredible rate, young man. I don't think I've ever seen anyone recover so quickly." The petite doctor pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose, "At this rate, you'll be out of here in less than a month."
"Ng." what he'd wanted to say was, "Yeah, well my damn jaw is still wired shut, and I think I'm getting bedsores. Yippee."
"It's been less than a week, and just look at how your color's improved." She murmured more to herself that to him. She looked over his chart, glancing up at him occasionally. "One of the nurses will be in later to take you to radiology."
"Great." he replied, staring out of the window.
"You know, you can drop the attitude, Yamucha." she hung the chart back on the appropriate hook, "We're all trying to help you, and you haven't made it exactly easy. We had to pry you off of the ceiling, you refuse to take any pain medication, and we even allowed your flying-cat friend to register you under the ludicrous name "Yamucha the Desert Bandit!" The least you can do is be polite to the doctors and nurses who have shown you nothing but kindness."
He turned his head to meet her gaze, "I guess you're right. I'm sorry."
She sighed, "It would be nice if I could tell if you mean what you say, or you're just trying to shut an old lady up." She reached out and gave his forehead a matronly pat, "Rest up, the nurses will come for you in less than an hour."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
* * *
"Well, since you're dressed like one of us, you might as well eat with us too." Raditz led the way to the mess hall.
"If the rest of you eat like Goku, I don't know if that's such a good idea" She mumbled, following him. Raditz had explained that coming out of the regen tank was always accompanied by an increase in appetite, for Saiya-jin at least. Bulma pointed out that, according to her limited experience with the Saiya-jin, namely, Goku, just about everything was accompanied by an increase in appetite.
"Bulma doesn't have a taaaaiiil! Bulma doesn't have a taaaaiiiil!" For better or worse, Goku was back to normal.
"Oh, would you shut up about that!? How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want a tail ! I'm not supposed to have a tail! I'm perfect the way I am!"
"And so modest, too" Raditz mumbled under his breath.
"I heard that!" She glowered.
"Wow, you get cranky when you're hungry" He gave her a half-smile. She opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off, "Here we are" He pressed the door release, and they entered.
"This is it?" She wrinkled her nose, "Its kind ofdumpy for a galley."
"Do you ever stop complaining?"
"I'm not complaining I was just" She put a hand on her hip.
"Complaining."
"Oh, be quiet."
"Ladies first." he grinned down at her.
"Quit trying to be clever and just get me some food." she crossed her arms and stood by the table in the middle of the room.
"Your wish is my command, Buruma-Sama," he bowed mockingly.
Goku hopped up on one of the cylindrical stools attached to the floor, and propped his elbows on the table, " 'Nii-san won't let me use the food makin' machine." He announced to Bulma, gesturing toward Raditz with one gravity-defying lock of hair. He absently twined his tail around the base of the stool, "Ya gonna sit down, Bulma?"
She sat three seats down from Goku and wondered if she was far enough away to avoid getting splattered by his messy eating.
Raditz approached the table, arms laden with what he'd assumed would be enough food for three people. At least for a first course.
He and the other Saiya-jin dug in, shoveling food in their mouths with loud smacking sounds. By comparison, Bulma, though she ate with more gusto than she could remember in her sixteen years, seemed to merely be picking at her food. She quickly finished her meal, and stared in fascination at Goku and his brother inhaling their supper in unfathomable quantities.
Goku met her stare, "Mrrr yrr gmm rmrmri?"
"Alright, Goku. Why don't you try saying that again, this time without your mouth full." she censured.
He swallowed visibly, "Are you done already?"
"Are you kidding? I ate like a pig!" She tossed her hair, "A girl has to watch her figure, you know."
It was Raditz's turn to swallow, "You're kidding right? Ha!" He blipped his scouter, and took a reading, "No wonder your power level's only at 4!" He laughed at her, and began consuming his meal again.
"What's a power level?"
"Not now, eating" Raditz replied.
She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Geeze! Rude or anything?" Behind them, the door zipped open, she glanced backward to see Nappa and Vegeta cross the threshold.
Vegeta, followed by Nappa, got their respective repasts and joined them at the table. felt the familiar indignation every time he was forced to share a table with the other Saiya-jin. It was ludicrous that the highest ranking Saiya-jin, the prince, heir to the ancient throne of house Vegeta had to sit with these underlings! And, adding insult to injury, that stupid woman was there as well! She was probably here to mock him for the weakness he displayed while she was injured. If he were a real warrior, he would have just left her there. "No, I need her to control Kakarrot," he told himself, "That's the only reason I bothered with her." another part of him spoke up, "Then why didn't you have Raditz carry her?" He had no answer for that, but he knew that as soon as they had Kakarrot fully trained and obedient, Vegeta would kill her himself.
This train of thought served as a reminder, "Kakarrot," He said between bites.
"Hm?" Goku looked up expectantly.
"Don't think that you're getting out of your punishment. No one disobeys Vegeta-Sama and gets away without a scratch."
"Umkay." He replied around a mouthful of something that tasted really good.
Raditz, having finished his meal, remarked, "My father was really good at coming up with punishments." He told Goku, "One time he tied weights to my tail and made me run laps around our training room."
"That's nothing," Nappa interjected, "My father broke both my arms once." he snorted. 's mouth gaped open, "Your own father did that?"
He favored their prisoner with a quick look, "Yeah. Broke my nose, too, but I think that time was an accident."
"My father didn't let me use the regen tank unless he thought I deserved it." Raditz replied, "Made me heal the natural way."
"When I was real little, getting flung into a wall always taught me my lesson." Nappa grinned.
"Eew!" Bulma squealed, "The worst I ever got was sent to bed without supper!"
All four of the Saiya-jin stopped mid-bite and stared at her.
"Without supper?" Raditz asked, appalled.
"Their own child?" Nappa rejoindered, "That's That's" He floundered, seeking an adjective.
"Barbaric." Raditz interjected.
"You're all insane, do you know that?" Bulma remarked in a dry voice. "Anyway, since you're done eating, are you going to answer my question now?" she raised a brow at Raditz.
"Huh?"
She sighed, "The question I asked you earlier"
"Huh?"
She sighed again, "What's a power level?"
"It's how strong you are."
"What does it measure?"
