Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend Of the Bond ❯ If only... ( Chapter 18 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

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Freeza’s main spaceship was a large circular vessel that was equipped with only the very best technology in the galaxy, technology that came right from his own labs and warehouses. For those who spent any time on it, this vessel was a dark and frightening place based on the single unsettling fact that Freeza would surely be on board. He was a merciless warlord who would not tolerate mishaps of any kind and would kill for the slightest insult. Before the androids came, Freeza knew he had been the strongest in the universe and had prided himself with the belief that as the most powerful being alive he would own the entire universe. And so, just like its owner, his flagship was like no other; massive and powerful with a speed no other ship could match ¯ until now.

From his pod’s viewport, Zarbon watched as Freeza’s ship came closer and closer into view. To him, the ship seemed to be a pathetic representation of its owner. The mad genius Gero could’ve easily outdone this ship, given enough time and materials. Zarbon now knew that Freeza and the outdated technologies that had built this ship were only second best. Of course, that blue-haired woman could change things for Freeza. He had seen as much in the potential of her work that could surpass Gero’s finest work. In Zarbon’s mind, she was becoming something he very much wanted to acquire. She had everything he could ever want in a female, one with whom he would last more than a night. And it would be easy to seduce her, once she was away from Vegeta-sei ¯ and from Vegeta.

Zarbon’s train of thought was cut off by his pod docking into Freeza’s ship. Once the robotic nets in the docking bay had snagged his pod and hauled it inside, it was dropped onto a soft landing pad while steam arose from pod’s hull. Once the door opened, Zarbon stepped out and slowly stood as his muscles were slightly cramped from his trip. When he finally straightened up, his eyes went wide as he saw Freeza standing before him, impatiently awaiting him. Before Zarbon had a chance to stretch his muscles, he bowed, but not nearly as gracefully as he normally did, knowing full well that Freeza would not like his display of weakness. Freeza choose to ignore Zarbon’s poor judgment and got right down to business.

“Zarbon, was that Bulma woman all you found?”

“Yes, my Lord.” Zarbon continued to stay kneeled upon the deck, intimidated by Freeza’s obvious displeasure.

“And you are positive about her connection with Vegeta?”

“I have no doubts, sire.”

“I have just received his newest report. If what you have told me is true, the little monkey is playing me a fool.”

“May I ask what was in the report?”

“He finally made mention of the female, but only to say she had little to do with the latest advancement.”

“What do you wish us to do, my Lord?”

“Nothing, I will give the monkey the benefit of the doubt for now. However, if I don’t get a satisfactory report from him in three months, I will head to Vegeta-sei myself, take that Chikyuu-jin from him, and finally destroy that awful planet.”

Zarbon stayed silent for a moment, the questions in his mind seemingly eating at his heart. “My Lo-“

“Zarbon, it seems you have something on your mind.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Go on.”

“What about Gero?”

Freeza’s frown quickly turned into an even darker scowl, his anger at the question apparent. “Leave that Chikyuu-jin to me.” Slowly Freeza’s scowl dissipated and he waited for Zarbon to stand and move along. He stared at the blue-skinned man for a moment more until he realized the man before him wanted to ask yet another question. “What is it now, Zarbon?”

“My Lord, why did you send Vegeta in the first place, when I could easily have performed this task for you from the start?”

“My dear Zarbon,” Freeza spoke his name sweetly, “do not question my decisions. I need more of an extensive report to fully know if this is worth my time, plus I need your talents elsewhere. The next time you waste my valuable time asking obvious questions, I will not hesitate to combine your fate with that of the Saiya-jins.”

Zarbon slightly paled, then bowed closer to the floor. “Yes, my Lord.”

This time Freeza was the one who decided to leave first.

