Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend Of the Bond ❯ And then we meet... ( Chapter 7 )

Bulma felt wonderful after the training adrenaline kicked in. Her nervous feelings had left her, but a new emotion filled her being: awe. Bulma had no idea where the feeling was coming from. Perhaps she was feeling a sense of awe at how far she had come with her training. No, she thought, shaking her head. Lately, she was bored with her training, not amazed by it. She shrugged the alien emotion aside and continued with her combos.

“What are you doing out here?” A masculine voice filled the air around her and she spun around, making it look like it was an intentional part of her previous combo. Someone had found her out! They could very well get her in to serious trouble. Despite the panic coursing through her, Bulma decided to just be herself. Maybe she could get out of this incident in one piece without the person hiding in the shadows ratting her out to Chili.

“That’s none of your business!” Bulma’s voice rang out boldly as she filled with relief. Finally, she could be herself.

Vegeta took a step forward, still wearing his cape and hood, which hid his face, and no armor. That this female would be so insolent and disrespectful before him was unacceptable, no matter if she was his bonded. No doubt the girl couldn’t see who he was, given his lack of royal clothing. He could feel her fearfulness and another emotion, almost like joy, and he felt as though it was being channeled from him. The sensation disturbed him greatly. He would make it known that the girl was in danger.

“It is my business, wench. Who do you think you are to treat me as such?”

“And who are you, the god of this planet? To me, you’re just another Saiya-jin!”

Vegeta stepped forward again, closer to the girl before him. He would allow her to see his face, to let her know she was messing with the Prince and her very life hung in the balance. However, when he moved into her view, her face did not so much as twitch, but her emotions held a slight hint of attraction.

The minute Bulma saw his face she wanted to gasp aloud at the sight. The face before her was handsome, almost as if it was sculpted from a perfect design. He was only a few inches taller than her, but she felt as if he was the tallest man in the world as the force of his presence surrounded her. His dark eyes boring into her with such intensity made tingles spread all over her body. Then more alien emotions washed over her again: desire, hate, anger, and marvel assaulted her senses making her wonder if the flood of emotions she just felt had come from him and not her.

“Now tell me what are you doing out here!”

“Nothing that would concern you, Saiya-jin!”

“Are you dumb, slave?”

Shit, he knows I’m a slave! Wait…did he just call me dumb?

“Why, you…HOW DARE YOU?! I’m not the one who’s ‘dumb’ here! Obviously, you wouldn’t recognize an intelligent person if they jumped up and bit you in the tail, you muscle-bound, pea-brained jerk!” Bulma couldn’t even feel her fear as it ate at her mind, she was just too angry.

Vegeta just stood there, looking a little bit perplexed, and quite pissed. Did his bonded not know he was the Prince? The girl before him was insulting him. He wanted to kill her for it, but she was a slave. How in the world could she have such a spirit? Was she insane? Had she lost her mind? Just then he had caught a tiny thought in her mind before her face had turned red…

No one calls me dumb!

Instead of blasting her, he chuckled. In his mind, she responded exactly like he would have had anyone dared to insult his intelligence and it amused him.

“Then you do not know to whom you are talking, do you?”

“If you had listened, you would know. To me, you’re just another…wait a minute…I haven’t seen you before. Are you of higher class or something?” Bulma’s face was still looking quite confused with his behavior. One minute he had looked like as though he was going to kill her and the next he was laughing. Was this Saiya-jin crazy?

Vegeta smirked. “Perhaps I am God…coming to kill you.”

Bulma looked at him with a doubtful frown. “And if you were, then I would be dead already.”

Vegeta just exhaled strongly through his nose. “I suppose you have some intelligence.”

“I have more than you could imagine, buster!”

“Slave, what are you doing out here? Tell me now before I decide to drag you to your master.”

“First off, asshole, Chili is not my master; second, I wasn’t running away. As you can plainly see, I’m within the compound.”

Vegeta was getting tired of her not answering his questions, although, any thought of putting her in her place had escaped his mind. He was still angry and very much wanted to kill the woman for her insolence, but she was beautiful and being in her presence felt strangely comfortable. His only desire at that moment was to learn from her. Something about her was bewitching him. He took a step closer, noticing she smelled like sweat and trash, but as he neared her, he was slightly caught off guard by the smell of berries coming form her. She was still keeping eye contact. Vegeta sensed her fear and uncertainty, clearly coming through to him from their bond, but there was a strong feeling of curiosity and longing as well. He decided to circle her, to study her, while keeping his close proximity.

