Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Princess WHO of WHERE?!? ❯ Lord Vegeta ( Chapter 6 )

"See something you like, my son?" said the large man still seated on the dais.

The younger Vegeta stood with his face only inches from Bulma's. He looked her up and down and said to her quietly, "You clean up well."

Bulma didn't answer him, she just looked at him, her eyes full of anger.

"However, I do not care for my Father's whores." That was it. Bulma tried to strike out at him, but found she couldn't. Again it was that damn collar! She growled deep in her throat, baring her teeth as a warning.

"Mad are we. Well I assure you I do not care," he turned abruptly away and returned to his father. "I have looked them over and, as usual, none of them please me. May I now return to training? I have already wasted enough of my time."

Lord Vegeta looked measuringly at his son and heir wondering if he truly even liked females. If it wasn't for the constant assurances of his son's watchers that he took his pleasure form the peasant wenches, he would be very worried. For when he passed to the hereafter, his son would rule in his place, as there was no female heir, and he too would have to have an heir. As difficult as it was to create a single child, Lord Vegeta wanted his son to have an early start, which was his main purpose of having so large a harem. He didn't have his men going out and collecting the most beautiful women they could find just for his own physical pleasure. Hopefully, one of these females would be chosen to be the future Lady.

Until then, he could just take his own pleasure of them.

He approached the line himself, clearly pleased at the new selection his men had brought to him. Most of them were a little young for his tastes, but they were in all actuality looking for girls for his son. With the proper training they would soon be up to his expectations.

"I want all of you to tell me your names. Starting with you, the dark-haired one on the end."

"Morra," from the first girl whose hair Bulma had first assumed was black, but it had wide streaks of white going through it also. Her wide brown eyes looked scared, but her voice was calm.

"Lishana," from the next. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a very high pitched, chirpy voice. She also had the pointiest nose Bulma had ever seen in her life."

"Chevon," said a girl with hair almost as light as Bulma's, but it was lavender instead of blue. Her gray eyes looked at the Lord Vegeta dispassionately.

"Bulma," was all that Bulma said. She turned her head away not being able to stand looking at the one responsible for her being here.

On the other side of Bulma came a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl called Tissori. Next to her was Chi Chi, and finally the tawny-haired, golden-eyed girl whose dusky skin proclaimed to the amount of time she had spent in the sun. She was called, interestingly enough, Lyonene.

Lord Vegeta looked them all up and down again. They were all very beautiful in their own way, but there was one in particular that caught his attention. She had hair and eyes the color of a cloudless sky and the coloring stirred up memories he had tried hard to forget. He went back to his seat upon the dais and watched her through half-lidded eyes. It all started to come back at him in a rush and it began to anger him.

"GUARDS!" he roared. "TAKE THEM TO THE HAREM NOW!"

Some of the girls cowered while others simply watched confused at the sudden show of temper. Three guards broke away from where they had been standing watch along the walls. They quickly ushered the girls back through the door they had came and shut it behind them. They were left alone for a few moments and they waited not quite sure where to go or what to do.

Bulma was the first to make a suggestion. "Well, I for one am not going to stand around here and wait for someone to tell me what to do. We might as well explore."

"Yeah, let's go," Chi Chi chimed in.

"Maybe it would be better if we just waited here," chirped Lishana.

Bulma favored Lishana with a very condescending look. "You can wait here all you want. Me and Chi Chi are going to have a look around."

The two of them separated from the group and wandered off on their own. Chi Chi glanced back over her shoulder. "I've never seen such a bunch of sheep in my life."

Bulma looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "How can you talk about them? You were so accepting of being here. You could of gotten away when I made a break for it, instead you just stood there and watched. I don't know what happened to you before you came here, but you didn't have to go back. You could've gone anywhere."

Chi Chi looked a little chagrined. "I know, but this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Look around us! We can live in the lap of luxury for the rest of our days!"

Chi Chi was right. Everything here was so beautiful, and well, expensive looking. They walked up to a small fountain that had a stone mermaid sitting atop a pedestal in the center. She was spitting water from her mouth into the pool below. In the pool swam brightly colored little fishes that darted to and fro.