**********

Vegeta stared at Bulma, unwilling to be swayed by her appearance. It had been almost three weeks since she started working full-time for him and everyday he pushed her to work faster. This left her no time to return to the other lab and also left her old lab mates with work they couldn‘t finish on their own. Bulma continued to look at him as angrily as she could. She was hungry, tired, and had a pounding headache, and had been feeling that way for more than a week. Every time she met with Vegeta before he went and trained in the “GR”, he was curt with her and very demanding. She wondered sometimes if he really was the same person he used to be. Before this he seemed so different and now he seemed like a cold shadow that loomed over her. On his part, Vegeta wanted yet again to be away from her. Bulma was looking ragged and concern was starting to creep up inside him for her. She looked like she had lost weight and the spirited anger that flared in her eyes was overshadowed by weariness. Both of them wanted their way and neither of them wanted to give in.

“For crying out loud, Prince Vegeta! If I don’t get rest soon, I swear I will start making things that pulls the tails off Saiya-jins! Just for tonight, I want to go back to my chambers and sleep.”

“It has just turned into night. We both know you can work longer then this. I will not tolerate laziness.”

“LAZINESS?! How could you say I’m lazy when I have been...” Bulma’s voice slowly died down. She looked deeper into his cold eyes and felt a chilling loneliness come over her. They had been fighting for over ten minutes and she was tired of it. “Fine...I don’t care. Even that sadistic, slave-driving Chili used to let me rest at night.”

Vegeta pushed her to the side and gave her a heated glance filled with rage at her comment. “Do not compare me with a slave, woman! I am a Prince; not some piece of trash from the third-class barracks!”

Bulma felt her heart plummet further, but that didn’t stop her from glaring daggers at him before he started towards the prototype “GR”. She watched his back as he went in and as the door slid shut behind him. Bulma stood for a few minutes staring at the door before finally throwing her hands up and going to work on the closest thing she could find. It wasn’t long though before exhaustion took over and she slumped onto the metal floor, falling fast asleep.

Vegeta stood behind the closed doorway of the “GR” and looked absently at the floor. He was concerned for Bulma; he had never seen her so ragged. When she lived under Chili’s command, she would be beaten and tormented but she never looked as worn as she did now. He hadn’t let her return to her chambers for almost six days, but instead forced her to work endlessly. This was how it had to be; there was no escaping it. They didn’t have time for breaks, neither him nor her. But that reasoning still left him full of worry. He couldn’t let any sympathy for her cloud his resolve, though today he had felt her weariness and her sadness. In fact, he could still feel the sharp tang of her emotions, ever since that night, just like before. He wondered at what had caused him not to feel her when he broke that necklace. His own emotions fatigued him, and he kept pushing them aside, outwardly appearing as if he didn’t care. He would leave soon and so would she. Right now, the most important thing was to train and become stronger.

**********

Once he began training, Vegeta couldn’t stop. All night, he trained and fought numerous imaginary foes. He relentlessly practiced his forms, his combos, and using his ki. In the middle of his intense training, Vegeta felt a pang of sudden separation from Bulma. The pragmatic side of him reassured him that she was simply in the other room, but he knew once he left, when things were done with, he would never see her again. This was his only time he would be close her; these were their last moments together. That realization drove him to train harder. He would win against Freeza for himself, for his people, and ¯ for Bulma. And so he continued to train for a few more hours, driving himself with such zeal he didn’t notice when the night turned into morning.

When the two suns finally rose above the horizon, Vegeta, having beaten himself senseless, was forced to stop his exhaustive training. The inside of the “GR” looked torn and broken with dents and cracks all over. Vegeta didn’t look much better than his surroundings, as he was bleeding and bruised from his own vigorous training. He had been so overwhelmed with the thoughts of being physically close to Bulma but distanced emotionally and for causing her weariness. It was he who chose to end the game they began, to deny himself and her the bond they shared. The guilt drove him to tear at his own flesh, only stopping when his body began to feel numb and his eyes almost refused to focus.

Vegeta grew furious with what he believed was his inability to progress to a much higher level. This couldn’t be his personal best! This couldn’t be the utmost limit to his power! He had to become stronger! He was the Prince of all Saiya-jins! He would not be defeated!

At that moment he fell to the floor on his knees, his sweat mingling with blood as it quickly trickled from his face, following the curves of his handsome features. He hated this! He loathed this! He could be stronger! And this machine would make him stronger!