Bulma keep her eyes on the strange, handsome Saiya-jin as he walked around her, looking at her as if she was an item up for sale. She hated the feeling of being appraised by someone from a race that forced her into servitude. When he finished his circling, he stopped and stood in front of her, forcing eye contact between them.

“I saw you. You were training weren’t you?”

She was caught. “Yes, I was,” Bulma answered with a guilty sigh.

“And who trained you?”

“No one. I found an old book in a trash bin a while back and studied from it.” Bulma didn’t want to get Seripa in trouble, so she lied.

“You stole it? Like you stole that training suit you’re wearing?”

“I didn’t steal anything! Whatever I have was going to be disposed of.”

Vegeta could feel the lie. “You’re lying. You’d better tell me the truth now before I decide you’re not worth my time!”

Bulma swallowed hard, she didn’t want Seripa to be punished for doing something that was obviously against the rules, but now she couldn’t lie. “Fine, I didn’t ‘find’ or ‘steal’ either of them. Both were given to me.”

“By whom?”

“Why does that matter?”

“I wish to know it.”

“Someone whom I serve.”

“Someone who fucks you?”

How dare he! Bulma thought, gasping in shock at his assumption. “Of course not! I am not a whore, you pig!”

“Then who is it?”

“Will she get into trouble?”

“That is for me to decide.”

“Then I won’t tell you,” Bulma answered, tilting her chin up stubbornly.

“Such misplaced loyalty will only get you so far before you’re killed for it. I suggest that you tell me who this person is.”

“No!” Her chin went up a little higher and she glared at him.

Vegeta quickly closed the distance between him and his bonded. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him very roughly, while looking into her eyes with searing rage. Even with his gloves on, touching her left him feeling dizzy and unsure, no longer in control of anything. Bulma just looked at him in shock. Her arm was in pain from the force of his touch, but it left her feeling light, planting a seed of deadly desire.

“Fine.” Vegeta let her go just as roughly as he had grabbed her. “Your form is still too crude.”

“Huh?” Bulma didn’t understand him. Where had that comment come from?

“You heard me; your training form is far too crude. You need to refine it in order for it to be effective.”

“But I’ve studied the whole book from cover to cover. I can’t learn anything more from it.”

Vegeta looked away from her to a small pile of things off to the side. Just as she had said, there was an old, worn book, looking very much like it was going to turn to dust at any moment. Then he noticed her slave robes crumpled in a pile next to a small metal box that was locked. He snorted.

“I never said for you to use that useless manuscript. I will train you.”

Bulma couldn’t help but feel surprise…and a bit of hope growing within her. “What?”

“You heard me. If you want me to believe you have some intelligence then you’d better start acting like it.”

“I just can’t believe you just offered such a thing.”

“Believe it. But if I’m to train you, I suggest that you bathe before I see you again. I can hardly stand to be around you as it is with out you smelling so vile.”

“I happen to smell this way because my stink keeps the males away. And even if I was to bathe, I would still smell because the slave bathing facilities are hardly sanitary.”

“Do you know of the path that leads to the slave chambers window?” Vegeta had forgotten about the meeting, but he still wanted a few minutes to be here with her.

“Yes,” she said, nodding.

“Show me where it is and I will show you another path that leads to a river and a rock pool. You can use that to bathe. Tomorrow, meet me here at this same place and time and do not be late.”

Then Bulma gave him a little smile, the odd emotions between them that had filled the garden had washed away. They were still standing in front of each other, neither of them moving, but she felt calm, almost like she could trust him. When Vegeta saw her hopeful smile, his knees felt weak, but he kept strong, forcing back the sensation. He watched as she went to the pile of things he had noticed before. Bulma put her slave robes on over her training suit then put away her book. Vegeta stood with his arms crossed and watched her put the drab gray robes on. Somehow, the raggedy clothes didn’t look right on her, although she was a slave and as a slave she was supposed to wear slave robes; or so he told himself. But he could not get the feeling of her being out of place in those robes out of his heart. Then she moved directly in front of the metal box, blocking his view.

After putting the book away, Bulma purposely moved to block the Saiya-jin’s view, because she didn’t want him to see her invention or watch her as she encapsulated the box with her belongings in it. As soon as the box turned back into its tiny capsule form, she quickly put it into the pocket on her belt and turned around to face him.

“Shall we go?” Bulma asked evenly.

