Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Princess WHO of WHERE?!? ❯ Under the Weather ( Chapter 22 )

Okay. Here it is. I hope you guys like it. It was a little iffy for me……………

DISCLAIMER: see previous disclaimers

OH!!!

Before I forget, I have to mention my second anime love, INU YASHA. If you haven't read any of the fan fics or seen the show on Adult Swim, you don't know what you're missing. I'm getting that same warm fuzzy feeling I got when I first started watching DBZ.

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When Goku finally began to find consciousness, he noticed he was no longer hot and that he was laying on something soft. He tried to open his eyes, but the dim light of a single candle blinded him. After being exposed to the harsh light of the wastelands for so long, the darkness from his rest gave his eyes time to recuperate. Now the candlelight he was exposed to was painful. He tried to sit up, but found himself weak.

"Mama, I think he's waking up," he heard a female voice nearby. Then there was a shuffling of feet and he felt a cool cloth placed over his eyes.

A little disoriented from his lack of sight he asked, "Where am I? Who are you?"

"We might ask the same of you, young man," said a different voice this time. It was another female, but this one sounded older. He guessed that this was `Mama'.

"I am called Goku."

"Well, Goku. Would you mind telling us how you got here? My daughter found you on the edge of our lands coming from the Waste Lands. You nearly died."

"I- I was searching for my friend," he said.

"A friend? In the Waste Lands?" the younger voice asked.

"Silence, Morina," her mother scolded. "Where exactly were you searching for your friend? Did you think that you would find them out there or did you come here intentionally?" she removed the cloth and wrung the liquid soaked into to it out onto his eyes. "There. You should be able to see now."

Goku opened his eyes and was rewarded by a light that was not so harsh. He tried to focus on the form before him, but could only make out a vague fuzziness. "I still can't see clearly."

The woman chuckled. "Young men are always so impatient. Wait a few moments and everything will soon clear. While my medicine is good, it will not heal you instantly."

He waited as he was bidden and tried to focus, willing his sight to return. He looked to any direction in which he heard a sound. Other than the blur sitting before him there was another one moving around at the end of the bed he was lying on. His vision immediately rectified itself and the blur at the end of the bed materialized into a young woman. Goku quickly noted that she was pretty with her long, wavy, dark hair and soft features. Her plain shirt and skirt did nothing, but enhance her tranquil femininity.

"Oh," was all he could say.

He was rewarded by her smile and she sat down the cloths which she had been carrying. "Like what you see?" she asked mischievously.

Goku scratched his head in chagrin. Obviously his thoughts were plainly written on his face.

"You silly girl! Return to your chores," the mother again scolded. She grabbed up her discarded items and quickly bustled out of the room. "You have to excuse her. It's not often a handsome young man falls at her feet."

Goku blushed at her compliment. Then the sudden awareness came over him that he had no clue where he was. "Ma'am, I thank you for healing me. I surely would have died if you hadn't. Could you perhaps tell me where I am?"

"Why, you are on the border lands of Lord Vegeta," she told him.

"Lord who?"

"Lord Vegeta. Have you not heard of him?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm from pretty far away."

"Oh. Yes, of course. We have many Kylarians visiting our Lord Vegeta," she said matter of factly.

Goku almost said `A what?', but the entrance of Morina bearing a tray interrupted him. "Perhaps you would like something to eat?" she asked.

"Please," he responded. He fell onto the meal with relish. He hadn't had a decent meal in weeks and would have been happy if she had served him a stink rat.

"You still haven't yet told us whom you are searching for," Morina said.

Goku finished his meal before answering. Morina's mother had already vacated her spot and was busying herself about the room. He took the cup of what turned out to be water and drank it down gratefully.

"Thank you," he said and handed her back the tray and cup. "A friend of mine left our home village to search for her parents. Those that raised her were not her true birth parents and though the raised her well and she loved them deeply for it, she always wished to learn of those who had created her."

"Oh, so it is a female you seek," Morina said disappointedly.

"No! No! It isn't like that!" Goku quickly amended. "She's just a friend, though a very good friend. More like a sister!" he continuously tried to explain.

"Oh," Morina said, the smile spreading back into her features.

"Yeah, well, she left some months ago and I had expected her to return some time ago, at least to re-supply, but she never did. Not only that, but I had a dream that she was in trouble. I began following her trail and soon came to a dead end. I had heard rumors of her being seen and since they were all I had to go on, I followed. The last clue I had gotten took me across the Waste Lands. I began my journey with a caravan, but I knew my path wasn't the same as theirs and soon separated," he related.