Clenching his fists he sat back on his knees and looked at the ceiling. The room had dulled to a red glow, the gravitron’s digital gauge showing that he’d been training at 150 times Vegeta-sei’s gravity. In the middle of the ceiling, glowing very dimly, remained only one white light, but it was slowly losing its battle to stay lit. It flickered once then twice more before it too went out. At that same moment, Vegeta screamed. His voice, filled with pent-up emotion, was finally released, propelled from the depths of his soul with all his fury. As his screams grew louder, ki started to pour from his body, slowly covering his whole being and swallowing him up. His ki grew until the prototype ship couldn’t take the pressure any longer and with one final strained effort, it blew.

**********

Bulma had awoken with her body stiff and sore. She had again slept the night away on the cold lab floor. She felt aggravated, upon finding herself here again after only gaining a partial night’s rest. She didn’t even want to begin thinking about Vegeta. For the first few days he came to train, she attempted to talk to him, trying several times to explain to him that her own stubbornness had caused her not to see the real truth, but he refused to even give her a warm look. Eventually, Bulma gave up and decided to act as if nothing happened, but her heart felt as though it was breaking. Little bits of hope would occasionally creep into her when she felt something come from him, something warm and real and very safe, though outwardly, the man she loved, the man with whom she shared a bond, no longer seemed to want to deal with her. She slowly stood, feeling slightly out of balance. A strange feeling came to her and immediately she knew it was Vegeta. Worried about the emotions she felt coming from him, she began to approach the “GR”. Unsure of why he felt defeated and so lonely, she impetuously decided to try and reach out to him using the bond that she felt was fading. In soft mental whispers, she called out his name to try to soothe his pain, but it was too late. She felt something consume him from within and before she could get to the door of the prototype “GR”, it exploded, knocking her off her feet and slamming her against the wall. Blackness faded in all around her as Bulma tried to call out to Vegeta one last time.

**********

...Vegeta!...Vegeta, don’t!...I’m here!...Vegeta felt her calling him and wondered if he was becoming delusional. Perhaps he was being just overly wishful. Or perhaps he had passed into a twisted form of heaven. He felt chained down and unable to move, unable to open his eyes.

Opening her eyes, Bulma blinked away the shock and fear upon seeing half her lab in ruins. She was surprised she had even survived the blast. Then she remembered that Vegeta had been in the middle of the explosion. She tried to get up quickly, only to realize she was injured. Her leg was bleeding and sore, her clothes were burnt and her face was bruised. Grimacing against the pain, Bulma slowly got up and walked with a limp towards the remains of the “GR” prototype. Putting aside the extent of her own injuries, she could only think of Vegeta and how she had to find him. Smoke rose from scattered pieces of metal and debris. Here and there, the walls were burnt pitch black, some with large dents in them, but that didn’t grab her attention. She knew she had to find Vegeta, to know if he was alright and safe, her concern for him grew when she felt him flicker in and out of her consciousness.

It was an odd feeling, something she never felt before. It felt as though Vegeta’s ki was wandering in and out of her, slowly going through her whole body. She closed her eyes, trying her best to stay on her feet. Waves of pain were also traveling all over her body. When she felt the last warm ounce of Vegeta’s being pass over her body, a sudden, unknown force came over her and Bulma opened her eyes. In front of her wondering gaze were the blue unclouded expanses of Chikyuu, sitting above the familiar skyline of the Western Capital, and behind her was Capsule Corporation, her old home. She felt her feet running underneath her, taking her to the pile of rubble which used to be the “GR”, which was now sitting a few feet away in the middle of the CC compound. Quickly arriving at the center of the exploded mess, Bulma sank to her knees, concern clearly written on her face. Before she could finally notice her odd clothes or fluffy hair, she heard a man’s voice coming from behind her. Deep inside, the sound of his comment startled her, though his presence didn’t faze her, like he had always been there.

“It's no wonder this would happen, not with his dangerous mode of training.”

Looking at the debris, Bulma couldn’t believe what was happening. “Vegeta?” she called out to him, hoping he would answer. When there was no reply, panic and fear enveloped her, “He couldn’t have…” Without hesitation, Bulma started to dig through the ruined metal and hot ship parts, only to be shocked and surprised when a hand shot up from the metal grave. She jumped back into the man behind her with a scream, only to stare at Vegeta as he slowly emerged from under the mess he had made. Bulma, unsure of what had happened, asked, “You’re a-alive?”

