He was here on an act of generosity and kindness. He didn't understand generosity or kindness. Such things had never been offered to him. Well, perhaps they had, but always by those weaker than him. Yes, she was weaker than him. In the past when someone had been generous or kind they had treated him with reverence as well. She didn't revere him; that was a problem. Of course anyone who had ever been nice to him had also been afraid he was going to murder them. The kindness hadn't been genuine then. They were just trying to stay in his good graces and keep alive. He didn't believe it counted if it wasn't genuine kindness.

She glanced over at him. She was behind the controls of some primitive flying device that moved painfully slow. He was in the co-pilot seat next to her. The sky was blue around them in the upper atmosphere and white clouds whipped past at several hundred kilometers per hour. If he were the weak and sentimental he would have thought it was beautiful.

"Have you been staring at me?"

"No," Vegeta lied.

"That's too bad. I'm really hot," she said with a grin.

"What does your temperature have to do with anything?"

"No, I'm hot. Like I'm nice to look at. Guys want to do me."

Vegeta could surmise what that meant. He looked away. He didn't realize it but his skin tinged pink ever so slightly; Bulma couldn't see because she was flying, and no one else was there, so his embarrassment remained secret.

She was so completely assured of her self. Confidence was a trait he preferred his minions to not have. It would make it more difficult to manipulate her.

"You're gonna like the compound," she told him. The Capsule Corporation compound was where she was taking him. Her father was an inventor like her, but unlike most inventors Vegeta had encountered in the galaxy, they hadn't let other people use their inventions for their own profit. Instead they protected their ideas, kept the ideas for themselves, made a business from their inventions, and from that they made an empire.

"It's in the middle of the city, but we've got so much land it doesn't feel like it," she adjusted the flight path of the craft, "There's a lot of trees. And gardens. We have a lot of gardens. We have an indoor garden with a waterfall; a rock garden; a desert garden; Dad was even talking about putting in a snow garden. There are three swimming pools. Three. Can you believe that? I can't remember how many hot tubs. A sauna. Oh, and there are cats and dogs and dinosaurs all over in some places. My dad, he can't take the idea of some stray animal being out on the street with no one to help it. So he takes them all in," Bulma laughed.

"Like father, like daughter," Vegeta said.

"What do you mean?"

"The Namekians. They've lost their home planet and you've given them a place to stay until they have a new one."

"And you," she pointed out.

Kindness. Someone smart was only kind if they got something out of it... He suspected Bulma was smart. She was helping the Namekians, but she needed their dragon balls. Undoubtedly she was taking them in so she would stay in their good graces long enough to get what she wanted from the dragon balls. She was playing nice with him so he didn't destroy her and her pathetic planet.

"I am no stray. I am a Prince."

Bulma chewed her lower lip.

"What?"

She nibbled a little more. Vegeta noticed the color of her lips and their shape. It wasn't... unpleasant to look at her lips.

"Nothing," she said finally, "You can stay as long as you need to Vegeta. It doesn't matter how long that is."

"I have no desire to stay on your dust ball of a planet. I want only want to know where Kakarot is and then a ship back to civilization."

"You could have a home Vegeta. I don't know if you have one, but you can stay here. I don't mind."

"I don't want your kindness!" he snapped.

Bulma's demeanor changed rapidly enough to catch Vegeta off-guard. "Too bad, jerk off! I'm helping you whether you want me to or not!! You need my help!"

"I don't need anything!" he shouted at her.

"Oh yes you do! Tell me where are you gonna sleep, how are you going to feed your self? What are you going to do for clothes," she said nodding at what he was wearing. It was nearly in tatters. "You don't know any one or anything for like a billion light years in either direction. I'm the one with the spaceship technology. You need me!"

"The Prince of Saiyans needs no one!"

"Well, you're wrong!"

Vegeta really, truly thought about grabbing the squawking little harpy by the back of the neck and shoving her face-first through glass plating in the front of the craft she called a windshield. But he didn't. He would never admit this aloud, he could barely admit it to himself, but he did need her. Until he had what he needed he couldn't kill the little wench or anyone she cared about.

They did not speak again until she brought the craft into a descent. A city on a river grew rapidly in front of them as they landed. Not the largest city Vegeta had seen, he had seen whole planets that were cities, but perhaps half a dozen million people probably more lived in this city. What Vegeta knew of the planet had been gathered from brief reconnaissance, scouter data from his proximity twelve hours on the surface, and what Bulma had told him. Most of the population was concentrated to about twelve large metropolitan cities. There were smaller cities, towns, and villages, but startlingly large portions of the planet were uninhabited and wild. Kakarot's boy Gohan had explained to him.

