Here is the new chapter as scheduled :)

Chapter 9

Travelling

"You have to go Inthros-sei, I won't be back in the next few days!"

"They won't be glad to trade with me and I hate that damn device…" Vegeta said.

He was looking at a screen in the throne room, where his father's image was shown. The King was still out on a mission and as it took them longer to conquer the planet, he was still there. Vegeta could clearly see the dead bodies scattered around in the background.

"I'm not exactly surprised that they don't trust us. Anyway, I want you to bring a scientist with you as well. This technology what they offered seems interesting, but I want to make sure, it's not a bogus."

"Great" Vegeta nodded and he already knew which scientist he will have to take.

The Inthros race was their best source to get advanced technology, but they were paranoid and though to deal with. They just contacted Vegetasei, informing them that they need a new planet, sending them over the details. The target was a well-defended technologically also advanced race's home and normally due to their standard protocols, they would have declined the deal. However the Inthros offered a mechanism, called "cloaking device" which had to ability to make any of their spaceship invisible. That would give them a huge advantage over their enemies, so the King decided to take the deal. Vegeta had to travel to one of their planets to close the deal and as it turned out, he will have to take the woman. This time, before he actually busted into her room, he knocked.

"Come in!" He heard her voice and stepped inside.

Bulma was slightly surprised seeing Vegeta, more so as he entered her room like a normal person. It looked like the last time really threw him off-balance and that made her smile. In a way, despite being a jackass, he was also cute.

"How can I be of your service?" She asked and put down the book next to her.

She was sitting on the floor on top of the tatami and she was reading. She was still wearing her overall and for that, Vegeta was grateful. She found many books in the storage rooms, some from Earth, some from other planets. Right now she was reading a romance novel and even though it was pretty late, she just couldn't put it down and go to sleep.

"Meet me in the hangar at 6am!" Vegeta answered and was just about to leave, when she asked jokingly:

"Don't tell me, you are asking me out on a date?"

"A what?" He asked despite himself and turned back.

She sometimes referred to strange terms, which were foreign to saiyans and it was bothersome.

"Right, saiyans don't date, they court. You have all kind of strange habits, it's hard to keep track of it."

Vegeta decided, not to even react to the part that she thought he wanted to court her. He, the Prince of all saiyans, would never lower himself even to be interested in a mere human. Sure, he raped other women, but that only served the purpose to satisfy his desires or torture them or both. Regardless; he would never label those actions as interest.

"You say it, like you are informed about our traditions."

"Well, I do live here, don't I? Also I have read several of your books, though they are either about battle strategies or dealing advises. This particular information was shared with me by Kakarott."

"That clown! He should have better things to do, then having meaningless conversations with you."

"And what about you?" Bulma asked and while she got up, she stretched.

In case she really has to meet him at 6, she should really sleep as it was almost 2 in the morning.

"What about me?"

"Aren't you just having meaningless conversations with me?"

"I just came here to inform you, that we will go to Inthros-sei."

"Actually, you just informed me that I need to meet you at 6 am, you never said anything about leaving the planet. Do you need me as an advisor for some new equipment?"

"Stop pestering me for information, I will inform you once we are on board. And grab an armour for yourself!"

With that said, Vegeta left the room, slamming the door as usual. Why was it so hard to deal with her? He had to interact with many slaves over the years, but he never had issues with any of them. Ok, he had, but he always killed them instantly and the problem was solved. Killing her was out of the question and what made it worse; she was also aware of it. He never felt so cornered in his life, which worsened every time she got too close to him. Just a few moments ago, he also had to struggle not to press her against the wall and have sex with her. This had nothing to do with honouring her; he was rather afraid that he couldn't do it. Not because she would pose any physical objection, it was rather that she might go along with it willingly! That confused him on so many levels, that he decided to avoid her as much as possible. So far, he failed with it miserably; it almost felt like fate had head-on other intentions as he.

Bulma arrived just in time a few hours later and they boarded a small spaceship. She was very excited to spend some time with Vegeta, more so as it turned out this time only the two of them will go.

"Isn't it dangerous to go to them alone?" She asked.

Vegeta finished to set the coordinates and turned to her answering:

"I'm the Prince and the strongest saiyan. I can take care of myself!"

"Well sure, I was just wondering what if they plan to ambush you?"

"They won't. Despite their superior technology, they fear us. That's why they are only letting one saiyan land on their planet with one additional scientist, if needed."

"I don't blame them."

