Chapter Ten:

The young Saiyan crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the dirty window. Outside, the sky was a bright orange, a pretty normal day on Planet Vegeta. He didn't know why his father had taken to making him watch these kinds of things. He heard the older man fucking that pink-skinned whore in the other room and he knew he'd be in trouble for not watching the entire thing. But hearing the slap of flesh against flesh was more than enough for him. He listened to the female's cries of pleasure as they got closer and closer to the sound of screaming. And the soft moans of the older man turned into louder grunts. It was almost time…

He sighed and turned his head, taking a few steps around the corner, grunting his displeasure when he saw his father's naked backside on the ruined bed, hammering up and down, pale pink legs swung to one side, jerking back and forth like a rag doll. The female's incessant screaming was getting louder and louder, and now she was begging, maybe even crying. Oh, she would have something to cry about in a minute…

The Saiyan's fourteenth birthday had passed without anyone noticing, as always. But his father knew his age, and every year he gave him a present just like this one. Just like when he had his tail cut off. Or when he earned his first whore. Or when he earned his first kill. Each time was strange. Each present was eerie, but eventually he got used to it. Each time, he learned the cruelty of the world, and each time he embraced it a little closer to his heart. And he had his father to thank for it all.

"Oh, god…," the female cried out in a choked moan. But something else was at the edge of her voice, and the young Saiyan stepped around to be able to see her face turn from expecting orgasm to fear. It was an interesting transition, to say the least. "Wh… What are you doing?" she asked, and the older Saiyan let out a laugh.

"What do you mean, my dear?" The young Saiyan watched his father at work, doing what he did best. He grabbed the female by her skinny neck and squeezed until her face turned beat red. A vain popped out on her temple and she grabbed for the large hand constricting her.

"W… Why?" she cried, but then the Saiyan released her and chuckled.

"I'm just kidding," he said, but the fear didn't leave the female's face. God, this man was a sick fuck, the younger Saiyan thought with a smirk.

"Maybe… Maybe I should go." The female's purple lips shuddered as she spoke, and slick, clear sweat beaded on her forehead. "Thank you… for your time." She bowed and tried to bring her legs back to her, but the older Saiyan pinned them to the bed with one large hand.

"What? No goodbye kiss?" he asked with an unnerving laugh.

The female stared at him for a second before leaning up to give him a quick, frightened peck on the lips, but instead of letting her go free, he pushed her back down and kissed her harder. The young Saiyan lifted an eyebrow at his father as he continued watching, as previously ordered. The older man kissed the female down into the pillow so hard that she started struggling for air. He arms flailed around helplessly, grabbing and scratching at anything she could find. She gripped the sheets, tugged on the man's hair, scratched at his bare skin. She even drew blood, but the man just chuckled as he pulled back, staring down at her frightened face.

"Now," he said, and his voice was enough to make chills run down a grown man's spine. The younger Saiyan tsked and looked away for only a moment in his discomfort. "Kiss me like you mean it."

The female was crying now. The younger Saiyan was surprised it took her this long, but she pursed those dark purple lips and kissed the man hard, grabbing his face in her hands and doing exactly what he asked. The man chuckled before parting his lips and nibbling at the female's bottom lip. She let out a forced moan and swiped her tongue against him in reply.

"There you go," the man mumbled against her mouth, "Was that so hard, love?" But before she could answer, he sucked her tongue into his mouth and bit down. Hard. The female screamed and instantly pulled back, blood oozing out of her mouth in waves that crashed down over her chin, spilling over her naked breasts and onto the red sheets beneath her. She started choking, but the man leaned forward and pushed his lips on hers again. She tried screaming, but he spat her tongue back into her mouth and grabbed her bottom lip with his front teeth, tearing whatever flesh he came in contact with. The female continued screaming as she tried to get away, but the amount of blood that was coming from her mouth was much more than the young Saiyan would have ever imagined from a single bite.

