Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend Of the Bond ❯ Traitors won't last.... ( Chapter 11 )

Yasai was feeling lustful again. She had a nearly insatiable appetite for sex and not just any sex, but good sex. Unfortunately, her intended husband would not provide her with what she desired, so she had to look elsewhere for now. On her end, Yasai minimally did what she had to in order to pleasure a man, but had no objections to a man going out of his way to please her. Most of the other Elites she had bedded over the years behaved too selfishly for her tastes. In her experience, she had found out that third-class soldiers did it best; they gave and gave until she was left exhausted and light-headed. She had even bedded Nappa once, which had proved to be a costly mistake. His threats to expose her extracurricular doings forced her to do his will and satisfy him. Thankfully, that fool Elite was dead and could no longer blackmail her.   Her training left her feeling extremely needful and the night was approaching with equally needful and eager hands. The only way to satisfy her longings was to bed yet another, horny third-class weakling.   Her prince loathed her and vowed that he would never touch her, so she couldn’t go to him with her sexual desires. Although Yasai enjoyed throwing her betrayals in his face since she knew she had the king’s and the council’s favor. That look on her betrothed’s face brought pleasure to her whenever she flaunted her acts in front him. Yes, tonight would be a very good night to go to the third-class barracks, pick out her next plaything, and then take him to the palace to show him off to the prince. Just then her smug expression fell into a frown and she tapped her thigh thoughtfully. It seemed that the prince had been disappearing at night from the palace for some time now, so she could never find him after the sun went down. Perhaps this night, Yasai thought with a smirk, he would be there to witness yet again what he was missing.
In the back of her mind, Yasai could almost picture his rage at seeing her giving her favors to a lowly third-class right in front of him. Her self-satisfied thoughts waivered a bit as she hoped the rage he displayed would be out of jealousy and not what people were starting to rumor about. She had begun to hear rumors being passed down between some disgruntled Elites regarding the prince and his preferences. Some were speculating that he was sneaking out at night to meet with his male lover, while others voiced that he needed to fulfill beastly fantasies. However, the prince was never seen alone with any single female, never seen in the harem, or never seen anywhere in the company with the opposite sex unless it had to do with training.   Even so, Yasai wanted the prince and knew that such sordid rumors could prove dangerous for both of them. If those rumors continued to spread too far, the king might disown the prince, leaving her without a royal husband-to-be. Perhaps these rumors were the reason behind the king’s recent announcement to move up the wedding date between her and Vegeta. In the end, though, it didn’t matter to her. All she wanted was power and pleasure, and if the prince wouldn’t give it to her, then she could always get it someplace else.

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Zarbon bowed before Freeza, who was hidden in shadows of his chambers, staring intently at the moving stars through the port window. From where he stood, Zarbon caught the angry flashing pin points in his master’s eyes through the darkened space. It had always been Freeza’s dream to have unchallenged power over all of the five galaxies, to weld ultimate power, but those dreams had been put on hold for the time being.

For almost the last year, the Cold Empire had to deal with a formidable annoyance, which had caused both Zarbon and his emperor to be worn out from the ordeal. They had to sacrifice much during the last year, but they knew they could rebuild once they got rid of both the Saiya-jins and the three new guests traveling with them. But for now, as part of a deal they had made, they were heading to Vegeta-sei, a planet Freeza had been close to eliminating more than once, to pick up the Monkey Prince and hand him over to those three devils. And after they were done with him, Vegeta-sei could finally be destroyed.
“You called for me, Your Greatness?”

“How much longer until we reach that barbaric planet?”

“11 days, Your Grace.”

“After we pick up the monkey, we will proceed to Waku-sei Godan.”

“Yes, sire.” With that, Zarbon bowed and left his lord to fume alone in the darkness.

**********

Vegeta cursed himself for his foolish procrastinating. He should have acted sooner, yet he had delayed making his decision for four months. Tomorrow, Bulma would be picked up by the royal guards, cleaned up, and then brought to his chambers; but by the looks of her now, even then she would be just a shell of her former self. There was no question that she was probably being worked to death, but he believed she could handle it, he believed she was stronger than this. But now he was looking at her sitting on the grass with an absent look on her face. She looked thin and bruised and her thoughts were coming through to him devoid of emotion.   Anger coursed through him. His own inaction had caused this! He would be deprived of what he wanted most: the girl he had trained and spent time with, not the broken slave before him. Vegeta continued to watch. He still wanted her; no matter what, she was still his bonded.