"We live in the mountains where Dad lived with his grandpa, that was a long time ago. There aren't any towns for 300 miles and our nearest neighbor is... uh, maybe a hundred miles away? There's dinosaurs, bears, monkeys, tigers, but no lions. And deer there's a lot of deer. A lot of people don't like to live that far away from stores and malls and other people. It's dangerous too. Besides the animals there are bandits and brigands. We'd probably be in trouble if we didn't have my Dad to look out for us..." The boy had become silent and thoughtful because he would now be returning home with out his father to look out for them.

"There used to be more cities and more people on the planet," the bald monk, Krillin, had continued for the boy, "Big cities, dynasties, empires, and roads every where, but then there were wars. Wars that lasted centuries. Now they're just mostly ruins 'n' stuff. The planet is mostly unsettled wilderness. With Bulma's father's invention everyone turns their house into a capsule when ever they need to and leave. My house is like that. And in the middle of the ocean by the way so don't think you can find me."

Vegeta hadn't been able to resist taunting the meek little man, "Surrounded on all sides by water. Not many places of hide if I did decide to kill you. And now I can sense chi. I could find you blind if I needed to."

Bulma veered the craft to the left and Vegeta saw what must be her home. Three hundred or so acres of the city was green lawns, trees, and big white bubbles behind white walls. These bubbles were buildings, and a large dome with Capsule Corp. written across the top rose up above the tree lines and the walls. There were other smaller buildings scattered across the property, paths, ponds, and swimming pools. Bulma landed the craft on a landing pad not far from the central dome. Around the pad were what he assumed was Bulma's family and a cluster of small domestic animals.

Bulma waved at an old man and not very old woman who were waving frantically at her. She turned to Vegeta.

"I know that I could be asking the impossible of you, but don't be rude to my parents."

Vegeta slowly turned his head to give the woman a good stare down.

"Don't. I'll kill you. I own many guns," Bulma told him.

Vegeta's lips curled in a demented sneer he reserved for those he was about to literally rip apart. "You kill me? I'll have to sleep with one eye open then."

Bulma ignored him. "Mom, Dad!" she cried, jumping out of the ship and into her parents' embrace.

Vegeta stood up and stretched, taking his time. Maybe he should just hide on the ship. He had no desire to meet these people and suffer through pleasantries. He watched Bulma dancing around with her arms around her father's neck and her father dancing with her. She was taller than him, it seemed.

There had been no greetings from his parents like this when he returned to his home planet. They had stood meters from each other as stiff as poles, tersely speaking to each other. "I have missed you, my son." But he had rarely been embraced. They were stoic and kept their emotions to themselves rather than parading them around in front of strangers like Bulma did. Vegeta leaned against the seat back. He wondered if he missed his parents. He often told himself he did not.

"Hey Monkey Butt!" Bulma shouted, leaning into the craft.

"What did you call me?!"

"Get out here, you're being rude."

Vegeta growled and followed Bulma out the door.

"Ooooo," cooed a woman who didn't seem much older than Bulma. She was dressed in a tight sleeveless and collarless top and extraordinarily tight red pants. Her hair was blonde and exploded around her head like a flower. "He is hot like you said, Bulma," the woman gleamed.

Vegeta was uncomfortable given his new understanding of the word 'hot.' Did this mean Bulma wanted to 'do him?'

"Did not say he was hot!" roared Bulma.

Vegeta was confused—and a little offended.

"Yes you did, sweetie," her mother said.

Vegeta couldn't recall an occasion of someone ever wanting to mate with him.

"I--! I--!" Bulma could not find a way to conclude her statement, so she decided to violently gesture towards her father. "My father, Professor Briefs!"

"Hello, Vegeta." A man with lavender hair the same as Bulma's reached out and shook Vegeta's right hand. This was a greeting custom. The man's eyes were obscured by thick glass lenses, and on his shoulder was the strangest looking little creature Vegeta had ever seen. It was covered in black fur and appeared to be feline in origin, but the way it slumped over his shoulder it appeared to have no bone structure. Its eyes were enormous and the whites of the eyes were completely visible around the pupils. The pupils were dark, darker than space.

Professor Briefs pulled his wooden pipe from his mouth while still pumping Vegeta's hand up and down. He gestured to the cat with the pipe, "I see you like my cat!"

"...Yes," Vegeta said finally. Bulma had abandoned him to speak with the leader of the Namekians and the boy Dende.

"So, Vegeta," Bulma's mother said wrapping her fingers around his upper arm. Her fingers nearly made it half way around the muscle. She gave his arm a groping squeeze. "I had the maid robot make a room for you inside..."

