Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragonball AU ❯ This is definately not chapter 7. I promise. ( Chapter 7 )
[ 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: 5 | Words: 12.2K | Visits: 309 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Romance / Suspense | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.17.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 12.2K | Visits: 309 | Status: Work In Progress
"Vegeta-Sama!" Nappa was visibly relieved.
"I'm assuming there's a reason you and that brainless weakling were looking for me?" He glared up at the tall man.
"Hai, Ouji-Sama," Nappa regained his composure, "We have been summoned by Furiza-Sama. He's eager to see what we have to show for our trip to E-ar Ur um that planet."
Almost imperceptively, Vegeta stiffened, "Well, idiot, you don't need me to tell you to set a course for Furiza's ship."
"Hai, Ouji-Sama." Nappa placed his hand over his heart and bowed, before leaving Vegeta's room.
"Nappa" He called to his retreating form.
"Yes?" Nappa poked his head back in the doorway.
"I want you to double the gravity on the ship."
"But the woman"
"Are you questioning my orders, Nappa?" He asked testily.
"No, Vegeta-Sama."
"Then do it."
"Yes, Ouji-Sama."
With Nappa gone, Vegeta sat on the edge of his unmade bed and rubbed his eyes, wondering why he was so tired, since he was quite used to going with much less than the five hours of sleep he'd gotten that night.
* * *
Bulma had retired to her cell. Despite her weariness, she was wide awake. She sat on the bed, resting her back against the wall. She pulled her knees to her chest, and every once in a while she would absently touch her lips. "What was I thinking?" she said quietly. that Vegeta and his nicely developed, albeit undersized, physique were not so distractingly close, she pondered the wisdom of her actions. It was definitely stupid to deliberately entice a hormonal teenaged boy who had the added capability of destroying planets. Not to mention what this implied about her own morality. For Pete's sake, she didn't even like the little jerk, and yet she practically threw herself at him like a dog in heat. Her cheeks flushed with shame, as she struggled to control her own physical reaction to the memory of those kisses.
"It's just Stockholm syndrome." She said aloud with as much conviction as she could muster, "It's perfectly normal for a hostage to react this way. N-nothing out of the ordinary" She yawned, and stretched out on the bed, "nothing to be ashamed of" her eyes fluttered shut and sleep claimed her.
* * *
Goku paused in the middle of his morning meal, "what was that, 'nii-san?" referring to the sudden change in g-force.
Raditz furrowed his brow, "Hn. Gravity just doubled" he shrugged, "Your little friend must still be playing around with it"
"Nu-uh, Bulma's still sleepin'."
"Maybe Nappa did it. I dunno." Raditz disregarded the matter as unimportant and continued eating.
"Are we gonna train today?" Goku asked around a mouthful.
&nbs p; "Don't you ever get tired of having the crap beaten out of you?" He glared down at the child.
"Mocuf I mo gat"
"I can't understand a damn word you're saying. Swallow first, then speak."
Goku did as he was told, " I don't get tired of trainin' 'cause it makes me stronger." He grinned up Raditz, "Some day I'm gonna be as strong as you, 'nii-san!"
He smirked good naturedly, "Heh, keep dreaming, brat." Raditz was disconcerted by a recurring queer heaviness in his chest that manifested itself when he looked at his moronic little brother. He realized that he was becoming very fond of the boy, and was disturbed by that weakness. He didn't want to feel anything for the undersized, under-trained weakling because it would hurt too badly when he died. And Raditz knew that he would die. He swallowed a mouthful of food that suddenly had all the flavor of dirt.
Raditz had been prepared to dislike the boy, as it was Kakarrot who killed their mother. Saiya-jin births are relatively easy compared to most species, and complications rarely occur. However, when complications do occur, the Saiya-jin doctors are ill prepared to deal with it. Kakarrot had been one of those rare difficult births, leaving Raditz's mother dead and Kakarrot in a weakened state, earning him his status as a third-class warrior. He had not even been given time to mourn, as on the very day of her death, a nine-year-old Raditz was sent out on his first planetary cleansing mission. He had the callousness of Saiya-jin bureaucracy to blame for his very life. His mission kept him away from Vegeta-sei long enough for it and everyone he'd ever known or cared about to be destroyed, leaving him not only orphaned and homeless, but utterly alone in the universe save for a cold, spoiled little prince and his thick-skinned nursemaid. And now there was Kakarrot.
Goku paused again between bites, "'Nii-san? Are you gonna be okay? You look sick." He peered up at Raditz, with an expression of openness and concern.
"Of course I am, Baka. Now finish your breakfast before I shove it down your throat."
* * *
Bulma groaned softly. She felt as though she were suffocating under a lead blanket. Slowly, she struggled to a sitting position.
"What is going on here?" she asked the empty room. With much effort, she managed to get to her feet, and take a few steps, but her quadriceps were already trembling from the extreme effort. She stumbled into the hall, and with each slow, deliberate step accompanied by the hot pain associated with a build-up of lactic acid, set upon discovering the cause of this discomfort. She only hoped she had the energy to make whoever was responsible pay and pay dearly.
With agonizing effort, she stumbled into the mess hall, where Raditz and Goku were rapidly consuming the last of their morning meal.
"What is wrong with the gravity?" she panted.
Both Saiya-jin looked up at her, nonplussed, "it's only doubled," Raditz replied offhandedly.
"Doubled !?" She railed, "But I just fixed the training room so you wouldn't have to double it!" She stumbled over to one of the benches, and sat down, resting as well as she could under those conditions.
Raditz shrugged and licked the remnants of breakfast off of his fingers, careful not to get anything on his vambraces. "We're headed for Furiza-Sama's ship. You gotta get used to the gravity eventually."
"Whatsa matter, Bulma? You don't look so good"Goku chewed on his bottom lip, gazing up at her.
"Of course I don't look so good!" she crossed her arms, but couldn't hold them in that position, "You doubled the gravity !"
"You'll get used to it." Raditz told her, "and then we'll double it again."
"Again!? Are you trying to kill me?"
"It's for your own good. Otherwise the gravity of Furiza's ship would kill you," he snapped his fingers, "like that."
She sighed, "That doesn't mean I have to like it." She mumbled, as she attempted once more to cross her arms.
Goku hopped off of his stool, and, waving his tail around his head he eagerly turned to his big brother, "Can we go train now? I can't wait to see how much stronger I get when I'm this heavy!" He jumped up and down for emphasis.
Bulma glared at the little show-off.
"Sure, kid, whatever." Raditz led a chattering Goku out of the mess hall.
Bulma tried to use the palm of her hand to prop up her head, but the table grating on her elbow proved to be too painful. Her stomach growled and she growled back at it. Dammit, this was no time to have to deal with the needs of the body.
* * *
Vegeta had not moved from the edge of the bed. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there since he'd been lost in thought the entire time. Kissing, "Yes, that's what it's called," he thought to himself, had been thoroughly enjoyable. However, he could not chase away the nagging suspicion that there was something missing, that there was some higher level he was not attaining. He was fairly certain that what he had done with the girl was some sort of a prelude to the mating act, he just wasn't sure what came next. He absently dashed the back of his glove against his mouth, trying to drown out the sensory memory of that idiot girl's moist, soft lips.
He momentarily considered asking the woman what it was that was missing from their he faltered, not sure what to call it. He shook his head, dismissing the idea. It was bad enough that she'd had to school him in the art of kissing. he was not going to endure the added shame of asking her He frowned. Asking her what? He didn't even know where to begin. Hn. There had to be another source of this information. He supposed he could look it up in the computer database, but he sincerely doubted that Furiza-Sama's files would have any relevant information whatsoever. He frowned again. If he was unwilling to ask the girl, that left only two choices, he reasoned, immediately discounting Kakarrot. Nappa He shuddered. Fine, then not Nappa That left Raditz. Vegeta played with this idea. Raditz was only five years older than himself, so it wouldn't be as bad as asking his life-long mentor. And Raditz never seemed to have any problems procuring female company when he was allowed on shore leave. Not that Vegeta knew this from first hand experience, since he wouldn't have deigned to accompany the lower-class soldiers on their dubious quests for amusement, even if Furiza-Sama had allowed it.
Vegeta stood up and started to get dressed. If he was going to have to suffer through the embarrassment of talking to Raditz about this, he wanted to be at his best advantage. He discarded his sleeping garb, and selected a fresh set of armor.
After adjusting his shoulder pads and straightening his spine, he set out to find a certain fuzzy underling.
* * *
"Wow! This is really tough, 'nii-san, I feel like I can hardly move!" Goku rotated his arms in wide circles for emphasis.
"Heh. This is natural for me." Raditz lounged against the wall, watching amusedly as his brother adjusted to ten-times Earth's gravity. "You'll get used to it, too."
"How come it's heavier in here than it is outside th' trainin' room?" Goku asked, trying to stand on his head.
"All thanks to your little girl-friend, Kakarrot." He replied.
"Bulma-girl made this?" He fell over, and rolled onto his back, "Wow she's really smart."
"Yeah, smart. What do you think you're doing laying around like that, brat? Get up and keep moving."
"Okay, 'nii-san"
"Raditz!" a voice barked over the intercom.
"Kuso!" he cursed, hoping he wasn't in trouble. He hurried over to the extension on the wall, and pressing a button replied, "Hai, Ouji-Sama?"
"Come here."
"Uh Where, Ouji-Sama?"
"My quarters, Baka!"
"Hai, Ouji-Sama." Raditz depressed the button, and with a rueful glance in Kakarrot's direction, he explained, "Vegeta-Sama wants me for something You're just gonna have to train by yourself for a while."
"Okay, 'nii-san." Goku was trying , and failing, to balance up on his tail.
* * *
"Females, Ouji-Sama?" Raditz blinked, uncomprehendingly.
"Yes. As Saiya-jin no Ouji I command you to tell me everything you know about them." Vegeta crossed his arms and stared haughtily up at Raditz.
Raditz had a transient moment of panic. Ouji-Sama had never asked a question this personal before. Raditz didn't know what to say, until he remembered something that Kakarrot's father had told him right after he'd had a fight with Raditz's mother, "No one understands women." Vegeta didn't reply, but his face was so utterly emotionless, that Raditz guessed that Vegeta had no idea what he was talking about. "No one really knows anything about them, and anyone who says he knows something is lying."
"That isn't what I meant! I already know that !" twitched, and then posed a question he dreaded the answer to, "So, it's not girls you want me to tell you about, Vegeta-Sama? Is it sex you wanna know about?"
"Sex" Vegeta repeated, trying out the unfamiliar word, "Yes, tell me about that as well."
