Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Princess WHO of WHERE?!? ❯ Settling In ( Chapter 15 )

DISCLAIMER: If I own DBZ, you can have this damn computer! I'll buy 50 new ones!!!

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Bulma woke up in plenty of time to get dressed and return to the kitchens to get Vegeta's breakfast. The kitchen itself seemed to be busier this morning than it was the other evening. She guessed that more people ate breakfast here than dinner.

Krillin spotted her before she got anywhere near him since he knew who belonged in the kitchen and who didn't. The meal wasn't `fired' like it was last time, but it was already sitting on a tray with just as much food for breakfast as for dinner. He handed her the tray without a word. He just nodded to her before returning to his own duties. Bulma left the kitchen without getting knocked over and found her way to Vegeta's rooms without a problem.

It was a little tricky to unlock the door with the huge breakfast, but she did it without dropping or spilling anything and quickly entered and sat the tray down on the table where she had left his dinner. She coaxed the banked fire to life to help take the chill from the room and wondered what she should do next.

She looked around the room at a loss for anything to do. Her thorough investigation of the room the other day had yielded nothing, so she didn't bother to look any further. She started wondering when Vegeta was going to wake and what he would have her doing today. She was sure he was going to train today, as she had been told was his habit. Her thoughts ran briefly to the tarnished, beat up armor that she was supposed to have cleaned.

`I'm still not cleaning it,' she thought, still not really hungry.

She paced back and forth across the room, sometimes stopping to admire the weapons adorning the walls. She came to a particular sword and stopped to stare at its beauty. It hung on its own plaque on a bed of dark green velvet. While it was of ordinary length, it was small and delicate, as if made for a woman's hand.

Bulma's hand reached out to caress the hilt wondering why Vegeta possessed such an obviously feminine weapon. She lifted it gently from its place and was pleased with its perfect balance. She held the hilt to her face noticing it had writing on it similar to that which she had seen in the book hidden over Vegeta's bed. On the end of the hilt was the biggest sapphire Bulma had ever seen in her life. It was easily the size and shape of an egg, except it was faceted so that it caught the dull light of the fire and reflected it onto the blade, giving it an odd ethereal glow.

She noted it briefly before passing it from hand to hand, juggling it back and forth, then flipped it and caught it deftly by the hilt again after it had turned three times. She took a few experimental slashes through the air before trying something more complicated. She lunged at an imaginary opponent, and then parried his blow. She threw two more quick blows to her opponents left side, spun with a feint to the right, then brought the blade down double-handed from overhead, in an attempt to cut her opponent in half. She halted the blade in mid swing, as if her opponent had blocked it.

Bulma pressed down and pulled back, battling with herself to break her opponents guard and finally threw herself back after finally being pushed away. She stalked around as if she and her opponent were circling each other. Because of Bulma's change in position, she didn't notice Vegeta's door finally open, and Vegeta himself leaning in the doorway.

Vegeta watched Bulma's shadow dance for few moments, once again impressed with the female's skill. Very few Kylarians chose to wield a sword, preferring their own claws to steel, and those who did weren't anywhere as good as she was. He watched as she was beating her opponent back, finally wearing him out. She used a move meant to disarm, stepped in with a high elbow to knock them to the ground, and plunged the sword into her fallen opponent, stopping the tip of the blade an inch from the floor.

Bulma swept back some hair that had fallen into her face behind an ear. She LOVED this sword!

`I wonder if Vegeta will let me have it?' she thought, clutching the sword happily.

"Woman, return my property to where it belongs," Bulma heard a calm, flat voice from behind her.

Bulma turned to see Vegeta watching her from his doorway. She nearly dropped the sword in surprise, and the only thing that stopped her was the endless training that taught her that one should never, ever do that.

"Uh, good morning, Vegeta," she said sheepishly and futilely tried to hide the sword she know he already saw behind her back. "What are you talking about?"

Vegeta walked over to her and stopped directly in front of her. He looked at her from his insignificantly superior height, their chests nearly touching. She looked into his eyes hoping he wasn't planning anything embarrassing. Her worries were for nothing as all he did was reach behind her and take the sword from her hand. He held the sword up between them.

"This sword belonged to the former Kylarian Queen. It was given to my Father by the Queen, who then gave it to me. You have no business touching it and you had better never do so again."

And with that he returned the sword to its plaque with great reverence. Bulma didn't see what the big deal was about, it was just a sword, a well made sword that had once belonged to royalty, but still just a sword.

"I wasn't going to damage it."

He looked back at her. "That's not the point. It doesn't belong to you, therefore, do not touch it." He turned away from her and went to the table and immediately began to demolish his breakfast.

`I wonder what his problem is this morning?' Bulma thought. She was beginning to learn that Vegeta was a real arrogant, rude ass, but this seemed a little far removed from what she had dealt with so far. Who knows? Maybe Kylarian males suffer from a moon cycle like human women. She stood there and watched him eat, ready to do something, anything, as long as she could go outside.