Vegeta got up from the front seat and sit down on the floor as far away from Bulma as possible. From the pose he was in, she guessed he was trying to meditate or something. She sighed; while she wasn't expecting to have hours long conversation with him, she was hoping for a bit more. She knew him, there was no point trying to talk to him right now, so she grabbed one of her bags and pulled out a book. Even though the story was quite interesting, Bulma had a hard time to concentrate on it, as her thoughts kept returning to the Prince. She finally gave up and turned to him:

"Say, do you want to play Shogi?"

"What?" He asked and looked at her.

"I think you might actually like it, it's a strategic war game, played on a board with small figures."

"How stupid do you think I'm? How could I be interested playing war on a board?"

"You can at least give it a try, we still have a few hours until we arrive to the planet, so what do you say?"

As he remained silent, Bulma considered it as an agreement. She pulled out the board from her bag and set up the pieces.

"I even replaced the writing on them with your saiyan letters" She explained. "I tried to teach it to Kakarott, but he miserably failed to understand it."

"It's amazing how every time he opens his mouth, he proves that he is an idiot." The Prince commented.

"He is not academically gifted with these things, that's for sure" Bulma smiled and began to explain the rules.

As Vegeta went along with it and they began to play, he tried to justify his actions by saying that he had really nothing better to do and at least this way he got himself distracted. Despite every attempt not to let her presence disturb him, he wasn't very successful. Now, even though they were playing together, it seemed to work. After 30 minutes he actually found the game intriguing and he wondered how a primitive race like humans were able to comprehend its complicated rules, let alone invent it.

"I won!" Bulma said with a smile.

Truthfully it was a harder victory as she expected. Even though Vegeta never played the game before, he gasped most of its aspects and put up a decent fight.

"Let's play one more time!" He demanded and began to put back the pieces.

"Sure, but be prepared for another defeat!"

Bulma was happy that she came up with the idea to play and he was going along with it. More so, as while he was thinking about his next moves, she could study his face, without the danger of being detected. Saiyans in general were not the brightest, at least that was her initial idea. Then, as she spent more time with them, she realised that they were intelligent; the problem was rather that they rarely focused on intellectual things. Their education system was practically non-existent; they were not ill-literate, but beyond the basic abilities to read and count, all they focused on was training. First, she thought Karris was just an exception; while he was slower on up-take as the other scientist, in time he made a good progress and by now he was able to comprehend advanced science with ease. Kakarott was an idiot, she had to agree there with the Prince, but he also has his moments and she heard he was actually good when it came to battle-strategies. Vegeta was beyond any doubt intelligent, despite not being intelligent enough to recognise the value of life; any kind of life. Now she was convinced, that while saiyans were not the most intelligence race, they could be, in case they would focus more on studying and developing their analytical thinking.

Vegeta's thought were on a similar track, but he was only thinking about her, not in general about the humans. She had the worst attitude ever, no manners and no shame, still she was bright. He also found it impressive that she found a way to work with other races and even though she wasn't the most obedient slave, she was almost respected by the saiyans. He heard how some talked about her skills and preferred her help, rather than the rest of the scientists. Her ideas, especially the gravity room, were invaluable. This was exactly what disturbed him so much, it almost felt like he needed her…

"I won again" Bulma commented "But it was a really close call this time. I'm really impressed, you know! It took people years until they played at such a high level as you, just after 3 hours of playing!"

"Don't compare me with others!"

"I most certainly wouldn't, you are quite unique, rest assured!"

Vegeta tried to determine whether she was mocking him, but as he looked at her, she seemed serious.

"We are landing soon, you should change!" He called.

"Uh, sure, though I don't think this is my style" Bulma grimaced, pulling out a saiyan armour with the latex suit.

"It's not a fashion show, it's for protection damn it!" He snapped.

"I get that!" She snapped back and entered the bathroom to change.

When she came out a few minutes later, Vegeta was quite shocked to see her. The suit was fitting her perfectly and it even enhanced her great figure, which was mostly hidden under her normal loose clothing. Her hair wasn't in a messy ponytail as usual, but hang loose, reaching until her shoulders.

"Now I look like a freakin' saiyan" She commented and as she realised how the Prince was eyeing her, she asked smiling: "How do you like it?" And she turned around, to give him a better look.

Vegeta gulped, but managed to shout:

"You look nothing like a saiyan, with your blue hair and your Ki, which is almost non-existent!"

"It's extremely comfortable though" She said, ignoring his remark and put her hands on her chest "even here!"