"I told you. Your power level."
"I know that , but what does it measure in? Kilowatts? Joules?"
"Your power level." He said slowly, enunciating every syllable as one might do for a particularly slow child.
"I know that! But what I'm asking is Oh, never mind!"
Raditz wondered why Earth-dwellers had such a hard time with the simple concept of power levels.
* * *
"Why do I get stuck havin' to clean up the engine room?" Raditz griped.
"Because There's no way I could get Vegeta to help, and Nappa would probably end up breaking something."
"And I won't?" He whined.
"You at least know your way around machinery." she grudgingly admitted. "Now, move that console over to there." She pointed in the intended direction.
"This sucks."
She looked thoughtful, "So, if your planet has ten times earth's gravity, it must be much bigger than earth."
"Not really, it was about the same size."
"Oh. Then is it more dense? What is it? Made of lead?" She laughed to herself, "That would explain a lot, actually." She did not notice that he referred to the planet in past tense, "Is that where we're going? To your planet?"
He laughed grimly, "We could go to where Vegeta-Sei used to be, but we wouldn't find anything but dust."
"Huh?"
"Our planet blew up, it was destroyed by asteroids about twelve years ago."
"Oh I'm sorry."
He shrugged, "That's life." He grinned, "We've destroyed enough planets, so it pretty much evens out."
At that moment, the short, pointy-headed bundle of fury stormed through the door, dragging Goku by his ear, "RADITZ!" He barked, "I've had enough of your idiot brother! If you don't keep him away from me, I'll make you both sorry!"
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Goku clutched at Vegeta's wrist.
"What was he doing, Vegeta-Sama?"
"Ask the brat!" He let go of the child and turned on his heel, leaving the room.
First thing that morning, Vegeta unsuccessfully attempted to punish Kakarrot by beating the hell out of him, but the little moron kept asking for more because he wanted to get stronger! Vegeta ended up pummeling him into unconsciousness and still he was not penitent. After he got out of the healing tank the idiot kept asking incessant questions while ambling around knocking things over with that uncontrollable tail of his, that, obviously, no one had taught him to keep properly wrapped around his waist.
Bulma frowned curiously at Goku, "So what did you do?"
He absently rubbed his throbbing ear, "I dunno. 'Geta-Sama's just mad all the time."
"Yeah, an' I bet you had nothing to do with it, right?" Raditz smirked.
Goku just laughed.
"Just stay out of the way, okay, Goku?" Bulma tousled his hair.
* * *
"Ouji-Sama! I didn't think"
"Yes, I know," He growled over his shoulder at Raditz, "You do that a lot."
"Gomen NasaiSuminasen!"
"I don't want to hear it! You'll find something else for thatwoman to wear!" Vegeta mentally cursed the particular universal idiosyncrasy that caused something so mundane as a fighter's regulation body armor became so fascinating, disconcerting, and, hell, distracting just because it was that idiot girl wearing it.
"But, Ouji-Sama There is nothing else for her to wear"
"You mean to tell me that you are willing to allow that weakling to wear the combat suit of a soldier in Furiza-Sama's army?"
Raditz had a sudden flash of inspiration, "She could go naked, Ouji-Sama!" he said a bit too eagerly.
Vegeta whirled to face him, "What!?" his tail stood on end, punctuating his indignation.
"Well She wouldn't be wearing the armor anymore" Raditz explained.
"Never mind, you idiot!" Vegeta replied almost frantically, "The damage has already been done." He turned his back on him again, "You can leave now."
"So You want me to let her keep the armor?"
"I said get out!"
* * *
It had been an entire week since Bulma, assisted by Raditz and Goku, had set the engine room to rights. She still had not been successful in her attempts to isolate a gravity field in a designated area, and it was driving her crazy. Her motivation was no longer just scientific curiosity, since she was fairly certain that eventually Vegeta would get sick of her impeding upon his training, and decide that she had outlived her usefulness. "If I wasn't such a genius," She said to herself with false bravado, "I might be worried."
* * *
"How many times do I have to tell you!?" The scariest nurse ever to wield a thermometer put a hand on her hip, "No pets in the hospital!" She waved the chart she was holding at the offending cat.
"But I just want to visit my friend" Pu'ar interjected.
"I'm sorry but I just can't allow you to stay"
Yamucha swallowed, gathering his courage, "Come on" He cajoled in him most charming voice, "I'm bored out of my mind Pu'ar isn't going to hurt anything."
She crossed her arms over her chest. Her stark, white uniform was so heavily starched that Yamucha could almost hear it crumpling, "It's against regulations."
He gave her his patented "rugged desert bandit" smile tm, "Please?" He was thankful that his jaw was no longer held together. There's nothing like trying to talk with a chain link fence in your mouth.
"The rules clearly state" She pushed back a strand of pink hair that had escaped her severe bun, " No pets" She trailed off.
He smiled up at her again, "I wouldn't ask this of you, but, I just can't take lying here all by myself, staring at the ceiling." He sat up carefully, wincing for effect, "You can understand that, can't you?" Yamucha stared intently into her eyes.
"Butthe rulesand.." She waved her hand vaguely, becoming flustered, her face flushing to match her hair, "I just" her hands dropped to her sides and sighed, "Even if I banished your little flying friend, she'd just come back in through the window, wouldn't she?" She shook her head, "fine, but if anyone else catches him in here, I don't know anything about this, got it?" She crossed her arms again, regaining control.
"Of course" His smile broadened, "and Thank you."
She nodded and made a hasty retreat.
Yamucha fell back onto the pillow, clutching his chest.
"Yamucha-Sama! You're over your fear of girls!"
"Hardly!" he gasped, "That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life!"
* * *
Bulma had been having a very interesting dream. It involved tomatoes and the villain from an old b-movie. Not that this was particularly noteworthy in and of itself; what was interesting was the fact that the b-movie villain was taking the time to patiently explain how she should fix the gravity machine. It was a little disconcerting, hearing scientific gibberish, which made perfect sense with dream logic, in the breathy baritone of one of the evilest bad guys in movie history.