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Bulma knew that stars were made up of various flammable gases; that even her beloved star of Chikyuu only a massive, heated gas ball, and that everything around her was made of some kind of natural material. But slaves were things never formed by nature’s gentle hands; that, she was learning all too well.   Chili was winning. Bulma had not cared about herself or her future for such a long time. Vegeta had taken something precious from her that night he killed Nappa, and it had zapped her of energy. Bulma knew she was most likely going to die, and die as a slave, her death becoming just another Chikyuu-jin grudge to place upon Vegeta’s soul. But tonight was the night that she either ran and escaped and died, not as a slave, but as a girl trying to survive, or else die as a slave trying to escape. Any of those options sounded better than dying at the cruel hands of Chili.   Her mind made up, Bulma stood up, grabbed her capsule from her pocket, clicked the top button and threw it to the ground before her. Once the smoke was cleared away from the metal box, she opened it, sliding the lid to the ground. Then she slowly took out each and every one of her worldly processions and counted them. Her light and audio/visual invention, her tools, her book, her old clothes from Chikyuu that were now just rags, and five other capsules. Her alarm was in her ear, and she still wore her training suit, though now she doubted she would ever train again. Everything was in there, but her heart.   Even though she would escape, it meant nothing at all except she wouldn’t be a slave and now that seemed petty to her now. She could never have her heart again. It had been taken by that Saiya-jin devil. She grabbed one of the other five capsules and opened that one as well. When the smoked cleared yet again, before her was the invention that would be her means of escape. She slowly picked it up and held it in her hands. It was done, her invention; her little wristwatch, which would cloak her and make her invisible. Tonight, she would activate it and run and see where and how far her legs would take her.   Now she would be gone, now she would run and never look back. She could never look back to the place where her heart was being kept. After she cloaked herself, she would make her way to the third-class pod bay. Once she was at a pod, she would launch herself off to either destruction or another planet. Bulma secured her invention onto her left wrist and went to repack her metal box. She placed her things inside the box slowly as if she was subconsciously forestalling her upcoming escape. In her mind, she could only hear one voice, once a bright hope to her, now only a reminder of her emptiness:

“…While you are on Vegeta-sei, you will always have a part of Chikyuu with you. If you leave, you leave that as well.”

As Vegeta’s voice continually played in her mind, she went to pick up the last invention that was still not inside the box: her first invention, the light and audio/visual device. She held it in her hands and thought about how many more inventions she wanted to create, but right before she put it in her box she heard a rustling in the bushes. Alarmed, she looked up and around her only to find her garden empty. Then she heard the rustling of the bushes again, but this time the sound was definitely closer, accompanied by what seemed to be a female’s giggling.   Abruptly, a pair of amorous Saiya-jins staggered out of the bushes in front of her, giggling and fondling each other in an intimate embrace. Without thinking, Bulma grabbed her things and dove into some nearby bushes, hiding herself from their obviously distracted eyes. As she shrank inside the bushes, Bulma’s finger accidentally activated the recording feature to her device. She silently lowered herself to the ground, nervous and scared. Bulma glanced down at her hand and realized that her device been activated, but rather than shut it off, something within her told her to continue recording the two before her. So Bulma stayed where she was, while she and her device kept watch, and hoped her intuition wasn’t leading her astray.

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Vegeta grimaced with distaste and annoyance as his private moment watching his bonded was ruined by none other than Yasai. He was disgusted by her overt display of lust towards the third-class fool she had her claws around. He had wanted to leave the moment he sensed her coming with her new toy but stopped when he saw Bulma duck into the bushes, positioning herself on the ground almost within a yard’s reach from him. Thanks to the darkness, she had not noticed his presence or his proximity to her. He decided to wait silently where he was and allow her closeness to fill him yet again with that lost feeling of contentment. His anger towards her remained the same, but so did his desire for her. Then his gaze moved from her anxious face towards the thing she held in her hand, which was slightly raised in the direction of the two Saiya-jins.   Vegeta immediately recognized the device as her recording invention. He remembered as though it was yesterday when, on a night much like this one, she was sitting next him on the grass, proudly showing him all the creations she had made and explaining what their purposes were. The extremely faint humming coming from the device told him that it had been activated, which meant that she was recording Yasai’s lusty actions with it. Then a calculating smirk began to pull at the corner of his mouth. With Bulma’s own invention capturing his so-called betrothed’s shameless behavior with that third-class idiot, Vegeta now had another means to finally have her, and in a way he never thought possible.

