Thanks to everyone who followed my tumblr, surelysaiyangood. :)

Also, thanks for being patient as I worked to get this chapter out!


The only way that Bulma was able to keep track of time was by monitoring the clock in the main room, which had been calibrated to display what hour it was back in West City. She kept notes in one of her journals, and if all was accurate then she knew they had been in flight for nearly five days… An entire business week had passed, and she hadn't gotten to see her son or hear from her parents at all. How surreal it felt to think this, when on the spaceship it seemed as if time itself had frozen as soon as they took off. With nothing but darkness to swallow their ship, there was no concept of the passage of time. If Bulma didn't know any better, she could have easily thought it had been years. Likewise, it equally felt as if it had only been twenty minutes. The only physical indicator that any seconds were ticking at all was the restlessness that would develop in her legs and radiate up to her mind on occasion.

The Bluehead had been reading one of her books, but inside there was that same urgency building - the desire to get up and move around. At the same time, however, she was feeling lazier than ever from having done nothing but lay about for five days. Frankly, it was a strange and conflicting condition to be in, and it was slowly starting to drive her stir crazy. Wiping a yawn from her eyes, Bulma threw the blankets off her body before sitting up in bed. "Ahhh!" She wheezed loudly, an unsuccessful attempt at stifling a yawn as she outstretched her arms over her head.

"You make a lot of noise." Vegeta commented from across the room, where he was standing in front of a mirror as he inspected the muscles on his bicep. He was clad only in a pair of boxers and a black wifebeater undershirt, looking over his body after one of his strenuous workouts.

"I'm bored!" The Bluehead announced, watching the saiyan with eyes glazed over. "There's nothing to do on this ship, and I'm getting really bored."

"You have your things." The saiyan grunted. He flexed his arm, looked at it, and smiled with approval. Evidently, he had made some type of progress. "Play your video game, if you must."

"Yeah, but I'm tired of just sitting around nonstop. I want to move. I can't just stay in the same place all the time."

"What are you talking about? Isn't that what you do all day when you go off to that lab?" The saiyan glanced over his shoulder as stepped back from the mirror, shooting the Bluehead an incredulous look.

"Well... yeah... but... I still get to stand up and walk around at work. I have a window that lets me see the sun, too. And then I also get to leave after a few hours to go home, sometimes I go out for lunch…" Now it was Vegeta's turn for his eyes to glaze over, but the Bluehead quickly took notice and snapped out of her ramble. "…So anyway, how I spend my work days is way different from this."

"You should be glad your father upgraded this ship." Vegeta was shaking his head. Even though he was acting as if he found the Bluehead's complaints irritating, there was an amused tone in his voice. "We'll arrive in a few hours, and this would have taken weeks if we had made the trip a few years ago. You wouldn't have been able to handle it."

"Well, excuse me!" This was enough to motivate Bulma to finally stand from the bed. "Don't talk to me like I'm naive. I did travel to Namek, ya know!"

"Believe me, I know…" He smirked, and it was enough to bring the threat of a blush to her cheeks. He said it as if her presence had changed his life... "Traveling all the way to Namek, Bulma… I can't imagine what that must have been like." He was actually grinning now. "Being stuck in a small ship with you during a trip like that..."

"It was long and boring, but I made it out just fine!" She turned her nose up to the ceiling, trying to make sure he knew she wasn't one to condescend - even if it was just a joke. The subject of Namek was bringing up a large amount of memories, as well as the desire to press Vegeta on what his first impression of her was. Yet Bulma quickly remembered something the saiyan had just said, and she found herself growing so curious that it became her priority to ask. "Hey… Did you say we'll be landing in just a few hours?"

"Yeah. We'll be on Zirkon soon enough."

"Okay..." The Bluehead replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Vegeta had spoken so casually of the matter, as if she had any reason to know what exactly Zirkon was. She stepped towards the saiyan as he began pulling his undershirt off. "What are we gonna do there?"