Vegeta looked at her as she was stupid. “Of course I am!”

Bulma breathed a sigh of relief, but her relieved emotions quickly turned into anger. “What do you think you were doing?! You came this close to wrecking my house!”

Vegeta stood up proudly, ready to rebuff her statements when he quickly fell down, still unable to stand from his injures.

Concern filled Bulma once again. “Vegeta!” She ran to kneel beside him once again and sat him up in her arms, completely ignoring the man behind her.

Looking at her with weary eyes, Vegeta could only think of one thing to say: “Don’t do anything stupid. You are getting in the way of my training.”

“How is this training? You can't do anything in the shape you're in!” Bulma couldn’t believe Vegeta’s stubbornness.

“Injuries such as these are nothing! I'm the number-one Saiya-jin in the universe.” Vegeta didn’t want to lose face, something inside him didn’t want to let Bulma see his failures. “Y-you'll see how I overcome Kakarotto in no time.”

Bulma smiled at him then, finally understanding his ways. “Yes, yes. Vegetables, carrots, whatever; it doesn’t matter. Just do as I tell you.”

Vegeta was offended that this Chikyuu-jin would dare to try to order him around. Immediately, he went to get up. “Don’t try to order me ¯” But, before he could finish his sentence, pain swept through him and he again fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Vegeta!”

Before Bulma could reach him again, her eyes refocused. The blue skies of Chikyuu melted away, the city faded, and all that was left was the burnt and ruined old lab in the lower floor of the science and technology building on Vegeta-sei. Bulma was on her knees, unsure how she knelt with her injured leg, and on her lap, lying still and barely breathing, was Vegeta, the Prince of the planet. Tears stung behind her eyes. The scene she just experienced felt so real, but the reality was that her home had been destroyed seven years ago. And the seven long years since that time had been filled with hardships and defeats. She laid a hand on Vegeta’s chest, wanting him to open his eyes, wanting him to be okay. As her hand rested softly on his chest, she suddenly noticed the blood that was covering her hands. Somehow, during her vision, she must have cut them while digging Vegeta out from under the debris.

Vegeta had also dreamed about Chikyuu, about Bulma, and about wanting to surpass Kakarotto. He had seen Bulma run to him and had seen her concern for him. He remembered her trying to boss him around as well. It rekindled an old discomforting feeling that felt too strong for his liking. The warmth of her body, the smell of her sweat, the softness of her skin; it was all too real, too now, for him to feel comfortable with both the dream, which he was quickly surmising was not a dream but more of a vision, and the feelings that were coming back to him. He still couldn’t move, but could sense the heavy weight of the mental chains being removed. He wanted to be free of this subconscious state, to be able to open his eyes and be back in “GR”, training. Furrowing his brows and with great effort, he finally managed to open his eyes. Once he opened them, he saw Bulma, looking bruised and blooded like she had been beaten by Chili, and somehow everything that had happened melted away.

“That slave master beat you again. I will not allow him to continue with his stupidity.”

The sound of his voice snapped Bulma’s attention away from her bloodied hands right to him. “Vegeta! You opened your eyes, thank goodness you’re alright.”

“Of course, I’m alright. I am the Prince Of the Saiya-jins…” Vegeta suddenly felt sick. How did she know his name? Why was she still near him? Didn’t she hate him? Didn’t she loath the man that destroyed her home world?

“Okay, okay…I know, I’ve been worried about you since I woke from that explosion. Vegeta ¯ I mean Prince Vegeta, what happened? You almost completely destroyed my lab!”

Slowly the memories came flooding back. Glancing up, Vegeta caught a glimpse of the necklace he broke. Anger swelled up in him and he tried to stand, but both his injuries and Bulma stopped him.

“Are you crazy? With injuries like this you shouldn’t move much.”

“These injuries are nothing.”