"With all due respect, Ouji-Sama D-don't you think you should ask Nappa-San about this? After all, he was the guardian and mentor chosen by your father"
"Don't be stupid. I think Nappa knows less than I do!"
Raditz sighed mentally, "Then, if Ouji-Sama will excuse me" He started towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going, baka! I gave you an order!"
Raditz paused in the doorway, and responded with only two words, "Visual aids." He bowed and then continued towards his own room, hoping he could remember where he stashed those pictures from Kakarrot.
Sooner than he would like, Raditz was again standing outside of Ouji-Sama's door. Glancing down at the pornography in his hands, of which he'd carefully removed all of the male/male pictures so as not to confuse Ouji-Sama, he took a deep breath and knocked.
"It's about time," Vegeta snapped.
"Gomen Nasai, Ouji-Sama." Raditz bowed, "I think that these might explain better than I could." He handed the stack to his diminutive sovereign.
Vegeta looked at the first picture on the stack for several seconds before replying, "I understand what the man and the woman are doing, but what purpose does the goat serve?"
Raditz paled, "Uh, maybe this isn't the best picture to start with" He pulled another picture out of the middle of the stack in Vegeta's hands and, after glancing on it to assure it was nothing tooextreme, he placed it over the other picture, "Maybe this one is better "
Vegeta furrowed his brow in confusion, trying to make sense of the picture. the next forty-five minutes Raditz explained, as best he could, the intricacies of the mating act. It was a difficult balance, trying to assure Vegeta-Sama understood everything he was telling him, without insulting him or sounding condescending. Never mind the fact that Raditz was embarrassed as hell to have to be explaining this at all, much less to a seventeen-year old prince who should have known all of this years ago.
Vegeta was silent for the greater part of the lecture, speaking only when he wished Raditz to clarify or expand upon a point. Raditz couldn't tell if Vegeta-Sama didn't know enough to be embarrassed by his discourse, or if he was just very good at disguising it.
"I never would have believed that I'd ever have a reason to call Ouji-Sama innocent ," Raditz thought to himself, trying to stifle his amusement, "wonder if he'll relax a little bit after he gets laid." Aloud he said, "I think that's everything, Ouji-Sama Unless you have any more questions?"
"You've told me everything?" Vegeta challenged, as if there was information that Raditz would have a reason to keep secret.
"Everything I know, Ouji-Sama."
"Hn. Then go." Vegeta stood up and turned his back on the taller man. bowed even though he knew that Vegeta couldn't see him and started collecting his papers.
"Leave them." Vegeta ordered without turning around, "A soldier in Furiza-Sama's army should not have" he faltered, not knowing how to describe the pictures, "something like that. They'll be destroyed."
Raditz set the pictures back down, "Hai, Ouji-Sama." Once he was outside of Vegeta's room, he felt comfortable enough to smirk in amusement. "Destroyed my ass" he thought as he approached the training room to collect Kakarrot and go to lunch.
* * *
"Wow! I feel light as a feather now!" Goku bounced down the corridor. Having become used to ten times Earth's gravity, a measly doubling of Earth's gravity felt like less than nothing.
"Do you ever stop talking, Kakarrot?" Raditz growled half-heartedly.
"I don't talk when I'm sleepin'" He paused mid-step and gazed curiously up at Raditz, "at least I don't think I do. I've never seen myself when I'm asleep, so I dunno. Hey, but you have! Do I talk in my sleep, 'nii-san?"
"I said be quiet!"
"No you didn't You asked me a question. An' I was tryin' to answer it!"
"Well, I'm saying it now. Be quiet."
"Okay."
With extreme effort, Bulma craned her neck to watch the two Saiya-jin brothers entering the mess hall.
"Hiya, Bulma-San!" Goku waved.
"Hn," was all she replied.
"Have you moved from that spot since this morning?" Raditz smiled amusedly down at her.
"Barely." she growled weakly.
"Why?"
"Because some idiot doubled the gravity!" She bit out with as much force as she could muster.
* * *
"Sowhere am I going?" Yamucha anxiously asked the doctor who was currently leading him down the hall.
She glanced up at him, "Physical therapy."
"Oh. Right." he nodded and, after a pause, he asked, "What's physical therapy?"
"It's a series of exercises that will help you to regain your strength and mobility."
"Exercises, huh?" He smiled cockily at the short, middle-aged woman, "I think I can handle that."
"I'm glad you have so much confidence in yourself." She replied in a dead-pan voice as she pushed open the door to the therapy room.
"Hello!" Chirped a yellow-haired intern as they stepped into the large, brightly-lit room speckled with odd equipment. She stood up and moved away from the card table and folding chair to greet her patient, "You must be Yamucha." She smiled a rather perfect smile.
"Yaaa! Are there any guys working at this hospital!?" Yamucha grabbed handfuls of his long, dark mane, and yelled at the ceiling.
The intern gave the doctor a curious look, prompting her to explain, "Yamucha is afraid of girls"
"Afraid?" She repeated, "Of girls." Then, shrugging, "Alright, I'm sure we can find a way to work around this, right, Yamucha?"
He let out a small, disparaging moan.
"First off, I already know your name, so it's only fair that I tell you mine, right?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He swallowed, trying to moisten his dry throat, but to no avail. He ended up just nodding.
"My name is Peppamintu, but most people call me Mint." She smiled as non-threateningly as she could.
He opened his mouth and squeaked. It was an improvement.
"Come on, Yamucha, If we're going to do you any good at all, you're going to have to at least try to relax, okay?"
"I'm relaxed!" He asserted in a high-pitched voice.
"Then, I want you to have a seat on this mat, okay?" she gestured to a blue gymnast's mat covering a good portion of the floor.
"No problem" His voice was sounding a bit more normal.
"We're going to start with some stretches." She sat across from him, and he stiffened, "none of thatcome on calm." She smiled again, "I hear you're a martial artist, right? So you should know all about stretching. This is going to be simple, just don't try to overdo it, okay?"
He bit his lip and nodded. "This is just another training exercise," he told himself, "Just like my old sensei. Except my old sensei was, wellold and not a girl.. And didn't have pretty blonde hair" He sincerely hoped he get through this in one piece.
* * *
Bulma noted with wan curiosity, how the Saiya-jin not only seemed to have a circadian rhythm similar to that of humans, they also had similar times set aside for eating. Goku and Raditz were soon joined by Nappa and Vegeta for the noon meal. plopped his tray onto the table and glanced at Bulma, who, obviously, even to the most obtuse of men, was struggling in the gravity, "Whatsa matter, girl? Too much for ya?"
"Of course it is, you muscle-head!" she panted, but never once lost her ire, "I'm a girl! I'm pretty, graceful and delicate and I am not supposed to be subjected to these kinds of conditions !"
"Saiya-jin girls never had a problem with normal gravity." He replied calmly, as he took a bite of his lunch.
"This isn't normal gravity! It's 2 g's!"
"It's one-fifth normal gravity, woman!" Vegeta interjected, becoming irritated, "and if you're going to survive when we get to Furiza-Sama's ship, you'll just have to get used to it!"
"And If I don't?" She tried to cross her arms, but found that they weighed too much for this to be accomplished.
"Then you'll be crushed." he replied offhandedly.
"Oh."
"Which is why Nappa is going to be responsible for training you."
"What!?"
"What?" They asked in unison.
"But, Ouji-Sama" Nappa began.
"Are you questioning me, Nappa?"
"No, Ouji-Sama." Nappa slumped in his chair and resumed eating, however, with noticeably less enthusiasm.
"Well I am!" Bulma glared him, "If I have to put up with him, I'll go crazy !"
Nappa gave her a look that conveyed the mutuality of those feelings.
"Stupid woman." Vegeta said between bites, "you can't gain strength fast enough on your own. Without his help, you'll be crushed."
"Well, I've got an idea." she replied testily, "why don't you just turn this little rust-bucket of a ship around and take me home !? It's not like I asked you to take me along on your stupid little mission!" This time she found sufficient strength to cross her arms over her chest.
"Or better yet, I could throw you out of the airlock, and save myself the trip!" Vegeta stood up, and placed a fist on either side of his tray, "That would solve our little gravity problem as well!"
"Hn." She glared at the incensed little prince.
"You're training with Nappa. There will be no more discussion of the matter!"
* * *
"Is something troubling His Holiness?" the short, dark groundskeeper asked anxiously.
"I've suspected this for a while now. I've just received confirmation." Kami-Sama sighed, "Five of the seven Dragonballs are no longer on Earth."
"Not on Earth, Kami-Sama? How can this be?" Mr. Popo clutched his watering can to his chest.
"I don't know."
"What is His Godship going to do?"
"I am merely a guardian. There's nothing I can do." ignoring the irony of that statement, he turned his back on the shorter being, and gazed out over the edge of his lookout, "But there are those on Earth who may be able to help."
"Are you going to summon them now?"
"No. I think I'll wait to get involved. Maybe the problem will solve itself."
* * *
"That's amazing, Yamucha!" Mint smiled as she watched him raise and lower himself on a metal bar, "I've never seen anyone recover so quickly! And you say it was only a few weeks ago that you were injured?"
Yamucha paused in the middle the exercise, "Uh I guess so They kept me so full of drugs when I first got hereI don't remember much"
"Yes, well, you were pretty banged up from what I hear."
"Yeah, that too, but I think they just wanted to keep me off of the ceiling."
"Oh so that's not just a rumor?"
"Uh" Yamucha averted his gaze and blushed, "No, ma'am."
"You must be pretty strong then, to be able to hold on to the ceiling while you were so injured." She smiled up at him again.
"Um" He squeaked, "I guess so" He placed a hand on the back of his hand in embarrassment, and promptly lost his grip on the bar, falling onto the mat below him. .
* * *
"Okay, girl, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my real training." Nappa scowled.
"Oh, like I'm enjoying this any more than you are!?"
"Heh. Well it's not like you have anything better to do."
"Nothing better to do!?" She railed, "watching paint dry is better than this!"
"Exactly. Let's get this over with."
"Jerk!"
* * *
"Your excuses are boring me, Dodoria." Furiza rested an elbow in the palm of one hand and held a snifter of wine in the other. He stood with his back to his underling, gazing out of the window on the bridge of his ship. "I want that planet now . If I don't have it very soon, I will become agitated. Do you really want to see me agitated, Dodoria-san?"
"No, Furiza-Sama!" If Dodoria's florid face could pale, it would have, "Citrus-Sei is as good as yours!"
