Author's Note 08-24-02

When I original wrote this story I was reluctant to do it because there are a million stories of Vegeta and Bulma becoming mates out there and I've read most of them.  My whole reason for writing it was that I saw pieces of many different peoples that I thought was original and wonderful but I was never completely satisfied with the whole package.  Basically this story is kind of a conglomeration of my different ideas of other author's as well as my own.

Although my original not touched on this it evidently wasn't enough to deter some people from slamming me for stealing from other author's and claiming them as mine.  To make it perfectly clear I acknowledge the influence of these author's I am listing them below along with the elements.

1) A Deserted Island- This comes from numerous fics but I believe the idea originally came from the pen of Nora Jeminson.  The story I believe is the third bond.

2) The Ritual Involves Vegeta hunting her- I couldn't track the specific one down but I've seen it a lot.  Believe it or not B-chan's lemon inspired the idea of Bulma's possible getting an upper hand on him.  Another influence on this was Lisa Lu's Season of the Moon.

3) The Ritual Involves sharing a kill- I believe the originators of this idea were Nora Jeminson (The Third Bond) and B-Chan (Lemon)

4)The bite mark- This I have no idea who started this idea but I like it!

Again I had never read a fiction at the tiem I wrote this that contained all of these elements in one or in the package I did (I don't recall any other story containing a wild boar).  None of the stories above had the things presented in a way that implied a specific ritual was needed to mate either.  They just seemed  share some food, bite each other and have sex and that was it.  This story implies a specific set of elements are needed in a set order must be completed which to my knowledge is unique.  Another unique element to mine is the need for the giving and acceptance of a challenge to the hunt. 

BTW-The stories I listed above are well worth your read if you never have seen them.

Original Author's Note:

WARNING: THIS FAN FICTION IS ABOUT BULMA AND VEGETA GOING THROUGH A SAIYAJIN MATING RITUAL TO BECOME MATES AND THUS CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT AND I AM GIVING IT A PG-13 RATING.

This fic is somewhat of a lost Chapter from my Probe Saga epic. I didn't want to expound on Bulma and Vegeta getting together too much in it because it would have been diverging from the story, which was primarily an action-adventure story, too much so I wrote this as a side bar. This fic picks up directly from where Chapter 9 left Vegeta and Bulma.

I would like to give credit where it is due. I use the ideas of the bite mark and that hunting is involved in taking a mate for saiyajin as have been popularized in fan fiction so these ideas are not initially thought of by me. It also has bonding which has also been popularized in fan fiction (a psycic connection between both Goku, Vegeta and their loved ones is inimated in the anime but the idea has been greatly expounded on my fic writers) so I may have been influenced by other authors ideas a bit. I do put my own spin on things and I have never read a fic exactly like this one so I am not attempting plagerism.

Part 1- Accepting the Challenge

Bulma clung to Vegeta's neck nuzzling her head into his shoulder as he carried her outside of the gravity room. She couldn't believe what had just happened. In the span of just a few minutes she had gone from participating in a normal day of mind numbing office bureaucracy to participating in an impassioned encounter with Vegeta in the gravity room during which she had agreed to be his mate, his wife in saiyajin terms. The thought of it made her absolutely giddy. It was then she felt the sensation of rising into the air and when she looked up from his chest she saw the ground falling away beneath them. In a moment they were rocketing away from Capsule Corporation.

"Where are we going?" Bulma questioned curiously. She hadn't expected to be carried off somewhere other than inside the dwelling portion of the Capsule Corporation's compound.

"We are going somewhere private to perform the Mating Ritual," he told her matter of factly.

"Oh" she answered more than a little surprised. She had just thought that Vegeta was carrying her off somewhere to make out but it seemed he had more in mind. "This ritual is how saiyajins get married…er…I mean…become mated?"

"Yes" he answered looking down at her face with a smirk that looked suspiciously like it was more of a suppressed cat-that-just-caught-the-canary smile.

"You don't waste any time do you?" Bulma asked beaming up at him.