"Visit. We need to get ready." The half-naked saiyan handed Bulma his shirt, wordlessly asking her to put it away for him. Now, this she really did roll her eyes at! But still she obliged, crossing the room to the clothes basin. "Why are we visiting?" She pressed, starting to feel frustrated that he wasn't offering more of an explanation on his own.

"Because I want to. When I was in my youth and fulfilling missions with Raditz and Nappa, Zirkon was a common stop we'd make when we were in the area."

"You make it sound like a gas station." Bulma frowned. "What would you guys do there?"

"Recuperate. Sleep and eat, mostly. We'd use the opportunity to take a break for a few days before returning to Frieza's base." Vegeta was frowning back. "Now stop asking so many questions, and get ready."

"What does that even mean? I am ready!"

"Not dressed like that, you aren't."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Bulma looked down to study herself, temporarily having forgotten what she was even wearing. Her pale legs were freshly shaved and nearly glistening in the room's lighting. They looked pretty good. What was wrong with her outfit?

"You're practically naked." The saiyan, who had started the conversation by teasing her, was rather serious now. "You can't go out like that."

"What?" Bulma looked back down at herself, her eyebrows furrowing as she took in her tight shorts and a small vintage shirt. She thought she looked rather cute, and definitely not naked... "Is that what you think of how I dress, then?! Well, the cat's out of the bag, now, and there's nothing wrong with-!"

"I like your choice of fashion." Vegeta, who was used to her easily dented ego, was quick to cut her off. In an instant he had appeared right in front of where she stood, and he had a hand on her shoulder as if to calm her. "The way you dress has always been endearing to me, and that's exactly why I want you covering up. Believe it or not, but not every planet has the same customs for clothing as yours does. We're going to stand out regardless, but I'd rather it not be due to your clothes... If you don't mind."

"If it means dictating what I wear, then I do mind!" She had her hands on her hips, but the defensive curl in her voice was softening at what he said.

"Okay… Let's put it this way..." He cocked his head to the side. Vegeta was staring into Bulma's eyes now, and she couldn't remember the last time he looked so serious when speaking to her. "I have been rather good about domesticating myself to Earth practices, have I not? Well we are in space now, Bulma, and you cannot hold me responsible if I am forced to slip back into old methods."

This had obviously been some sort of a threat, but it wasn't enough to bother the Bluehead. "Hm!" She replied as she crossed her arms, her way of wordlessly saying 'I dare you.'

"What I mean by that is… If you want to disregard my advice and dress however you want, then feel free. But in doing so, you are surrendering any right you have to be upset with me when we are out in public and I am forced to slaughter an entire species after hearing their heart rates speed up while looking at you."

"I..." Bulma paused. She wanted to call the saiyan's bluff, but he was being too stern for her to safely assume he even was bluffing. "You wouldn't really do that?"

"I have a reputation that must be maintained..." His eyebrows furrowed. "Look. You are my woman, and anyone who even thinks about doing anything to you-"

"Okay, okay." It was hard to keep arguing when he was wording things like that, Bulma rolled her eyes. She was giving in to the saiyan's request, but she still turned her back to him so he couldn't see her smile. Because, in a really morbid way, what he said was kind of flattering… "Gee, look at Mister Protective all the sudden."

"Act modest all you want." Vegeta watched as she became the one to pull her shirt off over her head. "My instincts towards making sure you are safe are anything but new."

.

Perhaps their conversation had passed more time than Bulma thought, or perhaps her concept of time itself was more distorted than she realized. But it seemed that as soon as she found an outfit that Vegeta approved of he was telling her that it was time to prepare for landing. Clad in what she could only describe as a pair "Mom Jeans" 2 sizes too big and a rather baggy shirt, Bulma jumped at the announcement. She was so curious that she wanted to run to the front of the ship to get a look at the approaching planet, but she also didn't care to be told to sit down twice. She hopped to her couch, clicked herself in, and waited patiently for the process to be over.