A nagging rumble in her belly tried to pry her away from the dream, but, sure that she was on the brink of a very important discovery, she held on tenaciously to sleep. Unfortunately, however, the needs of the body was currently stronger than her sleep-impaired willpower, so she was elevated to consciousness. Bulma sighed and rubbed her eyes, sitting up in bed. "Geeze, what a bizarre dream." She tried to remember what the fictional character had been telling her, but none of what he said made any sense. For one thing, neither rubber bands or guacamole are part of the inner workings of the machinery. Guacamole. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and she decided that it was definitely time to make a pit stop. padded toward the general direction of the galley, thankful that all of the traveling she'd done while searching for the dragon balls had honed her sense of direction to near perfection.
While she selected an inordinate amount of food for a midnight snack, she contemplated her silly dream. "Rubber bands." She shook her head, "I guess even geniuses can have non-sequiter moments." She sighed, wishing that the answer could come as easily as a dream. It just wasn't fair. She sat down and started shoveling food into her mouth, grateful that no one was around to see her act in such an unladylike manner. Silently musing (or as silently as one can be when one is shoving more food into an orifice than should, by all laws of physics, be able to fit) she remembered the part of the dream where Mr. B-movie had instructed her to place all of the engine components into cardboard boxes to isolate and define the amount of gravity in each sector of the ship. Well, it had made sense while she was sleeping.
She paused mid-shovel, "That's it!" Forgetting the rest of her snack, she hopped off the stool, and scurried out of the room. Her rapid footsteps lead her first to the engine room to collect her tools, and then to the training room. She was glad that she'd spent several days working there during the past week and didn't have to wake anyone up to show her where it was.
Vegeta was rudely awakened by a series of jarring clangs. Upon regaining consciousness, he was aware of another sound accompanying it. It sounded like singing. "On'na no baka!" He growled, throwing off his covers. He glanced at the chronometer and noted, with much irritation, that it was barely 04:00 hours. He stalked out into the hall, not bothering to change out of his sleeping garb.
He turned the corner, and found her on her hands and knees, pulling out electronic components from a behind a wall plate. He froze when he saw her, his breath catching in his throat. Her current position gave him an ideal view of her nicely-rounded backside. He was tempted to take the coward's way out and sneak away, but that choice was taken away from him. Vegeta must have made some kind of noise, because she glanced over her shoulder and smiled, never once pausing in her off-key crooning.
He tried to remember what he was doing there, but that knowledge wouldn't have helped him at this point. His throat was so dry he didn't think he could croak.
"Did you want something, Vegeta? Or are you just going to stand there and glare at me all night?" her jovial tone did not match her hostile words, nor did her brilliant smile so much as falter.
He coughed once, clearing his throat, and recovered "What are you doing , woman!?"
"What does it look like, silly! I'm fixing your little gravity problem!" She giggled.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He crossed his arms.
She sat up, and placed a finger over her lips contemplatively, "Well, I think it was about one or so when I woke up I went to the mess hall, and then I came here. I've been working here for about"
"That's not what I meant!" He interrupted.
She stood up, "Well, aren't you going to even ask me what I've done?" She placed a hand on her hip and gestured toward the electrical mess on the floor.
"Hn." He scowled, "Whatever it is it could have waited until morning."
"It's so hard to be a genius." She said with mock-melancholy, "I can't just summon inspiration, you know. When you get an idea you have to work on it, no matter what time it is."
"Not on my ship!" He growled.
"Oh, honestly, calm down, Vegeta!" She waved dismissively at him, still smiling, "Don't you get it? I've solved the gravity problem! You can train now."
He frowned, contemplating this, "What have you done?"
Her smile brightened. She'd been dying to talk about her discovery, "It's really very simple, you see, I've taken electro magnetic barriers and altered their reflection angles to serve as a containment unit for the excess force so I can focus the ambient gravitational pull existent anywhere in the universe to a single predetermined geometric shape! That was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out where the force came from, you see, I kept thinking of gravity as a constant pull downwards, like on a planet, and I forgot to think of it in three dimensions." She giggled, "Separate boxes. It was a cinch!" She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, smearing dust on the bridge of her nose. " Do you understand?"
He stared blankly for several seconds before sputtering, "Of course I do!"
"Well I guess, I'm almost done here" she yawned.
"Hn." He looked at that stupid little dust streak. 'Stupid woman,' He thought, 'she looks ridiculous.' But for some reason that did not stop him from staring. He decided that it was bothering him so much that he had to remove it. It had nothing, nothing to do with touching her skin. Nothing. He frowned and extended his hand, wiping as much of the dirt off as he could with his thumb, but for reasons beyond his understanding, he did not immediately remove his hand. Instead he allowed the digit to trail from the bridge of her nose, to her cheek, and resting finally on her lips.
She gasped, involuntarily parting her lips, allowing him to feel her warm breath. was enough to shatter his composure. With a small feral noise, he grasped the back of her neck with that hand, and for the second time, pulled her mouth to his. This time it was less bruising, but no less intense.
The kiss was very nice, but Bulma got the feeling that he really wasn't sure what he was doing. She smiled mentally, and opened her mouth, flicking her tongue across his bottom lip. His voice cracked and he emitted a high-pitched yelp.
At this point, he decided to reciprocate. Where she had lightly caressed his lips with her tongue, he tried to gag her with his. In his inexperience, he more or less tried to shove his tongue down her throat. She giggled quietly.
Vegeta drew back, abruptly, "What's so funny?"
"N-nothing" Her voice quivered in an attempt to hide her amusement, "It's just um"
"Well? Spit it out!"
She couldn't control her mirth any longer, "I just did!" She almost doubled over.
"Hn." His expression did not betray his embarrassment, but his cheeks were stained crimson, he turned on his heel to leave, but she grabbed him by his bare arm.
It was then that she became painfully aware of how little clothing Saiya-jin males slept in. He was wearing the space-invader equivalent of bicycle shorts. Bulma shook off her momentary discomfort. She was going to teach this little geek how to kiss if it killed her. "Not so fast, there, bud!" She smiled at him.
"What!?" He snarled without looking at her.
"Well, don't you want me to show you how it's done?"
He hazarded a glance in her direction, "Show me?"
"Yeah, sure, no one gets it right without being taught ."
His blush deepened, and he never lost his scowl or his arrogant, unreceptive demeanor, but Bulma could sense curiosity radiating off of him like a tangible thing.