"No" Vegeta replied with a throaty chuckle. "When I know what I want I don't waste my time in getting it," he replied in the same deep, sensuous voice that had made Bulma's knees weak before this time making her blush.

It was then it dawned on Bulma that she really had no idea what she had agreed to when she had said she would become Vegeta's mate the saiyajin way. "Uh, Vegeta" she queried "just what it a Saiyajin Mating Ritual?"

"Be patient little one" Vegeta replied with a larger smirk "you will find out soon enough." He then made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of explaining anything more to her by looking straight ahead into the distance.

Bulma scowled and looked down at the ground as it whizzed away below. Suddenly the brown and green land was replaced by deep blue and Bulma realized that they were over the ocean. "Where is he taking me?" she wondered.

Certain now that the woman in his arms would no longer pursue conversation the saiyajin prince  looked down at her as she scanned the ocean below them with the look he recognized long ago as annoyance. Vegeta smirked. "She is annoyed that I didn't want to tell her where we are going," he thought very pleased with himself. "It is good she will be in a bit of a fighting mood" he mused "but I don't want her too annoyed." Deciding to provide her with a pleasing distraction he flared his ki up about them and poured on more speed.

"What!" Bulma exclaimed in surprise clinging harder to the saiyajin.

"I thought you liked speed woman" Vegeta commented in amusement "The way you drive your vehicles speaks of a certain reckless abandon and yet you cling to me like a scared weakling."

"I am not reckless" Bulma protested pushing away from him but not loosing her grip.

"You carelessly put yourself in harms way quite often woman" Vegeta countered "I must be crazy to want to take you as my mate. Something tells me that you will be more trouble than you're worth."

"So maybe I am a little bit of a dare-devil" Bulma said defensively "but if I wasn't I wouldn't letting a bloodthirsty alien carry me off to Kami knows where to do Kami knows what to be his mate."

Vegeta smirked. He had never supposed that she would view her attraction to him as a risk but it was. It was not an average woman who would accept a man with hands stained with as much as his were. He loved to fight and to kill and she knew that he did. Despite the fact that it went against human morals she still wanted him. She was brave to do so which was one reason why he didn't mind taking this female as his mate even if it was against saiyajin tradition. However, even if boldness was a good quality for a warrior when it verged on the point of recklessness, as hers did, it was not good for one's health.

"Have you ever broken the sound barrier?" Vegeta asked her impishly taking a moment to look down as the realization of what he was planning to do registered on her face before flaring his ki higher and plunging ahead at greater speed.

Bulma tightly griped Vegeta as she felt the G forces begin to push on her body sending a fresh rush of adrenaline through her. The velocity they were traveling at was incredible and it was increasing but she wasn't scared. Vegeta was right, she did like speed, and this was faster than she ever imagined she would go. It was then she felt a slight sift in the G forces and she heard the crack explode around them. The feeling was amazing but it didn't last for long before he slowed down and started descending.

Vegeta gently set down on the small island he had chosen as the spot for the Mating Ritual. It was an island that he frequently came to when he needed to train in solitude. The first reason he had chosen it, as the venue of his choice was that it was isolated and no one could interfere with the ritual. The forests around West Capital City were frequently used for the recreation of humans and the desert wilderness, while isolated, was far to open to make the hunt interesting. The second was that it had all of the ingredients necessary for the ritual dense jungles, game and lots of space. He set Bulma down on her feet and observed her curiously as she began to walk around and stare with a grin on her face. She obviously found her surroundings appealing.

Bulma held her breath in happiness. It was a beautiful place. The white sand beach on which they now stood stretched into the distance as the clear blue waves stole onto it's edge. Turning she could see the green and lush tropical jungle behind them. It looked like a picture on a postcard that you would send to your relatives just to make them jealous of the paradise you were vacationing in. Bulma turned to the Vegeta who stood with his muscular arms folded across his chest in his typical "I am the mighty prince of all saiyajin" stance as the warm breeze, that had just come up, tousled his thick unruly hair and made the pink "Bad Man" shirt he wore wave in its wake. He watched her with alert eyes and a minutely detectable curiosity written across his normally stoic features. Her heart skipped a beat as she took in everything around her, Vegeta's statuesque attractiveness, the crystal clear sky, the deep blue ocean, the pristine beach and the verdant jungle, realizing just how perfect everything was, like something you would read in a romance novel. She marveled at the fact that Vegeta had brought her there. He didn't seem the type to bring a girl to such a wonderful place.