When the ship landed with a surprisingly light thud, Vegeta gave the Bluehead a nod to indicate that it was okay to unfasten herself. Bulma let out an excited squeal as she darted from the couch, finding the closest window and peering outside. "It..." She started, her face dropping thoughtfully…

…She wasn't quite sure what she had expected, but she had thought this planet would have been one of two very different things. With hardly any experience with extraterrestrial travel, the image she had managed to conjure had been an exact replica of Namek. That, or knowing Vegeta's brutal past, she had pictured something dark and cold - the environment she expected from Frieza's ship. What she saw, instead, was an overwhelming amount of dark green.

She wasn't looking at grass, for what she was staring at had been a cluster of vines and leafy trees that were at eye level. Had they landed in some type of uncharted forest? She could make out what looked like a light pink wall that was peeking out in blotches from behind the green vinery, and Bulma wondered what type of building it was that they had landed in front of.

"Ready?" Vegeta grunted, his voice so close behind that Bulma jumped and spun around. "Wahh!"

"What's wrong with you?" The saiyan had been standing directly behind her, a large navy suitcase in his hand.

"You startled me!" She hissed, eying the luggage.

"Well, who else would it have been?" He was scowling, and Bulma didn't feel that it was necessary to explain just how distracted she'd let herself grow as she studied what was outside. "Lets go, Woman. Make sure you capsulize the ship as soon as we step out."

"Bulma." She corrected. In recent months Vegeta had gotten a lot better at referring to her by her first name, but he still had his slip ups every now and then. She walked over to a nearby cabinet and fished an empty capsule out from it. "Is the air safe for me to breathe?"

"If it wasn't, I would have taken that into mind." He seemed so careless when he said this, as if it had been a passing thought, but still the Bluehead found his reply to be sufficient enough for her. She shrugged and followed Vegeta's lead, as he pushed open the ship's door and stepped out into the foreign soil. The first thing that Bulma did was immediately capsulize the ship - just as the saiyan had advised her to do. The second thing she did was turn to get a better look at her surroundings, and her lips parted with excited wonder as she did so. "Oh, wow..."

She was surrounded by those green plants, every which way she looked. The vines that were decorating the wall she'd seen extended all the way down to the ground, but that was where they ended. There were no roots or leaves covering the soil at all! It almost appeared as if someone had gone through and cleared them away, as if to create room to walk. And now that she was looking, Bulma realized just how un-dirty the ground itself looked. It wasn't any type of soil she would have come to expected, but instead it appeared to be some type of rose colored stone. Bulma cocked her head back and looked up to see what color the sky was, and that was when she really gasped.

There was no sky up above, nor even a view of the empty depths of space they'd just come from. All she saw was a ceiling made up of the same rose colored material, and that was when Bulma realized that they were standing INSIDE some building, after all! But how?! Did this place have a retractable roof like the one her garage had? Was this some kind of landing dock?

Before Bulma had any time to ask all of the questions that were now hounding her, she became acutely aware of an unsettling slithering noise. It sounded as if some large snake was slowly making its way towards them, and instantaneously Bulma went from being excited to on edge. She stepped closer to Vegeta, who was looking as if he was waiting for something on his own, and she put a hand to his arm.

Feeling slightly more bold now that she was pressing into the saiyan prince's body, Bulma decided to look for the source of the noise. Vegeta was already looking towards it, so Bulma slowly followed his gaze, and what she saw was so unexpected that she let out a scream.

Up ahead was a creature, the likes of which she couldn't describe even if she wanted to. It was tall enough to reach her waist, as wide as the coffee table back at her house, and it was coming right for her. Its body resembled an octopus, with slimly looking scales the color of blood, and so many tentacles that she couldn't even count. It had the demonic face on an angler fish, though, and sharp yellow teeth were hanging from its lips as it advanced on the saiyan and the Bluehead.

"What is that? WHAT IS THAT?!" The Bluehead wailed. As the creature slithered closer, one of its bright red tentacles began to ooze towards them. "WAH!" Startled, she jumped back and clung to the closest thing she could, which happened to be Vegeta's body. Her legs wrapped around his torso, and Bulma was hugging the saiyan as if he was a tree she'd just climbed as she looked back at the creature in horror.