Vegeta nodded, wondering what had happened to the metal box that was there only a minute ago. He had seen her put something under her robe and he immediately grew suspicious. But because he couldn’t feel any malicious emotions coming from her, he decided that whatever it was, he would ask her about it tomorrow. Now, he had to get to his meeting with Bardock.

When she didn’t move, he grew impatient. “Hurry up, slave!”

“That’s it! My name isn’t ‘slave!’ I just wanted to tell you my name is Bulma Briefs.”

Upon hearing her say that, Vegeta felt reality kick in. Two years earlier, he heard that name spoken, coming from her thoughts when she was being beaten. Now, here she was, before him and confirming what he had suspected. This truly was his bonded. And the fact he still wanted to kill such a beautiful creature only proved how the fates had damned him. Before he did, he swore to himself, he would teach her to fight back so it wouldn’t be like he was killing just another weak fool. The girl should have died long before this, but she had managed to survive by her own wits for the last years. And if the legend proved correct, that would make her 18, only a year younger than he. This “Bulma,” his bonded, was hardly weak, surviving here all of this time and still not broken. Did he really want to kill her?

After she realized that he wasn’t going to introduce himself, Bulma huffed a bit before turning around to lead the way. Vegeta followed close behind, only stopping once so he could point to her the way to the rock pool. When they arrived at the window, Vegeta left her, going inside the building without so much as a backward glance, and without killing her like he’d originally intended. But he did leave with a surprisingly heavy feeling of emptiness.

Neither could wait for the following night to come.

*********

Bulma sat in the garden, watching the two suns hanging in the sky, both still bright in the late afternoon. She had always taken time to rest after she finished tending to the garden, which usually only took couple minutes. After all the years she’d spent working in the garden, she finally was able to keep away the encroaching weeds and overgrown spiders that would come to eat the plants with a minimum of effort. She sighed. But the red sky above only reminded her that this place wasn’t Chikyuu; it was Vegeta-sei. Bulma stretched her arms in a yawn, and lay back on the soft grass as she looked up and let her thoughts drift.

She noticed that Vegeta-sei had an atmosphere similar to Chikyuu’s, but more rugged. She’d also heard that a great variety of gardens were integrated into the designs of every building, temple, and infrastructure throughout Vegeta-sei. Mostly, their purpose was to conceal back roads, but some were established just for the sake of their wealthy owners’ vanities. Bulma wondered what the higher class gardens might look like or even their size. The 3rd-class brackets’ garden was huge and surrounded by jungle.

Bulma’s thoughts quickly turned from her garden to the man she met the previous night. He had given her instructions to bathe before he arrived, so she would have to find that rock pool soon. That also meant she would have to cut short her break and finish up the rest of her duties before bathing, but not before her thoughts came back to dwell a little longer on the man that would train her tonight.

Bulma had been at odds with herself since she learned the Prince had a heart. She just couldn’t bring herself to want to kill the man now and it left her feeling guilty and empty. The empty feeling was amplified by the fact she had no one, not one real friend, and not one person that really, truly cared about her. She prayed that her mother was still alive, but she didn’t hold any real hope she would ever see her again. When the man offered to train her last night, it seemed almost like a chance to have a friend.

Bulma squirmed around on the grass for an uncomfortable moment. No, she wouldn’t lie to herself about that. There was something about him that made her want him to be more than a friend. All the years she had been a slave, the thought of a lover had never had come to Bulma’s mind and now she couldn’t help but think of this man in more than just a ‘friendly’ way. Hell, she didn’t even know the man’s name and she still wanted him to touch her again! Perhaps, this new relationship would be her salvation, to help her find her way, to help her lose her cape of loneliness.

***********

Prince Vegeta was alone in his training room, but his mind was elsewhere. His thoughts kept returning to only one thing: his bonded. The way her hair followed her every move, the way her blue eyes shone even in the dark of the night; her spirit, her body…

He did a couple flips and trio of combos with such strength that the air around him split and crackled, yet he knew he had lost it. He had lost the battle raging between his heart and mind. A part of him was still bent on killing her, but now, all his thoughts were purely on her, vibrant and alive, against him or beneath him. He had to restrain himself from going to her right this moment and doing what he pleased with her. But, he couldn’t do that. Not only did he actually want her to NOT hate him, but it would create a scene that would raise too many eyebrows. And at this point, he didn’t need more things to worry about.