"Of course it is, Dodoria-San. Citrus-Sei has always been mine. I've just been waiting around to claim it." Furiza laughed quietly to himself, then in a mercurial change of mood, "Unfortunately, I cannot claim my planet until you wipe it clean of vermin. I don't see how you can be out preparing my planet at the same time you're standing around doing nothing!"
"Gomen nasai, Furiza-Sama!" Dodoria bowed hastily and fled Furiza's presence.
"Now," Furiza said to the empty room, "all I need is for my little monkey-prince to return to me. He's been gone much too long." He gazed into the dark red liquid in his glass, "Much too long. I shall have to prepare an especially nasty punishment this time for my little pet."
* *
Bulma thought that the first day at 2 g's was the worst. That was until she woke up the next morning, and had to deal with the residual soreness of the day before as well as the increased gravity. Then the second day was the worst. And then the third. The fourth. Strangely, though, by the fifth day she was feeling a bit better, and was becoming accustomed to the increased gravity. She was aware that gaining strength at this rate was humanly impossible, and, if anything, she should be suffering from torn ligaments and sheer muscular burn-out as opposed to receiving any kind of benefit from these extreme conditions. However, she decided to take her newly discovered resilience for the blessing it was, and not question it too much. She didn't have to energy to question much of anything.
"Don't get lazy on me, girl!" Nappa barked down at her.
She glared up at him from her squatting position, "I can't stand back up!"
"Yes you can, You've done it twenty-eight times already, now get up!"
"Has it occurred to you, " she started in a mild tone before becoming increasingly louder, "that maybe the reason I can't stand up now is because I've already done it twenty-eight times !?"
"Hn. If you got enough energy to scream at me, you can stand up." He crossed his arms, "Now."
Bulma closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, willing her legs, with every fiber of her being, to elevate her to a standing position. Ignoring the pain as best she could, she tensed her ravaged thigh muscles, and slowly raised herself to a standing position, before glaring triumphantly at Nappa.
"Not bad. Just one more left."
"Onemore!?" she gasped, "I can't!"
"Stupid earthling!" He said contemptuously, "You waste more energy telling me you can't do something than if you'd just shut up and do what I tell you!"
She clenched her teeth and screeched, "Fine!" She lowered herself again. The hot, ebbing pain coiled within every striation of muscle, as she struggled once more to stand. She was shaking with the effort before she was even half-way up. But the first half up was always the hardest. "Just a little further." she thought, pleading with her body, "Come on! Just another few inches!" She let out a ragged moan as she fought to straighten her violently trembling legs. The pain had subsided, leaving only a queer numbness, which would have worried her if she hadn't been so intently focused on the singular act of standing. At last, she locked her knees into place, before smiling cockily up at Nappa, "Thirty!" was all she managed to gasp out before collapsing, unconscious.
"Not bad." Nappa admitted, the first traces of respect for this weakling human manifesting itself. He sighed and hauled her tiny body over his shoulder, "Better get you to the tank."
Nappa stopped by the "real" training room, "Hey, Raditz!" He banged on the door, since opening it while the gravity was initialized and set at different levels could bedisastrous. "Get out here."
After several seconds, the aforementioned Saiya-jin poked his head out of the door, "Hai, Nappa-San?" Then, noticing the girl slung over his shoulder, "What happened?"
"You need to work the tank. Let's go." Nappa turned to leave without saying another word.
&nbs p; Raditz followed, along with a concerned Kakarrot.
Once they reached the medlab, Raditz set about preparing the tank, "What happened, Nappa-San?" He asked, glancing up from his work.
He shrugged, "She fainted."
"Why?"
"Dunno."
"Hn. Women." he shrugged. "Okay, it's ready."
"Here." Nappa tried to hand her to Raditz, "undress her and put her in, then."
"I'm not going to undress her!" Raditz replied, panicking. "D'you know what she'd do to me?"
"Well I'm not gonna do it either!"
"Ya didn't take her clothes off before, 'nii-san" Goku pointed out.
"Yeah, but there wasn't so much of 'em before. Her suit covers everything."
"If it worked before, it'll work again. Just put her in as is." Nappa edged away from the comatose girl.
"But we both know that it's almost impossible for the fluid to work through the suits. They're almost waterproof."
"Then undress her! I don't care, all I know is I ain't doing it!"
They turned their respective gazes to the oblivious Goku, who was currently poking his friend, concernedly.
"Kakarrot" Raditz started.
He looked up at his brother, "Yeah?"
"I got a job for you"
* * *
As the fluid drained out of the tank, Bulma's first coherent thought was, "I'm hungry." Her second coherent thought was, "I'm naked." and her third coherent thought was, "I'm going to kill someone."
The hatch opened, and before she could even open her mouth, someone threw her a towel which she promptly wrapped around herself.
"Where are my clothes!?" she screeched at Raditz, who pointedly mutely at a pile on the floor. "You better not have tried anything funny while I was out, bud, or I'll make it so you never leave the bathroom as long as you live!"
He paled, "I didn't! I swear!" he held his hands up in a placating gesture, "Look, we just had to undress you to put you in the tank If it was any of us who got hurt we'd undress him too we undressed Kakarrot when he was hurt, remember!?"
"Which one of you took off my clothes?" She asked in a slow, restrained voice.
"Kakarrot did it!" Raditz pointed at his hapless brother, cursing Nappa as a coward for fleeing before the girl woke up.
"Yep." Goku confirmed, grinning up at her.
"Goku! I'm going to kill you!" She looked for something to throw at him.
"Whatsa matter, Bulma-girl? It's not like I never seen you naked before!"
"Clothes! Now!" She ordered, and was immediately obeyed, as Raditz tossed a new one-piece suit at her. She fumed loudly as she retired to the adjacent bathroom to dress, and luckily for Raditz and Goku, she had calmed down a bit before she emerged.
"Well, at least somebody turned the gravity back down to a sane level!" She declared as she stomped off to the mess hall.
Goku looked up at Raditz, confused, "What's she talkin' about 'nii-san? No one changed the gravity"
* * *
Bulma stormed around a corner, almost colliding with Nappa, "You!" She hissed.
"What!?" He sneered back.
"This is all your fault!"
"What!?" He reiterated.
"If you hadn't made me overdo it, I wouldn't have passed out!" She balled her hands into fists, "And Goku wouldn't have had to undress me, and that big, ugly hairball wouldn't have seen me naked!"
For possibly the first time in his battle-hardened life, Nappa blushed, "Oh. Sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough, pal!" She advanced on him, shaking her finger in his face, "If you would have just let me stop at twenty-eightbut no! I had to do thirty! I'm so mad I could just I could justscreeeeaaam !"
Nappa couldn't remember a time when he'd been more terrified.
* * *
"Nappa!" Vegeta barked at the juggernaut as he passed him in the hallway, "where are you going?"
Nappa paused, and looked down at the parcel he was carrying, "Bulma-San asked me to bring her something"
"Bulma-San ?" Vegeta mocked, " Are you forgetting that she's just a prisoner?"
"No, Ouji-Sama."
"Hn. Well, forget that stupid woman's request. I need a sparring partner."
"But Ouji-Sama couldn't I justdrop this off first?" Nappa shifted his weight nervously.
"To that woman? What is it?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes.
"It's just she asked me to bring her some chocolates, Vegeta-Sama." Nappa stared intently at the sweet-smelling package.
"Chocolates!? You were planning to make Saiya-jin no Ouji wait for you to deliver chocolates to some low-class woman!?"
"G-gomen Nasai, Ouji-sama!" Nappa bowed as low as he could, but he was still taller than Vegeta.
"Hn. If you put up a good enough fight, I may forgive you." Vegeta turned his back and started toward the training room. He realized that, not only was Nappa not following him, but he was going in the opposite direction. "Where do you think you're going, baka!?"
Nappa gestured helplessly at the box of candy.
"Who are you more afraid of? Me or that woman!?" Vegeta demanded.
Nappa's eyes widened for a moment before replying, "Gomen nasai, Ouji-Sama!" And scurrying off down the hall. If a man his size can accurately be described as "scurrying."
Vegeta was left alone, staring in abject shock and indignation at the place where his most loyal servant had been standing a moment ago. Nappa was an elite warrior of the Saiya-jin race. How could he be afraid of that pathetic earthling!? That woman! How dare she undermine his authority? He was the prince! He was royalty! And his subjects bowed to her every whim! It was not to be tolerated.
Vegeta marched toward her room, "No, her cell!" he corrected mentally, his tail bristling out behind him in irritation. Her door was locked from the inside, so he banged on it hard enough to dent it, "Woman! Open this door right now, or I'll tear it down!"
"Did you want something, Vegeta?" she opened the door and peered out inquisitively. Not terrified. Not penitent. Curious. It irritated the hell out of him.
"How dare you undermine my authority!?"
She blinked, "What are you talking about? Are you feeling alright, Vegeta?"
"You, a low-class Earthling, ordering an elite warrior about as though he were your servant!"
"First off, who are you calling low class, bud?" she put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair, "Secondly, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about!"
"You sent Nappa to bring you chocolates. Do you deny it?"
"No Is that what you're mad about?" she sighed, exasperatedly. Vegeta could smell the chocolate on her breath when she did so. "Fine. I won't ask your overgrown nursemaid to bring me chocolates anymore. Are you happy now?" She tried to shut the door in his face, but he caught it and jerked it back open. "Look, is that all you wanted or what?" She turned her back and walked back into her room. "Because if that's all, I get the point." she waved dismissively.
He strode rapidly into the room, grabbed her by the shoulder and whipped her around to face him. "You. Are. My. Prisoner." he hissed.
"Duh! I get the point! What do you want from me, anyway!?" she thanked whatever deity reigned in this sector of space that her voice didn't quiver. She crossed her arms, partly to look as pissed as she sounded, but mostly because she was damn scared.
"The Saiya-jin have never taken prisoners, but if we did, I'm sure they'd be better behaved than you!"
"Are you just going to stand here and insult me all day or what?" she jerked her shoulder away from his grasp, she could accomplish this mainly because he wasn't holding on tightly at all. "I get the point, geeze! I'm sorry I asked what's-his-face to bring me some candy!" She turned her back on him, "I'm sorry I had the audacity to be in that damn desert where you just happened to be looking for Goku! I'm sorry you decided to bring me along! I'm sorry"
"Enough, woman! I'm tired of listening to your voice!"
She whirled around, once again facing him, "and yours is just pleasant as all hell! Ya know, if you bring it down a couple of octaves, you might not shatter glass, Vegeta!"
"There is nothing wrong with my voice!" He grated, trying to quell an irrational surge of self-consciousness, " And you will call me Vegeta-Sama! You're addressing royalty!"