"Stupid lady." The horrifying red blob slurred. During her stumbling, Bulma had managed to kick the suitcase out of Vegeta's hand, and now the slimy creature was wrapping a particularly gross tentacle around its handle. "Where'd you find this one? She can't even conceal her fear." His voice was lazy, gruff, and deep, as if the thing had spent its entire life chain smoking. Yet he formed his words as if he had an infinite amount of life experience and this conversation was a waste of his time. Bulma couldn't help but think the monster sounded like a bitter old cab driver that wanted to retire.

Never one for public displays of affection, Vegeta's body had gone stiff when Bulma jumped on him. He was standing so still as she squeezed him, and he was growling under his breath. The Bluehead could tell that he was trying to restrain from screaming at her to get off him, but she didn't care. She hugged him even tighter, reluctant to let go. Not with the threat of that red tentacle monster touching her!

Neither Vegeta nor Bulma had responded to the creature, so he spoke again. "Seems like a waste, if you ask me..." His voice was so irritably unenergetic that his words slowly dragged out as if he were trying to decide if they were even worth the energy to utter. The Bluehead thought it would have been fitting if the thing had a giant cigar hanging from its mouth as it spoke. "What a joke... the Prince of all fucking saiyans... showing up with a dimwit on his shoulder.. Tell me… do you feed her crackers when she does something good?"

"Hey!" The Bluehead replied, and she finally jumped back down to her feet at that. "I'm the smartest girl around, I'll have you know!"

"...Sure seems like a flex to me, but do go on..." The red thing retorted, ever so casually.

"Lathzar..." The saiyan growled now, the threat laced through his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going... I'm going... And he's just as impatient as ever..."

Bulma watched as the creature, who apparently was named Lathzar, began to lift the bag over its head. Her eyes widened with curiosity - those small little tentacles were much stronger than they looked. Feeling awkward and wanting to ease some of the tension, the Bluehead decided to try and make small talk. Unsure of what to say, she ended up settling on the only commonality she could think of that the two had. "So, uh... You speak English, then?"

"No, I speak Granthcke. You're the one speaking English, lady..." He was turned away from her, but she could imagine his eyes slowly rolling to the back of his plump head as he spoke. "...Or are you too stupid to know... what language you're even speaking... idiot." Lathzar was making a clicking sound now.

"Shut up, you." Vegeta warned again. "Just take the damned bag and go."

"Whatever Vegeta says, Vegeta gets... Sure could do a lot better, though... if you ask me..." The creature was slowly oozing away now, the suitcase still being held up in the air. Bulma watched as a thin layer of goo trailed from where Lathzar had slid, and her face turned. "Erm… How... Uh." She put a hand to Vegeta's arm. "Vegeta, where do you know him from?"

"She has been working at this inn since before I was born." The saiyan didn't seem off put by Lathzar's conduct in the slightest, but Bulma nearly fell back before gasping. "You mean Lathzar is a girl?!"

"Of course, Bulma!" Now he was whispering as if he was worried Lathzar would hear, and Vegeta turned to give her a look. "Don't act so exaggerated!"

"I'm just surprised!" She replied, lowering her voice as well. "I just-"

"Just because the reproductive characteristics the females of Earth have are one way, doesn't mean that all living creatures are the same. Sexual traits aren't universal, you know."

"No kidding!" The Bluehead was trying not to show it, but she was amazed. The word universal took on an entirely new meaning in this case, and she couldn't help but grin at that. Perhaps it was naive of her to make such assumptions, and Bulma was quickly realizing that she was going to need to forget her own concept of reality if she was going to adjust to the parallels of space. The only way she was going to progress as a human was to keep an open mind and not compare everything to her version of "normal". Conceptually speaking, was there even such a thing as normal? Of course she couldn't just make such assumptions - Vegeta was right! But still, Bulma felt she needed to try to say something to try and feel less rude, so she dumbly said "Lathzar sure had the angry old taxi driver vibe, that's why I thought..."