"You are vulgar!" Vegeta called and had to turn away, as this was the only way not to see her.

He felt a strong urge to also touch her there and that outraged him.

"Me? I wasn't touching you and I never asked you to also check it out."

"That's it! I will just leave you here, until I return!"

"Yeah? Then who will validate their cloaking device? You cannot tell, whether it's a hoax or not, that's why you brought me along."

She walked to him and stopped a step away from him.

"Don't tempt me!"

"Tempt you? With what exactly? It's not like did anything" She whispered, then closed the gap and leaned close to him, whispering in his ear: "yet."

As she was pulling back, she realised she was also tempting herself with this previous action; she was just too drawn to him to be so close. Instead of straightening up, she touched his mouth with her lips and they were kissing, once again. Bulma felt how her body became hot in an instant and as he run his hand down her back, she shivered. It was wrong, she shouldn't have done this, she should never get involved with him at any level, but despite knowing it, she just couldn't care at that moment. She felt like she was drunk from his kiss, while she was clinging to him, like her life depended on it. Vegeta felt also hot and he knew it had nothing to do with the temperature; it was the effect, she had on him. As he felt her breath come and go with his, he also realised that something was not right; something inside him began to change, which could never be reversed. It almost seemed like this longing for her wasn't just physical, but something more, something he already hated and decided not to dwell upon it right now. He felt, he already had an erection and as he pressed it to her, she moaned with pleasure. He wanted to stop, but for the first time ever, he seemed like he lost control of his body and it was acting on its own. Bulma on the other hand wanted to go on, while she knew she should stop. Does she really want to have her first time with him, who felt nothing for her, beyond desire? Because at least it was beyond doubt, that he wanted her physically, just as badly as she wanted him. The problem was, that she won't be satisfied just having him physically; she was in love with him and for that, she hated herself. Finally she gathered her remaining will-power, broke the kiss and whispered:

"We should stop!"

Vegeta didn't quite thought so, despite his own doubts; he was just too aroused, to let her go. He leaned back and continued to kiss her, pressing her against the wall. This time, when Bulma tried to push him away, he didn't budge. That was when Bulma became conscious of the weight of her foolish actions; he won't give a fuck about her feelings or will, when he can go ahead and do whatever he wants to do. He will simply rape her, she knew she wouldn't be his first victim and for sure not the last one. She became rigid and felt how the panic had its iron grip on her. To her utter shock, Vegeta stopped and pulled back slightly, but still blocking her way. His own actions shocked the Prince as much as it shocked Bulma. He was dead set on having her, ignoring her objection, yet somehow as soon as she was unwilling, it wasn't quite as much fun as it was just a few moments ago, when she was responding to his kiss. So he stopped, shocked to confess himself; he will only take her, when she will do it willingly. He cursed, backing away so she could step away from the wall. He was trying to convince himself that he wasn't losing his mind; taking her will be like a battle, what he has to win. Given her temper and attitude, she can't be such a hard nut to crack anyway. It might be of some interest, doing things like this, as an exception. As he looked at her stunned face, he had to smirk. This might be enjoyable after all!

"Preparing for landing in 3…2…1…" They heard a robotic voice from the command centre of the spaceship and had to grab the chairs, in order to remain standing.

"Follow my lead and don't do anything stupid!" Vegeta called and he stepped to the door to open it.

Bulma looked shocked at him; he was acting like nothing happened! She was still confused, failing to make any sense from his actions and she had trouble figuring out her own thoughts as well. Why did he stop? More to it; why was he smirking at her, before he stepped back? Just what the hell was he thinking? She assumed he always took what he wanted and yet, he backed off, while it was clear that he wanted her. She couldn't believe that he somehow felt sorry for her or cared about what she wanted… yet what other explanation was out there? Here she thought she had him all figured out and now she learned how wrong she was. The Prince was so much more as it met the eyes; more complicated as she ever assumed he would be. When they first met, he was obviously just a sadistic, egoistic monster, a killer with no regards to anybody or anything, but now… now she wasn't that sure any more. Did he change? Or was she just so much in love with him, that she desperately wanted to believe that? She had no idea and she wanted to scream for not knowing anything anymore. She wanted to grab him, push him to the ground and look into his head with some mind reading device!

"Move!' She heard him and she saw that he already halfway out of the ship, while she was still standing at the same place.

"I'm coming, no need to make a fuss about it!" She answered, took a deep breath and went after him.

So, the story is moving along; they had some heated moments again. Will they ever manage to get close to each other though at this rate? :D