"Fine. Vegeta-Sama !"
That woman was capable of making an honorific like "sama" sound like the vilest of insults.
"You can leave now!" She told him.
He leaned against the table by the door and smile, almost pleasantly, "It's my ship. I think I'll stay."
"Then stay. Whatever!"
"One more thing." He propelled himself away from the table, and came towards her.
"What would that be?" She bit out acerbically.
"We're going to 'kiss' now."
"Like hell we are! You can't just come in here yelling like that and expect me to fall all over you like like some dime-novel heroine!"
Vegeta had no idea what a "dime-novel heroine" was, but he knew she was resisting. That was alright. It was all part of what Raditz had called "the game." The woman is supposed to resist and the man is supposed to prove his strength and masculinity by overcoming her. The older male had called it "playing hard to get." He grabbed her and pulled her up against him, wrapping his tail around her.
"You jerk!" she hit him with the flat of her hand, of course, it had no effect. He captured her mouth in a kiss, and she found it difficult to hold on to her anger. "Dammit," she thought, "why do I have to be such a good teacher?" A tiny part of Bulma's brain insisted that she shouldn't let that jerk off the hook this easily, but for the most part she was preoccupied with the incredible sensation of his mouth on hers.
He grunted in satisfaction, and scooped up the now-acquiescent girl, and deposited her on the narrow bed. He continued kissing her, and almost of their own volition, his hands began to explore. He had been eager to touch her like this ever since Raditz had informed him that it was an acceptable aspect of this activity. At first he caressed her side, savoring the feel of her body under the thin cloth of the suit. His hand brushed against the underside of her breast. Partly out of curiosity and partly because, for some reason, those soft mounds of flesh fascinated him, he cupped her breast in the palm of his hand, and rubbed his thumb across the cloth covering it.
Bulma gasped and arched her back at the intensity of the feelings that touch provoked. At the same time, that tiny part of her brain that was nagging at her earlier, was now screaming. She couldn't let him do this. She turned her head to the side, breaking contact with his mouth, "Don't"
Vegeta ignoring her protest, turned her face toward him again, reinitiating their kiss. He began pulling at the neck of her combat suit.
Desire having been replaced by panic, she pulled her mouth away again, and tried to push his hand away from the neck of her super-stretchy body suit, "I said stop it!" she couldn't make him budge. She began hitting him, but it had no more effect now than it had earlier.
He couldn't pull her suit down around her shoulders without lifting her up, so he tore it. Once again, he covered her mouth with his.
As a last resort, she took hold of his lip between her teeth and bit down on it as hard as she could.
Almost instantly, he drew back, "What was that for!?" He demanded as he sat up.
"I t-told you to stop!" She panted, struggling to sit up and hold her mangled shirt together at the same time.
"What's your point?" He touched his lip, and gave her an annoyed glare.
She pressed her back into the wall, "Well, what do you think you're supposed to do when a girl's telling you to stop!?"
"Overcome her protests, of course!"
"Youchauvinisticjerk !" A hint of her customary bitchiness manifested itself. Dammit, she was more scared than she'd ever been in her life, and he had the gall to sit over there and look miffed ! It was more than her already-frayed nerves could take. She covered her face and began to sob. Loudly.
He frowned, and glanced over at her, "Stop that." Raditz's lecture hadn't mentioned anything about the female sitting in a corner crying. He made a mental note to kill his misinformed subordinate.
Her cries became louder. Vegeta glanced toward the door. He didn't want anyone aboard the ship to hear her and come to investigate. "Besides, it's giving me a headache!" He told himself. "Bulma, if you stop that right now, I'll I'll give you back your hairbrush!"
She sniffled a few times before looking up at him, "You still have that?" she asked with some incredulity.
He stiffened and looked away, "No!" he lied. Then, in a more irritated tone, "Why did you teach me this activity if you didn't plan to finish it, woman!?"
Aghast, she replied, "I taught you how to kiss , Vegeta! A girl can just want to make out with you withoutwithout going all the way, you know!" She wiped her cheek with the sleeve of her ruined suit, and asked in a calmer voice, "Why didn't you stop when I asked you to?"
He frowned without looking at her, "It's part of the mating ritual." He replied in an "everyone knows that" voice, "The female is supposed to resist and the male ignores her objections to prove his superior strength and worthiness as a mate." Raditz hadn't really given a reason why the male is supposed to physically overtake the female, but to Vegeta, this was the only logical explanation.
"That's stupid!" She crossed her arms over the pieces of the suit she was holding together, "How are you supposed to know when a girl really doesn't want you to keep going !?"
Vegeta opened his mouth to reply, but had nothing to say. He'd never considered that the "act" of resisting was anything more than an act, but he would never admit his error in judgment to her. And he wouldn't have apologized, even if he considered the mistake to be his own. Courtesy was a totally alien concept to him; the last time he could remember hearing "please" or "sorry" someone was begging for his life.
Quickly recovering, he gave her his most arrogant expression, "Why should I care what someone who's weaker than me wants?"
&nbs p; She gave him a stricken expression, before coldly replying, "Get out. Just get out and go away."
* * *
For the next week or so, Vegeta avoided the cause of his embarrassment, namely Bulma. Vegeta did not need to ask Nappa how the woman's training was coming along, since the ship's gravity was already set at three-fifths normal level, and she wasn't dead yet. Vegeta decided against punishing Raditz, mostly because he didn't want the other male to know of his failure. Nappa, however, had not been so lucky. Ironically, Vegeta had the woman to thank for the particularly barbaric penalty to which he'd subjected the enormous warrior. Nappa had been "sent to bed without supper," as Bulma had described it.
Vegeta, though always tense, was especially on edge whenever they were summoned by Furiza-Sama. His insomnia plagued him relentlessly in the weeks since his summons. He had gone with barely enough sleep to keep him sane, disregarding the fact that the sanity of Saiya-jin no Ouji is debatable on a good day. Due to much practice, Vegeta managed to conceal his physical deterioration from his men. The only visible symptoms of his sleeplessness were the chronic circles under his eyes, which showed like bruises on his pinched, pale face. Of course, none of the Saiya-jin were perceptive enough to notice the defect, and for once, Vegeta was grateful for their thick-headedness.
He laid in bed, feigning sleep, so no one would suspect his condition were they to request entry because of some emergency, as they frequently did. Nights were the worst part of the 26 hour cycle that made up a day. During "daylight" hours, it was much easier to keep himself occupied, so as not to think about the relentless trek toward the last thing in the galaxy he wanted to face. At night there was nothing to do but think, especially since Morpheus seemed to have all but abandoned the unfortunate Saiya-jin prince.
Quietly, the door to his chambers whooshed open, and someone padded into the room. Vegeta relaxed all of his muscles, and consciously regulated his respiration, taking shallow, even breaths. He waited for whoever it was to get close enough for him to strike, in an attempt to utilize the element of surprise. Whoever was in his room was just barely out of range, maybe two more steps.
His silent preparations and assault tactics were interrupted by a piping, childish voice, " 'Geta-Sama?"
His eyes snapped open, and he turned to look at his pint-sized intruder, "Kakarrot!?" He snarled, "What are you doing here!?"
"Um" Goku wiped his nose and shifted his weight, " 'Nii-San hadda go work on the engines."
"Soro de?" he sat up, "What are you doing here!?"
"An' I can't sleep."
"Good for you. What do you expect me to do about it!?"
"Can I sleep in here with you?"
"No!"
"But I can't sleep without someone next to me anymore."
"So go bother Nappa!" Vegeta flopped back down and rolled away from Kakarrot, turning his back on him.
"But, Nappa's mean an' scary"
Vegeta rolled back over to face Goku, "And I'm not!?" He nearly shouted.
"Please, 'Geta-Sama?"
"Fine!" Vegeta was going to stipulate that Kakarrot had to stay on his own damned side of the bed, but before he'd finished uttering that first syllable, he'd already been thoroughly glomped by the tiny terror. "Hn. Little moron," Vegeta thought to himself as Goku settled into a more comfortable position, "idiot's probably going to drool on me." The warmth of his chubby little body had a soothing effect, as did the dual rhythms of heartbeat and breathing. Vegeta was soon lulled into a state of drowsy relaxation, making coherent thought extremely difficult. The child seemed to radiate comfort like he radiated body heat. Almost immediately Vegeta was asleep.
* * *
"I'm gettin' used to it being this heavy!" Goku beamed up at Vegeta and Raditz, as he bounced through a training exercise.
"Well, you should be!" Vegeta snarled back, "This is only normal for a real Saiya-jin."
"Since you're so used to it bein' like this, maybe we should turn it up." Raditz glanced at Ouji-Sama for approval.
"Do it." Vegeta jerked his head toward the control panel that Bulma had installed.
"What should I set it to, Vegeta-Sama? Will double work?"
Vegeta nodded dismissively.
Raditz frowned at the controls, wondering what had compelled that girl to designate normal gravity as "10." He punched in the correct digits and hit enter. In less than a second the ambient gravity doubled, and all three of the Saiya-jin occupying the training room faltered under the pressure. Vegeta quickly recovered, and disguised all signs of effort.
"Wow This is really neat!" Goku moved about experimentally, his tongue peeping out as he focused on moving.
"'Neat,' is it?" Vegeta cocked his head to the side, "We'll see how long you find the conditions 'neat'." Vegeta stepped closer to the smaller boy, "Lay on the floor and raise yourself up on your knuckles."
Goku did as he was told, and after completing the push-up, he looked inquiringly up at Vegeta, "Like this, 'Geta-Sama?"
"Yes. Now you're going to repeat it. Fifty times."
"Okay. That'll make me real strong!"
"Hn." Vegeta was about to say more, but was interrupted by Nappa's voice over the intercom.
"Raditz!"
"What!? I mean Hai, Nappa-San?"
"That woman is playing around with the engines again." They heard a muffled clang, "watch where you're throwing that stuff, girl!" They could hear a feminine voice yelling in the background, "Anyway, she wants to know what kind of modifications you've made." her voice was audible again. This time they could make out the words, "hairball," "moron," and "makes no sense" Nappa sighed, "Would you get down here and tell exactly what you've done to the impulse relay drive?"
"Uh Hai, Nappa-San." Raditz momentarily forgot about their training, as concern over his engines took precedent. Before Vegeta or Goku had time to react, he was already gone.
"That woman!" Vegeta growled. As if their last encounter wasn't warning enough, she had the nerve to once again divert the attention of his underlings. He turned to the still-prone child, "Don't think you're getting out of your training this easily! Remember, fifty. Starting now." He left and the door whooshed shut behind him.