"It's so romantic!" Bulma exclaimed happily. She waited for him to react with pleasure that she had liked his surprise but all he did was arch on black eyebrow at her. Slightly disappointed Bulma smiled at him and returned his puzzled look, with her own. "You don't even know what romantic means do you?" she questioned.

Vegeta elevated his other eyebrow to join its mate as he stumbled in his mind for a reply. He hadn't expected her to ask something like that or how uncomfortable that it made him feel. It disturbed him that he had been living on earth for over a year now and that there still were expressions and words he didn't know after he had taken such prodigious care to look things up that he didn't know or understand in the human reference books so he could keep up appearances. "Why should I?" he demanded as arrogantly as possible.

Bulma laughed at him and received a slight frown in response to it. "You don't know what it means," she stated to Vegeta's consternation. She decided that it was time to turn on the charm before this escalated in an argument as conversations always did when his pride was hurt. She wanted nothing to spoil the mood so she put on her best smile and walked towards him slowly, being careful to accent the natural swaying of her hips slightly more than normal. "Don't worry I'll tell you want it means" she fairly purred reaching him and placing both her hands gently on the surprised prince's shoulders. "It means it makes you feel like making love" she said looking directly into his eyes invitingly stepping in so close that her breasts brushed his folded arms.

Vegeta was taken aback and titillated by her aggressive advance. He had never thought her the type to be so forward, not that he minded it, but it was a little premature to be inspiring these feelings in him. Using every once of willpower he had he repressed the urge he had to grab her and crush her supple curves against his body. Instead he reached up and gently lifted both of her hands off of his shoulders not breaking their eye contact. "You are eager but it isn't time for this right now" he told her regretfully. "There are other things to be done first" he told the beautiful but puzzled woman still holding her hands in his. The breeze once again kicked up ruffling her loose aqua hair and her tailored suit creating an almost irresistible picture that could make him forget his duty to perform the ritual before he claimed her. Reluctantly he released his hold on her small, soft hands and adverted his eyes from hers and focused them on the vista surrounding. He tried hard not to concentrate at the closeness of her body to his but it was difficult. He prayed that she would move away so that he could concentrate on something else other than how badly he wanted her at the moment. He could feel her eyes upon him and fought the temptation to meet her gaze but with each moment it became harder to resist as he found his mind drifting towards everything he planned to do to her that night.

The sudden tenuous silence that fell between them was almost maddening to Bulma. Vegeta's strange refusal of her, despite the desire she had seen in the depths of his ebony eyes, made her feel uneasy and caused the feeling of being in a waking dream melt away. All at once she became aware of the fact she was treading in unfamiliar territory and was expected to participate in some kind of mysterious alien rite. Suddenly Vegeta looked up in to her eyes with a disturbing intensity.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bulma questioned trying too hard not to let any of the intimidation she now felt creep into her voice.

"Just how am I looking at you?" the saiyajin asked with an amused lopsided smirk.

Bulma merely stared at him blankly for a moment until she found the appropriate words to describe the way he was looking at her. "Like you were the hunter and I was your prey" she answered nervously.

"That's probably because that's just what I was thinking," he answered with a devilish twinkle in his eyes.

Bulma flushed violently and turned her back to him and felt her ire being to rise as she heard him laugh at her reaction.