“Look, you’ve got to listen to me if you want to get better¯”

“Don’t order me around, former slave! I am the Prince! You will not try to stop me again!”

“I don’t care anymore, you pigheaded, tailed freak! I don’t want you to die! I don’t want to lose you!”

Vegeta looked into her eyes, narrowing them from the pain in both his body and soul. “You already have, woman.”

Stung by his harsh declaration, Bulma stayed quiet. After a single runaway tear rolled down her cheek, she slowly got up, making every effort to gently place Vegeta on the floor and so the motion wouldn’t hurt her leg any more than it already did. Before she could go anywhere, Vegeta’s voiced echoed trough the room:

“Salvage what you can and make the full version “GR”. I want every invention you have finished within the week. After that, I want you gone.”

Bulma’s battered spirit took this newest verbal blow without saying anything. She only continued to do what she had set out to do when she stood. She limped over and pulled out the first aid kit she had put together in case of a lab accident. And in her estimation, this one took the cake. In her weakened and exhausted condition, the kit felt much heavier than it normally did. With all her effort, she slowly limped back to Vegeta, who’d been steadily watching her every move.

“Idiot,” she whispered as she kneeled down beside him.

“You‘re tread¯” Vegeta began to say, but then his voice died in his throat. He couldn’t say anything to her in return. He could only watch her as she took out the medical supplies from her kit and slowly and painfully began to treat him, first wiping away the blood and stopping the bleeding from his wounds before disinfecting them. Anger mounted in Vegeta while she was taking care of him and ignoring herself completely. A couple drops of her own warm blood had dripped upon him as she continued to treat him and, in some way, it made him feel even more connected to her, like it somehow strengthened their bond. It made him want to touch her and feel her, and to be close to her like he had never been before. And it was driving him crazy. “Stop this immediately!”

Bulma looked at him, surprised and somewhat placid. “Fine, it’s done anyway. You can take care of yourself the rest of the way.”

Vegeta slowly sat up, feeling better than he had simply because the woman had treated him. He was still in a great deal of pain, and after an excruciating second or two had passed while sitting up, he knew he couldn’t keep that up either. Slowly, he started to fall back, but as he fell, Bulma pulled him to her, allowing his limp weight to fall onto her steady sitting form. Her own body winced from the pain, but otherwise she remained still as Vegeta rested his head on her shoulders and his body on her chest in an odd embrace. No matter how much he wanted to move he could not; his body would not obey him. “Unhand me, woman.”

“I’m not the one who was about to fall. Just regain your strength and you can unhand yourself from me. At least, you’re still sitting up.”

“You obviously don’t understand the situation you are in. Unhand me now!”

“Why? Just let it be, Prince Vegeta. Regain your strength, kill Freeza, and I will be light years from here. No one else is here, just me. And if I’m so ‘lowly’, as you put it, you don’t need to save face with me.”

This time Vegeta could only think of how stupid she was. Deep in his heart, she was the last person with whom he wanted to lose face and she was the last person he would think of as ’lowly’. But he stayed silent, allowing this to be their last embrace.

**********

They stayed together in that peculiar embrace for the remainder of the day while they slowly regained their strengths. The hours passed, both were hungry and weary but neither moved an inch. It was their last moments together and, no matter what had happened before, now they shared each other’s strengths. Once the metal cooled and the room cleared of the smoke, the night had fallen on them once again. Vegeta shifted, moving away from Bulma. As he went to stand, he noticed that she was about to fall back, just like he nearly did earlier. Without thinking, he grabbed her before she could hit the ground. She was dead asleep, worn out form her injuries and the emotional events that had occurred all too soon for her. This time, instead of just leaving her in the now-ruined lab, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to her room. Once there he placed her in her bed, staining the white sheets with the soot and dried blood that covered her body. He stood next to her for a moment, knowing full well this was last time he would see her sleeping. Clenching his fists, he turned and left.