The female opened her mouth to scream something, but she couldn't form words without her tongue, so the older Saiyan just laughed and sat up. She struggled to climb out of bed, but she vomited up more blood and started dry heavy over the bed, her tears mixing in with everything else coming out of her. Her cries and moans turned into a gurgle as she coughed on blood and vomit. The two Saiyans just watched her as she struggled, but after another few minutes, her body was perfectly still.

The Saiyan man leaned in close. The female was just breathing, her body struggling to keep her from falling unconscious, although that would probably happen soon anyway, at this rate. Her mouth was still bleeding. "I know why you came to me tonight. You thought you could take revenge into your own hands?"

The young Saiyan checked his nails before looking back up to inspect his father's handiwork. The female certainly was frightened. She'd chosen the wrong man to mess with. That was for sure.

"Jus…" the female gurgled, "Ne… ded… hap… m…mo…er."

"What was that? Oh, right. Yes, of course," the man said. "You're mother. She was killed." He smirked. "By me."

The female used whatever strength she could muster and spat a mouthful of blood into the man's face. He didn't look too pleased, but he didn't snap, surprisingly. He wiped it off with one hand, leaving a thin trail of blood left behind on his skin.

"And you were here to figure out if there was any way to get me to confess? Is that it?" He smiled. "Well, let me tell you something. I can do whatever I want. And even if I did want to announce my actions to the universe, do you really believe that the death of some queen of some backwater planet would really mean anything to anyone?" He got closer to her face. "Do you think the death of some princess means anything?" He grabbed her throat again as the light began to leave her eyes. She was defeated. She was defeated right from the start. She would fall unconscious now, and then the Saiyan brute would just kill her and be done with it.

The young Saiyan turned and started to walk away, but his father called him back.

"What?" he asked, turning just in time to see the girl's neck get snapped to one side. Her jaw was almost in line with her spine as her lifeless eyes glazed over, pointing towards the ceiling. The young Saiyan glanced up for a moment, as if there might be something there he couldn't see.

"It's always best to torture whores with a kiss," the man said, wiping more blood off his face as he stood. "Women think that if a man shows them a little affection, that they're united in some ridiculous way," he spat some blood from his mouth onto the bed. "It's using a woman's only weapon against them."

The young Saiyan just laughed. He'd had enough whores by now to know how to deal with them properly. They would always try to assert dominance, but that was one of the first lessons his father taught him—if you can't assert dominance over a woman in bed, then you're nothing. You could never amount to anything. And that kind of pointless affection was a woman's only weapon.

Too bad it never worked on him.

"That's all they do," his father snorted. "These putrid women… they try to act all feeble and innocent to hide their true intentions. She would have killed me if she ever had the chance. Just like your fucking mother."

The young Saiyan twitched, but he pushed his thoughts aside. He didn't care about that anymore.

"Now they're both where they belong. Rotting in hell for their scheming, mischievous nature. They can't help it. Women are all the same. It's too bad she wasn't smart enough to know not to use her tongue," he chuckled. "Then maybe I would have gotten her upper lip before she bled out…"

"Too bad…"

"Listen to me, son. There are women who you'll meet in your life that are more scheming than others. These are the ones you'll have to kill. Do you understand me?"

"Like my mother," he said blankly.

"Yes, like your mother. Like this stupid brat," he waved his hand over the bed. She seemed like just a puddle of blood now. "They'll think they have some kind of power over you, but it's all in your head. As long as you stay in control, you can accomplish anything. You can have ultimate power. Letting a woman get into your head will ruin you."

"I have no issues with killing, father."

"Good."

There was a long pause. Neither of the Saiyans looked at each other until the silence was broken.

"At least you got to have a little fun out of her, first," he said to his father.

"It was like fucking a toy. She barely moved. Boring… but at least the ending was entertaining."

There was a slight pause. "You ruined your bed."

"The best sex is the kind that requires me to burn my mattress when it's over, don't you think?"

"It just seems like a lot of work to me…"

The older Saiyan barked out a laugh, his eyes squeezing shut. "You'll change your mind in a few years, my boy. Once you learn how much fun you can have with a woman before she dies. I hear you've simply been fucking them. You don't even bring them close to death, much less kill them when you're finished."