Earlier, once he had awakened, he didn’t put up the barrier he had created to cut himself off from his bonded, and felt the difference immensely. He felt more like himself than he had in two years. To finally have his bonded, his “Bulma,” was enough to put him in a good mood all day. Since he was by himself in the training room, he would allow his mind to focus only on her, if only for a little while.

**********

The rock pool was secluded but not that hard to find. Bulma decided to wait for dusk to fall before she would make her way to the place and bathe. She didn’t want to risk being found by some lustful Saiya-jin while washing up and she didn’t want to bathe in the cool of the night air and becoming sick from it. Being sick around here was dangerous. And there weren’t any such considerations as sick days for slaves, either. Get sick enough and they would just let you die. Bulma had been sick once, but had gotten through it. When she arrived at the rock pool, she was amazed by the beauty and serenity of the place. Her thoughts went from pure warmth to pure lust as she began to think of swimming with that man, in the nude and in close proximity to her. A heated flush rose to her face before she quickly undressed and dove into the pool.

***********

Evening stars twinkled in the sky, illuminating the garden below them indiscriminately. After bathing as thoroughly as possible, Bulma dressed in her patched up training suit, leaving her slave robes off to the side. She hadn’t bothered to use her capsule either, leaving it in her pocket instead. She stood in the little clearing of the garden, doing warm-ups and general pacing, waiting for the man, whose name she did not know, to appear before her. Bulma had no idea how she would act, or even if he really would show up, though she had a strong feeling he hadn’t lied to her about coming and helping with her training. Her heart was beating slightly faster than she would have liked, and it didn’t help that she started hearing her whispers again, though this time they sounded…contented.

Vegeta made his way through the garden, dressed in the same clothes and taking the same paths he had the night before. As he got closer, he began to hear her thoughts. And they made him want to chuckle. Her thoughts were nervous, almost edgy. When he finally saw her again, he felt satisfaction just taking in the sight of her. Strands of wet blue hair clung to her face while the rest followed down her back in a large braid. She was pacing and stretching aimlessly, like she didn’t know what to do with herself, so he smirked and stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Are you done yet?” he asked rather displeasingly.

Bulma startled and looked at him rather angrily. “Don’t scare me like that! I’ll have a heart attack!”

“I doubt that, but I will do as I please, and scaring you is rather amusing.” Vegeta stepped closer to her and he immediately knew she had bathed. She definitely smelled cleaner than before. He came to a stop, parting his legs slightly for better balance. He kept the emotionless mask on his face, but inside, he was pleased that she had obeyed him. “At least tonight you don’t stink like a slave.”

“Don’t remind me. I came here to forget that, you know.” She glared back at the Saiya-jin with an annoyed expression. “Are we going to start now or are we going to look at each the whole night?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, woman. I rather eat Freeza’s shit than stare at you any longer than I have to!” That was a lie, but he wasn’t going to let her accuse him of ogling her either.

Somehow, Bulma knew he was lying and it made her smile, although she had no idea who this ‘Freeza’ person was. “Sure… can we start?”

“Fine. Come here.”

Bulma walked up to him until she was face-to-face with him. He was looking at her again as if she was an item on sale in a market and it made her feel rather uncomfortable under his gaze.

“Hit me,” he said rather bluntly.

“Why?” She didn’t like the idea of punching him. She had seen what Saiya-jins did to anyone who dared to strike them and it wasn’t very pretty.

“To test your punch, now do it before I loose patience.”

“’kay…here goes…” Bulma gathered her strength and pulled her fist back. She was all set to hit him as hard as she could, but hesitated for a moment, uncertain that he might change his mind and strike her back anyway. Then she let it fly and punched him with all of her might right into his chest. Immediately, she jumped back, cradling the hand she used to punch him and started to let out a series of curses. Her knuckles felt like they had just connected with a brick wall. Luckily, her hand was only bruised and not broken.

Vegeta was disappointed but had expected as much form her. She was overly weak and fragile. Perhaps he could make her strong enough to survive against him for a minute. “Oh, that’s it?”

“I can’t believe you made me do that!”

“Do you want to get stronger?”

“Yes, of course I do!”

“Then do everything I say and don’t complain about it. The second you begin to complain, I’ll walk away and just leave you here. And you can stay as you are – a useless weakling.”

“Fine! Fine…so now what?” Bulma wanted to slap him for being such a jerk, but she held her anger in check as he instructed her to show him her fighting stances.