Vegeta wasn't surprised at her reaction to his statement. He knew her remarkably well from careful observation of her during their verbal spars and her interaction with others. In fact he had studied her so intently that he was certain he could manipulate her into whatever, emotional state he wished. Up until this point the only feeling he had sought to inspire was anger so that he could enjoy fighting with her and how attractive she looked when she was angry. He was absolutely certain that what he was about to disclose would spark that temper of hers and that he would have to maneuver her into accepting his challenge as saiyajin law demanded, but that only made him more determined to make her his.

"You see woman" Vegeta began "part of the ritual is that I have to hunt you."

Bulma was shocked at first and then she spun around to face him. The cool and collected look on his face only served to upset her further. "What the hell do you mean?" she demanded.

"I mean," he answered glibly "before I can make you my mate I have to track you down, catch you and you must submit to me."

Bulma's jaw dropped at the thought of being hunted down in an isolated jungle by a horny saiyajin. "You mean you expect me to allow you to chase me through the jungle!" she cried in disbelief. "I don't believe this! This is what I agreed to? You are sick Vegeta! I can't believe I thought you were being romantic by bringing me here! I demand you take me back right now!"

"You already accepted me woman" Vegeta said strolling effortless past her unbuttoning his shirt as he went "and you are going to go through with this because you and I both know we can never go back to the way we were before."

Stunned once again her eyes followed him until he stopped in front of a tree. As she tried to find the words to reply only to be rendered speechless as he removed the shirt and hung it on a low-hanging branch. No matter how many times she had seen him shirtless it still awed her. His rigorous trained had sculpted a body worthy of an Olympian deity and made her mind wander to the dreams, both waking and in slumber, that it had inspired.

Vegeta watched Bulma out of the corner of his eye and let her wait for a moment more before he continued. "The hunt is a game of wills and cleverness. You would have to try to evade capture. I thought that you would welcome the challenge of trying to beat me in my own element but I now can see that you are nothing but a pitiful excuse for a female. I have no idea why I believed you were capable of participating in a saiyajin…"

"Hold it right there baka!" Bulma cried when she had heard enough. "I am not incapable of out-witting your feeble excuse for an intellect I'm just above your brutish ideas and uncivilized rituals," she countered haughtily.

"Your cowardice is betrayed by your words woman" Vegeta slyly replied inching towards her confidently "otherwise you would not go back on your word. You know that I am too much for a weak human like you to handle so you are seeking to back out of the promise you made to me. You have no honor."

"I'm NOT a coward!" Bulma asserted trudging determined up to him and thrusting her finger into his face "I just refuse to be treated in such a demeaning manner."

"Do you think you are the only one who must sacrifice pride to perform this ritual?" he asked her grabbing her hand and lowering it from in front of his face. "It is unthinkable for a saiyajin to take an alien as a mate and especially so for royalty" he told her firmly watching as her entire manner began to change with his words. "You are not even a warrior and yet I am defying what I was taught from infancy for this. It is as I said before, we both must give up some things if we wish to be together."

Bulma looked searchingly into those coal-black eyes that betrayed all the words that he would never speak. What he said was true and this knowledge touched her. Vegeta cared about her enough to overcome an undoubtedly deep-seated prejudice and she was balking at giving of herself because of hers. This custom may have been a little odd but it wouldn't kill her to participate in it. "Fine" Bulma relinquished. "I'll do it."

"Good" the saiyajin replied releasing her hand. "The hunt begins at sun down" he stated with a smirk. "I suggest you use the time you have until then to familiarize yourself with the layout of the island. I expect a reasonable challenge."

Bulma returned the smirk. "Oh you'll get one baka," she informed him almost relishing the contest despite her misgivings. It would be interesting at the very least.

Vegeta stooped down and removed the shoes on his feet and the belt on his trousers. "I am going to get some food for us," he said. "I will come for you when it is ready" he told her before strolling into the jungle determinedly, leaving her alone on the beach.

Vegeta was pleased things had gone well so far. She had accepted his invitation to be his mate and his challenge. Soon they would seal it by sharing in the eating of the kill he would bring her. Then the second phase of the ritual, the hunt, would begin. He licked his lips in anticipation as he began his search for the unfortunate animal that would be the meal of he and his intended mate.