"If I started acting like you, father, the castle would quickly run out of whores."

"Hmm."

"And I've found that it's more fun to keep them around. Then they can be trained to do whatever I want. And I hate having to re-train whores. It's like fucking a nervous virgin."

The man laughed again. "But virgins are delicacies. They don't know what to expect. Everyone else… they think they know everything. They think they've seen everything. But you can never match a woman who looks you up and down with genuine curiosity. When you look into a woman's eyes and you know that she secretly craves being fucked for the first time. Sure, whore's can act it out, but a virgin has no choice. That's the thrill of it." He smirked and glanced over at the body on his bloody mattress. "That princess-whore… She thought she knew what she was doing. She probably worked up her confidence after fucking a few soldiers and thought she knew how to handle a man. But like I said… she was boring."

The young Saiyan looked away. He was finished here.

"Maybe I'll ask for someone new tonight, then," he muttered, and turned towards the door. He started walking, hoping his father would just let him go without another word. Thankfully, he wasn't stopped. All these lessons were eating into his time. He had a lot of training left to do, anyway…

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Immediately, Vegeta grabbed her by the throat and pulled back. She gasped as her eyes went wide. God, what did she just do? Her mind pictured the hysteric girl from before, screaming that the prince was going to kill her for simply trying to kiss him. Oh, god. What was wrong with her?

But something else was off. He didn't look angry at all. In fact, he looked… startled. Like she'd just slapped him across the face and it hadn't settled in yet. But he was pushing down on her windpipe and she could barely breathe.

She slowly brought her hand up and placed it over his, on her throat. He didn't move, except for a slight narrowing of his eyes. Was he going to kill her now? She couldn't breathe and she tried not to panic. She knew that would only make this worse. God, she had to apologize. She had to tell him that it was an accident.

An accident? How the hell do you accidentally kiss someone? She couldn't just say she tripped, or twitched and her mouth landed on his. But now her thoughts were frantic, and she hadn't gotten a breath in a few seconds. His hand wasn't loosening, either.

"V… Vege—"

"Get up!" he suddenly shouted, releasing her and quickly getting off the bed. Bulma coughed for a few moments, taking some time to rub her sore neck muscles before she got a head rush. When she thought everything was fine, she rolled over and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Vegeta was already out of the room, and past the table. He whipped around before she stood and pointed at the bags in front of the door. Oh, right… Her belongings were here. And the food she brought him was still on the table, barely touched. And probably cold by now.

"I want your things out of my sight!" he barked. "You're staying here for a while out of obligation, but that doesn't mean you can just act like you belong here, woman! Hide your things! I don't want to see them!" Bulma stood slowly. He was clearly acting crazy, but she didn't think he was going to hurt her, strangely. He still looked like she'd slapped him, to be honest… like a deer in headlights. "You'll take your meals elsewhere! Eat in the kitchen with that other Earthling! And you'll bathe in the guest rooms from now on!"

There was just something about him now, and Bulma realized that she wasn't afraid. His aura wasn't dark at all. He was pacing around too quickly for his usually composed attitude, and she didn't feel like she had to stay away from him right now. So, instead, she moved to grab her bags. And then a thought hit her—he was like a child, telling her not to use his things—the table, his bathroom… It almost made her giggle, but she hid her face and just grabbed the rope holding her bag shut. She only had her clothes in here. That was all she had, anyway. And it wasn't like she would miss a rag or two if something was missing. Her things weren't that important to her here.

She found herself fighting the urge to talk back to him. If he wasn't being overly-intimidating and she didn't feel afraid, then her inner nature would start to come out eventually. But then how would he react? Right now, there was something off about him, like he wasn't really paying any attention to her. He was just stomping around his room like a kid… It was actually a little unnerving to her, because she'd never seen him act this way before.

"Vegeta," she said. She couldn't help it. She wasn't even sure if being silent was the best thing to do or not. But he was acting so strange… Because of a kiss? That couldn't be right… especially because the other day he pushed her against a wall and… She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to remember that. But still, he couldn't be embarrassed. That was next to impossible. He fucked people every day. So, then… what was it?