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For her part, Yasai was enjoying her evening. She had her arms wrapped around a very dumb, but willing, third-class soldier whose only preoccupations were sex and fighting.   Earlier, when she had arrived at the barracks, her pick of available males had been rather scarce, as most of them were preparing for Freeza’s arrival. She had found this one in the mess hall, stuffing his gut with meat and alcohol. When he saw her walking towards him with a seductive look in her eyes, he left the remainder of his food and drink on the table and rose up to follow her beckoning. He had recognized her from before when she had visited the barracks and chosen from his other bunkmates to share her favors. And he was more than ready to do anything she wanted, no questions asked.   Finding a corner, away from prying eyes and not far from the mess hall, they pulled each other into the darkness. It was a quick, but satisfying fuck, one that only needed an adjustment of a few garments to achieve, but it left Yasai wanting more. On his end, the third-class was all too willing to follow her to the palace, or anywhere for that matter, on the promise of more sex. On the way, Yasai suddenly got the urge to fuck again, but the only viable place to slake her rising desires just happened to be a small, but well-tended garden that nearly rivaled the ones found nearest the palace.   They came in to a spot in the garden rather aimlessly, concerned only with the area’s seclusion. Their hands wasted no time as they feverishly grabbed and fondled each other. Yasai’s kisses included biting hard enough to draw a little blood, which he didn’t seem to mind. Just the fact he was making out with the female slated to be the next queen of the entire planet was heady stuff for the aroused third-class. And just the idea that he was sharing the same woman as the prince made him want to do anything she told him.
“Oh, you’re so much better than the prince,” she purred into his ear.

“Really?”

“Oh, yes!” she panted seductively. “He isn’t anywhere as big or as passionate as you!” Of course she was lying about that; she had never even seen the prince nude nor had they ever come close to sleeping to together.

“Then I will make you see that I am better than the prince.”

I just said that you dolt! Yasai wanted to scream at him for his thick-headedness, but that would have ruined the mood.    Even though his remark had really annoyed her, Yasai kept her arms around him as his hands groped underneath the armor, suit, and jewels she wore because of her status. Only when he slid his probing finger into her wet opening did she let his thoughtless comment slip from her mind. With eagerness, she tore off her clothes in a desperate rush of lust. The third-class continued to teasingly work his finger within her, as his mouth made its way to claim her uncovered breast. He slowly went down to his knees, trailing his wet tongue down her stomach then removed his finger.   With her head slightly tilted back in pleasure, Yasai raked her hands through his spiky hair and pulled his head forward. His hands grabbed her hips and brought his mouth to her entrance, sticking his tongue out to massage her outer folds. Yasai quivered in anticipation and let out a soft cry, while mumbling something incoherent. After stroking her with his tongue, he roughly plunged his soft appendage into her, licking and tasting. Yasai’s cries became louder and louder until she let a shuddering sigh and he felt her wetness spread into his mouth and onto his face.   He then brought his hands up to fondle her breasts right before he stood up. Again with his tongue, he started licking her flushed face and neck, slowly sucking on her skin here and there. After another moment of sucking, finally he discarded his own clothes and picked her up off her feet. Immediately, she wrapped her legs around his waist, allowing for maximum closeness. Her tail wrapped around his thigh, while the tip of his tail slowly caressed her womanhood, allowing her continued wetness to mingle with his fur. His strong arms held her up while his hands grabbed her back cheeks, clenching them with his the force of his desire. Slowly, he shifted her slightly to allow his stiff member to slide within her, letting his tail swing back and forth behind him. He then used his hands and powerful legs to create a rhythm, grinding their hips together while they both tilted their heads back in shared pleasure.

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Watching the two before them ravage each other in lust, both Vegeta and Bulma felt disgust. For Vegeta, it was because Yasai was involved. Bulma’s distaste came from the fact that they were rutting at each other like animals. Hearing them moan, grunt, and scream as they continued with their dance of ecstasy, made Vegeta and Bulma even more uncomfortable. Yet despite the disgust and discomfort the felt, they both felt a strange longing for the scene before them to change its players; instead of a male and female Saiya-jin, the participants would be a female Chikyuu-jin with blue hair and a Saiya-jin prince. They continued to watch for what seemed like a long time with Bulma unaware of the company that was beside her and watching her more than the impassioned lovers.   Within minutes after the two Saiya-jins finished their dirty dancing, they collected their things and jumped into the sky. The resulting wind caused by their departures blew bushes and leaf about. Bulma waited a few cautious minutes more before emerging from her hiding place. She was grateful they had been so preoccupied with each other that they had not noticed her metal box, or any other sign of her being here. With a sigh of relief, she pressed the deactivation switch on her recording device.