He turned to face her again, crossing his arms and twitching his tail back and forth, practically daring her to touch him.
She swatted at his arms, "Come on, you've got to relax, arms at your sides." He did not immediately comply, "Vegeta, I can't teach you anything if you don't do what I say"
He sighed and uncrossed his arms, "Better?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Much." She wrapped her arms around his neck lightly, "Now, you've already got the basics down, it's some of the more complicated things that we need to work on." She smiled.
He stiffened, fighting the urge to cross his arms again. Dammit, he would not be intimidated!
"Now," she ordered, "Kiss me again."
He frowned, confused, "Kiss?"
"Yes, kiss!" she let out a small laugh, "You know, that thing you just did? Where we touch lips? It's called a kiss, now do it again."
His frown deepened, and he leaned forward and planted a very militant, stiff kiss on her lips.
She pulled back, "No, softer, like you did before."
'Softer?' He mused. His entire life had been dedicated with making his every action harder and capable of inflicting more damage. Now he had to try to be "softer." 'If that's what it takes to master this exercise, so be it!'
He brushed his lips over hers, it was the barest of touches. made a small noise and leaned into him, "That's good." she mumbled, "you're a quick study."
"Of course I am." He managed to say between kisses, "I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji."
"Uh-huh," She agreed, mostly to appease him, "Now, do like I do" She parted her lips and gently caressed his closed mouth with her tongue.
Hesitantly, he opened his mouth and allowed her access, it took a moment for him to work up enough courage to venture a few tentative flicks of his own. However, when he did so, he was rewarded with a small moan from Bulma.
"That's very good!" She murmured.
"Ng." He agreed, wrapping his tail around her waist, pulling her closer.
She had a moment's apprehension, the tail reminding her that he was an alien and she was being held against her will and making out with one's captor can't be a good ideaandOh, geeze, where did he learn to do that with his tongue?
* * *
"Raditz!" Nappa barked as he stormed into his room, turning the light on.
"Mhhhmmm?" Raditz shielded his eyes from the glare, "Nappa-San?"
"Get up!"
"Wha? Did I oversleep?" He sat up, careful not to disturb Kakarrot, and peered at the chronometer, which revealed that it was only about 06:00 hours.
"No, worse." It was then that Raditz noticed that Nappa looked worried.
"What is it?"
"We just received a missive from Furiza-sama"
"Did you tell Ouji-Sama?"
"I would have, baka, but I can't find him!" Nappa growled.
"What!?" Raditz was now fully awake.
"I said I can't find him! He isn't in his room, or the mess hall, or" Nappa bore a curious resemblance to a mother hen without her chick.
"Dai joubu, Nappa-San." Raditz sat on the side of the bed, and rubbed his eyes, "he's got to be on the ship somewhere."
"I know that!"
"Okay, then, we'll split up. You know, to look for him"
Nappa nodded, already halfway out the door.
* * *
Raditz would have sworn that he'd checked every room on that ship, and still no sign of Vegeta-Sama. He paused in the hallway outside of the training room, surveying the suspicious mess scattered about. He reasoned that this was the most likely place to have something to do with Ouji-Sama's disappearance. And since the girl was gone, too, Raditz supposed that she might have had something to do with it as well. He rested his right elbow in the palm of his left hand, and massaged the bridge of his nose with his right hand. He really wished he was smarter.
He paused mid-breath, and listened intently. He heard something. It was a few muffled thuds and a stifled gasp. Raditz cocked his head to the side and brushed his hair out of the way in an attempt to locate the sound.
It was coming from a utility closet. Very close. He took a few rapid steps and paused in front of the closet door to confirm his suspicions. With a self-satisfied grin, he tore the door open. His expression faded to one of horror, as he realized what he'd come upon.
Ouji-Sama jerked his lips away from the girls, and glared up at Raditz. His expression unchanging, he wordlessly got to his feet and stepped out of the closet. He glanced up at Raditz and stopped long enough to utter three words before regally making his way back to his quarters.
"You saw nothing."
His mouth agape, Raditz turned to stare at the semi-sprawled form of Bulma. "Nice going, hairball!" She stood up, and threw the first thing she could reach at his shocked visage. stalked back to her own room, leaving a very confused and somewhat disturbed Raditz holding a mop in the middle of the hallway.
"Dunno." Raditz replied nonchalantly.
"What happened to her?" when he found out that Bulma was hurt, he hadn't bothered to get dressed, instead he just wrapped his towel around himself.
"She got knocked around real good. She was trapped under a hunk of metal."
"When will she be out?"
"Another couple of minutes. We put her in a little while after you."
Goku didn't reply, he just stared mournfully into the tank.
As promised, after several minutes, the fluid in her tank began draining, and she opened her heavily-lashed blue eyes. She pulled the mask off of her face as the door swung open.
"II'm okay!" She ran her hands over her perfect, whole limbs, laughing, "This is incredible! I feel I feel better than when I went in!" She climbed out of the tank, "Hey, furball, gimme a towel, will you? I'm soaked!" She laughed again, as he tossed her a cloth and she wrapped it around herself. "My clothes are drenched!" She turned back to get a good look at the tank, "So how does this thing work anyway?" kneeling on the floor, she started poking around at the mechanical bits.
Raditz picked her up under one arm, pulling her away from the tank, "Oh, no you don't! You still got a helluva mess in engineering!"
She gave him an indignant look, but it didn't last, "I don't suppose there's anything on this ship that I could wear?"
"Uh, Yeah"He replied hesitantly as he set her down, then, opening a closet that she hadn't noticed was there, he tossed her a spandex suit similar to the one Vegeta wore under his armor.
She sighed, "How did I know it would be spandex? Oh, well, at least it's dry and," she sniffed it, "clean." She looked around the med lab, "Is there someplace where I can change into this?"
Raditz pointed to another door that had been camouflaged as a panel of wall, "Bathroom."
"Thanks."
After a few minutes, she could be heard calling from behind the bathroom door, "Um There's a problem with this outfit"
"What is it now?" Raditz replied impatiently.
"There's a little hole on the butt, moron! I don't have a tail!"
"It'll close up."
"What do you mean?"
"If you ain't got a tail, the armor will re-knit. S'what happens when other species wear it. Are you done complaining?"
