Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Princess WHO of WHERE?!? ❯ Changes for the Better ( Chapter 28 )

Hey here's the next chapter.

To answer the question from DBZ Lover:

okay, maybe I should clarify a little better on the `real' Kylarian woman thing. First, remember that the Kylarian throne is inherited through the female side of the line. Also, in the prologue remember how B's mom was frustrated that she couldn't lead their people into battle; that was because as the primary ruler, that was her place. FEMALES are the dominant gender in Kylaria. For some bizarre reason, the females that went with Lord Vegeta when he left Kylaria are a little on the submissive side, so the younger Vegeta hasn't really dealt with a strong-willed, domineering Kylarian female; all of those pushover harem chicks and wide-eyed peasant girls have done nothing for him. Despite Bulma being raised as a human, she possesses those qualities by the truck load.

Does that make sense? Do I need to come up with a better explanation?

On with the fic…….

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Bulma knew something was different before she even opened her eyes. Her senses were suddenly heightened, not uncomfortably so, but more than what she was used to these past few months. Her nose told her she was in Vegeta's rooms, though he was not nearby, while her ears told her that there was a fire burning, and unsealed window, and two people passing below. She knew she was lying in the bed, but couldn't seem to get up for some reason; her entire body felt unusually heavy. Opening her eyes seemed to be a less exhausting task, so she cracked them open only to be met with darkness.

`I can't see!' she panicked and opened her eyes all the way.

A merely darkened room began focusing with unusual clarity. Bulma heaved a mental sigh of relief with the discovery that it was only that no fire or candles were lit that she couldn't initially see. The next thing that disturbed her was that now that her eyes were open she could SEE everything as clear as day.

`What's going on?' she thought and brought her hand up to rub at her eyes, only to find she didn't have any hands….just big, aqua blue paw. "What?!" she tried to yell, but what came out was a deep growl.

`How did I get back to my natural form?'

Just as Bulma pushed herself upright, Vegeta burst the room. Both of them stared at each other in confusion: his face in worry that something was wrong, while hers was simply clueless as to what was going on period.

"Vegeta?" Bulma tried to say, but only more grunts and growls came out.

Upon figuring nothing was wrong with her, Vegeta relaxed and approached the bed. "Calm yourself, Woman. There's nothing wrong with you."

Bulma looked down at the rest of her body, noting she was now in her primal form. She made sure not to verbally speak to him this time. `How did this happen?' she asked.

Vegeta was now standing at the side of the bed, noticing how she nearly occupied it entirely. "I had my Father remove your collar and you reverted," he explained.

`My collar?' Bulma would have reached up to feel her newly bare neck, but her form wouldn't allow it.

"You can change at will now."

The thought hadn't came to Bulma to try yet. She slid off the bed cautiously, claws clicking against the wooden floors, and waited until she felt steady before trying anything.

She started off slow: shrinking to a domestic house cat and then changing her coat to ordinary tabby stripes. She went into a tiny sparrow and flapped her wings experimentally before taking to the air and circling Vegeta's bedroom a few times and finally landing on the edge of the bed's canopy.

Vegeta watched as her size grew and feathers lengthened until her plumage and body became that of one of those exotic, talking birds he had seen once a few years ago when a traveling menagerie had visited. The greens, blues, and gold brought a brightness to the dreary room it hadn't previously possessed.

Bulma flew off the canopy and out the bedroom door with Vegeta quickly following behind. She landed in the most open space in the sitting room and warned Vegeta `stand back'. Her next transformation happened so quick, tiny bits of feather fluff floated around her. In this form, she mimicked Vegeta's gryphon perfectly. Of course her form was more lithe, as she was a female, and her coloring was her own. Bulma pivoted and turned experimentally, flipped and stretched her wings, careful not to disturb anything in the room.

Vegeta watched this, clearly amused and pleased. She was skilled, that was for sure. He wondered if she could change in mid stride or on the wing?