It wasn’t long until he arrived at his suite in the palace. He stripped off his battered clothes and walked to his personal rejuvenation tank. Once he activated it, he stepped in. He placed the respirator mask over his nose and mouth and felt the healing, chemical-filled solution surround him. Fully submerged, he let his mind flow with thoughts he had suppressed since he told Bulma he would no longer allow those games between them to continue, that he would move away from her and whatever twisted relationship they had. Images filled with Bulma came to him. Their time in the garden, their time together afterwards, and the time they just shared. It was over. Her work here was nearly done, and he had shortened the time by foolishly blowing up the “GR” by mistake. Because of that, he would now begin training in the non-prototype model, which would allow him to gain more strength, to fully reach his potential and to kill all who stood in his way. And then he would leave Vegeta-sei behind so that he could face stronger enemies, fight stronger foes, and while doing so, his mind could slowly forget the woman to whom he was bonded. He would slowly fade away, leaving his name in legend, and leaving her behind to make her own legends. He would become the strongest in the universe and he would need no one. But he would always want the one thing that had been denied to him ¯ love.

**********

Bulma awoke with a pounding headache and very surprised to find herself in her own living quarters. She didn’t remember her awful condition until she attempted to stand and pain shot up from her leg to the base of her skull. She fell back onto her bed, unable to stand because of her leg. A quiet sadness crept into her heart as she felt pain echo in her body. Rather than tend to herself, she sat up on her bed, looking around at her home she had been given that would soon be taken away. She glanced over at the low-rise table to find her old capsule, the one that held memories of her slavery, and the other capsule that held the completed “GR”, sitting undisturbed. Bulma would have to give Vegeta her completed inventions and the completed “GR” soon, and that would be the last time he would ever see him. She would go into space and perhaps make a name for herself, or perhaps she would find away to free the rest of the Chikyuu-jins and start a colony of their own somewhere. Or she would drift in space, living out each day in bitter sorrow and regret. Whatever she would do when she was gone from here, she would live her own life, not having it controlled by anyone other than herself, and she would be utterly lonely.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the depressing thoughts, Bulma slowly stood up this time, knowing full well she would go to her old working lab tomorrow and finish what she had started with her team, giving them things for them to work on and pointing them in the direction of greatness, that would leave her mark on Vegeta-sei. Afterwards, she would go down below to her personal lab, now in ruins, and collect the things for Vegeta. Tomorrow night, she would pack, and after that, she would leave Vegeta-sei, and she wouldn’t look back, no matter how much she knew she would want to.

Once she cleaned herself and dressed her wounds, she carefully put on a nightgown, thankful that the recent explosion hadn’t killed her. More than likely, Vegeta had saved her, like he had with Pota, and it had, in the process, left him vulnerable. She knew that he still felt something for her, but it was hopeless. No matter how much she wanted to be by his side to help defeat Freeza, she knew her place was somewhere else. Yet that thought felt so wrong. Everything was wrong. She should be by his side. If only…

Bulma stood by her window, looking out at darkness over the Royal City, wondering about how she could have bonded with an alien, and the meaning of it all. What was the purpose? Ask as she might, only the dark sky stood fast in front of her, leaving no answers to all of her questions.

**********

Bulma returned to her old work the next morning only to be greeted by unwelcoming looks. Her old team seemed to be jealous, though she was unsure as to why. After a couple hours, working with her hurt leg and repeatedly trying to get her uncooperative team to listen to her, she finally snapped and yelled at them. The strong words she chose were what she heard Saiya-jins use when commanding others to obey them. With her science team made up of mostly non-Saiya-jins, her yelling worked better then she would have hoped for and they jumped to do her bidding. It wasn’t until after lunch that she heard whispers begin among the newer scientists. Soon everyone was gossiping about something, leaving Bulma with the feeling that her last day was going to be her worst.

At the close of the night, she took aside a member of the team who had angered her the least, and taught him everything she could in an hour, so that he could continue on with her lesser projects for which she no longer had time. When the chime went off to signal that the working day was over, Bulma sighed, relieved that she didn’t have to deal with that team ever again. Worn-out and in pain still from the incident the day before, she walked tiredly to the elevator that would take her down to the ruined lab. She had a heavy heart, knowing full well it would be the last time she would ever see Vegeta’s face and feel his presence. Before she could get to the elevator, she thought she heard something or someone move behind her. Hoping she would find no one but some figment of her overactive imagination, she closed her eyes before fully turning. Unfortunately, she did hear someone breathing and shifting in the empty hallway. Embarrassed, she opened her eyes to discover an old Saiya-jin warrior wearing decorated armor chuckling at her.