She poked her head out of the door and stuck her tongue out at him, "Nyaa!"
He leered back, "Don't stick it out unless you plan to use it"
"You jerk! You're completely perverted, do you know that?"
"I'll bet you say that to all the guys."
She flounced out of the bathroom, "Well, I guess this is as good as it's gonna get."
"You can say that again." Raditz let out a low whistle of appreciation.
The Saiya-jin armor showed off every curve, displaying her long-legged teenage perfection for the perusal of anyone who cared to look. And Raditz cared to look.
"Keep your mouth shut, and your eyes in your head, bud, or else I'll"
"I know! I know Sorrygeeze!"
Bulma, finally noticing Goku's presence, kneeled to so that they were at eyelevel, "You're awfully quiet, Son-Kun."
"I'm glad you're better, Bulma." he scuffed his feet and looked at the floor.
"What's wrong with you? You're not your normal, bouncy, annoying little self, Goku."
Still not looking at her he replied, "I did a bad thing."
"Oh, come on," She rolled her eyes, "I doubt that anything you've done is all that bad."
"I got in a fight with some snake people and I made them all die." He sniffled.
Her eyes got wide, and she glanced over Goku's head at Raditz for confirmation. Bulma could tell by his expression that this was news to him as well.
"You did?"
He nodded, "I'm bad, Bulma-san I'm more bad that Gageta-Sama 'cuz he only killed a little bit of them."
"Hey, Son-Kun, I don't think you're bad." she tilted his head up, so he had no choice but to look her in the eye, "They must have been trying to hurt you if you had to fight them. Am I right?"
"Yeah, butI shoulda found another way"
"Look, kiddo, for all you know, you've just stopped them from hurting all kinds of innocent people. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yes"
"So, there. Nothing to feel bad about." She said in her typical brusque manner, then leaning back to put a little distance between them, "I'm starving, how about you?"
* * *
"You're healing at an incredible rate, young man. I don't think I've ever seen anyone recover so quickly." The petite doctor pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose, "At this rate, you'll be out of here in less than a month."
"Ng." what he'd wanted to say was, "Yeah, well my damn jaw is still wired shut, and I think I'm getting bedsores. Yippee."
"It's been less than a week, and just look at how your color's improved." She murmured more to herself that to him. She looked over his chart, glancing up at him occasionally. "One of the nurses will be in later to take you to radiology."
"Great." he replied, staring out of the window.
"You know, you can drop the attitude, Yamucha." she hung the chart back on the appropriate hook, "We're all trying to help you, and you haven't made it exactly easy. We had to pry you off of the ceiling, you refuse to take any pain medication, and we even allowed your flying-cat friend to register you under the ludicrous name "Yamucha the Desert Bandit!" The least you can do is be polite to the doctors and nurses who have shown you nothing but kindness."
He turned his head to meet her gaze, "I guess you're right. I'm sorry."
She sighed, "It would be nice if I could tell if you mean what you say, or you're just trying to shut an old lady up." She reached out and gave his forehead a matronly pat, "Rest up, the nurses will come for you in less than an hour."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
* * *
"Well, since you're dressed like one of us, you might as well eat with us too." Raditz led the way to the mess hall.
"If the rest of you eat like Goku, I don't know if that's such a good idea" She mumbled, following him. Raditz had explained that coming out of the regen tank was always accompanied by an increase in appetite, for Saiya-jin at least. Bulma pointed out that, according to her limited experience with the Saiya-jin, namely, Goku, just about everything was accompanied by an increase in appetite.
"Bulma doesn't have a taaaaiiil! Bulma doesn't have a taaaaiiiil!" For better or worse, Goku was back to normal.
"Oh, would you shut up about that!? How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want a tail ! I'm not supposed to have a tail! I'm perfect the way I am!"
"And so modest, too" Raditz mumbled under his breath.
"I heard that!" She glowered.
"Wow, you get cranky when you're hungry" He gave her a half-smile. She opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off, "Here we are" He pressed the door release, and they entered.
"This is it?" She wrinkled her nose, "Its kind ofdumpy for a galley."
"Do you ever stop complaining?"
"I'm not complaining I was just" She put a hand on her hip.
"Complaining."
"Oh, be quiet."
"Ladies first." he grinned down at her.
"Quit trying to be clever and just get me some food." she crossed her arms and stood by the table in the middle of the room.
"Your wish is my command, Buruma-Sama," he bowed mockingly.
Goku hopped up on one of the cylindrical stools attached to the floor, and propped his elbows on the table, " 'Nii-san won't let me use the food makin' machine." He announced to Bulma, gesturing toward Raditz with one gravity-defying lock of hair. He absently twined his tail around the base of the stool, "Ya gonna sit down, Bulma?"
She sat three seats down from Goku and wondered if she was far enough away to avoid getting splattered by his messy eating.
Raditz approached the table, arms laden with what he'd assumed would be enough food for three people. At least for a first course.
He and the other Saiya-jin dug in, shoveling food in their mouths with loud smacking sounds. By comparison, Bulma, though she ate with more gusto than she could remember in her sixteen years, seemed to merely be picking at her food. She quickly finished her meal, and stared in fascination at Goku and his brother inhaling their supper in unfathomable quantities.
Goku met her stare, "Mrrr yrr gmm rmrmri?"
"Alright, Goku. Why don't you try saying that again, this time without your mouth full." she censured.
He swallowed visibly, "Are you done already?"
"Are you kidding? I ate like a pig!" She tossed her hair, "A girl has to watch her figure, you know."
It was Raditz's turn to swallow, "You're kidding right? Ha!" He blipped his scouter, and took a reading, "No wonder your power level's only at 4!" He laughed at her, and began consuming his meal again.
"What's a power level?"
"Not now, eating" Raditz replied.
She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Geeze! Rude or anything?" Behind them, the door zipped open, she glanced backward to see Nappa and Vegeta cross the threshold.
