Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Princess WHO of WHERE?!? ❯ Beans Don't Burn in the Kitchen ( Chapter 13 )

"Bulma! You're alive!" Chi Chi yelled, jumping up from her seat and running to Bulma. She squeezed Bulma hard. Eighteen followed behind at a more sedate pace. "We thought they had killed you!"

Bulma squeaked from the bone crushing embrace and the lack of air. "I'm…..fine," Bulma finally managed to wheeze. "Can…….you…..let me…..go?"

"Oh! Sorry." Chi Chi apologized. She abruptly let Bulma go, after which Bulma began drawing in deep breaths.

"Wow. I haven't been gone that long! What's happened since yesterday?"

"I'm sure the things that have been happening around here have been rather dull compared to what's been going on with you," Eighteen suggested. "You look to be whole and in good shape. What happened to you after the guards dragged you away?"

"Not too much of anything really. I got thrown in the dungeon for the night, forced into domestic servility by Vegeta, I kicked Vegeta's butt at his training practice in front of his guards, then I was brought back this afternoon to take up my domestic duties. Other than that, not much has happened."

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!?" Chi Chi and Eighteen said in unison.

"I got thrown in the dungeon for the night, forced into - ,"

"No, no! Not that!" Eighteen said. "Fast forward to the next part. About you kicking Vegeta's butt."

"Oh, yeah. I did," Bulma responded nonchalantly.

The two female's mouths dropped wide open. Eighteen was the first to recover from her shock. "How did you manage to do that? All anyone ever talks about around here is how strong he is and how no one's ever defeated him."

"It was nothing. I guess the rumors of his skill were greatly exaggerated."

Both of them gasped in surprise of her outright condescension of Vegeta. Bulma walked away without asking them to join her. She went to the spot they had just vacated and dropped down gracefully onto some brightly colored cushions. They soon followed behind and sat back in their seats, still regarding Bulma with shock on their faces.

"So Bulma let me get this straight," Chi Chi began, "you and Vegeta fought and you won. He didn't let you win, you didn't lose and saying you won anyway, and this isn't some delusion you had while you were in the dungeon?"

"Nope. I beat him fair and square." Bulma leaned back and folded her hands behind her head, reclining comfortably. "I guess my training was a bit more thorough than his. But anyway, what did they tell you had happened to me? Vegeta isn't the most informative and I haven't had the opportunity to really ask anyone else about it."

"They didn't tell us anything," Eighteen told her. "All we had to go one were rumors."

"Yeah. We heard everything from you had been killed to you had escaped, so we didn't know what to believe."

"No, none of that. I'll admit, Vegeta making me his personal servant was surprising, but it's better than being down here waiting for Lord Vegeta to decide to `sample my wares'." Bulma giggled.

"Why did he do that though? I had gotten the impression that he wasn't the most lenient?" Chi Chi asked.

"Well, I don't know about not being lenient. You should see the armor he wants me to clean!"

"Clean?" Chi Chi asked.

"Yeah, I told you he made me his personal servant, so now I have to clean up after him and bring him his meals and so on and so forth."

"I think I would rather stay here than to clean up after anyone, including myself," Chi Chi said.

"I would rather clean than sleep with some strange, old man."

"Okay, okay you two." Eighteen regulated. "I swear you two bickering is enough to make me glad I don't have any cubs of my own."

Chi Chi and Bulma just laughed at Eighteen.

"It's okay we were just playing," Bulma assured her. "Hey, when's dinner?"

"Not for a while," Eighteen told her. "We usually don't eat until after sunset."

"Ah well, no matter. I'll find something later."

"Hungry?"

"A little, but I wouldn't admit it to anyone but you two. Vegeta said that I couldn't eat until I clean that stupid armor, but I'll starve before that happens. So, I have some free time on my hands. Is there anything to do around here?"

"How about a bath?" Chi Chi suggested, wrinkling her nose up. "You stink!"

"Do I?" Bulma asked with a laugh. She sniffed herself and was in complete agreement. "Oh, my…..let's go."

The bathing room was by far the most extravagant in the entire fortress, though many of the fortress' residents didn't know it. The entire place was covered with rose-colored tiles with creamy white pillars spaced about. There were lush tropical plants everywhere in huge ceramic pots. There were different rooms with small tubs, larger tubs for more leisurely baths, a steam room, and two huge bathing pools easily the size of a small pond.

With Eighteen leading the way, they went to the bathing room and stripped down to bathe in one of the huge bathing pools. No one else was there at this time of day, so they had it to themselves. Eighteen and Chi Chi joined Bulma not because they were dirty, but just to relax.