"OneTwo" Goku counted off his push-ups fairly well until, "SevenNineTwelveEighteenFifteen Twenty um A lot A lot A lot"
"I'm assuming there's a reason you and that brainless weakling were looking for me?" He glared up at the tall man.
"Hai, Ouji-Sama," Nappa regained his composure, "We have been summoned by Furiza-Sama. He's eager to see what we have to show for our trip to E-ar Ur um that planet."
Almost imperceptively, Vegeta stiffened, "Well, idiot, you don't need me to tell you to set a course for Furiza's ship."
"Hai, Ouji-Sama." Nappa placed his hand over his heart and bowed, before leaving Vegeta's room.
"Nappa" He called to his retreating form.
"Yes?" Nappa poked his head back in the doorway.
"I want you to double the gravity on the ship."
"But the woman"
"Are you questioning my orders, Nappa?" He asked testily.
"No, Vegeta-Sama."
"Then do it."
"Yes, Ouji-Sama."
With Nappa gone, Vegeta sat on the edge of his unmade bed and rubbed his eyes, wondering why he was so tired, since he was quite used to going with much less than the five hours of sleep he'd gotten that night.
* * *
Bulma had retired to her cell. Despite her weariness, she was wide awake. She sat on the bed, resting her back against the wall. She pulled her knees to her chest, and every once in a while she would absently touch her lips. "What was I thinking?" she said quietly. that Vegeta and his nicely developed, albeit undersized, physique were not so distractingly close, she pondered the wisdom of her actions. It was definitely stupid to deliberately entice a hormonal teenaged boy who had the added capability of destroying planets. Not to mention what this implied about her own morality. For Pete's sake, she didn't even like the little jerk, and yet she practically threw herself at him like a dog in heat. Her cheeks flushed with shame, as she struggled to control her own physical reaction to the memory of those kisses.
"It's just Stockholm syndrome." She said aloud with as much conviction as she could muster, "It's perfectly normal for a hostage to react this way. N-nothing out of the ordinary" She yawned, and stretched out on the bed, "nothing to be ashamed of" her eyes fluttered shut and sleep claimed her.
* * *
Goku paused in the middle of his morning meal, "what was that, 'nii-san?" referring to the sudden change in g-force.
Raditz furrowed his brow, "Hn. Gravity just doubled" he shrugged, "Your little friend must still be playing around with it"
"Nu-uh, Bulma's still sleepin'."
"Maybe Nappa did it. I dunno." Raditz disregarded the matter as unimportant and continued eating.
"Are we gonna train today?" Goku asked around a mouthful.
&nbs p; "Don't you ever get tired of having the crap beaten out of you?" He glared down at the child.
"Mocuf I mo gat"
"I can't understand a damn word you're saying. Swallow first, then speak."
Goku did as he was told, " I don't get tired of trainin' 'cause it makes me stronger." He grinned up Raditz, "Some day I'm gonna be as strong as you, 'nii-san!"
He smirked good naturedly, "Heh, keep dreaming, brat." Raditz was disconcerted by a recurring queer heaviness in his chest that manifested itself when he looked at his moronic little brother. He realized that he was becoming very fond of the boy, and was disturbed by that weakness. He didn't want to feel anything for the undersized, under-trained weakling because it would hurt too badly when he died. And Raditz knew that he would die. He swallowed a mouthful of food that suddenly had all the flavor of dirt.
Raditz had been prepared to dislike the boy, as it was Kakarrot who killed their mother. Saiya-jin births are relatively easy compared to most species, and complications rarely occur. However, when complications do occur, the Saiya-jin doctors are ill prepared to deal with it. Kakarrot had been one of those rare difficult births, leaving Raditz's mother dead and Kakarrot in a weakened state, earning him his status as a third-class warrior. He had not even been given time to mourn, as on the very day of her death, a nine-year-old Raditz was sent out on his first planetary cleansing mission. He had the callousness of Saiya-jin bureaucracy to blame for his very life. His mission kept him away from Vegeta-sei long enough for it and everyone he'd ever known or cared about to be destroyed, leaving him not only orphaned and homeless, but utterly alone in the universe save for a cold, spoiled little prince and his thick-skinned nursemaid. And now there was Kakarrot.
Goku paused again between bites, "'Nii-san? Are you gonna be okay? You look sick." He peered up at Raditz, with an expression of openness and concern.
"Of course I am, Baka. Now finish your breakfast before I shove it down your throat."
* * *
Bulma groaned softly. She felt as though she were suffocating under a lead blanket. Slowly, she struggled to a sitting position.
"What is going on here?" she asked the empty room. With much effort, she managed to get to her feet, and take a few steps, but her quadriceps were already trembling from the extreme effort. She stumbled into the hall, and with each slow, deliberate step accompanied by the hot pain associated with a build-up of lactic acid, set upon discovering the cause of this discomfort. She only hoped she had the energy to make whoever was responsible pay and pay dearly.
With agonizing effort, she stumbled into the mess hall, where Raditz and Goku were rapidly consuming the last of their morning meal.
"What is wrong with the gravity?" she panted.
Both Saiya-jin looked up at her, nonplussed, "it's only doubled," Raditz replied offhandedly.
"Doubled !?" She railed, "But I just fixed the training room so you wouldn't have to double it!" She stumbled over to one of the benches, and sat down, resting as well as she could under those conditions.
Raditz shrugged and licked the remnants of breakfast off of his fingers, careful not to get anything on his vambraces. "We're headed for Furiza-Sama's ship. You gotta get used to the gravity eventually."
"Whatsa matter, Bulma? You don't look so good"Goku chewed on his bottom lip, gazing up at her.
"Of course I don't look so good!" she crossed her arms, but couldn't hold them in that position, "You doubled the gravity !"
"You'll get used to it." Raditz told her, "and then we'll double it again."
"Again!? Are you trying to kill me?"
"It's for your own good. Otherwise the gravity of Furiza's ship would kill you," he snapped his fingers, "like that."
She sighed, "That doesn't mean I have to like it." She mumbled, as she attempted once more to cross her arms.
Goku hopped off of his stool, and, waving his tail around his head he eagerly turned to his big brother, "Can we go train now? I can't wait to see how much stronger I get when I'm this heavy!" He jumped up and down for emphasis.
Bulma glared at the little show-off.
"Sure, kid, whatever." Raditz led a chattering Goku out of the mess hall.
Bulma tried to use the palm of her hand to prop up her head, but the table grating on her elbow proved to be too painful. Her stomach growled and she growled back at it. Dammit, this was no time to have to deal with the needs of the body.
* * *
Vegeta had not moved from the edge of the bed. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there since he'd been lost in thought the entire time. Kissing, "Yes, that's what it's called," he thought to himself, had been thoroughly enjoyable. However, he could not chase away the nagging suspicion that there was something missing, that there was some higher level he was not attaining. He was fairly certain that what he had done with the girl was some sort of a prelude to the mating act, he just wasn't sure what came next. He absently dashed the back of his glove against his mouth, trying to drown out the sensory memory of that idiot girl's moist, soft lips.
He momentarily considered asking the woman what it was that was missing from their he faltered, not sure what to call it. He shook his head, dismissing the idea. It was bad enough that she'd had to school him in the art of kissing. he was not going to endure the added shame of asking her He frowned. Asking her what? He didn't even know where to begin. Hn. There had to be another source of this information. He supposed he could look it up in the computer database, but he sincerely doubted that Furiza-Sama's files would have any relevant information whatsoever. He frowned again. If he was unwilling to ask the girl, that left only two choices, he reasoned, immediately discounting Kakarrot. Nappa He shuddered. Fine, then not Nappa That left Raditz. Vegeta played with this idea. Raditz was only five years older than himself, so it wouldn't be as bad as asking his life-long mentor. And Raditz never seemed to have any problems procuring female company when he was allowed on shore leave. Not that Vegeta knew this from first hand experience, since he wouldn't have deigned to accompany the lower-class soldiers on their dubious quests for amusement, even if Furiza-Sama had allowed it.
Vegeta stood up and started to get dressed. If he was going to have to suffer through the embarrassment of talking to Raditz about this, he wanted to be at his best advantage. He discarded his sleeping garb, and selected a fresh set of armor.
After adjusting his shoulder pads and straightening his spine, he set out to find a certain fuzzy underling.
* * *
"Wow! This is really tough, 'nii-san, I feel like I can hardly move!" Goku rotated his arms in wide circles for emphasis.
"Heh. This is natural for me." Raditz lounged against the wall, watching amusedly as his brother adjusted to ten-times Earth's gravity. "You'll get used to it, too."
"How come it's heavier in here than it is outside th' trainin' room?" Goku asked, trying to stand on his head.
"All thanks to your little girl-friend, Kakarrot." He replied.
"Bulma-girl made this?" He fell over, and rolled onto his back, "Wow she's really smart."
"Yeah, smart. What do you think you're doing laying around like that, brat? Get up and keep moving."
"Okay, 'nii-san"
"Raditz!" a voice barked over the intercom.
"Kuso!" he cursed, hoping he wasn't in trouble. He hurried over to the extension on the wall, and pressing a button replied, "Hai, Ouji-Sama?"
"Come here."
"Uh Where, Ouji-Sama?"
"My quarters, Baka!"
"Hai, Ouji-Sama." Raditz depressed the button, and with a rueful glance in Kakarrot's direction, he explained, "Vegeta-Sama wants me for something You're just gonna have to train by yourself for a while."
"Okay, 'nii-san." Goku was trying , and failing, to balance up on his tail.
* * *
"Females, Ouji-Sama?" Raditz blinked, uncomprehendingly.
"Yes. As Saiya-jin no Ouji I command you to tell me everything you know about them." Vegeta crossed his arms and stared haughtily up at Raditz.
Raditz had a transient moment of panic. Ouji-Sama had never asked a question this personal before. Raditz didn't know what to say, until he remembered something that Kakarrot's father had told him right after he'd had a fight with Raditz's mother, "No one understands women." Vegeta didn't reply, but his face was so utterly emotionless, that Raditz guessed that Vegeta had no idea what he was talking about. "No one really knows anything about them, and anyone who says he knows something is lying."
"That isn't what I meant! I already know that !" twitched, and then posed a question he dreaded the answer to, "So, it's not girls you want me to tell you about, Vegeta-Sama? Is it sex you wanna know about?"
"Sex" Vegeta repeated, trying out the unfamiliar word, "Yes, tell me about that as well."
"With all due respect, Ouji-Sama D-don't you think you should ask Nappa-San about this? After all, he was the guardian and mentor chosen by your father"
"Don't be stupid. I think Nappa knows less than I do!"