Vegeta, followed by Nappa, got their respective repasts and joined them at the table. felt the familiar indignation every time he was forced to share a table with the other Saiya-jin. It was ludicrous that the highest ranking Saiya-jin, the prince, heir to the ancient throne of house Vegeta had to sit with these underlings! And, adding insult to injury, that stupid woman was there as well! She was probably here to mock him for the weakness he displayed while she was injured. If he were a real warrior, he would have just left her there. "No, I need her to control Kakarrot," he told himself, "That's the only reason I bothered with her." another part of him spoke up, "Then why didn't you have Raditz carry her?" He had no answer for that, but he knew that as soon as they had Kakarrot fully trained and obedient, Vegeta would kill her himself.
This train of thought served as a reminder, "Kakarrot," He said between bites.
"Hm?" Goku looked up expectantly.
"Don't think that you're getting out of your punishment. No one disobeys Vegeta-Sama and gets away without a scratch."
"Umkay." He replied around a mouthful of something that tasted really good.
Raditz, having finished his meal, remarked, "My father was really good at coming up with punishments." He told Goku, "One time he tied weights to my tail and made me run laps around our training room."
"That's nothing," Nappa interjected, "My father broke both my arms once." he snorted. 's mouth gaped open, "Your own father did that?"
He favored their prisoner with a quick look, "Yeah. Broke my nose, too, but I think that time was an accident."
"My father didn't let me use the regen tank unless he thought I deserved it." Raditz replied, "Made me heal the natural way."
"When I was real little, getting flung into a wall always taught me my lesson." Nappa grinned.
"Eew!" Bulma squealed, "The worst I ever got was sent to bed without supper!"
All four of the Saiya-jin stopped mid-bite and stared at her.
"Without supper?" Raditz asked, appalled.
"Their own child?" Nappa rejoindered, "That's That's" He floundered, seeking an adjective.
"Barbaric." Raditz interjected.
"You're all insane, do you know that?" Bulma remarked in a dry voice. "Anyway, since you're done eating, are you going to answer my question now?" she raised a brow at Raditz.
"Huh?"
She sighed, "The question I asked you earlier"
"Huh?"
She sighed again, "What's a power level?"
"It's how strong you are."
"What does it measure?"
"I told you. Your power level."
"I know that , but what does it measure in? Kilowatts? Joules?"
"Your power level." He said slowly, enunciating every syllable as one might do for a particularly slow child.
"I know that! But what I'm asking is Oh, never mind!"
Raditz wondered why Earth-dwellers had such a hard time with the simple concept of power levels.
* * *
"Why do I get stuck havin' to clean up the engine room?" Raditz griped.
"Because There's no way I could get Vegeta to help, and Nappa would probably end up breaking something."
"And I won't?" He whined.
"You at least know your way around machinery." she grudgingly admitted. "Now, move that console over to there." She pointed in the intended direction.
"This sucks."
She looked thoughtful, "So, if your planet has ten times earth's gravity, it must be much bigger than earth."
"Not really, it was about the same size."
"Oh. Then is it more dense? What is it? Made of lead?" She laughed to herself, "That would explain a lot, actually." She did not notice that he referred to the planet in past tense, "Is that where we're going? To your planet?"
He laughed grimly, "We could go to where Vegeta-Sei used to be, but we wouldn't find anything but dust."
"Huh?"
"Our planet blew up, it was destroyed by asteroids about twelve years ago."
"Oh I'm sorry."
He shrugged, "That's life." He grinned, "We've destroyed enough planets, so it pretty much evens out."
At that moment, the short, pointy-headed bundle of fury stormed through the door, dragging Goku by his ear, "RADITZ!" He barked, "I've had enough of your idiot brother! If you don't keep him away from me, I'll make you both sorry!"
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Goku clutched at Vegeta's wrist.
"What was he doing, Vegeta-Sama?"
"Ask the brat!" He let go of the child and turned on his heel, leaving the room.
First thing that morning, Vegeta unsuccessfully attempted to punish Kakarrot by beating the hell out of him, but the little moron kept asking for more because he wanted to get stronger! Vegeta ended up pummeling him into unconsciousness and still he was not penitent. After he got out of the healing tank the idiot kept asking incessant questions while ambling around knocking things over with that uncontrollable tail of his, that, obviously, no one had taught him to keep properly wrapped around his waist.
Bulma frowned curiously at Goku, "So what did you do?"
He absently rubbed his throbbing ear, "I dunno. 'Geta-Sama's just mad all the time."
"Yeah, an' I bet you had nothing to do with it, right?" Raditz smirked.
Goku just laughed.
"Just stay out of the way, okay, Goku?" Bulma tousled his hair.
* * *
"Ouji-Sama! I didn't think"
"Yes, I know," He growled over his shoulder at Raditz, "You do that a lot."
"Gomen NasaiSuminasen!"
"I don't want to hear it! You'll find something else for thatwoman to wear!" Vegeta mentally cursed the particular universal idiosyncrasy that caused something so mundane as a fighter's regulation body armor became so fascinating, disconcerting, and, hell, distracting just because it was that idiot girl wearing it.
"But, Ouji-Sama There is nothing else for her to wear"
"You mean to tell me that you are willing to allow that weakling to wear the combat suit of a soldier in Furiza-Sama's army?"
Raditz had a sudden flash of inspiration, "She could go naked, Ouji-Sama!" he said a bit too eagerly.
Vegeta whirled to face him, "What!?" his tail stood on end, punctuating his indignation.
"Well She wouldn't be wearing the armor anymore" Raditz explained.
"Never mind, you idiot!" Vegeta replied almost frantically, "The damage has already been done." He turned his back on him again, "You can leave now."
"So You want me to let her keep the armor?"
"I said get out!"
* * *
It had been an entire week since Bulma, assisted by Raditz and Goku, had set the engine room to rights. She still had not been successful in her attempts to isolate a gravity field in a designated area, and it was driving her crazy. Her motivation was no longer just scientific curiosity, since she was fairly certain that eventually Vegeta would get sick of her impeding upon his training, and decide that she had outlived her usefulness. "If I wasn't such a genius," She said to herself with false bravado, "I might be worried."
* * *
"How many times do I have to tell you!?" The scariest nurse ever to wield a thermometer put a hand on her hip, "No pets in the hospital!" She waved the chart she was holding at the offending cat.
"But I just want to visit my friend" Pu'ar interjected.