Bulma scrubbed relentlessly at her body using the perfumed soaps left out for the women of the harem to choose from. With help from Chi Chi and Eighteen, Bulma was able to quickly wash her massive quantity of hair. They also rinsed her off, which inspired a splashing match when they got too carried away with the rinsing. After playing to near exhaustion, they just sat back and relaxed. Bulma swam a few laps back and forth across the pool and finally just floated on her back staring at the colored glass dome above.

`I think I can deal with this for a little while,' Bulma thought to herself. `I can stay here and learn as much as I can learn about my people then leave.'

A strand of hair chose at that moment to tickle her shoulder and her hand brushed against the collar when she reached to pull the hair away.

`I have got to get rid of this thing,' she sighed.

She allowed her body to sink into the water and swam beneath the surface until she could hold her breath no longer. She burst from the water gasping for air. She hadn't noticed that Chi Chi and Eighteen had gotten out of the water, and had already, dressed sitting on one of the marble benches along the walls talking quietly. Bulma looked to the dome and saw the quickly dimming light.

"OH NO! It's almost sunset! Why didn't you guys tell me?" Bulma scrambled out of the water almost slipping a few times. There were already clothes like the ones she had took off earlier waiting for her on another bench. She squeezed the water out of her hair and twisted it to a bun on her head. The clothing, she pulled on so quickly she was sure she nearly tore it.

"What happens at sunset that's so important? Aren't you coming to dinner with us?" Chi Chi asked.

"NO, I can't. Don't you remember? I told you I have to bring Vegeta his meals and have his bath ready right after sunset!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot," Chi Chi said sheepishly.

"Eighteen, please tell me you know how to get to the kitchens? I forgot to ask Mia earlier."

"Of course I do. Follow me," Eighteen told her with a wave.

All three girls rushed from the bathing rooms into the harem. A few of the others were startled by their sudden appearance, but they didn't care. The continued not out the harem doors, but by a side corridor. The trip to the kitchens was actually pretty simple and they were there in no time.

They skidded to a halt in the extreme heat of the kitchen. The cavernous place was filled with people running around in every direction. The smells coming from the huge fires were heavenly. She could almost taste the juices that were dripping on the slowly turning spitted meats. There were also gigantic ovens built into the walls, heat emanating What they were doing Bulma didn't know, all she was concerned about was who could give her Vegeta's dinner.

"There," Eighteen pointed. "that's Krillin. He's in charge of the kitchen."

The small man Eighteen pointed to was no bigger than a child, but the yells coming out of his mouth sounded as if they would fit a man four times his size. He was bald and built in a small muscular sort of way. Definitely not what Bulma was expecting to find in a kitchen.

They pushed their way through the kitchen workers until they reached the diminutive man. Bulma had already laid her ears to dull some of the loud noises going on around her. She didn't see how any Kylarian could suffer through many loud voices, the clanging pots, and other various aggravating food preparation sounds. Now that she thought about it, why couldn't you actually hear all of this until you walked in the kitchen?

"Krillin!" Eighteen yelled over the noise and waved when they had almost reached him. Krillin immediately went quiet as he searched for the owner of the voice. When he finally laid his eyes on Eighteen, Bulma swore she saw an odd look pass over his face, but she couldn't be sure because it had happened so fast. They made it to him without incident and the crowd shuffled to make room for the three.

"H-h-hi Eighteen," Krillin stuttered to her. The small man's voice had suddenly joined his height.

"Hi Krillin," Eighteen replied, giving him a dazzling smile, "How have you been?"

Bulma thought she could see him blushing before he looked away, scratching his flawlessly baldhead. "Okay, I guess. You know how it is. Same soufflé, different day."

"Oh, I understand perfectly," Eighteen responded.

Bulma then thought she saw his ears turn red at that point. `What's going on with these two,' she thought.

"Krillin, this is Bulma. From no on, she will be fetching Master Vegeta's meals."

"Oh?" Krillin said, no having regained his composure and looked Bulma in the eye. He appraised her critically. "Now how's a little female like this supposed to manage Master Vegeta's meals? She doesn't look as if she could lift the tray, much less carry it up to his tower."

Bulma didn't like that at all.

"How DARE you call someone else little, you DWARF!" Bulma shrieked. The whole kitchen suddenly got quiet and stared at the scene. "I promise you that I'm MORE than strong enough to kick you VERTICALLY CHALLENGED tail from one side of this kitchen to the other!"

