The True King of Thieves

Ryomi Hayashi

Chapter Four: Evening

Warren stumbled out of bed as he heard Vegeta bellow his name, his quilts tangling around his legs as he struggled to leave the tent. It had to be important enough to leap out of bed if Vegeta was actually calling him by name, so he stumbled out of the tent and stood in the camp looking for the tall-haired king of thieves.

"WARREN, you worthless, womanly coward! Get over here!" Warren spotted Vegeta and dashed over to his tent, his head spinning from leaping out of bed.

"What… what is it?" he asked, out of breath.

"The woman's sick! SICK! Such weakness…"

"Uhh, what woman would that be?"

Vegeta grabbed Warren's head by his hair, pointed it in the direction of a lump of Bulma under the covers, and yelled in his ear, "The only woman in this goddamn tribe!"

"Yes, sorry Your Majesty," he said, wincing. It was too early in the morning to be thinking, much less have your ear being yelled into. He rubbed his now sore head and asked meekly, "What's come over her?"

A groan was heard from under the covers, along with the mumbling, "Doctor… I need a doctor…"

Vegeta stared at the lump, infuriated. "She's too sick to even move. Or perhaps it's all just one lovely game of pretend."

"I doubt it, sire."

Vegeta swiveled his head to Warren, glared, than returned to staring at Bulma's blanketed figure. It was obviously no time for jokes.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this…" he said.

"Allow me," Warren said, cutting him off, "You want me to summon a sorcerer."

An expression of painful disgust spread over his features and Vegeta looked as though something decaying and rancid had just been rubbed into his face. "Yes, we don't have a choice."

Warren nodded. "I'll find the sorceress," he said, walking off. Vegeta grabbed a fistful of fabric from his clothes and he jerked backwards.

"Surely you jest," Vegeta said, glaring with his usual glare.

Warren reddened shook his head and Vegeta's glare intensified tenfold. "Send someone else."

He gulped, turned redder, than nodded.

"Normally I would send Kyrinn but he seems to have disappeared."

"STAY HERE, YOU IDIOTIC SUBSTITUTE FOR A MAN, I'LL GO."

Warren dashed behind the tent in fear and curled up into a defensive ball. Perhaps he shouldn't have mentioned Kyrinn.

***

Rane, a sorceress from the Western forest, was called. She was clad in the typical gold thread sorceress attire, with the classic armlet and gauntlet made of the finest metals, undoubtedly. It was rare to find a sorceress who wasn't of high class, so the gold and fine weaponry and armor were typical of the sorcerers. Being exiled in the woods left them with bitter feelings towards the Miyanans, but they retained their high-class eloquence and style.

All of this added up to a very out of place woman amidst a group of all male thieves who were, to say the least, anything but high-class. She wasn't at all disgusted by this, and instead, tossed her finely braided golden hair behind her shoulders and smiled politely to the men who expected to be the latest doormats for their new guest. She received odd looks of disbelief in return, but ignored them and continued.

"So tell me, Your Highness, where is this poor ill child?" she said, her head shifting from side to side in a search.

"The woman's in that tent over there. And please, hurry up, I have more pressing matters to attend to," he said trying his best not to sound worried. Strangely enough, he failed to the people who knew him well.

Rane nodded briskly, her yellow hair- so yellow it was only natural for a sorceress- bobbing behind her. She opened the flap timidly and her golden eyes widened as she saw Bulma's pallid face and a body buried amongst the covers.

"This looks as if it will prove to be a bit of a challenge," she said, still standing outside the tent holding the flap open. She was oblivious to Vegeta's glare as she stepped inside and closed the flap behind her, leaning over to inspect the sick child.

Meanwhile, Vegeta waited impatiently, trying not to pace and desperately trying to overhear a diagnosis. It seemed like all of time had passed at a snail-like pace while Rane was in the tent with Bulma, and Vegeta could've sworn he could watch the people around him age as he waited. He wondered where all this apprehension was growing from, but dismissed it as curiosity.

Finally, Rane stepped out. Grim.

"Well?" he snapped.

"Get your horse," was all she said. He stood there for a moment, trying to digest the seriousness of the moment before it hit him. Something was seriously wrong.

He rushed to the thieves finest horse, his own, and mounted it, trotting hurriedly back to the location of Bulma's tent.

"This is what you need to do," Rane said slowly, "Go to the outskirts of the eastern forest as fast as you can and find the Adeline flower. You know what that looks like, right?"

"Yes, yes, sorceress, then crush it and add ocean berry powder. Then what?"

Her eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"I live in the forest, what do you expect?!"

"Anyway, add some water, boil it, and then make her drink it. Once she drinks it, she can only get better. But only if you hurry!"

He got off his horse, mumbling about how useless sorcerers were, reached to grab the bundled-up Bulma, but she yelped and pushed away.

"What are you doing, carrying me there?" Bulma asked sourly, "I can get on the horse myself, thank you."

The illness had obviously left her in a bad mood, but that could hardly be helped. He ignored her and swept her up into his arms anyway. She gave up and complied, grumbling as he helped her onto the horse. As soon as they were on, the horse sped to a trot and than a gallop, and Vegeta, frustrated, urged the horse to go faster. The thieves' camp slowly grew to be a spec in the distance as the horse sped away, the race against time pushing the horse to unnatural speeds.

Bulma, meanwhile, had things on her mind besides her illness and the rush to cure it. Instead, she sighed as she remembered the look of worry she saw on Vegeta's face as he went to pick her up and the hidden look of pain as she pushed him away. For someone as cold-hearted as him to show any kind of emotion but bitter resentment could only mean one thing. Love. And after discovering Kyrinn's true colors, she wasn't so sure she wanted to love anyone in this timeline (or whatever it was) back.

Sure, Vegeta was being sweet for going to all this trouble for her, but she wasn't sure if it was anything but just a faint physical attraction she felt for him. Maybe the only way to discover would be to warm up a bit to him, instead of treating him like the rude, arrogant man he was.

So, she settled back into his arms and relaxed, mostly just to see his reaction. He tensed noticeably, and the grip on the reigns tightened. Bulma smiled and played with the ring on her thumb as she thought about this situation. Maybe having an attractive, rugged, king of thieves madly in love with her wouldn't be so bad, even if her feelings for him were mild at best. Maybe she would grow to love him in time. Besides, he was taking care of her in this strange, new place, and that's what mattered.

She grinned devilishly as she thought of all the horrible ways she could take advantage of his hilarious reactions to her "affections", and it took all her strength to keep from bursting into a fit of giggles. Sure, she could place her hands on his, smirk seductively and whisper in a sultry voice ridiculous things in his ears, but perhaps that was pushing it.

Instead, she just leaned her head back against his shoulder and looked forward at the trees rushing by and the landscape passing bellow them. Whatever she planned on doing, she could tell one thing.

Bulma was going to have a heck of a lot fun with all this.