Vegeta kept still, watching as Bulma stood a few feet away from him, seemingly staring at her invention in her hands. He felt disapproval coming off her in tremendous waves and regret. He kept his arms tightly folded across his chest, not at all liking the emotions that were fairly radiating off her. He was no fool; her emotions were in conflict. She was mentally debating with herself about erasing the recording because it would serve no purpose to her, for she was a slave, and nothing more. That wasn’t true for him, however. It would serve a purpose, and she was, most definitely, not just a slave to him.   Because he sensed that she would continue to believe in this denial and weakness, his anger towards her rose. He could not, would not allow her to erase that footage. He stepped away from the shadows and into their old garden, willing his steps to be as silent as the night.   He slowly walked up behind her, allowing him time to take in her closeness. Then before she could turn around and see him, he tapped her lightly on the side of the neck with the side of his hand, knocking her out completely. He caught both her and the device as fell towards the ground, one arm holding her close to him while his other hand held the recording device. With the recording now in his possession, he could use it to free both her and himself from their ugly fates that they had been powerless to alter thus far. Vegeta wanted desperately to change their futures, and with the device he now held, it had become more than a possibility. But he also knew that if he turned her into his personal pleasure slave, he would lose her in a way he could never forgive himself for. She would feel damned forever; living a life worse than just slavery, and because of him, he would watch her die little by little, right before his eyes.
Vegeta carried her limp form to her stone bed in the slave chambers, laying her down carefully on top of the collection of rags that she had pieced together for sheets. He stayed beside her, not wanting to leave her behind, but knowing he had to. Before he left, he gazed at her again, nearly losing himself in her beauty. Vegeta shook himself mentally and left her side reluctantly. As he flew back to the palace, he swore that he would now use the device and its contents to help both of them change their futures, hopefully for the better.

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Yasai had woken from her peaceful slumber, satisfied from previous day’s activities. She had been quite peeved and disappointed to learn that Prince Vegeta was missing yet again from the palace last night. But as soon as she arose from her bed, a messenger had come to her quarters and informed her that she was wanted for an audience with both the king and prince. As unusual as that was, it pleased Yasai. Whatever it was, it could only mean more good news regarding her bright future with the young, handsome prince.   She dressed carefully, putting on the armor, jewels, and royal attire as befitted her rank of a would-be princess, before making her way towards the king’s audience chamber. She smirked to herself as she walked along; daydreaming about how she would finally get everything she had ever wanted. She would finally fulfill her ultimate desires and have the power and prestige she deserved. Plus, she would finally get into the reluctant prince’s pants, as well as continue to have the pick of any male as her lover on the side whenever she got the urge.   When Yasai arrived at the doors that led into the audience chamber, the guards on both sides gave her looks that combined hate and lust, as well as eyeing her with distrust. She thought it was odd, but when they opened the doors, she dismissed it from her mind until she made her way into the chamber. Not only was the prince standing beside the king with a look of utter triumph on his face, the whole royal council was there as well, and every eye was glaring back at her with abhorrence. Unnerved, her own eyes looked down and to the side, coming to rest on the unmoving body of the third-class fool she had bedded last night, lying dead on the floor.     Yasai knew what was coming, and she wanted to run, but unfortunately, she knew she could not. The thought of fighting her way out even crossed her mind briefly. She was confident that she could put up a decent fight against perhaps one council member by his or herself, but definitely not against all of them. And she was nowhere near as strong as either the king or the prince alone. Then the king spoke loudly, and his voice reverberated off the walls.

“Yasai, you must know why I had summoned you here. The look on your face is unbecoming for a Saiya-jin noble.”

“Yes, I know.” Yasai could hardly believe the calmness in her voice.

“Then you already know only death awaits your future.”

“But may I ask, what proof do you have besides the confession of one dead third-class?”

“A recording of your latest tawdry indiscretion was discovered by my son, and submitted to the Science and Technology Division, where its authenticity was confirmed. Upon receiving the confirmation, I immediately summoned both the third-class traitor and the council members to come before us to watch the footage. In the end, the soldier could not refute what we had all seen and confessed to being with you last night. That was all the proof we needed.”