Raditz sighed mentally, "Then, if Ouji-Sama will excuse me" He started towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going, baka! I gave you an order!"
Raditz paused in the doorway, and responded with only two words, "Visual aids." He bowed and then continued towards his own room, hoping he could remember where he stashed those pictures from Kakarrot.
Sooner than he would like, Raditz was again standing outside of Ouji-Sama's door. Glancing down at the pornography in his hands, of which he'd carefully removed all of the male/male pictures so as not to confuse Ouji-Sama, he took a deep breath and knocked.
"It's about time," Vegeta snapped.
"Gomen Nasai, Ouji-Sama." Raditz bowed, "I think that these might explain better than I could." He handed the stack to his diminutive sovereign.
Vegeta looked at the first picture on the stack for several seconds before replying, "I understand what the man and the woman are doing, but what purpose does the goat serve?"
Raditz paled, "Uh, maybe this isn't the best picture to start with" He pulled another picture out of the middle of the stack in Vegeta's hands and, after glancing on it to assure it was nothing tooextreme, he placed it over the other picture, "Maybe this one is better "
Vegeta furrowed his brow in confusion, trying to make sense of the picture. the next forty-five minutes Raditz explained, as best he could, the intricacies of the mating act. It was a difficult balance, trying to assure Vegeta-Sama understood everything he was telling him, without insulting him or sounding condescending. Never mind the fact that Raditz was embarrassed as hell to have to be explaining this at all, much less to a seventeen-year old prince who should have known all of this years ago.
Vegeta was silent for the greater part of the lecture, speaking only when he wished Raditz to clarify or expand upon a point. Raditz couldn't tell if Vegeta-Sama didn't know enough to be embarrassed by his discourse, or if he was just very good at disguising it.
"I never would have believed that I'd ever have a reason to call Ouji-Sama innocent ," Raditz thought to himself, trying to stifle his amusement, "wonder if he'll relax a little bit after he gets laid." Aloud he said, "I think that's everything, Ouji-Sama Unless you have any more questions?"
"You've told me everything?" Vegeta challenged, as if there was information that Raditz would have a reason to keep secret.
"Everything I know, Ouji-Sama."
"Hn. Then go." Vegeta stood up and turned his back on the taller man. bowed even though he knew that Vegeta couldn't see him and started collecting his papers.
"Leave them." Vegeta ordered without turning around, "A soldier in Furiza-Sama's army should not have" he faltered, not knowing how to describe the pictures, "something like that. They'll be destroyed."
Raditz set the pictures back down, "Hai, Ouji-Sama." Once he was outside of Vegeta's room, he felt comfortable enough to smirk in amusement. "Destroyed my ass" he thought as he approached the training room to collect Kakarrot and go to lunch.
* * *
"Wow! I feel light as a feather now!" Goku bounced down the corridor. Having become used to ten times Earth's gravity, a measly doubling of Earth's gravity felt like less than nothing.
"Do you ever stop talking, Kakarrot?" Raditz growled half-heartedly.
"I don't talk when I'm sleepin'" He paused mid-step and gazed curiously up at Raditz, "at least I don't think I do. I've never seen myself when I'm asleep, so I dunno. Hey, but you have! Do I talk in my sleep, 'nii-san?"
"I said be quiet!"
"No you didn't You asked me a question. An' I was tryin' to answer it!"
"Well, I'm saying it now. Be quiet."
"Okay."
With extreme effort, Bulma craned her neck to watch the two Saiya-jin brothers entering the mess hall.
"Hiya, Bulma-San!" Goku waved.
"Hn," was all she replied.
"Have you moved from that spot since this morning?" Raditz smiled amusedly down at her.
"Barely." she growled weakly.
"Why?"
"Because some idiot doubled the gravity!" She bit out with as much force as she could muster.
* * *
"Sowhere am I going?" Yamucha anxiously asked the doctor who was currently leading him down the hall.
She glanced up at him, "Physical therapy."
"Oh. Right." he nodded and, after a pause, he asked, "What's physical therapy?"
"It's a series of exercises that will help you to regain your strength and mobility."
"Exercises, huh?" He smiled cockily at the short, middle-aged woman, "I think I can handle that."
"I'm glad you have so much confidence in yourself." She replied in a dead-pan voice as she pushed open the door to the therapy room.
"Hello!" Chirped a yellow-haired intern as they stepped into the large, brightly-lit room speckled with odd equipment. She stood up and moved away from the card table and folding chair to greet her patient, "You must be Yamucha." She smiled a rather perfect smile.
"Yaaa! Are there any guys working at this hospital!?" Yamucha grabbed handfuls of his long, dark mane, and yelled at the ceiling.
The intern gave the doctor a curious look, prompting her to explain, "Yamucha is afraid of girls"
"Afraid?" She repeated, "Of girls." Then, shrugging, "Alright, I'm sure we can find a way to work around this, right, Yamucha?"
He let out a small, disparaging moan.
"First off, I already know your name, so it's only fair that I tell you mine, right?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He swallowed, trying to moisten his dry throat, but to no avail. He ended up just nodding.
"My name is Peppamintu, but most people call me Mint." She smiled as non-threateningly as she could.
He opened his mouth and squeaked. It was an improvement.
"Come on, Yamucha, If we're going to do you any good at all, you're going to have to at least try to relax, okay?"
"I'm relaxed!" He asserted in a high-pitched voice.
"Then, I want you to have a seat on this mat, okay?" she gestured to a blue gymnast's mat covering a good portion of the floor.
"No problem" His voice was sounding a bit more normal.
"We're going to start with some stretches." She sat across from him, and he stiffened, "none of thatcome on calm." She smiled again, "I hear you're a martial artist, right? So you should know all about stretching. This is going to be simple, just don't try to overdo it, okay?"
He bit his lip and nodded. "This is just another training exercise," he told himself, "Just like my old sensei. Except my old sensei was, wellold and not a girl.. And didn't have pretty blonde hair" He sincerely hoped he get through this in one piece.
* * *
Bulma noted with wan curiosity, how the Saiya-jin not only seemed to have a circadian rhythm similar to that of humans, they also had similar times set aside for eating. Goku and Raditz were soon joined by Nappa and Vegeta for the noon meal. plopped his tray onto the table and glanced at Bulma, who, obviously, even to the most obtuse of men, was struggling in the gravity, "Whatsa matter, girl? Too much for ya?"
"Of course it is, you muscle-head!" she panted, but never once lost her ire, "I'm a girl! I'm pretty, graceful and delicate and I am not supposed to be subjected to these kinds of conditions !"
"Saiya-jin girls never had a problem with normal gravity." He replied calmly, as he took a bite of his lunch.
"This isn't normal gravity! It's 2 g's!"
"It's one-fifth normal gravity, woman!" Vegeta interjected, becoming irritated, "and if you're going to survive when we get to Furiza-Sama's ship, you'll just have to get used to it!"
"And If I don't?" She tried to cross her arms, but found that they weighed too much for this to be accomplished.
"Then you'll be crushed." he replied offhandedly.
"Oh."
"Which is why Nappa is going to be responsible for training you."
"What!?"
"What?" They asked in unison.
"But, Ouji-Sama" Nappa began.
"Are you questioning me, Nappa?"
"No, Ouji-Sama." Nappa slumped in his chair and resumed eating, however, with noticeably less enthusiasm.
"Well I am!" Bulma glared him, "If I have to put up with him, I'll go crazy !"
Nappa gave her a look that conveyed the mutuality of those feelings.
"Stupid woman." Vegeta said between bites, "you can't gain strength fast enough on your own. Without his help, you'll be crushed."
"Well, I've got an idea." she replied testily, "why don't you just turn this little rust-bucket of a ship around and take me home !? It's not like I asked you to take me along on your stupid little mission!" This time she found sufficient strength to cross her arms over her chest.
"Or better yet, I could throw you out of the airlock, and save myself the trip!" Vegeta stood up, and placed a fist on either side of his tray, "That would solve our little gravity problem as well!"
"Hn." She glared at the incensed little prince.
"You're training with Nappa. There will be no more discussion of the matter!"
* * *
"Is something troubling His Holiness?" the short, dark groundskeeper asked anxiously.
"I've suspected this for a while now. I've just received confirmation." Kami-Sama sighed, "Five of the seven Dragonballs are no longer on Earth."
"Not on Earth, Kami-Sama? How can this be?" Mr. Popo clutched his watering can to his chest.
"I don't know."
"What is His Godship going to do?"
"I am merely a guardian. There's nothing I can do." ignoring the irony of that statement, he turned his back on the shorter being, and gazed out over the edge of his lookout, "But there are those on Earth who may be able to help."
"Are you going to summon them now?"
"No. I think I'll wait to get involved. Maybe the problem will solve itself."
* * *
"That's amazing, Yamucha!" Mint smiled as she watched him raise and lower himself on a metal bar, "I've never seen anyone recover so quickly! And you say it was only a few weeks ago that you were injured?"
Yamucha paused in the middle the exercise, "Uh I guess so They kept me so full of drugs when I first got hereI don't remember much"
"Yes, well, you were pretty banged up from what I hear."
"Yeah, that too, but I think they just wanted to keep me off of the ceiling."
"Oh so that's not just a rumor?"
"Uh" Yamucha averted his gaze and blushed, "No, ma'am."
"You must be pretty strong then, to be able to hold on to the ceiling while you were so injured." She smiled up at him again.
"Um" He squeaked, "I guess so" He placed a hand on the back of his hand in embarrassment, and promptly lost his grip on the bar, falling onto the mat below him. .
* * *
"Okay, girl, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my real training." Nappa scowled.
"Oh, like I'm enjoying this any more than you are!?"
"Heh. Well it's not like you have anything better to do."
"Nothing better to do!?" She railed, "watching paint dry is better than this!"
"Exactly. Let's get this over with."
"Jerk!"
* * *
"Your excuses are boring me, Dodoria." Furiza rested an elbow in the palm of one hand and held a snifter of wine in the other. He stood with his back to his underling, gazing out of the window on the bridge of his ship. "I want that planet now . If I don't have it very soon, I will become agitated. Do you really want to see me agitated, Dodoria-san?"
"No, Furiza-Sama!" If Dodoria's florid face could pale, it would have, "Citrus-Sei is as good as yours!"
"Of course it is, Dodoria-San. Citrus-Sei has always been mine. I've just been waiting around to claim it." Furiza laughed quietly to himself, then in a mercurial change of mood, "Unfortunately, I cannot claim my planet until you wipe it clean of vermin. I don't see how you can be out preparing my planet at the same time you're standing around doing nothing!"