He finished in record time and quickly pushed away from the table and got up, almost knocking the chair to the floor. He walked to the door leading to the hallway outside, opened it, and walked out without a backward glance, leaving the door open behind him.

`Was that my cue to follow?' Bulma wondered as she rushed out the door behind him, careful to make sure she locked the door this time. He was already halfway down the hall and she had to run to catch up with him. She walked right beside him and he paid her not a bit of notice.

"Vegeta?"

He didn't say a word. She wasn't even sure that he heard her.

"Vegeta?"

Still nothing.

"LORD VEGETA!" Bulma finally screamed, which seemed to gain his attention if one were to count him wincing in pain and covering his ears.

"WOMAN! What is wrong with you? You're screaming in the corridors like this is a battle field and we're on opposite sides of it," he yelled back.

"I had already called your name twice and you didn't answer. You looked a little distracted so I woke you up. Is there something wrong?" Bulma asked, genuinely concerned.

"It's none of your business!" he snapped.

Bulma shrugged it off, though she still wondered what had him so preoccupied.

Vegeta didn't even know why he yelled at the female beside him. He was still thinking about his Father telling him of their impending visitor and how best he could stay away from them. He had the urge to explain to the blue-haired girl beside him what was going on, but had no clue why he wanted to due such a thing. Why should he have to explain himself to a mere servant. They had already resumed their descent down to the courtyard and he cast a look out the side of his eye to look at her. She was for the most part ignoring him and studying everything else around him. He looked in the direction she was looking to some tapestries decorating the walls. There wasn't anything remotely fascinating about them, but she still stared at them. He seen the things every single day of his life and was sure he could reproduce them perfectly in his sleep, so well they were burned into his memory.

He also took note that she was walking beside him and not behind him as was proper, but for once it didn't bother him at all. He had been known to some as being touchy about his rank, but that wasn't true. He simply didn't want to develop and sort of closeness or companionship to anyone around him because everyone knows that things happened to people all the time, no matter who they were. His tutors had inadvertently taught him that lesson early on when learning Kylarian history. Most notably, that of the former Queen and King and his own departed Mother.

Vegeta couldn't figure out what was drawing her to him, but he was letting it happen, just to see where it would lead him this once.

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Bulma's days began to take on a consistent pattern over the next few weeks. She normally woke up early to get Vegeta's breakfast, went with him to his training sessions, though he never challenged her again, and had her afternoons to herself except when she had to clean his rooms. She used her afternoons to hang out with Chi Chi and Eighteen and to take her baths. Afterwards, she would take Vegeta his dinner and help him in his bath. By now bathing him had become an ordinary occurrence, though she never looked any further than she had too. Her evenings, after leaving Vegeta were spent prowling for dinner, since Vegeta had held true to not allowing her a meal until she cleaned his armor. Occasionally, she was able to snatch a chicken and on really good days, she was able to catch some brave forest creature willing to enter the fortress. It really wasn't enough to keep her going at full strength, but it wasn't as if she had any really taxing duties. Had she still been at home scouting she would have fallen out of a tree and probably broken her neck by now.

She hadn't really had too much of a chance to plan any sort of escape as she was too caught up in the things going on around her. Anyone who she asked questions of answered her freely and she learned a lot just by watching. Every once in a while, she gave a passing thought to leaving, but always made the excuse to herself that she still hadn't learned enough.

Vegeta's attitude had gotten worse and worse as the days went by. If he hadn't been snapping at everyone the same as he was at her, she would have thought she had done something seriously wrong a long time ago. Bulma sometimes got him to tell her about what he knew of Kylarian history when he was off his guard. She learned that he was truly intelligent and could become a scholar if that was his chosen path.

One day while Bulma was in the harem's atrium with Chi Chi and Eighteen, she noticed the increased amount of activity going on around the fortress and wanted to know what was going on. They had just bathed and were reclining along marble benches talking.

"Do either of you two know why everyone has been so busy of late? I swear I thought I was truly going to be trampled when I went for Vegeta's breakfast."

"Bulma, do you live in a hole? How can you not know what's going on?" Chi Chi asked.

"Chi Chi's right. How can you not know of Lord Vegeta's visitors? It's been all anyone's been talking about for the past week."

"Will you please spare me the suspense and just tell me who is coming?"

"Why, it's Vegeta's betrothed," Eighteen told her calmly.

Bulma almost fell off her bench in an effort to turn over onto her stomach and look at the blond girl nearby.

"HIS WHAT? He didn't tell me he was betrothed."

"He doesn't have to. Remember you're just his servant," Chi Chi pointed out.

Bulma pouted a little at the quite correct assessment. Vegeta didn't have to tell her anything. What conversation she did get out of him, she was sure she got it out of him because she caught him unaware.