“But it is-”Yasai’s protest was cut off by the angry command of the king.

“SILENCE, TRAITOR!” roared King Vegeta. “How many times did I defend you, not only to my son, but to the entire royal council? When my son came to me any number of times with accusations about your salacious behavior, I stood up for you. I did not, could not believe that an Elite, who was in your position, would ever stoop so low as to whore herself to the whole third-class barracks.” He drew himself up, eyes blazing at her with fury and disgust. “Now I must make amends and publicly apologize to my heir.”   When he turned to his son, the king’s anger was clear to everyone in the room. “My son, as part of my apology to you, not only do I denounce Yasai as your future wife and will let you choose another as your future bride, but I will also allow you to personally choose her method of death.” When he turned back to Yasai, the king’s dark eyes narrowed as his voice came out, low and filled with hate. “I trusted you, Yasai. I looked at you favorably, as did the whole council, but now we know better.”   Prince Vegeta stepped forwarded, his smirk almost turning into a smile. “I accept your apology, Father. However, I will not lower myself to kill such a useless bug within our royal home. For her treasonous behavior, I recommend you cut off her tail, her tongue, and her hands and then let her rot in the dungeon until she bleeds to death.”

“So be it, Vegeta.” The king then motioned to the waiting guards. Once they came forward, they each grabbed an arm. Not wanting to be hauled out of the room like a lower-class prisoner, she struggled a bit and managed to wriggle her way out their grip. She gathered what little pride was left to her and marched before them, holding her head high as she walked to her death.   Keeping his own face emotionless, Vegeta then turned to his father. “I wish to reward the person who discovered the traitors and recorded their actions.”

“Yes, fine,” the king said with a dismissive wave. “Reward that person as you choose fit, I have much bigger fish to fry before Lord Freeza arrives.”

“Humph.” Vegeta made ready to leave. He didn’t want to hear about Freeza, but the king spoke up before he could take a step and so he turned around.

“Brat, you had better listen to me before you go. Now that I am letting you choose your bride, you must do so wisely and with a great deal of forethought. She must be strong and she must be an Elite Saiya-jin, or else you will alienate the council and your people. Not only that, but you will endanger her as well if she is not deemed fit to become the future queen of Vegeta-sei, which will cause all of us needless headaches. So again, I strongly suggest you make your choice of mate a wise and emotionless one.”

The prince scowled then turned away from the king. As he made his way out, he loudly proclaimed to everyone in the room, “Once I am the Legendary, I will choose whoever I so desire to be my mate! Then I will have enough power to rule all five galaxies, and no one will dare question me or their loyalty to me ever again!” And then he was gone.

*******

Bulma slowly and absentmindedly cleaned yet another piece of armor, her eyes no longer focused on her work. It was night already and she was bone-tired. Last night had been an utter failure. Just as she was about to escape, those two randy Saiya-jins decided to invade her garden and do the nasty right in front of her. And then when they finally left and before she could do anything else, she was knocked out. The strange thing was, right before she went blank, she could swear that she had felt Vegeta and his emotions close by.   When she woke up and found herself in bed, she almost believed that it had been him, but the device she was holding last was missing. Perhaps it had been a robber that knocked her out, but instead of killing her, he/she had taken her recording device. Then in her half-conscious state, she somehow made her way back to the slave chambers. It made Bulma’s head ache to try and remember what happened and guessing about it all just made her tired.   Luckily, she still had her cloaking wristwatch on, hidden by her sleeve, but she was reluctant to use it. Her uncertainty was coming back to her, causing her previous resolve to escape to waiver and what was left of her hope to fade away even more.   If only her heart didn’t feel so empty. If only she wasn’t a traitor to her people and planet. If only she did not love Vegeta. To love and accept him would go against her core beliefs. She knew she was in love with him, but if she did accept him then her own betrayal to herself and everything she believed in would be complete. It didn’t matter anymore; she was never going to see him again. Even if she let herself accept him and go against years of reasoning, it would amount to nothing. He would never forgive her and most likely he had another lover, another Chikyuu-jin. And his lover probably accepted him as he was. Bulma had lost.

“Slave, aren’t you finished with those armor pieces yet?” Chili seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“No,” she answered dully.

“Perhaps if you were not so distracted you would finish your work faster.”

“I don’t care.”