When Bulma finally was sure this wasn't some kind of trick she nearly squealed in glee. She was FREE! Well and truly. She didn't want to do anything more than stretch her wings. There was the cracked open balcony door……

`Come on! Let's go!' she beckoned Vegeta excitedly and galloped to the door, nudging it the rest of the way open.

"WHAT?!" was all he had a chance to get out, as Bulma had already taken to the railing and leapt for the sky. He ran out the doors behind her and jumped off from the balcony before completing his change. Fortunately, he was fast enough that he was able to change his path to up rather than down before he reached half the height of his tower. By then, Bulma was a speck of blue in an even brighter blue sky.

He had to stroke hard before coming anywhere even close to her, but he couldn't get to close because she was twirling madly through the sky. Vegeta had no clue how she was keeping herself airborne as furled as her wings were. He could here her laughter in his mind like the tinkling of tiny bells. She finally straightened herself out and flew calmly beside Vegeta.

`ISN'T FLYING THE GREATEST?!' she said to him excitedly.

`I suppose,' Vegeta answered cautiously, having no clue what she was getting at.

She swooped beneath him to come up on his left side. She remained there only for a moment before passing beneath him again to return to his right side. Bulma looked at him slyly from the corner of her eyes and grinned mischievously. Vegeta didn't like that look, not for a second.

She did it again and again, switching sides. When Vegeta anticipated the next, he intended to drop down on top of her, but as soon as he began she changed her tactic and instead rolled through the space she had he had been occupying.

Vegeta glared at her from below, the happiness sparkling in her eyes forestalled him from doing anything else. He couldn't imagine how he would've reacted if he would have ended up in the situation she had been in these past few seasons.

`I probably would've been executed for my attitude alone,' he thought.

Bulma stopped abruptly in mid air, noticing that Vegeta seemed to be a little distracted. He hadn't even noticed that he head left her behind, hovering in place because he was thinking about other things. Bulma flew straight up and caught up to Vegeta from above. Her parallel flight quickly changed to a stoop, forepaws outstretched, talons spread to bind.

Vegeta still lost in thought considered the silly, childish trick she just played on him. `Who does that female think she was dealing with anyway? I'm not going to sit here and play her games.'

Unfortunately, Bulma had already included him.

There wasn't even the sound of air being cut to mark her arrival. Only the newly developed awareness they seemed to now have of each other gave him a clue. Something told him to look up before she slammed into his back, gripping him with her `hands' without scratching him and sending both of them tumbling head over tail to the ground far below.

`TAG!' Bulma squealed into his mind.

She opened her wings and they began spinning wildly, though their descent was slowed.

`Woman are you insane?!' he yelled back while trying to pull away from her. `Are you trying to kill us both?!''

The giggle he got in response did nothing to reassure him. Bulma flipped them both around so that now she was below him.

`YOU'RE IT!' she shouted and with a great shove breaking them apart, sending Vegeta into a very awkward position of righting himself and her into a controlled glide after having turned over.

It took him a little longer than he would've liked to have admitted, but Vegeta managed to himself straightened and turned his own perilous fall into a glide that had his belly and hind legs skimming the trees. When he looked above searching for the infuriating female, he found her already back at the level they had fell from, indulging in more aerial acrobatics.

He had to admit to himself again that she was skilled. The turns and flips she made in mid air would have been impossible for him, but SHE moved as effortlessly as if she had been `born' with wings. She floated as if she weighed no more than an autumn leaf.

He heaved a sigh, realizing the prize he had been given and not wanting things to be any other way.

`Prepare yourself, Woman,' he called to her, halting her antics immediately. `Let' see if your skills of evasion are as good as you think.'

*****two weeks later*****

Bulma's nose twitched in her sleep, unconsciously noting the change in the weather. Her ears flicked back and forth taking in any tell-tale sounds. After hearing what she was looking for, she began pulling from Vegeta's embrace yawning and blinking sleepily all the way. She had been using his shoulder as a pillow and was careful not to wake him as she rose. They had been sleeping together for the past couple of weeks, seeing how pointless it was to keep their separate sleeping conditions as the two seemed so intent on getting to `know' each other physically as often as possible.