"Forget about it. Just, come on." Vegeta took Bulma by the wrist, not caring to speak any more of the matter. He began to pull her through the lobby, effectively breaking her out of her focus. Now distracted, Bulma began to take in her surroundings all over again, and a grin stretched across her lips as she followed Vegeta's lead. They were winding through different large bushes and trees, all of which were green - but had no budding flowers to add color.

He pulled her around one tree in particular, and beyond it Bulma could see a large staircase. The steps were lined with a pearly white, instead of the soft rose that colored the floor, walls, and ceiling. It wasn't until Vegeta was taking his first step up that he finally let go of Bulma's hand so he could palm the railing instead. "Interesting that there's no elevator," She commented, still looking around in awe as they went. Did elevators not exist on this planet? Had that been a human invention…?

"There is one." Vegeta replied. "I just prefer the exercise."

"Oh." She pursed her lips, feeling naive once more. There she was, comparing this planet to Earth and making presumptions all over again! She was going to need to work on opening her mind...

The saiyan was too focused on where he was going to bother offering any more chit chat than necessary, and Bulma was too transfixed at the prospect of being in such a new place to care. It wasn't until they were done climbing the stairs, walked down a hall, and were arriving at a door that Vegeta finally spoke. "I've never stayed in this room before..." He said, his palm pressing against a scanner that seemed to unlock the door. He was speaking as if he was unsure of what would be on the other side, and was trying to warn Bulma not to judge him for whatever she was about to see.

And then they stepped into the room, and Bulma's face lit up.

Inside there were just as many plants that lined the rest of the building she'd seen, although these were speckled with flowers of soft purple and pink. The floor was lined with a material that reminded Bulma of carpeting, a white base with golden swirls flowing throughout the fibers. "Wow, Vegeta..." She smiled, stepping deeper inside. Her mouth was wide open as she beamed, and she was looking from side to side as she went.

The Bluehead heard the door shut as the saiyan followed behind her, but he wasn't moving with as much enthusiasm as her. Instead he stood in the entryway and watched as Bulma, her eyes glowing with wonder, continued into the bathroom. "Oh, WOW!"

"See anything you like?" He smirked.

"Look, Vegeta!" She called. The room she was standing in was so bright. The floor, walls, and ceiling all seemed to have been carved out of marble. Some type of crystal was engraved in the material and was shimmering as light hit it. The purple and pink flowers were still growing out of the walls, but only by a few buds. They were certainly much less thick than they were in the main room. In front of her one of the walls had been cleared to make room for a giant window, which showed an impressive view of the land that the inn was built on.

This was the first time Bulma was getting to see the atmosphere of this planet, and she ran to the window to get as good of a look at possible. She had her hands pressed against the glass as she smiled at the scenery down below. An orange sky blanketed the landscape, and underneath she could see a sparkling ocean that was settling on top of a white sandy shore. There were countless huts and buildings that had been constructed all along the beach, each made with different architectural styles and materials. All of it looked misplaced with one another, and that was exactly what made it so enticing.

"It's so... pretty..." Bulma breathed when she heard Vegeta's footsteps walk in behind her. "Look at it!"

She got no response to her exclamation, and when Bulma turned around she saw that Vegeta was simply leaning against the doorframe with a smug look on his face. It was the expression he wore most, an unimpressed scowl that feigned boredom no matter what the circumstance was. Yet she could tell her wasn't bored - if anything, he was amused by her reactions. Clearly none of what Bulma was seeing was surprising to him, but she had expected that. After all, he did say he'd spent a lot of time on this planet in his past.

"This room is so..." She continued, but then she paused. How could she describe it? It was unconventionally beautiful, but all the vines and branches made it feel like anything but a hotel. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? The Bluehead loved the unusualness of it, but she wasn't so sure how easy it would be to sleep or relax in. It was all too stimulating!

Her lingering words seemed to be misinterpreted by Vegeta, who took them in a different way than what she meant. "I know." He replied modestly. "I told you, I've never stayed in this room before. The ones we took weren't as overtly prestigious."

"Huh?" She breathed, but then something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she jumped. "Oh, WOW! Look at it!"