“What?” Chili lunged and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him. She dropped her work on the floor at his feet and refused to look at him, her mind still not focused on anything else but her miserable thoughts. “What did you say, slave?” he hissed.

When he called her “slave”, something in her snapped. Bulma rolled her two eyes and locked onto his four red ones, letting all her rage, disgust, and bitterness pour like blue lava from her gaze. “I said, you ass-wipe, evil son of a bitch, that I…DO…NOT…CARE! SO FUCK OFF!”

Chili’s normally orange skin turned an unhealthy shade of red and his grip on her arm became so excruciatingly tight, that the pain caused Bulma to fade in and out for a moment. Chili’s red eyes seemed to become an even deeper red and she saw darker veins popping in the corners. Bulma didn’t care that she had pushed him too far this time. Chili was angrier than she’d ever seen; he was enraged to the point that he probably was going to kill her, but she didn’t care. Instead of covering, she smirked at him, causing him to growl. Chili grabbed viciously by the hair and slammed her to the floor. Her face still held the smirk, but this time Chili did not see it. As he started to drag her to his chambers by the hair, she continued to smirk. She knew what was coming and this time she was going to fight back.

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Bulma had fought back, if only at the beginning, with all of her might and managed to survive the worst of Chili’s enraged beatings. She laughed through the pain, counting the new bruises after each blow as they landed on her body. It didn’t matter; she was going to die. She knew it and she could feel it. At the point when he had beaten her almost the brink of death, he happened to turn his back on her for just a moment. Trembling, her right hand reached over and touched the wristwatch hidden under her bloodied sleeve. When Chili returned and saw that she was missing, he howled like a madman and immediately went on a frenetic search to find her. He had no idea that she hadn’t even left the room.   Using what remained of her energy, Bulma crawled, leaving a trail of blood, all the way to the garden, her special place of reprieve. She made it to a grassy spot and rested there, gazing at the stars. She had come to a decision: she was going to stand and die the only way she could think of, the only way she would allow herself to die. Bulma slowly and painfully brought herself to her feet.   As she rose, she thought back to her time with Vegeta and his training; how he instructed her to breathe and how he had shown her the proper way to kick. So, after a deep breath, she made slow, repeated, kicks, focusing on her breathing in order to keep both the pain and her mind at bay. Bulma was going to drive herself to kick and kick until she could kick no more, until broken body would no longer support her. Once that time came and she hit the ground, her eyes would close one last time, and they would never see the star of Chikyuu…or Vegeta, again.

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Vegeta had grown impatient because Bulma hadn’t arrived in the garden at her normal time. While he was waiting, he heard a commotion arise from the direction of the third-class barracks, so he decided to investigate. He neared the barracks, staying well into the shadows so no one would see him, but his stealthy approach was wasted. Vegeta watched as the slaves went running about, paying no attention to him. From what he could see and hear, the slave master seemed to be engaged in a maddened search. He was yelling and cursing at the other slaves, threatening to beat everyone unless a certain slave was found.   Vegeta’s initial feelings of dread became a desperate and frantic eagerness to see his bonded. Earlier that evening, her pain had come to him, angering and frightening him, and causing him to rush to the garden. But when he got there, it had been empty. Vegeta walked out of the shadows in what he thought was a casual manner and walked up to two slaves standing idly by. As soon as they saw him, they both dropped into a deep bow. In an authoritative voice, he demanded to know who they were looking for.

“A bitchy blue-haired…doesn’t even know when to die, I swear-” one of them began to say, but Vegeta didn’t stay to hear the rest.   He quickly made his way back to the garden. It was obvious that they were looking for Bulma. His heart was racing. He could hardly feel her at the moment and he didn’t like the fact she seemed so far away and hidden. Vegeta kept reaching out for her through their bond, using that as his only guiding force. He pushed his way past the bushes, trees, and plants that were in the garden and finally came upon her.   She found her in a new part of the garden, in a secluded grassy patch in which the only flowers had bloomed. And here she was, training, kicking the air like she was kicking away death. Her eyes were weakening and losing their focus, so she had not noticed him, even though he was clearly in sight. He could feel her slowly drifting away, her light slowly dimming. His face faulted as he honed in on her fading thoughts. They told him that she knew she was dying, and once the final moment came, she would be free; that once her body hit the ground, death would surely welcome her into its embrace.   Frozen by the sorrowful resolve in her thoughts, Vegeta looked down and noticed the blood on the grass. He couldn’t believe that she would die like that; he wouldn’t let it happen! A sudden and powerful anger swept through him. That someone dared do this to his bonded, to his other half! Enraged anew, he knew full well that it was the slave master who was responsible for this. Vegeta nearly blasted off, determined to kill Chili for what he had done to Bulma, when he saw her falter, unable to finish her last kick. She fell lifelessly towards the ground.