"I'm sorry but I just can't allow you to stay"
Yamucha swallowed, gathering his courage, "Come on" He cajoled in him most charming voice, "I'm bored out of my mind Pu'ar isn't going to hurt anything."
She crossed her arms over her chest. Her stark, white uniform was so heavily starched that Yamucha could almost hear it crumpling, "It's against regulations."
He gave her his patented "rugged desert bandit" smile tm, "Please?" He was thankful that his jaw was no longer held together. There's nothing like trying to talk with a chain link fence in your mouth.
"The rules clearly state" She pushed back a strand of pink hair that had escaped her severe bun, " No pets" She trailed off.
He smiled up at her again, "I wouldn't ask this of you, but, I just can't take lying here all by myself, staring at the ceiling." He sat up carefully, wincing for effect, "You can understand that, can't you?" Yamucha stared intently into her eyes.
"Butthe rulesand.." She waved her hand vaguely, becoming flustered, her face flushing to match her hair, "I just" her hands dropped to her sides and sighed, "Even if I banished your little flying friend, she'd just come back in through the window, wouldn't she?" She shook her head, "fine, but if anyone else catches him in here, I don't know anything about this, got it?" She crossed her arms again, regaining control.
"Of course" His smile broadened, "and Thank you."
She nodded and made a hasty retreat.
Yamucha fell back onto the pillow, clutching his chest.
"Yamucha-Sama! You're over your fear of girls!"
"Hardly!" he gasped, "That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life!"
* * *
Bulma had been having a very interesting dream. It involved tomatoes and the villain from an old b-movie. Not that this was particularly noteworthy in and of itself; what was interesting was the fact that the b-movie villain was taking the time to patiently explain how she should fix the gravity machine. It was a little disconcerting, hearing scientific gibberish, which made perfect sense with dream logic, in the breathy baritone of one of the evilest bad guys in movie history.
A nagging rumble in her belly tried to pry her away from the dream, but, sure that she was on the brink of a very important discovery, she held on tenaciously to sleep. Unfortunately, however, the needs of the body was currently stronger than her sleep-impaired willpower, so she was elevated to consciousness. Bulma sighed and rubbed her eyes, sitting up in bed. "Geeze, what a bizarre dream." She tried to remember what the fictional character had been telling her, but none of what he said made any sense. For one thing, neither rubber bands or guacamole are part of the inner workings of the machinery. Guacamole. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and she decided that it was definitely time to make a pit stop. padded toward the general direction of the galley, thankful that all of the traveling she'd done while searching for the dragon balls had honed her sense of direction to near perfection.
While she selected an inordinate amount of food for a midnight snack, she contemplated her silly dream. "Rubber bands." She shook her head, "I guess even geniuses can have non-sequiter moments." She sighed, wishing that the answer could come as easily as a dream. It just wasn't fair. She sat down and started shoveling food into her mouth, grateful that no one was around to see her act in such an unladylike manner. Silently musing (or as silently as one can be when one is shoving more food into an orifice than should, by all laws of physics, be able to fit) she remembered the part of the dream where Mr. B-movie had instructed her to place all of the engine components into cardboard boxes to isolate and define the amount of gravity in each sector of the ship. Well, it had made sense while she was sleeping.
She paused mid-shovel, "That's it!" Forgetting the rest of her snack, she hopped off the stool, and scurried out of the room. Her rapid footsteps lead her first to the engine room to collect her tools, and then to the training room. She was glad that she'd spent several days working there during the past week and didn't have to wake anyone up to show her where it was.
Vegeta was rudely awakened by a series of jarring clangs. Upon regaining consciousness, he was aware of another sound accompanying it. It sounded like singing. "On'na no baka!" He growled, throwing off his covers. He glanced at the chronometer and noted, with much irritation, that it was barely 04:00 hours. He stalked out into the hall, not bothering to change out of his sleeping garb.
He turned the corner, and found her on her hands and knees, pulling out electronic components from a behind a wall plate. He froze when he saw her, his breath catching in his throat. Her current position gave him an ideal view of her nicely-rounded backside. He was tempted to take the coward's way out and sneak away, but that choice was taken away from him. Vegeta must have made some kind of noise, because she glanced over her shoulder and smiled, never once pausing in her off-key crooning.
He tried to remember what he was doing there, but that knowledge wouldn't have helped him at this point. His throat was so dry he didn't think he could croak.
"Did you want something, Vegeta? Or are you just going to stand there and glare at me all night?" her jovial tone did not match her hostile words, nor did her brilliant smile so much as falter.
He coughed once, clearing his throat, and recovered "What are you doing , woman!?"
"What does it look like, silly! I'm fixing your little gravity problem!" She giggled.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He crossed his arms.
She sat up, and placed a finger over her lips contemplatively, "Well, I think it was about one or so when I woke up I went to the mess hall, and then I came here. I've been working here for about"
"That's not what I meant!" He interrupted.
She stood up, "Well, aren't you going to even ask me what I've done?" She placed a hand on her hip and gestured toward the electrical mess on the floor.
"Hn." He scowled, "Whatever it is it could have waited until morning."
"It's so hard to be a genius." She said with mock-melancholy, "I can't just summon inspiration, you know. When you get an idea you have to work on it, no matter what time it is."
"Not on my ship!" He growled.
"Oh, honestly, calm down, Vegeta!" She waved dismissively at him, still smiling, "Don't you get it? I've solved the gravity problem! You can train now."
He frowned, contemplating this, "What have you done?"
Her smile brightened. She'd been dying to talk about her discovery, "It's really very simple, you see, I've taken electro magnetic barriers and altered their reflection angles to serve as a containment unit for the excess force so I can focus the ambient gravitational pull existent anywhere in the universe to a single predetermined geometric shape! That was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out where the force came from, you see, I kept thinking of gravity as a constant pull downwards, like on a planet, and I forgot to think of it in three dimensions." She giggled, "Separate boxes. It was a cinch!" She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, smearing dust on the bridge of her nose. " Do you understand?"
He stared blankly for several seconds before sputtering, "Of course I do!"
"Well I guess, I'm almost done here" she yawned.