"What?!" he shouted, finally deciding to take a seat instead of walking around the room. He started eating some of the cold food and Bulma got the feeling he wasn't paying attention to what he was putting in his mouth.

"Well… where should I put my things, then—?"

"I don't care!"

"But, you're the one who ordered for my room to be boarded up, so now I'm stuck here because of you. So, don't act like it wasn't you who gave the order."

He was sulking. He was actually sulking. Bulma huffed and crossed her arms. She shook her head at him.

"I have to go train," Vegeta finally said, relentlessly tapping his finger against the table. Then he seemed to nod once to himself and he stood.

"And where do you want me to put my stuff?" Bulma asked again, trying to push her point. But he wasn't answering her and she was getting a little annoyed. She unfolded her arms and placed them on her hips, taking a dangerous stance between the prince and his only way out. He looked at her and glared, but before he could say anything, and before she could stop herself, she opened her mouth. "What's wrong, you're not going to blast me like you did to that whore? She said she only tried to kiss you and she ran away with a bleeding shoulder. So, you're just going to let me go free, then? No punishment this time, huh?"

"Do you want to be punished?" he seethed, taking a step forward and running his fingers along the side of her neck. Bulma stopped herself from shivering at his touch. He tugged once on her collar and she knew that was his threat.

"Yes," she breathed. And as soon as the word left her mouth, she knew she was in trouble. She just couldn't keep it together for five seconds. Not when he left himself open like this. And it was her own goddamn fault, too. Chichi always said that her mouth would get her killed one day. But once she started, she couldn't seem to stop. "Punish me, Vegeta. Punish me for kissing you!"

"You're just like the rest of them!" he suddenly shouted, his face less than an inch from hers. She closed her eyes, feeling his hot breath and a bit of saliva hit her face. But she opened her eyes when his breathing slowed.

"What does that even mean?" she asked. "Because sometimes… I don't feel like I'm like the rest. So, if you're going to punish me, then do it. Because you do it to everyone else, and you've done it to me before." Vegeta clenched his teeth and continued glaring, but he wasn't saying anything. "So, maybe, when you say that I'm just like the rest… you're just trying to convince yourself that it's true…"

"And what?" he finally said, a dangerous smirk on his face, "You think that I treat you differently than I treat my whores?" He laughed and Bulma frowned. "Because you're not a whore? Because you won't admit that you want me to fuck you, yet you jump in bed with me every night anyway? Maybe you're the one trying to convince yourself of something. Not me."

"So, what happens if I admit it, then?" Bulma asked boldly, standing up straighter and looking him in the eye. She could have sworn she saw his eye twitch. "What if I say that for some god-awful reason, I think I care about you. I never wanted to. It wasn't planned. And if I could stop this feeling, then I absolutely would. But I'll admit it, because I'm not a coward… There's… something about you… that I… like…"

Bulma felt her face flush and immediately looked down. What was she saying? Was this the heat of the moment or something else?

"Thank you," she added quickly, "For saving my friend yesterday. And for… letting me stay here. I think… with everything that's happened, I would be afraid to stay in my room alone at night. And… I'm sorry for hurting you yesterday. I don't think I was really… in control of what my body was doing. I just saw Chichi and I—"

Vegeta slammed his hand against the wall beside her head and Bulma yelped, looking up at him again. He was glaring again, but his aura still wasn't pitch black, so she found herself staring right back, like he was putting her in some kind of a trance.

"A coward, hmm?" he said slowly, and his voice broke the trance. Bulma looked away again, but she felt him grab her chin and force her face forward. And just as she was about to look him in the eye again, his lips met hers and his lids shut. Immediately, Bulma's eyes closed and she froze, her hands at her sides.