"But how did you know to come this way?" the mother interjected, briefly breaking from her work. "Why did you not continue with the caravan?"

"Because the last rumor I had of her was that she was held by a group of unusual people that come here from the southeast. No one could give me an exact location, only a vague direction. I was also told that she was caged, though in high opulence."

"Hmm?" Morina's mother pondered. "What does your friend look like?"

"Oh? She has hair the color of a clear summer sky with eyes to match. Her figure is that of a hunter, as while at home she spent most of her time out doors," he hesitated to continue on, "and…………..she also had the ability to…………change form," he told them.

"Oh well, that is nothing unusual. All Kylarians change shape, don't you?" said Morina.

"Uh………." Goku began before Morina's mother cut him off.

"Is your friend beautiful?"

"Who? Bulma? Well, I guess so," he said. "Lots of the men in our village wanted her despite her, what they called, unwomanly ways."

Morina's mother nodded her head. "Then it would make sense that your friend was captured and taken to be a concubine at Lord Vegeta's fortress."

"A-a what?!?!?"

"A concubine. One of Lord Vegeta's harem women. He's known for collecting beautiful women, especially Kylarian women," she stated as if it were an ordinary, everyday occurrence.

"She would never be some man's sex slave!"

"It's not as if she would have a choice," she told him.

"I've got to save her then." Goku tried to get out of bed, but once he swung his legs over, he was immediately exhausted. Both Morina and her mother rushed to Goku and pressed him back into the bed.

"You can't get up yet!" Morina scolded him.

"Yes, you're still too weak," her mother added. "It will be quite some time before you will be able to get around like you used to."

"But I can't just leave her there!" he moaned.

"Calm yourself, young one. If your friend is at Lord Vegeta's fortress, I'm sure that she will keep for a little while longer." Morina's mother patted his hand reassuringly. "Besides, you will need to remain in this bed for at least a fortnight."

Goku sighed in hopelessness. He resolved himself to his current situation; after all, what could he do in his current condition. "Ma'am, I really appreciate you helping me. If there's anything you can do to repay you, just ask."

"Well, young man…………….Goku was it, I have a proposition for you. We are at the end of our harvest season and my family could use the extra help, when you are better."

"Of course, I will! It's the least I can do. You did save my life," he said.

"And also, later this winter, we shall be traveling to Lord Vegeta's fortress for the Mid Winter Festival, so you can go there with us. Since you've never been there on your own, you may get lost and we wouldn't want that to happen."

"You are? That would be great!" He said happily, but then his face immediately fell. "I hope she'll be okay until I get there."

Mother and daughter looked at each other knowing that if his friend had been taken into the harem, it would be nearly impossible to see her. Lord Vegeta rarely let anyone see his women. They already knew he would be very disappointed, but they didn't want to try to kill his hopes.

After he discovered that he couldn't ever get his friend, maybe they could talk him into staying with them. He was a rather strong and healthy looking young male and would be a great asset on their farm. He was already interested in Morina, so may that would be how they could get him to stay.

"Just rest for now, Goku. I'll bring you some more food later."

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Everything essentially went back to normal after the situations with Valeria and Nappa. Bulma continued her regular duties: bringing Vegeta his meals, going with him to is training sessions, keeping things neat in his rooms, things like that.

The only thing that had changed was that she was now sleeping in Vegeta's bed. He was very good about being displaced. Bulma often found him curled up in the window seat when she crept out in the morning to bathe and fetch his breakfast. He never complained, well, not about the sleeping arrangements. During the rest of the day he was his usual unpredictable, moody self.

The days progressed and the weather changed from warm to cool as summer passed into fall. Bulma soon found herself sleeping fully clothed under the blanket in Vegeta's massive bed. Even with the fire burning, she still felt as if she were freezing. She was extremely grateful when morning came, moving around always helped and dressing in layers. Vegeta behaved as if the temperature had never changed. The only changes to his wardrobe were long sleeve shirts and occasionally a cloak.

Bulma was sure that it was much colder here than her own home. She toughed it out though, after all, it wasn't as if she were going to get sick. One of the things she had learned since coming here was that Kylarians rarely, if ever, got sick. Now, self-inflicted ill health was a different thing. Such as with Bulma's starvation. Not eating could make one prey to all sorts of illnesses.