“Bad idea to close your eyes, Chikyuu-jin. You never know when an enemy is nearby.”

“No one is supposed to be here.” Unsure whether this person was friend or foe, Bulma stood as straight as possible, trying her best to hide her injury.

“Right, no one is, especially a former slave. I highly recommend you leave this hallway.”

“Alright, I will. Excuse me for losing my way. I had a long day.”

The old man looked at her again and laughed. “You really are smart, yet surprisingly stupid.”

Bulma narrowed her eyes and looked at him with daggers flying from them. “What did you say?”

“Chikyuu-jin, for your information I was the Overseer here for many years until Freeza replaced me with the prince. But with Vegeta seemingly disappearing for days on end, I was sent to pick up after him. You see, I don’t come here either, and for you to think I am just on guard duty was very foolish.”

“Geez, I’m sorry. I don’t know Vegeta-sei’s politics that well, so I didn’t know who you were.” Bulma wanted to roll her eyes, her hate for this man increasing, but her anger soon left her when his words sunk in. “Then why are you here?”

“You may not know who I am, but I know who you are, pretty little Chikyuu-jin. My distaste in the Prince as of late has left me with a wanting.”

“Which is?” Bulma’s heart was beginning to race. She didn’t feel safe, not with this old Saiya-jin. He was a lot stronger then most, that was obvious to Bulma just by looking. It was probably the reason why he was also a council member, like most of the overseers.

“To disobey him.” With that, he came closer, wearing a smirk that almost went from ear-to-ear.

Bulma looked left and right, thinking that if she could just escape and reach Vegeta, she would be saved from this person. “And how to you plan to do that?”

“I think you know, but I am a peculiar Saiya-jin. You see little Chi - kyuu - jin, I want you for myself and I want you to come to me, so…” His impossible smile seemed to get bigger as he talked. “If you like working here, I suggest you come with me now.”

“And if I don’t?” Bulma wanted to fly away from him. Damn! If only she was stronger, if only she were a Saiya-jin. If only…

“You see, I have enough power and influence to send you, without the Prince’s knowledge, to my harem and have you anyway.”

“But why me? If you only wanted to disobey the Prince’s decree, you could have just taken any Chikyuu-jin.”

He shook his head, “No, no, no, that would not do for me. Most looked so ugly and worn from their slavery I would never touch them. Plus you are not only beautiful, but smart as well and strong for your kind. Since your people have dwindled to almost nothing, you are the best of the Chikyuu-jin.”

“So…” Bulma didn’t want to finish her sentence.

“Also, I’ve heard that the Prince is planning on giving you your freedom soon, something I could easily deny, something I might do anyway if you please me well tonight. But if I feel generous enough and should the Prince come down on my neck too much, I’ll just let you return to your work and your upcoming freedom.”

“I have no choice then.”

His face lit up. “Smart girl. Yes, you have no choice, but then again you do have a choice: here or the harem?”

Bulma felt cornered. This asshole was giving her no real options, and no other way out. Perhaps this experience was for the best. She was still a virgin in such a dangerous time. After tonight, she would leave a changed person, different than the way she came. This could help her destroy any thoughts of returning, and allow her heart to fester with hate for Vegeta-sei. No matter what, this person, who yielded power far greater than herself, would have her. At least, in this way, she could make a choice and not be put into the harem. There was no way to run from him. She was too far from her ruined lab and too far from anyone else to call out for help, and she had none of her inventions on her at the moment, even Goku was not on duty. But even if she called for Vegeta, he would most likely do nothing. This person was an influential council member and Vegeta had made it clear he wanted to be rid of her, even if he had feelings for her.

With all of these miserable thoughts running through her mind, she looked up at this horrible man and frowned. The older Saiya-jin held out his hand to her. With an utterly defeated spirit, she walked into his waiting arms and the two of them departed the science and technology building together.

**********