A/N: Little warning; there is some sexual content (male's anatomy is mention at the end of this chapter) but nothing that would bump the rating up to M. I promise whatever it is, it's done in a tasteful way lmao. I hope. I just wanted to warn those who are sensitive to that sort of thing, because this isn't 'that type' of story.

Thank you :-)

Tora and Fasha wandered down the rows of the tents where the rest of the low class Saiyans lived. A small group that had returned from their mission as well were celebrating by a bonfire; beckoning for the two to join them. The male of the duo raised his hand and shook his head in a respectful gesture of 'no thanks', while Fasha rolled her eyes.

"They're acting like they fought the battle of their lives," she remarked, and stuck her tongue out in disgust when the drunkest one of the group began giving her catcalls. The woman unknowingly brought herself closer to Tora's side, causing the tall Saiyan to smirk. "Ugh. Do you see why I refuse to mate with any of these barbarians? My son would come out as dumb as a rock."

Tora chuckled darkly while the drunk started getting louder and more obscene with his remarks; even began following them on their way to the launching site. The male glanced over his shoulder to see the short, long-haired warrior waving his fist in the air and begging for Fasha to kiss him. "You want me to blast him or something?"

"Sadly no," Fasha sighed. "You'll probably end up killing him and there goes another one of our kind. Just put your arm around me or something; pretend your my mate." The two both turned crimson simultaneously; Fasha cursing under her breath while Tora took a mental note to brag about this to Bardock later.

"Don't worry, lil' lady, the man of your dreams has your back!" Another grunt of disgust escape the pink clad female as Tora placed his hand on her hip to draw her close. He kept it there even after the drunk cried out that his woman was cheating on him and ran back to the bonfire to drown his sorrows away with the universe's strongest liquor and whatever meat they were burning.

When his hand began to tighten, Fasha fumed. "Alright jackass," she seethed. "You can let go now."

Tora laughed loudly while releasing his hold. He crossed his arms over his chest as they came to a stop in front of the launching site, where one of the giant rescue ships was calling their names. He whistled, "Whew! What a beauty, eh?"

Once they closed the distance, Fasha ran her hand down the shiny white metal and nodded in agreement. "How many seats does this one have?"

The male had to stifle his laughter when he realized Fasha was too short to see through the windows. "Hm... Four?"

"Perfect," the woman smirked, and one hand on her hip while she used her fingers on the other to whistle at the green-skinned alien who was the shift leader at the moment. "Yo, we'd like some help over here!"

The little creature was secretly terrified of the Saiyans; never understanding why he took the job so close to the tents of the most savage ones. Trying to ignore his trembling, he cleared his throat to speak to the outspoken woman. "Y-Yes?"

She pounded her fist against the huge piece of machinery. "Me and my partner here need to use this to rescue our leader and crew member that are stranded. Pop this baby open and launch us to Planet Statreon!"

The green man looked into the ferocious eyes of Fasha, followed by the narrowed ones of Tora, and gulped. He decided that he didn't want today to be the day that he died. "A-Alright, s-sure. Just give me one moment, and..." he blinked when Fasha's expression suddenly softened. "Uh... You can go save your crew members."

"Was that so hard?" she winked, placing a hand on his cheek that turned the green man red. When she noticed it, she laughed cruelly and drew her hand away. She considered smacking him for the hell of it, but decided not to press her luck. The alien creature hurriedly made his way back to the control panel without giving the Saiyans another look.

Tora shook his head when he watched the hatch open. "You're some piece of work, lady."

"Eh," she shrugged, hopping in and was quickly followed by her partner. "I learned from the best."

"Why aren't you talking to me!?" Gine whined, watching with her knees pulled up to her chest as Bardock was doing push ups with a scowl on his face. "All I said was that a little grooming never hurt anybody!"

When all the male did was grunt for his response, the female sighed and lowered her head with slightly pink cheeks. After falling asleep nestled closely to Bardock's messy hair, she got a good whiff of its unpleasant smell. She felt horrible now for an innocent comment turned insult, but self consciously began to wonder if she had the same terrible scent and her boss was too kind to say anything.

Cue the eye roll. Of course not. He would tell her straight up.

Gine continued to watch as the sweat began to roll off Bardock's back. He was now using two fingers on either hand to support himself, and was too focused on his workout to notice anything else. Giving the unknowing male a sly smile, she began doing back flips towards him and didn't stop until the heels of her boots were directly on his shoulder blades and her hands were resting on the grass for support.

"Helloooo!"

Frozen mid push-up, Bardock furrowed his black brows together and glared down at the upside down woman; whose hair ends were touching the ground while her eyes focused on his. His forehead was pressed against her small torso. "Don't you have some deer to go ride? Get the hell out of here; I'm busy."

"I noticed something when we were flying above everything earlier," she continued, ignoring the deadly glares generating from his hardened orbs. "A river... Now, I'm not tryin' to tell you anything, but I really could use a bath."

"Yeah, you could," he snorted, causing the woman looking at him to fume. "I was going to wait for you to find it out for yourself." He lifted up one hand that shoved her away from him. Gine landed gently on her back, still scowling as Bardock got to his feet and offered her a hand.

"No way!" she stuck out her tongue. "You're a big jerk! You didn't have to push me like that!"