As the hours went by, Vegeta carefully evaluated Bulma’s moves and solidified her techniques. Sometimes he would tell her how to correct her moves then he would demonstrate the ki-less combos. Bulma was a quick learner. She studied him closely and asked little questions, following his every move loyally. During this process, somehow their attitudes towards each other became cordial.

Vegeta was curt in his instructions, but had stopped insulting her. Bulma had become more accommodating to his directions though she didn’t say much. As they practiced during the next hours, Vegeta occasionally touched her to steady her or correct her, which tended to make the atmosphere tense for a few awkward moments. Each time they touched, they looked at each other, catching each other in eye contact. As their eyes met, the world would melt away in silent bliss then they resumed training as though nothing happened. When the night was halfway over, they stopped.

As Bulma went to gather up her slave robes, Vegeta followed close behind her. As tired as she was from all of the training she had done, she didn’t want this night to end. So instead of putting her slave robes on right away, she sat down on the grass. Surprisingly, Vegeta followed her actions and sat down beside her. Suddenly, she jumped up, muttering a couple Saiyan curses, shocking Vegeta. He had not realized she knew any words of his language, since they had communicated in her language ever since they met.

“What’s your problem?” he asked, chuckling at her annoyance.

“I didn’t realize I was sitting in mud. My ass is all wet.” Bulma shook her head, upset and embarrassed by her carelessness, but quickly patted her rear end dry then sat closer to Vegeta, making sure that this time she was sitting on a drier patch of grass.

“How did you learn to speak curses in my language?”

“Oh! Um…I just picked up a word or two, here and there,” she answered quickly, covering her slip. She had allowed herself to become too comfortable with him. No one else had discovered her knowledge of the language…but now he knew.

“So, how much do you know?”

“Pretty much everything,” Bulma answered back clearly in his language. She shot a glance over at his face and was rewarded to see it plastered with a look of genuine surprise. She cut her eyes away quickly, looking down at the grass at her feet. “I had to learn it to survive,” she added softly, returning to her own tongue.

Vegeta reminded quiet, unable to say anything.

“You see, I had to understand the words…if I ever heard someone talking about…if someone might be coming around the corner intending to…wanting to…to…”

“…to fuck you? As a slave, you should be used to that now. I’m sure you’ve had as much experience with it like any pleasure slave working in one of the harems on the planet,” Vegeta said with a little too much anger and disappointment.

“I am no one’s whore, you…you…ass-wipe!” Bulma snarled, disgust and rage running across her face. “Because of my intelligence, I was never ravaged by anyone, nor did I ever ‘fuck’ anyone, as you so bluntly put it, in order to survive!” Angered, she jumped to her feet and stalked over a few paces and stopped, keeping her back to him.

Vegeta was speechless. The very idea that his bonded, as beautiful and desirable as she was, had gone untouched was a miracle. And he knew she wasn’t lying…he could feel the truth, even in her fury, through their bond. His heart twitched slightly. She was untouched…just like him. Before he could say anything, she spoke again.

“But…I did have a run-in in which I was almost... Damn Pota! That lecher…!” She paused for a second then blurted over her shoulder, “Did you ever hear a rumor about a slave killing a Saiya-jin?” Why the hell am I telling him this? she wondered. He could turn me in or kill me for revealing this! “The slave in that rumor was me. Pota was going to rape me and I was trying to fight him off as best as I could. Somehow, just when I thought everything was lost and he was going to have his way, I managed to generate a ki attack powerful enough to fry him before he could do anything to me.”

So that’s what happened to me three years ago, he thought with amazement. Now it all made sense! The fear and anger she felt at the lecherous hands of Pota who tried to take her by force. Vegeta remembered the rage as he transferred his powers to his bonded so that she could protect herself by killing the one who was trying to rape her. Three years ago, the feeling was strong and unmistakable, and it only happened the one time, just like she said. It was true; he would have been able to have felt it had it occurred again.

“I find it hard to believe that any slave would be smart enough to avoid a situation like that,” Vegeta said, rising slowly to his feet.

“That’s because you don’t know me well enough to say that,” she snapped back, a bit of defiance coming back to her voice.

“Oh? Then I shall have to rectify that.”

Puzzled by his statement, Bulma turned around and stared hard at him. “How? I don’t think you’re going to be taking me out for a night on the town any time soon.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow to continue your training,” he said with an amused smirk. As he started to leave, he paused and added, “And do remember to bathe…”

Watching him walk away into the darker part of the garden, Bulma wondered only how the night had managed to pass so quickly and what tomorrow would bring…for both of them.