Bulma knew from the smell in the air that Winter would soon be upon them and if she thought she was going to die from frostbite now, what was it going to be like later?

Vegeta had already noticed the female huddling against him quite frequently. At first, he wondered if this was her way of coming on to him. However, he quickly dismissed that idea as this new clinginess was completely out of character for her.

He often agonized over his decision to let her sleep in his bed. While that had been his goal, his plan had meant for him to be in the bed also. It wasn't until he went into his bed chamber to find some personal item, that he saw her balled up in the blankets, as if in a cocoon, shivering hard enough to shake the entire bed.

He walked over to the bed and noticed that he couldn't even see her head.

"Woman, what are you doing?" he asked.

A single blue eye soon peeked out from beneath the folds of the blanket. "Vegeta? What are you doing here?" she asked, clearly surprised to see him.

"This is my room remember?" he replied sarcastically. "Now what are you doing?"

The eye promptly disappeared. "I'm cold," she told him and for a moment, shivered particularly hard.

He looked at the cocoon of blankets stupidly. "Cold? Woman, we're not even into Winter yet. How can you be cold?"

"I don't know!" came the muffled reply. "I just am!"

Vegeta snorted in derision. "Have you not told me countless times before that you were some sort of guard or scout or something? Surely you had Winter and snow and such."

"I've been stuck in a tree through more snow storms than you can count, but what's your point?" she asked.

"Well? How did you deal with the cold in the past?"

"Why, I would just…………..," the shivering bundle seemed to quiver just a tiny bit less, "I would just adapt my body or change form," she finished.

Vegeta smirked at the sudden self realization. "So why don't you do so now?"

The lump stopped shaking altogether. Bulma flung off the blankets and jumped to her feet on the bed. Her eyes were burning with rage.

"BECAUSE OF THIS YOU FOOL!" she yelled pointing to her neck.

Vegeta's eyes were immediately drawn to the highly ornate and bejeweled collar still around her neck. She was breathing hard and looked as if she were contemplating murder. He also noticed that she was fully dressed.

"Oh," he said.

Bulma snorted in disgust. " `Oh' is all he has to say." She laid back down and began rearranging the blankets. Once satisfied, she covered her head again.

Vegeta seemed a little surprised that she had the collar on. `I thought I had that removed,' he thought, but quickly realized that he had only `thought' to have it removed. He had asked his Father about it once, but he just waved him off and said that he would get to it later. Obviously he forgot. Well, it couldn't be helped now, so he had only one preferred course of action.

Bulma heard the rustling of clothing, even through the heavy blanket. She peeked out to see a half naked Vegeta beside the bed.

She bolted upright and asked, "What are you doing?"

Vegeta tossed his shirt aside carelessly and sat down to remove his brown leather boots. "I thought that would be obvious. I was going to get in bed with you."

Bulma snatched the blankets up to her chin as if she actually had something to cover up. "You-you can't do that!"

"And why not?" he asked, removing the other boot and putting his feet up on the bed.

"You promised," she said vaguely, though Vegeta knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Woman, I said that I wouldn't pursue anything sexual with you, not that we wouldn't sleep in the same bed." He tugged the end of the blanket away from Bulma and got under it. He laid on his side facing Bulma, looking at her expectantly.

She figured that he was waiting for her to lay down, but she had the hardest time taking her eyes away from his bare chest. Nothing she hadn't seen before, but the hard, chiseled perfection held endless interest for her. She came to her senses with a shake, not wanting to be caught staring, and laid back down on the side of the bed furthest from Vegeta.

It used to be easier keeping her urges for him in check. When she had her own room, all she had to deal with were the disturbingly pleasant dreams she had of him and those didn't come but once or twice a week. Now they came almost every night. Bulma figured it was because she now slept in his bed, constantly surrounded by his scent.

Bulma got comfortable on her little edge of the bed and stared back at Vegeta. He merely shook his head at her as if he found this situation amusing.

"You silly wench," he said. And before she knew what he was about, he reached across the expanse of the bed, grabbed her wrist and dragged her over to him until their chests were pressed together. For good measure, he also wrapped his arms around her and held her securely.

"I won't be able to warm you from all the way over there," he whispered softly.

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uh-oh.

Is it time for `lemon' meringue pie?

Guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out.