He didn't touch her. His hands and forearms stayed on the wall around her, and his body stayed a couple inches or so back. It was just his mouth on hers, and he was a lot gentler than anything Bulma had ever imagined. She had always expected anything the prince did with women to be rough, but this was calming, for both of them. And they stayed that way for a couple minutes. Bulma got a bit more comfortable after breathing with him for that time and she slowly dared to bring one hand up. She didn't know what she wanted to do, but her hand ended up between them, high up on his stomach. She could feel his abs. She could feel the bottom of his rib cage. She moved her other hand to wrap around his waist, but she let her fingers rest on his side, just barely pulling him towards her, enough for him to feel it but have no forceful effect. She opened her eyes and jumped when his were lidded. Without thinking, she pushed on his stomach and broke their contact. She panted, even though she hadn't been breathing hard until now.

"I… I'm sorry," she said quickly, knowing her cheeks must be bright pink, "I… I've never kissed anyone before, so I… I don't know…" she trailed off, and she couldn't stop herself from looking away again. She heard Vegeta sigh as he stepped back.

"I need to train," he said quickly, and Bulma could only look up when she heard the door shut behind him.

Oh, god. He was mad, right? He had to be mad. She must have done something wrong… Her first kiss. Oh, god. He was definitely mad. She hadn't even done anything. Oh, no. She couldn't remember if she'd parted her lips. Oh, god. Was she supposed to open her mouth? How wide? Wasn't that weird? He didn't even say anything? She didn't know what to do. Did he expect her to know what to do? Was he expecting her to do something? What about now? Oh, god. She'd just stood there. Did he think she didn't want to? Did he think she regretted it? Did she regret it? His lips had been so soft. She could still taste him when she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth… She just kissed the prince… He'd just kissed her back…

Oh, god…

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"No, I just… I don't want to be around them right now," Bulma said, sinking to the floor of the laundry room. She watched as Launch eyed her like she was a misbehaving pet. "And what's that look for?! You think I'm not already confused enough?!"

Her blonde friend shrugged slowly as she continued folding giant white towels. She dropped a folded towel on top of her small pile and held up her hands.

"I just don't know what to say. You obviously know the prince better than me. Hell, you probably know him better than most of the people in the castle. Maybe that says something, but I have no idea."

"I just… If I go to the kitchens now, I'm going to get an earful from those two. They're going to start saying things that I really don't want to hear right now."

"Then what do you want to hear, Bulma?" she asked, lifting another towel.

"I want… I want to rewind time and take it back."

"So, you wish he never kissed you?"

"No!" she started, "Well… I mean, I don't know."

"Was it good?"

"Launch!"

"I'm just asking."

Bulma crossed her arms for a second before uncrossing them and grabbing her hair, pulling on it until it hurt. She let her hair go and groaned before falling backwards into another pile of laundry. She hoped it was a clean pile, but probably not.

"Yea, it was good… I think. I wouldn't even know. I've never kissed a guy before."

"Did he think it was good?"

"How should I know? I'm just going to feel like I can never look at him again."

"I may not know the prince very well, but from your history with him, I'm pretty sure that would just make him mad."

"Yea… But what do I even do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how am I supposed to act around him?"

"I don't know. Do whatever comes naturally, I guess."

"No, thank you. That's what got me in this mess to begin with." Bulma pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged herself on the floor. "Launch, have you ever kissed a guy before?"

"Yea, a few times."

"And what happened?"

"Uh… Nothing happened."

"But how did you guys act after?"

"I don't know. We just acted like we kissed. You know… we did it again a few more times. And once I came to the castle, I left all those guys behind."

"So… I should try and kiss him again?" Bulma asked, shocked.

"I mean… that's not like a rule or anything, Bulma. It's a complicated topic. I don't even know what happened. I don't know what was going through the prince's head or even yours. Maybe it's just best to talk about it with him…" Launch frowned when Bulma shook her head. "Maybe you're right about that one. I doubt the prince is much for talking about these kinds of things."

"And what about that whole deal where he kills people that try to kiss him? I'm not dead, Launch! Maybe he's planning on how he's going to do it when I get home…"

"Well… that one girl isn't dead either. She just got shot in the arm or something, right?"

"That's not helping…"

"I'm just saying that maybe it's just a rumor. Maybe it's true he doesn't like to kiss people, but not that he kills people who try. And you have lived around this guy for three years. Is it that hard to believe that he doesn't have some special feelings towards you? If anything, this whole incident should shed some light on that question, at least."