"Gomen nasai, Furiza-Sama!" Dodoria bowed hastily and fled Furiza's presence.
"Now," Furiza said to the empty room, "all I need is for my little monkey-prince to return to me. He's been gone much too long." He gazed into the dark red liquid in his glass, "Much too long. I shall have to prepare an especially nasty punishment this time for my little pet."
* *
Bulma thought that the first day at 2 g's was the worst. That was until she woke up the next morning, and had to deal with the residual soreness of the day before as well as the increased gravity. Then the second day was the worst. And then the third. The fourth. Strangely, though, by the fifth day she was feeling a bit better, and was becoming accustomed to the increased gravity. She was aware that gaining strength at this rate was humanly impossible, and, if anything, she should be suffering from torn ligaments and sheer muscular burn-out as opposed to receiving any kind of benefit from these extreme conditions. However, she decided to take her newly discovered resilience for the blessing it was, and not question it too much. She didn't have to energy to question much of anything.
"Don't get lazy on me, girl!" Nappa barked down at her.
She glared up at him from her squatting position, "I can't stand back up!"
"Yes you can, You've done it twenty-eight times already, now get up!"
"Has it occurred to you, " she started in a mild tone before becoming increasingly louder, "that maybe the reason I can't stand up now is because I've already done it twenty-eight times !?"
"Hn. If you got enough energy to scream at me, you can stand up." He crossed his arms, "Now."
Bulma closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, willing her legs, with every fiber of her being, to elevate her to a standing position. Ignoring the pain as best she could, she tensed her ravaged thigh muscles, and slowly raised herself to a standing position, before glaring triumphantly at Nappa.
"Not bad. Just one more left."
"Onemore!?" she gasped, "I can't!"
"Stupid earthling!" He said contemptuously, "You waste more energy telling me you can't do something than if you'd just shut up and do what I tell you!"
She clenched her teeth and screeched, "Fine!" She lowered herself again. The hot, ebbing pain coiled within every striation of muscle, as she struggled once more to stand. She was shaking with the effort before she was even half-way up. But the first half up was always the hardest. "Just a little further." she thought, pleading with her body, "Come on! Just another few inches!" She let out a ragged moan as she fought to straighten her violently trembling legs. The pain had subsided, leaving only a queer numbness, which would have worried her if she hadn't been so intently focused on the singular act of standing. At last, she locked her knees into place, before smiling cockily up at Nappa, "Thirty!" was all she managed to gasp out before collapsing, unconscious.
"Not bad." Nappa admitted, the first traces of respect for this weakling human manifesting itself. He sighed and hauled her tiny body over his shoulder, "Better get you to the tank."
Nappa stopped by the "real" training room, "Hey, Raditz!" He banged on the door, since opening it while the gravity was initialized and set at different levels could bedisastrous. "Get out here."
After several seconds, the aforementioned Saiya-jin poked his head out of the door, "Hai, Nappa-San?" Then, noticing the girl slung over his shoulder, "What happened?"
"You need to work the tank. Let's go." Nappa turned to leave without saying another word.
&nbs p; Raditz followed, along with a concerned Kakarrot.
Once they reached the medlab, Raditz set about preparing the tank, "What happened, Nappa-San?" He asked, glancing up from his work.
He shrugged, "She fainted."
"Why?"
"Dunno."
"Hn. Women." he shrugged. "Okay, it's ready."
"Here." Nappa tried to hand her to Raditz, "undress her and put her in, then."
"I'm not going to undress her!" Raditz replied, panicking. "D'you know what she'd do to me?"
"Well I'm not gonna do it either!"
"Ya didn't take her clothes off before, 'nii-san" Goku pointed out.
"Yeah, but there wasn't so much of 'em before. Her suit covers everything."
"If it worked before, it'll work again. Just put her in as is." Nappa edged away from the comatose girl.
"But we both know that it's almost impossible for the fluid to work through the suits. They're almost waterproof."
"Then undress her! I don't care, all I know is I ain't doing it!"
They turned their respective gazes to the oblivious Goku, who was currently poking his friend, concernedly.
"Kakarrot" Raditz started.
He looked up at his brother, "Yeah?"
"I got a job for you"
* * *
As the fluid drained out of the tank, Bulma's first coherent thought was, "I'm hungry." Her second coherent thought was, "I'm naked." and her third coherent thought was, "I'm going to kill someone."
The hatch opened, and before she could even open her mouth, someone threw her a towel which she promptly wrapped around herself.
"Where are my clothes!?" she screeched at Raditz, who pointedly mutely at a pile on the floor. "You better not have tried anything funny while I was out, bud, or I'll make it so you never leave the bathroom as long as you live!"
He paled, "I didn't! I swear!" he held his hands up in a placating gesture, "Look, we just had to undress you to put you in the tank If it was any of us who got hurt we'd undress him too we undressed Kakarrot when he was hurt, remember!?"
"Which one of you took off my clothes?" She asked in a slow, restrained voice.
"Kakarrot did it!" Raditz pointed at his hapless brother, cursing Nappa as a coward for fleeing before the girl woke up.
"Yep." Goku confirmed, grinning up at her.
"Goku! I'm going to kill you!" She looked for something to throw at him.
"Whatsa matter, Bulma-girl? It's not like I never seen you naked before!"
"Clothes! Now!" She ordered, and was immediately obeyed, as Raditz tossed a new one-piece suit at her. She fumed loudly as she retired to the adjacent bathroom to dress, and luckily for Raditz and Goku, she had calmed down a bit before she emerged.
"Well, at least somebody turned the gravity back down to a sane level!" She declared as she stomped off to the mess hall.
Goku looked up at Raditz, confused, "What's she talkin' about 'nii-san? No one changed the gravity"
* * *
Bulma stormed around a corner, almost colliding with Nappa, "You!" She hissed.
"What!?" He sneered back.
"This is all your fault!"
"What!?" He reiterated.
"If you hadn't made me overdo it, I wouldn't have passed out!" She balled her hands into fists, "And Goku wouldn't have had to undress me, and that big, ugly hairball wouldn't have seen me naked!"
For possibly the first time in his battle-hardened life, Nappa blushed, "Oh. Sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough, pal!" She advanced on him, shaking her finger in his face, "If you would have just let me stop at twenty-eightbut no! I had to do thirty! I'm so mad I could just I could justscreeeeaaam !"
Nappa couldn't remember a time when he'd been more terrified.
* * *
"Nappa!" Vegeta barked at the juggernaut as he passed him in the hallway, "where are you going?"
Nappa paused, and looked down at the parcel he was carrying, "Bulma-San asked me to bring her something"
"Bulma-San ?" Vegeta mocked, " Are you forgetting that she's just a prisoner?"
"No, Ouji-Sama."
"Hn. Well, forget that stupid woman's request. I need a sparring partner."
"But Ouji-Sama couldn't I justdrop this off first?" Nappa shifted his weight nervously.
"To that woman? What is it?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes.
"It's just she asked me to bring her some chocolates, Vegeta-Sama." Nappa stared intently at the sweet-smelling package.
"Chocolates!? You were planning to make Saiya-jin no Ouji wait for you to deliver chocolates to some low-class woman!?"
"G-gomen Nasai, Ouji-sama!" Nappa bowed as low as he could, but he was still taller than Vegeta.
"Hn. If you put up a good enough fight, I may forgive you." Vegeta turned his back and started toward the training room. He realized that, not only was Nappa not following him, but he was going in the opposite direction. "Where do you think you're going, baka!?"
Nappa gestured helplessly at the box of candy.
"Who are you more afraid of? Me or that woman!?" Vegeta demanded.
Nappa's eyes widened for a moment before replying, "Gomen nasai, Ouji-Sama!" And scurrying off down the hall. If a man his size can accurately be described as "scurrying."
Vegeta was left alone, staring in abject shock and indignation at the place where his most loyal servant had been standing a moment ago. Nappa was an elite warrior of the Saiya-jin race. How could he be afraid of that pathetic earthling!? That woman! How dare she undermine his authority? He was the prince! He was royalty! And his subjects bowed to her every whim! It was not to be tolerated.
Vegeta marched toward her room, "No, her cell!" he corrected mentally, his tail bristling out behind him in irritation. Her door was locked from the inside, so he banged on it hard enough to dent it, "Woman! Open this door right now, or I'll tear it down!"
"Did you want something, Vegeta?" she opened the door and peered out inquisitively. Not terrified. Not penitent. Curious. It irritated the hell out of him.
"How dare you undermine my authority!?"
She blinked, "What are you talking about? Are you feeling alright, Vegeta?"
"You, a low-class Earthling, ordering an elite warrior about as though he were your servant!"
"First off, who are you calling low class, bud?" she put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair, "Secondly, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about!"
"You sent Nappa to bring you chocolates. Do you deny it?"
"No Is that what you're mad about?" she sighed, exasperatedly. Vegeta could smell the chocolate on her breath when she did so. "Fine. I won't ask your overgrown nursemaid to bring me chocolates anymore. Are you happy now?" She tried to shut the door in his face, but he caught it and jerked it back open. "Look, is that all you wanted or what?" She turned her back and walked back into her room. "Because if that's all, I get the point." she waved dismissively.
He strode rapidly into the room, grabbed her by the shoulder and whipped her around to face him. "You. Are. My. Prisoner." he hissed.
"Duh! I get the point! What do you want from me, anyway!?" she thanked whatever deity reigned in this sector of space that her voice didn't quiver. She crossed her arms, partly to look as pissed as she sounded, but mostly because she was damn scared.
"The Saiya-jin have never taken prisoners, but if we did, I'm sure they'd be better behaved than you!"
"Are you just going to stand here and insult me all day or what?" she jerked her shoulder away from his grasp, she could accomplish this mainly because he wasn't holding on tightly at all. "I get the point, geeze! I'm sorry I asked what's-his-face to bring me some candy!" She turned her back on him, "I'm sorry I had the audacity to be in that damn desert where you just happened to be looking for Goku! I'm sorry you decided to bring me along! I'm sorry"
"Enough, woman! I'm tired of listening to your voice!"
She whirled around, once again facing him, "and yours is just pleasant as all hell! Ya know, if you bring it down a couple of octaves, you might not shatter glass, Vegeta!"
"There is nothing wrong with my voice!" He grated, trying to quell an irrational surge of self-consciousness, " And you will call me Vegeta-Sama! You're addressing royalty!"
"Fine. Vegeta-Sama !"
That woman was capable of making an honorific like "sama" sound like the vilest of insults.
"You can leave now!" She told him.