"Look, you little pain in my ass. If you take my hand, I'll take you the lake."

That sealed the deal.

"We have to take off all our armor if we really want to get clean," Gine frowned, slightly blushing and trying hard not to look at Bardock's reaction. "Is that fine?"

The male smirked, already removing his wristbands. "Fine. Just don't look at me."

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" she huffed, and the two Saiyans turned their backs on one another. As each began removing a piece, the clanking sound of it hitting the ground caused them to look over their shoulders at each other. When their eyes locked, they both scowled.

"Don't look at me!"

Gine was still holding the top piece of her armor over her bare chest shyly, while Bardock had already jumped into the clear lake that was glistening even more so due to the morning sunshine. She observed in quite awe as she dipped himself completely underwater; only to come back up and shake his now wet hair around. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her illegally large orbs, and groaned.

"If I turn my back, will you stop stalking and just come in already?"

The woman growled lowly, but was relieved when she actually saw Bardock's back muscles. Taking a deep breath, she placed her armor on the grass and slowly dipped her toe in. "EEK!" she yelped. "It's freezing!"

"No it's not!" the male scoffed. "You're just too scrawny!"

"But Bardock..."

A loud groan caused the birds that would be caught for lunch to scatter out of the trees and fly away. He muttered some profanity under his breath before speaking again. "Look... I can't believe I'm going to say this, but just remember it's only because of your god awful stench. Get in the water, and I'll... hold you until you're warmed up."

The male rolled his eyes as he heard her scream with each step she made until she was chest deep in the lake. Her heaving breath caused her to speak broken down words as she poked his back. "P-Promise... To...Keep...Your...E-Eyes...On...My...Face..."

"I'll do you one better and keep them on the leaves."

Keeping his word, Bardock turned around and pulled the shivering woman tightly into his arms. The two remained silent until his body heat began unfreezing her body. Once she felt her breathing return to normal, the tiny Saiyan cleared her throat.

"Can I ask you something?" Gine questioned as her lips began to return to their normal color. Her eyes were studying Bardock's, wondering how cooperative he was going to be today. He had already surprised her by offering his arms, so maybe she was onto something. "Uhm... If you don't mind?"

"Shoot."

A grateful smile crossed Gine's face. Even if the male's attention seemed to be on the leaves up above them that were dancing on the trees, he was still speaking to her. "If all you look for is strength in a mate, then why haven't you found one, yet? Almost all the females back at home are tremendously powerful... So, there obviously has to be something more, right?"

That famous scowl found its way back to Bardock as his eyes locked with hers. "Mates are for breeding purposes, only. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Then why have you been waiting so long?" Gine pressed further, blinking her long lashes. "You're a big fat liar, you know that? I don't care what 'code' you other Saiyans live by, I was taught that when you find the one you're meant to love, you feel a connection that is completely unbreakable; together for life and not wanting it any other way. I know it. I just know it."

The male raised an eyebrow and licked his lips once while thinking. "It's really pathetic you believe in that. No wonder you're so damn weak."

Gine shrugged her bare shoulders, but didn't dare take her eyes off his. She wanted to continue challenging him, figure out what caused all that moodiness. "And your children will be too if power is the only thing you're concerned with. And for breeding purpose only? Give me a break. I guarantee you that you'll give birth to a legend if you and your mate share an unbreakable connection. Compassion is undying, while greed can only bring you down."

Bardock took a deep breath to calm himself down, realizing that was holding Gine so close that there wasn't an inch of space between them. Despite what she has seen him do and what he has done to her, a look of determination and will never once left her face as she glared up at him. There was something about it all that was making his chest begin to swell with something he didn't recognize. "Well... Despite all the bullshit you've been spitting, I have to admit it sounds good coming out of your mouth. You have your way of finding a mate, I have mine. Can we agree on that?"

The woman finally smiled and nodded her head, the droplets at the ends of her hair ticking his Herculean chest. "Agreed. Still, I hope you'll swing my way."

Bardock watched her cheeks flare up as she realized what she had just said. The way that she had pressed her burning cheek against his wet cheek to fail at hiding it that continued to make that god awful yet sensational feeling begin to grow more. And her long eye lashes giving his skin kisses, the way her lips moved against his body as she began murmuring apologies until...

"Oh no..." she breathed, her eyes starting to widen with terror as she felt something press against her. Bardock blinked, unsure of what had gotten into her after becoming momentarily lost.

"Gine? What is it?"

With still petrified eyes, the woman glanced down slowly. Her fear was confirmed. "T-There's a snake in between us..."

"A snake..?" Bardock followed her eyes, and all humiliation he had ever felt in his entire life had taken over his expression. It definitely wasn't any sort of snake that was bumping up against her...

Before he could explain himself, Gine had pushed herself away from him and began swimming to the surface while screaming, "GET OUT OF THERE, BARDOCK! IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" The woman was so frantic; that once she got to the grass she kept on running, completely forgetting to grab her armor.

The scarred Saiyan watched as the tiny naked Gine began to disappear from sight. "Shit," he muttered, hurriedly getting out of the lake and putting at least his pants on. Leaving behind everything he else save his scouter, he turned the device on to locate the first woman who had ever witnessed a snake, hoping to the Gods that it remained in the waters.