"Hn." He looked at that stupid little dust streak. 'Stupid woman,' He thought, 'she looks ridiculous.' But for some reason that did not stop him from staring. He decided that it was bothering him so much that he had to remove it. It had nothing, nothing to do with touching her skin. Nothing. He frowned and extended his hand, wiping as much of the dirt off as he could with his thumb, but for reasons beyond his understanding, he did not immediately remove his hand. Instead he allowed the digit to trail from the bridge of her nose, to her cheek, and resting finally on her lips.
She gasped, involuntarily parting her lips, allowing him to feel her warm breath. was enough to shatter his composure. With a small feral noise, he grasped the back of her neck with that hand, and for the second time, pulled her mouth to his. This time it was less bruising, but no less intense.
The kiss was very nice, but Bulma got the feeling that he really wasn't sure what he was doing. She smiled mentally, and opened her mouth, flicking her tongue across his bottom lip. His voice cracked and he emitted a high-pitched yelp.
At this point, he decided to reciprocate. Where she had lightly caressed his lips with her tongue, he tried to gag her with his. In his inexperience, he more or less tried to shove his tongue down her throat. She giggled quietly.
Vegeta drew back, abruptly, "What's so funny?"
"N-nothing" Her voice quivered in an attempt to hide her amusement, "It's just um"
"Well? Spit it out!"
She couldn't control her mirth any longer, "I just did!" She almost doubled over.
"Hn." His expression did not betray his embarrassment, but his cheeks were stained crimson, he turned on his heel to leave, but she grabbed him by his bare arm.
It was then that she became painfully aware of how little clothing Saiya-jin males slept in. He was wearing the space-invader equivalent of bicycle shorts. Bulma shook off her momentary discomfort. She was going to teach this little geek how to kiss if it killed her. "Not so fast, there, bud!" She smiled at him.
"What!?" He snarled without looking at her.
"Well, don't you want me to show you how it's done?"
He hazarded a glance in her direction, "Show me?"
"Yeah, sure, no one gets it right without being taught ."
His blush deepened, and he never lost his scowl or his arrogant, unreceptive demeanor, but Bulma could sense curiosity radiating off of him like a tangible thing.
He turned to face her again, crossing his arms and twitching his tail back and forth, practically daring her to touch him.
She swatted at his arms, "Come on, you've got to relax, arms at your sides." He did not immediately comply, "Vegeta, I can't teach you anything if you don't do what I say"
He sighed and uncrossed his arms, "Better?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Much." She wrapped her arms around his neck lightly, "Now, you've already got the basics down, it's some of the more complicated things that we need to work on." She smiled.
He stiffened, fighting the urge to cross his arms again. Dammit, he would not be intimidated!
"Now," she ordered, "Kiss me again."
He frowned, confused, "Kiss?"
"Yes, kiss!" she let out a small laugh, "You know, that thing you just did? Where we touch lips? It's called a kiss, now do it again."
His frown deepened, and he leaned forward and planted a very militant, stiff kiss on her lips.
She pulled back, "No, softer, like you did before."
'Softer?' He mused. His entire life had been dedicated with making his every action harder and capable of inflicting more damage. Now he had to try to be "softer." 'If that's what it takes to master this exercise, so be it!'
He brushed his lips over hers, it was the barest of touches. made a small noise and leaned into him, "That's good." she mumbled, "you're a quick study."
"Of course I am." He managed to say between kisses, "I am the Saiya-jin no Ouji."
"Uh-huh," She agreed, mostly to appease him, "Now, do like I do" She parted her lips and gently caressed his closed mouth with her tongue.
Hesitantly, he opened his mouth and allowed her access, it took a moment for him to work up enough courage to venture a few tentative flicks of his own. However, when he did so, he was rewarded with a small moan from Bulma.
"That's very good!" She murmured.
"Ng." He agreed, wrapping his tail around her waist, pulling her closer.
She had a moment's apprehension, the tail reminding her that he was an alien and she was being held against her will and making out with one's captor can't be a good ideaandOh, geeze, where did he learn to do that with his tongue?
* * *
"Raditz!" Nappa barked as he stormed into his room, turning the light on.
"Mhhhmmm?" Raditz shielded his eyes from the glare, "Nappa-San?"
"Get up!"
"Wha? Did I oversleep?" He sat up, careful not to disturb Kakarrot, and peered at the chronometer, which revealed that it was only about 06:00 hours.
"No, worse." It was then that Raditz noticed that Nappa looked worried.
"What is it?"
"We just received a missive from Furiza-sama"
"Did you tell Ouji-Sama?"
"I would have, baka, but I can't find him!" Nappa growled.
"What!?" Raditz was now fully awake.
"I said I can't find him! He isn't in his room, or the mess hall, or" Nappa bore a curious resemblance to a mother hen without her chick.
"Dai joubu, Nappa-San." Raditz sat on the side of the bed, and rubbed his eyes, "he's got to be on the ship somewhere."
"I know that!"
"Okay, then, we'll split up. You know, to look for him"
Nappa nodded, already halfway out the door.
* * *
Raditz would have sworn that he'd checked every room on that ship, and still no sign of Vegeta-Sama. He paused in the hallway outside of the training room, surveying the suspicious mess scattered about. He reasoned that this was the most likely place to have something to do with Ouji-Sama's disappearance. And since the girl was gone, too, Raditz supposed that she might have had something to do with it as well. He rested his right elbow in the palm of his left hand, and massaged the bridge of his nose with his right hand. He really wished he was smarter.
He paused mid-breath, and listened intently. He heard something. It was a few muffled thuds and a stifled gasp. Raditz cocked his head to the side and brushed his hair out of the way in an attempt to locate the sound.
It was coming from a utility closet. Very close. He took a few rapid steps and paused in front of the closet door to confirm his suspicions. With a self-satisfied grin, he tore the door open. His expression faded to one of horror, as he realized what he'd come upon.
Ouji-Sama jerked his lips away from the girls, and glared up at Raditz. His expression unchanging, he wordlessly got to his feet and stepped out of the closet. He glanced up at Raditz and stopped long enough to utter three words before regally making his way back to his quarters.
"You saw nothing."
His mouth agape, Raditz turned to stare at the semi-sprawled form of Bulma. "Nice going, hairball!" She stood up, and threw the first thing she could reach at his shocked visage. stalked back to her own room, leaving a very confused and somewhat disturbed Raditz holding a mop in the middle of the hallway.