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Bulma felt herself falling and she could do nothing to stop it. Her sad and tortuous life would end and her spirit would be free to join the rest of her people in heaven, or hell, or wherever they had gone. She would never see Vegeta again, never kiss his lips again. She would never raise children or live a free life. In a moment, it would all be over. Oddly, her body still felt warm, not the cold she had often been told she would feel when death came. It also seemed to take forever to fall to the ground.   Unexpectedly, she felt strong arms wrap around her, holding her away from the ground, away from her fate. She felt the strong heartbeat of her savior as he pulled her closer to his chest, and lifted her up with both arms. With what little energy she had left, she tilted her head up slightly to look at his face, but all she could see was fuzzy and clouded over with shadow. Bulma sighed and let her head rest against the heartbeat, letting its rhythm soothe her. The warm feeling hadn’t gone away either; it was almost uncomfortable and it seemed determined to keep her awake.

**********

Vegeta held onto his bonded for dear life, force-feeding his ki into her through their bond. He was not going to allow her to give up and die, and deny him in the cruelest way. He rushed back to the barracks, kicking down a couple doors in the process until he came to the medical wing. Bardock immediately got to his feet as soon as he saw the prince, while the others seemed frozen in their seats, shocked by the sight of their prince carrying what was obviously an unconscious female slave in his arms. Ignoring all of their questioning stares, Vegeta pushed past Bardock and went up to the nearest medical officer, who was standing next to an unoccupied regeneration tank.   With great care, he handed over his bonded into the puzzled physician’s arms and told him, in a terse voice, “You will make sure that she is treated properly. She has done a great deed for the Royal house of Vegeta-sei. If she dies, all of you will die.” Every single medical officer ran from where they were towards the one who was holding Bulma. Many experienced hands quickly converged on the badly beaten female and began to work on her with great care. Vegeta turned away to find Bardock standing in front of him. “Why are you here?”

Bardock bowed. “I had the impression you wanted this slave alive, so when I heard Chili going on one of his rampages again, I instructed the medical staff to wait here while my sons went to look for her.”

“Oh, then I suppose I won’t rip your arms off for being in my way. Inform that ugly Slave Master that I will have someone come tomorrow to pick the blue-haired slave up.”

“Yes, Your Highness, I will take it upon myself to watch over her for the time being.”

“Fine, you will send word to me as soon as she is no longer in critical condition.” With that, Vegeta stalked out of the medical bay, both relieved and angered.   He suspected that Bardock had been there for another reason; perhaps his partner in the rebellion did indeed have powers to see the future. But he could care less about that now. He wanted nothing more right now than to kill the Slave Master, but held himself back from doing something so impulsive and unbecoming of a prince. And because he needed to keep his emotions for Bulma hidden. He could not afford that to be made public before he became Super Saiya-jin, before he could openly claim her as his own without disapproval from his people and the council. Now, he needed an outlet for his pent-up rage. Knowing perfectly well what would improve his foul mood, he quickly made his way to the palace’s dungeons.

**********

Yasai’s arms were shackled to a wall in the one of the cells; the ends were bloody stumps because her hands were gone. Her head hung down in defeat, blood dripping from a mouth which no longer held a tongue. Where there once was a long, furry tail, more blood oozed from a cut nub of bone and skin. On the floor, a red, wet pool grew steadily under her bare feet.   Vegeta looked at her with disdain. Her formerly smooth skin was now pocked, bruised and torn and she was barely alive. She didn’t bother to raise her head as he strolled back and forth, examining her current condition with a smirk on his face. Vegeta had won; he didn’t have to marry Yasai. Instead she would die, in torment and suffering, as a reward for her traitorous ways. She should have known better. A royal Saiya-jin bride-to-be was much revered, regarded as almost-holy. Any perceived defilement meant that the royal line would be sullied by her and made impure. And if the female willingly allowed herself to be defiled, then it would mean her death. Yasai was a traitor to the royal family and a lowly whore; she deserved her punishment.

Her head slowly rose to look at him, her face emotionless, both eyes almost swollen shut.
“You caused this on yourself, Yasai. Hopefully, in your next life, you won’t be driven by your foolish and misplaced sexual urges. But then again, you probably expect to continue your whoring ways in your next life.”