It seemed to be a little cooler this morning than it had been the previous evening and she had to adjust herself to deal with the temperature. Bulma crept to the drapes obscuring the doors to the balcony. She pulled one of the heavy curtains aside and was pleased with the new change in the weather. Bulma ran back to the bed and with a flying leap she landed on Vegeta.

"Vegeta! Vegeta! Wake up!" Bulma shrieked like a child. "It's snowing!"

Vegeta, not too pleased with his exuberant wake up call, growled at the excessively excited female without even opening his eyes. He rolled over onto his stomach, throwing Bulma off of him from her astride position, and covering his head with a pillow.

"Vegeta," Bulma whined, pouncing back on him and bouncing up and down. "Come on, it's time to wake up."

"Woman you behave as if you've never seen snow before," came the muffled complaint.

"I just like snow is all. Now get up! Let's go outside," Bulma said, and not giving him a choice in the matter, she snatched the pillow off his head and flung it to the other side of the room.

Vegeta didn't even move, but his bared teeth were an obvious sign of his displeasure. Bulma ignored it, but got off of his back. She sat cross legged beside him and peered closely into his face, her hair pooling about her on the bed.

"Don't make me do this the hard way," she warned him.

"Do what you will, Woman," responded Vegeta not believing in her threat.

"Okay," Bulma shrugged.

She leaned back supporting herself with both arms on the bed behind her on the bed and lightly positioning both feet on Vegeta's side. Once good push was all it took to send Vegeta on a one way trip to the floor. The THUMP that followed more than confirmed the impact, but Bulma had expected a yell, a curse, or SOMETHING to follow. Some kind of exclamation to verbalize his displeasure at being shoved onto the floor, but there was nothing.

`Maybe he hit his head and he's unconscious,' she worried.

Bulma quickly scrambled to the edge of the bed to make sure he was alright. Blue eyes met black ones when she looked down before his hand snaked around her neck to pull her down, bringing her lips to his. Their mouths met in a tender kiss. His warm lips gently caressed her quivering ones and he then began pressing delicate little kisses across her entire mouth.

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded. "You're trying to distract me!"

Vegeta hadn't let her go too far. He still cupped her cheek in his hand, stroking her soft skin with his thumb. "We need to find a more appropriate activity for that early morning energy of yours."

"I already have an `appropriate' activity, playing in the snow!" she hopped out of the bed, effectively removing herself from his seductive advances. "Come on, let's go!"

Vegeta felt the urge to hurt somebody or something, but settled on growling since he couldn't take out his ire on the female, though she was the cause of it.

Bulma got dressed while completely ignoring Vegeta's foul mood. He would come around soon enough once they were outdoors. She was fully dressed in multiple layers, sword in hand waiting impatiently in the sitting room by the time he emerged from the bedroom still grumbling. However, his attitude changed quickly as he caught sight of her holding the sword. He merely raised an eyebrow in question.

"What?" Bulma asked innocently. "No point in wasting a perfect opportunity to spar."

Vegeta was surprised. And here he thought the female wanted to go outside and build snow forts and make snow angels. He HAD chosen well. He wasted no time in gathering his outer clothing and his own sword. When Bulma saw he was ready to leave, she quickly followed him to the door, but before he even opened it he stopped and as usual Bulma jumped to the side to avoid running in to him. She assumed he had forgotten something.

"I did," he answered her thought, but before she had a chance to realize that he had been `listening' he pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her soundly until there wasn't a single coherent thought in her head.

`What brought this on?' was all she managed to form as all other thoughts were lost.

It ended just as abruptly as it had begun, though Vegeta didn't release her. The two stared into each other's eyes although he was searching for something while she was just in a daze of confusion.

"Now we may leave."