"I'm not saying that we're best friends that share their innermost secrets. I would just think that it would be important to tell me because I'm sure his betrothed wouldn't want another female around her intended. I don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble around here."

"Woman, you've been trouble from the first day you arrived here," said a masculine voice from behind them.

They all gasped and turned around to see Vegeta standing there watching them his arms crossed over his chest in his usual pose of apathy. All three quickly gathered their clothing up in a futile attempt to cover themselves, as they had all been lounging covered by nothing more than their hair. It was a more than common occurrence to see the women here unclothed around each other and they saw no reason not to do so now, especially since the only men allowed in here regularly was Lord Vegeta and his son.

Bulma grabbed the drying cloth she had brought with her from the baths to cover herself. "Vegeta," she tried to say nonchalantly, "I didn't expect you back so soon."

Vegeta hmph'ed and walked in the small alcove they had been sharing. "The two of you may go. I need to speak with my servant here."

"Yes, Master Vegeta," Chi Chi and Eighteen said in unison, making Bulma wonder if they practiced it. They finished gathering up their belongings and left Bulma alone with him in the very private setting. She sat up straight, holding the cloth over her chest, and regarded Vegeta normally as if they conversed this way all the time.

"I see why my armor doesn't get clean."

Bulma blushed a little in chagrin, though she was not sorry the armor still sat where he had left it when he first showed it to her.

"I don't really have any other time of day to bathe, so this is the time I usually go," she made the lame excuse.

"I don't care what time you go to clean yourself. I just came here to tell you something."

Now this caught Bulma's attention. Here was Vegeta going out of HIS way to tell HER something. `This has to be important,' she thought, `probably something about his betrothed.'

"Someone will be arriving here tomorrow -," he began.

"I already know. Your betrothed is coming here," she cut him off.

"She is NOT my betrothed!" he yelled.

Bulma was a little taken back at his quick rebuttal, and confused. "But everyone is saying that some female is coming here to see you and that she will be the future Lady here."

"I would NEVER mate with that female! I would rather my line die out than to mate with her!"

"Oh," was all Bulma could say with a decidedly pleased feeling that she wished she wasn't experiencing. There was a brief silence between them. "I guess you do not care for her?" she suggested.

"Females like her are the reason I stay away from females as a whole."

"But what about me? I'm a -," she began.

"No you're not. I mean, yes, you are a female, but you're different than them. That's how I knew I could use you as my servant."

"Oh, alright. I guess I'll take that as a compliment then." Bulma shifted a little on the bench and unknowingly revealed her entire leg from hip to toe to Vegeta.

Vegeta glance briefly at the exposed limb and called on every form of restraint he had ever learned to keep him from pouncing on her right there. He longed to touch her smooth, creamy skin, exploring every inch with his hands and then his mouth.

"So what did you need to tell me?" Bulma asked, breaking through Vegeta's barely realized fantasy. He snapped out of it without Bulma even noticing.

"This female that is coming, I want you to stay out of her way. If at all possible, I don't even want her to know you exist."

"But why? Do you think that she's going to assume that we are sleeping together? Because we're not and I can assure her that we won't."

Vegeta cringed a little at that, but chose to ignore the statement for the time being. "She may assume just that, but by nature, she is a jealous and idiot creature anyway and I don't want to have to pry your hands from her neck should she try and provoke you. If you lay a hand on her, she will demand that you be punished."

"Well, then. Maybe she needs to stay away from me. If she says anything out of the way to me, then it may come to blows."

Vegeta slapped his forehead with his palm and growled. "Woman! Have you learned anything these past few months? You will do no such thing! Servants are punished for even thinking of harming those above them."

"So you would have me beaten?" Bulma asked incredulously. She had thought maybe Vegeta had become at least a little fond of her in a master/servant sort of way and wouldn't want to see any harm come to her.

"No, but there are other forms of punishment," he breathed before getting up from his bench and going to Bulma's. He pulled her from her seat and crushed her to his chest, bringing his lips down to hers and kissing her with every ounce of his being, his tongue plunged between her lips searching for hers.

At first, Bulma was too shocked to do anything. Then she was briefly appalled that he was kissing her, but her attraction to him quickly took over and she was soon kissing him back. She held on to the drying cloth with one hand and sank her fingers into the hair on the back of his head, pulling him even closer. She was amazed at the softness of his lips and his probing tongue, which she chased and teased with her own. Then as suddenly as it had begun it was over. Vegeta stepped away from her, as if not quite sure he had done what he had thought he just did. Bulma on the other hand just stared back, her lips were tingling lightly from the forceful encounter.

"Heed what I have told you woman," was all he said and he back his way out of the alcove and quickly left.

Bulma stood there still staring at the spot he had been standing in, not noticing she had dropped her drying cloth.

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Wow. That was really mean of me to end it like that. But I ENJOYED it, every minute of it!

R&R