Yasai just groaned. She could not speak, only look at him as he bent down to look directly into her bloodied face.

“Let me tell you a little secret,” he said softly, teasingly. “You would have never become queen. You see, Yasai, I made sure of that. Even before today, I had already chosen another, a much more worthy female. In fact, I chose a slave to become my queen over you. So when you breathe your last, Yasai, you will die, knowing that you lost your chance to become queen to a slave.”

Yasai groaned again, but this time louder. Vegeta stood up and walked away, smirking. He was glad he would never have to see or deal with her again. Now he just needed to wait for Bardock to inform him of Bulma’s condition.

**********

Bulma woke feeling very light-headed and quite comfortable. She recognized this feeling from a couple of years ago when she was almost beaten to death by Chili and had awoken in the medical bay healing room. What was this? Bulma puzzled for a moment. Then she remembered being badly beaten by Chili again. By all rights, she should be dead.   She opened her eyes only to find a smirking Chili standing by her bedside. Surprised, she sat up quickly and looked around. She was in the medical bay again, in the same bed as last time, dressed in a plain white night gown. She couldn’t understand the fact she was alive, or the fact that Chili was standing next to her and grinning like an idiot. She tried to remember what happened the night before, but couldn’t remember anything past a warm feeling and a pair of strong arms holding her. Her thoughts immediately went to Vegeta and her nervous feelings suddenly took over her body. Bulma started to shake. Did Vegeta save me? Bulma could only get one coherent thought to come across her mind, when Chili’s voice broke into the silence.

“You should thank the prince for saving you,” he said with a pleased sneer on his face.

Bulma’s shaking suddenly went away as she stared at her master in astonishment. “What?”

“You should be lucky that you caught his eye. I was told that he will be sending someone for you soon.”

Bulma grew very still; that could only mean one thing. “What did you say?”

Chili chuckled, his laugh hardly sweet. “Why it means you have earned a one-way ticket to the royal harem, of course.”

Before Bulma could reply, a tall and very important-looking Saiya-jin male stepped through the doors of the medical bay followed by two Elite guards. Kabba was Vegeta’s main attendant and a very well-known and respected figure. That the prince sent him was a great honor, but the meaning was lost to Bulma. For her, his presence could only mean that he was going to lead her, not to freedom, but to slavery in the worst form.   Kabba paused to look around then slowly made his way towards the blue-haired slave and her master. The guards broke off to stand by the door, keeping their eyes trained on everyone in the room. Kabba regally walked towards his commission for the day, keeping his eyes on Bulma as he approached her. When he finally came to a stop beside her, he nodded his head towards her. She, in turn, scowled at him, her distrust in him apparent. Ignoring her skeptical look, Kabba simply smiled at the girl of whom the prince had spoken so highly. When the prince informed him of her deeds, Kabba eagerly accepted his assignment, never once thinking of this errand as below him. This girl had done them all a favor when she had rooted out that unholy traitor Yasai, and she deserved her reward.

“Bulma Briefs?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s me,” she said, her voice low and full of suspicion.
“Say your prayers bitch,” Chili said, sneering down at her. “This is the end of you. Once you’re under the prince, you’ll be screaming for me to take you back.”

Kabba was appalled that the slave master would say something so rude in front of him. Suddenly his anger grew, for not only had he disrespected him, Chili had disrespected the girl. “You had better watch what you say to her, slave, for she is now above you and can order your demotion…or your death.”

Both Bulma and Chili exclaimed “What?”

“I am here to escort Bulma Briefs to the Royal Science and Technology Division and to her new quarters. As of this moment, she is now a paid servant under the royal house,” Kabba announced with a pleased smile on his face.

Bulma didn’t know what to think; she was totally dumbfounded. She stared at Kabba, still disbelieving. If what this Saiya-jin just said was true then that meant she wasn’t a slave any more, and it also meant she wasn’t going to be a pleasure slave. She was going to be a paid servant, that meant that she was practically free and could actually have a future.   Bulma ventured a look at Chili, whose face had frozen into an expression of total disbelief and shock. She turned back to Kabba with a grin and wink, causing the man to blush.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Bulma Briefs, and you are…?”

“My name is Kabba,” he replied with a smile and a nod. “It is nice to meet you as well, Bulma. It will be my honor to show you to your new life.”

**********