Bulma just nodded and blindly followed his lead down the tower stairs. She kept close to Vegeta's side as they took the long way out the fortress. All of the servants they passed stopped to bow to Vegeta in their usual show of respect. Lately, Bulma had noticed they had been giving her a similar accordance. Most didn't bow to her, but it was something that could be heard in the tone of voice or tilt of the head.

Her duties for Vegeta were just barely short of being pleasure and no few servants went out of their way to help her when she asked for things on her or Vegeta's behalf. She hoped that it was because they like her and not for other reasons. In the end, it all could just be their way of kissing up because they were aware of her relationship with Vegeta and expected her to be his future mate and their lady.

Bulma looked out of the corner of her eye at Vegeta. His strong profile with its ever present scowl gave no hints to the male that was revealed when doors were closed and the two of them were all alone. He didn't seem to notice her staring, as his eyes never strayed from their course. She let herself briefly imagine that he would want her to be his mate. It wouldn't be so hard to accept, after all, she had begun to care about him and they did get along pretty well if one were to discount their shouting matches and occasional sniping comments to each other. And she didn't doubt that once they matured enough to actually conceive that they would have magnificent cubs. They would fly and hunt and spar together she thought and then let out a sigh of hopefulness, which immediately drew Vegeta's attention to her.

"What's wrong with you, woman?"

Bulma looked away before he could see her blushing at being caught thinking about him.

"Nothing," she answered shortly while looking to the floor on her left.

"Hmph. Whatever."

The truth was, though, that Vegeta could `hear' everything she thought as well as if she had spoken them out loud. The bond they were forming inadvertently grew exponentially every day. She didn't seem to notice, if her behavior was any indication. He hoped that this wasn't one-sided.

The two finally emerged from the fortress' main entrance to find everything outside covered with snow even the people. You couldn't even distinguish male from female because they were all so well bundled up.

There seemed to be a great deal more activity outside today. Inside the walls as well as outside there were more people and carts and beasts than Bulma had ever seen at one time since she had been here. What was even stranger was that these people were either constructing something or setting up tents, especially once they were able to see everything beyond the walls. Bulma looked at everything with great interest, but couldn't figure out for the life of her why these people were here. Was there some sort of storm coming and they were weathering it out as close to the fortress as possible?

"They're getting ready for the Festival of Haishe'li," he answered for her.

"Mid Winter? But isn't that still weeks away? And this is only the first snow," Bulma asked curiously.

"That's the signal for preparations. It's a tradition that goes back to before there was a Kylaria," he told her. "Now let's go. There isn't anything interesting going on around here and you claimed that you wanted to train so that's what we're going to do."

It took a little longer for them to actually leave the fortress grounds with Bulma dragging along wanting to see every little activity going on. Vegeta, finally tiring of her sight-seeing, changed form, grabbed her torso with his forepaw and took to the sky startling no few peasants as not very many ever saw the young Lord change.

"VEGETA!" Bulma shrieked.

`We don't have time for you to gawk all day.'

Bulma huffed at Vegeta and crossed her arms over her chest and was now in full pout mode. Vegeta, catching wind of her sour mood, promptly released her to catch herself if she would. As predicted, she shifted before she was two lengths away.

`What was that for?' she yelled at him once they made eye contact. `I was only curious!'

Vegeta frowned, well as much as one with a hardened beak could, but the total expression on his face conveyed the emotion. `Woman the same ridiculous festival happens every Winter; I assure you there's nothing to see.'

Bulma gritted her beak and threw Vegeta a glare of her own. `Well some of us weren't raised as Kylarians!' and with that Bulma quickly outdistanced him, not wanting to be anywhere in his vicinity at that moment.

Vegeta could only watch as the blue female left him behind.

`I believe `putting my foot in it' would be the appropriate expression,' he thought to himself.

He made no effort to catch up knowing that she would ignore him if he tried, but he was sure she would be at the training grounds when he got there.

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You know I actually had two more pages typed that I ended up moving to the next chapter? Well, that just means more PWoW for you a lot sooner.