Krillin, not expecting an outburst from the female, cringed away. Then for the first time, he noticed the silent, unmoving kitchen staff.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? GET BACK TO WORK!" he roared. Everyone resumed their duties as if they had never stopped. He looked back to Bulma, who had murder in her eyes at the mild insult. "I apologize, miss," he told her with a bow, "but you must admit, looks are deceiving."

Bulma couldn't find any fault with that idea. After all, she hadn't expected a dwarf man to be head chef of this huge edifice. "It's okay."

"Thank the Goddess. I didn't want you two to get off to a bad start," Eighteen sighed in relief. "You're going to have to work together, so it might be a good thing if you get along."

"Okay, well, everything is alright now, so can I have Vegeta's dinner? I have to hurry and get to his rooms before he does."

"Oh, yes, yes of course." Krillin turned away from them and yelled, "FIRE THE MASTER'S MEAL!"

And from even farther away in the kitchen yelled back another voice, "FIRING THE MASTER'S MEAL!"

"What the -," was all Bulma had a chance to get out before a ball of fire and smoke suddenly blasted from one of the corners of the kitchen where there didn't seem to be as many people. Bulma gasped in surprise and she heard Chi Chi do the same from behind her. No one else seemed to be shocked by the fire that had appeared. A moment later Bulma saw the crowd parting for a huge tray covered with food. The man that arrived before them stopped when he could get no closer to them.

"Master Vegeta's dinner, sir." He said.

"Very good, Ferron. Give it to the blue-haired girl."

"Sir?" he looked to Krillin confused. He also seemed to think that Bulma wouldn't be able to handle the tray.

"She assures me she can handle it. Go on."

Ferron looked skeptically at Bulma once more before passing her the massive tray. Bulma was able to look briefly at the foods, which included a side of beef, two whole game birds, a few vegetables, a loaf of bread with a crock of butter, and a bowl of fruit. Bulma shouldered the tray easily, the only thing being a problem was its unwieldy shape.

"See, no problem."

Krillin grinned at her, glad that she was able to carry the tray, while Ferron merely shrugged and walked back the way he had came.

"Alright, just tell me which way to the North Tower."

"Go back out the door, turn left, take the third right, go up the first staircase on your right to the third level, and turn right. From there, count four doors on your left and that should be the hall leading to the North Tower. If it isn't you'll have to retrace your steps and figure out where you made a wrong turn," Eighteen told her calmly.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. How simple," she told her sarcastically.

"Go on, Bulma. Come back when you've finished," Chi Chi said.

"If I can."

Bulma took her leave of Eighteen, Chi Chi, Krillin, and the kitchen. As soon as she stepped through the doors, all was reasonably quiet again. She turned to look at the doors that had closed behind her.

`These walls must be really thick,' she thought. Bulma soon was on her way and believe it or not made it to the tower without having to double back once. She quickly placed the tray on a table that was near the fireplace. The only thin left was to get his bath ready.

`Now what did he say to do? Oh, I remember!'

Bulma quickly skipped down the stairs looking for a man, any man. From the windows of the corridor below the tower stairs, she could see that the sun had only just now set.

He would be here any minute and he was already going to be mad about the armor and her lack of activity. She ran down the hall wondering where everyone was. The first intersection she came to she looked around and spotted someone at the end.

"HEY!" she yelled.

The person stopped and turned to look at her. She ran down the corridor to meet them.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes. I need someone to bring the water for Vege-, I mean `Master' Vegeta's bath."

"Of course. I'll get some help and we shall be up there shortly with the tub and the water."

"Thank you."

He bowed to her and simply walked off. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief and went back to the North Tower. Bulma entered the room not even noticing that the door was unlocked and slightly cracked open. She began to hum to herself, pleased she had been able to pull off her tasks without a problem.

`Maybe that wasn't such a good time to take a bath, next time I -,'

Bulma was grabbed tightly, arms at her side being held by a single arm, her mouth was being covered and tightly muffled with a hand. She didn't even think twice. She backed up suddenly crushing her assailant against the wall. She barely registered his grunt of pain before she stamped down on his foot. He grunted again, but did not release her. Bulma spun them both around in a

"Damn you, Woman!" she heard a familiar voice curse her.

She turned to look at her would be assailant. He was holding his head in his head growling in pain.

"Vegeta?"

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Okay. I see that I'm going to have to do like other writers and demand a certain number of reviews before I update. I think 5 reviews are a fair number. So if you like my fic, review and you can read more of it.

R&R