The view from the window had been so eye grabbing that Bulma hadn't gotten much of a look around the bathroom before running to see the landscaping. But now she was taking it all in, and there was a bathtub the size of a small pool that was prominently standing in the center of the room. How had she missed that?

The tub looked as if it was made out of the same materials as the floor and wall, and it was a meter deeper than Bulma was tall. She even had to climb up a small ladder in order to jump in. "It's huge!" She squeaked when she landed inside, and she was so excited that she laughed, twirling around just the accentuate how much room there was. "I can't wait to take a bath in this thing!"

"It took you long enough to notice the tub." Vegeta called from the other side. "I thought it would please you, with how much you like to soak."

"It's amazing! You planned this?!" Bulma was so happy she giggled again. Above her head was a large tap that would fill this thing, and she couldn't help but wonder how long that would take. Aside from this she was quickly realizing that, while there had been a ladder provided in order to climb in, there was nothing she could use to climb out.

"All of the rooms have the same bath tub. Not all visitors are the same size. Some are quite large." Her saiyan tour guide had more enthusiasm in his voice now. Meanwhile Bulma was running her hands up the side of the bathtub. It was so smooth! There was no way she'd be able to climb her way out. "How do I get out of here?" She called back.

"Silly Woman..." Vegeta said, and a moment later he had appeared right behind her. "You shouldn't jump into deep things if you don't first know of a way out."

"But I do have a way! I have you!" She was beaming as she moved to wrap her arms around the saiyan. "And I had a way to get in, so I figured..."

"The people who designed this specimen assumed that it would be filled with water when used, I'm sure..." Vegeta was wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. "You don't need a way to climb out if you can just float to the top..." He was starting to lift the two up into the air, slowly hovering out from the pool sized tub.

"Let's go somewhere." Bulma was saying, even before the saiyan was setting her feet down on the shimmering marble floor. "I want to see more of this place!"

"We just got here!" Vegeta replied, but he was openly smirking now. One second she was getting herself trapped in large bathtubs, and not even a moment later she was eagerly moving on to the next thing. "Surely you want to rest first, Woman?"

"No way! I've been cooped up in a spaceship for a week! I want to go explore!"

"Feeling adventurous, are we?" Even as he said it, Bulma knew that Vegeta was teasing her. She could tell by the look on his face. He hadn't traveled all the way to this planet just to hide away in this jungle room. He was wanting to go out just as much as she did, and perhaps even more. She rolled her eyes and slapped a joking palm on the saiyan's bicep, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Let's go, okay?" She repeated. "I want to see what all this planet has in store. Now that you ask, I'm feeling very adventurous."

"Good to know." The saiyan had his hands on her lower back, and he slowly slid them to her ass before lowering his head to whisper in her ear. "You'd better save some of your intrepidness for when we get back..."

The tone in his voice told Bulma exactly what he meant by that, and his fingertips pressing into her soft skin only emphasized his point. "Hm..." She replied. "… Treat me like a princess today, and maybe I will..."

What an interesting choice of word... Vegeta brushed his mouth against Bulma's skin to make sure she'd feel his smirk. "... There's only one way to become a princess, if not by birth... And that is by pleasing your prince."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really." His voice was growing deeper, a certain gruffness lulling in the back of his throat. "… Will you do that for me?"

"Maybe." Bulma gently pushed away from her prince. "But not now. First..."

"Yes!" Vegeta jumped, as if snapping out of deep thought. Bulma, who had been giggling quite a lot since walking into the hotel room, only laughed again to see this. He had been making some dirty implications, but he must have been more invested in his desires than he was letting on. Clearly he'd been distracted with mental images of what was to come. The Bluehead reached out and took his hand, offering it an assuring squeeze. "When we get back... okay?"

"Let's go, then." Vegeta replied. He jumped for the door, pulling her with him. Now he seemed more urgent than she was! "The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll return!"

"Yeah!" The Bluehead smiled, her body lunging forward as the saiyan moved. This was promising to be a day that she wouldn't soon forget!