"That won't be necessary," Vegeta said.

She began maneuvering him towards the house. "Oh, I insist. It's not everyday I get to have someone who tried to destroy the Earth stay in my home. Are you a one towel or a two towel person?"

"I was hoping to speak to the Professor about making a ship ready for me..."

"Oh, you don't want to do that! You just got here. You need to relax. Bulma said you died on Namek. I think that warrants some vacation time, don't you think? Oooo, I know. I should make you a Tom Collins."

When Bulma finished speaking to the Namekians about where they would be staying and chatting to Dende about seeing Gohan she went inside. She found her mother talking to one of the serving 'bots.

"Where is he?" she asked her mother anxiously.

Her mother smiled mischievously.

"I left you with him for one hour. What did you do with him?"

"Took him to his physical limits."

Bulma found Vegeta in the sunroom off of the kitchen. He was sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead of him. On the coffee table there were seven of the glasses Bulma's mother served Tom Collins in, five martinis, six shot glasses, six pint glasses, and several empty energy drink cans.

"She did something to me," Vegeta said, his entire upper body turning to look at her.

"She got you buzzed no doubt," Bulma smirked.

Vegeta returned to the position he was in before. "The room tilts if I move."

Bulma sat down next to him on the couch. She could feel his body heat and sighed. He was bad-tempered, evil, tried to kill her, killed her boyfriend, wanted to kill one of her best friends, and only cared about himself. And he was shorter than her.

"What happens next?" Vegeta asked her.

Bulma was startled by his timing. "What?"

"What happens next?" he repeated.

"I-- We... wait until the dragon balls have recharged, call Porunga the dragon, and make some wishes. You'll just hang out with me until then."

"No..." Vegeta said. He gestured stupidly to him self, "I meant what happens with this buzzed thing?"

"Oh, you'll be back to normal in a bit. Goku usually bounces back after a bit. God, he is hilarious when he's drunk."

Bulma remembered the occasions they had given Goku too much liquor just so they could hear what he would shout about and watch him stagger around Roshi's island. "You know I think he gets smarter when he's drunk."

Vegeta looked at her. "I don't believe you," he said in a low voice.

"It's true," she grinned. "Tomorrow we'll get you some clothes and other stuff."

"...I don't need them."

"You were sorta dead wearing that same set of clothes."

"Do you really find me attractive?"

Bulma's voice caught in her throat. How did he want her to answer that? How did she want to answer that? "My mother misunderstood what I said."

"Good," Vegeta said.

Bulma quickly changed the subject, "This will be good for you. It's safe here, you can lie low for a few months and think about what you're gonna do now that Frieza is gone. You're free."

"Frieza is gone, but his family is not. Frieza only controlled part of his family's empire. There's his father, his brother Kooler, and his sister Frigga. Frieza also has a son Iglos, but he's barely past his larval state; besides, his mother hated Frieza. The Kolds will want to know where their youngest son went and who killed him. If they ever find out I'm alive I'd never be able to go to sleep again without the possibility of never waking up again."

"Oh," Bulma said, "I didn't realize it was that complicated." She wondered if he would be saying any of this if her mother hadn't played happy hostess.

"He murdered my father..."

"Who? Freiza?"

"Yes. I always thought I was sent away for my education, but I was really just a hostage. When Freiza couldn't control the Saiyans anymore he killed them all and my home planet. There was a civil war... There were rumors that Freiza was going to force the monarchy to dissolve and that he was speaking with a colony of Saiyans my grandfather had exiled. That and the crown prince hostage my father must have threatened Frieza."

"What happened to that colony?"

"It was just a rumor. And if it was true Frieza probably killed them. He was afraid of the Super Saiyan."

"Goku," Bulma smiled.

Vegeta glared at her. "Kakarot is a common-bred fool!" he shouted at her.

Bulma stood up. "He saved your life, Vegeta, more than once."

"I never wanted it! I should be the Super Saiyan, not that imbecile! I'm the prince! I'm better than that filth!"

Bulma rolled her eyes and headed to the door. It had been a long-ass day that was following a long-ass couple of months traveling to Namek and getting chased around by the galaxy's most obnoxious scumbags. The odds were more than slim that she was going to be able to argue Vegeta into agreeing that Goku was a hero. Vegeta was a jackass and that wasn't likely to change.

"Where are you going!?" Vegeta demanded.

"To take a bath and then sleep for a week. I'm too tired to listen to your tantrum. Later, princess."

A muscle in Vegeta's forehead twitched. "PRINCESS???" he howled at her as she left.