He leaned against the table by the door and smile, almost pleasantly, "It's my ship. I think I'll stay."
"Then stay. Whatever!"
"One more thing." He propelled himself away from the table, and came towards her.
"What would that be?" She bit out acerbically.
"We're going to 'kiss' now."
"Like hell we are! You can't just come in here yelling like that and expect me to fall all over you like like some dime-novel heroine!"
Vegeta had no idea what a "dime-novel heroine" was, but he knew she was resisting. That was alright. It was all part of what Raditz had called "the game." The woman is supposed to resist and the man is supposed to prove his strength and masculinity by overcoming her. The older male had called it "playing hard to get." He grabbed her and pulled her up against him, wrapping his tail around her.
"You jerk!" she hit him with the flat of her hand, of course, it had no effect. He captured her mouth in a kiss, and she found it difficult to hold on to her anger. "Dammit," she thought, "why do I have to be such a good teacher?" A tiny part of Bulma's brain insisted that she shouldn't let that jerk off the hook this easily, but for the most part she was preoccupied with the incredible sensation of his mouth on hers.
He grunted in satisfaction, and scooped up the now-acquiescent girl, and deposited her on the narrow bed. He continued kissing her, and almost of their own volition, his hands began to explore. He had been eager to touch her like this ever since Raditz had informed him that it was an acceptable aspect of this activity. At first he caressed her side, savoring the feel of her body under the thin cloth of the suit. His hand brushed against the underside of her breast. Partly out of curiosity and partly because, for some reason, those soft mounds of flesh fascinated him, he cupped her breast in the palm of his hand, and rubbed his thumb across the cloth covering it.
Bulma gasped and arched her back at the intensity of the feelings that touch provoked. At the same time, that tiny part of her brain that was nagging at her earlier, was now screaming. She couldn't let him do this. She turned her head to the side, breaking contact with his mouth, "Don't"
Vegeta ignoring her protest, turned her face toward him again, reinitiating their kiss. He began pulling at the neck of her combat suit.
Desire having been replaced by panic, she pulled her mouth away again, and tried to push his hand away from the neck of her super-stretchy body suit, "I said stop it!" she couldn't make him budge. She began hitting him, but it had no more effect now than it had earlier.
He couldn't pull her suit down around her shoulders without lifting her up, so he tore it. Once again, he covered her mouth with his.
As a last resort, she took hold of his lip between her teeth and bit down on it as hard as she could.
Almost instantly, he drew back, "What was that for!?" He demanded as he sat up.
"I t-told you to stop!" She panted, struggling to sit up and hold her mangled shirt together at the same time.
"What's your point?" He touched his lip, and gave her an annoyed glare.
She pressed her back into the wall, "Well, what do you think you're supposed to do when a girl's telling you to stop!?"
"Overcome her protests, of course!"
"Youchauvinisticjerk !" A hint of her customary bitchiness manifested itself. Dammit, she was more scared than she'd ever been in her life, and he had the gall to sit over there and look miffed ! It was more than her already-frayed nerves could take. She covered her face and began to sob. Loudly.
He frowned, and glanced over at her, "Stop that." Raditz's lecture hadn't mentioned anything about the female sitting in a corner crying. He made a mental note to kill his misinformed subordinate.
Her cries became louder. Vegeta glanced toward the door. He didn't want anyone aboard the ship to hear her and come to investigate. "Besides, it's giving me a headache!" He told himself. "Bulma, if you stop that right now, I'll I'll give you back your hairbrush!"
She sniffled a few times before looking up at him, "You still have that?" she asked with some incredulity.
He stiffened and looked away, "No!" he lied. Then, in a more irritated tone, "Why did you teach me this activity if you didn't plan to finish it, woman!?"
Aghast, she replied, "I taught you how to kiss , Vegeta! A girl can just want to make out with you withoutwithout going all the way, you know!" She wiped her cheek with the sleeve of her ruined suit, and asked in a calmer voice, "Why didn't you stop when I asked you to?"
He frowned without looking at her, "It's part of the mating ritual." He replied in an "everyone knows that" voice, "The female is supposed to resist and the male ignores her objections to prove his superior strength and worthiness as a mate." Raditz hadn't really given a reason why the male is supposed to physically overtake the female, but to Vegeta, this was the only logical explanation.
"That's stupid!" She crossed her arms over the pieces of the suit she was holding together, "How are you supposed to know when a girl really doesn't want you to keep going !?"
Vegeta opened his mouth to reply, but had nothing to say. He'd never considered that the "act" of resisting was anything more than an act, but he would never admit his error in judgment to her. And he wouldn't have apologized, even if he considered the mistake to be his own. Courtesy was a totally alien concept to him; the last time he could remember hearing "please" or "sorry" someone was begging for his life.
Quickly recovering, he gave her his most arrogant expression, "Why should I care what someone who's weaker than me wants?"
&nbs p; She gave him a stricken expression, before coldly replying, "Get out. Just get out and go away."
* * *
For the next week or so, Vegeta avoided the cause of his embarrassment, namely Bulma. Vegeta did not need to ask Nappa how the woman's training was coming along, since the ship's gravity was already set at three-fifths normal level, and she wasn't dead yet. Vegeta decided against punishing Raditz, mostly because he didn't want the other male to know of his failure. Nappa, however, had not been so lucky. Ironically, Vegeta had the woman to thank for the particularly barbaric penalty to which he'd subjected the enormous warrior. Nappa had been "sent to bed without supper," as Bulma had described it.
Vegeta, though always tense, was especially on edge whenever they were summoned by Furiza-Sama. His insomnia plagued him relentlessly in the weeks since his summons. He had gone with barely enough sleep to keep him sane, disregarding the fact that the sanity of Saiya-jin no Ouji is debatable on a good day. Due to much practice, Vegeta managed to conceal his physical deterioration from his men. The only visible symptoms of his sleeplessness were the chronic circles under his eyes, which showed like bruises on his pinched, pale face. Of course, none of the Saiya-jin were perceptive enough to notice the defect, and for once, Vegeta was grateful for their thick-headedness.
He laid in bed, feigning sleep, so no one would suspect his condition were they to request entry because of some emergency, as they frequently did. Nights were the worst part of the 26 hour cycle that made up a day. During "daylight" hours, it was much easier to keep himself occupied, so as not to think about the relentless trek toward the last thing in the galaxy he wanted to face. At night there was nothing to do but think, especially since Morpheus seemed to have all but abandoned the unfortunate Saiya-jin prince.
Quietly, the door to his chambers whooshed open, and someone padded into the room. Vegeta relaxed all of his muscles, and consciously regulated his respiration, taking shallow, even breaths. He waited for whoever it was to get close enough for him to strike, in an attempt to utilize the element of surprise. Whoever was in his room was just barely out of range, maybe two more steps.
His silent preparations and assault tactics were interrupted by a piping, childish voice, " 'Geta-Sama?"
His eyes snapped open, and he turned to look at his pint-sized intruder, "Kakarrot!?" He snarled, "What are you doing here!?"
"Um" Goku wiped his nose and shifted his weight, " 'Nii-San hadda go work on the engines."
"Soro de?" he sat up, "What are you doing here!?"
"An' I can't sleep."
"Good for you. What do you expect me to do about it!?"
"Can I sleep in here with you?"
"No!"
"But I can't sleep without someone next to me anymore."
"So go bother Nappa!" Vegeta flopped back down and rolled away from Kakarrot, turning his back on him.
"But, Nappa's mean an' scary"
Vegeta rolled back over to face Goku, "And I'm not!?" He nearly shouted.
"Please, 'Geta-Sama?"
"Fine!" Vegeta was going to stipulate that Kakarrot had to stay on his own damned side of the bed, but before he'd finished uttering that first syllable, he'd already been thoroughly glomped by the tiny terror. "Hn. Little moron," Vegeta thought to himself as Goku settled into a more comfortable position, "idiot's probably going to drool on me." The warmth of his chubby little body had a soothing effect, as did the dual rhythms of heartbeat and breathing. Vegeta was soon lulled into a state of drowsy relaxation, making coherent thought extremely difficult. The child seemed to radiate comfort like he radiated body heat. Almost immediately Vegeta was asleep.
* * *
"I'm gettin' used to it being this heavy!" Goku beamed up at Vegeta and Raditz, as he bounced through a training exercise.
"Well, you should be!" Vegeta snarled back, "This is only normal for a real Saiya-jin."
"Since you're so used to it bein' like this, maybe we should turn it up." Raditz glanced at Ouji-Sama for approval.
"Do it." Vegeta jerked his head toward the control panel that Bulma had installed.
"What should I set it to, Vegeta-Sama? Will double work?"
Vegeta nodded dismissively.
Raditz frowned at the controls, wondering what had compelled that girl to designate normal gravity as "10." He punched in the correct digits and hit enter. In less than a second the ambient gravity doubled, and all three of the Saiya-jin occupying the training room faltered under the pressure. Vegeta quickly recovered, and disguised all signs of effort.
"Wow This is really neat!" Goku moved about experimentally, his tongue peeping out as he focused on moving.
"'Neat,' is it?" Vegeta cocked his head to the side, "We'll see how long you find the conditions 'neat'." Vegeta stepped closer to the smaller boy, "Lay on the floor and raise yourself up on your knuckles."
Goku did as he was told, and after completing the push-up, he looked inquiringly up at Vegeta, "Like this, 'Geta-Sama?"
"Yes. Now you're going to repeat it. Fifty times."
"Okay. That'll make me real strong!"
"Hn." Vegeta was about to say more, but was interrupted by Nappa's voice over the intercom.
"Raditz!"
"What!? I mean Hai, Nappa-San?"
"That woman is playing around with the engines again." They heard a muffled clang, "watch where you're throwing that stuff, girl!" They could hear a feminine voice yelling in the background, "Anyway, she wants to know what kind of modifications you've made." her voice was audible again. This time they could make out the words, "hairball," "moron," and "makes no sense" Nappa sighed, "Would you get down here and tell exactly what you've done to the impulse relay drive?"
"Uh Hai, Nappa-San." Raditz momentarily forgot about their training, as concern over his engines took precedent. Before Vegeta or Goku had time to react, he was already gone.
"That woman!" Vegeta growled. As if their last encounter wasn't warning enough, she had the nerve to once again divert the attention of his underlings. He turned to the still-prone child, "Don't think you're getting out of your training this easily! Remember, fifty. Starting now." He left and the door whooshed shut behind him.
"OneTwo" Goku counted off his push-ups fairly well until, "SevenNineTwelveEighteenFifteen Twenty um A lot A lot A lot"