"But what if he regrets it?"

"Now you're just sulking… That statement clearly says that you hope he doesn't regret it, right?" Bulma reluctantly nodded. "The only things you can be certain about right now are how you feel and what you want to do now."

"But I don't know either of those things."

"You don't want him to regret kissing you, so you like him, right?"

"I don't know!"

"Isn't that what you told him?"

"I was in the moment!"

Launch sighed.

"And there's something else!" Bulma said. "And it's been bothering me. A few days ago, he made me… he made me…" She flushed and lowered her voice. "He made me… touch him."

"What?"

"You know… I told you about how he made me lay next to him when he was with that one woman, but this was after… The next morning, I woke up and… that happened."

"What happened?" Launch lifted an eyebrow.

"You're really going to make me say it?"

"I legit have no idea what you mean. Like, he made you feel up his abs?" she giggled.

"No! He… pinned me against a wall and made me touch… it."

"His dick?"

Bulma screeched and covered her ears. Launch just laughed again. Bulma shot upright again, pursing her lips. She glared at her friend for a split second.

"But… when I was… you know…"

"Please don't tell me you jerked him off."

"What? No! I just… held it for a second." Launch laughed again, but managed to cover her mouth and mumble an apology. "But… I just got the feeling that… Something was off with him then. Any other girl and he would have just done whatever he wanted, but he ended up getting aggravated and…"

"So… he wants you to touch him," she laughed. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"I'm not joking."

"Neither am I, Bulma. It sounds like he sexually frustrated if he's acting like that."

"That's stupid. He sleeps with like… a million girls a day. And stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry! It's just… a little obvious from the outside looking in. Maybe I can see where Chichi and Maron were coming from now."

"Not you, too!"

"I think… that you don't have to worry about him killing you for kissing him," she smirked. "And I think that… if you don't regret anything, and only if you want to… then maybe you should try to kiss him again. Because from an outsider's point of view… I don't think you have much to worry about right now. Of course, if he starts acting weird, like violent or something, then you should back off. But honestly, Bulma, it sounds like he wants to sleep with you." She couldn't stop herself from laughing again and Bulma made an irritated noise. "And he's probably acting out because you don't want to."

"That's right, I don't!"

"So, kissing him probably confused him at first, but then he was probably thinking that he'll take whatever he can get from you." She winked.

"That's terrible… He can have whatever he wants from practically anyone else."

"Except for you," she added, wiggling her finger.

"Well, everyone knows that if he wants something from someone, he'll just take it by force. Maybe I just caught him off guard and he decided to go along with it because he was bored…" She lowered her eyes.

"Or," Launch stressed, "He doesn't want to force you to do anything."

"Yea, right. That'll be the day." She sat up again. "He's already forced me to clean up after him for three years. Fetching his food and making his bed. He forced me to lay down without my collar on for so long I almost got crushed to death. He forced me to watch while he slept with some prostitute. He forced me back when I was trying to save Chichi..."

"Granted, everyone knows the prince is a ruthless asshole."

"You don't have to put it like that…"

"And now you're defending him!"

Bulma huffed and stood. "You know what? Maybe I will go to the kitchen, after all. Because the wonderful prince has now forced me to move into his room, but I'm not allowed to use his facilities or eat at his table. So, now, I have to eat in the kitchens every day. I can't even have the privacy of my own room."

"You know, that could just be because of what's going to happen to all of us in a month. It's not lying if I say that one of the safest places to be is next to the second most powerful person on the planet."

"I'm not even in danger until a month from now."

"Maybe he wants to spend more time with you," she joked.

"I literally see him all day anyway. I clean his freaking room. He just took away my only escape from him. Now I'm stuck. He just likes to watch me suffer. He's sick and twisted down to his core."

"But you still like him."

"If anything, it's only because he saves me when he's the one that puts me in danger to begin with." She sighed. "It's all a big, fat trick. It's a game to him. I just have to get my thoughts straightened out before I lose it for good."