"Yeah, but at what price?" Bulma asked with a sigh. Chi Chi had no answer for that, maybe rethinking her decision not to run earlier.

They sat at the edge of the fountain for a moment, drawn by its beauty.

"What have we here?"

Both of their heads popped up, startled by the unknown voice. Standing before them was the most beautiful creature either of them had ever seen. She was very petite and had silvery-white hair that fell over her shoulder perfectly, as if she had spent the entire day working on it create just such an effect. She had a long, white, cat-like tail and pointed ears just like Bulma did and even her clothing matched her hair. Her top barely covered her breasts and stopped to leave her midriff completely bare. Her bottoms, which I call bottoms because it was neither skirt nor pants, more like a loin cloth that covered the front and the back and was long enough to lightly brush the floor. Each piece was held very low around her waist by a silver chain. Her wrists and fingers were covered by more silver jewelry and even her collar was silver. She was barefoot, as were they, and each toe was perfectly pedicured. She stood before them watching them disdainfully as if she ruled the place, her tail swishing behind her indolently.

"Newcomers, huh? Well, worry not. Our lord will never call for you. The two of you are too ordinary for him. He only chooses the most beautiful to share his bed." She tossed all of her silver hair back over her shoulder and regarded them coldly as if this show of her beauty was supposed to scare them.

Bulma rolled her eyes and turned away, clearly ignoring her. She knew how to handle stuck-up, princess wannabes.

"Chi Chi, I do believe I hear the wind blowing. Is there an open window nearby?"

The silver-haired woman's mouth just opened and closed in rage, not able to say a word. Bulma turned to look back at her. "And look there! A fish has gotten out of the fountain. Maybe we should toss it back in."

Finally, the other woman's voice began working. "How dare you speak to me in such a way! I am Lord Vegeta's Favorite!" she said making the `F' in favorite take on an emphasis of its own.

"I'm sure we care." Bulma replied and looked away again appearing bored. She had been itching for a good fight and looked like someone had brought it to her.

"OOHHHH!!! I WILL HAVE YOU PUNISHED FOR SHOWING ME SUCH DISRESPECT!!! I am related to the ROYAL family. I will not be treated like this!"

She walked towards Bulma as if intending to attack her physically. Bulma was ready. She could tell from the shocked look in Chi Chi's eyes, not to mention the reflection she could see of her approaching her that the other woman was nearly on top of her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Shahar," said a cold, female voice behind her. The silver-haired woman stopped short and turned to glare at the interloper.

"Mind your business, Eighteen!"

"This is my business. You know Lord Vegeta will be very displeased if he hears of his women fighting. You would be punished, whether or not you're his favorite for instigating the fight," said the tall, blond woman. Her hard ice-blue eyes were completely emotionless, but her voice held that the threat of punishment was a promise should anything ill occur.

Bulma had turned to watch the blond woman also. She was impressed by her ability to control the silver haired girl, Shahar, without actually placing a hand on her. Shahar stomped her tiny foot in fury.

"I will do whatever I wish!" She stomped from the room, thwarted.

Bulma and Chi Chi laughed at the very childish behavior. The blond walked over to them and sat on the edge of the fountain.

"Excuse Shahar. She only recently became his lordship's favorite and is trying to lord it over the rest of us. Her stupidity almost got the both of you in trouble. Fighting is a punishable offense and there are ways to punish without marring your beauty." A look flashed through her eyes, as if she knew from personal experience.

"Oh. Well, thanks for warning us," Chi Chi thanked her, "I'm afraid Bulma here was going to smash her into the marble tiles."

Bulma smirked. "It was no less than she deserved."

"I agree," the blond said, "but you have to be careful where you pick your confrontations. By the way, I am called Eighteen. What are your names?"

"I'm Chi Chi."

"And I'm Bulma."

"Nice to meet the both of you."

"Eighteen, that's a pretty unusual name," Chi Chi said.

Eighteen laughed at that. "I know, but that's what I've been called for so long, no one remembers my real name. I was part of a gift of 20 girls to Lord Vegeta many years ago. Out of 20, only Three and I remain. He became bored with all the rest and gave them away to either his loyal retainers or a soldier who had done something exceptional."

"That's terrible," Bulma told her.

Eighteen shook her head. "No, it's actually a good thing. He would never give them to anyone who would abuse them. Most of them actually married those they were given to. Lord Vegeta's men only get one chance to mess up and then they're castrated, so as not to be a threat to any other woman, well, sexually at least."

Maybe this Lord Vegeta isn't so bad after all. Maybe a hypocrite, but not too bad it seems after all.

"Hey! Have you two been assigned quarters yet?"

"No, we only just left from being presented to Lord Vegeta," Chi Chi told her.

"Well, come on and follow me. That's what they were going to do with you anyway after you returned. They just forgot to have someone waiting there for you. I guess they didn't expect you back so soon. He usually likes to spend more time with the new ones than that. Follow me."

They got up and followed Eighteen to a place only two room away it was larger than any of the other rooms they had been in so far. It had an atrium in the center and was three stories high. The vegetation here was as lush as any forest. Women lounged here as they had in the room they had first entered after arrival. They walked along a path that seemed to not have any direct conclusion; it meandered along occasionally crossing what appeared to be a stream.

"Eighteen, is that a stream?" Chi Chi asked after crossing over the second tiny bridge while staring at the trickling water below.

"Yes, it actually is. If you follow it in either direction, you'll find a small waterfall and pond at the other is another pond with a fountain with a selkie at its center where it can flow out," she told them.

"What's a selkie?" Bulma asked.

Eighteen glanced at her over her shoulder oddly. "Don't you know your history? How can you not know what a selkie is?"

"Can everyone just forgive me now for being raised by humans and my lack of knowledge of Kylarians?" Bulma said, already exasperated at everyone's surprise of what she didn't know about her own people.

Eighteen shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't know. Most of the Kylarians here came with Lord Vegeta. Some came here on their own, but I've never known a cub to be raised by humans."

"Yeah, well, I guess it happens," said Bulma, tired of the now annoyingly frequent conversation. "So what are selkies?"

"Selkies are said to be the originators of Kylarians," Chi Chi began.

Eighteen nodded in agreement. "Our history says that selkies inter-mated with other creatures, giving them not only abstract reasoning, but their ability to change form."

"Although, the original selkies were said to only be able to take the form of a horse, a man, and that of another creature called a seal," Chi Chi picked up.

"A seal?"

"It's a warm blooded, water creature. It's very sleek looking and makes a sound that sort of a cross between a canine's bark and a goose."

"That's probably an interesting sound. Is anyone around here a selkie?"

"No," Eighteen responded shortly. "Pure selkies haven't been seen in thousands of years."

"Oh. Okay, so let me get this straight: some part man, part horse, part `seal' shape shifting creature, that's possibly extinct, mated with other wild creatures and you've got Kylarians?" Bulma asked.

Both females laughed at Bulma. "Well, it's not that simple," Eighteen said between giggles. "You make it sound as if it happened over night."

"That's how it sounds to me, well, gestational period aside."

"Perhaps, I can find someone to teach you history," Eighteen suggested.

"That would be great, though a detailed book would serve just as well."

"I'll see what I can do, but here we are. Let's go up."

Balconies ringed the walls as a means getting to each doorway set in the walls. Eighteen led the up the nearest flight of stairs to the second floor. Eighteen led them two the third and fourth doors.

"These will be your rooms," Eighteen said while pulling aside the curtains shielding the doorway. "They only recently became vacant. I was sure that the two of you would like to be near each other and these are the only one's I knew that were empty without going to the third floor."

They both looked into the rooms that would be theirs for who knows how long. Bulma went into hers and sat on the bed. It was very comfortable without being too soft. She never cared too much for them though, preferring the floor and a few good pillows. The room also held a small nightstand with a lamp on it and a chest, which after further inspection, was obviously where all her clothing would go. It already held the most basic of things. Eighteen stood in the doorway watching her look around.

"What do you think?"

Bulma looked around again, for the first time feeling the urge to cry. "I'd rather be in my own room."

Eighteen sat on the bed beside Bulma and put her arm around her in a comforting gesture. "I know it's hard at first, but you'll get use to it."

Bulma thought to herself, `but I don't want to get use to it.'

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

sorry, I was supposed have more Vegeta in this chapter, but I have to go to work and I wanted to post before I left.

R&R